Development and evaluation of Computer-Assisted Instructional (CAI) modules on chemical bonding and molecular geometry

This study develops a Computer-Assisted Instructional (CAI) modules in General Chemistry. The modules entitled CHEM MoGeo cover the topics Quantum Atom, Structure of Molecules and Molecular Geometry. It also aims to evaluate the (a) subject matter, (b) objectives, (c) clarity of explanations, (d) presentation, (e) appeal to students, and (f) test items of the prepared modules. These modules are also evaluated as to their effectivity to improve the student achievement through pretest and posttest result. Some of the CAI modules\u27 special features are the following: (a) use of lively colors in the screen design, (b) use of animated cartoon characters which served as participants in the conversational format of the lesson presentation, (c) voice explanation on lesson 1, (d) inclusion of a periodic table in lessons and exercises where needed, and (e) mouse and keyboard support, and (f) exercises within the lesson which served as a drill for the learner. The modules were evaluated by two groups: (a) teacher evaluators and (b) student evaluators. Four teacher evaluators evaluated the content of the developed CAI using an evaluation guide for teachers. The general mean rating computed from the teacher evaluators responses was 4.54 which is within the highly favorable range in the Likert scale. The comments and suggestions of the teacher evaluators\u27 were incorporated into the learning package before it was tried-out to the students. Twenty-six incoming senior students of the Pangasinan State University Laboratory High School under the special science curriculum and 15 incoming senior BSE Chemistry minor students of the Pangasinan State University-College of Education served as student evaluators in this study. Their remarks on the developed CAI by both levels of students were favorable as reflected by a mean rating of 4.26.The outstanding features of the CAI based on the two groups of evaluators were Appeal to the Students , Presentation , Subject Matter , Objectives and Clarity of Explanations .The two groups of students were also given pretest and posttest to determine the effectivity of the module. Results of the t-test showed that there is a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the students both in the high school and college levels at p 0.01 and df of 25 and 14, respectively. The developed CAI can therefore be recommended as a teaching supplementary material in the study of Quantum Atom, Structure of Molecules and Molecular Geometry in a General Chemistry course