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Introduction
Every teacher has a different way of teaching certain subjects and content areas. The strategy used by the teacher can make a big difference on how the student acquires and retains the information. In the modern world teachers are looking for ways to incorporate other methods of teaching into their lesson plans. For example, they can easily incorporate a subject like math into a science lesson and so on. On the other hand technology has become an important part of almost every classroom situation. Computers and the internet are not only an exciting part of this technology but are informative too. Therefore the aim of this study is to determine whether computer geography lessons will have a significant difference in the performance level of the students.
Geography is a very broad subject but is seldom used to help teach other subjects. Students often think of Geography as countries and capitals not knowing how broad this subject is. It is evident in the modern world that there are few geographers due to the inability to effectively teach students this subject (Friesen, 2005). Conversely the blame should not entirely be put on teachers but some of it should spill to ways of teaching this complicated subject. That is why computer assisted instruction has been incorporated in the teaching system (Bluff, 2002).
Most of the students do not know that there are computer Geography programs having software functions for Earth Science use. Computer geography was embraced because the subject is rather complex as it involves observance of different geographical features that needs elaboration. This is where computer geography or computer assisted instruction comes in. Computer geography is capable of showing vivid visual images to help students establish a link between the concept and appearance. Geography teachers are now taking advantage of computer science to create illustrations and vivid geographic courseware in the event changing the traditional mode of geography teaching (Bensons, 2008). As a result of this, students will be able to get higher academic performance. Therefore this research will focus on two ninth grade classrooms in Mc Bain, Michigan consisting of 24 students.
Purpose
The purpose of this quantitative research is to understand how the use of computer geography lessons can increase earth science content achievement in a high school classroom and also to reveal that computer assisted instructions can enhance performance in students. The research will try to determine if computer lessons will have a significant difference in the performance level of students. The study will also try to determine if students will be able to show a difference in academic achievement by understanding and executing problem solving through the use of computer geography. Consequently the hypothesis of this research is: Ninth grade students, who use computer geography during Earth science instruction, will not perform significantly better than the control group which does not use computer geography during instruction. Generally we can say the study will analyze the effects of computer based geography lessons on earth science students attitude and content achievement.
Sampling Technique
This research will use a fixed-effect model in spite of using inferential statistic to study students from two ninth grade classrooms in Mc Bain, Michigan. Both groups consist of 24 Caucasian students. Previously these students had a record of not performing well in this subject without the aid of computer lessons. Because the classes were generally poor performers the respondents were chosen randomly. This is the same technique that uses intact groups. This research will therefore administer a pre-test, teach a lesson and then give a post-test. The rationale of choice of this technique is that, all respondents were non-performers meaning they would provide effective results that have no biases.
This is again an appropriate sampling method because it represents observed quantities in terms of explanatory variables. The research is based upon students who were previously poor on the subject and after this research an appropriate conclusion can be established. A quantitative study is also appropriate as it is able to employ a large number of respondents who will help arrive at a comprehensive answer. This quantitative research will again be able to sort out external aspects making it possible to arrive at unbiased results. Issues of omitted bias are once more addressed.
Role
The lessons will be taught by the researcher who will be observing and scrutinizing every progress. In this case, there will be no influence since the researcher is knowledgeable of the subject under discussion. Normally, one might assume that personal biases are introduced at this point, but that is not correct. The researcher is around when lessons are administered and because he has investigated and is knowledgeable about the effectiveness of computer geography in the earth science classroom. Personal biases are not likely to occur because the proof of the research speaks for itself.
Some other biases in this study are in measuring, choice of problem, the procedure and the design of the whole study. In this study, design bias is dealt with as the research can effectively identify the validity of the study. Measurement bias is mitigated by the fact that the researcher is knowledgeable and is carrying out the research himself. Procedural biases are dealt with because the study is done under ample conditions and in the choice of problem; there are no external aspects which can possibly bring about the same results.
Participants
The audience of the research will be ninth grade Earth science students. There are twenty four students per class and the age of the students is about fifteen years old. Both classes are Caucasian with no other ethnic groups represented. All students have a similar economic situation that is lower middle class.
Hypothesis
This research will test the following null hypothesis: Ninth grade students, who use computer geography during Earth science instruction, will not perform significantly better than the control group which does not use computer geography during instruction. The confidence interval for this one-sample, paired-data t-test will be 0.05.which will lead to a significant increase in their academic achievement by the use of computer geography during instruction. On the other hand an alternative hypothesis stating that: Ninth grade students, who use computer geography during Earth science instruction, will perform significantly better than the control group which does not use computer geography during instruction will also be tasted.
References
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Bensons, D. (2008). Geography lessons and advantages of computer aided teaching. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
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Bluff, S. (2002). Geography and computer assisted instructions. Journal for Geographical Teaching 24 (2), 62-69.
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Friesen, D. (2005). Teaching Geography. South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.
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