New Perspectives in Science Education

There are numerous difficulties of face-to-face education due to COVID-19 pandemic such as close interaction student-instructor or students’ socialization, so teachers and students have had to adapt to an online teaching methodology [1]. Nowadays, considerable attention has been given toward the use of internet and computers to teach some contents of a course. Computer-based learning can be useful to teach scientific education, students can use this program without time or local restrictions, and it is easy to implement [2,3]. Here, the flipped classroom model can help this methodology that can provide lectures and classes to students at home in the format of video-conference materials together with written materials and assessments via online tasks [4]. The main objective of this study is to develop a computer-based learning tool for reviewing numerical conceptions in a flipped science course. This tool can be used for science laboratory exercises and is applied in a MATLAB environment as an HTML5-based e-Learning application. This learning tool for numerical conceptions will be implemented in a general science course, a sophomore of the Primary Education bachelor’s degree in the Training Teaching School of the University of Extremadura (Spain). To test the feasibility of the tool proposed, 43 answers of decision-makers were gathered by the questionnaire survey. It is demanding about the respondents’ perception to identify the acceptance likelihood of tool presented, which would be accomplished in laboratory class of flipped science education. According to results of the questionnaire survey, this tool could be introduced into science classrooms to complement the theoretical contents and others instruments currently in use in flipped science education. Similarly, it can advance their validity in the utilization of numerical analysis tools of shared use and can understand throughout the self-practice and experimentation of the chief numerical conceptions in science education, particularly laboratory trainings. Consequently, this study reveals a general positive perception of the designed tool and highlights the viability and the reliability of the tool to get significant science learning.

Keywords: Computer-based learning, flipped classroom, science, new technology teaching.

References: 

1. Adnan, M., & Anwar, K. (2020). Online Learning amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Students' Perspectives. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 2(1), 45-51.
2. Cingi, C.C. (2013). Computer aided education. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 103, 220-229.
3. Jeong, J.S., & Ramírez-Góomez, Á. (2018). Development of a web graphic model with fuzzy-Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory/Multi-Criteria-Spatial Decision Support System (F-DEMATEL/MC-SDSS) for sustainable planning and construction of rural housings. Journal of Cleaner Production, 199, 584–592.
4. Munir, M. T., Baroutian, S., Young, B. R., & Carter, S. (2018). Flipped classroom with cooperative learning as a cornerstone.Education for Chemical Engineers, 23, 25–33.