This research explores changes in students' cognition while using multiple portrayals available in STELLA, a computer-based simulation construction kit. A case study was conducted with four high school students. The researcher videotaped the students constructing and testing their own simulation models and conducted clinical interviews probing student thinking in order to identify learning environment attributes from which cognitive shifts could be inferred. Videotaped sessions were transcribed and analyzed. Students evidenced progression through increasingly sophisticated assumptions and encountered learning barriers that made this environment challenging. STELLA portrayals were useful for inferring student mental representations of dynamic systems and STELLA appeared to enable students to move their frame of reference gradually to a dynamic perspective. STELLA's multiple portrayals highlighted diverse dimensions of the information and facilitated shifts in thinking by juxtaposing an individual's cognitive representations. Educational implications for other computer portrayal tools are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-9010 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Creators | Steed, Marlo B |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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