ENHANCING ENHANCING OF CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN ENERGY CONCERVATION AND ANALYTICAL THINKING ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEARS VOCATIONNAL CERTIFICAT STUDENTS THROUGH PROBLEM - BASED LEARNING

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) study and compare the conceptual understanding of energy conservation, and 2) study and compare the analytical thinking ability of students before and after learning through problem-based learning. The sample consisted of 19 first-year higher vocational certificate students in the second semester of the academic year 2024, majoring in commerce, from a vocational college in UdonThani Province, obtained by cluster random sampling. This was one-group pretest-posttest design research. The research instruments included 4 problem-based learning lesson plans on energy conservation, the conceptual understanding of energy conservation test and analytical thinking ability test. The data were analysis by mean, percentage, standard deviation, and the hypotheses were tested by applying a t-test for dependent samples and the Chi-Square test using McNemar’s procedure. The research results showed that students' conceptual understanding after learning (=17.79, accounting for 74.12%) was higher than before learning (=6.26, accounting for 26.10%). Most students showed an increased level of conceptual understanding of energy conservation and waste management, but some students showed a decreased or unchanged level of conceptual understanding. Students' analytical thinking ability after learning (=15.00, accounting for 75.00%) was higher than before learning (=10.20, accounting for 51.10%).