Article 2

Article:

Preferences towards Internet-based Learning Environments: High School Studetns' Perpectives for Science Learning

Aim: to develop a questionnaire to explre students' preferences toward constructivist Internet-based science learning environments.

Method:
Stratified sampling of 853 students – 438 males & 415 females.

They are from 10 high schools (4 from the Northern Taiwan, 3 from Central Taiwan, 3 from Southern Taiwan)
27 classes (2 to 3 classes from each school) with different social-economic background and science achievements

All the pupils had experiences of using internet, and use of online resources and activities.



Technology used: local internet-based instructional sites, CILES-S

Findings:


Factor analysis:
highly sufficient reliability in assessing high school students' preferences toward the internet-based science learning environment.

Students' scores on the scales:
students' want the internet-based learning environment to be user friendly, have more meaningul connection between what they learn and the real life situations and provide guidance for learning.



Gender differences:
The female students prefer the internet-based learning environment as they can connect the scientific knowledge to the real life situations with the guidance provided by the online experts and peers.

Conclusions:

-Students placed high emphasis on connecting the scientific knowledge to real world situations
-female students prefer the internet-based LE as they find that they have more opportunities to explore science in realistic contexts
-with better understanding of the students' preferences of the LE