Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter

It is argued that multimedia technology affords an opportunity to better visualise complex relationships often seen in chemistry. This paper describes the influence of chemistry simulation design facets on user progress through a simulation. Three versions of an acid-base titration simulation were r...

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Autores principales:	Susan Rodrigues, Eugene Gvozdenko
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	University of Ljubljana 2011
Materias:	chemistry educational simulations learning instructions interactivity simulation design Education (General) L7-991
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/253fa90a79c5408a809b58f2bd54020b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:253fa90a79c5408a809b58f2bd54020b2021-11-15T13:17:44ZStudent Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter10.26529/cepsj.4041855-97192232-2647https://doaj.org/article/253fa90a79c5408a809b58f2bd54020b2011-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/404https://doaj.org/toc/1855-9719https://doaj.org/toc/2232-2647It is argued that multimedia technology affords an opportunity to better visualise complex relationships often seen in chemistry. This paper describes the influence of chemistry simulation design facets on user progress through a simulation. Three versions of an acid-base titration simulation were randomly allocated to 36 volunteers to examine their interactions with the simulation. The impact of design alterations on the total number of interactions and their patterns was analysed for the following factors: (a) the place of a feature on the screen, (b) alignment of the sequence of instructions, (c) additional instruction before the simulation, (d) interactivity of a feature. Additionally, interactions between individual factors, such as age, prior experience with science simulations and computer games, perception of the difficulty of science simulations, and general subject knowledge, on one hand, and the efficiency of using the simulation, on the other hand, were examined. The findings suggest that: (a) centrality of the position of an element significantly affects the number of interactions with the element, (b) re-arranging the sequence of instructions on the screen in left-to-right order improves the following of instructions, (c) providing users with additional written advice to follow numbered instructions does not have a significant impact on student behaviour, (d) interactivity of a feature was found to have a strong positive correlation with the number of interactions with that feature, which warrants a caution about unnecessary interactivity that may hinder simulation efficiency. Surprisingly, neither prior knowledge of chemistry nor the age of the participants had a significant effect on either the number of interactions or the ability to follow on-screen instructions.Susan RodriguesEugene GvozdenkoUniversity of Ljubljanaarticlechemistryeducational simulationslearninginstructionsinteractivitysimulation designEducation (General)L7-991ENCenter for Educational Policy Studies Journal, Vol 1, Iss 4, Pp 27-43 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	chemistry educational simulations learning instructions interactivity simulation design Education (General) L7-991
spellingShingle	chemistry educational simulations learning instructions interactivity simulation design Education (General) L7-991 Susan Rodrigues Eugene Gvozdenko Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter
description	It is argued that multimedia technology affords an opportunity to better visualise complex relationships often seen in chemistry. This paper describes the influence of chemistry simulation design facets on user progress through a simulation. Three versions of an acid-base titration simulation were randomly allocated to 36 volunteers to examine their interactions with the simulation. The impact of design alterations on the total number of interactions and their patterns was analysed for the following factors: (a) the place of a feature on the screen, (b) alignment of the sequence of instructions, (c) additional instruction before the simulation, (d) interactivity of a feature. Additionally, interactions between individual factors, such as age, prior experience with science simulations and computer games, perception of the difficulty of science simulations, and general subject knowledge, on one hand, and the efficiency of using the simulation, on the other hand, were examined. The findings suggest that: (a) centrality of the position of an element significantly affects the number of interactions with the element, (b) re-arranging the sequence of instructions on the screen in left-to-right order improves the following of instructions, (c) providing users with additional written advice to follow numbered instructions does not have a significant impact on student behaviour, (d) interactivity of a feature was found to have a strong positive correlation with the number of interactions with that feature, which warrants a caution about unnecessary interactivity that may hinder simulation efficiency. Surprisingly, neither prior knowledge of chemistry nor the age of the participants had a significant effect on either the number of interactions or the ability to follow on-screen instructions.
format	article
author	Susan Rodrigues Eugene Gvozdenko
author_facet	Susan Rodrigues Eugene Gvozdenko
author_sort	Susan Rodrigues
title	Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter
title_short	Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter
title_full	Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter
title_fullStr	Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter
title_full_unstemmed	Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter
title_sort	student engagement with a science simulation: aspects that matter
publisher	University of Ljubljana
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/253fa90a79c5408a809b58f2bd54020b
work_keys_str_mv	AT susanrodrigues studentengagementwithasciencesimulationaspectsthatmatter AT eugenegvozdenko studentengagementwithasciencesimulationaspectsthatmatter
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Student Engagement with a Science Simulation: Aspects that Matter

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