Traditional and computer-assisted learning in teaching acids and bases

Abstract

The traditional and the computer-assisted teaching methods for teaching a fundamental topic within chemistry education, acids and bases, were compared and the influences of the three dimensional spatial visualization abilities, computational attitudes and learning styles of the students on their acquisition of knowledge were investigated. The students were randomly distributed into control and experimental groups and their knowledge about acids and bases was assessed by a test comprising twenty questions. After this test, the experimental group received computer-assisted teaching and the control group was taught by traditional teaching methods for two days on the related subject. After two days of teaching, the students were tested again with the same twenty questions. Parallel to this, the three-dimensional spatial visualization abilities, computational attitudes and learning styles of the students from both groups were assessed. The three dimensional spatial visualization abilities, computational attitudes and learning styles of the students were not found to influence their test scores. However, a 52% improvement was observed in the post-instruction test results of the students of the experimental group whereas the control group only improved by 31%. The independent two-sample t-test was applied for the evaluation of the results of the study and there was a significant difference favoring the experimental group. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2005, 6 (1), 52-63]