Clinical study of student learning using mastery style versus immediate feedback online activities

In experiments including over 450 university-level students, we studied the effectiveness and time efficiency of several levels of feedback complexity in simple, computer-based training utilizing static question sequences. The learning domain was simple vector math, an essential skill in introductory physics. In a unique full factorial design, we studied the relative effects of "knowledge of correct response" feedback and "elaborated feedback" (i.e., a general explanation) both separately and together. A number of other factors were analyzed, including training time, physics course grade, prior knowledge of vector math, and student beliefs about both their proficiency in and the importance of vector math. We hypothesize a simple model predicting how the effectiveness of feedback depends on prior knowledge, and the results confirm this knowledge-by-treatment interaction. Most notably, elaborated feedback is the most effective feedback, especially for students with low prior knowledge and low course grade. In contrast, knowledge of correct response feedback was less effective for low-performing students, and including both kinds of feedback did not significantly improve performance compared to elaborated feedback alone. Further, while elaborated feedback resulted in higher scores, the learning rate was at best only marginally higher because the training time was slightly longer. Training time data revealed that students spent significantly more time on the elaborated feedback after answering a training question incorrectly. Finally, we found that training improved student self-reported proficiency and that belief in the importance of the learned domain improved the effectiveness of training. Overall, we found that computer based training with static question sequences and immediate elaborated feedback in the form of simple and general explanations can be an effective way to improve student performance on a physics essential skill, especially for less prepared and low-performing students.

Section: Summary and General Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting learning of vector math from computer-based practice: Feedback complexity and prior knowledge

Heckler

Mikula

2016

“…Dots on the inset graph represent individual students' total scores. Compare Figure 4 from Reference [2].…”

Section: First Clinical Trialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One such setting was in an introductory electricity and magnetism course for physics and engineering majors at the University of Illinois. Gladding, et al [2] compared computer-based masterystyle homework with a more traditional computer-based homework format currently used in the introductory physics classes at the University of Illinois. This traditional format involves immediate correctness feedback and an unlimited number of attempts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the use of mastery-style online homework exercises in introductory algebra-based mechanics in a controlled clinical study

Evans

Selen

2017

Homework in introductory physics represents an important part of a student's learning experience; therefore choosing the manner in which homework is presented merits investigation. We performed three rounds of clinical trials comparing the effects of mastery-style homework vs traditional-style homework with students in both algebrabased and calculus-based introductory mechanics. Results indicate a benefit from mastery-style over traditional-style homework, principally for weaker students who are less familiar with the material being covered and on questions that are nearer transfer to the study materials.

“…Within physics, the time to answer online physics questions has been used to detect cheating behavior [22]. The time spent on an online activity has also been used as a control to compare different online patterns of problem presentation [23]. The time spent accessing online resources in an online physics homework system was investigated and gender differences in resource access patterns detected [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral self-regulation in a physics class

Stewart

DeVore

Michaluk

2016

This study examined the regulation of out-of-class time invested in the academic activities associated with a physics class for 20 consecutive semesters. The academic activities of 1676 students were included in the study. Students reported investing a semester average of 6.5 AE 2.9 h out of class per week. During weeks not containing an examination, a total of 4.3 AE 2.1 h was reported which was divided between 2.5 AE 1.2 h working homework and 1.8 AE 1.4 h reading. Students reported spending 7.6 AE 4.8 h preparing for each in-semester examination. Students showed a significant correlation between the change in time invested in examination preparation (r ¼ −0.12, p < 0.0001) and their score on the previous examination. The correlation increased as the data were averaged over semester (r ¼ −0.70, p ¼ 0.0006) and academic year (r ¼ −0.82, p ¼ 0.0039). While significant, the overall correlation indicates a small effect size and implies that an increase of 1 standard deviation of test score (18%) was related to a decrease of 0.12 standard deviations or 0.9 h of study time. Students also modified their time invested in reading as the length of the textbook changed; however, this modification was not proportional to the size of the change in textbook length. Very little regulation of the time invested in homework was detected either in response to test grades or in response to changes in the length of homework assignments. Patterns of regulation were different for higher performing students than for lower performing students with students receiving a course grade of "C" or "D" demonstrating little change in examination preparation time in response to lower examination grades. This study suggests that homework preparation time is a fixed variable while examination preparation time and reading time are weakly mutable variables.