Question-posing capability as an alternative evaluation method: Analysis of an environmental case study

An effective strategy for improving problem-solving ability is fostering st udents' question posing capabilities through the use of real-world problems . This article describes research on scientific question-posing capabilitie s among 10th-grade students who were studying air quality in a cooperative way, using the jigsaw method. Case studies and analyses of daily problems a nd dilemmas were integrated within the module the Quality of Air around Us, which was designed and developed specially for this research. The students were required to pose questions and cope with real-life problems while pra cticing a variety of learning activities, such as reading press or scientif ic articles, analyzing tables and graphs, and creating posters and advertis ements that related to the problem. The students' question-posing skills we re evaluated by using pre- and postcase study questionnaires. We found the number, orientation, and complexity of questions students posed to be three indices of question-posing capability. Following study of the Quality of A ir around Us module, a significant increase was observed in the factors of number and complexity of questions students posed. The difference between s tudents at high and low academic levels in the extent of increase in both n umber and complexity of posed questions was significant. As for orientation , the percentage of solution- and opinion-oriented questions increased in t he posttest, and fewer questions dealt with the problem and related hazards . This indicates an increase in students' awareness of the need for and fea sibility of seeking practical solutions to a given problem, as well as cons iderable improvement of their ability to analyze a related case study. On t he basis of these findings, we recommend incorporating analysis of question -posing capability as an alternative evaluation method. To this end, foster ing of question posing into the case study-based teaching/learning approach is the preferred strategy, in particular when environmental aspects are in volved. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.