Students’ perceptions towards the use of computer simulations in teaching and learning of chemistry in lower secondary schools

1 Introduction

The global recognition of the crucial role of computer simulations in the teaching and learning process has been cut across various disciplines (Beichumila et al., 2022). Nowadays, we are in the rapid growth of using technology. In this context, students and teachers adapt this mode of teaching and learning to enhance students’ learning outcomes (Celik, 2022; Faour & Ayoubi, 2018). Furthermore, there is consistent recognition and acknowledgment of this significant contribution of ICS in promoting student interactions (Adeleye & Eboagu, 2019). This significance of ICSs has led to made evaluation of its effectiveness in promoting chemistry teaching and learning (Celik, 2022; Gupta, 2019; Niederhauser et al., 2018). Thus, Interactive Computer Simulations (ICSs) become a teaching approach that improves teaching and learning chemistry in the classroom.

Supriyatman and Sukarno (2014), showed that students play an active role in their learning process, through forming hypotheses, observations, and collecting evidence to gain knowledge and create meaningful projections. This applies also to chemistry education, where the use of a simulated learning environment involves students in their learning process and acquiring scientific skills and knowledge (Mukandayambaje & Maniraho, 2021). The studies reveal that the incorporation of ICSs in the classroom, increases access to information and knowledge, promoting social collaboration and connectivity among students (Asedillas et al., 2019; Fernández-Portillo et al., 2020). The integration of ICSs in education in Sub-Saharan African countries, for instance, the study conducted in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Zambia affirms that incorporating ICS in the teaching and learning process impact positively students’ achievements (Agyei, 2021; Beichumila et al., 2022; De Hoop et al., 2020). In the study conducted by Almasri (2022), Gupta (2019) shows that teachers are still challenged in teaching science subjects, especially chemistry due to their abstract nature. In this regard, different researchers have identified some topics within the field of chemistry that students perceive as challenging, which lead the subject to be perceived as difficult. For instance, Almasri (2022), Gupta (2019), and Iyamuremye et al. (2021) illustrated chemical combination, gas laws and gaseous state, qualitative and quantitative analysis, electronic energy level of atoms, rate of chemical reactions, metals and nonmetal compounds, chemical reactions, and organic chemistry as difficulty topics in ordinary secondary school level.

The study conducted by Almasri (2022); Salame & Makki (2021); Supriyatman & Sukarno (2014); Suratno & Aydawati (2017) show that computer simulations help students to learn difficulty chemistry topics. This is because computer simulations provide visual representation of complex system and abstract concepts that are really hard to understand. For instance, simulations show how atoms and molecules interact with each other. The study further recommended that computer simulations are powerful tool for chemistry education, as they provide with students a dynamic and interactive learning environment that complements what where been difficult to understand in the traditional teaching methods. In study by Salame and Makki (2021) compared the use of a simulated learning environment and traditional methods with respect of students’ perceptions found that both approaches have affected students’ perceptions.

Chemistry is among of science subjects that taught in lower secondary schools and there are some concepts in chemistry considered as a challenging topics for students to learn (Iyamuremye et al., 2021; Musengimana et al., 2022; Nsabayezu et al., 2022a). These difficulties are commonly brought by its abstract in nature. Therefore, integrating ICS into chemistry teaching and learning in schools is very crucial in solving such addressed challenges in teaching and learning chemistry concepts. Consequently, the impact of ICS as a teaching and learning tool is influenced by users’ perceptions and experiences. The assessments of students’ perspectives towards the teaching and learning tools is very sensitive because it helps educators to create a more meaningful and engaging learning environment for the students (Adarkwah, 2021; Almossa, 2021). Therefore, the major objective of the current study was to investigate the students’ perceptions towards the use of interactive computer simulations in their chemistry learning process.

Different nations established different initiatives in their education system, such as one laptop per child, Smart classrooms in lower and high schools, and e-learning in higher institutions to improve access for computer users in schools for effective teaching and learning process (Beichumila et al., 2022; Das, 2019; Fernández-Portillo et al., 2020; Muniandy et al., 2022; Penn & Ramnarain, 2019; Suratno & Aydawati, 2017). This has been done to provide quality education that equips students with the necessary competencies, values, attitudes, skills, and knowledge that are required in this 21st century. To achieve this objective, the nations put more effort and paying off all required cost to implement Curriculum which support and facilitates a learner-centered approach (Almasri, 2022; Celik, 2022; Faour & Ayoubi, 2018; Nsabayezu et al., 2022a,b). This approach empowers student to take an active role in their learning process, so that they can succeed in the world market.

However, the analysis made on chemistry teaching techniques in lower secondary in some consulted studies in different nations, found that teachers are not using the learner-centered approach, which encourage students to play a vital role in their learning process (Beichumila et al., 2022; Musengimana et al., 2022; Watson et al., 2020; Zendler & Greiner, 2020), rather they use teacher-centered approach that encourages memorization. Hence, affect students’ academic achievement and constitutes a major challenge to attain desired goal. This approach has long been a dominant instructional method in the teaching and learning process (Gupta, 2019; Hojeij et al., 2023; Penn & Ramnarain, 2019) and is characterized by focusing on lectures, passive learning, and memorization. Therefore, it has been suggested that the incorporation of interactive computer simulations in the chemistry classes provides a powerful solution to transform the traditional teacher-centered approach into a more student-centered approach (Asedillas et al., 2019; Mwazi et al., 2023). In addition, it is worth noting that no previous studies have been conducted in the specific study area.

2 Significance of the study

The study aims to explore students’ perspectives toward the use of ICSs in teaching and learning chemical reaction as one of topics in ordinary level chemistry. These ICSs allow students to manipulate, observe, and experiment with those phenomena in a virtual environment. When students are familiar with use of ICSs will not only help them to enhance their conceptual understanding of abstract concepts but also develop different skills aligned with 21st century skills, such as collaboration, creativity and innovation as far as critical thinking is concerned. This will be done through interaction among universal students and teachers. In a study conducted by Watson et al. (2020) show that a teaching approach that encourages students to share their learning experience helps them to develop their creativity as well as their appreciation of science and technology. The intention of integrating computers at lower secondary schools is to introduce students to technology that encourages scientific innovation and collaboration among students, create and share their own models, as well as to communicate and cooperate with other students and experts from different countries and cultures (Agyei, 2021; Fernández-Portillo et al., 2020; Krüger et al., 2022; Muniandy et al., 2022). These help students to become more informed and responsible citizens, who make evidence-based decisions and participate in scientific debates and discussions across the continents.

The study’s results are very useful to all professionals working in the field of chemistry education. The produced information informs decision-makers and policymakers, school administrators, and education management on what needs to be done to improve chemistry education. In addition, teachers will know how to select, integrate, and adapt computer simulations to suit their teaching objectives, students’ needs and preferences. This also will assist the ministries in charge of education in achieving their objectives, since the results provide a platform that enhances and supports teaching and learning in schools worldwide. The results will help scholars to understand the opportunities and implications of computer simulations, evaluate the effect of computer simulations on students’ learning outcomes, and factors that influence students’ perceptions of computer simulations in chemistry learning. This will also assist researchers to design and conduct more inclusive and effective studies on the effectiveness of using interactive computer simulations in chemistry education.

3 Literature review

4 Theoretical framework

This current study was guided by Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) cited by (Milla et al., 2019). The TAM is a theoretical frame work that describe how the acceptance of technological system by individual depends on his/her perceptions towards its ease of use and usefulness. In this view point, the TAM is used to relate the students’ perceptions of ICSs with their understanding of chemistry concepts. ICSs allow students to manipulate variables, test hypotheses, and observe phenomena in a virtual setting that are hard to understand in a normal way of teaching (Celik, 2022). The study hypothesizes that students who perceive ICSs as useful and easy to use have positive perceptions toward ICSs. Therefore, the study aims to test this hypothesis by conducting a post-test measure of students’ perception of ICS, and understanding of chemistry. The qualitative data also was collected to further explore the relationship between ICSs, TAM, and chemistry understanding. The main purpose of incorporating ICS in chemistry teaching and learning is to facilitate students to understand complex phenomena (Salame & Makki, 2021). Consequently (Hojeij et al., 2023), argue that when computer-aided tools are incorporated into education, they should effectively support students’ learning activities.

Generally, the integration of ICS in chemistry education enhances the social learning environment that assists students in articulating their prior knowledge and presenting what they have learned (Fernández-Portillo et al., 2020; Nxumalo-Dlamini & Gaigher, 2019; Suratno & Aydawati, 2017), and it is crucial to gain insight into students’ perspectives regarding the use of ICSs as a teaching tools in the education context. On this matter, consulted studies have looked at the positive impact of computer simulations on students’ performance and motivation toward learning chemistry. This implies that none discussed on students’ perspectives in learning chemical reaction concepts which is considered as a challenging topic in the chemistry subject. Due to this viewpoint, the researcher felt interested in exploring how students perceive the use of ICSs in their learning of chemical reaction concepts during study intervention. Consequently, the objective of current study aims to explore students’ perceptions and preference in relation to the use of interactive computer simulations in chemistry teaching and learning process at lower secondary schools.

5 Research question

How do students perceive the use of computer simulations in teaching and learning of chemical reactions in chemistry?

6 Methodology

7 Results

The study results are presented in Figures 1 –4, involving a total of 160 participants. The dataset supporting Figures (Figures 1 –4), are publicly available in the repository, as part of this record at link: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/vg9ygbf5c6/1. The findings reveal how students perceive the utilization of ICS in the chemistry teaching and learning process.

Figure 1:

Perceived ease of use ICS.

Figure 2:

Students’ attitudes toward the use of ICS.

Figure 3:

Students’ behavioral intention to use ICS.

Figure 4:

Students’ perceptions of the usefulness of ICS.

8 Discussion

It has been found that the incorporation of interactive computer simulations in the teaching and learning process is essential in the learning process. The conclusion was drawn from four aspects used in terms of assessing students’ perceptions towards the use of ICS in classroom settings. The findings from quantitative in all perspectives; Perceived ease of use, Behavioral intention to use, Attitude toward usage, and Usefulness were all supported by data obtained from qualitative data.

For perceived ease of use, results reveal that most students involved in the study held a positive impression of using ICS as a tool that facilitates chemistry teaching and learning. On this note, 79 % of the student expressed that using ICS in their chemistry learning was effortless and allowed for collaboration among themselves. These results were consistent with those obtained from interviewed students which revealed similar findings. These findings agree with the previous research showing that computer-assisted instruction helps students maximize their potential for academic achievement (Almasri, 2022; Nsabayezu et al., 2022a). The students demonstrated an increasing level of conceptual understanding. These findings also are in line with the findings of the study conducted by Nxumalo-Dlamini and Gaigher (2019), Özmen and Akbar (2018), and Ramírez-Mera et al. (2022) show that ICT has several advantages in teaching and learning.

For students’ attitudes toward the usage of ICS, the findings also reported that ICSs help students to improve their attitude towards the subject as it improves their conceptual understanding. This was supported by the data collected from interviewed students who expressed much appreciation for the idea of incorporating ICS into the teaching and learning process. They became interested in this initiative of incorporating ICS in the teaching and learning process because they saw it as an opportunity to keep pace with the rapid technological advancements and growth in the world (Krüger et al., 2022). They further added that if there are enough computers in the room so that every student can manipulate simulated activities, this can boost their motivation to learn chemistry and improve self-learning in general. The results agree with the findings of (Gupta, 2019; Muniandy et al., 2022) reveal that interactive simulations are a very essential tool in teaching and learning chemistry, it does not overwhelm students and provide a platform for the interactive learning environment.

For the behavioral intention to use ICS in the classroom settings, the results from quantitative indicated that 76 % of students who participated in the study expressed their intention to use ICS as an easy way of learning by doing and easier to access them as a learning tool. This implication is due to the relevance and value that students have in technology in their learning and how they are eager to apply all technological skills they acquired from school as well as their surroundings. These results were also supported by data collected during interviews which affirm that, if possible, having enough computers at their schools with installed simulation activities, should be very interesting and make their learning so meaningful.

“For the perceived usefulness of ICS in the chemistry teaching and learning process, 83 % of students expressed that using ICS in the learning process encouraged them to actively participate in the lesson and improve their collaborations and presentations. Furthermore, 80 % of students claimed that using ICS in chemistry learning made their learning experience more accessible and efficient. These results were in line with those from qualitative, the interviewed students supported these findings in views of appreciating how they were involved in their learning in the simulated learning environment. They claimed that using ICS helps them to share and improve their conceptual understanding and make their learning experience easier”.

However, 39 % of students agreed on less proficiency in using ICS, this was due to their lack of computer skills. This implies that, even if they had computer labs at their respective schools, not all students possessed a foundational knowledge of computers. In addition, even if there are a limited number of computers at these schools, students are not frequently accessing them to improve their experience in using computers. Therefore, there were not all students had fundamental computer skills which affected their manipulation of simulated activities. Similarly, these findings agree with Penn and Ramnarain (2019) results, which reported that students did not connect with the simulated learning environment due to unfamiliarity with fundamental computer skills. The research findings show that employing interactive computer simulations as a teaching tool in conjunction with other teaching strategies makes the science teaching and learning process more successful and increases students’ motivation to learn (Almasri, 2022). This is also supported by a study conducted by De Hoop et al. (2020) who reported that both traditional and technological teaching methods have comparable outcomes in certain areas because some factors may affect students in using one approach or another.

9 Conclusions

The study findings show that students had much appreciation for using ICSs. In this perspective, the results show that students’ perceptions of behavioral intention to use computer simulations, usage, ease of use, and usefulness are significantly impacted by their prior knowledge and computer self-efficacy. These findings supported the TAM model since students preferred active and visual style in their learning. Among the participated students, 83 % affirm that learning chemistry with ICS is very useful and encourages individual learning which would support interactive learning. 77 % of students expressed a positive attitude towards the use of ICS and that they no longer experienced difficulties in chemistry concepts. However, the results revealed that 39 % of students agreed on less proficiency in using ICS, this was due to their lack of computer skills since it is not all students possessed a foundational knowledge of computers. These results assist in identification of factors that affect students’ adoption and acceptance of computer simulations, hence provide necessary guidance and support for the students to use effectively and efficiently computer simulations. Therefore, the study findings help educators and instructional designers to design and implement simulations that are user-friendly and relevant for students. The findings also contribute to the existing body of knowledge on computer simulations and acceptance of technology in education and provide empirical evidence and insight on how computer simulations improve students’ learning outcomes.

10 Limitation and recommendations

The current study was conducted only in rural schools. Therefore, the obtained data cannot be generalized to other schools like urban and private-based schools. Consequently, we further recommended that future studies involving a mixed-methods approach include urban and private schools of different geographical locations in the study so that the effect of computer interactive simulations on students’ academic achievement in chemistry and other sciences in general, can be explored more. We also recommended that there should be an increase in the number of computers at schools so that all students have a chance to access and develop fundamental computer skills that may not become a challenge to them once they need to apply such skills in different instructional tools.