Achievement and Level of Critical Thinking in CHEM Study and Traditional Chemistry

An experimental group of 104 students of CHEM Study chemistry were compared with a control group of 104 students of traditional chemistry. Differences in the dependent variables of achievement in chemistry and critical thinking were analyzed by analysis of covariance, and multiple classification analysis of variance. CHEM Study students achieved at a significantly higher level than traditional students. There was no signifi cant difference between treatment groups in level of critical thinking. There was no significant interaction between program, mental ability, and the dependent variables of achievement in chemistry and level of critical thinking. The conclusion that the CHEM Study approach is superior appears to be valid for all levels of mental ability usually found in high school chemistry classes. THE PERIOD of curriculum reform in second ary school science, including the development of the CHEM Study project, has been accompanied by widespread interest in improving evaluation techniques. This interest has resulted from the fact that educators have shown a traditional con cern with achievement in chemistry as an outcome of the CHEM Study approach. At the same time, educators have become increasingly concerned with critical thinking as an educational objective. Historically, the evaluation problem was brought into focus in a study reported by Hip sher (6). The study revealed that students taught traditional physics achieved at a significantly higher level than did students using a PSSC cur riculum. Publication of the study resulted in wide spread recognition of the fact that tests designed to measure achievement in terms of traditional objectives could not be used to meaningfully evaluate the new programs. As a result of this recognition, Rainey (8) studied achievement in chemistry utilizing both a conventional achievement test and the final test of the CHEM Study materials. Pye and Anderson (7) designed a 3-hour achievement examination formulated to evaluate students of CHEM Study, the Chemical Bond approach, and the conven tional approach. Herron (5) has provided an in teresting comparison of student performance in CHEM Study and conventional chemistry in