The effects of cooperative learning activities in blossoms lesson towards students' achievement in learning chemistry

Abstract

Chemistry is often considered by students as a difficult subject because it has many abstract concepts which are difficult to understand. Therefore, with the advancementof technology, teaching methods have integrated multimedia elements such as video to help students to understand abstract concepts in Chemistry. Thus, the project named Blended Learning Open Source Science or Math Studies (BLOSSOMS) was introduced in 2010 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is a teaching and learning method which integrates the use of video for the purpose of blended learning. BLOSSOMS allow students to actively involve in their learning either individually or in groups to solve problems raised in the video. Therefore, the aim of this study was to design cooperative learning activities in BLOSSOMS by integrating Johnson, Johnson & Smith (1991) principles and further investigated the effects towards students' achievement. "Why neutralize" was the BLOSSOMS video selected to be used in this study. It covers the neutralization concept which is a result from the reaction of acid and base. Findings showed that students' achievement increased after learning using the BLOSSOMS video. In addition, the integration of cooperative learning in the activities helped to make the learning process enjoyable for the students.