Virtual Laboratory in Chemistry - Experimental Study of Understanding, Reproduction and Application of Acquired Knowledge of Subject's Chemical Content

Abstract

Traditional teaching does not often allow very active involvement of pupils in class. In chemistry and natural sciences in general experimental and laboratory work is one of the most effective methods for acquiring knowledge. Experimental work can also be exercised using virtual world. Virtual laboratory offers some important advantages. Understanding chemistry involves the ability of cognitive comprehension on three levels: the macroscopic level, the symbolic level and the level of particles where the virtual laboratory can be an effective tool. On this basis a didactic experiment was performed in order to verify the effectiveness of virtual laboratory from pupils' knowledge point of view. The experiment involved seventh grade pupils (N = 38). Furthermore, we tried to answer the question whether the learning results of pupils, according to the experimental design of classes using a virtual laboratory, are better than results gained through teaching classical science classes without visualization tools. The research of the didactic experiment carried out on a relatively small, pilot sample of pupils has shown that acquiring knowledge is more effective when using the virtual laboratory instead of classical teaching (in the case when classical approach does not include visualization elements crucial for learning and understanding chemistry).Nataša Rizman Herga is a teacher of chemistry and biology in Primary school Ormož. As a postgraduate student of Educational Sciences she conducts researches and publishes in the area of teaching science and e-learning.Dejan Dinevski is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor. He coordinated several international and national projects in the the wider area of e-learning. He is an author of several publications on e-learning, including scientific articles and books.

Valoración del alumnado de los experimentos virtuales frente a los experimentos tradicionales

“…En general, diferentes estudios, tanto de Ciencias Experimentales como de Ciencias de la Salud, muestran niveles similares de éxito con ambos enfoques en cuanto a calificaciones, adquisición de contenidos y/o valoración (Cobb, 2009;Darrah, 2014;De Jong, 2013;Hawkins, 2013;Klar, 2007;Lewis, 2014;Makransky, 2016;Pyatt, 2012; Spernjak, 2017;Triona, 2003;Tsihouridis, 2013;Winkelmann, 2014;Winkelmann, 2017), aunque recientes estudios comparativos sobre la eficacia de laboratorios tradicionales (LT) y laboratorios virtuales (LV) muestran que con los segundos los estudiantes adquieren el mismo nivel de aprendizaje, e incluso superior (Brinson, 2015;Faour, 2018;Herga, 2012; Martínez-272 …”

“…En general, diferentes estudios, tanto de Ciencias Experimentales como de Ciencias de la Salud, muestran niveles similares de éxito con ambos enfoques en cuanto a calificaciones, adquisición de contenidos y/o valoración (Cobb, 2009;Darrah, 2014;De Jong, 2013;Hawkins, 2013;Klar, 2007;Lewis, 2014;Makransky, 2016;Pyatt, 2012;Spernjak, 2017;Triona, 2003;Tsihouridis, 2013;Winkelmann, 2014;Winkelmann, 2017), aunque recientes estudios comparativos sobre la eficacia de laboratorios tradicionales (LT) y laboratorios virtuales (LV) muestran que con los segundos los estudiantes adquieren el mismo nivel de aprendizaje, e incluso superior (Brinson, 2015;Faour, 2018;Herga, 2012;Martínez-Jiménez, 2003;Tatli, 2010;Toth, 2014;Zacharia, 2007), y una valoración general muy positiva (Bozkurt, 2010;McKagan, 2008;Olakanmi, 2015;Pyatt, 2012;Stuckey-Mickell, 2007;Tatli, 2010) en relación con diferentes variables (conocimiento y comprensión de contenidos, razonamiento científico, habilidades prácticas experimentales, interés y apreciación por la Ciencia, habilidades analíticas de investigación, manejo de datos, comunicación científica y trabajo en equipo, visualización de fenómenos microscópicos, etc.). De hecho, Merchant (2014) señala la gran utilidad didáctica de simulaciones, juegos y mundos virtuales.…”

An Interactive and Self-instructional Virtual Chemistry Laboratory

“…It plays a critical role in most aspects of all other natural sciences and it touches different issues in the environment, space sciences, medicine, and more [2]. In chemistry and natural science, the experiential learning and laboratory is essential, and at the same time the most significantly method for understanding related knowledge and retention of material by learners [3]. However, applying some scientific experiments as traditional forms at real laboratory environment have rarely been conducted due to scarcity of economic resources and other insufficient facilities which often required for the construction of complete laboratory, particularly in developing countries [4].…”

Evaluasi Program Pemodelan Dan Simulasi Laboratorium Kimia Pada Mahasiswa Calon Guru

“…Perkembangan ilmu kimia tumbuh dari para ahli yang mengawali penemuannya dari pemahaman akan konsep kimia yang diikuti oleh kreatifitas perancangan temuan baru melalui eksperimen, atau sebaliknya. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa kimia merupakan ilmu yang tidak bisa dipisahkan dengan eksperimen kimia itu sendiri, dan ahli kimia juga tidak bisa dipisahkan dari penguasaannya terhadap konsep dan keterampilannya dalam melakukan eksperimen (Herga & Dinevski, 2012).…”

“…Namun mulai dari tahap analisis kebutuhan, persiapan, desain pemodelan dan simulasi dan instrumen perlu diperhatikan hal-hal yang menghambat pelaksanaannya. Sejarah juga membuktikan bahwa dalam kimia dan ilmu alam secara umum eksperimen dilaboratorium adalah salah satu metode yang paling efektif untuk memperoleh pengetahuan (Herga & Dinevski, 2012) Kegiatan praktikum kimia menggunakan pemodelan dan simulasi laboratorium ini telah dilakukan dalam setahun terakhir oleh beberapa dosen kimia, sebagai bentuk kreatifitas mereka dalam memperlancar kegiatan praktikum dengan beragam alasan/sebab. Diantaranya masih kurangnya instrumen/peralatan kimia penting di laboratorium, tidak mencukupinya pasokan listrik bahkan untuk beberapa alat sederhana, dan kurang lancarnya pasokan air yang menjadikan kegiatan praktikum dapat terhenti.…”