Construction Of Cognitive Developmental Framework And Assessment Of "Structure And Properties Of Matter"

This study focuses on the core content of chemistry,"Structure and Properties of Matter".The study constructed a cognitive development framework of secondary school students on "Structure and Properties of Matter" from three perspectives:Subject Knowledge of Chemistry,Students' Cognitive Development,and Examination Assessment,based on domestic and international literature and textual materials.Following above framework,the Rasch model of Item Response Theory(IRT)was adopted for analysis,and the "Four Cornerstones" framework proposed by Wilson was used as the basis for the development of test items to develop the "Structure and Properties of Matter" cognitive assessment.After the pilot test,the responses were categorised and the criteria for assigning points to each item were established,and the tool was optimized with reference to the results of the Rasch model analysis.The formal test was administered in a senior secondary school in Jiangsu Province to 305 students in their second and third years of study,and lasted 40 minutes.Data were collected and collated using a WPS-Excel spreadsheet,and statistical analysis of the assessment data was carried out using Winsteps 3.72.0 software and SPSS 23.0software.A combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses was used to investigate the cognitive patterns and thinking characteristics of secondary school students on "Structure and Properties of Matter" and to compare the differences in cognitive development between students of different grades and genders.The following research results were obtained:(1)There was a significant difference in the cognitive ability of Grade 2 and Grade 3 students in "Structure and Properties of Matter",with the overall ability of Grade 2 students at Level 4,approaching Level 5,and Grade 3 students at Level 5.(2)There was no significant difference in the cognitive ability of boys and girls on the "Structure and Properties of Matter".(3)There was a degree of interaction between grade and gender variables in this study.(4)The ability performance of all 305 students was normally distributed and representative.The majority of students were at an intermediate level,with a small number of students at the highest Level 6.The performance of some students at Level3 and below was more worrying.By analysing the specific performance and characteristics of students at different levels,it is possible to suggest targeted ways of breaking through to improve students' cognitive abilities in the area of "Structure and Properties of Matter".