South African university students’ attitudes towards chemistry learning in a virtually simulated learning environment

Abstract

This mixed method study investigated changes in 3rd year Bachelor of Education students’ attitudes towards chemistry after learning interventions with virtual chemistry simulations. After participant students identified certain concepts from their 3rd year chemistry module as being abstract and not easily comprehensible, these concepts were facilitated during a 5 week learning intervention using PhET simulations as an alternative to traditional laboratory experimentation. In the first quantitative phase of the study, a 30-item pre-attitude test was administered to assess students’ attitudes towards chemistry, followed by PhET chemistry simulation learning interventions. Thereafter, students wrote a post-attitude test. Findings of this phase revealed a significantly higher mean post-attitude test score, with students showing a positive attitude towards chemistry learning, post-intervention. The quantitative phase was followed by a qualitative phase which examined students’ experiences on the use of simulations through semi-structured interviews. Findings from the qualitative phase revealed that students experienced autonomy and enjoyment during engagement with the simulations. They also perceived that their experiences in the virtually simulated environment improved their visualisation of chemistry concepts, thereby improving conceptual understanding. However, the students acknowledged that simulations cannot replicate the realism and authenticity associated with practical work in an actual laboratory. The implications of these findings are that virtual simulations provide a complementary learning tool capable of improving students’ attitudes towards chemistry, and perceived by students to support their visualisation of abstract chemistry concepts. The findings of this study are particularly significant for chemistry learning at schools and universities in economically challenged countries such as South Africa where there is a shortage of well-equipped laboratories.

Examining the Use of PhET Simulations on Students’ Attitudes and Learning in General Chemistry II

“…Furthermore, research has shown that PhET interactive simulations have been reported to students' learning performance (Debowska et al, 2013) and PhET simulations have been reported to improve students' conceptual understanding (Clark and Chamberlain, 2014). Additionally, researchers report that PhET simulations provided students with experience that is joyful and autonomous, promoted a positive attitude towards chemistry, and nurtured their ability to visualize concepts in chemistry which results in improving conceptual understanding (Penn & Ramnarain, 2019).…”

Assessing Pre-Service Teachers’ Reception and Attitudes Towards Virtual Laboratory Experiments in Life Sciences

“…Similar to the findings of this current study, Stafford et al (2010), noted that students found virtual experimentation rather costeffective. Several other studies across different science subjects (Chua & Karpudewan, 2017;Estapa, & Nadolny, 2015;Hsu, et al, 2017;Merchant et al, 2014;Penn & Ramnarain, 2019) found that virtual experimentation was positively beneficial for enhancing attitudes, motivation, procedural and conceptual understandings of science concepts across subjects. In principle the findings of this study also show that while social distancing and maintaining the recent COVID-19 pandemic regulations, students can still experiment online and collaborate with their peers while doing so (Vasiliadou, 2020).…”

“…The infusion of technology in 21 st century science learning, has provided applications whereby active learning can be done in virtual science laboratories. These virtually based science laboratories have enhanced science teaching and learning and played a significant role in learners' understandings of, visualization and engagement with abstract scientific concepts (Estapa & Nadolny, 2015;Penn & Ramnarain, 2019). In addition to the work of Piaget and Dewey, social constructivists advocate that learning is a social process (Vygotsky, 1978) and learning activities should be considerate of the learners' context and daily experiences (Mavuru & Ramnarain, 2017).…”

“…These applications can be used with mobile devices and computers directly online or offline depending on the model (Lee & Wong, 2014). Several studies in science education have reported cognitive and affective gains with the use of virtual laboratories in learning (Hsu et al, 2017;Penn & Ramnarain, 2019;Potkonjak et al, 2016). Students generally engage with these virtual laboratories by mouse clicks, swipes and immersive virtual reality controllers depending on the device and applications they use (Lee & Wong, 2014;Makransky et al, 2019).…”

Squaring the Circle by Attempting to Teach a Lab Class in the Cloud: Reflections after a Term in Lockdown

“…11 However, it is acknowledged that despite their benefits, computergenerated simulations and online resources alone cannot replicate the practice and authentic experience of a real laboratory class but rather complement them. 12 The shift in attitude towards laboratory instruction is also reflected in recent articles about laboratory assessment. This requires a close look at learning outcomes and skills matrices relevant to practical instruction 13,14 and formulating desired key competencies 15 .…”