Blended learning activities, learning styles, computer attitude, and students' understanding of genetics: An exploratory analysis

• Main Author: Santiago, Jacklyn C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Subjects: Blended learning; Genetics—Study and teaching; Science and Mathematics Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4519; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11357&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explored the effects of blended learning activities on students understanding of Genetics concepts. This also looked at the possible influence of students attitude and learning styles on their achievement in Genetics. This was conducted among eighty one (81) 2nd year high school students of Canossa School of Sta. Rosa for SY 2012-2013. The teaching and learning plan on Genetics written and implemented by the researcher includes blended learning activities where face-to-face instruction in the classroom is enriched with online learning activities from GENYO. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to determine the students profile in terms of computer usage, attitude towards computer, computer self-efficacy, attitude towards GENYO, and learning styles. The Genetics Concept Test was administered both as a pretest and a posttest to look into the students level of conceptual understanding before and after exposure to blended learning activities. Results showed that students have positive attitude towards computers and GENYO, and high computer self-efficacy. There is significant relationship between students attitude towards computer and computer self-efficacy the two variables however did not show any correlation with attitude towards GENYO. Most students are fairly well-balanced in the following dimensions of learning styles: sensory/intuitive, active/reflective, and sequential/global. For the visual/verbal dimension, more students were found to be visual learners. Furthermore, the study revealed that there was a significant difference from the pretest and posttest scores of the students as reflected in the t-value of -16.007 and the normalized gain of 0.45. It suggests that blended learning could facilitate students understanding of Genetics concepts. ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences in the scores of the students when grouped according to attitude towards computers and degree of participation in GENYO. Participation in GENYO was also significantly correlated with gained index scores in the Genetics Concept Test. No significant difference, however, were found between the mean scores achieved by the students with different learning styles, suggesting that blended learning does not favor any group of learners categorized according to their learning styles.