(1743)THE EFFECTS OF GAME-BASED LEARNING APPROACH ON HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDINGS ANDSTRATEGIC PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY IN LEARNINGNANOTECHNOLOGY

摘要

Nanotechnology or nanotechnologies are technologies that concern with the fabrication and use ofdevices so small that the convenient unit of measurement is the nanometer (a billionth of a meter)while nanoscience is science that deals with studies of behaviors and properties of materials ordevices/system having size at nanometer scale. Teaching and Learning nanotechnology at highschool level is not simply bringing such concepts to students but it should be in such ways thatstudents should be provided with authentic experiences that can lead them to deeper understandingsboth conceptual and procedural knowledge. A computer game and its association is the latesttechnology that has received attention from educators. It has been argued that for a particular view ofgames—and of learning—as activities that are most powerful when they are personally meaningful,experiential, social, and epistemological all at the same time. Strategic problem solving ability isreferred to ability to determine optimum or the best way to accomplish the intended goal or to solvethe problems under any problematic and uncertain circumstance. In problem solving process, studentsuse knowledge, skills, and prior experiences to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate situation to find outthe best way to accomplish the intended goal or to solve the problem effectively. In learningfundamental nanotechnology, studying about applications of nanomaterial’s properties is consideredto be suitable problematic situation for designing authentic learning experience powered by computergame technologies for enhancing strategic problem ability. The purpose of the research study was toexamine the effects of game-based learning environment on high school students’ conceptualunderstandings and strategic problem solving ability in learning fundamental nanotechnology. Thecomputer game “Nano X Project” was developed using the contents of fundamental nanoscience andnanotechnology, fundamental nanomaterials and nanosafety. The computer game was developed byAdobe Flash program and used as central instructional media of the 12 hour learning activities whichlasted in three weeks, four hours a week. The learning activities were conducted with 112 high schoolstudents of 10th grade at the Demonstration School of Naresuan University in Phitsanulok, Thailand.To examine the effects of the game-based science learning activities, the strategic problem solvingability test with reliability of 0.60 was administered to all the participating students along with theconceptual understanding test with reliability of 0.76 before and after the learning activities. As aresult, it was found that the students had improvement in strategic problem solving ability and alsoconceptual understanding confirmed by statistically significant change at 0.05 level. In summary, theresults indicate that this computer game based science learning in learning fundamental nanoscienceand nanotechnology have positive effects on the high school students’ conceptual understandings andstrategic problem solving ability.