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Impact Of Goal Setting And Note-Taking On Conceptual Understanding Of Mole Concept Among 11th Graders At Broadway Secondary School, Zambia

Volume 3 - Issue 11, November 2019 Edition
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Author(s)
Webby Muluka, Patrick Hayumbu, Asiana Banda
Keywords
chemistry education, executive function skills, goal setting, note-taking, mole concept.
Abstract
The study has a dual focus: to investigate variation in five dimensions of executive function skills namely working memory, planning, organisation, metacognition and flexible thinking abilities among 11th graders enrolled for science 5124 syllabus at Broadway Secondary School in Kabwe district of Zambia; and to investigate the impact of goal setting and note-taking (executive function skills instruction strategies) on conceptual understanding of mole concept among pupils with self-reported weak executive function skills. Quantitative data was collected using executive function skills inventory-student report and mole concept achievement tests. Results show that there is variation in the distribution of executive function skills among grade 11pupils enrolled for science 5124 syllabus at Broadway Secondary School. Results further show that pupils with self-reported weak executive function skills who had received training in goal setting and note-taking outperformed pupils with self-reported strong executive function skills who were not trained in goal setting and note-taking. Goal setting and note-taking show to have positive impact on conceptual understanding of threshold concepts such as mole concept on learners especially those with weak executive function skills.
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