Effectiveness of Computer‐Assisted Instruction for Teaching Consumer Credit

Abstract

This study tested the effectiveness of computer‐assisted instruction (CAI) versus supervised reading for teaching consumer credit to secondary school home eco nomics students and investigated the effects of students' IQ, grade point average, attitude toward computers, and familiarity with computers on amount of information learned by subjects taught by CAI. A random sample of 68 students, randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, was drawn from a popu lation of 10th through 12th graders in a large rural high school. Analysis of covari ance, controlling for differences in IQ and grade level, was used to test differ ences in mean gain scores of pretest, posttest, and second posttest. Results indi cated that the experimental (CAI) group learned more between pretest and both posttests than did the control group. Results of three stepwise multiple regres sion analyses indicated that student learning via CAI did not vary by IQ, GPA, attitude toward computers, or familiarity with computers, which suggests that CAI is an effective teaching method for teaching consumer credit with diverse types of high school students.