• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.864-875
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate high school students' understanding of acid-base related concepts using three different titration technologies. The test population was composed of 209 students from three classes in the 10th grade. The different titration experiments using indicator, or pH-meter or MBL were performed in each class unit, respectively. The analyses of the effect on the understanding of different titration technologies were carried out by comparing the mean scores of the concept test taken before and after the titration for the three groups. The results of the acid-base related concept test indicated that statistically significant effects on the understanding of the concepts were shown by all groups. Comparing the effect on the comprehension of the three groups, the MBL group showed the most significant effect, while the pH-meter group showed the least significant. It was also attempted to analyze the effect on comprehension of the concepts by the cognitive and the motivational levels of students. This study revealed that the students in the formal operation stage showed higher understanding of the acidbase related concepts, while those in the concrete operation stage showed lower comprehension. It was also shown that the students at the active motivational level scored higher in comprehension than those who had a low score. The results of this study implied that each group showed differently enhanced comprehension of concepts by titration technologies. Therefore, teachers need to promote an appropriate experiment technology for the cognitive and motivational levels of students as well as try to help students express freely their own perspectives.