Article one post

I read Do students benefit equally from interactive computer simulations regardless of prior knowledge levels? by Seong ik Park, Gyumin Lee and Meeyoung Kim. I chose this article becuase it dealt with elementary (5th grade) aged students. The study took two groups of students and split them up based on their prior knowledge of physics (they used a multiple choice test, example questions can be found in section 3.2). They then took each group - one high level prior knowledge (HL), and one low level prior knowledge(LL) - and split them into two. A section of the HL and LL would be exposed to high interactive computer simulations, while the other section of HL and LL learners would be exposed to low interactive computer simulations.

The study found that the HL group exposed to high interactive computer simulations had better comprehension, a lower cognitive load (see section 3.2 for how this is rated - it basically reflects how much of a mental effort they had to put in) and therefore higher learner efficacy than HL group exposed to low interactive computer simulations. The HL group that was exposed to low interactive computer simulations experienced a detrimental effect on their comprehension, cognitive load and learner efficacy.

At the other end of the spectrum, those LL learners benefitted from the low interactive computer simulations because they were able to go at a slower pace and move forward when they fully understood each step.

If you have time, you should check the article out for the graphs. I am a visual learner and this definitely helped me organize the data. In addition, its a pretty interesting article and it proves that as educators we need to be aware of where are students are at in their learning and what software will they benefit from. One of the authors is also available to email if this peaks anyones interest. Enjoy! My second article post will be up shortly...