1Department of Science Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
American Journal of Educational Research.
2018,
Vol. 6 No. 8, 1172-1181
DOI: 10.12691/education-6-8-16
Copyright © 2018 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Godwin Kwame Aboagye, Theophilus Aquinas Ossei-Anto, Joseph Ghartey Ampiah. Combining Inquiry-Based Hands-On and Simulation Methods with Cooperative Learning on Students’ Learning Outcomes in Electric Circuits.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2018; 6(8):1172-1181. doi: 10.12691/education-6-8-16.
Correspondence to: Godwin Kwame Aboagye, Department of Science Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Email:
aduaboagye@ucc.edu.ghAbstract
Concepts in electric circuits are reported in literature as being problematic for students at all levels of pre-tertiary education [1] and the situation in Ghana is not different [2]. Hence, innovative ways of teaching are being explored by researchers to remediate the problem. This study, therefore, was premised on the fact that combining inquiry-based real hands-on and computer simulation methods with cooperative learning has the potential of improving students’ learning outcomes. In all, 110 senior high school Form 2 students from two schools who participated were put into heterogeneous-ability and friendship cooperative learning groupings. Each group was taught electric circuits with the combination of inquiry-based real hands-on and computer simulation method. The aim was to compare the two groups in terms of their scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding. Within each group, the hypothetical-deductive and empirical-inductive students were also compared along the two learning outcomes. The results showed among others that the heterogeneous-ability group outperformed their counterparts in conceptual understanding of electric circuits but not scientific reasoning. Hypothetical-deductive and empirical-inductive students in the heterogeneous-ability group outperformed their counterparts in scientific reasoning and conceptual understanding. Implications of the findings for teaching and learning are discussed.
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