Effects of an intellectually caring model on urban African American alternative high school students' conceptual change and achievement in chemistry

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the effects of an intellectually caring model of teaching and learning on alternative African American high school students' conceptual change and achievement in a chemistry unit on acids and bases. A mixed-methods approach using retrospective data was utilized. Data secured from the teacher were the audio-recordings of her prior- and post-interventional individual interviews with students and the results of the students' pre- and post-interventional Acid Base Achievement Test (ABA-T). All audio-recorded interviews were transcribed. A qualitative analysis of students' prior- and post-interventional conceptions of acids and bases using phenomenography revealed: (a) a change in the number of categories of descriptions, (b) a shift in language use from everyday talk to more chemical talk, and (c) a hierarchy of chemical knowledge. The ABA-T results indicated that students (n = 17) in the experimental group achieved significantly higher scores (p < 0.003) than students in the control group (n = 22) taught by traditional teaching methods. The study outlines three implications: (a) reaching the often unreached mind, (b) developing simple chemical phrases into coherent chemical explanation, and (c) achieving alternative students' success in traditional test. The study recommends implementing an intellectually caring model for teaching alternative education students.