Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 51, Issue 3, November 2008, Pages 1365-1374
Computers & Education

An integrated science course designed with information communication technologies to enhance university students’ learning performance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2007.12.002Get rights and content

Abstract

This study evaluated the performance of university students who learned science texts by using, information communication technologies (ICT) including animation, static figures, power point, and e-plus software. The characteristics of students and their achievements and attitudes toward 11 multimedia science courses were analyzed. The 11 samples in this study included 676 undergraduate students who took science courses during the 2005 academic year. The results included the computation of the F-ratio, p-values, and Cohen’s effect-sizes of attitudes toward science and learning science in relation to the student’s gender, attendance of computer orientation classes, use of computer-multimedia, disposition toward computers, and majors. Our study describes some helpful approaches to the incorporation of computer-based multimedia teaching utilizing constructivist design principles to facilitate the student’s understanding and attitude toward science learning.

Introduction

An information communication technology (ICT) learning environment provides university students with swift access to new information. Its reasonable application can make teaching more diversified, flexible, and effective (Dawson, Forster, & Reid, 2006). Several cases have demonstrated our effective learning to uplift the student’s thinking level (Lim, 2007), facilitate problem-solving (Hennessy et al., 2005, Markauskaite, 2007), and offer learning tools which can develop related scientific abilities (McFarlane & Sakellariou, 2002). Emphasizing the ICT component of a learning environment will assist university students to develop a better visualized and graphics understanding of science concepts (Ainsworth, 1999).

For science educators, enhancing the student’s understanding of science concepts and process skills rather than merely teaching the lower textual-level scientific knowledge is a major goal (Galili, 1996). Some implementations of promise in science teaching have already been successfully explored, such as integrating computer-based learning environments in order to promote students’ learning and attain this goal (Bodemer et al., 2005, Lowe, 2003). The potential benefits of these innovations include both improvements in their mastering of scientific concepts and in the process developing positive student attitudes toward science.

Despite a widespread belief that ICT is a powerful instructional device, it is still an open question as to under what conditions can multimedia technology promote students’ conceptual understanding (Ardac and Akaygun, 2004, Van der Meij and De Jong, 2006).

Not all multimedia technologies are necessarily appropriate as an effective strategy for improving student knowledge acquisition from web-based instructions (Lin & Dwyer, 2004). Sperling, Seyedmonir, Aleksic, and Meadows (2003) argue that regardless of inconsistent multimedia findings authentic science materials are needed to facilitate appropriate instructional design decisions. Recent advancements in computer-based technology have allowed educators to incorporate audiovisual resources into their scientific studies texts.

Sawrey (1990) and Niaz (1995) conducted studies using symbols and numbers of particles for conceptual questions in a successful way. Learning environments using computer-based multimedia should promote constructive learning that enhances the student’s problem-solving abilities (Mayer, 1999) and allows better learning performance (Ortega-Tudela & Gomez-Ariza, 2006).

Section snippets

Questions and goals

This current study is an attempt to explore students’ conceptual understanding and attitude toward science in a multimedia-learning environment. Our entire constructivist environment included multimedia texts, animations, and hands-on inquiry experiences; all designed for the student to learn major science concepts and procedures. We sought to answer the following two research questions in this investigation:

  • 1.

    How can constructivist-based multimedia be incorporated and put into practice for

Constructivist ICT approaches

Constructivism is a learning theory that emphasizes explanation and demonstration as a means for how and why knowledge can be acquired in relationship to preknowledge and implanted concepts. The constructivist method emphasizes that knowledge is actively constructed in the minds of learners. Constructivist theories have been widely used in discussion and have provided us with tools for advanced studies (Steffe & Gale, 1995). Driscoll (1994) presents a clear framework in her articulation of five

Participants

All participants surveyed in this study were undergraduate students from the researcher’s science classes. The students (N = 676) recruited were from different departments, such as business administration, finance, electronic engineering, civil engineering, international trade, applied foreign languages and mechanical engineering. A stratified procedure was used to eliminate voids in the sampling frames. All characteristics – such as the students’ gender (male, 78.11%; female, 21.89%), attendance

Results

The main purposes of this study were to redesign the 11 science courses at a technological college in Taiwan and to explore application of these multimedia courses through the specific implementation conditions and student’s learning characteristics (blocking variables for the data analyses). The design principles on which the development of the 11 science courses has been based were described earlier. To examine the effects on learning and also differences produced by multimedia science

Major discussion and conclusions

The results of this study clearly suggest that our application of ICT multimedia for science teaching will facilitate students to acquire basic scientific knowledge and improve their performance. All results inferred from our discussion indicate that multimedia technology helps students acquire a better understanding of the targeted science concepts and promotes a positive attitude toward science learning. The student characteristics, such as gender, attendance of computer orientation classes,

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