Computer Simulation in Teaching Science 7

This study investigated the effectiveness of computer simulations in teaching Science 7. It Specifically answers the following questions: 1. How may the performance in the pre–test scores of the learners in the experimental and control groups be described; 2. How may the performance in the post–test scores of the learners in the experimental and control groups be described; 3. Is there a significant difference between the pre–test and post–test scores of the learners in the experimental group; 4. Is there a significant difference between the post–test scores of the learners in the experimental and control groups; and 5. What are the implications of the study to science education? The subjects of the study were eighty (80) randomly selected Grade 7 students of the Don Ramon E. Costales Memorial National High School, which were classified into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. This study employed the Experimental Design with the Pretest-Posttest Control group. Results of the study showed a significant difference in the pretest and post-test scores of the learners in the experimental group (t=-24.086, ρ=.000). These results indicate that the PhET Simulation method is effective in teaching topics in electricity. There was also a significant difference in the post-test scores of the learners in the experimental and control groups. Further, when the difference in the mean gain scores of the control group (13.9750) and the experimental group (25.6500) were compared using t-test, the t-value obtained is 7.449 while the ρ-value is. 000.Since ρ<.05, then the difference is significant. This means that in terms of gained knowledge in electricity, there is greater learning achieved by the experimental group, which was exposed to the computer simulation method, than by the control group, which was exposed to the traditional method. Thus, the Computer simulation method is more effective in teaching Electricity than the traditional method based on their mean gain scores which showed significant difference.