Introduction
Modern approaches to science education mean using innovative teaching strategies with the help of advanced technology to help the students understand the nature of science and enhance meaningful learning. Modern approaches to science education, such as inquiry-based instruction, mobile applications, augmented reality (AR) game-based learning methodology, and computer-based instruction (CBI) technology, help to develop critical thinking and a deeper understanding of scientific concepts among school students. Traditional ways of teaching, which focus more on rote learning, have led to a decline in interest in learning science among school students. Students need to understand scientific concepts to apply their theoretical knowledge to the practical reality of scientific innovations and discoveries. Students are more disengaged from learning science because of the rote-memory-based education system. Therefore, modern approaches to science education may motivate students to learn scientific concepts.
The new student-centered teaching methodologies, such as inquiry-based instruction, the use of mobile applications, computer-based technology, and playing digital games related to education, can help the students at the school to build interest in the science subject. Modern approaches involving the use of technology will help improve students’ problem-solving and logical-thinking skills and motivate them to learn science by providing them with a better learning environment. Thus, modern approaches to science education should be available to school students because integrating modern approaches in classroom activities will be helpful to engage students to learn and understand science. Aiming to clearly understand how new techniques to science education help students to improve science learning, this literature review focuses on the benefits of modern approaches to science education from three aspects:
Literature Review
Development of Scientific Research Skills
Science inquiry, according to Areepattamannil (2012), “covers a wide range of diverse activities—student-centered interactions, student investigations, and hands-on activities, and focus on models or applications in science—to foster students’ interest in learning science and to improve their scientific literacy.” (p. 135). Therefore, through inquiry-based science instruction, students can improve their performance and enthusiasm.
More theoretically and methodologically diverse empirical research is required to build a comprehensive understanding of the impact of classroom instructional practices on scientific literacy and interest in scientific subjects for adolescent students in a school context. Thus, to encourage students’ interest in learning science and improve their scientific literacy, scientific inquiry encompasses a wide range of diverse activities, including student-centered interactions, student investigations, hands-on activities, and a focus on models or applications in science.
The growing body of research on inquiry-based science teaching and learning emphasizes the advantages of such education for students’ achievement in science and interest in the subject. Indeed, in a learner-centered, constructivist learning environment where knowledge building is interactive, inductive, and collaborative, students achieve academic success. Areepattamannil suggests that it is imperative to increase literacy levels, generally and science literacy in particular, to meet the demands of global competition and the twenty-first century’s problems (Areepattamannil, 2012). To this purpose, a more thorough and critical analysis of the environment in which kids are educated is urgently required.
Additionally, the results of the current study offer empirical proof that interactive science teaching and learning, as well as science teaching and learning with an emphasis on models or applications, can support adolescents’ development of scientific literacy and increase their interest in Learning science. Making individuals who are scientifically literate and capable of understanding scientific reasoning would be greatly aided by involving pupils in complex cognitive tasks like inquiry, discussion, and explanation.
M-Learning in Secondary Mathematics and Science.
Burke recommends using mobile devices to improve science learning among senior secondary school students through personalization, cooperation, and authenticity (Burke et al., 2022). Students can, therefore, more efficiently and creatively learn scientific subjects using numerous mobile applications. Their learning experiences are enhanced, and critical thinking is encouraged through the use of mobile devices.
Studies on mobile learning frequently concentrate on teachers’ viewpoints. Students agree that personalization is an aspect of their mobile learning. Authentic and collaborative learning are less prominent. The most effective m-learning activities are those that promote personalization. It includes authenticity and collaboration, although there are no differences in improving perceived learning based on location. According to Burke, science disciplines have much greater levels of authentic m-learning than mathematics and reported improvements in learning with mobile devices (Burke et al., 2022).
Students are expected to notice advances in their learning when professors provide m-learning assignments that foster personalization, cooperation, and authenticity. Burke recommends that for the most significant improvements in how well students perceive their learning, teachers should think about creating technology-enhanced assignments that boost students’ experiences of collaborative and authentic learning.
Impacts of Augmented Reality (AR) and a Digital Game on Students’ Science Learning with Refection Prompts in Multimedia Learning
The effects of good instructional design on multimedia learning have been extensively studied, but most of the studies have concentrated on the cognitive components of learning, giving little attention to the role of affective-motivational states in multimedia learning. In his study, Chen expresses that there is no interaction between the AR and gaming approaches, significantly enhancing students’ learning. Only the game technique, however, significantly improves the student’s learning outcomes and emotional states. Chen suggests the flow state’s immense significance in a reflective multimedia learning setting. Such a finding highlights the crucial role that online games play in fostering effective and motivating moods during multimedia learning.
The flow state’s qualities make it clear that game-based learning can make it easier for students to participate in context-aware mobile learning activities with reflection prompts. It supports an assertion that a digital game can significantly increase students’ learning engagement. Chen also emphasizes the significance of including students in learning to achieve deeper concept understanding (Chen, 2020). He further demonstrates the significance of the flow state in a reflective setting in multimedia learning, which has been suggested in several other studies to be highly beneficial to students’ learning. This study further highlights the importance of affective-motivational states in multimedia learning.
Mobile Inquiry-based Science Learning (m-IBSL)
Inquiry-based learning on smartphones, according to Kousloglou et al. (2022), uses the phyphox application to foster students’ interest in physics and their ability to do a scientific investigation. As a result, the students may use their smartphones to connect their knowledge to practical applications, which inspires an interest in physics. It makes students willing to pick up their enthusiasm and want to do experiments more.
The discovery of the physical world is at the core of the natural sciences, and digital mobile devices are appropriate to promote this exploration. These devices provide the instruments that make this investigation more accessible and pervasive (Kousloglou et al.,2022). Students submit questions or find causal relationships, create hypotheses, research, and test experiments or observations during the inquiry-based learning process.
With the help of mobile technology, mobile inquiry-based learning (m-IBL) intends to support the inquiry process and inspire students to expand and share their knowledge. Numerous scholars investigated the use of mobile IBL in the sciences (m-IBSL), for instance, by utilizing smartphone sensors and pertinent software in a lab setting without necessarily incorporating their interventions within a particular theoretical framework.
Enhancing 5th Graders’ Science Content Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Through Game-Based Learning
Many contend that video games can enhance learning by giving students access to an environment that is innately interesting and inspiring in a manner that regular classrooms cannot. Recent studies show that games can influence students’ Learning in STEM subjects and that cooperative gameplay may be especially crucial for learning benefits (Meluso et al., (2012).
According to Meluso et al. (2012), game-based learning and teamwork improve emotional learning and self-efficacy among science students. Playing educational video games in the classroom drastically improves the students’ learning results and ability to participate in discussions. So, pupils’ capacity to comprehend scientific ideas inspires them to pursue employment in science in the future.
Studies examining how learning science knowledge and scientific self-efficacy were affected by cooperative and solo game player circumstances revealed no differences between the two playing scenarios; however, when the scenarios collapsed, learning and self-efficacy related to science content considerably increased. For instance, the outcomes might have been different if each player had been told to take on a specific task (such as operating the controls). While collaboration may be successful in some situations, it is highly reliant on the model and tactics employed. Students appreciate having conversations with their friends when playing video games. This finding suggests that more research is needed to understand the impacts of cooperative gameplay fully.
The Effects of the Computer-Based Instruction on the Achievement and Problem-Solving Skills of the Science and Technology Students
According to Serin (2011), using computers in teaching and learning can help improve the learning environment and the academic performance and problem-solving abilities of students studying science. As a result, CBI technology encourages students to learn and sparks their interest in science through audio-visual elements, including animations, pictures, and movies. Also, using computer-based technology enhances student participation in class activities and improves the enjoyment, effectiveness, and efficiency of the educational process.
The accomplishment levels and problem-solving abilities of the pupils in the experimental group who take the computer-based science and technology teaching also increase statistically and significantly. Serin suggests that an interactive lesson in the science and technology course is possible thanks to the computer and the teaching package, which includes materials like movies, slides, CDs, sounds, and animations. Also, concepts are presented using rich visual elements, which raises student achievement levels (Serin, 2011). The usage of CBI enhances students’ ability to solve problems. Using interactive learning software helps students in the fifth-year science and technology course get higher grades and improve their problem-solving abilities.
References
Areepattamannil, S. (2012). Effects of inquiry-based science instruction on science achievement and interest in science: Evidence from Qatar. The journal of educational research, 105(2), 134-146.
Burke, P. F., Kearney, M., Schuck, S., & Aubusson, P. (2022). Improving mobile learning in secondary mathematics and science: Listening to students. Journal of computer assisted learning, 38(1), 137-151.
Chen, C. H. (2020). Impacts of augmented reality and a digital game on students’ science learning with reflection prompts in multimedia learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(6), 3057-3076.
Kousloglou, M., Molohidis, A., Nikolopoulou, K., & Hatzikraniotis, E. (2022). Mobile Inquiry-based Science Learning (m-IBSL): Employment of the Phyphox application for an experimental study of friction. Teaching Science, 68(2), 14-18.
Meluso, A., Zheng, M., Spires, H. A., & Lester, J. (2012). Enhancing 5th graders’ science content knowledge and self-efficacy through game-based learning. Computers & Education, 59(2), 497-504.
Serin, O. (2011). The effects of the computer-based instruction on the achievement and problem-solving skills of the science and technology students. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 10(1), 183-201.
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