Learning Aids in Chemistry: Design and Development

Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 4(20): 4081-4084, 2012 ISSN: 2040-7467 © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2012 Submitted: March 12, 2012 Accepted: March 26, 2012 Published: October 15, 2012 Learning Aids in Chemistry: Design and Development 1 TienTien Lee and 2Kamisah Osman Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia 2 Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia 1 Abstract: Electrochemistry is found to be a difficult topic to learn due to its abstract concepts that involve the macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic representation levels. Research showed that animation and simulation using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can help students to visualize and hence enhance students’ understanding in learning abstract chemistry topics. As a result, Interactive Multimedia Module with Pedagogical Agent (IMMPA) named EC Lab was developed in order to assist students in the learning of the Electrochemistry topic. KemGerly Model (combination of Kemp Model, Gerlach and Ely Model) were combined as instructional design models for the design of IMMPA EC Lab. Pedagogical Agents (PAs) were added in IMMPA EC Lab to facilitate learning in computer-mediated learning environments. The information delivery and the flow of content follow the Needham phases in constructivism theory. It is hoped that the IMMPA EC Lab would be able to assist students in the learning of Electrochemistry in terms of concept understanding and motivation level. Keywords: Constructivism theory, electrochemistry, interactive multimedia module, pedagogical agent INTRODUCTION Electrochemistry is a study of inter-conversion of chemical energy and electrical energy that occurs in electrolytic and voltaic cells. Previous studies (Bojczuk, 1982; Lin et al., 2002; Roziah, 2005; Lee and Kamisah, 2010) showed that the topic is difficult to learn because the concepts are abstract. Students often encounter misconceptions in the learning of this topic (Garnett and Treagust, 1992; Garnett and Hackling, 1993; Garnett et al., 1995; Sanger and Greenbowe, 1997a; Sanger and Greenbowe, 1997b; Lin et al., 2002; Lee, 2008; Lee and Arshad, 2009; Karsli and Çalik, 2012). Generally, some common misconceptions or problems faced by students in learning Electrochemistry are: C C C C C Students are always confused between the flow of current in the conductors and in the electrolytes; They cannot identify the anode and cathode/positive and negative terminal in the cell They cannot describe and explain the process happening at the anode and cathode They mix up the oxidation and reduction process at the electrodes They are unclear about the concept of electrolyte (Lee, 2008; Lee and Arshad, 2009; Lee and Kamisah, 2012) Studies (Gois and Giordan, 2009; Lerman and Morton, 2009; Doymus et al., 2010) have been carried out and results showed that animation and simulation using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can help students to visualize and hence enhance students’ understanding in learning abstract chemistry topics. Although the use of multimedia modules is able to assist students in visualizing the abstract concepts, but the students lack sufficient metacognitive awareness and comprehension monitoring skills to make effective choices (Land, 2000; Hill and Hannafin, 2001). They lack the skills to find, process and use information and ideas. Students as novice learners do not always make connections to prior knowledge or everyday experiences in ways that are productive for learning (Land, 2000). As a result, Pedagogical Agents (PAs) are designed to facilitate learning in computer-mediated learning environments (Johnson et al., 2000; Slater, 2000; Craig et al., 2002; Moundridou and Virvou, 2002; Chou et al., 2003; Predinger et al., 2009) by providing metacognitive guidance whichinvolves embedding support, or scaffolds for procedural, strategic, or metacognitive control (Land, 2000). Hence, an Interactive Multimedia Module with Pedagogical Agents (IMMPA) with different roles of PAs, named EC Lab was developed in order to assist students in the learning of Electrochemistry. Corresponding Author: TienTien Lee, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia 4081 Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 4(20): 4081-4084, 2012 Fig. 1: Conceptual framework of KemGerly model DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT Instructional design model: In this study, the researcher is interested to develop an IMMPA named EC Lab in the learning of Electrochemistry by combining two instructional design models: Kemp et al. (1994) and Gerlach and Ely (1980). The two models are combined as they are both classroom-oriented (Gustafson and Branch, 1997) with their own strengths. The model combined was named KemGerly Model and the conceptual framework of KemGerly Model is presented in Fig. 1. Fig. 2: Professor T and Lisa Pedagogical agent: PAs are animated life-like characters that show human characteristics in terms of appearance such as changes in facial expressions, gestures and body movements when interacting with the users. Users can communicate with the agent via speech or on-screen text. Studies (Baylor and Kim, 2003; Baylor, 2005) showed that male agents were found to be more outgoing and agreeable, more intelligent and knowledgeable compared to female agents. Although female agents were perceived as less intelligent, but they were more aggressive in enhancing self-efficacy (Baylor and Kim, 2004; Baylor, 2005). Hence, the excerpt was designed in the form of a male professor of about sixty years old. Professor T (Fig. 2) gives accurate information and explains new concepts to the students. He speaks slowly in a formal way with minimal body gestures and facial expressions. On the other hand, Lisa (Fig. 2) is a fifteen-year old female youth who speaks with an energetic voice. She is a learning companion in the ECLab. She learns together with the students, gives motivation and encouragement to the students to complete the tasks and exercises in the module. Students are free to choose the PA they want to accompany them in the learning of Electrochemistry when using the EC Lab. Parts in IMMPA EC lab: The main menu for the EC Lab consists of tutorials, experiments, exercises, quizzes, memos and games. There are five sub units in the EC Lab: C C C C C Electrolytes and Non-Electrolytes Electrolysis of Molten Compounds Electrolysis of Aqueous Solutions Voltaic Cells Types of Voltaic Cells All the information delivery for the sub units are presented in the tutorial session. The experiment session 4082 Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 4(20): 4081-4084, 2012 Table 1: Needham phases and sessions in IMMPA EC lab Needham phases Orientation Sessions in every sub unit Think about it! Main menu Tutorial Elicitation of ideas Restructuring of ideas Clarification and exchange Exposure to conflict situation Construction of new ideas and evaluation Aplication of ideas Review Do you still remember? Give me your ideas... Are you sure? Let’s do it!! / Show time! Practice makes perfect! Before & after... Experiment Exercise Quiz Test yourself Challenge yourself Memo Game consists of five experiments in Electrochemistry. After the information delivery process, the students will do some exercises to enhance their understanding on the concepts learnt in the Practice makes perfect session. A quiz will be given at the end of every sub unit consisting of multiple choice questions, structured questions and essays. Memos are created to give some hints and tips on learning of some of the Electrochemistry concepts. There are four activities in the game session to let the students relax their mind after the learning process. students to reflect upon the extent to which their ideas have changed. The students need to answer certain activity questions again and compare their prior answers to the new answers. Testing yourself and Challenge yourself sessions contain multiple choice questions, structured questions and essay questions to enable the students to evaluate themselves on the concepts learnt. The relationship between sessions in IMMPA EC Lab and Needham phases is as summarized in Table 1. CONCLUSION Needham phases in constructivism theory: The complete flow of each sub unit follows the five phases in the learning process created by Needham (1987). The five phases are orientation, elicitation of ideas, restructuring of ideas, application of ideas and review. In the EC Lab, the Think about it session is the orientation phase. The students will be shown some pictures that are familiar to them. Those pictures are related to the concepts that will be learnt in every sub unit. Then, in the Do you still remember session, the students will be reminded of some concepts that they have learnt before. Those concepts are related to the new concepts to be learnt in the sub unit. Next, in the Give me your ideas session, the students are given the chance to give their ideas regarding some activities that are related to the concepts to be learnt. Then, in the Are you sure session, the students need to give some ideas, make some guesses or predictions on some outcomes of the situations. In order to examine their ideas, guesses and predictions, the students need to carry out some investigations in Let’s do it or watch related videos in Show time sessions. In these two sessions, the students will be exposed to the conflicting situations if their ideas, guesses or predictions are different from what is being shown in the experiments or videos. Hence, conceptual change should happen here and the students need to modify, extend or replace their existing ideas. Then, reinforcement of the constructed ideas will be done in the Practice makes perfect session. The students will apply the concepts learnt in new situations and examples. Lastly, Before and after sessions are created to enable the IMMPA EC Lab is developed by applying the combination of two instructional models to overcome the weakness of the individual model. Elements of multimedia are used in the information delivery process so that students can have a different experience of learning in the multimedia learning environment. PAs with different roles and gender are implemented in the EC Lab after considering the demands of students from different backgrounds. Besides that, the learning process in the EC Lab implements the five Needham phases so that students can generate their ideas from their pre-existing knowledge through their daily experiences. The IMMPA EC Lab is developed after months of effort, so it is hoped that it can improve students’ understanding and motivation in the learning of Electrochemistry. REFERENCES Baylor, A.L. and Y. Kim, 2003. The role of gender and ethnicity in pedagogical agent perception. Paper Presented at the E-Learn (World Conference on ELearning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare and Higher Education), Phonix, Arizona. Baylor, A.L. and Y. Kim, 2004. Pedagogical agent design: The impact of agent realism, gender, ethnicity and instructional role. Presented at International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Maceio, Brazil. 4083 Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 4(20): 4081-4084, 2012 Baylor, A.L., 2005. The impact of pedagogical agent image on affective outcomes. Proceedings of Workshop on Affective Interactions: Computers in the Affective Loop, International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, San Diego, CA. Bojczuk, M., 1982. Topic difficulties in O-and A-level chemistry. SSR, 64: 545-551. Chou, C.Y., T.W. Chan and C.J. Lin, 2003. Redefining the learning companion: The past, present and future of educational agents. Comput. Educ., 40: 255-269. Craig, S.D., B. Gholson and D.M. Driscoll, 2002. Animated pedagogical agents in multimedia educational environments: Effects of agent properties, picture features and redundancy. J. Educ. Psychol., 94(2): 428-434. Doymus, K., A. Karacop and U. Simsek, 2010. Effects of jigsaw and animation techniques on students’ understanding of concepts and subjects in electrochemistry. ETR&D, 58: 671-691. Garnett, P.J. and M.W. Hackling, 1993. Chemistry misconceptions at the secondary-tertiary interface. Chem. Aust., 60(3): 117-119. Garnett, P.J. and D.F. Treagust, 1992. Conceptual difficulties experienced by senior high school students of electrochemistry: Electrochemical (galvanic) and electrolytic cells. J. Res. Sci. Teach., 29(10): 1079-1099. Garnett, P.J., P.J. Garnett and M.W. Hackling, 1995. Students’ Alternative conceptions in chemistry: A review of research and implications for teaching and learning. Stud. Sci. Educ., 25: 69-95. Gerlach, V.S. and D.P. Ely, 1980. Teaching and Media: A Systematic Approach. 2nd Edn., Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey. Gois, J.Y. and M. Giordan, 2009. Evolution of virtual learning environments in chemistry education. In Science Teaching, Extra Number 8th International Congress on Research in Science Teaching, Barcelona, pp: 2864-2867. Gustafson, K.L. and R.M. Branch, 1997. Survey of Instructional Development Model. 3rd Edn., ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Technology, NY. Hill, J.R. and M.J. Hannafin, 2001. Teaching and learning in digital environments: The resurgence of resoursebased learning. ETR&D, 49(3): 37-52. Johnson, W.L., J.W. Rickel and J.C. Lester, 2000. Animated pedagogical agents: Face-to-face interaction in interactive learning environments. IJAIED, 11: 47-78. Karsli, F. and M. Çalik, 2012. Can freshman science student teachers’ alternative conceptions of ‘electrochemical cells’ be fully diminished? Asian J. Chem., 24(2): 485-491. Kemp, J.E., G.R. Morrison and S.V. Ross, 1994.Design Effective Instruction. Macmillan, New York. Land, S.M., 2000. Cognitive requirements for learning with open-ended learning environments. ETR&D, 48(3): 61-78. Lee, T.T., 2008. Four students understanding of the electrochemical. M.Ed. Thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia. Lee, T.T. and M.Y. Arshad, 2009. Four students' misconceptions about electrochemistry. Jurnal Sains dan Matematik UPSI, 1(2): 52-64. Lee, T.T. and O. Kamisah, 2010. Construction of Interactive Multimedia Modules with Pedagogical Agents (IMMPA) in Learning Electrochemistry: Analysis of Needs. Paper Presented at Prosiding Kolokium Kebangsaan Pasca Siswazah Sains and Matematik 2010, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 22 December. Lee, T.T. and O. Kamisah, 2012. Interactive Multimedia Module with Pedagogical Agent in Electrochemistry. In: Deliyannis, I., (Ed.), Interactive Multimedia. In Tech, Croatia, pp: 29-48. Lerman, Z.M. and D. Morton, 2009. Using the Arts and Computer Animation to Make Chemistry Accessible to All in the Twenty-First Century. In: GuptaBhowan, M., S. Jhaumeer-Laulloo, H. Li Kam Wah and P. Ramasami, (Eds.), Chemistry Education in the ICT Age. Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Mauritius, pp: 31-40. Lin, H.S., T.C. Yang, H.L. Chiu and C.Y. Chou, 2002. Students’ difficulties in learning electrochemistry. Proc. Natl. Sci. Counc. ROC(D), 12(3): 100-105. Moundridou, M. and M. Virvou, 2002. Evaluating the persona effect of an interface agent in an intelligent tutoring system. J. Comput. Assist. Lear., 18(2). Needham, R., 1987. CLIS in the Classroom: Teaching Strategies for Developing Understanding in Science. University of Leeds, Leeds. Predinger, H., S. Saeyor and M.N.D. Ishizuka, 2009. Animated Agents for Language Conversation Training. Retrieved from: http://www.miv.t.utokyo.ac.jp/papers/helmut-edmedia01.pdf, (Accessed on: July 2009). Roziah, A., 2005. Development and effectiveness of the multimedia package thinking of chemistry. Ph.D. Thesis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. Sanger, M.J. and T.J. Greenbowe, 1997a. Common student misconceptions in electrochemistry: Galvanic, electrolytic and concentration cells. J. Res. Sci. Teach., 34(4): 377-398. Sanger, M.J. and T.J. Greenbowe, 1997b. Students’ Misconceptions in Electrochemistry: Current Flow in Electrolyte Solutions and the Salt Bridge. J. Chem. Educ., 74: 819-823. Slater, D., 2000. Interactive animated pedagogical agents mixing the best of human and computer-based tutors. MA. Thesis, Stanford University, Stanford 4084