Two similar studies comparing the u

Two similar studies comparing the understanding of chemical ideas between context-based (Salters) chemistry students and traditional chemistry students occurred in England. Firstly, Vanessa Barker and Robin Millar ( 2000 ) undertook a large-scale, comparative, longitudinal study of 400 upper secondary level students at 36 schools in England following A Level chemistry courses, including Salters Advanced Chemistry . The study employed a series of diagnostic questions on key areas of chemical understanding, administered at three points over an 18-month period, and showed comparable levels of understanding across all courses. In particular, they found that students who experienced a gradual introduction and revisiting of ideas in different contexts at several points during the Salters course appeared to develop better understanding of these ideas than students following more conventional courses (Barker and Millar 2000 ) . Secondly, interesting data came from a study by Mary Barber ( 2000 ) , who used a range of performance indicators to compare predicted and actual grades in Advanced level Chemistry examinations for Salters Advanced Chemistry with a group studying a more conventional course. Her study indicated that there was no particular disadvantage or advantage to students in either
course in terms of the final examination grade they achieved. Although students took different examination papers, all examinations had to meet externally imposed standards, so the study provided additional evidence that the learning by students on context-based courses is comparable with that of students on more conventional courses (Bennett and Lubben 2006 ) .