The effects of 3D computer simulation on biology students’ achievement and memory retention

Biology is a program offered for two years to Malaysian secondary school students in years four (Form Four) and five (Form Five). The concepts included in Biology generally are abstract and students failed to understand the concepts. Cell Division is one of the most problematic and difficult concepts that students need to learn (Atilboz, 2004; Kablan, 2004; Knippels, Waarlo, & Boersma, 2005; Lazarowitz & Lieb, 2006; Saka et al., 2006; Baser, 2007; Kara & Yesilyurt, 2008; She & Chen, 2009; Murniza Muhamad, Halimah Badioze Zaman & Azlina Ahmad, 2010). Questions on Cell Cycle, Mitosis and Meiosis concepts in Cell Division are very popular and asked every year in the Malaysian Certificate of Education examination (SPM) for Biology subject (Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri Perak, 2012).

Analysis of the SPM Biology paper from the years 2007 until 2011 showed that students have yet to master the concepts on Cell Division well because they are unable to understand the Cell Division topic clearly and have misconceptions about the main concepts of Cell division topic such as mitosis and meiosis (Atilboz, 2004; Kablan, 2004; Knippels, Waarlo & Boersma, 2005; Aziz Nordin & Ami Norliyana Shamsu Kamar, 2011; Chattopadhyay, 2012; Ozcan, Yildirim & Ozgur, 2012). These learning problems in Cell Division arise from improper teaching and learning (Wekesa, 2003) method that emphasized mainly on teacher centered learning (Kiboss, 2002) and encourage rote learning among students (Ozcan, Yildirim & Ozgur, 2012). Students’ roles become very less in teacher centered learning method. Therefore, the Ministry of Education (2006) suggested that teaching and learning strategies in Biology curriculum should emphasize learning that stimulates and enhance students’ ability in thinking. There are various learning strategies that stimulate thinking ability among students such as inquiry, constructivism, contextual learning, mastery learning, experiments, discussions, simulations, projects and visits (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2006).

Computer simulation is one of the effective teaching methods and has positive impacts in teaching science subjects (Wellington, 2004). Otero (2001) and Olele (2008) reported that most of the research findings showed a positive impact on computer simulation based teaching and learning method. This is because of its features that consist of movement and color which bring real learning environment into Biology classroom. Computer simulation is ICT based teaching and learning methods (Clark, Nelson, Sengupta, & D'Angelo, 2009).

Simulation help students to learn and understand Cell Division process through visualization. Students build their own mental model based on the observation to be recorded in the form of schemas in their long term memory (Ali & Zamzuri, 2007). Recorded visual form information is retained in the memory structure for a longer period. Otero (2001), Lindgren and Schwartz (2009) emphasized that the visual forms of learning encourage students to develop an understanding of learnt concepts and support their memory retention which improve their achievement (Kiboss, Ndirangu, & Wekesa, 2004). Students’ achievement in Biology depends on students’ level of understandings and memory retention. Students’ understandings and memory retention depend on the teaching and learning strategy. Hence, the effectiveness of selected teaching and learning method will be determined by the students’ achievement in Biology subject.

Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the effectiveness of two different forms of three dimensional (3D) computer simulations, that are, realistic simulation and non-realistic simulation on Form Four Biology students from Perak, Malaysia. There are various terms used by researchers to refer to the 3D multimedia simulation and virtual reality simulation in their studies. 3D multimedia simulation is known as computer based instruction simulation program (Kiboss, Wekesa & Ndirangu’s, 2006). Similarly, virtual reality simulation is also known as educational virtual environment (Mikropoulos, Katsikis, Nikolou & Tsakalis, 2003), virtual reality technology (Shim, Park, Kim, Kim, Park & Ryu, 2003), inquiry based simulated labs called ‘OsmoBeaker’ (Meir, Perry, Stal, Maruca & Klopfer, 2005), virtual learning environment, VLE (Pan, Cheok, Yang, Zhu, & Shi, 2006) and technology-enhanced curriculum module called Global Warming: Virtual Earth (Varma & Linn, 2012). However, in this study, realistic simulation refers to a 3D multimedia simulation while non-realistic simulation refers to a desktop virtual reality simulation.

Although both realistic and non-realistic simulations are 3D simulation, they differ from desktop virtual reality simulation. 3D multimedia simulation consists of multimedia elements such as illustrations, static pictures, graphics, animation, simulation, photos or video, text on the computer screen and narration (Mayer, 2001). Realistic simulation brings actual learning environment that is more toward realistic learning environment (Laurillard, 2002). Akpan (2002) said that students’ motivation level increase when they receive lesson content in a realistic learning environment. In contrast, desktop virtual reality simulation is semi-immersive and less interactive than the virtual reality simulation (Shin, 2002) and does not create realistic learning environment (Mikropoulos, Katsikis, Nikolou & Tsakalis, 2003). Virtual reality simulation creates immersive and interactive learning environment (Burdea, 1999; Winn & Windschitl, 2000; Pan et al., 2006; Jimoyiannis, 2011). Both desktop virtual reality and virtual reality use different scenarios (Shim et al., 2003). Desktop virtual reality allows users to interact with virtual environment using keyboard, joystick and touch screen (Chen & Teh, 2000; Zhang & Yang, 2009) which need to be run and play in the computer desktop. Meanwhile, virtual reality simulation shows real user images on the computer screen and also allows users to see their own image on the computer screen. Users need to use head-mounted display when they use virtual reality simulation whereas in a desktop virtual reality environment, users need to use the CRT monitors or computer monitor (Shim et al., 2003).

Studies have shown that both realistic and non-realistic simulations have positive effects in learning Biology. Several research findings showed that the realistic simulation increase students’ understandings and achievement (Kiboss, Wekesa & Ndirangu, 2006) whereas non-realistic simulations enhance students’ understandings, reduce their misconceptions about learned Biology concepts (Meir, Perry, Stal, Maruca, & Klopfer, 2005) and improve students’ performance and their achievement (Varma & Linn, 2012).