APPENDIX A

CLASSROOM TEST OF SCIENTIFIC REASONING (CTSR)

Table A(1): Breakdown of thinking skills for CTSR test

Thinking patterns
Conservation of i) weight and ii) volume Proportional thinking Identification and control of variables Probabilistic thinking Correlational thinking Combinatorial thinking
TOTAL

Item (CTSR- Post-Test)

1 2 3,4 5, 6 7,8 9, 10 11 , 12 12

CLASSROOM TEST OF SCIENTIFIC REASONING

1. Suppose you are given two clay balls of equal size and shape. The two clay balls also weigh the same. One ball is flattened into a pancake-shaped piece. Which of these statements is correct? A. The pancake-shaped piece weighs more than the ball. B. The two pieces still weigh the same. C. The ball weighs more than the pancake-shaped piece.

BECAUSE 1. the flattened piece covers a large area. 2. the ball pushes down more on one spot. 3. when something is flattened it loses weight. 4. clay has not been added or taken away. 5. when something is flattened it gains weigh.

2. Figure A shows two cylinders filled to the same level with water. The cylinders are identical in size and shape. Also shown in Figure A are two marbles, one glass and one steel. The marbles are the same size but the steel one is much heavier than the glass one.

Glass marble

Steel marble

Cylinder 1

Cylinder 2

FIGURE A When the glass marble is put into Cylinder 1, it sinks to the bottom and the water level rises to the 6 th mark. If we put the steel marble into cylinder 2, the water will rise A. To the same level as it did in Cylinder 1 B. To a higher level than it did in Cylinder 1 C. To a lower level than it did in Cylinder 1

BECAUSE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. the steel marble will sink faster. the marbles are made of different materilas. the steel marble is heavier than the glass marble. the glass marble creates less pressure. the marbles are the same size.

3. Figure B(i) shows a wide and a narrow cylinder. The cylinders have equally spaced marks on them. Water is poured into the wide cylinder up to the 4th mark (see Figure B(i)). This water rises to the 6th mark when poured into the narrow cylinder (see Figure B(ii)).

4th mark FIGURE B (i) FIGURE B (ii)

6th mark

Both cylinders are emptied (not shown) and water is poured into the wide cylinder up to the 6th mark. How high would this water rise if it were poured into the empty narrow cylinder? A. B. C. D. E. To about 8. To about 9. To about 10. To about 12. None of these answers is correct.

BECAUSE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. the answer can not be determined with the information given. it went up 2 more before, so it will go up 2 more again. it goes up 3 in the narrow for every 2 in the wide. the second cylinder is narrower. one must actually pour the water and observe to find out.

4. Water is now poured into the narrow cylinder (described in item 3 above) up to the 11th mark. How high would this water rise if it were poured into the empty wide cylinder? A. To about 7 B. To about 9 C. To about 8 D. To about 7 1/3 E. None of these answers is correct. BECAUSE 1. the ratios must stay the same. 2. One must actually pour the water and observe to find out. 3. the answer can not be determined with the information given. 4. it was 2 less before so it will be 2 less again. 5. you subtract 2 from the wide for every 3 from the narrow. 5. Figure C shows 3 strings hanging from a bar. The three strings have metal weights attached to their ends. String 1 dan string 3 are the same length. String 2 is shorter. A 10 unit weight is attached to the end of string 1. A 10 unit weight is also attached to the end of string 2. A 5 unit weight is attached to the end of String 3. The Strings (and attached weights) can be swung back and forth and the time it takes to make a swing can be timed.

FIGURE C

Suppose you want to find out whether the length of the string has an effect on the time it takes to swing back and forth. Which strings would you use to find out? A. B. C. D. E. Only one string All three strings 2 and 3 1 and 3 1 and 2

BECAUSE 1. you must use the longest strings.

2. you must compare strings with both light and heavy weights. 3. only the lengths differ. 4. 5. to make all possible comparisons the weights differ.

6.

In a second experiment, suppose you wanted to find out whether the amout of weight

attached to the end of a string has an effect on the time it takes for a string to swing back and forth. Which of the strings would you use to find out? A. string 1 dan 2 B. string 1 dan 3 C. string 2 dan 3 D. string 1, 2 dan 3 E. string 3 saja

BECAUSE: 1. The weights should be same, the length of the strings should be different. 2. the length of the strings should be same, the weights should be different, so you can tell if weights make a difference.

3. Different lengths with different weights should be tested. 4. All strings and their weights should be tested against all others. 5. only the smallest weights should be tested.

7.

Six square pieces of wood are put into a cloth bag and mixed about. The six pieces are identical in size and shape, however, three pieces are red (labeled M) and three are yellow (labeled K) as shown in Figure D. M M M K FIGURE D Suppose someone reaches into the bag (without looking) and pulls out one piece. What are the chances that the piece is red? A. B. C. D. E. 1 chance out of 6 1 chance out of 3 1 chance out of 2 1 chance out of 1 can not be determined K K

BECAUSE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 3 out of 6 pieces are red. there is no way to tell which piece will be picked. only 1 piece of the 6 in the bag is picked. all 6 pieces are identical in size and shape. only 1 red piece can be picked out of the 3 red pieces.

8.

In a second experiment, 3 red square pieces of wood, 4 yellow square pieces, and 5 blue square pieces are put into a cloth bag. 4 red round pieces, two yellow round pieces, and three blue round pieces are also put into the bag. All the pieces are then mixed about.

M K B

M K B

M K B K B B

FIGURE E Suppose someone reaches into the bag (without looking and without feeling for a particular shape piece) and pulls out one piece (Figure E). What are the chances that the piece is red round or blue round piece? A. Can not be determined B. 1 chance out of 3 C. 1 chance out of 21 D. 15 chances out of 21 E. 1 chance out of 2 BECAUSE: 1. 1 of the 2 shapes is round. 2. 15 of the 21 pieces are red or blue. 3. there is no way to tell which piece will be picked. 4. only 1 of the 21 pieces is picked out of the bag. 5. 1 of every 3 pieces is a red or blue round piece.

9.

Pak Abu was observing the mice that live in his field. He discovered that all of them were either fat or thin. Also, all of them had either black tails or white tails. This made him wonder if there might be a link between the size of the mice and the color of their tails. So he captured all of the mice in one part of his field and observed them. Below are the mice that he captured (Figure F).

FIGURE F Do you think there is a link between the size of the mice and the color of their tails? A. B. C. Appears to be a link Appears not to be a link Can not make a reasonable guess.

BECAUSE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. there are some of each kind of mouse. there may be a genetic link between mouse size and tail color. there were not enough mice captured. most of the fat mice have black tails while most of the thin mice have white tails. as the mice grew fatter, their tails become darker.

10. The fish in the drawing (Figure G) were caught by a fisherman, who noticed that some of the fish were big and some were small. Also some had wide stripes, and others had narrow stripes. This made the fisherman wonder if there was a relation between the size of the fish and the width of their stripes.

FIGURE G Do you think there is a relation between the size of the fish and the width of their stripes? A. B. Yes No

BECAUSE: 1. Big fish and small fish can have either wide or narrow strips. 2. 3/7 of the big fish and 9/21 of the small fish have wide strips. 3. 7 of the fish are big and 21 are small. 4. Not all big fish have wide strips and not all small fish have narrow strips. 5. 12/28 of the fish have wide strips and 16/28 of the fish have narrow strips.

11. A cook wanted to prepare lunch for his owner. There are 3 kinds of meat: chicken (C), beef (B) and mutton (M), and 3 kinds of vegetables: kailan (K), long beans (L) and ladys fingers (F). One possible combination is chicken-kailan (C-K). List all other possible ways that the lunch consists of one meat and one vegetable. C K,

12. Three students from Form Three, Form Four, and Form Five were elected to the student council as listed in Table 1. STUDENT COUNCIL Form 4 Form 5 Jais (J) Daniel (D) Anita (A) Martina (M) Chong (C) Goh (G) TABLE 1 A three member committee is to be formed with one person from each grade. All possible combinations must be considered before a decision can be made. Two possible combinations are Thomas, Jais and Daniel (TJD), and Samiah, Chong and Daniel (SCD). List all other possible combinations in the spaces provided. TJD, SCD,

Form 3 Thomas (T) Samiah (S) Kassim (K)