Determining cognitive structure of knowledge of students with using Knowledge Space Theory

Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the quantitative relationships between elements in the formation of compounds in chemical reactions. Effective learning this topic requires teachers to use appropriate teaching methods. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of third grade high school chemistry elemental learning pathway in exploration and traditional methods. The purpose of this study is to investigate students' mental map and knowledge space as well. The research method was applied in terms of purpose and in terms of data collection, a real experimental with two experimental and control groups with pre-test and post-test design were used. The population of this study consisted of all third year students of Ilam public high school (250 students) in the academic year of 2014-2015. Two public schools were randomly selected and among them four classes including control group (N = 36) and experimental group (n = 36) were selected. The researcher-made test of Bloom's level of learning (6 questions) and students' attitude questionnaire (20 questions) were validated by four chemistry professors and five chemistry teachers. The total score of learning test was 100, which at the end of the number of points for more accurate analysis was converted to 20. The reliability of the students' knowledge and attitude scales was obtained by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.72 and 0.77, respectively. Visual Mind statistical software was used for data analysis and conceptual map of students. Independent t-test was used to compare the mean of experimental and control groups. The results showed that there is a significant difference in attitude and mental map between the two groups.