A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF AN ADVANCE ORGANIZER AND SIMPLIFIED READABILITY OF SCIENCE MATERIAL ON SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT IN THE BIOLOGY LABORATORY

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of an Ausubelian Advance Organizer and simplified readability of science content when used together or separately in the biology laboratory. Criterion measure was a content examination.;The equivalence of all classes was determined by the application of a pretest and reading scores from the California Achievement Test. No significant differences were found among classes on either the pretest or reading scores from the California Achievement Test.;To test the effects of an advance organizer, introductory material was developed in accordance with Ausubel's Advance Organizer Theory.;To test the effects of readability levels on student understanding and comprehension, two types of written laboratory procedures were developed for investigations covering ten weeks. One type was written at a reading level close to the students own grade level, while the other type was rewritten at a lower grade level without changing content. Readability levels were determined with the aid of two standardized readability formulas.;Methodology. The population for this study included 239 ninth grade students in eight academic biology classes, which were randomly assigned to treatments.;The advance organizer groups received a written organizer at the beginning of class prior to receiving written laboratory procedures. Students then received either of the two types of written laboratory procedures.;The control group received no organizer or simplified written laboratory procedures.;Upon completion of all study material, a posttest was administered to test groups from material taught during the study.;In addition to the posttest, a post-study questionnaire was distributed to all students, to determine students' own expectations for their performance when there was a change in reading levels of material to be comprehended.;Results. Overall, the results indicate that either the advance organizer or simplified reading material is significantly better than no treatment, but the two together are significantly better than either alone.;Conclusions. The results of the study supported Ausubel's Advance Organizer Theory and use of the simplified readability method, as a facilitator to learning. When both treatments were given together, a greater facilitation of learning occurred, as compared to either alone.;The results of the post-study questionnaire did not clearly indicate any significant differences among treatment groups.