Using Multimedia Learning Aids from the Internet for Teaching Chemistry

Abstract

Large advances in technology in the last few years have made computers cheap and presentation technologies easily available in most secondary schools, at least in industrialised countries. Due to recent developments in software technology nearly anyone can create animations and visualisations. The Internet has helped to make the distribution of such graphic tools both wide and fast. Thus, using multimedia in science teaching is becoming more and more common. Today, integrating visualisations and animations from the Internet into the science classroom seems an obvious choice for enhancing science lessons. But are all of the animations offered on the Internet really helpful for promoting understanding? This chapter discusses what might occur while working with animations taken from the Internet and how these multimedia illustrations can potentially interact to reinforce rather than resolve students’ misconceptions about chemical principles. Daniell’s voltaic cell serves as a good example to illustrate the ways in which visual aids can be interpreted differently by experts and novices. The following discussion takes place in the form of an exaggerated example. It is meant to appear as a critical interjection making readers more aware of the myriad, often invisible, potential drawbacks which exist when first selecting promising-looking animated illustrations for classroom use.

The Role and Potential Dangers of Visualisation when Learning about Sub-Microscopic Explanations in Chemistry Education

“…Additionally, this position might be connected thoroughly to specific elements of teacher training focusing students' development in Multiple Literacy with a focus on coping with the use of digital media in our today's world (Fehring, 2010). The above discourse, just like the one previously presented in Eilks et al (2009Eilks et al ( , 2010, was started from many teacher training seminars showing that…”

“…Coming from the abovementioned theoretical reflections, the role of potentially misleading illustrations shall be discussed along with an analysis of illustrations from German chemistry and physics textbooks, and animations from the internet (e.g. Eilks, 2003;Eilks et al, 2009Eilks et al, , 2010. The field of interest to be scrutinised in this paper is understanding the states of matter and dissolution.…”

“…Many other examples exist that specifically deal with commonly known alternative conceptions among learners for both this topic and for many other topics in the internet, e.g. Eilks et al (2009Eilks et al ( , 2010 gave a detailed discussion of the mismatch still occurring between current research evidence and classroom materials prepared for visualisation of the Daniell voltaic cell. Explaining the liquid and gaseous states of water visualisation on the computer screen of work actively in progress.…”

The Effect of e-Learning Strategy at Primary School Level on Understanding Structure and States of Matter

“…When choosing resources from the Internet, teachers need to be careful because not all the available resources help promote understanding. Visual stimuli are not readily "inserted" into the learners' minds; they are filtered and then re-interpreted in congruence with the existing preconceptions (Eilks, Witteck, & Pietzner, 2010). According to Fuchs and Woessmann (2004), who investigated the outcomes of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) testing, the mere presence of technology at home does not improve learning achievements by itself; it is even negatively related to the student performance in math and reading.…”

On the transformation of research on teaching and learning about the sub-micro world in chemistry education into feasable classroom practice

“…The student teachers were asked to analyze textbook illustrations and Internet resources, which explicitly illustrate commonly known misconceptions and learning difficulties of students, as described e.g. in Eilks (2003), Eilks et al (2007) or Eilks, Witteck and Pietzner (2009), in relation to corresponding research evidence ( Figure 1).…”