Abstract

The purposes of this study were to: (1) examine whether or not the construction of concept maps by students improves their achievement and ability to solve higher order questions in chemistry, (2) investigate the differential effect of the treatment by gender and achievement level, and (3) explore the relationships between performance on concept maps and chemistry achievement. Participants were 60 tenth-grade students randomly divided into two groups. The study spanned six weeks in a class that met five times a week. The material covered was acid-base titration and equilibrium in weak acids. The students were pre- and post-tested using a teacher-constructed chemistry test. Results showed that while there were no significant differences on the achievement total score, there were significant differences favoring the experimental group for scores on the knowledge level questions. Moreover, there were sex-achievement interactions at the knowledge and comprehension level questions favoring females and achievement level – achievement interactions favoring low achievers. Finally, there were significant correlations between students’ scores on high level questions and the convergence and total concept map scores.