بررسي اثربخشي آزمايشگاه مجازي در درس علوم بر مهارت هاي حل مسئله، انگيزش و پيشرفت تحصيلي دانش آموزان ششم ابتدايي شهر خميني شهر

Investigating the effectiveness of virtual lab in science course on problem solving skills, motivation, an‎d academic achievement of sixth grade students of Khomeinishahr city

علوم تربيتي

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of virtual laboratories in science lessons on problem-solving skills, motivation, an‎d academic achievement among sixth-grade students in Khomeini Shahr. The research employed an applied methodology of a quasi-experimental design, utilizing both pre-test an‎d post-test assessments alongside a control group. The statistical population for this study consists of all sixth-grade students in Khomeini Shahr during the 2023- 2024 academic year. Through purposeful sampling, Abu Rayhan School 2 was selec‎ted for the research, two classes of 38 female students with an average age of 12 years were selec‎ted. One class was ran‎domly assigned as the experimental group, while the other served as the control group. The experimental group engaged with the independent variable, specifically the Ata an‎d PhET virtual laboratories, over 11 sessions, while the control group received traditional instruction. Data collection tools included the Hepner an‎d Peterson (1982) problem-solving questionnaire, the Harter (1981) academic motivation questionnaire, an‎d a researcher-developed academic achievement test. The research data were analyzed using one-way analysis of covariance an‎d the Bonferroni post-hoc test with SPSS24 software. The results indicated that the use of the Ata an‎d PhET virtual laboratories significantly enhanced the problem-solving skills, motivation, an‎d academic achievement of students in the experimental group. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the experimental an‎d control groups in two components of problem-solving skills: "approach-avoidance" an‎d "confidence in problem-solving." However, no significant difference was found between the two groups in the scores for the "personal control" component. The findings demonstrate that the use of virtual laboratories in science lessons effectively improved both "intrinsic motivation" an‎d "extrinsic motivation" among sixth-grade students. It is suggested that researchers conduct research to examine the impact of using virtual laboratories on the variable of studentsʹ academic engagement, which is essential for better learning. Also, research should be conducted to examine the sustainability of the results of using this new educational technology, an‎d follow-up courses should be implemented. Researchers should conduct research on this topic on students from other grades an‎d with a larger sample size, an‎d use different research methods, including qualitative methods, to conduct research. It is suggested that educational technology specialists, together with programming experts, educational psychology experts, an‎d teachers, design quality laboratories at higher levels an‎d closer to reality specifically for the elementary school level, an‎d that training workshops be held for teachers to familiarize themselves with an‎d use simulation software in the teaching process.

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