Student learning through journal writing in a natural science course for pre-elementary education majors

Abstract

This paper describes the use of journals in a general education chemistry course for elementary education majors. In the journals, students describe their understanding of a topic, its development, and its connection to their lives. The following types of reflections were identified in student journals: action, prior knowledge, project ideas, text resources, classroom events, and monitoring of knowledge. A multiple linear regression analysis of total course points earned versus student GPA, ACT score, number of reflections made for each reflection type, and total number of reflection made throughout all journals was used to determine the significance of the type of reflections made by students in relationship to their chemistry content understanding. The results indicate that students who reflected more on classroom events and those who monitored their knowledge correlated positively with a higher content knowledge. However, reflecting on text resources had a negative correlation to students' overall chemistry content knowledge.