The Impact of Virtual Manipulatives on Fouth Grade Weight Instruction and Learning

• Main Authors: Peng Chien-Chang, 彭健彰
• Other Authors: Yuan Yuan
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/26105753763041372921

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 理學院碩士在職專班網路學習學程 === 96 === This study applied the ADDIE model, and used a Web-based virtual manipulatives, Magic Board, as an aid to design instructional materials for the use of teaching fourth grade weight unit. The effect of applying the instructional materials on students’ learning was also explored in this study. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. The study involved 64 students in two different classes of an elementary school in Hsinchu city of Taiwan. The classes were randomly assigned to two methods of instruction; a virtual manipulative group and a traditional group. Equivalency of treatment groups was determined by independent t-test on pre-test (the same content as the final test of previous semester) scores. A researcher developed posttest was conducted to measure immediate treatment effect. To measure retention, the posttest was used again three weeks after the posttest was first administered to students. Independent t test was used to exame the differences beween experimental group and control group on the posttest and retention. For an in-depth comparison between the two groups, the classroom climate and interactions among students and teachers were also investigated. Research results were as following: 1. Using Magic Board as an instructional aid, teachers can design content for exploration before instruction. With the multiple properties of variable, simple and direct of the virtual manipulatives, it was observed that the teacher of the experimental group can deal with more teacher-student interactions, and this might promote the efficiency of teaching. 2. Students of the experimental group felt that using Magic Board to learn mathematics was fun and it did help their learning. They especially like the virtual manipulatives of weight-scale and balance. Most of them expressed their hope to have similar lessons which were designed by Magic Board. 3. The experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. They seemed to learn more on concepts related to “weight-scale”, “balance”, and “body weight scale”. 4. On the retention test, the average score of the experimental group was higher than the control group, but no significant difference was found. However, the experimental group seemed to perform better on concepts related to “weight-scale”, and “balance”. Based on research results and findings, future suggestions were included for reference.