Development and Effectiveness of Facilitated Learning Modules in Introductory Analytical Chemistry

Abstract

This study involved the development and assessment of facilitated learning modules that emphasized mathematical and statistical tools in introductory analytical chemistry. These facilitated learning modules were deemed to address the need of medical technology students for supplementary learning materials that address students’ difficulty in solving quantitative problems involved in introductory analytical chemistry.

The first phase of the study covered the development of seven facilitated learning modules on selected topics in introductory analytical chemistry which require mathematical and statistical tools. These topics were considered necessary because they involve mathematical and statistical treatments which students find difficult because of their insufficiency in mathematical and statistical background. The development of facilitated learning modules employed both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative aspect involved evaluation of the facilitated learning modules’ face content and form by chemistry education experts. Relevant comments and suggestions incorporated into the modules’ final forms characterized the essential features of the facilitated learning modules. The quantitative aspect focused on the evaluation of analytical chemistry instructors on the facilitated learning modules’ objectives in terms of attainability, clarity, and relevance. It also included their evaluation of the modules’ content in terms of appropriateness, appeal, innovativeness, and conformity to standards using a questionnaire developed by Lumaque (2011). The instructors found the objectives of the learning modules to be highly attainable, very clear, and very relevant. They rated the modules’ content to be very appropriate, very innovative, very appealing, and strongly conforming to standards. Part of the quantitative aspect was the determination of the facilitated learning modules’ student’s involvement index, grade level, and communication index. Using Romey’s procedure (1965), students’ involvement index of the modules was 1.34, which indicated that the modules could keep the interest of users while reading the modules. Fry’s Readability Graph (1968) indicated Grade 11 as the grade level of the modules, which matched that of the intended users. Further, Talisayon’s procedure (1983) indicated that the communication index of the learning modules was acceptable at 0.009.

The second phase assessed the facilitated learning module’ effectiveness on improving student performance using the quasi-experimental method that utilized pretest-posttest nonequivalent groups design. In this study, the use of facilitated learning modules was the independent variable while the student performance was the dependent variable. The performance was measured using the posttest scores comprising knowledge of using mathematical and statistical tools in introductory analytical chemistry and the knowledge of introductory analytical chemistry. Before the treatment, a pretest on basic algebra and statistics was administered to find out if there was a significant difference between the mathematics and statistical aptitude and skills of the two intact classes. Results of the pretest showed that both groups are comparable in terms of mathematical and statistical aptitude and skills. Moreover, both the experimental and control groups adopted facilitated learning instructions such as peer mentoring, on-demand tutorial, and online group discussion and file sharing. However, only the experimental group used the facilitated learning modules to supplement facilitated learning instruction while the control group only used learning materials which were common to both groups. After the intervention, both groups were given a posttest. The one-way analysis of covariance results revealed that the use of facilitated learning modules had a statistically significant effect (F (1.92) - 6.04, p - .016) on the posttest scores of students with their pretest scores as the covariate. Results further showed that those who used the facilitated learning modules as supplementary learning materials had a higher mean score (M = 69.20) than those who did not (M - 62.82) suggesting that it may be beneficial to supplement facilitated learning instruction in introductory analytical chemistry with facilitated learning modules as this may improve the performance of students in introductory analytical chemistry. Further, Pearson’s correlation test results showed that knowledge of the application of mathematical and statistical tools in introductory analytical chemistry was significantly correlated with the knowledge of introductory analytical chemistry with r – .669 suggesting that it would be good to strengthen students’ knowledge in mathematics and statistics as results of this study have shown that students who did well in mathematics and statistics also did well in introductory analytical chemistry.

It is recommended that in the development of facilitated learning modules, the number of chemistry education experts and analytical chemistry instructors be increased in order to gather more inputs regarding the form and content as well the evaluation of the objectives and contents of the learning modules. The inputs of these experts are essential to the development of the facilitated learning modules. Curriculum writers may develop facilitated learning modules in analytical chemistry that employ varied instructional strategies such as virtual or face-to-face brainstorming sessions, group activities like games, and virtual classroom sessions on other topics in analytical chemistry such as various titrimetric methods of analysis such as acid-base, precipitation, and complexometric titration; and spectroscopic methods of analysis.