Computer-aided instruction to improve pass rates of first-year chemistry students

Abstract

Past imbalances in the South African education system continue to perpetuate in poorly resourced schools and inadequately skilled teachers, resulting in under-prepared university students. At Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) a computer-based intervention was developed to address two of the conceptual difficulties identified in prospective first-year Chemistry students. After implementation of the intervention, average improvements of 13.6% and 6.4% were obtained for the concepts of conservation of matter and physical and chemical change respectively. The students' attitudes towards computer-aided study, assessed using a semi-structured questionnaire, were found to be extremely positive despite limited computer access.