This study is based on pilot work that suggested that what makes
hobbies engaging for adults is the opportunity to create an artifact
that can be customized and shared. Further pilot studies showed
that these same traits also contributed to high school seniors'
enjoyment of their favorite activities both outside and inside of
the classroom. These surveys suggested two hypotheses. The weak
hypothesis is that giving students increased opportunities to
create, customize and share will increase engagement. The strong
version of the hypothesis posits that increased engagement will lead
to increased attempts to learn. An instructional experiment tested
these hypotheses. It used three different activities in NetLogo
that varied opportunities to create, customize and share simulations
on population dynamics. The study yielded positive, though
moderate, support for the hypotheses, and provides insight on the
future design of tools for relating motivation and learning with
understanding.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-11262003-090736 |
| Date | 01 December 2003 |
| Creators | Pfaffman, Jay Alton |
| Contributors | Robert D. Sherwood, John Bransford, Charles Kinzer, Gautam Biswas, Daniel L. Schwartz |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-11262003-090736/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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