Students' chemistry learning process through visualprogramming language: a preliminary study

Abstract

Decline in students' interest towards science related subjects like chemistry and decreasing number of expertise in science related careers is a major issue that needs serious attention. Introducing computer programming into teaching and learning process is believed to be able to cultivate interest and make learning process more meaningful. In recent years, there are numerous researches conducted regarding teaching and learning of visual programming. However, there are very few studies that highlight the integration of programming into pedagogical content. This study is conducted to survey the perception of learning process by students of different gender when they use visual programming language to create a content based presentation. This research employed a quantitative research design using descriptive analysis. The respondents were 24 form four students from seven secondary schools in Johor who took part in “Scratchtopia Challenge”, a competition held to introduce visual programming to students. A set of questionnaires consisting 13 items comprising three constructs of learning process; active learning, perceived usefulness and enjoyment were answered by the respondents during their briefing session of the competition. The instrument has acceptable reliability value of 0.97. Their feedback was analyzed quantitatively using Social Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of the study indicated that visual programming did influence the students' perception on chemistry learning process even before participating in the competition. The researchers recommended other interested researchers or organization to use these findings as evidence or support for further investigation on the subject.