Theme-based Project Learning : Design and Application of Convergent Science Experiments

This case study aims to verify the benefits of theme-based project learning for convergent science experiments. The study explores the possibilities of enhancing creative, integrated and collaborative teaching and learning abilities in science-gifted education. A convergent project-based science experiment program of physics, chemistry and biology with the theme of environment such as seawater and wetland was designed and applied to science-gifted secondary school students in an international science contest. The program was initiated with integration of physics, chemistry and biology, interrelating both field work and laboratory work. Besides, logical discussion and humanistic writing activities with environmental issues were followed. The participants were tasked to conduct hands-on multi-disciplinary projects for both in the fields and laboratories. The projects involve raising creative and critical thinking through interpreting collected data, predicting outcomes, drawing conclusions, and presenting results. The study shows a model of project-based convergent programs for integrated experimental composition to facilitate collaborative and creative learning as well as to improve students interests in related subjects. The study discusses ways to raise awareness of benefits from multi-disciplinary approaches through theme-based project learning in science-gifted education.


Introduction
Project-based learning is grounded in constructive approaches for it is designed to motivate students to be more actively involved in activities [1].Crook featured a collaborative learning environment in project-based learning and teaching.Collaborative learning through projects helps to promote learner autonomy and lower affective filters [2].The benefits of theme-based project learning have been researched in various academic fields for educational subjects.Project-based teaching and learning is popularly implemented to provide opportunities for students to engage with academic subjects authentically [3,4].It supports the idea that hands-on projects help develop integrated learning and activate knowledge into practical applications.In addition, the advantages of convergent science experiments provide the possibilities of enhancing creative, integrated and collaborative teaching and learning abilities.

Overview
A convergent project-based science experiment program of physics, chemistry and biology with the theme of environment such as seawater and wetland was designed and applied to science-gifted secondary school students in an international science contest.The participants were tasked to conduct hands-on multidisciplinary projects for both in the fields and laboratories as shown in Table 1 and 2. The projects for humanity work like creative writing with related topics and formal presentations for participants research results help finalize the whole thematic process.The experiment programs of the project were purposely designed to utilize online resources for the benefits of accesibility and readiness.
Figure 1 shows the framework of the convergent science experiment model and Figure 2 outlines the timeline of each activity for the whole program.

Procedure/Content
Participants were tasked to conduct field research to collect the samples of various types of plankton to study the interaction with diversities and the nitrogen cycle in seashore and wetland ecosystem for the section of biology [6,7] measuring the salinity level of student-collected seawater samples with self-made salimeters for, and identifying the major components in seawater from the reactions of ionic compounds along with making sundials to predict the time path of the sun and creating alginate molds for surrounding seashore environments in the sections for physics and chemistry.
The program was initiated with integration of physics, chemistry and biology, interrelating both field work and laboratory work.Besides, logical discussion and humanistic writing activities with environmental issues were followed.
The internationally organized groups of contestants gather the experiment results of both field and laboratory work and utilize them to report, which gives them opportunities to raise the importance of integrative and logical approaches.Throughout the process creative humanistic writing is able to be combined to diffuse creative thinking.
Each team finalizes the participation by performing public presentation at the final conference which decides the winners of the contest.The final project provides the contestants with occasions to appreciate collaboration and integration.

Subject Analysis
Questionnaires were conducted after the science camp and the satisfaction and effectiveness of the science programs were analyzed from the perspectives of science education for gifted students.The analyzed questionnaire results were arranged by each subject and categories of consideration.Forty participants to the science camp responded the questionnaire.For the question of overall satisfaction, one participant did not mark and six participants checked only the overall question and did not answer sub-categorized questions.The choices of answers were ranked in numbers with the ranges from 1, strongly agree to 5, strongly disagree.Therefore, if the statistical number is lower, it means the participants agree with the question more.The mode of each question was number one, 'strongly agree.' Table 3 shows the easiness, necessary prior-knowledge, degrees of new learning and enjoyability of physics projects differentiated in field and laboratory work.The analysis reveals that although physics field work is more difficult and needs more prior knowledge than laboratory work, the participants find it more rewarding and enjoyable.Table 4 shows the easiness, necessary prior-knowledge, degrees of new learning and enjoyability of biology projects for field and laboratory work.The analysis reveals that biology laboratory work is easier and more enjoyable and needs less prior-knowledge.The participants learned more from field work than laboratory work.
Table 5 shows the easiness, necessary prior-knowledge, degrees of new learning and enjoyability of chemistry projects for each field and laboratory work.The analysis reveals that although chemistry field work is more difficult than laboratory work, field work is more enjoyable and the participants learned more new things from field work.As showed in the level of difficulties, field work needs more prior-knowledge than laboratory work.

Level of Easiness
Analysis of level of easiness is summarized in Table 6.The analysis shows that the participants found biology work the easiest, followed by chemistry and physics the most difficult.Except physics, the difficulty of chemistry and biology work is easy or average.The interesting point is that for all three subjects, laboratory work is considered easier than field work.It can be inferred that on the basis of the multi-national camp participants, either biology is more familiar to various nations or the biology topic, plankton observation, is widely included in their science curricula.It is possible to infer, though it is not exactly clear, that their science education is generally conducted on laboratory work rather than field work.

Needs of Prior Knowledge
Analysis of needs of prior knowledge is summarized in Table 7.The participants responses show that chemistry field work with precipitation needs the most prior knowledge, followed by chemistry laboratory work.Physics field and laboratory work is marked the second and as it could be estimated from the question of difficulty level, biology work needs the least prior knowledge.In all three subjects field work needs more prior knowledge than laboratory work which is consistent with the find- ings from the level of difficulty.It can be inferred that the need of prior knowledge tightly correlates with the difficulty level and the lack of prior knowledge could impede the process of the projects.Therefore, guided introduction to the materials and protocols needs to be specified prior to the conduct of the projects.

Learning New Things
Analysis of learning new things is summarized in Table 8.It is recognizable that whether the participants learned new things or not is unlikely to correlate with the difficulty level and need of prior knowledge.Although the difficulty level is highest in physics field work, sundial, the participants responded that they learned the most from that project.The biology field work, Nitrogen cycle and Diversity of Plankton, which is considered the easiest is ranked the last for learning new things.The participants learned new things more from field work in all three subjects, which can lead to the inference that projects with a high-level difficulty are more likely to provide chances to new things.

Enjoyablity
Analysis of enjoyablity is summarized in Table 9.The participants responses show that biology is the most enjoyable subject followed by chemistry and physics.In biology, laboratory work is more favored to field work.However, field work is more favored than laboratory work for both chemistry and physics.For the whole projects, over 40% of the participants responded they strongly agreed or agreed that the projects were enjoyable.It is thought-provoking that the degree of enjoyment complies with the level of difficulty.

Overall Discussion
Results of categorical analysis are summarized in Figure 3.The most significant finding is that all field work is more agreed than laboratory work on all categories.With field work viewed as more challenging and enjoyable, the participants learned new things more from field work than laboratory work.This indicates that as in the case of physics, it does not necessarily mean field work is easier but it provides participants with chances of motivation and interest.In terms of the subjects, biology laboratory projects offered an effective learning chance in an enjoyable environment with relatively easy tasks, although it demanded less prior knowledge.On the other hand participants responded that they needed  more prior knowledge in chemistry but found it easier than physics in actual experiments.The fundamental difficulties in physics can be analogized out of these results.It is rather justifiable to comment that the high satisfactory level of biology projects is resulted from the familiar theme which is more suitable to draw various answers, not from the preference of its subject.In terms of each questionnaire category, learning new things is the most strongly agreed along with the strongly agreed difficulty level.Overall the participants evaluation for the camp is satisfactory with the range of 2.0±0.147 with standard deviation 0.918.These findings have implications that science projects under the given circumstances can be benefited more from less difficult topics creating more enjoyable and learnable experiences.

Conclusions
The projects involve raising creative and critical thinking through interpreting collected data, predicting outcomes, drawing conclusions, and presenting results.The study shows a model of project-based convergent programs for integrated experimental composition to facilitate collaborative and creative learning as well as to improve students interests in related subjects.The model of convergent science experiment is able to raise awareness of benefits from multi-disciplinary approaches through theme-based project learning in science-gifted education.

Table 1 .
. Other components of the program require Theme-based Project Learning: Design and Application of Convergent Science Experiments Field Work Experiments

Table 2 .
Laboratory Experiments Purpose To determine chlorides by titration with silver nitrate Process 1. Pipet aliquot of chloride solution into 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask 2. Add 1 mL of 5% potassium chromate solution (as indicator) 3. Titrate with silver nitrate solution till the first color change (from yellow to red) * Consider the blank titration Chemistry B Title Salinity Purpose To measure salt content of seawater with Mohr method Process 1. Weigh the empty 250 mL dried Erlenmeyer flask 2. Put the around 2.500g 3.200 g of seawater to Erlenmeyer flask and measure the exact weight 3. Add 100 mL D.I water to seawater 4. Add 1 mL of 5% potassium chromate solution (as indicator) 5. Titrate with silver nitrate solution till the first color change (from yellow to red) 6. Repeat 1 6 procedure for 5 times 7. Compare the data from salinity electrode * Consider blank titration * Calculate the average and standard deviation

Table 3 .
Results of Physics.

Table 4 .
Results of Biology.
1. strongly agree 2. agree 3. neutral 4. disagree 5. strongly disagree Theme-based Project Learning: Design and Application of Convergent Science Experiments

Table 5 .
Results of Chemistry.

Table 6 .
Level of Easiness.

Table 7 .
Needs of Prior Knowledge.

Table 8 .
Learning New Things.
Figure 3. Averages of Categories.