CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE WEATHER CHANGE OF GRADE 7 STUDENTS THROUGH PREDICT-OBSERVE-EXPLAIN (POE) LEARNING APPROACH

Abstract

This research aimed to: (1) study and compare conceptual understanding of the weather change, and (2) study of changes in students’ conceptual understanding of the weather change before and after through the Predict–Observe–Explain (POE) learning approach. The sample group consisted of 24 Grade 7 students from a large secondary school under the Udon Thani Secondary Educational Service Area Office, during the second semester of the 2024 academic year. The research conducted a one-group pretest-posttest design. The research instruments included: (1) four lesson plans based on the POE learning approach focusing on the weather change, and (2) conceptual understanding of the weather change test. Data were analyzed by frequency, mean, percentage, standard deviation, t-test for Dependent Samples, and McNemar’s Chi-square test. The findings revealed that 1) Students' conceptual understanding after learning (=26.08 or 72.45%) was significantly higher than before (=10.71 or 29.75%) at the 0.01 level, and 2) Students showed a greater change in their conceptual understanding after learning from non-scientific conceptions to scientifically consistent conceptions, rather than from scientifically consistent conceptions to non-scientific conceptions.