Effectiveness of YouTube as a Supplementary Material to Enhance the Students’ Learning Achievement in Geography

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of YouTube as supplementary material to enhance students’ learning achievement in Geography. The study also examined the students’ perception of using YouTube as supplementary material in learning, their attitude towards its use, its benefits, and the challenges posed by YouTube in learning. The study was conducted at one of the schools under Thimphu Dzongkhag with an over three-week intervention program. Participants consisted of 57 class VIII students, 32 males, and 25 females. The data was gathered through the Geography learning achievement test, survey questionnaire, and semi-structured interview. A quasi-experimental design consisting of pre-test and post-test measures was employed. The pre-test and post-test were administered before and after the intervention to ascertain the change in participants' performance in learning Geography for the experimental group in comparison to those who were exposed to a conventional approach to teaching. The independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test were conducted to analyze the results of pre-test and post-test scores. The results in both cases statistically showed that there was a significant difference (p < .05) in the post-test scores between the two groups. The descriptive analysis of the study also indicated that students have positive perceptions and attitudes toward the use of YouTube as supplementary material in learning. Further, the finding suggested that YouTube is beneficial, yet poses some challenges in learning Geography. It is concluded that YouTube as supplementary material had a substantial influence on improvement in students' learning achievement and their attitude towards Geography. Therefore, the study recommends teachers and students use YouTube as supplementary material while teaching and learning Geography.