Enhancing students' achievement and attitude towards biology in selected Saudi Arabia remote schools via knowledge building environment approach

Abstract

This research sought to develop a teaching and learning unit based on the Knowledge- Building Environment (KBE) approach that considered students’ community and its environment to show the relevance of learning biology. This developed a unit module based on the Knowledge Building Environment (called DSM-KBE) supported the formal textbook of 10th-grade biology, used by students in Al-Aedabe, which is located in the remote areas of the Jazan region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Another primary focus of this research was to examine the effect of this unit on the students' academic achievement and their attitude towards biology. This research used mix method and employed the quasi-experimental design where the biology unit based on the KBE approach was applied on remote-area students to test whether there were changes in the students’ achievement and attitude towards biology. The research aimed to help these students to improve their learning attitude and better understand the knowledge received, applying science to solve problems in their everyday lives. Thus, students would be able to see the relevance of what they learnt and apply the knowledge for themselves and for their community. This research also integrate remote students, culture and their society's health issues into related biology topics, in the development of the learning standards and modules using the theory of knowledge–building Environment (KBE) by Scardamalia and Bereiter (2003) This quasi-experimental research (using mix method design) used purposive sampling technique to select forty three 10th grade students with twenty- three students assigned to the experimental group and taught using the unit, while the other twenty- twenty students were assigned to the control group. Four instruments were developed to collect data; the first being the content analysis checklist to analyse the 10th grade formal biology textbook for the topic of Bacteria and Viruses based on the unit learning standards of the KBE approach (which the researcher designed). Then, the researcher chose this topic and developed a supplementary unit module (DSM-KBE), also based on the learning standards of the KBE approach to be used in teaching the students, by relating it to the environment in the remote areas. The second and third instruments of the research examined the extent to which DSM-KBE was able to improve the students’ achievement (in three categories of understanding, applying and problem-solving) and students’ attitude toward learning biology respectively. The last instrument was observation checklist cum field notes that was employed during the implementation of the module with the experimental group. The results of the biology textbook analysis show that the content of the KBE component learning standards were below the average recommended. Other findings showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between the experimental group and the control group in both the academic achievement and attitude toward biology in favour of the experimental group. The classroom observation results for the experimental group showed that students were active and participated effectively during the implementation of the unit. These results demonstrate the success of the developed unit module, which improved remote area students’ academic achievement (understanding, applying, problem solving) and attitude towards biology. This was successfully done when students learned to connect what they learned in school with their environment, making it more contextual and connected to nature and the real world.