The Effect of the Pentagram Strategy in Developing Second-Year Intermediate Graders’ Mental Habits in Science Education

Abstract

     This papers aims at identifying the effect of the Pentagram strategy in developing second-year intermediate graders’ mental habits in science education. To do so, 56 male intermediate graders were randomly chosen from the Numaniyah Intermediate School for Boys, and the subjects were later sub-grouped into traditionally-taught control group (n=28) and Pentagram strategy-taught test group (n=28). The two sub-groups were tested by multiple various, including age, IQ, previous science scores, general average in other subjects, parental qualification, and the pre-application of mental habits scale. The research tool is a pre-designed 40-item mental habits scale. The validity, reliability, and applicability of the scale items have been verified and reviewed by several education and psychology-majored experts. The stability of the scale items, measured by an Alpha Cronbach formula, achieved (0.82), which is a good coefficient. As the practical test period expired, the mental habits scale was applied to the two sub-groups. The data of the scale application were statistically computed, processed, and finalized. Study findings indicated statistically significant differences in mental habits scale in the Pentagram strategy-taught test sub-group. The paper recommends more advanced methods and technologies in teaching science.