Evaluation of a chemistry curriculum intervention using the Perry model of intellectual development

Abstract

A group of National Certificate (NC) Health Care students participated in an applications-based chemistry curriculum intervention. In a previous study, results have indicated that learning chemistry through applications helped to improve the perceived relevance and attitudes towards learning the subject. This paper builds on this earlier work and evaluates the intervention with respect to the Perry Scheme of Intellectual Development. A Perry Developmental Questionnaire was designed and distributed to the same participating students, and explored four main themes: students’ perceptions of scientific knowledge, the role of the lecturer, their own role in learning, and the role of assessment. Overall, the results indicated that scientific knowledge was viewed tentatively and that students were highly social in their learning. The lecturer was perceived as a facilitator of learning and assessment was viewed dualistically.