Research Question. What is the impact of Reflective Writing on students' concept understanding in Chemistry?

Research Activities. Context. This study took place in a high-performing 10^th and 11^th grade normal chemistry class with a class size of twenty-seven students from which six focus students were selected based on their academic performance. The focus students were fluent English speakers and represented three ability groupings: high, medium and low-achieving students within the class population.

Instructional Approach. The study consisted of reflective writings paired with peer feedback. Student writing was used to assess the students' concept understanding at the end of a unit. Student writing were then compared with summative assessment results. The intervention spanned across three units in the regular Chemistry curriculum. During reflective writing, students were expected to reflect upon their knowledge of a particular unit by responding to a series of discussion questions designed to elicit elaboration about specific scientific ideas in the unit studied. These reflective writing samples were scored on a rubric which assigned a numerical value of 0 to 3 based on the thoroughness of the writing content with relation to the unit addressed. Additional data were collected through pre- and post-intervention attitudinal surveys, KWL tables, and summative assessment scores over the 12-week intervention period.

Findings and Conclusions. The results suggested that reflective writing was an effective strategy in aiding students to recall what they had learned. Although students' attitudes towards writing as an important skill were minimally affected, results from attitude surveys indicated that students generally recognized the benefits of reflective writing as a strategy for helping students organize and recall their concept understanding of a topic in Chemistry.

Grade Level. Secondary, 10^th and 11 ^th grade

Data collection Methods. Student Reflections, Student work, Survey-Attitude, Observation-Student engagement, Teacher-made Assessments

Curriculum Areas. Science-Chemistry

Instructional Approaches. Writing-Prompts, Writing-Peer response/Feedback, Writing-Self-evaluation.