Two hundred and sixty tenth grade students who were enrolled in six Earth science classes
at a public senior high school located in the eastern region of Taiwan were the participants.
There were 124 females and 136 males with a mean age of 16 years, enrolled in a
compulsory Earth science course. The students were typical tenth-grade students and all of
them have been taught basic Earth science concepts as specified in the curriculum standards
for the ninth grade (Chang 2005). The Earth science course, taught 2 h per week for one
semester, is required of every tenth-grade student in the secondary schools in Taiwan.