Introduction

With the implementation of the SPN 21 in the curriculum, teachers are

encourage to provide an opportunity to learn and develop students' capability
through the use of ICT tools in order to foster positive learning attitudes towards
learning the science content.

Therefore, in order to expose the students to the uses of the technology in the
classroom, the attitudes and enthusiasm of teachers are of great importance.
The use of different technological devices or ICT media such as computers,
Overhead projector (OHP), LCD projector, Interactive White Board (IWB),
internet and so forth in teaching and learning science should also be
emphasized.

This report described a project study in which science lesson was carried out
involving the use of virtual experiment when teaching and learning the science
content to the students at the upper primary level.

Objectives

The purpose of the project study were:

i) To observe students’ involvement in using virtual experiment

ii) To examine the impact of using virtual experiement in teaching and

learning science to the students in term of students’ attitudes and
achievement.

Methodology

A science lesson using virtual manipulative applets was carried out in a group at
SR Katok. It was involving the students of Primary 5 and they were introduced
using one virtual applet on "Grouping and Changing Materials".

This applet was used because it allows student to perform the science
experiment or interactive activities online with the arrangement of virtual
objects for conducting the experiment/ activities. The software also provides
feedback throughout the experiment/ activities such as display of correct or
wrong answers and so forth.

Procedure
For set induction, the students were asked to recall their prior knowledge
regarding the properties of materials. Teacher discussed with the students by
asking them to list out all the properties of materials that they have learnt.

Then using the science applet as shown on the pictures, the teacher introduced
the topic “Grouping and Changing Materials” to the students. The applet can be
found at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/grouping_materials.shtml
Grouping and changing materials. During this activity the teacher introduced to
the students the four properties of materials such as wood, metal, rubber and
glass. At the same time, the teacher also demonstrated to the students in how
to drag the virtual objects and placed it onto the correct group of material.

After that, the teacher asked the students to do the activity individually by
asking them to come to the board and put the object onto the correct grouping
of material. As soon as the students finished dragging the objects into the
correct categories, the teacher asked and discussed with the students what and
why the objects belong to that particular group. The students were asked to
explain and reason their answers.

For the next activity (Quiz session), the teacher asked the students to answer 10
multiple choice questions (MCQ) which can be found from the same software.
Here, the teacher asked the students to answer the question by choosing the
correct answer on the displayed applet. Then, the teacher discussed the
answers with the students.

For the last activity, the students performed individual activities. Worksheets
were given to the students. Before the end of the lesson, the teachers had also
conducted some interviews to the students regarding the use of this science
applet in the classroom.

Results
The result from the quiz activity which was done by the students showed that
they had managed to score 7 out of 10 questions. They were able to answer
most of the question given, however there were few questions that confused
them, as a result they made mistakes for those question. One of example of the
questions is “Which of these things is not found naturally but is made by
changing a natural material?”For the individual activities done by the students,
the score obtained were then tabulated as shown below.

Question 1 Question 2
Number
of pupils Part Part
Wood Ceramic Fabric Rubber Total
(i) (ii)

1 3 2 1 2 1 1 10

2 3 1 1 3 1 2 11

3 2 2 1 1 1 1 8

4 2 2 3 3 1 2 13

5 2 1 3 3 1 2 12

6 2 2 1 3 1 2 11

7 2 2 2 2 1 2 11

8 2 1 1 2 1 2 9

9 3 3 3 3 1 2 15

10 3 2 3 3 1 2 14

Total 114

Mean of score = Total score / no of students

Mean of score = 114/ 10

Mean score = 11. 4

Conclusion
As a conclusion, the students were able to answer most of the questions given
by teachers during the Quiz session and also when doing individual worksheet.
The used of virtual experiment when learning the science content seemed to be
very effective and could encourage students to learn and understand the
science concept easily. Therefore, it is important to teachers to provide this type
of opportunities so that students will be able to learn in more meaningful ways.

Strength of the lesson

From the students’ interviewed, they expressed their feeling of enjoyment when
doing the activities when learning science using this applet. This is because they
have never used this applet before and would like to learn other science
concepts using the applets again in the future. Other than that, some of the
students have also admitted that they could understand and remembered the
concepts easily when given the opportunities to move the objects on their own.

Weakness of the lesson

However, there were some weaknesses when the science lesson was carried
out. Some of them were limited access to the internet, some of the computers
do not have internet access therefore the students were asked to sit at the front
so that all of the students have the opportunities to manipulate the objects on
the screen. The numbers of student were also limited, only half of the students
were allowed by teachers to involve in the project. The lesson was unable to
start on time due to students arrived late to the computer room. Some of the
students were also not familiar with the term used in the questions and
explanation regarding the terms was not too clear.

Benefit of using virtual experiment in teaching and learning science.

When looking at the students’ results and students’ attitudes towards the use of
this virtual manipulative experiment when teaching and learning the science
concepts, it can be seen that there are many benefit when using this applets.
Some of the advantages are:

• It gains students’ interest and their positive attitudes.

• It is easier to carry out.

• Less preparation time.

• Safe and interesting display.

• It fosters student scientific skills such as process skills when conducting

the experiment and so forth.

Recommendation

For the future project study, there are some recommendations so that the
lesson will be more interesting and effective such as when explaining the
unfamiliar term to the students, teachers should put a link or shows pictures to
make the questions more clear for example a link on how a glass is made,
shows pictures of burning of woods and etc based on our Brunei context so that
students will be able to understand and relate with their daily life activities. It
will be appropriate if the teachers bring USB or external modem device in case
there is no internet connection available in the school. Increasing and involving
more students in this type of project so that the effectiveness of using this
virtual experiment in science lesson will be more reliable.