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Effectiveness of virtual laboratory vs. paper-based experiences to the hands-on chemistry practical in Tanzanian secondary schools

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Abstract

Science subjects at pre-tertiary and tertiary education levels are important for socio-economic and industrial development of any country; however, they are difficult for students to construct their concepts. In Tanzania, insufficient or lack of practical experiments are major challenges for science subjects due to insufficient or lack of laboratories, apparatus, expertise or reagents. Thus, this research assesses the effectiveness of paper-based against virtual laboratory experiences towards improvement of real (hands-on) chemistry practical in Tanzanian secondary schools focusing in Dodoma region. Chemistry virtual laboratory was developed and being deployed at Dodoma Secondary School for students who were never done practical sessions before to avoid biasness towards the study. The students were divided into three groups, namely paper-based and real laboratory as control groups (CG) and virtual laboratory as the experiment group (EG). Each group was further divided into two groups for the rest approaches forming six (6) groups. For EG, students were taught based on instructional approach which was enriched by computer animations in the computer laboratory. Results indicate that students who firstly attended virtual laboratory performed better in real laboratory than those who firstly attended real laboratory. Furthermore, the best progressive learning and performance for real experiments appears when the virtual laboratory preceded paper-based practical experiments. Thus, virtual laboratory is a very useful tool for learning chemistry practical not only to schools without laboratories but also to those with laboratories; and it should be considered by all the pre-tertiary schools in Tanzania and other schools in similar situations.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the Carnegie-SIG Regional Initiative in Science and Education (RISE) through its competitive fund award for supporting this research. Further acknowledgement goes to science teachers particularly chemistry and ICT teachers at Dodoma Secondary Schools for supporting pilot field tests of the lesson.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, College of Informatics and Virtual Education, The University of Dodoma, P. O. Box 490, Dodoma, Tanzania

    Majuto Clement Manyilizu

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  1. Majuto Clement Manyilizu
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Correspondence to Majuto Clement Manyilizu.

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The author declares that he has no competing interests. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Ethical considerations

This research was conducted only after students and teachers had been informed of the study, and consent was received. Students and teachers were able to decline involvement in the study and informed that they could leave the study at any time. The use of a virtual lab does not create any concerns for student safety or concerns for negative effects on student learning progress. This study values the importance of anonymity and accommodates higher level of privacy and confidentiality on all conversations and data collected. Thus, there was no information that could identify individual students in the study. Gathered data was exclusively used for this study. Respect for the dignity of participants was prioritized and adherence to the existing Data Protection Acts was strictly observed.

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Manyilizu, M.C. Effectiveness of virtual laboratory vs. paper-based experiences to the hands-on chemistry practical in Tanzanian secondary schools. Educ Inf Technol 28, 4831–4848 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11327-7

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