Students' perceptions, attitudes, and incorporation of demonstrations, popular media videos, and animations concerning chemical reactions
Abstract
Students often struggle with learning complex chemistry concepts. In today's society with the advances in multimedia technology, educators have a variety of tools available to help students learn these concepts. These tools include demonstrations, videos in the popular media, and animations; referred to collectively as multimethods. With the increase in possibilities educators must consider a variety of factors, the most important of which is their students. An examination of the literature leaves questions regarding the views of students as well as the impact of these tools on student learning. This study qualitatively explores student perceptions and attitudes regarding each of these multimethods using open-ended surveys, worksheets, interviews, and audio recordings. Concept maps and drawings provide insight into how students incorporate information from these multimethods into their understanding of chemical reactions. The results of the study emphasize variety for student perceptions, attitudes, conceptions, and the way they incorporate information from the multimethods. However, there also were trends in that the majority of students preferred demonstrations and the macro level. The students appeared to be aware that the use of these multimethods is designed to help them learn. Student drawings and concept maps additionally indicate a lack of understanding of the nature of chemical reactions and a failure to incorporate the information in a substantial way. Finally, implications for teaching are discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Nakhleh, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Multimedia Communications|Educational technology|Science education
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