Blended Learning Usage Within High School Gifted and Talented Chemistry Classrooms: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand gifted and talented homeschooled high school level students' experiences with engagement, motivation, and academic achievement in a blended learning chemistry course in the East coast of the United States. Technology can be a wonderful addition to the education world, but often the problem is that GT chemistry students learning through a blended learning model are struggling to maintain effective student engagement, motivation, and academic achievement. The theory that guided this study was Bandura’s social learning theory as it identifies the roles that social factors play on the thought processes involved in child development, which is instrumental in understanding the role that instructional technology can play in students’ motivation, engagement, and academic progress. Throughout this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study, the academic experiences and perceptions of high school GT students in a blended learning instructional setting were explored (Creswell, 2013, Moustakas, 1994). Sample size consisted of 10 GT students who utilized educational technology tools in a blended learning chemistry course, and the setting for the study was virtual/ online. Through a convenience sampling methodology, the research design incorporated three primary methods of data collection: interviews, focus groups, and journal prompts. Data analysis included coding and analyzing the interviews, focus group data, and journals to identify patterns in the collected data, to draw conclusions regarding findings. Findings indicated that participants reportedly preferred face-to-face learning as opposed to blended and virtual instructional models. Themes throughout the study included convenience, interpersonal interactions, format, and learning style.