Dec 31, 1973 - College in Cupertino, California,. The terminals were telephone lines to the PDP-l0 computer at the CAl Laboratory at" Stanford University,.
COMPARISON OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND ATTITUDE UNDER THREE IESSONSEIECTION STRATEGIES IN COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION by Marian H. Beard, Paul V. Lorton, Barbara W. Searle, and R. C. Atkinson
TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 222 December 31, 1973
PSYCHOLOGY & EDUCATION SERIES
Reproduction in Whole or in Part is Permitted for Any Purpose of the United States Government
This research was supported jointly by the Advanced Projects Research Agency of the Department of Defense and by the Office of Naval Research, Personnel and Training Research Programs, Psychological Sciences Division, under Contract No. N00014-67A-0012-0054.
INSTITUTE FOR MATHEMATICAL STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES STANFORD
UNIVERSITY
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
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1. REPORT NUMBER
222 4. TITL.E (and Subtitle)
5. TYPE OF REP'OAT 6 PERIOD COVERED
COMPARISON OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND ATl'ITUDE UNDER TIffiEE-LESSON SELECTION STRATEGIES IN COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION 7. AUTHOR(_)
Technical Report .
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PER,"ORMtNG ORO. Pl:EP'OAT NUMBER
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CONTRACT OR GIlIANT NU,MeIERC_)
Marian H. Beard, Paul V. Lorton, Barbara W. Searle, and R; C. Atkinson
NooQ14-67-A~0012-0054 lu. PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT, T ....SK
9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS
AREA 6 WORK UNIT NUMBERS
Institute for Mathematical StUdies in the Social Sciences - Stanford University Stanford, California 94305 11., CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS
NR 154-326 REPORTD~TE
12.
Personnel & Training Research Programs Office of Naval Research Arlington, VA ·22217
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31 December 1973 . IS. NUlleEft O. PAQES
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Computer-assisted Instruction Instruction Control Strategy Computer Programming Education .
2•• ABSTRACT (CantJnue
Oft
NY.,.•••Ide II n.e•••.", Mcf Id.ntllr ." "oclr 1tUIft••,)
Three problem selectionst~egies (stuQent . ~(il'J.eQti.on-, program select:l:on weighted ~ past performance, and forced selection indepenclent of stUdent histori)were compared in a CAr course in computer programming. Various measures of aptitude, pe rfol'llla.nce and attitude were examined. No consistent differe.nce was observed' among the three groups. The results ai'll discussed .
DD 1 ~~:~s 1473
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in terms of the specific experiment and the general problem of curricuJ.um design for comparing path selection strategies. Continuing experimentation is described.
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ARPA Order Number:
2284/8-30-72
Contract Number:
N00014-67- A-0012 -0054
Program Code Number:
3D20
ONR Project Number:
NR 154-326
Principal Investigator:
Richard C. Atkinson Professor of Psychology (415) 321-2300, Ext. 3487
Contractor:
Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences Stanford University Stanford, California 94305
Scientific Officer:
Dr. Joseph Young Assistant Director Personnel and Training Research Programs Office of Naval Research (Code 458)
Effe cti ve Date:
1 August 1970
Expiration Date:
31 July 1974
Sponsored by Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research ARPA Order No. 2284 The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Advanced Research Projects Agency or the Office of Naval Research or the U. S. Government. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose of the U. S. Government. Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.
TECHNICAL REPORT SUMMARY This study investigated the effects on student attitude
of
three different
strategies
performance and
for selecting
course in computer programming presented by computer. investigation
was
a
comparison
of
computer
lessons
in a
The focus of the
selection
vs
student
selection of instructional material, 1 A
commonly held
belief is
that students
prefer
to exercise
control over their course of study; this assumes that they
are capable
of making such decisions, and that provision for such control will be a motivating factor reflected in experimental data even
known how
an increased rate of
exist to support
fact, it
is not
In
given the
examine the
effect of
The study was conducted using eight remote terminals
linked by
This
control students
Little
when
option.
much
this belief,
learning,
study was designed,
will exercise
in part, to
student control on both performance and attitude,
telephone
lines
to
the
PDP-10
computer
at
the
Instruction (CAl) Laboratory of the Institute for in the Social inexpensive terminal,
Sciences (IMSSS) at device
(Model-33
The CAl program
Computer-assisted
Mathematical Studies
Stanford University,
teletype)
was
used
as
imposed no time constraints;
A simple and the
student
students were
free to spend as much time as they chose on any lesson, The course, "Computer Programming in AID," waS d'esigned for one
quarter or Dialogue
one semester of (AID), a
instruction in the
mathematically oriented
1
Algebraic Interpretive
programming
language,
It
consists of 36 parallel sets of short and long lessons as well as tests and extra-credit problems, Long lessons cover the same material
as the
corresponding short lessons, but in greater detail,
of the
An outline
course is shown in Table 1, Three experimental
conditions were established:
no choic.;>, and program choice, were
permitted to
free choice,
Students in ·the "free-choice" condition
alter their
position in
the course
at
Students in the "no choice" condition followed a straight the long lessons, with a allowed to alter choice" condition
lessons,
followed a modified
with a test after every fourth lesson, was monitored
by the
program, and the
presented when a student performed short lessen or
o~
a
path through
test after everY fourth .lesson, and
the sequence of
any time,.
were not
Students.in
the "program-
P?th through the
short lessons
The progress.of
these students
corresponding long
lesson was
below a set criterion, either
in a
te~to
Sixty students, distributed
between both schools and
over the
entire 1972-1973 school year, were selected as subjects for this study, Three equal groups were created by random assignment to
each
sele~tion
con 2.7) 34.2 SET Y = X/2 - 1 34.3 TYPE Y DO PART 34 Y = _
Rewrite each set of commands, using the fewest possible commands, preserving all indicated actions.
42.
DELETE X DELETE Y DELE'rE Z SET Z = 2.5
43.
44.
SET W "" X + 1 SET W; W/2 SET W ; 5 - W TYPE W
SET X ;
5
DO PART 2
DELETE X SET X ; 6 DO PART 2
DELETE X SET X; 7 DO PART 2
45. Write the AID commands that would cause Part 8 to be put into permanent storage.
46.
Write the AID command that would print the value of the natural logarithm (to the base e) of 4.75.
47.
Complete step 3.1 in program B below so that programs A and B are equivalent. Program A 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
SET A ; 1 TYPE A/3 SET A ; A + 1 TO STEP 1.2 IF A
Program B 3.1 DO PART 4 FOR A ; 4.1 TYPE DO PART
