Comparing the impacts of tutorial and edutainment software programs on students' achievements, misconceptions, and attitudes towards biology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tutorial and edutainment design of instructional software programs related to the "cell division" topic on student achievements, misconceptions and attitudes. An experimental research design including the cell division achievement test (CAT), the cell division concept test (CCT) and biology attitude scale (BAS) was applied at the beginning and at the end of the research. After the treatment, general achievement in CAT increased in favor of experimental groups. Instructional software programs also had the positive effect to the awareness of students' understandings to the general functions of mitosis and meiosis. However, the current study revealed that there were still some misconceptions in the experimental groups even after the treatment. It was also noticed that only using edutainment software program significantly changed students' attitudes towards biology. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.