Enhancing students’ retention of cell division through computer simulations in Adanwomase senior high school

Abstract

Integrated science is one of the core subjects offered in the Ghanaian Senior High School. Most of the concepts included in Science are abstract and therefore students find it difficult to understand the concepts. Cell division is one of the most problematic and difficult concepts that students learn in the Science syllabus. Questions on cell cycle, Mitosis and Meiosis in Cell Division are very popular in the West African Certificate examination.Analysis of the Science paper using the Chief examiner’s report has revealed that students have misunderstandings on the main concepts of cell division topic such as mitosis and meiosis. These learning problems in Cell division arise from improper teaching and learning method that emphasized mainly on teacher centered learning and encourages rote learning among students. Computer simulation which is one of the learning strategies that stimulates and enhances students thinking ability was employed in this study to teach the concept of cell division in Adanwomase Senior High School. A total of 62 students from two different form one classes were used for this study. A pre-test on cell division was administered to the two classes. A t-test analysis of the pre-test revealed a significant difference between the scores for the two classes. Thirty of them were subjected to lessons prepared on the concepts of cell division using computer simulations because they had the least scores. The other 32 were taught the concepts using the traditional lecture method because they had the highest scores in the pre-test. A post- test was then administered after the interventions. Results from the post-tests were gathered and also subjected to statistical analysis using paired and unpaired t-test. After the study it was realized that there was a significant difference between science achievements of students who were taught with both the computer simulations and the traditional lecture method. However, those who were taught with computer simulations had a significantly scores in the post-test.