The learning effectiveness of integrating e-books into elementary school science and technology classes

Abstract

Developments in technological tools happen every day. Developments in the publication of e-Books and production of e-readers also are happening daily. Currently, young people who live in highly technological areas are exposed to books not only through an adult's reading, but also by independently accessing e-Books which are available on the internet or on CD-ROMs. These multimedia tools usually provide assistance in oral reading, written text, oral discourse, music, sound effects, and animations 1 . The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of integrating e-Books into elementary school science and technology classes on students' learning effectiveness. This study employed nonequivalent group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design which consisted of conducting learning activities for 20 minutes a period, three periods a week, for a total of six weeks. In this study, there were 60 elementary sixth-grade students who were equally divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experiment design applied an e-Book Learning method for the experimental group and a Paper-Based Learning method for the control group, respectively. The instruments of this study consisted of three scales: (1) learning motivation scale, (2) learning attitude scale, and (3) learning effectiveness scale. After the experimental instruction, the data were analysed using seven different statistical methods: a Pearson correlation analysis, canonical correlation analysis, one-way MANCOVA, one-way MANOVA, one-way ANCOVA, path analysis, t-test, and paired t-test. These statistical methods enabled us to reach four conclusions: (1) There was no significant difference in learning effectiveness of e-Books integrated instruction between students of different sexes; (2) There was significant correlation between learning motivation and learning effectiveness of science and technology domain for the experimental group students; (3) There was significant correlation between learning attitudes and learning effectiveness in the science and technology domain for the experimental group students; (4) The experimental group students had a positive attitude toward e-Books integrated instruction. They thought the use of e-Books could enhance learning effectiveness and improve learning motivation.