Purpose of research: Construction and use of the system of chemical exercises used in teaching organic chemistry to develop the creative capacity for students in gifted high school, contribute to renovating teaching and learning methods Chemistry in gifted high schools oriented towards capacity development.
Trang 1VINH UNIVERSITY
QUACH VAN LONG
CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF THE SYSTEM OF CHEMICAL EXERCISES USED IN TEACHING ORGANIC CHEMICALS
TO DEVELOP CREATIVE CAPACITY FOR STUDENTS
IN GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL
Major: Theory and Teaching Methodology of Chemistry
Code: 9140111
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS OF
SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION
NGHE AN - 2021
Trang 2THE THESIS WAS COMPLETED AT
The thesis can be found at the National Library of Vietnam, or the
Nguyen Thuc Hao Library – Vinh University
Trang 3INTRODUCTION
1 The reason for choosing a topic
With the current trend of integration of the country, socio-economic
development as well as industrialization-modernization, the country needs a
high-quality workforce to meet the human resource requirements for such growth The dynamic and creative human resources that meet the national development
requirements are mainly from specialized high schools in provinces and cities
nationwide
The capacity for problem solving and creativity is one of three important shared
competencies that need to be formed and developed for students through the subjects In
gifted high schools, this capacity is paid more attention, especially the development of
creative capacity is considered one of the school's teaching objectives and tasks
The content of organic chemistry focusing on providing in-depth knowledge in
terms of the structure, formation mechanism of substances, explanation, and
comparison of properties, synthesis and application of organic substances that is
relevant to practical life, helping students to have a proper and profound
understanding of the physical world, actively contributing to the development of
cognitive abilities, action capacities, creative capacities and qualities of new workers
From the reality of teaching chemistry in gifted high schools, we realize that
students have already had the great cognitive ability, self-study and willpower
Teachers have highly taken notice of equipping students with in-depth knowledge in
various topics, but haven‟t emphasized the growth of students' creative capacities
through the use of active teaching methods, chemical exercises, especially organic
chemistry exercises combined with active teaching methods to organize research
activities, propose novel and unique solutions to solve real-life issues
For the aforementioned reasons, we have chosen the topic: Construction and use of
the system of chemical exercises used in teaching organic chemistry to develop
the creative capacity for students in gifted high school. We hope this topic will
contribute to developing students' creative capacities and improving the quality of
chemistry teaching in gifted high schools
2 Purpose of research
Construction and use of the system of chemical exercises used in teaching
organic chemistry to develop the creative capacity for students in gifted high school,
contribute to renovating teaching and learning methods Chemistry in gifted high
schools oriented towards capacity development
3 Object and subject of the research
- Research objects: The process of teaching chemistry in a gifted high school
- Research subjects: Construction and use of the system of organic chemistry
exercise in gifted high school organic chemistry exercises system in coordination
with active teaching methods to develop creative capacities for students specializing
in chemistry
4 Scope of research
Trang 4-Research content: chemical exercises in gifted high school programs and creative capacity of specialized students
- Research period: From December 26th, 2016 to December 26th, 2020
- Experiment‟s locations: 38 gifted high schools across the country
5 Scientific hypothesis
If we can construct a diverse and rich system of organic chemistry exercises oriented to develop competencies and be used in combination with the problem-solving and collaborative team teaching appropriately, which is suitable for students, it will develop the creative capacity of students in gifted high schools, contributing to enhancing the quality of teaching Chemistry
6 Research tasks
- Researching on the theoretical basis of capacity, creativity, creative capacity, and methods to develop: creative capacity in teaching chemistry; chemical exercises for capacity development and using chemical exercises in teaching chemistry, some positive teaching methods contributing to the development of creative capacity
- Investigating the status quo of the building and using the system of organic chemistry exercises to develop the creative capacity for students specializing in Chemistry in gifted high schools in Vietnam
- Researching the objectives, the structure, and the content of organic chemistry for gifted high school students and principles, processes of building organic chemistry exercises oriented towards developing creative capacities for students in gifted high schools
- Proposing to build a system of organic chemistry exercises and methods to use them in teaching to develop creative capacities for students specializing in chemistry
in gifted high schools
- Designing tools to evaluate the creative capacity development of students in gifted high school through solving organic chemistry exercises
- Pedagogically experimenting to assess the suitability, effectiveness, and feasibility of the developed organic chemistry exercises system and proposed measures
7 Research methods
7.1 Group of theoretical research methods
- Researching theoretical documents related to the research content of the topic
- Combining different methods of analysis, synthesis, systematization, generalization, review of documents related to the research topic
- Analyzing the content of the organic chemistry program in gifted high schools, building a system of organic chemistry exercises with a view to fostering creative capacities for students in gifted high schools
7.2 Group of practical research methods
- Surveying and assessing the status quo of the creative capacity of students specializing in Chemistry to develop creative capacities for chemistry gifted students
in teaching chemistry in the current gifted high schools
Trang 5- The expert method: Discussing and consulting with educational experts and teachers teaching organic chemistry in gifted-chemistry classes about the issues: Evaluating the appropriateness of the developed organic chemistry exercise system and methods to harness them to develop creative capacities for students; structure, expression, and evaluation criteria for students based on solving organic chemistry exercises
- The pedagogical experiment: Determining the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposals
7.3 Statistical methods
Using mathematical-statistical methods in educational science research to process and evaluate the results of the pedagogical experiment
8 New contribution of the thesis
- Systematizing and concretizing several concepts, issues related to capacity, creative capacity, organic chemistry exercises in the direction of creative capacity development
- Surveying and assessing the status quo of creative capacity, the construction and use of organic chemistry exercises to develop the capacity for students specializing in chemistry through questionnaires of 74 teachers teaching organic chemistry and 2572 students from 38 gifted high schools in Vietnam
- Determining the structure and the expression of the creative capacity of chemistry gifted students; identifying 10 criteria, describing 4 levels of expressing creative competencies, from which to build and use toolkit for assessing the creative capacity of gifted high school students through solving organic exercises
- Proposing 5 principles and a 6-step process to build organic chemistry exercises in the direction of developing creative capacities for students in gifted high schools Thereby, building a system of organic chemistry exercises including 11 types with 75 exercises oriented to develop the creative capacity of gifted students
- Proposing 2 measures to use organic chemistry exercises system to develop the creative capacity for students: Including using organic chemistry exercises in combination with problem-solving teaching methods and teaching methods studying group collaboration The proposed measures have been demonstrated through 8 illustrated lesson plans and pedagogical experiments to evaluate their effectiveness and feasibility
9 The thesis structure
Besides the introduction, general conclusion, recommendations, references, appendices, the thesis has 3 chapters: Chapter 1 (including 33 pages); Chapter 2 (includes 68 pages); Chapter 3 (including 33 pages)
Trang 6Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BASIS AND PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE CAPACITY FOR STUDENTS IN GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL IN TEACHING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
1.1 Overview of the research issues
1.1.1 Researching on creativity, developing creative capacity in teaching worldwide
In the world, there exist many types of research on creativity, creative capacity, teaching to develop the creative capacity for learners through specific subjects Some typical authors: Rickards; Ruco, Vygotsky, Ekwall, Frenklack, Brady, Fettes, Karwowski, Soszynski; Sorby, Engel, Miliszewska, Dakich, Claxton, Spencer, Sahlberg, In Chemistry, there are authors such as Johnson, Ajoke, Joe, Trivia, Tomasevic, and Vukovic
1.1.2 Research on creativity, developing creative capacity in teaching in Vietnam
Researching on creativity and creative capacity has attracted some authors such
as Nguyen Duc Uy, Nguyen Canh Toan, Pham Minh Hac, Hoang They, Tran Viet Dung, Phan Dung, Tran Thi Bich Lieu, Nguyen Cuong, The research on the development of students' creative capacities in teaching chemistry has been mentioned in several theses such as Pham Thi Bich Dao, Hoang Thi Thuy Huong, Tran Thi Thu Hue, Dinh Thi Hong Minh,
As such, Vietnamese educators have also researched creative thinking, creative capacities, and developed creative capacity for students in chemistry teaching However, there have not been any authors mentioning the construction and use of organic chemistry exercises system to develop creative capacities for students of gifted high schools
1.2 Capacity development for students in teaching in high school
1.2.1 The concept of competence
Competence is a personal attribute formed and developed, based on the available qualities and the process of learning and training, allowing people to successfully
perform a certain type of activity, achieving the desired results in a specific condition
1.2.2 The structure of competence
The general structure of competencies is a combination of the following four component competencies: professional, methodological, social, and individual competencies
1.2.3 Characteristics of competence
- Being a unique combination of psychological and physiological properties of
an individual
- Being formed and developed in the process of operation and communication
1.2.4 Competencies to be developed for high school students in chemistry teaching
In addition to the common and professional competencies, chemistry also contributes to the formation and development of chemical competencies in students With the Chemistry subject in the gifted high school, it is necessary to focus on forming and developing for students the common qualities and capacities specified in the Master Program; the chemical capacity Regarding gifted-chemistry students,
Trang 7there is a need to focus on developing more capacities to apply chemical knowledge
in new and complex contexts; students know to analyze and understand the relationships among chemical problems that occur in the real world as well as have impacts on life, the environment and society
1.2.5 Evaluating capacities
To evaluate students' competencies, teachers need to use a combination of methods and tools: Evaluation through observation; assessment through learning records; self-assessment; peer assessment; assessment through the test
1.3 Developing creative capacities for high school students
1.3.1 The concept of creation and creation process
a) The concept of creation
Creation is the process of human activity generating new and valuable solutions
to solve proposed problems effectively, meeting social needs
Figure 1.1 The Elements of Creation
1.3.2 Creative competencies of high school students
1.3.2.1 The concept of creative capacity
Creative capacity is the individual's ability to find new solutions, new valuable products based on the combination of its unique knowledge and intellectual qualities For students at gifted high school, their creative capacity needs to focus on many factors such as exploration, discovery, imagination, creative thinking, creative process,
1.3.2.2 The structure of creative capacity
In the Ministry of Education and Training's project about the renovation in coursebook program, the creative capacity structure of high school students has been identified: i) The ability to question valuable inquiries to clarify situations and abstract ideas; identify and clarify new and complex information, ideas from different
Creative environment
Trang 8information sources; analyze independent sources of information to examine inclinations and reliability of new ideas ii) Considering things with different perspectives; forming and connecting ideas; researching to change solutions to the changing context; risk assessment and provision iii) Arguments about thinking processes, recognizing creative elements in opposing views; detects weaknesses in one's opinion, and applies what is known in new situations iv) Infatuating; raising many new ideas in study and life; being unafraid of being wrong; thinking outside the box, creating new elements based on different ideas
1.4 Several positive teaching methods contribute to the development of creative capacities for students in gifted high school
1.4.1 Capacity development-oriented exercises and their use in teaching chemistry
1.4.1.1 Capacity development-oriented exercises
a) The context of Chemistry exercises and capacity development-oriented exercises
Chemical exercises are tasks that teachers put on learners, forcing learners to apply their learned knowledge or practical experience, use intellectual actions or practical actions to solve tasks to occupy knowledge and skills in a positive, proactive, and creative way
Capacity development-oriented exercises are those that focus on applying different insights to solve a new problem against students, associated with situations
in life The exercises used in assessing international students' proficiency PISA are typical examples of the types of capacity development-oriented exercises to evaluate the ability to apply knowledge in solving problems of real life
b) Characteristics of capacity development-orientated exercises
Capacity development-orientated exercises have some outstanding features such as supporting cumulative learning; assisting with personalizing learning; build exercises on
a standard basis; containing different paths and solutions; intrinsic differentiation To develop the creative capacities of students at gifted high schools, it is imperative to contemplate using this type of exercise
c) Types of capacity development-oriented exercises
Based on the above cognitive levels, capacity development-oriented exercises are built in the following forms: (1) Repeating exercises; (2) Manipulated exercises; (3) problem-solving exercises; (4) Exercises associated with contexts and practical situations This type of exercise plays a vitally important role in the development of students' competencies, especially problem-solving, knowledge-applying and creative capacity Teaching practice shows that this type of exercise is still little interested in use
To develop creative capacities for students at gifted high schools, teachers need to combine the appropriate use of problem-solving exercises and exercises that are associated with contexts and practical situations
1.4.1.2 Use capacity development-oriented exercises in teaching chemistry
With the characteristics of chemistry, in teaching, it is necessary to pay attention to using chemistry exercises in the direction of active teaching Specifically: Increasing the use of experimental exercises; as well as exercises using drawings, diagrams,
Trang 9graphs, containing mistakes in perception, .; increasing the construction and use of problem-solving exercises, exercises associated with contexts and practical situations
1.4.2 Problem-solving teaching method
1.4.2.1 Definition
1.4.2.2 The process of teaching problem solving
1.4.2.3 The extents of applying problem-solving teaching method
1.4.2.3 Advantages and limitations of problem-solving teaching method
1.4.3 Group collaborative teaching
1.4.3.1 Definition
1.4.3.2 The essence of group collaborative teaching
1.4.3.3 Group collaborative teaching process
1.4.3.4 Advantages and disadvantages of group collaborative teaching
1.5 Characteristics of gifted high schools
1.6 The reality of building and using exercises used in teaching organic chemistry to develop creative capacities for students in gifted high schools
1.6.1 Describing the process of surveying the status quo
a) The purpose of the survey: To study and evaluate the teaching situation and
develop the creative capacity for students in gifted high school through the use of
teaching methods and chemical exercises in teaching organic chemistry
b)Subjects and surveyed areas: Surveyed 74 teachers directly teaching organic
chemistry and 2572 students in class 11 and 12, specializing in chemistry in 38 gifted high schools from 37 provinces and cities across the country The survey was carried out in 2 phases, in 2016 and 2017
c) Content of the survey: Surveying teachers and students about the necessity of
developing creative capacities for students specializing in chemistry, the current situation of students' creative capacities, the use of positive teaching methods, and the construction and use of organic chemistry exercises in teaching to develop creative capacities for students
d) Survey method: The content of the survey is determined and built in the form
of questionnaires, distributing survey cards along with observations, and exchanging with some teachers who have had experience in teaching organic chemistry in gifted high schools for many years
1.6.2 The results of surveying the status quo
a) Teacher survey results
In terms of the construction and use of organic chemistry exercises to
develop creative capacities for students
- Regarding the use of chemical exercise resources: 100% of teachers take exercises from textbooks, exercise books, reference books, and from exam questions, the internet, to teach Only 6/74 (8.11%) teachers use chemistry exercises built by themselves in the direction of developing creative capacity for students
- Regarding the level, method, and basis to build new chemical exercises: Most teachers rarely create new chemical exercises, the method of creating mainly based
Trang 10on existing exercises and then converting types of exercises (essay to multiple-choice exercises and vice versa), changing data, the basis for a building is mainly the content
of the program but little attention to students
- Regarding the most concerning issue when building and using the new exercise
of organic chemistry: There are 71/74 (95.95%) teachers to test the level of knowledge in the textbook, merely 10/74 (13.51%) teachers focus on developing creative capacities for students
- Teachers' perceptions of organic chemistry exercises oriented to foster the creative capacity for students: Although teachers are aware that expanding creative capacities for students is extremely necessary, many teachers are not properly aware
of the concepts, characteristics, and classification of organic chemistry exercises in the direction of developing creative capacities for students
- Most teachers assumed that the 11 types of exercises that we have built will develop creative capacities for students
- The use of teachers' organic chemistry exercises to develop creative capacities for students is still limited, and there are no specific plans and clear measures
- When building and using organic chemistry exercises to develop creative capacities for students, teachers encounter the following difficulties: Determining the structure, criteria, and toolkit for assessing creative capacity through solving organic chemistry exercises (91.89%); identifying principles, requirements, and processes for building organic chemistry exercises to develop creative capacity (87.84%); not finding ways to use effective organic chemistry exercises, suitable for developing creative capacity (86.48%); the time for implementing the lesson plan oriented creative capacity development is still insufficient (85.13%); classifying exercises of organic chemistry in the direction of developing creative capacity (83.78%); the number of organic chemistry exercises to orient the development of creativity capacity is small, not meeting the requirements (81.08%);the dearth of teaching facilities;failing to meet the requirements of solving organic chemistry exercises in the direction of creative capacity development (54.05%); students are not active, proactive and creative in learning (31.08%); other difficulties (33.78%)
- The use of teaching facilities (experiments, models, pictures, samples) to improve observation capacity; capacity to research, explore and create; develop imagination; helping students be interested, passionate about learning and have a scientific view of the phenomenal things in activities to solve organic chemistry exercises that have not been given adequate attention
About the student's manifestations of creative capacity
Manifold teacher's awareness of the manifestations of students' creative capacity
is still empirical, emotional, without a scientific basis
About teaching methods
- Most teachers are aware that using a combination of chemical exercises with problem-solving teaching methods and group cooperative teaching methods will bring more efficiency in developing creative capacities than other teaching methods This
Trang 11proves that many teachers have paid attention to innovating teaching and learning methods towards developing learners' competencies, especially creative capacity However, through discussions with these teachers, they said that in reality, they still use the teaching method of one-way knowledge transmission as the mainstay The reason is that these teachers themselves do not fully understand the structure and the criteria for expressing the creative capacity of students in gifted high school
- When organizing activities to solve organic chemistry exercises, up to 40/74 teachers (54.05%) have never required students to propose research questions and new solutions to solve the research problem
About assessment of learning results
- Regarding the extent of the exercises: Teachers have frequently used the exercises at the level of reproducing textbook knowledge (79.73%) and understanding level (72.97%); regularly used exercises at the application level (68.92%); sometimes used exercises at a high level of manipulation (66.21%)
- Regarding the form of testing: Teachers often or very often check questions and answers, use objective multiple-choice exercises, essay exercises rather than using forms of testing to assess students' competency such as: using observation checklists, questionnaires, academic records, peer assessment, and self-assessment
b) Student survey results
- About using resources of chemical exercises: The students all have used the chemical exercises in the textbooks, workbook, or provided by teachers Also, there are 1696/2572 students (65.94%) taken from reference books and 1453/2572 students (56.49%) obtained from the internet
- About the quality of organic chemistry exercises: 2572/2572 students (100%) said that there were not many good exercises (exercises contain unique, creative solutions; exercises associated with situations and practical context; .); 2506/2572 students (97.43%) said that most of the "difficult" exercises were related to calculation but underestimating the nature of chemistry; 2542/2572 students (98.33%) said that there were very few exercises with topical content to generate excitement, passion for research, exploration, and creativity in learning for students The majority of students assumed that manifold exercises merely asked them to memorize learned knowledge by rote, had no use fostering the creative capacity, and acquired knowledge were mostly academic and inapplicable in real life
- About the student's level of engagement in creative learning activities: The level of students participating in creative learning activities is marginal
- Students' awareness of the important role of creative capacity development: Students all believe that creative capacity advocates solving many problems in learning and real life
The research results on a theoretical and practical basis have acknowledged that the development of creative capacities for students in gifted high school is urgent, suitable with the renewal requirements of our country's current general education
Trang 12Chapter 2 CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF ORGANIC CHEMICAL EXERCISES
TO DEVELOP CREATIVE CAPACITY FOR STUDENTS
IN GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL 2.1 Analyzing objectives, the content structure of organic chemistry - Chemistry program in gifted high schools
2.1.1 Target organic chemistry section in gifted high school
2.1.2 Content structure section of organic chemistry in chemistry program gifted high school
2.2 Build the creative capacity structure of students in gifted high school in chemistry teaching
2.2.1 Creative capacity of students in gifted high school
The creative capacity of students in gifted high schools is the ability to mobilize intellectual resources and personal qualities to discover problems that need research, propose new ideas and solutions, new unique problem solving and effective
implementation, appropriate solutions to solve problems posed in learning and real life
2.2.2 Process of building the creative capacity structure of students in gifted high school
The process of building a creative capacity structure includes the following 6
steps: Step 1: Determine the basis for building a creative capacity structure; Step 2: Propose a draft creative capacity structure; Step 3: Consult experts on the draft creative capacity structure; Step 4: Edit creative capacity structure; Step 5: Building a table describing expression levels of creative capacity; Step 6: Edit and complete the
creative capacity structure
2.2.3 The creative capacity structure of students in gifted high school
2.2.3.1 The elements and criteria for the manifestation of the creative competencies
of students in gifted high school
The creative capacity structure is described in Table 2.1 below:
Table 2.1 The elements and criteria for expressing the creative capacity of
students in gifted high school through solving organic chemistry exercises
Numerical
order
Components of creative capacity
Criteria for expressing creative capacity
Criterion 2: Collecting and processing information related
to problem contents that need to be solved in the exercise
Criterion 3: Proposing many valuable research questions
to clarify the problems raised in the exercises
Criterion 4: Proposing exploration, new and unique
options to answer the research question
Criterion 5: Proposing a new and valuable solution or
updating the old one into a new one with higher efficiency
Criterion 6: Making a plan to solve the exercises and
Trang 13conducting it briefly, scientifically and effectively
3
Presenting results,
self-comment,
self-assessment
Criterion 7: Presenting profoundly and uniquely research
results (solutions to exercises) in a particular style
Criterion 8: To flexibly and creatively comment on and
evaluate individual/group perspectives and solving plans
Criterion 9: Synthesizing knowledge and skills according
to their understanding and propose the ability to apply research results in learning and real life
Criterion 10: Proposing certain new problems resulting
from the given exercises
2.2.3.2 Building the table describing the levels of expression of the creative capacity
of students in gifted high school through solving organic chemistry exercises
Table 2.2 Criteria and levels assessment of the creative capacity of students in
gifted high school through solving organic chemistry exercises
Criteria Level 4
(4,0 point)
Level 3 (3,0 point)
Level 2 (2,0 point)
Level 1 (1,0 point)
exercises
Fully detecting the problem to be solved in the exercise and point out some hidden factors
Fully detecting the problem to be solved in the exercise
Not fully detecting the problem to
be solved in the exercise
information, analyzing the relationship
between this information and hidden elements
of the exercise
Collecting full information related to the problematic content to be solved in the exercise,
explaining the meaning of this information
Gathering full information related to the content of the problem to be solved in the exercise but not clarifying the meaning of this information
Not collecting sufficient information related to the problematic content to be solved by the exercise
Having proposed the majority of research
questions for the problem posed in
Proposing a few valuable research questions to the problem posed in the exercise
Cannot propose valuable research questions to the problem