The Impact of Using Schman's Model on the Academic Achievement, Scientific Thinking and Trends Among Students of the Basic SeventhGrade

This study aimed at investigating the impact of using Schman's model on the academic achievement, scientific thinking and trends among students of the basic seventh grade in public schools of the Directorate of Education of Nablus in the second semester of the academic year (2010/2011). This study attempted to answer the following main question: - What is the impact Schman's model on the academic achievement, scientific thinking and trends among students of the basic seventh grade? To answer the questions of the study and test its hypotheses, the study was conducted on a sample of (171) students, distributed into four sections, in four different schools, consisted of two groups; the experimental group (35 male students and 48 female students), and the control group (46 male students and 42 female students), the experimental group taught using Schman's model, while the control group taught using the usual method of teaching. Four tools were used in the study: the Teacher's Manual For the use of Schman's model for the seventh grade students in a "heat in the life" of science, achievement test (20) items, scientific thinking test (20) items, scientific trends scale (37) items, has been used to ensure the validity of the study tools, and the reliability of achievement and thinking test, and trends scale, also been calculated difficulty and discrimination parameters of achievement test, thinking test. The academic achievement test, and scientific thinking test, and scientific trends scale were applied before and after teaching the education unit, and the analysis of variance (ANCOVA) was used to determine the impact of using a Schman's model on the dependent variables in the study, and calculated the value of h2, to know effect size teaching with Schman's model on the dependent variables. The results of the study showed that: • There are significant statistical differences at the level of (α = 0.05) between the average score seventh grade students on the academic achievement test, who learned according to the Schman's model (experimental group), and who learned the science in the usual way (control group). • There are significant statistical differences at the level of (α = 0.05) between the average score seventh grade students on the scientific thinking test, who learned according to the Schman's model (experimental group), and who taught science in the usual way (the control group). • There are significant statistical differences at the level of (α = 0.05) between the average score seventh grade students on the scientific trends scale, who have learned according to the Schman's model (experimental group), and who taught science in the usual way (the control group). Researcher recommended adopting a Schman's model and using it widely in the Palestinian curriculum; because of it is fun and exciting and it increases the motivation of students toward learning, training courses for teachers of science on a Schman's model and how to design activities for lessons, the use of Schman's model during their teaching for science material; because of the active impact in increasing student achievement and the development of scientific thinking and trends.