CHEMISTRY TEACHERS' AND STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF PRACTICAL WORK THROUGH DIFFERENT ICT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

This paper presents the first phase of a design research, where four practical work activities within ICT learning environments (concept maps, molecular modeling, animations and videos) were created and evaluated. Materials were designed carefully after the orientation of research literature and Finnish chemistry curriculum by 21 chemistry student teachers during their M.Sc. chemistry education course. Designed materials were peer evaluated before they were presented to 27 teachers and students who made their external evaluation. Research questions of the research were i) What kind of need is there for creating learning environments that connect practical chemistry and ICT?, ii) What kind of features does meaningful practical work through different ICT -learning environments contain? And iii) What kind of effect does practical work through ICT have on chemistry learning according to chemistry teachers and students? Data was gathered by observing and using questionnaires. This study shows that the need for meaningful practical work through ICT -learning environments is substantial. According to the designers and respondents, meaningful characteristics of practical working through ICT are i) cooperative, ii) constructivist, iii) motivating, and iv) time saving and safe, In addition, they should visualize chemical phenomenon and processes at macro and molecular levels. Studied teachers found that ICT gives i) important aid to learning and teaching practical work, ii) it arouses interest and iii) it develops research skills. At the second phase of this research, activities will be developed to more contextual and inquiry-based form and the effect on learning will be examined thoroughly with comprehensive school students.