Computer application in the initial education of children in natural sciences

Abstract

At their young age pupils learn the contents of natural sciences by combining different methods and forms of work. This study examined the effect of computer-aided learning on the quality of pupils' knowledge about the natural habitats. A total of 168 third grade primary school pupils (9-year-old) from the Republic of Serbia took part in this research (84 pupils comprising the control group and 84 pupils comprising the experimental group). Causal, descriptive and comparative methods were used in this study. Initial test, final test and retest were used as tools for the measurement of the pupils' knowledge about the habitats. On the basis of the results obtained, it was concluded that the experimental group of pupils, who had used computers in the learning process, obtained better knowledge about habitats, when compared to the control group of pupils who had been taught in the traditional way. The experimental group pupils achieved better results at the levels of application, analysis, synthesis and the evaluation of knowledge.