A Comparison of a Blended Learning Environment and a Traditional Learning Environment. Are Student Achievement and Student Interest Affected

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if achievement and interest of students taught in a blended classroom differ from students taught in a traditional classroom. The research questions that guided the study included determining differences between gender, race, and socioeconomic status between the blended and traditional classrooms. Mathematics grades and mathematics Delaware Comprehensive Assessment (DCAS) scores were collected from sixth grade students in a southern Delaware middle school. The same sixth graders also completed a Perceived Interest Survey (Shroff & Vogel, 2010) in which they rated items on a five-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the participants and analyze results. Independent t tests were used to compare means of the two classes, and two-way analysis of variance was used to compare multiple means of differing gender, race, and socioeconomic between the two classes. No significant differences in achievement or interest were found between the blended class and the traditional class (when special education, English language learner, and honors students were removed from analysis), regardless of gender, race, and socioeconomic status. However, on the survey item concerning "attention," the traditional class scored significantly higher. White students in the blended class rated the survey item concerning "fun" significantly higher than the traditional class. The results from this study have significant implications for educational stakeholders, and they should be used in conjunction with various other literatures when determining if blended learning is beneficial for education and student learning.