How does the use of Multimedia and virtual learning environments Essay

How does the use of Multimedia and virtual learning environments increase adult learners ability to learn chemistry - Essay Example The purpose of the study is to evaluate the suitability of a series of IMM pre-laboratory lessons at a secondary school, to support laboratory practical and training of chemistry students. The IMM tutorials incorporate text, graphics and video images to demonstrate technique and procedures and explain relevant concepts subsequently encountered in the laboratory. The lessons also contain pre-laboratory quizzes and the program that is used to record the results obtained by the students. Laboratory experience has always been an essential part of learning chemistry as it is a practical science. Longstanding arguments in favour of practical include the acquisition of cognitive and manipulative skills, acquisition of an academic attitude to working, and gaining of practical experience of phenomena. Theory and experiment have an interdependent relationship. It is theory and not experimentation that opens up the way to new knowledge. The curriculum and instructional strategies used in the laboratory have, however, changed during the years as instructional approaches changed from pragmatic to constructivist. There was a strong move away from the ‘cook-book’ approach, and from the teaching of laboratory skills. More emphasis was placed on problem solving, hypothesis formulation, interpretation of data, experimental design and reporting. According to a survey of 39 secondary schools in the UK, the majority of schools still offer traditional laboratory courses and in addition learners are often expected to learn skills aid techniques by ‘doing’, without being exposed to a course on techniques. Since practical are expensive and time intensive, and as alternative ways of achieving instructional goals have become available, educators are again questioning the effectiveness and efficiency of traditional laboratory work. (G.P.