The effect of interventions teaching chemical kinetics on students’ academic performance: a meta-analysis study: a meta-analysis of interventions teaching chemical kinetics: Muammer et al.

Abstract

Science educators have looked for alternative pedagogies to facilitate student learning of chemical kinetics and tested their effects on academic performance. However, science education literature has not evaluated these interventions teaching chemical kinetics through a meta-analysis. Therefore, this study aimed to meta-analytically investigate the effect of the interventions on students’ academic performance. Through common academic databases and manual search, the authors identified 26 intervention (experimental) studies and inserted their statistical data into Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) statistics software to produce Hedges’ g values. The findings of the current meta-analysis indicated that the overall effect-size of the interventions was 1.042, which points to a large effect. Also, the findings of moderator variables (educational level, implementation duration and type of intervention) revealed non-significant differences at the students’ academic performance as a result of the interventions. The classifications of the effect-sizes of the moderator variables showed that such interventions as inquiry-based learning are more fruitful than computer-assisted instruction and cooperative learning even though all of the intervention types are more effective in developing students’ academic performance than the traditional or existing instruction. Given a broad range of the effect sizes (from 0.125 to 2.475), it can be concluded that controlled (e.g., implementation duration, preferred intervention type and educational level) and uncontrolled variables (e.g., preparedness level, pre-requests of learning, and cultural context) influence the effectiveness of the interventions. Given the evidence-based results of the current meta-analysis, future studies should re-consider key issues (e.g., controlled and uncontrolled variables) underpinning the nature of an effective intervention to better accomplish the related goals or learning outcomes of chemical kinetics.