Browsing by Author "Tang, Zhihua"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Effectiveness of Simulation Training on Transfer of Statistical Concepts
    (2000) Lane, David M.; Tang, Zhihua; National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education; Baywood Publishing Co., Inc
    The effectiveness of simulations for teaching statistical concepts was compared to the effectiveness of a textbook. The variable Medium (simulation versus textbook) and Question specificity (Specific versus Nonspecific), were manipulated factorially. Question specificity was defined as follows: Subjects were presented with a scenario in which gumballs were sampled from an urn. Subjects in the “Specific” condition were given a specific question about the outcome of the sampling procedure to consider; subjects in the “Non-specific” condition were asked generally to consider what would happen. A no-treatment control was included. The subjects consisted of 115 college students. The dependent variable was performance on problems requiring subjects to apply what they learned to ill defined everyday problems. Subjects trained by simulation performed significantly better than those trained with a textbook. Subjects in the “Specific” condition performed better than those in the “Non-specific” condition, although the difference did not reach conventional levels of significance. These results support the increasing use of simulation in education and training.
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    Learner control in an interactive learning environment
    (2004) Tang, Zhihua; Lane, David M.
    The emergence of computer-based interactive learning environments has presented us with many unanswered questions. The current research examined learner control in an interactive learning environment from two perspectives. In Part I, three experiments were conducted to compare simulation-based interactive learning with expository learning in learning statistics. In Experiment 1, interactive learning was compared to textbook-based expository learning. Interactive learning was structured in two different ways so that learners received either directive or nondirective guidance while interacting with the simulation. Compared to expository learning, learner control resulted in slightly improved but much more consistent performance on a knowledge test as well as more positive affect towards learning. In Experiment 2, learner control was compared to simulation-based expository learning. In each learning condition, half of the participants were further asked to predict simulation outcomes during the learning process. Interactive learning resulted in significantly higher response accuracy on the knowledge test than did expository learning. It also improved learners performance on a transfer test for those with medium lower cognitive ability. Making predictions was more beneficial for interactive learning than for expository learning. Experiment 3 examined the effects of interactive learning over time. The expository learning group was yoked with the interactive learning group by passively observing their interaction with the simulation. Participants were tested either immediately after learning or after a one-week delay. Performances of the interactive learning group remained stable over this period of time. However, learner control did not improve learners performance compared to expository learning. Reasons for this finding were discussed. In Part II, two iterations of user testing were conducted to examine user interaction with the Connexions Web-based learning environment. User interaction was considered an integral part of learner control in such a complex environment. Usability information gathered from user testing was used to aid the software development effort. The current research supported the idea that learner control can lead to better learning than expository learning but emphasized the importance of learning structure and potential aptitude-treatment interaction in simulation-based interactive learning. These findings have implications for larger-scale interactive learning environments, such as Web-based learning, as well.
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    An Online Multimedia Resource in Behavioral Neuroscience
    (2003) Lane, David M.; Tang, Zhihua; National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education; Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
    The advance of web-based technology has stimulated innovation in education. This paper discusses the development and evaluation of an online multimedia resource for undergraduate-level behavioral neuroscience education. This resource surveys four major subject areas: language, attention and perception, thinking, and autism. It employs audio and video streaming, online demonstration experiments, computer simulation, and internet links. This online resource has two distinct advantages over a paper textbook. First, a considerable proportion of the content is conveyed using multimedia, thus making the learning experience more vivid and dynamic. Second, its interactive components provide opportunities for students to participate in the various experimental tasks introduced in the text and to compare their own performance with those of others. This hands-on experience not only enables students to gain in-depth procedural knowledge of the tasks but also has positive effects on their motivation. Feedback from three undergraduate classes that used this resource as supplementary material showed that students were highly positive about its pedagogical values. This free resource is available on the web at http://psych.rice.edu/mmtbn/.