Computer Science – Learning
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008aas...212.4002r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #212, #40.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.240
Computer Science
Learning
Scientific paper
We report results on a study of impact of Project CLEA - Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy software on students’ understanding of the Kepler's Third Law. The study was conducted at the University of Missouri among 26 non-science major students enrolled in an introductory astronomy course. There were 16 female and 15 male students participants between age of 18 and 24.
The study was designed to find out whether students had different attitudes toward the simulation: its visual design and its intuitiveness and easiness to use. The study tested whether these attitudes reflected on the students’ learning outcomes of the discussed astronomy topic. To measure students’ computer proficiency and how comfortable they were using computers they were given a computer attitude inventory. The participants took a pretest and a posttest designed by the Project CLEA developers for the Moons of Jupiter module. The students also filled out a questionnaire where they reflected on their experience of using the software. Two weeks later the research participants took a final astronomy course examination which included a question on the Kepler's Third Law.
Our research shows that students who indicated that they liked the simulation performed better on the posttest.. At the same time, we found that there was no relationship between the students’ attitude towards the simulation and their performance on the final exam. Students, who used CLEA simulation regardless of their attitudes towards it, significantly outperformed their classmates during the final exam on the Kepler's third law question. It is also interesting to note that students performed better on five out of six posttest questions - there was no change on a question involved mathematical application of the Kepler's Third Law formula.
Ruzhitskaya Lanika
Speck Angela
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