Compilation of Chemistry Experiments for an Online Laboratory Course: Student’s Perception and Learning Outcomes in the Context of COVID-19 (original) (raw)
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Analytical Chemistry Teaching Adaptation in the COVID-19 Period: Experiences and Students’ Opinion
Journal of Chemical Education, 2020
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Journal of Turkish Science Education, 2021
Introduction COVID-19 has emerged as a global threat; it has had sudden and unexpected effects on our individual and social lives. With the COVID-19 pandemic, social relations began to be conducted remotely and many social lives had to be suspended. Some significant measures have been taken by countries such as restrictions on travel, reducing mass mobility, remote working, and distance education. There has been a rapid transition to distance education after the closure of schools, colleges, and universities. Schools, universities, teachers/instructors, and students have taken responsibility for remote learning. Efforts in many countries included the use of various digital platforms with ABSTRACT With the continued spread of the COVID-19 crisis, the universities were closed temporarily in Turkey just as in the rest of the world. As a result of this, many educators and students tried to adapt online education quickly. This research study examined 67 pre-service teachers' views on online chemistry laboratory learning experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A data collection tool consisting of seven open-ended questions was used. Data sources included responses given to open-ended questions about the online chemistry laboratory learning experiences, the applications used for the chemistry experiments (e.g., simulations, images, and videos), the methods used for assessing online learning, and the system used for the virtual classroom platform. Content analysis was applied to participants' responses. Participants' views about online chemistry laboratories amid the COVID-19 pandemic were gathered in five themes: (i) advantages and disadvantages of online chemistry laboratories, (ii) effects of online chemistry laboratories on learning outcomes, (iii) views on technological applications used in online chemistry laboratories, (iv) views on measurement and assessment methods used in online chemistry laboratories, and (v) views of pre-service teachers on the virtual classroom platform used in online chemistry laboratories. The findings of the study highlighted that online laboratory learning has both advantages and disadvantages. The findings also included the strengths and weaknesses of the system used for the virtual classroom platform. The findings may provide useful information on how to design a positive online laboratory experience such as integrating hands-on activities as a part of the online laboratories to overcome the lack of "learning by doing" and using videos containing more detailed explanations about the experimental setup. Yeşiloğlu, Gençer, Ekici & Işık, 2021 109 educational content and educational technology solutions (Moreno & Gortazar, 2020), including Turkey. Although distance education and online learning are concepts that have become very much a part of our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, have been studied for decades. When the literature is examined, efforts have been made to clear up the confusion surrounding these concepts (Bates & Bates, 2005; Hodges et al., 2020; Moore et al., 2011). Distance education describes learning activities that take place when there is a physical separation between the instructor and the learners (Moore et al., 2011). Communication between the instructor and the learners can be through audio and video teleconferences, audio and video recordings, written correspondence, or multimedia systems. At present, the main communication technology is the World Wide Web. Online learning is a form of distance learning and refers to learning that takes place via computers and the Internet (Carliner, 2004). There is an assumption that universities can easily adapt to online learning during a pandemic (Bassett & Arnhold, 2020) since they are no strangers to online education. However, this may not be the case because there are several particular class types at the tertiary level, including lectures, tutorials, laboratories, practical workshops, and fieldwork. Online learning during the pandemic may be particularly challenging for students and educators in practical applications and laboratory-dominated departments. One of those departments is science education. The laboratory has always had a central and distinctive place in science education (Clough, 2002; Hofstein & Lunetta, 1982; Nersessian, 1991). Ausubel (1968) stated the importance of the laboratory with the following words: "The laboratory gives the students appreciation of the spirit and method of science... promotes problem-solving, analytic and generalization ability... provides students with some understanding of the nature of science" (p. 345). With the rapid advancements in information and communication technology, laboratory education environments have changed significantly (Scanlon et al., 2002). Traditional face-to-face laboratories have moved in to online. There are two common types of the online laboratory: remote and virtual laboratories (Budai & Kuczmann, 2018). While in a virtual laboratory, experiments are simulated by using software, the remote laboratory allows the students to work on real-time experiments via the Internet from a remote location (Balamuralıthara & Woods, 2007). Remote and virtual labs can be integrated into the learning management system (LMS) in universities. Since the LMS controls the access of users to a website and ensures that all teaching resources are offered in the same environment, integration of online labs and the LMS is advantageous (Ruano et al., 2013). The type of online laboratory examined in the present study is not a remote lab. However, it is not a virtual lab either because the experiments were not based entirely on simulations. The online chemistry laboratories subjected in this study were designed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the laboratory courses, pre-service teachers were provided with data previously obtained from face-to-face laboratories or simulation programs and videos of experiments in video-sharing platforms. In science education literature, many studies are investigating the effectiveness of online laboratories or comparing traditional face-to-face laboratories with online laboratories in terms of their advantages and disadvantages (
A comparison of online and traditional chemistry lecture and lab
Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2018
While the equivalence between online and traditional classrooms has been well researched, very little effort has been expended to do such comparisons for college level introductory chemistry. The existing literature has only one study that investigated chemistry lectures at an entire course level as opposed to particular course components such as individual topics or exams. Regarding lab courses, only one study is available and it involves moderating variables that are largely uncontrolled. In this work, we compared the student pass rates, withdrawal rates, and grade distributions between asynchronous online and traditional formats of an introductory chemistry lecture as well as its associated lab course. The study was based on the 823 university records available for the 2015–2016 academic year. Student pass and withdrawal rates between the two modes were quite similar and did not appear to be statistically significant. However, grade distributions for both the lecture and lab diff...
A Comparative Analysis of Virtual and Traditional Laboratory Chemistry Learning
Perspectives in Education, 2019
Laboratory experimentation in the context of school science is a widely advocated teaching strategy for the simplification of several abstract scientific concepts. Laboratory-based learning activities have proven to enhance learners' conceptual and procedural understandings of micro chemical phenomena, thus boosting achievement in chemistry content tests. In the South African education landscape where there is inequitable distribution of resources for laboratory-based science learning, this study exploited how available virtual learning resources could also be used for learning chemistry concepts, and further compared student achievement in chemistry content test post intervention with both traditional and virtual laboratory learning resources. In this quasi-experimental study, we provided a group of third-year pre-service science teachers (n=50) with four chemistry concepts to learn using a hands-on traditional (control group) and a virtual laboratory (experimental group) intervention. The same pre and post chemistry content test was administered to control and experimental groups of pre-service teachers (herein also referred to as students), before and after learning interventions, with the aim of assessing students' achievements post-learning in the two different laboratory environments. Tests scores were analysed and the results of a paired-sample t-test showed a statistically significant difference between pre-and post-test results for all groups of students. Using independent sample t-tests, we further compared post-test scores for the control and experimental groups which revealed the mean post-test score of the experimental group (M = 79.36, SD = 8.306), being significantly higher than that of the control group (M = 68.72, SD = 9.076) at t (48) = 4.32, p < .01. The findings from these tests indicated that, students obtained significantly higher achievement scores postlaboratory learning interventions and that virtual laboratory interventions yielded significantly higher achievement scores than traditional laboratory interventions. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that, laboratory learning has a positive impact on achievement in chemistry and that virtual laboratories provide a worthy complement for traditional laboratories when learning abstract and difficult chemistry concepts. Implications of these findings and some recommendations for practice and research are also discussed herein.
Pharmacy Education, 2022
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the concept and perception of normalcy, compelling instructors to switch from face-to-face to online instruction overnight. Meanwhile, the satisfaction of course learning outcomes remains a critical element of modern educational systems and should be monitored during online education. Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the online delivery and assessment tools of a Quantitative Chemical Analysis course and evaluate student satisfaction. Methods: Formative and summative assessments were used to test students' learning and the application of Quantitative Chemical Analysis concepts using online teaching models. At the end of the semester, a Likert scale survey was sent to all students to get their feedback. Results: Students were extremely satisfied with online learning, believing that the course's intended learning outcomes were met, with student ability to perform calculations and evaluate errors, precision, a...
3rd Bilsel International Ahlat Scientific Researches Congress, 2024
Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has forced many educational institutions across the globe to shift their laboratory instructional mode from face-to-face practical to an online instruction model and later to a virtual state, which raises challenges in creating quality content that matches the learning objectives of the practical concepts of the subject. The study evaluates the transition of laboratory activities from direct instruction through live-streamed experiments to a virtual laboratory. An experimental and survey research design was adopted. An online survey created with Google Forms and a test was used to collect data. While 42 students participated in the experiment, 134 chemistry teachers were used as the respondents to the study. The collected data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science, Version 25. The result indicated that while teachers prefer face-to-face lab experiments, students like virtual chemistry experiments. Moreover, the result shows that students performed better when learning in a virtual environment compared to a live stream and then face-to-face. It also reveals that the visual aid provided by technology is the most important factor in facilitating the learning of practical chemistry, whether virtual, online, or in person. Both approaches can be effective, provided the technological aid is used appropriately, whether online or in person. Technological advancements have created opportunities for the prevalence of the virtual laboratory as an alternative to face-to-face and live-streamed laboratory experiments. The study recommends that attention be given to professional developments that inculcate technological skills that facilitate learning chemistry face-to-face, live-streamed, and virtually.
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