A systematic review of programmed learning approach in science education

Abstract

Natural science subjects have always been the most challenging for students in schools and universities. While the pandemic brought about a lot of new challenges, it also gave academics the chance to test out evaluation methodologies they had previously thought about but hadn’t used in a relatively low-risk setting. The programmed learning approach is a teaching and learning pedagogy that creates better learning experiences. Therefore, this systematic literature review focuses on the impact of programmed instruction on the learning process. The analysis was made based on the PRISMA review methodology. Five databases were searched to find 33 articles about the benefits of programmed instruction in science education published between 1970 and 2022. In terms of research participants, the majority of the studies (14 studies) focused on undergraduate students, college students (5 studies), lecturers/teachers (3 studies), mixed (2 studies), and adults (1 study). Our systematic review found the following benefits of programmed learning: effective and fun teaching approaches, proven favourable impacts on behaviour change, increased scores for college and secondary school students, and raised students’ interest.

Keywords:

• programmed instruction
• programmed learning approach
• teaching machine
• systematic literature review
• education

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

A direct consequence of scientific and technological progress is innovation. Their use is a characteristic feature of a modern and developing society. Programmed instruction is learning according to a pre–developed program, which provides for the actions of both students and teacher (or a learning machine that replaces his actions).

Two factors led to the development of programmed learning. The first factor, teachers noticed that in practice, when using the traditional form of education, there is no clear guidance on the actions of students with educational material from the teacher, as a result of which students have gaps in knowledge. The second factor, scientific and technological progress, was the appearance of the first learning machines, which forced to reconsider approaches to learning. Learning machines are technical learning tools that automate certain stages of the learning process based on interaction with each student individually. This interaction is carried out because learning machines can exchange information with students: the machine receives information from the student that characterises the progress of learning the educational material and automatically reacts to this information.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the esteemed editors of the journal and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments throughout the revision process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Timur Sadykov

Timur Sadykovis a PhD, assistant professor at the Department of Inorganic and Technical Chemistry, Chemistry Faculty, Buketov Karaganda University (Kazakhstan). He is a member of the laboratory of methods for teaching chemistry. Timur has been actively studying modern interactive methods and technologies, programmed learning, educational websites, and mobile applications for teaching chemistry.

Gulmira Kokibasova

Gulmira Kokibasova is a candidate in chemical sciences, a professor at the Department of Inorganic and Technical Chemistry, Buketov Karaganda University (Kazakhstan). She is an expert in chemistry textbooks for secondary schools for grades 7–9.

Yelena Minayeva

Yelena Minayeva is a candidate in chemical sciences and an associate professor. Her research interests focus on the synthesis of phosphorylated derivatives of heterocyclic compounds, and innovations in education.

Maral Kasymova

Aliyash Ospanova and Maral Kasymova are candidates in chemical sciences, associate professors. Their research interests focus on the effectiveness of the dual training system in the educational process, the chemistry and technology of chalcogens, and the synthesis and properties of multifunctional inorganic materials.