Research On The Psychological Factors Affecting The Core Competence Of Junior High School Students In Chemistry

Confronting the information era and information society, chemistry education in compulsory education needs to cultivate students' key competencies in chemistry. On one hand, this is the function and value of chemistry education; on the other hand, it is the result of various factors' combinational effect.On the basis of reviewing the development of "key competencies" and current researches on "key competencies in disciplines",we define "key competencies in chemistry" as indispensable abilities gained in chemistry learning and needed for individual life and social development. The characteristics are discipline-specified,unified and practicable. Reflecting current researches, we know that studies about impacting factors (especially students' psychological factors) on key competencies in chemistry can be hardly seen. The development of key competencies in chemistry is one of important products of students' chemistry learning process. Related researches are in their early days, but people have attached much emphasis on other forms of products of chemistry learning like academic achievement, and have already inquiried their impacting factors for a long time. Previous studies suggest that metacognition and self-efficacy are strong predictors of academic performance. So we may consider how they influence students' key competencies in chemistry.Therefore, the problem to be solved is that what are the relationships among junior high school students' self-efficacy, metacognition and key competencies in chemistry learning. It will be examined quantitatively in this paper.Hypothesis can be proposed on the foundation of theoretical analysis: in chemistry learning, junior high school students' self-efficacy can directly impact their key competencies in chemistry; metacognition can directly impact key competencies; self-efficacy can directly impact metacognition. Hypothetical model is constructed accordingly. Based on PISA 2015 Science Assessment Framework, we propose the Assessment Framework for Junior High School Students' Key comptencies in Chemistry.According to this framework, the assessment tool is developed. Rasch model is employed in data analysis after pre-test, which shows that the instrument has a high quality. Using this tool, self-efficacy questionnaire and metacognition questionnaire, we investigate 276 students in Grade 9 and construct a structural equation model with three variables. By data analysis, we get the final model that best fit the data. According to the final model,we can conclude that in chemistry learning, junior high school students' self-efficacy can directly impact their metacognition; metacognition can directly impact key competencies;self-efficacy can impact key competencies indirectly with metacognition acting as an intermediary, not directly.At last, according to the final model, two factors of self-efficacy and metacognition are explained, in an effort to explain the model theoretically; some suggestions are made for junior high school chemistry teaching that we should put a high value on students'metacognition; the directions of further research are prospected with a combination of the strength and weakness of this study.