The impact of interactivity on the effectiveness of teaching biology with ICT

V Sloveniji je v letih 2011–2014 potekal projekt E-učbeniki pri naravoslovnih predmetih v osnovni šoli. Rezultat projekta so učbeniki za naravoslovne predmete v osnovni in srednji šoli. Med obveznimi naravoslovnimi predmeti niso pripravili le učbenika za biologijo. Da bi ugotovili, kako bi delo z interaktivnim elektronskim učbenikom pri biologiji vplivalo na pridobivanje znanja, smo sami pripravili vzorčne aktivnosti z orodji in po smernicah, ki so bile uporabljene za izdelavo ostalih učbenikov. Na začetku raziskave smo si zastavili dve glavni raziskovalni vprašanji: (1) Ali interaktivnost vpliva na pridobivanje znanja? in (2) Ali na pridobivanje znanja vpliva format učbenika? Poleg tega so nas zanimale razlike med uporabniki. Preučili smo vplive odnosa učencev do predmeta, učnega sklopa, načina dela, učitelja ter vpliv izkušenj glede na način dela. Za namene raziskave smo izdelali učni sklop elektronskega učbenika na temo čutil s tremi podenotami: 1. Vid, 2. Sluh, 3. Vonj, okus in tip. Uporabili smo orodje ExeCute 3.5, ki je bilo uporabljeno tudi za izdelavo učbenikov pri prej omenjenem projektu. Pridobljeno znanje smo ovrednotili z razliko točk med predtestom in potestom, ki so ga učenci rešili pred aktivnostjo in po njej. Aktivnosti smo izvedli na tri različne načine: delo s tablico, pri katerem je bil uporabljen elektronski učbenik, delo s projektorjem, kjer je prav tako bil uporabljen elektronski učbenik, ter delo s klasičnim učbenikom, ki je bil vsebinsko enak elektronskemu učbeniku z manjšimi prilagoditvami za fizični format učbenika. Za ugotavljanje razlik med učenci smo sestavili vprašalnik, s katerim smo ovrednotili čustva do predmeta, odnos do učnega sklopa, načine dela in učitelja ter mnenje o izkušnjah glede na način dela. K sodelovanju v raziskavi smo povabili šole, ki so sodelovale v projektu, njihovi učenci in učitelji pa so imeli izkušnje z uporabo elektronskih učbenikov. Ugotovili smo, da interaktivnost ni vplivala na pridobivanje znanja. Delo z elektronskim in klasičnim učbenikom je imelo primerljiv vpliv na pridobljeno znanje. Učenci so najmanj znanja pridobili z delom s projektorjem, ki je bil najbolj pasiven način dela v raziskavi. Pri delu s projektorjem je bil uporabljen elektronski učbenik, tako format učbenika ni vplival na pridobivanje znanja. Razlike med skupinama A in B so bile večinoma ali nepomembne ali manj pomembne, nekoliko bolj je odstopala skupina C. Pri analizi testov so rezultati sklopa o vonju, okusu in tipu pri vseh skupinah, ne glede na način dela, odstopali od sklopov o vidu ter sluhu. Ker se je odstopanje pojavilo pri vseh skupinah, ni bistveno vplivalo na skupen rezultat, je pa onemogočilo določitev povezave med različnimi odnosi (do učitelja, predmeta, sklopa ter načina dela) in izkušnjami z uporabo posameznih učnih pripomočkov (tablica, projektor in klasični učbenik) ter pridobljenim znanjem.In Slovenia government sponsored a project E—textbooks for science subjects in secondary schools in years 2011 - 2014, in which e-textbooks for science subjects were created for secondary schools and high schools / college. The only compulsory science subject that did not get its own textbook was Biology. We were interested to see what such textbook would look like and how would working with interactive e-textbook in Biology affect gained knowledge. For that reason we have created example activities with tools and guidelines used for creation of other textbooks. At the beginning of our research we posed two research main questions: (1) Does interactivity have an impact on gaining knowledge? and (2) Does a format of a textbook have an impact on gaining knowledge? In addition, we were interested in any existing differences between test groups, that could affect results. We were interested in differences in attitude towards the subject, the topic, the type of learning (with e-textbook, classic textbook and a projector), the teacher and experiences with working with different methods. For this research we have created a part of e-textbook for the topic of senses with three sub-topics: 1. Sight, 2.Hearing, 3. Taste, Smell and Touch. We used a program ExeCute 3.5, which was also used to create e-textbooks for before mentioned project. We measured gained knowledge as a difference in achieved marks between results of post-test and pre-test that students completed before and after the learning process. Learning was facilitated in 3 different ways: 1. Using tablet computer, with electronic textbook, 2. Projector, also using electronic textbook and 3. Classic printed textbook, with same content and activities as electronic textbook, with minor adjustments due to format. To determine any existing differences between groups we used a questionnaire which asked students about their before mentioned attitudes as well as their experiences with using different textbook types. We invited schools participating in the government project to also participate in our study. This way both teachers and the students had some experience with use of e-textbooks as a part of a learning process. We found out that interactivity did not have an effect on gaining knowledge. Learning with electronic textbook and classic textbook had a similar effect on gained knowledge. Students gained the least knowledge learning with a projector, which was the most passive method used in our study. For work with a projector the same e-textbook was used and as such the format of textbook did not directly affect gained knowledge. The differences in attitude between groups A and B were either negligible or small, attitude of group C however, was somewhat more different from the others. In the analysis of tests we found out that there were outlying results for one topic (taste, smell and touch), regardless of the method used. Because the same occurred across all groups it did not have an impact of overall result, it did however make in impossible to determine connections between attitudes (towards teacher, subject, topic and learning tool), experience with use of different learning tools (tablet computer, projector and classic textbook) and gained knowledge