ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENT USING CROSSWORD PUZZLES AMONG FORM 4 STUDENTS

Abstract

In this study, the researcher aimed to identify students’ level of understanding of the Periodic Table of Elements before and after using the crossword puzzles called Chem-PTE crossword puzzles. The quantitative approach was used as the methodology of this research and a pre-experimental base was applied to one group as the research design. 25 students were purposely selected as the respondents. The study started with a pre-test, followed by the implementation of Chem-PTE crossword puzzles for 3 lessons and subsequently ended with a post-test. Then, students’ achievement scores in both, pre-test and post-tests, were analysed with descriptive analysis and paired samples t-test by using SPSS software version 24.0. The analyses were conducted to obtain the mean values for both the pre-test and post-test and next to test whether there was a statistically significant difference before (pre-test) and after (post-test) using the Chem-PTE crossword puzzles. Furthermore, this research also examined students’ perspectives on the effectiveness of Chem-PTE crossword puzzles by using questionnaires. Overall, the findings showed that the use of Chem-PTE crossword puzzles had improved students’ level of understanding as there was an increase in students’ achievement scores in the post-test compared with students’ achievement scores in the pre-test. Subsequently, the paired sample t-test analysis also revealed statistically significant differences before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the use of Chem-PTE crossword puzzles. Lastly, almost all of the students provided positive feedback on the effectiveness of the Chem-PTE crossword puzzles in enhancing students’ understanding of the topic Periodic Table of Elements.