Matching Items (13)
Description
Statistics is taught at every level of education, yet teachers often have to assume their students have no knowledge of statistics and start from scratch each time they set out to teach statistics. The motivation for this experimental study comes from interest in exploring educational applications of augmented reality (AR) delivered via mobile technology that could potentially provide rich, contextualized learning for understanding concepts related to statistics education. This study examined the effects of AR experiences for learning basic statistical concepts. Using a 3 x 2 research design, this study compared learning gains of 252 undergraduate and graduate students from a pre- and posttest given before and after interacting with one of three types of augmented reality experiences, a high AR experience (interacting with three dimensional images coupled with movement through a physical space), a low AR experience (interacting with three dimensional images without movement), or no AR experience (two dimensional images without movement). Two levels of collaboration (pairs and no pairs) were also included. Additionally, student perceptions toward collaboration opportunities and engagement were compared across the six treatment conditions. Other demographic information collected included the students' previous statistics experience, as well as their comfort level in using mobile devices. The moderating variables included prior knowledge (high, average, and low) as measured by the student's pretest score. Taking into account prior knowledge, students with low prior knowledge assigned to either high or low AR experience had statistically significant higher learning gains than those assigned to a no AR experience. On the other hand, the results showed no statistical significance between students assigned to work individually versus in pairs. Students assigned to both high and low AR experience perceived a statistically significant higher level of engagement than their no AR counterparts. Students with low prior knowledge benefited the most from the high AR condition in learning gains. Overall, the AR application did well for providing a hands-on experience working with statistical data. Further research on AR and its relationship to spatial cognition, situated learning, high order skill development, performance support, and other classroom applications for learning is still needed.
ContributorsConley, Quincy (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Nguyen, Frank (Committee member) / Nelson, Brian C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The present research study investigated the effects of 8 versions of a computer-based vocabulary learning program on receptive and productive knowledge levels of college students. The participants were 106 male and 103 female Korean EFL students from Kyungsung University and Kwandong University in Korea. Students who participated in versions of the vocabulary learning program with target-word based sentences as well as definitions tended to perform better on receptive and productive vocabulary assessments than those who participated in versions of the program with definitions of words only. Furthermore, results indicated that the difference in receptive scores from immediately after the program to one week later showed a higher drop-rate than the difference in productive scores. In addition, female learners performed receptively better than male learners in post and one-week delayed tests, but significant gender difference failed to occur for the productivity measure. Overall, these results emphasized the importance of productive vocabulary knowledge for better retention of English vocabulary words.
ContributorsKim, Scott Sungki (Author) / Nelson, Brian C (Thesis advisor) / Green, Samuel B (Committee member) / Bitter, Gary G. (Committee member) / James, Mark A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation takes up the topic of simulations in social studies education. Though simulations are taken up widely by social studies educators, and though they are described as best practice in social studies standards documents and teacher evaluation rubrics, the term lacks specificity. Additionally, design, research, and implementation efforts associated with social studies simulations often lack theoretical grounding and clarity. A major consequence of this lack of conceptual and theoretical clarity is curriculum violence perpetrated upon young people, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines, as the result of poorly conceived simulations.This dissertation is presented as three standalone manuscripts, bookended by an Introduction and a Conclusion. In the Introduction, I present an overview of the social studies simulation literature. In Chapter Two, I propose mechanics analysis, a methodological approach to systematically analyzing social studies simulations and games. In Chapter Three, I report on an empirical study using mechanics analysis to analyze three digital social studies-themed simulation games: Offworld Trading Company, Frostpunk, and Surviving Mars. In Chapter Four, I build on the previous two chapters to coordinate the salient research and theory across three field—history and social studies education, learning sciences, and games scholarship—to propose a design theory for a particular kind of simulation game: disciplinarily integrated, consequentially engaging simulation games, or DICES. Finally, I conclude with Chapter Five, in which I highlight what I view as the implications of this work as a whole, including for teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and designers.
ContributorsKessner, Taylor Milan (Author) / Harris, Lauren M (Thesis advisor) / Gee, Elisabeth R (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian C (Committee member) / Stoddard, Jeremy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The current study investigates accent effects using virtual agents in the context of a multimedia learning environment. In a 2 (voice type: human, synthetic) x 2 (voice accent: English, Russian) between-subjects factorial design, the source and accent of the agent’s voice were manipulated. Research has shown that an instructor’s accent can have an impact on learning outcomes and perceptions of the instructor. However, these outcomes and perceptions have yet to be fully understood in the context of a virtual human instructor. Outcome measures collected included: knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, and cognitive load. Perception measures were collected using the Agent Persona Instrument-Revised, API-R, and a speaker-rating survey. Overall, there were no significant differences between the accented conditions. However, the synthetic condition had significantly lower knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, and mental effort efficiency than the professional voices in the human condition. Participants rated the human recordings higher on speaker-rating and API-R measures. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering the quality of the voice when designing multimedia learning environments.
ContributorsSiegle, Robert Franklin (Author) / Craig, Scotty D (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J (Committee member) / Nelson, Brian C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Recently, the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework has been gaining increasing prominence in cognitive and learning sciences. The ICAP theory asserts that students learn more deeply when they are cognitively engaged in generative and collaborative learning. Indeed, prior studies have established the value of the ICAP framework for predicting student learning. However, the framework has yet to become widely used by practitioners, possibly due to the lack of accessible resources for applying the framework instruction design. This study sought to fill that gap by implementing and validating the ICAP instructional rubric instrument to rate the design of college chemistry courses at a large public university in the southwest and exploring its relationships with several metrics of student performance via multiple regression analysis: a) level of participation; b) final exam grades; c) course grades; d) course retention; and e) course attrition. This study analyzed data from the university’s learning management system and included student-level controls such as markers of prior academic performance (i.e., GPA and SAT scores) as well as student demographics. The findings of this study suggest that the ICAP framework may be a useful tool for instructors to improve course design. In addition, the ICAP framework’s predictive claims on student deeper learning were further validated by the results of this study.
ContributorsHa, Jesse (Author) / Nelson, Brian C (Thesis advisor) / Chi, Michelene T. H. (Committee member) / Pivovarova, Margarita (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Hospital Emergency Departments (EDs) are frequently crowded. The Center for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) collects performance measurements from EDs
such as that of the door to clinician time. The door to clinician time is the time at which a
patient is first seen by a clinician. Current methods for documenting the door to clinician
time are in written form and may contain inaccuracies. The goal of this thesis is to
provide a method for automatic and accurate retrieval and documentation of the door to
clinician time. To automatically collect door to clinician times, single board computers
were installed in patient rooms that logged the time whenever they saw a specific
Bluetooth emission from a device that the clinician carried. The Bluetooth signal is used
to calculate the distance of the clinician from the single board computer. The logged time
and distance calculation is then sent to the server where it is determined if the clinician
was in the room seeing the patient at the time logged. The times automatically collected
were compared with the handwritten times recorded by clinicians and have shown that
they are justifiably accurate to the minute.
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) collects performance measurements from EDs
such as that of the door to clinician time. The door to clinician time is the time at which a
patient is first seen by a clinician. Current methods for documenting the door to clinician
time are in written form and may contain inaccuracies. The goal of this thesis is to
provide a method for automatic and accurate retrieval and documentation of the door to
clinician time. To automatically collect door to clinician times, single board computers
were installed in patient rooms that logged the time whenever they saw a specific
Bluetooth emission from a device that the clinician carried. The Bluetooth signal is used
to calculate the distance of the clinician from the single board computer. The logged time
and distance calculation is then sent to the server where it is determined if the clinician
was in the room seeing the patient at the time logged. The times automatically collected
were compared with the handwritten times recorded by clinicians and have shown that
they are justifiably accurate to the minute.
ContributorsFrisby, Joshua (Author) / Nelson, Brian C (Thesis advisor) / Patel, Vimla L. (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Vernon (Committee member) / Kaufman, David R. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
As technology has advanced in recent years, tablet devices have started to make their way into all walks of life. Yet, many medical documentation processes still see the use of paper. Though the paper based documentation method has been shown to be effective for some purposes, the introduction of tablet devices has the potential to make the documentation processes a lot smoother. In this thesis, tablet based documentation systems are reviewed, and based on this, a new custom application is developed that medical staff can use with ease. This new application, developed for an iPad is one where users can fully customize their own forms for different uses in the intensive care unit for resuscitation scenarios. The thesis discusses the architecture behind this application along with designing different elements of the system. Through this thesis project, the application was evaluated to see if such a complex documentation process can be easily used and created on a tablet device. The medical staff surveyed, responded positively to the use of the application and agreed that the electronic documentation usage and creation is a powerful tool that could help improve resuscitation practice by making it more efficient.
ContributorsDamania, Harsh (Author) / Patel, Vimla (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian C (Thesis advisor) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Committee member) / Sen, Ayan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
One of the primary objective in a computer science related course is for students to be able to write programs implementing the concepts covered in that course. In educational psychology, however, learning gains are more commonly measured using recall or problem solving questions. While these types of questions are relevant to computer science exams, they do not necessarily reflect a student’s ability to apply concepts by writing an original program to solve a novel problem.
This thesis investigates the effectiveness of including questions within instructional multimedia content to improve student performance on a related programming assignment. Similar techniques have proven effective in educational psychology research using other measures. The objective of this thesis is to apply educational techniques used in other domains to an experiment with real world measures of students in a computer science course. The findings of this paper demonstrate that the techniques used were promising in improving student performance on a programming assignment.
This thesis investigates the effectiveness of including questions within instructional multimedia content to improve student performance on a related programming assignment. Similar techniques have proven effective in educational psychology research using other measures. The objective of this thesis is to apply educational techniques used in other domains to an experiment with real world measures of students in a computer science course. The findings of this paper demonstrate that the techniques used were promising in improving student performance on a programming assignment.
ContributorsMar, Christopher (Author) / Sohoni, Sohum (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian C (Committee member) / Craig, Scotty D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Currently, educational games are designed with the educational content as the primary factor driving the design of the game. While this may seem to be the optimal approach, this design paradigm causes multiple issues. For one, the games themselves are often not engaging as game design principles were put aside in favor of increasing the educational value of the game. The other issue is that the code base of the game is mostly or completely unusable for any other games as the game mechanics are too strongly connected to the educational content being taught. This means that the mechanics are impossible to reuse in future projects without major revisions, and starting over is often more time and cost efficient.
This thesis presents the Content Agnostic Game Engineering (CAGE) model for designing educational games. CAGE is a way to separate the educational content from the game mechanics without compromising the educational value of the game. This is done by designing mechanics that can have multiple educational contents layered on top of them which can be switched out at any time. CAGE allows games to be designed with a game design first approach which allows them to maintain higher engagement levels. In addition, since the mechanics are not tied to the educational content several different educational topics can reuse the same set of mechanics without requiring major revisions to the existing code.
Results show that CAGE greatly reduces the amount of code needed to make additional versions of educational games, and speeds up the development process. The CAGE model is also shown to not induce high levels of cognitive load, allowing for more in depth topic work than was attempted in this thesis. However, engagement was low and switching the active content does interrupt the game flow considerably. Altering the difficulty of the game in real time in response to the affective state of the player was not shown to increase engagement. Potential causes of the issues with CAGE games and potential fixes are discussed.
This thesis presents the Content Agnostic Game Engineering (CAGE) model for designing educational games. CAGE is a way to separate the educational content from the game mechanics without compromising the educational value of the game. This is done by designing mechanics that can have multiple educational contents layered on top of them which can be switched out at any time. CAGE allows games to be designed with a game design first approach which allows them to maintain higher engagement levels. In addition, since the mechanics are not tied to the educational content several different educational topics can reuse the same set of mechanics without requiring major revisions to the existing code.
Results show that CAGE greatly reduces the amount of code needed to make additional versions of educational games, and speeds up the development process. The CAGE model is also shown to not induce high levels of cognitive load, allowing for more in depth topic work than was attempted in this thesis. However, engagement was low and switching the active content does interrupt the game flow considerably. Altering the difficulty of the game in real time in response to the affective state of the player was not shown to increase engagement. Potential causes of the issues with CAGE games and potential fixes are discussed.
ContributorsBaron, Tyler John (Author) / Amresh, Ashish (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian C (Committee member) / Niemczyk, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Programming is quickly becoming as ubiquitous and essential a skill as general mathematics. However, many elementary and high school students are still not aware of what the computer science field entails. To make matters worse, students who are introduced to computer science are frequently being fed only part of what it is about rather than its entire construction. Consequently, they feel out of their depth when they approach college. Research has discovered that by teaching computer science and programming through a problem-driven approach and focusing on a combination of syntax and computational thinking, students can be prepared when entering higher levels of computer science education.
This thesis describes the design, development, and early user testing of a theory-based virtual world for computer science instruction called System Dot. System Dot was designed to visually manifest programming instructions into interactable objects, giving players a way to see coding as tangible entities rather than text on a white screen. In order for System Dot to convey the true nature of computer science, a custom predictive recursive descent parser was embedded in the program to validate any user-generated solutions to pre-defined logical platforming puzzles.
Steps were taken to adapt the virtual world to player behavior by creating a system to detect their learning style playing the game. Through a dynamic Bayesian network, System Dot aims to classify a player’s learning style based on the Felder-Sylverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM). Testers played through the first half of System Dot, which was enough to test out the Bayesian network and initial learning style classification. This classification was then compared to the assessment by Felder’s Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (ILSQ). Lastly, this thesis will also discuss ways to use the results from the user testing to implement a personalized feedback system for the virtual world in the future and what has been learned through the learning style method.
This thesis describes the design, development, and early user testing of a theory-based virtual world for computer science instruction called System Dot. System Dot was designed to visually manifest programming instructions into interactable objects, giving players a way to see coding as tangible entities rather than text on a white screen. In order for System Dot to convey the true nature of computer science, a custom predictive recursive descent parser was embedded in the program to validate any user-generated solutions to pre-defined logical platforming puzzles.
Steps were taken to adapt the virtual world to player behavior by creating a system to detect their learning style playing the game. Through a dynamic Bayesian network, System Dot aims to classify a player’s learning style based on the Felder-Sylverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM). Testers played through the first half of System Dot, which was enough to test out the Bayesian network and initial learning style classification. This classification was then compared to the assessment by Felder’s Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (ILSQ). Lastly, this thesis will also discuss ways to use the results from the user testing to implement a personalized feedback system for the virtual world in the future and what has been learned through the learning style method.
ContributorsKury, Nizar (Author) / Nelson, Brian C (Thesis advisor) / Hsiao, Ihan (Committee member) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017