Effect Of Different Prelab Learning Methods On Chemistry Laboratory Learning For High School Students Based On Cognitive Load Theory

Laboratory learning plays an extremely important role in chemical learning.However,the unsatisfactory learning outcomes of chemical laboratory learning still exist due to the limitations of teaching environment,teachers’ abilities,educational objectives and other factors.Many scholars minimize the negative effects of this problem by introducing laboratory preparation(prelab)to students,such as reading experimental materials,solving prelab assignments,completing online tests,watching videos,and using relevant simulation software or developing virtual laboratories before experiments.Laboratory preparation,also known as prelab,refers to a short-term task completed before operating or participating in the laboratory.It is a part that is easily neglected in experimental teaching,and is rarely reflected in domestic secondary education.For Chinese research in this field in the present,firstly a small number of existing research still faces insufficient in-depth and comprehensive problems,which only briefly describes the experimental preparation process without more details.Secondly,the research type is relatively single,and the research scope is not enough which only introduces the prelab method or laboratory teaching reform process,but ignores the evaluation of learning effect.Thirdly,ignore the detailed research steps,not list the specific research methods and the explanation of the problem is not deep enough,while too much emphasis is placed on the research results.Based on the above existing problems,this study has set up six different prelab methods,taking the experiment "chemical energy into electricity" as an example and integrate to the cognitive load theory(the sum of the contents that must be paid attention to and dealt with in working memory).The aim is to highlight the importance of the prelab,increase the study that can be referred to in the prelab research,evaluate the learning effects of different prelab methods more deeply,carefully and accurately and pay more attention to the learning burden and needs of students.To more specific,this research analyzes the prelab methods applicable to students with different cognitive load levels from three aspects,and summarizes the improvement suggestions for different indicators of cognitive load(reduction and control of internal cognitive load and external cognitive load and the appropriate increase of relevant cognitive load).This learning method can decrease the pressure and burden of students in the learning process,further reduce the anxiety of students before the experimental operation,and improve their self-efficacy.Based on the analysis above,this study aims to solve four problems.In view of the current application and existing problems of the prelab,124 in-service teachers from two high schools were selected as the research objects.In view of the current cognitive load level of students,297 students from the first year in a senior high school were selected as the research objects.The pre-test investigated the application and existing problems of the prelab and the cognitive load level of these students.Aiming at the problem of prelab methods applicable to students with different cognitive load levels,after randomly dividing them into seven groups to implement six pre-experimental methods(the remaining group does not set pre-experimental methods,but is the control group),the post-test of the cognitive load level of 35 students in one class was conducted,and score their answers.The learning effect are analyzed from three perspectives:(1)Analyze the changes of individual students under different cognitive load indicators before and after the evaluation,and roughly infer the scope of application of different prelab methods.(2)SPSS software was used to analyze the difference between the average score of the overall cognitive load level of each group and contrast their average scores with the control group to find which group showed the most significant differences.Then analyze the differences between the average score of each cognitive load index in the group and the control group and clarify the reasons.Finally,the correlation analysis of each cognitive load indicator in each group with the best performance group to found that there was no significant correlation among the three cognitive load indicators.Based on this,a more detailed scope of application of the prelab method was obtained.(3)In addition to the above two subjective student self-evaluations,the rationality of the scope of application is further confirmed by combining the scores of the objective materials(evaluation of the experimental report,evaluation of the operation process,and analysis of the answers to the after-class test questions).And explain the details of the application of the prelab method through the characteristics of box chart statistics.Finally,based on the comprehensive analysis of the above aspects,the suggestions and methods for controlling different cognitive load indicators in actual teaching are summarized.