The impact of numerical simulation on concepts related to electrochemistry and on situational interest among high school students in their final year

<ns3:p> In a context where teaching electrochemistry concepts requires pedagogical approaches capable of fostering student understanding and supporting their situational interest, this study aimed to examine the effect of teaching based on numerical simulation on students’ situational interest and academic performance. It involved 1,020 secondary school students. The sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group. A pre-test and a post-test were administered to assess the impact of this intervention on student performance. The main results are: a comparison of the pre-test and post-test results showed a significant improvement in the mean scores of the experimental group compared to the control group. A Student’s t-test for independent samples revealed a significant difference between the two groups, t(1018) = 2.643, p = 0.008, indicating that the experimental group achieved significantly greater improvements than the control group. A comparison of incorrect answers between the two groups revealed a decrease in misconceptions in the experimental group. The IS2G scale was used to measure situational interest. A mixed-variance analysis revealed a significant interaction effect between time and group, F(1) = 27.11, p ≤ 0.001, and η <ns3:sup>2</ns3:sup> p = 0.026. This indicates that the use of simulation led to increased interest among the students who participated in this intervention. In conclusion, the use of interactive numerical simulations represents a promising approach to facilitate the learning of electrochemistry and stimulate student interest. </ns3:p>