The effect of virtual laboratory resources and flipped classroom instructions on senior high school students’ acquisition of science process skills .

Abstract

The successes of students in science in the West Africa secondary school certificate examinations over the years have been very discouraging. Studies have revealed that it is partly due to the poor science process skills possessed by students. Indications in the literature revealed that possession of good science process skills could help improve students’ performance in science in West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination. This study therefore evaluated the basic and integrated process skills possessed by Winneba Senior High School Students and improved it using virtual laboratory resources and flipped classroom instructions. The action research method was employed, and the research approach employed was the mixed method approach grounded in the pragmatist research paradigm. A sample of 51 science students participated in the study. The instruments used were questionnaire, observation, interview, and tests. The research was conducted in three phases, the pre- intervention phase, intervention phase and post-intervention phase. Six research questions were answered. Findings of the study showed that: most students were not proficient in the basic and integrated process skills and the use of virtual laboratory resources and flipped classroom instructions was able to improve the proficiencies of the sampled students. The study concluded that students basic and integrated process skills were improved, in that, students measured accurately, students observed with all their five senses, students communicated effectively and used the other basic and integrated process skills effectively. It was recommended that teachers should make themselves available to new technologies and teaching methods such as virtual laboratory resources and flipped classroom instructions. They should always be around to supervise students when they are using the virtual laboratory resource to learn because some students may use the computers for something else rather than learning. Teachers should always monitor students after flipping the class to make sure that students have learned what they were supposed to learn. Science enhancing and student-centered strategies may be applied by science teachers or instructors to improve the performance of students by emphasizing basic process skills and by giving them group activities that need collaborative effort. The schools should support in the areas of building more rooms for science-related activities like laboratories and e-classroom. The Ghana Education Service should select experts in computer software and hardware from Ghana and send them to countries where this mode of instruction and resources are used as a form of learning and teaching. For more comprehensive findings, further studies on the same area of concentration may be conducted for improving Science education where the students will benefit.