The Effects of inquiry-based computer simulation with cooperative learning on scientific thinking and conceptual understanding of gas laws among form four students in Malaysian smart schools

Simple item page
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-15T07:40:37Z
dc.date.available2015-09-15T07:40:37Z
dc.date.issued2005-06
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of inquiry-based computer . simulation with heterogeneous-ability cooperative learning (HACL) and inquiry-based computer simulation with friendship cooperative learning (FCL) on (a) scientific reasoning (SR) and (b) conceptual understanding (CU) among Form Four students in Malaysian Smart Schools. The study further investigated the effects of the HACL and FCL methods on performance in scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding_, among students of different reasoning abilities. The SR and CU scores were measured through a scientific reasoning test and a test of conceptual understanding of gas laws respectively. A quasi-experimental method that employed the 3 x 2 Factorial Design was applied in the study. The first factor was three types of instructional method, namely, (a) inquiry-based computer simulation with heterogeneous-ability cooperative learning (HACL), (b) inquiry-based computer simulation with friendship cooperative learning (FCL), and (c) inquiry-based computer simulat:on with traditional group work (TG). The second factor was student reasoning ability levels, namely, empirical-inductive (EI) and hypothetical-deductive (HD). The dependent variables were student performance in SR and CU. The sample consisted of 301 students from 12 pure science classes in four Smart Schools which were all randomly selected and assigned to the treatment groups. The equivalence of all groups was established using the pre-SR and pre-CU tests. The results showed that students in the HACL group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the FCL group who, in turn, significantly outperformed other students in the TG group in scientific thinking and conceptual understanding. Also, HD students in the HACL group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the FCL and the TG groups in conceptual understanding. Further, HD students in the HACL group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the TG group in scientific reasoning, but did not significantly outperform their counterparts in the FCL group. However, there were no significant differences between the performance of HD students in the FCL group and the TG group in scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding. The results also showed that El students in the HACL group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the FCL group and in the TG group in scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding. The El students in the FCL group in turn significantly outperformed their counterparts !n the TG group in scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding. Finally, the results showed that there were no significant interaction effects between student reasoning ability levels and the instructional methods for the scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding scores. The findings of this study suggest that the inquiry-based computer simulation with heterogeneous-ability cooperative learning method is effective in enhancing scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding for students of all reasoning abilities, and for maximum effectiveness, cooperative learning groups should be composed of students of heterogeneous abilities.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1189
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectInquiry-based computer simulationen_US
dc.subjectCooperative learningen_US
dc.subjectConceptual understandingen_US
dc.subjectMalaysian smart schoolsen_US
dc.titleThe Effects of inquiry-based computer simulation with cooperative learning on scientific thinking and conceptual understanding of gas laws among form four students in Malaysian smart schoolsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
Files
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Pusat Teknologi Pengajaran dan Multimedia - Tesis