Effect of the blended learning environment and the application of virtual class upon the achievement and the attitude against the geography course

Abstract

Accepted: 10.05.2013 This study involves the elucidation of the effect of the virtual classroom application and blended learning medium upon the academic achievement of the students and their attitudes against the geography curse compared to the face to face expository (traditional) method. The study was carried out according to pre-test post-test experimental design with control group. The group was constituted by 73, 9th year students. The experimental groups have been subjected to the blended learning approach throughout the study. The topic was also given to the first experimental group with the face to face expository method where the teacher explained the subject while the second experimental group was subjected to virtual classroom application. The course was given to the control group with the traditional face to face learning method. The data of the study were collected by the use of by the use of the geography achievement test (Kr-20=0.77) and the attitude scale towards the geography course (α=0,918) . The data collected were one factor variance and co variance analyses. The results showed that the blended teaching media and virtual classroom practices had a statistically significant contribution on the achievement of the students in geography and their attitudes towards the geography course compared to the face to face expository method. However since the attitudes of the students towards the geography course in both control and experimental groups at the beginning and the end of the experiment were high the methods used did not made a significant contribution to it.