Computer-Assisted and Laboratory-Assisted Teaching Methods in Physics Teaching: The Effect on Student Physics Achievement and Attitude towards Physics

Does the computer-assisted teaching method as effective as the laboratory-assisted teaching method on studentphysics achievement and attitude towards physics? To seek for answering this question is the aim of the presentstudy. The computer-assisted teaching method of the study includes the programs of Crocodile Physics andEdison 4.0 in the subject of “simple electric circuits” on 9th grade level. By using the experimental pretest-posttest-experimental-control group design, “Physics Achievement Test” and “Physics Laboratory Attitude Scale”administered two times as pre-test and post-test were used as the data collection tools and they wereadministered to 50 9th grade students. The data were then analyzed by using SPSS 16.0 statistical analysisprogram and statistics such as mean, Standard Deviation were calculated and independent t-test statisticaltechniques were used. According to the data analysis, there is a significant difference on students’ physicsachievements in favor of the computer-assisted teaching method and also both for two different teachingmethods there is a significant difference on students’ attitudes towards physics. Thus, it can be said that todevelop students’ physics achievements and attitudes towards physics using the computer-assisted teachingmethod can be more effective than the laboratory-assisted teaching method.