Designing and Using Experimental Kits for Secondary School Teaching

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 14 Issue 3 (2009) pp 110-114

Designing and Using Experimental Kits for Secondary School Teaching

Kulthida Nugultham,¹ Tony Wright,² and Juwadee Shiowatana*

¹Institute for Innovation and Development of Learning Process, Mahidol University, Rama VI Rd. Rachathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand, g4637463@student.mahidol.ac.th, ²School of Education, The University of Queensland, QLD 4067, Australia, ^*Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Rama VI Rd. Rachathewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand, scysw@mahidol.ac.th
Received October 17, 2008 Accepted April 16, 2009.

Published online: 6 June 2009

Abstract. This paper describes the development of low-cost experimental kits for secondary school science teaching. A major part of this project involved developing educational kits and associated teaching materials to help students use the experimental kit effectively. The experimental kits consist of a testing device for colorimetric and turbidimetric analyses. The experimental kits were designed to support students exploring issues associated with substances around their lives and also included instructional manuals for teachers and student activities; lesson plans; and assessment items in addition to the test kits for pH, phosphate, dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. These experiment kits as exemplified by “Detergents and Water Quality” and “Secrets of Soft Drinks” encourage students to collect their own data and explore their results, which fosters inquiry-based learning in the classroom.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; general chemistry; K-12

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: scysw@mahidol.ac.th)

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