Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the usability of Moodle Learning Management System [LMS] as a web-support tool in teaching chemistry at second- ary school. For this purpose Moodle LMS was used as the web-support tool for teaching “Chemistry in Our Lives” unit in the 9th grade high school chemistry cur- riculum and the its effect on students’ academic achievement and interest towards chemistry were investigated. The sample of the study was composed of total of 60 ninth grade students from two different classes in a high school in Erzurum. In this study in which instrumental case study was utilized as the research method, “Chem- istry in Our Lives” unit was taught through Context-based ARCS Instructional Model and Moodle LMS was used as the web-support tool. At the end of the im- plementation an achievement test was administered and semi-structured interviews with 13 students were done. The students' achievement test scores were compared with Kruskal-Wallis test according to the frequency of using Moodle LMS. Semi- structured interviews were subjected to descriptive analysis. The results showed that Moodle LMS which was used as a web-supported tool had positive effects on stu- dents’ achievement and interest towards chemistry. In addition, the problems en- countered during Moodle LMS implementation have been identified and various suggestions have been made to overcome these problems.

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