African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 9(4) - Full Length Research Paper - A comparative study of SAM and ADDIE models in simulating STEM instruction

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

The study compares the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) and the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate (ADDIE) model for teaching and learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in Ghana. A sample of 30 student-teachers from the distance mode of the University of Education, Winneba (2018/2019) participated. Using a pre-post experimental design, comparisons were conducted within and between models under a Vygotskian framework, and results favored SAM.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Theoretical framework

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(4), pp. 852-859, October 2021 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.94.21.125 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper A comparative study of SAM and ADDIE models in simulating STEM instruction Clement Ayarebilla Ali*, Saknah Acquah and Kweku Esia-Donkoh Department of Basic Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. Accepted 20 September, 2021 | ABSTRACT
The study compared exhaustively the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) and Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate (ADDIE) model on the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects in Ghana. We selected a sample of 30 student-teachers who offered Mathematics and Science in the distance mode of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana in the 2018/2019 academic year. The first stage of the analysis compared the models separately within the Vygotskian framework using pre-post experiemtal design. The second stage made comparisons between and within the two models. The results of both stages showed that student-teachers preferred mostly SAM to ADDIE instructional models. There were not only consistently higher mean gains in the latter model, but the group averages of student-teachers in the post-treatment results also demonstrated clear improvements. Again, student-teachers showed tremendous improvements in the conceptual understanding of both models. However, the Successive Approximation Model recorded much more improvements in both pre-treatment and post-treatment results. It was therefore imperative to conclude that the Successive Approximation Model was more properly situated in the context of teaching and learning
Mathematics and Science. We, therefore, recommended experimental explorations of SAM for STEM. Keywords: Comparative study, SAM, ADDIE, simulating STEM, Vygotskian theory. | | --- | | *Corresponding author. E-mail: [ayarebilla@yahoo.com](ayarebilla@yahoo.com). | INTRODUCTION Instructional Design Central (2021) opines that instructional design models help instructional designers to make sense of abstract learning theory and enable the real-world application. Instructional design models organize and visualize learning theories and principles to guide instructional designers through a learning development process. Instructional design models can be considered a framework to develop learning materials. The common instructional models are action mapping, Learning Circle Framework, Merills’ First Principle of Instruction, Gagne’s nine events of instruction and Bloom’s taxonomy. The rest are the Dick and Carey Model, Kemp's Instructional Design Model, Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation, Successive Approximation Model (SAM) into Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate (ADDIE) . Despite the numerology of schools of thought and different instructional models can be customized in the simulation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) domains that mainly intertwine behaviourism and constructivism within the frameworks of Vygotskian theories (Marshavkiy, 2014) . Research acknowledges this yawning gap among student-teachers with respect to applying Vygotsky’s theory in contexts (Reiser and Dempsey, 2013; Essel et al. , 2016) . It is even worst when integrating SAM into ADDIE instructional models in the teaching and learning of STEM subjects. This stems from the fact that in Ghana teachers generally lack knowledge and skills of simulating teaching and learning of STEM in classroom interactions (West African Examinations Council, 2016) . It has been discovered that SAM is not the first learning Ali et al. 853 design methodology to challenge ADDIE, but it is one of the most popular. The biggest difference is that SAM isan agile method, which allows multiple steps to take place at once while ADDIE is linear and often requires one step to be finished and reviewed before moving forward (E-Learni

FAQs

What do the study’s SAM and ADDIE comparisons focus on?

They compare how SAM and ADDIE models support teaching and learning of STEM subjects, emphasizing outcomes in student-teachers’ learning performance and conceptual understanding.

How was the research conducted?

The study used a pre-post experimental design with a sample of 30 student-teachers who taught Mathematics and Science in distance mode at the University of Education, Winneba (2018/2019).

Which model showed stronger improvements and what was recommended?

Student-teachers preferred SAM, and the results showed clearer and more substantial improvements in both pre-treatment and post-treatment outcomes. The study recommended experimental explorations of SAM for STEM.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen