© 2019 IJRTI | Volume 4, Issue 7 | ISSN: 2456-3315

The Effects of ICT Use in Teaching and Learning on

Achievement of Students in Science Subject in a
Primary School in Karnataka
Dr. Sunilkumar B. Dodmani

Faculty in KUCE Dharawad

Abstract: This study is aimed to identify the relationship between the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
use in teaching and learning towards the achievement of primary school students in Science subject. A total of 100
respondents were selected amongst Year 4 students at a primary school in K.L.E Dharawad, Karnataka. Quantitative
approach has been used in this study. Students were classified into two groups namely the Treatment Group (Teaching
using ICT) and the Control Group (Teaching without using ICT). The t-test showed higher value for the Treatment Group
as compared to the Control Group. The result indicated that ICT use in teaching and learning increased the students’
achievement in Science subject in the primary school. This study also attempted to determine the differences of achievement
between the female and male students in Science subject. Both male and female students showed improvement in their
learning outcomes. However, the male students revealed higher level of achievement compared to the female students. The
findings showed positive relationship between ICT use in Science lessons and the students’ achievements. The usage of ICT
during lessons conducted in classes has improved the learning outcomes of students and therefore the contribution should
be recognised by all teachers in order to enhance students’ achievement in academic. Based on the findings, several
recommendations have been made to provide some insights into the application of ICT in Science subject.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technology, teaching and learning, Science subject, Education, Achievement,
Primary School

Introduction

In order to fully participate in the global economic activities, Karnataka needs to sustain productivity driven growth through critical
thinking workforce and technology literate workers (Chan, 2009). To achieve and support that vision, the educational system has
to be changed. Hence, various initiatives have been introduced by the government to facilitate the use of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) and enhance the capacity and capability in all fields, including education. ICT to be used in
education system as a teaching aid was one of the transformations that Malaysian government has introduced.

The main contribution of ICT is that it offers access to a lot of data and information which the teachers can utilise for teaching and
learning in class. ICT is a tool and a way to improve the pedagogy of teaching, building a more effective organizational structure
in schools, stronger links between schools and the community, and empower students (Chan, 2002). The Ministry of Education
Malaysia believes that ICT has the potential to revolutionise education and improve learning as it has changed the medical, financial,
manufacturing, and other sectors in society. According to Chan (2002), the Ministry has formulated three main policies for ICT in
education. The first policy insists on ICT being used by all students to reduce the digital gap amongst schools. The second policy
ummarized the role and function of ICT in education as a teaching and learning tool. Apart from radio and television as a teaching
and learning tool, this policy stresses the use of the computer for accessing information, communication, and as a productivity tool.
Moore (2005) ummarized about the positive impact of ICT on pupils’ learning such as increased students’ motivation to stay on-
task and drive them to behave better and produce high quality work. Besides, through ICT, students learnt more independently and
did more works at a fast pace. Since the importance of ICT and its contributions to all fields including education had been proved
in previous studies, this study will demonstrate the impact of ICT use in teaching and learning on the achievement of primary
students in Science subject.

ICT in Education

ICT refers to the use of computer-based communications technology that serves as a network to find information. This includes
computer hardware and software that can be used for teaching and learning and information resources (Goay and Wong, 2003). In
2006, the Department of Science and Mathematics, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya has conducted research on the use
of ICT in schools that applied the policy of teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI). This programme
also encourages teachers to use ICT in class lessons. In order to implement the PPSMI, the Ministry of Education Karnataka has
sent 67% of the 300,000 teachers across the country for ICT training. In addition, the Ministry has distributed a total of 97,000
laptops, 70,000 LCDs, 67,439 screens and 2,000 software courses to schools. The Malaysian Government also introduced a model
of “Futuristic School” that integrated ICT in all aspects (Yusof, 2006). The new millennium witnesses a great transformation of
society through global competition and the power of information and communication technology. This development poses a lot of
implications on education system, school management and also for the formation of Smart Schools. Same study revealed that
awareness of ICT amongst teachers and principals was generally low and needs improvement. Previous study by Karnataka

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 © 2019 IJRTI | Volume 4, Issue 7 | ISSN: 2456-3315

University Karnataka (KUD), Computer Centre (20018) reported that the acceptance and the rejection of ICT were depending on
community perceptions. The same study also revealed that 13% of Karnataka have negative perceptions towards ICT, while 18.6%
gave positive perceptions towards ICT and 67.7% of Karnataka have neutral feelings towards ICT. These results pictured that
Malaysian society does not realise the effect and impact of ICT in their lives.

Teachers’ Skills and Willingness of ICT Use in Teaching

Skills and the willingness of teachers refer to skilled teachers who are ready to use ICT in learning and teaching. According to
Osman and Ahmed (2003), to achieve a comprehensive teaching by using ICT, teachers need to be convinced of the importance
and benefit of ICT use in teaching and learning. Indeed, teachers should be given adequate training to use ICT tool effectively and
efficiently. Findings also showed that teachers who have attended training courses in English and ICT were more efficient, capable
at using computers and willing to implement the teaching of Science in English compared to teachers who have no training.
(Saamad, 2003) Cook and Finlayson (1999) indicated that the increased use of ICT in the community provided opportunities for
students to gain experience that will encourage them in learning. They added, if the use of ICT in learning and teaching produced
favorable effects, teachers will be more confident of the education system in the future. Norzita (2004) revealed that the minimum
level of the skill of using computers and ICT amongst teachers in teaching and learning of Science was high. However Sutherland
et al. (2004) stated that ICT will enhance learning if teachers plan to incorporate into learning activities carefully in lessons but it
will, in turn, becomes useless without good plans. Students must be encouraged to understand the process involved. Becker (2001)
suggested that teachers’ expertise in ICT was an important factor in its successful use in lessons. Government has provided materials
and facilities such as laptops, LCDs, CDs, guide books, textbooks, reference books, activity books to help teachers in teaching.
Therefore, teachers were encouraged to take advantages of ICT in teaching and learning in order to produce a big impact in education
field (Romai Nor, 2003). Lim (2005) found that the use of ICT in teaching and learning allowed students to be active in finding
information and build knowledge from information obtained by the chance to cross-link between knowledge of subjects without
restricted by time and distance. Fun (1990) conducted a study on the attitudes of the Form Six students during computer-aided
activities in Geography classes. It showed that students have positive attitudes towards the use of computer which was considered
as an effective technique of teaching and learning pedagogy by students. According to Kubiatko (2010), the results of students’
attitudes toward ICT use in teaching and learning Science subject among high school students were based on statistical evaluation.
Students seemed interested in using ICT in the Science subjects. The same study also concluded that ICT can enhance students’
learning in Science from early age. Ong, Foo and Lee (2010) in their study revealed that the initiative of Malaysia Smart Schools
promotes the use of ICT has created significant positive attitude towards Science among students.

Method

Sampling

Stratified Random Sampling was used to ensure the generalisation and the accuracy of the data. Population of this study is 200
students of a primary school in Butterworth, Penang. Respondents were randomly selected amongst the Year 4 students. Fifty
students (25 male and 25 female) were selected for the Control Group and another 50 (25 male and 25 female) students for the
Treatment Group. The selection of sample also was based on the final examination grade of Science subject.

For this experimental study, a set of pre-test questions were given out to the Control and Treatment groups at the beginning of the
study. A set of post-test questions (that same as the pre-test questions) were given out to both groups after the experiment is
conducted. The pre-post test questions were divided into two parts: Part A (30 questions) and Part B (12 questions), whereby all the
42 questions were related to the topics of Year 4 Science subject. Part A consists of 30 objectives questions worth 60 marks that
cover the topics on Basic Needs Life Processes, Protection and Measurement. Part B consists of 12 subjective questions worth 40
marks based on the topics on Materials, The Earth and The Universe, and Technology around Us. The total mark is 100%. The pre-
test was conducted for both groups and data was collected for analysis using SPSS version 13.0. Then, an experiment was carried
out for both groups. For the Treatment Group, they have to use ICT during their Science lessons for 10 weeks. Whereas, for the
Control Group, their Science lessons were carried out without use of ICT. Following the experiments, a post-test session has been
conducted for both groups for data collecting. Data collected from this survey were then presented by using descriptive and
inferential statistics. Descriptive analysis was used to study the effect of ICT use in Science lessons on the achievement of Year 4
students as well as to find percentage, mean and standard deviation of the item. The t-test and correlation were used to investigate
the relationship between the effects of ICT use in teaching and learning on the achievement, and to determine the direction and
strength of the relationship between achievement in Science subject by ICT use, and without ICT use. The t-test and correlation
were also used to determine whether there was a significant difference in students’ achievement across gender.

Findings and Analysis

Table 1 The comparison of students’ achievements in pre-test session between the Treatment Group and the Control Group

Test Group N Mean SD Standard T Sig

Error
Pre-test Treatment 50 13.53 3.08 .51
Pre-test Control 50 14.64 3.65 .64 1.367 .176

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The mean score for the Treatment Group was 13.53 and the mean score for the Control Group, was 14.64. The t-test analysis
showed that the t 1.367. These results showed that there was no significantvalue was difference in students’ achievement in Science
subject between both groups in pre-test session.
Table 2 Students’ achievements in post-test session between the Treatment Group and the Control Group

Test Group N Mean SD Standard Error T Sig

Pre-test Treatment 50 17.58 4.15 .69
(ICT) 2.841 .006
Pre-test Control 50 14.85 3.82 .66
(without
ICT)

As seen in Table 2, the Treatment Group attained mean scores of 17:58, while the Control Group attained 14.85. The significant
value was .006 and these results showed that there were significant differences in the achievement of both groups in the post-test.
Results indicated that performance of students from the Treatment Group increased in post-test. This concluded that ICT use in
Science teaching affected students’ achievement.

Table 3 The comparison of students’ achievements in pre- and post- test session between the Treatment Group and the
Control Group

Test Group N Mean SD Standard Error T Sig

Pre-test Treatment 50 4.00 5.36 .89 4.477 .000

Pre-test Control 50 0.21 3.55 .62 0.343 .734

The t-test was also conducted to analyse the achievement of student for both groups. The aim was to prove that there was a
significant improvement for both groups of Year 4 students in Science subject. The mean and standard deviation values (min =
4.00n; SD = 5.36) proved that there was a high improvement for the Treatment Group. Hence, these indicated that there were
significant differences in student achievement between pre-test and post-test sessions. The t value (t = 0.343) for the Control Group
showed that there was no difference on students achievement in pre-test and post-test. The value of standard deviation (SD = 3.55)
showed that there was only a slight achievement in the Control Group. The significant value of 0.734 clearly proved that no
difference existed on students’ achievement in Science subject between pre- and post-test sessions. These results indicated that
teaching without using ICT did not improve the achievements of students in the Control Group.
Table 4 Correlation between ICT use and students’ achievements

Use of ICT Students’ achievement

Use of ICT Pearson 1.000 .899**
sig. (2-tailed) 50 .000
N 50
Students’ Pearson .899**
achievement sig.(2-tailed) .000
N 50
Data gathered showed that correlation between the ICT use and students’ achievement was very high which indicated that
there was a positive relationship between ICT use and students’ achievements.

Table 5 The difference of female students’ achievements with teaching ICT use and without ICT use

Test Group N Mean SD DF T Sig

Female Treatment 25 8.00 3.20 3.243 .000

Control 25 7.43 2.57 48

Table 5 showed that the mean value for female students’ achievements with teaching using ICT was 8.00 and for teaching without
using ICT was 7.43. This study has found out that the female students’ achievements increased when ICT was used in Science
lessons compared to the achievement without using ICT.

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Table 6 The difference in male students’ achievements by teaching using ICT and without using ICT

Test Group N mean sd df t sig

Female Treatment 25 9.58 5.15 3.503 .000

Control 25 7.42 2.58 48

Table 6 showed that the mean value of male students’ achievements in Science subject by teaching using ICT was significantly
different from the mean value of students’ achievements by teaching without using ICT (t = 3.503, p = 0.001). The data also found
that the achievement of male students which have been taught by using ICT was better than the achievement of male students that
have been taught without using ICT.
Table 7 showed that the male mean value was higher than female students (male = 9.58, female = 8.00). These indicated that ICT
use in Science lessons provided more positive impact to males compared than female students.

Table 7 The difference of ICT use in Science lessons on students’ achievements based on gender
Group N Min Mean SD df t-value P value

Male 25 25 9.58 5.15 .48 3.841 0.000

Treatment
Group (use
ICT) Female 25 25 8.00 3.20

The Effect of ICT Use in Teaching and Learning on Year 4 Students’ Achievements in Science Subject
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ICT use in teaching and learning towards students’ achievement
in Science subject at primary level. As a result of this study, it was found that the use of ICT in teaching and learning has improved
the achievement in Science for the Year 4 students. The comparison of students’ achievements showed that the Treatment Group
had higher achievement than the Control Group. It was concluded that there was a significant difference in achievement of Science
subject between both groups. This indicated that the achievement of students was increased when teacher used ICT in their teaching
and learning. According to Pittard, Phil and Jessica (2008), ICT provided significant contribution to teaching and learning in all
subjects and to all ages. ICT can motivate children and engage them in learning, besides meeting individual learning needs.
According to the Bruner (1966) theory, to achieve better results, children need motivation to learn. It has been proven in this study
where ICT has been used in teaching for 10 weeks in the Science classes. As a result, the students were more interested to study
and this helps to improve students’ performances. Deaney, Ruthven and Hennessy (2008) also found that ICT has increased the
interest and motivation for pupils in schools. Similar study proved that teaching and learning using ICT improved the achievement
of moderate learners (Norzita, 2004).

Correlation between the Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning with the Students Achievement in the Science Subject
Findings showed that there was a positive correlation between the use of ICT in teaching and learning with students’
achievements. According to the findings of this study, students’ achievements increased when ICT is used in a lesson. Students’
achievements were found decreasing in a nonICT based lesson. According to Cox (1999), using ICT in lessons can enhance self-
esteem leading to expectations of achieving goals. Becker (2001) also suggested that using ICT in lessons may help students in
mastering subject skills. ICT used in lessons especially in the Science subject produced higher quality output of students. Comber
et al. (2002) suggested that ICT can be used effectively in the Science subject to show video sequences of things that are hard to
explain or visualise. Students would be able to construct knowledge easier with the support of ICT (Hull 1995; Gayeski, 1993).

The Effects of ICT on Students’ Achievement Based on Gender

Findings indicated that there were differences in students’ achievement by gender. Data found that 80% of male students and
70% of female students have passed in the post-test. It can be described that male students showed higher achievement than female
students. This finding is supported by Shaw (1999) who revealed that male students felt more at ease with new ICT than females.
In addition, study by Hakkarainen et al. (2000) revealed that male students’ scores were higher than female in ICT skills. Similarly,
according to Papastergiou and Solomonidou (2005), male students were more involved in working with computers than female
students. Males are suggested to have better ICT and computer skills compared to the females. They spent more time on computers
and accessed the internet at home more than females. Instead, their attitudes towards computers are more positive than the attitudes
of females (Hakkarainen et al., 2000). The same study also examined that male students believe in ICT facilitation of learning is
more strongly than did the female students. Sixty percent of male students stated that they will put more effort into studying if they
were allowed to use information technology; however only 30% of female students fully or partially have the same opinion. These
findings concluded that male students have better learning outcomes when ICT was used in Science lesson. However, both male
and female students showed improvement in Science, determining that both gender have the interest to learn Science using ICT.

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Conclusion
The use of ICT in teaching and learning helps students to expand knowledge, experience and increase understanding, especially in
the Science subjects that require visual, audio, flow chart, video presentation and so on. The findings concluded that using ICT in
Science lesson has positive impact on students’ achievements. Schools must strive to increase usage of ICT amongst teachers. On
the other hand, teachers should put more effort to use ICT in their Science lesson in order to increase students’ achievements.
Teachers who are weak in the use of ICT need to participate in ICT training courses. ICT facilities provided by the government in
schools must be fully utilised by the teachers. Using ICT in Science lesson can also help students to understand Science concepts
through a relationship with a real life situation. The use of ICT in Science lessons can improve students’ achievements compared
to using traditional approaches. Moreover, it can make teaching and learning process become more interesting, encouraging and
effective. Using ICT in study encourages students to process information better and thus enhances the understanding and improves
students’ memory (Hull 1995; Gayeski, 1993). Both gender showed improvement in Science subject. However, male students had
greater achievement than female students. Differences in cognitive style, interest and motivation between boys and girls might be
the causes of the difference in their achievements. Following Kogan (1971), boys were more cognitive than girls. Hence, when ICT
was used in the Science lesson, we can see the differences in both genders’ achievements. It is concluded that ICT promotes better
learning outcomes on male students’ achievement in Science. The overall conclusion from this study reveals that ICT has a
significant and positive impact on teaching and learning specifically for Science subject. ICT contributes greater performance or
achievement of students. Teachers should replace traditional teaching approach with attractive learning style by involving ICT in
their lesson. Science field that needs investigation and practical works needs ICT to assist in teaching.

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