Effect of the instructional sequence of a computer simulation and a traditional laboratory on middle grade students' conceptual understanding of an electrochemistry topic PDF
Preview Effect of the instructional sequence of a computer simulation and a traditional laboratory on middle grade students' conceptual understanding of an electrochemistry topic
THEEFFECTOFTHEINSTRUCTIONALSEQUENCEOFA COMPUTERSIMULATIONANDATRADITIONALLABORATORY ONMIDDLEGRADESTUDENTS'CONCEPTUALUNDERSTANDING OFANELECTROCHEMISTRYTOPIC < EBRAHEEMALKAZEMI..-...^J i1* ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA 2003 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thisstudycouldnothavebeencompletedwithoutthesupportofmanypeople.I wanttothankmyteacher,mentor,andcommitteechair.Dr.JeffHurt,whoseguidance, patience,andencouragementthroughoutthedoctoralprogramwasinvaluable.WhenI flaggedattimesorbecameintimidatedbytheimmensityoftheproject,hehadaunique giftfornormalizingitandremindingmeofmytalentsandabilities.IthankDr.Hurt,I couldnothavedoneitwithouthim. Iwouldliketothankthemembersofmycommittee.IthankDr.DavidMillerfor hishelpandsupportontheexperimentaldesignandstatisticalanalysis.Icouldnothave completedthisinvestigationwithouthishelp,support,andsupervision. SpecialandheartfeltgratitudegoouttoDr.SabastianFoti,whogavemethe opportunitytoworkinaninnovative,creative,andcompassionateenvironment.Ithank Dr.Foti. IalsowanttoexpressmyappreciationtoDr.MaryKantowskiforthe support,assistance,andencouragementIreceivedfromherduringtheperiodleadingup tothecompletionofthisstudy.IthankDr.Kantowskiforherkindnessandallthatshe didforme. AspecialthankyougoestoDr.RichardLedbetterforhisadvice,help,and encouragement.Icouldnothavecompletedthisinvestigationwithouthisguidance.To . • - ' ' ,1u-: • ii mydearfriend,Dr.GailRing,Iappreciateallherexcitementovermyresearchprojectand herconstantsupport. IalsowanttoexpressmyappreciationtothestaffattheAthenaGroupfortheir assistanceandsupportincompletingmystudy.Aspecialdebtofgratitudeisextendedto Dr.FredTaylorandMonicaMurphyfortheirencouragementthroughoutthedoctoral program. -•.. '> t\]*- « Mostimportantly,Iwouldliketothankmyfamilyforthesupportand understandingtheyshowedduringthedissertationexperience.Iammostgratefultomy wife,Linda,forherloveandencouragementthroughoutmylife.Iamalsothankfultobe blessedwiththebirthofmydaughter,Aliah,duringthistime.Shefillsourourlifewith joyandhappiness. v< iii . 63 TABLEOFCONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LISTOFTABLES vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER . c ..r INTRODUCTION 1 1 StatementoftheProblem 9 NeedfortheStudy 9 Hypotheses 11 Assumptions 12 Delimitations 12 Limitations 12 DefinitionofTerms 1 2 REVIEWOFLITERATURE 1 SimulationsinScienceInstruction 16 InstructionalSimulations 18 ConceptualDevelopment 21 SimulationsandConceptualChangeModel 21 SimulationsasPreinstructionalActivities 27 SimulationasPostinstructionalActivities 29 MultimediaInstruction 31 MultimediaandDualCodingofInformation 32 3 METHODOLOGY 35 DescriptionofSetting 35 DescriptionofParticipants 36 ExperimentalResearchDesign 36 iv SessionInterventionPattern 37 Instruments 38 DescriptionoftheTestItems 39 Variables 41 ResearchHypotheses 43 ExperimentalProcedures 44 EthicalAssurances 45 DataAnalysis 46 4 RESULTS 50 DescriptiveStatisticsoftheSample 50 GroupFormation 51 Treatment 51 HypothesisTesting 52 Summary 61 5 CONCLUSIONS 62 Discussion 63 Implications 65 Summary 69 APPENDIX A PRETEST/POSTTEST 71 B THEELECTRICPOTATOLABHANDOUT 73 C THEELECTRICPOTATODATASHEET 76 D EVALUATIONRUBRIC 78 E ELECTRICPOTATOSIMULATION 81 F COMPUTERLABHANDOUT 82 G INFORMEDCONSENTFORPARTICIPATINGINTHESTUDY 83 REFERENCES '. ' 85 BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 95 ' • <'. '• V 1 LISTOFTABLES Table Page 1 ExperimentalDesignforEachGroup 38 2 PointBi-serialCorrelations 48 3 PearsonProductMomentandKendall'sTauCorrelations 49 4 DemographicDatafortheExperimentalSchools 5 5 DescriptiveStatisticsoftheMeansandStandardDeviationbyQuestion forPretestandPosttestScores 54 6 ANCOVAResultsforOrderEffectforItem#1 .' .1 54 7 ANCOVAResultsforOrderEffectforItem#2 54 8 ANCOVAResultsforOrderEffectforitem#3 55 9 AdjustedMeans 56 10 RerunofANCOVATakingOuttheCovariatebyTreatmentInteractionsfor Question#1 56 11 RerunofANCOVATakingOuttheCovariatebyTreatmentInteractionsfor Question#2 58 12 RerunofANCOVATakingOuttheCovariatebyTreatmentInteractionsfor Question#3 60 vi AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillmentofthe RequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy THEEFFECTOFTHEINSTRUCTIONALSEQUENCEOFA COMPUTERSIMULATIONANDATRADITIONALLABORATORY ONMIDDLEGRADESTUDENTS'CONCEPTUALUNDERSTANDING OFANELECTROCHEMISTRYTOPIC By EbraheemAlkazemi May2003 Chair:JeffHurt MajorDepartment:SchoolofTeachingandLearning Thepurposeofthisstudywastoinvestigatetheeffectivenessofacomputer simulationintermsofincreasedstudentconceptualunderstandingbasedonthe instructionalsequence,thatis,astowhenisthemostappropriatetimeforasimulationto bepresentedtoimprovestudentunderstandingofascienceconcept.Manyscience educatorsfeelthatcomputersimulationofferstremendouspotentialfortheenhancement oftheteachingandlearningofscienceconcepts.Despitetheadvocacyofsomany educators,researchconductedoverthepastthreedecadesontheeffectivenessof instructionalsimulationshasyieldedmixedandlessthanencouragingresults.Inthis studyScienceteachersandstudentsinsciencemiddleschoolclassesusedacomputer simulationandtraditionalteachingandlearningmethodologiestostudythephysical sciencetopicelectrochemistry.GroupAstudentsreceivedthesimulation(treatment1) vii priortothetraditionallaboratoryexperience(treatment2),whileGroupBsubjects receivedthecomputersimulationaftertraditionallaboratoryexperiment.Thestudy incorporatedananalysisofcovariance(ANCOVA).Althoughtheresultsofthisstudy didnotstatisticallysupportthetheorythatprioruseofasimulationbeforethe traditionallaboratorycanimprovelearning,thetreatmentgroupcompletedthesimulation activitiesbeforetheactualhands-onlabperformedslightlybetterontheachievement post-testthantheothergroup. » t * viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Computeruseintheclassroomhasbecomeapopularmethodofinstructionfor manyeducators.Thismaybebecausesoftwareprogramshaveadvancedbeyondtheearly daysofdrillandpracticeinstruction.Withtheintroductionofthegraphicaluserinterface, increasedprocessingspeedandaffordability,computeruseineducationhasfinally becomewidelyviableformainstreameducationalpurposes.Softwaredesignersarenow abletodesignmultidimensionaleducationalprogramsthatincludehighqualitygraphics, stereosound,andrealtimeinteraction(Bilan,1992).Oneareaofnoticeableimprovement iscomputersimulations.Ellis(1984),Marks(1982),Nakleh(1983),SwitzerandWhite (1984)statedthatitisintheareaofsimulationsthatcomputershavethepotentialtodeal withhigherlearningoutcomesinawaynotpreviouslypossibleinsidethescience classroom.Theyclaimedthatsimulationcouldpotentiallyengageandenhancethinkingin learnersinscience. Simulationshavebeendefinedintheliteratureindifferentways.Inabroadsense, asimulationisdefinedasanabstractionorsimplificationofsomereallifesituationor process.AccordingtoThurman(1993)acommondefinitionofthephrase"tosimulate" meanstoduplicatetheessentialfeaturesofataskorsituation.AlessiandTrollip(1991) providedthemostcomprehensivedefinitionofcomputersimulations. 1 Inaneducationalcontext,asimulationisapowerfultechniquethatteachesabout someaspectoftheworldbyimitatingorreplicatingit.Studentsarenotonly motivatedbysimulations,butlearnbyinteractingwiththeminamannersimilar tothewaytheywouldreactinrealsituations.Inalmosteveryinstance,a simulationalsosimplifiesrealitybyomittingorchangingdetails.Inthissimplified world,thestudentsolvesproblems,learnsprocedures,comestounderstandthe characteristicsofphenomenaandhowtocontrolthem,orlearnswhatactionsto takeindifferentsituations.Ineachcase,thepurposeistohelpthestudentbuilda usefulmentalmodelofpartoftheworldandtoprovideanopportunitytotestit safelyandefficiently,(p.119) Theeducationalbenefitsofcomputersimulationsforlearningarepromising.There isevidencethatsimulationsenhancestudents'problem-solvingskillsbygivingtheman opportunitytopracticeandrefinetheirhigher-orderthinkingstrategies(Quinn,1993). Computersimulationswerefoundtobeveryeffectiveinstimulatingenvironmental problemsolvingbycommunitycollegestudents(Faryniarz&Lockwood,1992).In particular,computersimulationexercisesbasedontheguideddiscoverylearningtheory canbedesignedtoprovidemotivation,exposemisconceptionsinareasofknowledge deficiency,integrateinformation,andenhancetransferoflearning(Mayes,1992).Inthree studies,studentsusingtheguidedversionofcomputersimulationsurpassedunguided studentsontestsofscientificthinkingandatestofcriticalthinking(Rivers&Vockell, 1987).Asaresultofimplementingproperlydesignedsimulationactivifies,theroleofthe teacherchangesfromameretransmitterofinformationtoafacilitatorofhigher-order thinkingskills(Woolf&Hall,1995).AccordingtoMagnussonandPalincsar(1995), simulationsareseenasapowerfultooltoteachnotonlythecontentbutalsothinkingor reasoningskillsthatarenecessarytosolveproblemsintherealworld.
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