Test Environment Factors Influencing Word Association about Science Terminology in Students

The list of words and the semantic structure that connects them have been important to the areas of psychology, psychoanalysis, linguistics, and education. Some researchers in constructivist perspectives of science education also have interests in the structure of science concepts expressed by science terminologies. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the test environment factors influencing the word association test as a method to identify students' semantic structures for science terminologies. We set up four variables that are possibly considered in recognizing a word as having scientific meaning. The four variables include: noticing whether stimulus words are science terminologies or not, presenting science terminologies and everyday words alternately, whether presider is science teacher or not, and whether students have learned the concepts or not. In comparing the test results of the experimental group and the control group, we have checked whether each variable influences the test result or not. Stimulus words included nine science terminologies containing both ordinary and scientific meanings, and subjects included 282 middle school students. The degree of recognizing science terminology as having scientific meaning was found to increase only when stimulus words were noticed as science terminologies. In the case of the remaining variables, there was no difference between the control group and the experimental group.