But does it work? Effectiveness of scientific visualisations in high school chemistry and physics instruction

Geelan, D. & Mukherjee, M. (2011). But does it work? Effectiveness of scientific visualisations in high school chemistry and physics instruction. In T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2011 (pp. 2706-2715). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/38242.

Conference Information

World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (EDMEDIA) 2011
Lisbon, Portugal
June 27, 2011
ISBN 1-880094-85-X
  Theo Bastiaens & Martin Ebner
AACE

More Information on EDMEDIA

Authors

David Geelan, University of Queensland, Australia; Michelle Mukherjee, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Abstract

Scientific visualisations such as computer-based animations and simulations are increasingly a feature of high school science instruction. Visualisations are adopted enthusiastically by teachers and embraced by students, and there is good evidence that they are popular and well received. There is limited evidence, however, of how effective they are in enabling students to learn key scientific concepts. This paper reports the results of a quantitative study conducted in Australian physics and chemistry classrooms. In general there was no statistically significant difference between teaching with and without visualisations, however there were intriguing differences around student sex and academic ability.