A Study of Persistence in Learning Chemistry
Through Technology Applications
David Licata, Pacifica High School, Garden Grove, CA
Scores on several sections of the CAT6 test were compared for the two groups of students. The language and reading abilities of the two groups of students were similar. However, the control group had a significantly higher average math score than the MCWeb group. This difference in mathematics ability was reflected in the pre1 scores of the two groups, as was expected. The control students average score was 12.5 compared with the MCWeb average of 10.9. This difference is significant at the 95% confidence level. The two groups were compared using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to control for math ability, and the adjusted averages were 12.1 for the control and 11.3 for the MCWeb group. The adjusted averages are not significantly different.
Following the first semester of VIZ and PR instruction, the MCWeb group had not only caught, but passed the OCCA score of the control group. The MCWeb students averaged 14.8 compared with the 13.7 (adjusted for CAT6M scores) on post test 1. While the difference in means is not significant, there is a real difference in gains made by each group. The MCWeb group improved their score by an average of 3.5 questions (19%) compared with only a 1.5 question improvement (8%) by the control students. MCWeb students averaged more than twice the improvement of the control group. This result corresponds to the average improvements seen for all groups of students using the MCWeb program (high school through university) compared with control groups (3). Statistical comparison of the control group pre1 to post1 scores shows that the difference in scores was not significant, suggesting that the apparent gain may or may not have been real. A similar comparison for the MCWeb group does show a statistically significant growth.
It is also worth noting that the variance in averages was near 8.5 for both sets of students on pretest 1, and for the control group on post test 1. However, the variance for the MCWeb group on post test 1 narrowed to only 5.7. This may show that not only had the group achieved greater improvement, but they had greater uniformity of the post test results. Further, six of the 22 control students regressed in score from pre1 to post1. The average loss for these six students was 2.2 questions. The single MCWeb student scoring lower missed only one more question on post1 compared with pre1.
Students continued to receive instruction from February through the middle of June (approximately 12 weeks not including finals, testing, and spring break). They were on summer break for 11 weeks during which they had no program of study for chemistry, nor any planned review or assignments. Teachers are familiar with the lack of retention, and the likelihood of regression during the summer break. However, the 12 weeks of instruction apparently benefitted both groups of students. The chemistry students who returned for a second year of chemistry took the OCCA test a third time on the first day of class (pre2). The MCWeb group improved to an adjusted average of 15.7 while the control group improved their mean score to 14.2. This is a statistically significant difference in means. The average improvement in score was 0.9 questions for the MCWeb group but only 0.5 questions for the control. Again, the MCWeb group outperformed the control by nearly double, though statistical analysis does not show that either gain is significant.
As expected, the control group had many students regressing. Ten of the control students did worse on pre2, losing an average of 2.4 questions. Only six of the MCWeb group regressed, by an average of only 1.5 questions. Again, the variance in scores was near 8.5 for the control group, but less than six for MCWeb students suggesting that these students maintained the greater uniformity of results.
The overall gain over the entire year from pre1 to pre2 was 2.1 questions (12%) for the control group, but more than twice that much (4.4 questions, 25%) for the students using MCWeb. During the AP year students used 36 MCWeb units (100 or more topics) and approximately 20 GIAs. When the OCCA was given for a final time (post2) in June 2005 the control group achieved a score of 16.6 and the MCWeb group 16.9. There is no statistical difference between these final scores. Both groups had reached the same level of achievement on the OCCA measures of VIZ and PR by the end of the AP term.
Copyright David Paul Licata, 2005. All rights reserved.