The Effect of Using Computer Simulation on Students’ Performance in Teaching and Learning Physics: Are There Any Gender and Area Gaps?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of using computer simulation on students’ performance in teaching and learning physical science, particularly the electrical Ohm’s law. A sample of 182 students classified into two groups–experimental (92) and control (90)–from two middle schools in Meknes city (one in the rural area and the other urban area) was the subject of a pretest and posttest evaluation. The outcomes of the administered test to both groups of students, control and experimental, were compared and analyzed using Student’s t-test and the Mann–Whitney U test with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results obtained suggest that the experimental group register the best performances after the posttest than the control group ( $p<0.05$ ). While no difference, in terms of performance, was signed according to gender in the experimental group ( $p>0.05$ ), the urban students were more successful than the rural ones, with and without the use of simulations. In this respect, this study recommended using and practicing simulation software to improve and develop the performance of middle school students.