The Future of Education

Edition 14

Accepted Abstracts

Studying Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Factors Affecting Student Science Achievement Using a Mobile Application: An Educational Research Innovative Product

Sulaiman M. Al-Balushi, Sultan Qaboos University (Oman)

Abstract

This conference contribution presents a research-based mobile application that has been designed by our research team to investigate the influence of cognitive and non-cognitive variables on student science achievement. The name of the application is Trends in Oman Science Study (TOSS). The target age of students are 11 and 15 years old. The application contains more than 1000 science items for both age groups. The science items are spread across all fields of science: biology, chemistry, physics and earth science. The variables included in the application are science achievement, spatial thinking skills, mind wandering, visual mental capacity, verbal mental capacity, digital mental capacity, and science attitudes. A large number of science experts, visual designers, and mobile app programmers have been involved in the design of TOSS. First, a science question bank was created by science education experts including experienced science teachers and science teacher supervisors. More than 1000 items were created. Second, the questions were reviewed by science assessment experts. Third, the questions were sent to an international science assessment expert for final review. Fourth, a group of visual designers recreated the diagrams associated with some of the questions. Fifth, the diagrams were checked by science assessment experts for their accuracy. Sixth, other assessment tools for cognitive and non-cognitive variables were designed and checked for their content validity. Seventh, the science question bank and other assessment tools were piloted on a group of students to establish the reliability measures. Eighth, a team of mobile application programmers were hired to design the application. Ninth, the application was piloted on a group of students. Tenth, the application was administered on a sample of about 900 students in Oman. The application is still in its experimental stage. The data are being analysed. The presentation will shed light on some preliminary findings. 

Keywords: cognitive variables, mental capacity, mind wandering, mobile application, science attitudes, science assessment.

References:
[1] Al-Balushi, S. M., & Al-Battashi, I. A. (2013). Ninth graders’ spatial ability and working memory capacity (WMC) in relation to their science and mathematics achievement and their gender. Journal of Turkish Science Education, 10(1), 12-27.
[2] Al-Balushi, S. M., & Coll, R. (2013). Exploring verbal, visual and schematic learners’ static and dynamic mental images of scientific species and processes in relation to their spatial ability. International Journal of Science Education, DOI: 10.1080/09500693.09502012.09760210.
[3] Alloway, T. P., Gathercole, S. E., & Pickering, S. J. (2006). verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory in children: Are they separable? Child Development, 77(6), 1698-1716.
[4] Chu, H.-C., Hwang, G.-J., Tsai, C.-C., & Tseng, J. (2010). A two-tier test approach to developing location-aware mobile learning systems for natural science courses. Computers & Education, 55, 1618-1627.
[5] Hegarty, M., & Waller, D. (2005). Individual Differences in Spatial Abilities. In P. Shah & A. Miyake (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Visuospatial Thinking (pp. 121-169). New York: Cambridge University Press.
[6] Hwang, G.-J., & Chang, H.-F. (2011). A formative assessment-based mobile learning approach to improving the learning attitudes and achievements of students. Computers & Education, 56, 1023-1031.
[7] Hwang, G.-J., Tsai, C.-C., Chu, H.-C., Kinshuk, & Chen, C. (2012). A context-aware ubiquitous learning approach to conducting scientific inquiry activities in a science park. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 28(5), 931-947.

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