CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE
18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330
818-677-1200
September 2007
Dear Parent and/or Legal Guardian:
Your child’s classroom is participating in a research study conducted by your child’s
chemistry teacher and me. We are asking you to give us permission for your child to participate in
the study with his/her class during this school year.
I am a grad school student of California State University, Northridge (CSUN) majoring in
science education. I have been a chemistry teacher at many public high schools of Seoul for fifteen
years, and I am currently dispatched to CSUN to improve my teaching by Seoul Metropolitan
Office of Education for two years. Your child’s teacher and I went together to the same university
(Seoul National University) and we are very close friend and colleague. Therefore, we have been
exchanging opinions and information on the teaching method of chemistry to promote our students’
learning, and in the same vein she decided to implement this research in her classes.
The purpose of the study is to examine how different teaching methods in chemistry
classes help students engender deep conceptual understanding of chemistry. For this purpose I have
selected guided-inquiry laboratory as a teaching method. Throughout the study your child will have
more opportunities to conduct experiments in the laboratory and to find out important knowledge by
him/herself to develop concrete chemistry concepts. We hope that the findings of the study will help
us improve our teaching and thus your child’s learning
All the data we collect (including laboratory papers, survey and test results) will be kept
strictly confidential and will be used for research purpose only. Any reports or presentations about
this study will not use the real names of any students and school. Your child’s performance on the
activities in this study will not affect your school grades in any way.
Participation in this study is voluntary. We hope that you will allow your child to
participate in this research. If you are willing to let your child participate, check box #1 below. If
you do not want your child to get involved, or if she/he does not want to participate, please check
the #2 box below. Your child’s teacher will provide alternative activities for your child to work on
while the class participates in the study.
If you have any questions about your child participating in this study and would like to talk
with one of us, please check box #3 and write your phone number and a good time to call you. We
will contact you to answer your questions. Please return this form to your child’s teacher. If your
have any questions, please call me at 1-818-882-2513 or send email to bsummer86@naver.com.
Sincerely yours,
Miha Lee
Research director
Secondary Education department
College of Education
California State University, Northridge
Hyun-Ok Kim
Research cooperator
Kwang-Nam Highschool’s Chemistry Teacher
Parent/Guardian Permission to participate in Research Study
1. □ I have read the description of the study and give permission for my child to participate
in your study and to use my child’s laboratory papers and tests as data.
2. □ I do not give permission for my child to participate in this study.
3. □ I am not sure about having my child participate. I would like to talk to a researcher first.
Please call me at the following number and times:
Phone number
Best times to call
My child’s name
Classroom number
My name
My signature
Date