Children gained domain knowledge of variable effects indirectly from running experiments, with mixed condition differences on individual variables¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2003 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Domain knowledge about variable effects improved from before to after experimentation in both the spring and ramp domains, with no overall condition main effect. → Triona 2003 q3 i? For spring width, children trained with physical materials showed greater incorrect-to-correct change than virtual-trained children. → Triona 2003 (2) q3 i? For ramp ball type, virtual-trained children were more likely to change from incorrect to correct than physical-trained children. → Triona 2003 (3)

Evidence¶

Triona 2003¶

Triona, L. M., & Klahr, D. (2003). Point and Click or Grab and Heft: Comparing the Influence of Physical and Virtual Instructional Materials on Elementary School Students' Ability to Design Experiments. Cognition and Instruction, 21(2), 149–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci2102_02

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Separate 2 (condition) × 2 (time of assessment) MANOVAs on proportion-correct descriptions of variable effects found significant main effects of time in both domains, with no condition main effect for springs or ramps.

"Children knew more about the effects of the variables after designing and running experiments (Springs: M = .80, SD = .22; Ramps: M = .85, SD = .15) than before (Springs: M = .71, SD = .17, 95% CI of diff: .05, .13; Ramps: M = .75, SD = .18, 95% CI of diff: .06, .14)."

Triona 2003 (2)¶

Triona, L. M., & Klahr, D. (2003). Point and Click or Grab and Heft: Comparing the Influence of Physical and Virtual Instructional Materials on Elementary School Students' Ability to Design Experiments. Cognition and Instruction, 21(2), 149–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci2102_02

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Condition-separated McNemar tests on spring width showed "70% becoming correct compared to 7% becoming incorrect" for physical training versus "48% improving compared to 7% deteriorating" for virtual training, both significant.

"children trained using physical materials had a greater change, χ2(1, N = 46) = 24.03, p < .001, with 70% becoming correct compared to 7% becoming incorrect, in contrast to children trained using virtual materials, with 48% improving compared to 7% deteriorating"

Triona 2003 (3)¶

Triona, L. M., & Klahr, D. (2003). Point and Click or Grab and Heft: Comparing the Influence of Physical and Virtual Instructional Materials on Elementary School Students' Ability to Design Experiments. Cognition and Instruction, 21(2), 149–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci2102_02

q3 · i? · causal · r2

For ramp ball type, a variable never tested as a target and always physical, "Children trained with virtual materials were more likely to change from incorrect to correct (33%)"; physical-trained children changed in both directions at similar rates.

"Children trained with virtual materials were more likely to change from incorrect to correct (33%) than from correct to incorrect (7%), χ2(1, N = 92) = 8.00, p < .005, whereas children trained with physical materials were just as likely to change from incorrect to correct (28%) as from correct to incorrect (22%)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Prior Knowledge — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Domain knowledge about the ramps variables increased although instruction targeted only the domain-general CVS strategy — related
• Individual children in both training conditions were equally likely to become good experimenters or nonlearners after CVS training — related
• Both physical and virtual training conditions produced equal gains in children's explicit verbal knowledge of the control of variables strategy — related
• Physical and virtual instructional materials are equally effective for teaching fourth- and fifth-graders to design unconfounded experiments when instructional method is controlled — related