Experimental Study On Thinking Maps In Chemistry At Sennior Middle School

Thinking Maps is an instructional strategy,which is intended to serve as a common visual language for students to foster specific cognitive thinking across all academic content areas.In this study,the application of Thinking Maps in the high school Chemistry teaching design was mainly researched.Previous researches and papers were reviewed.The theories of Thinking Maps and the chemistry teaching design were analyzed to form the teaching strategies.This study examined if there was a significant difference in the mean gains in academic performance in chemistry as measured by examinations between students who receive Thinking Maps as a strategy and those who do not.This study also examined students' perceptions of the impact of Thinking Maps on chemistry learning by surveys and interviews.The perception of students in this study have indicated that their use of Thinking Maps had a positive effect on the interest and motivation in learning chemistry.Interviews with students revealed they believe Thinking Maps promote their understanding of what they study and positively impact their affective domain.The quantitative results of the study revealed a significant difference in the means of academic performance in chemistry between students who received Thinking Maps instruction and those who did not.The result of this study is consistent with claims of previous researches,indicating that Thinking Maps strategy is effective in high school teaching,and its enormous potential in education needs to be further developed.