 |
Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 13, Issue 2, Article1 (Dec., 2012) |
In this study, some subjects that were present in the 10th grade physics curriculum were taught as they were in the lesson plans (18 weeks) to both experimental and control groups. These subjects were vectors, the concept of force and its properties, measurement of force, momentum, equilibrium, mass and gravity point, location on a line, replacement and linear movement, average volume and instantaneous volume, average acceleration and instantaneous acceleration, and constant acceleration movement. A total of five objectives and 39 learning outcomes were determined. The questions were prepared to measure the learning outcomes determined while designing the testing instrument. The control groups were taught via traditional face-to-face instruction, while the experimental groups were taught by using the "www.canliegitim.com" website in addition to face-to-face instruction.
Different teaching techniques were used in order for the students to understand the concepts much more easily. The students were provided with different options in order for them to enjoy while learning. The students could follow the lessons either from the slides with audio features or from video recordings of lessons or from WBM. Sample figures about these materials are shown below.
Figure 1. Teaching by slides
From these slides, as seen in figure 1, the students could follow the subject with audio features. In other words, the students could listen to the instructions from these audio-included slides. The students could also choose a slide that they wanted to listen by clicking on the subject titles shown on the left side of the screen.
In addition to these slides, at the end of each subject, a total of 365 WBMs were prepared for the students to develop their problem solving skills and their conceptual understandings. While the students followed the procedures with audio and video features step by step, they could also watch the solution of a problem several times thanks to the WBMs.
Figure 2. WBM screenshot
Various simulations and animations were used on the website in order to explain the subjects better. Since these simulations and animations make abstract concepts concrete, it increases student motivation, provides learning reinforcement and helps students keep concepts in their mind longer. Sample screenshots of these simulations and animations used in this study are shown in figure 3 and figure 4.
Figure 3. Flash animation screenshot
Figure 4. Sample java applet simulation
In this study, an achievement test about the topics of "Force" and "Movement", a behaviour control list about the same subjects and interview text documents were used. While the students' academic skills were tested with the achievement test, the behaviour control list was used monitor the students' behaviour in order to check whether the results obtained from the quantitative analysis were accurate or not. The effectiveness of the teaching method was tested by comparing the mean scores of the experimental and control groups. In addition to this, face to face interviews were held with 19 volunteering students from the experimental group to get their views about the method and materials used.
An item pool of 60 items was prepared by considering the target skills determined by the Ministry of Education. All the items in this pool were regarding the topics of “Force” and “Movement”, which are found in the 10th grade physics curriculum. Some items whose “P” value deviates from 0.5 were also included in the test. In addition, the “P” value was around 0.5, and mean “D” value was around “0.4”. The items, whose discriminations and difficulties were computed and then checked by experienced physics teachers and measurement specialists. Considering their opinions, the number of the items in the test form was reduced to 40 without destroying the content validity. The reliability of the test was tested by applying the split-half method. The reliability of half of the test was found to be r=.576. Then, Spearman-Brown rule was applied to compute the reliability coefficient (r=.731) for the whole test. In preparing the behaviour check list, we used the list of students’ target gains found in the 10th grade physics course book determined by the Ministry of Education. Expert opinions were taken about the questions directed during the face-to-face interviews about Web based learning in order to be sure whether these questions were related to our purpose or not.
Quantitative data analyses (data from the achievement list and data from the behaviour control list) were conducted by using SSPS 15.0 statistical analysis program. The qualitative data from the interviews were analysed by using the methods of grouping, categorization and frequency tables.
