The effect of online collaboration on middle school student science misconceptions as an aspect of science literacy

This quantitative, quasi-experimental pretest/posttest control group design examined the effects of online collaborative learning on middle school students' science literacy. For a 9-week period, students in the control group participated in collaborative face-to-face activities whereas students in the experimental group participated in online collaborative activities using the Edmodo educational platform. Students at a public middle school in central Virginia completed both a pretest and a posttest consisting of the Misconceptions-Oriented Standards-Based Assessment Resources for Teachers (MOSART) assessment to measure science misconceptions as an aspect of science literacy. Results indicated that the students who participated in collaborative activities in the traditional classroom had fewer science misconceptions than students who participated in collaborative activities in the online environment. Moreover, from pretest to posttest, the students in the experimental group increased in their science misconceptions. Suggestions for practice and future research are discussed in light of these results. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 1103–1118, 2014