Method

The sample comprised 13 students from a 10th grade class (all boys) in Khalifa high school. The ages of the students ranged from 16 to 17 years at the start of the study. The class was selected randomly.

Setting

The experiment was conducted at the computer laboratory in IDRAC centre. The principal of the school approved conducting the study outside the school. The good relationship between the researcher and the school principal was the main reason to select the school. This had eased the process of conducting the experiment.

Instruments

Two instruments were used in the experiment. • A questionnaire.

Study Procedures

A team consisting of a chemistry supervisor, a chemistry teacher and the researcher prepared two lesson plans on Oxygen from the tenth grade chemistry curriculum. The team prepared all the narrations.

Topics of lesson 1 were:

1. The properties of the periodic table.

2. The properties of the sixth group (the oxygen group).

3. The oxygen position in the sixth group and the attributes of this position. 4. Comparison activities.

Lesson 1 consists of 27 pages as detailed in Table 6.1.

Topics of lesson 2 were:

1. Importance of oxygen for life. 2. Oxygen in nature.

3. Oxygen cycle.

4. Oxygen chemical properties. 5. Oxygen uses and benefits. 6. Comparison activities.

Table 6.1: Lesson 1 Details

Page Content Image Video

1-4 Introductory screens Persistence to achieve goals Building collapse 5 Lesson topics

6

Question about what students know about sixth group and what they would like to know

KWL graphic organizer

7-8 Introducing the compare _{thinking skill} Compare thinking map and _{graphic organizer}

9-12

Presentation of the properties of the periodic table and the sixth group

Periodic table.

Sixth group properties table. Oxygen Atom.

13-15

Activity of comparing oxygen with other

elements of the sixth group

Graphic organizer

16-17 Interactive questions. Animated figures

18

Demonstration of some of the oxygen’s properties

Demonstration of the bond between oxygen and hydrogen in water 19 Question about what students has learned about

sixth group.

KWL graphic organizer

20-24

Thinking about thinking part of the lesson, questions about the compare skill to let students think about the compare and contrast skill.

25-27

Two activities to compare between types of bonds, and metallic and non- metallic.

Graphic organizers

Table 6.2: Lesson 2 Details

Page Content Image Video

1

Introduction to the Oxygen lesson. Scientist who first made experiments on oxygen.

Pictures of scientists and image of oxygen experiment. 2 Oxygen in atmosphere. _{Oxide types.} Pictures and table.

3 Demonstration of the oxygen cycle in _nature. Animated image.

4

Based on the students' observation about the oxygen cycle, they are asked to come up with a conclusion.

5-7 Oxygen production. Students are asked to record their observations

Demonstration of oxygen production in industry and

inside labs.

8

The students are asked to summarize what he has learned. Furthermore, they are asked to identify new

information versus known information from the lesson

9

The students are asked to describe what interests them in the lesson. Furthermore, they are asked to identify ambiguous information. They will then discuss this ambiguity with their peers or teacher and clear it up then write their comments in the space provided

Tables

10

Oxygen's bond with metallic elements. The students are asked to note their observations after each experiment.

Animated demonstrations of three experiments about Oxygen's chemical properties (Oxygen's bond with metallic elements).

11

Based on the students' observation, they are asked to come up with a conclusion about the Oxygen's bond with metallic elements.

12

Oxygen's chemical properties (Oxygen's bond with non-metallic elements).

The students are asked to note their observations after each experiment.

Animated demonstrations of two experiments about Oxygen's chemical properties (Oxygen's bond with non-metallic

elements).

13

Based on the students' observation, they are asked to come up with a conclusion about Oxygen's bond with non-metallic elements.

Finally, they are asked to compare between oxygen's bonding with metallic and non-metallic elements using the compare graphic organizer.

Graphic organizer

14

The students are asked to note their prior knowledge about Oxygen uses. And then they are introduced to additional benefits and uses of Oxygen.

Pictures

15

The students are asked to organize the information about the uses of the

oxygen in the Venn diagram. Venn diagram

16-17

Two activities: Compare the properties of Oxygen compounds with metal and non-metal.

Compare between human and tree respiration

Graphic organizers

18

The students are asked to write an essay about:

The importance of Oxygen and its uses.

Then a team consisting of four specialists helped develop a prototype of the program that automated the two lessons using Macromedia. The program was linear in nature. Each lesson was included in several pages like a book. The pages contained text, sound tracks and animations. The students had to log in using their usernames and passwords.

The program incorporated control buttons for the student to move around the lessons. Figure 6.1 shows the first screen of the first lesson.

• Two buttons to stop and start the sound track. • A button to go to the beginning of the lesson.

• Two buttons to go to the previous or the next lesson.

• Two arrows to move within the lesson, one screen at a time. • A counter showing the page number.

• Four Info buttons to show the periodic table, the properties of the Oxygen group and graphic organizers.

• A button to exit the program.

Figure 6.1: The First Screen of the First Lesson with the Buttons

The program was tested to ensure that there were no running or typographical errors. The team reviewed the content and narration tracks, and then corrections were made

to ensure validity. Appendix II shows the details of the program screens. The purpose of this prototype was to be used by the students and get feedback from them to help build the CAT system in phase 2.

An experiment was conducted on a group of 13 tenth grade students from Khalifa high school in Abu Dhabi to use the software prototype in learning the lessons. The students went to a computer lab located outside the school. The teacher's role was only to guide the students and answer their questions. All the activities and tasks used in the program were comparison tasks. The group of students studied the assigned material using the software. Student worked on their own computer for the entire period of the experiment, which continued for ten days. During this period, the students went to the lab to learn using the program four times. They spent one hour each time using the system. The total amount of time spent by each student was four hours. A questionnaire for the students was developed for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the prototype. The questionnaire is given in Appendix III.

The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of 22 items. The second part consisted of two open questions to get students’ comments and suggestions to enhance the program. All the data in this part of the questionnaire was read through to obtain a general sense of the information and to reflect on its overall meaning. Then the data was organized into categories. The frequency of each category was determined. This data were used to explain students' answers in the first part of the questionnaire. The students' feedback was used to help build the CAT system in phase 2.