The Evaluation of Students’ Written Reflection on the Learning of General Chemistry Lab Experiment

Abstract

Reflective writing is often used to increase understanding and analytical ability. The lack of
empirical evidence on the effect of reflective writing interventions on the learning of
general chemistry lab experiment supports the examination of this concept. The central
goal of this exploratory study was to evaluate the students’ written reflections about
experimental work. This study used an instrument, pre- and post-intervention design. Data
were collected in the form of individual reflective writing reports by students enrolled in
the first semester of a general chemistry course. Our findings indicated that the treatment
group had a statistically significant increase (p = .000) on the posttest test after a week of
reflective writing was administered when compared to the control group. Students’
reflective writings were evaluated in the aspects of knowledge, critical thinking and
applications. In the case of knowledge, our findings were particularly interesting as higher
level of students’ knowledge understanding was associated with the experimentation. The
results of this study make it imperative for School of Pharmacy (SoP) and Health Sciences
(SoHS) at this institution to consider including reflective writing in lab experiments.