Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Research in Teaching and Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Experiences and Attitudes Towards Blended Teaching Of Organic Chemistry
Elaosi Vhurumuku
ABSTRACT:
Blended learning, which combines online and digital media with traditional classroom methods, has been increasingly adopted in higher education. Understanding pre-service teachers’ experiences and attitudes towards learning Organic Chemistry through blended teaching is crucial as it provides insights that can inform the design and implementation of blended learning strategies in teacher education programmes. This study investigated pre-service science teachers’ experiences and attitudes towards the learning of an Organic Chemistry Module using a blended teaching approach. One hundred and forty-eight (n=148) third-year preservice teachers enrolled in a third year Bachelor of Education programme for Physical Sciences teachers were taught an Organic Chemistry module using blended teaching. At the end of the module, data on pre-service teachers’ experiences and attitudes towards blended learning was obtained using two Likert type questionnaires and semi-structured interviewing of twenty conveniently sampled students. The results show that while the students had generally positive attitudes towards blended learning, their experiences revealed challenges and difficulties in the implementation of the teaching programme. Some recommendations are made on how to improve blended teaching programmes in Organic Chemistry.
keywords: module; teaching; science; students; online