Online Lab Simulations Used for Remediation in the Science Classroom EDUC : Leadership in Middle Level Science University of Pennsylvania Christine Neal

Background Haverford High School – Suburban public high school in Delaware County 9 th grade Inquiry into the Physical Setting (IPS)students Great technology resources – Smart board,class set of laptops

Demographics of IPS classes and the original subjects within those classes Class Number of Students in Class Number of Male Students in Class Number of Female Students in Class Ethnicity of Subjects in Class Number of Subjects in Class Number of Male Subjects in Class Number of Female Subjects in Class Ethnicity of Subjects 1A (honors) Asian 23 White/ Caucasian White/ Caucasian 2A (honors) Asian 21 White/ Caucasian Asian 16 White/ Caucasian 1B (academic) Black 18 White/ Caucasian Black 10 White/ Caucasian 2B (academic) Black 1 Asian 19 White/ Caucasian Black 12 White/ Caucasian

Literature Review Students who play video games think differently (Prensky, 2001) Students should try to answer a question that is relevant to them (Curtis, 2001) Kids’ lives are so rich with video games, CDs, and MP3s, that they expect to be engaged all of the time (Prensky, 2005) Guessing and testing has been replaced by predicting and verifying predictions using computer software (Coffee, 1998)

Literature Review Students are better equipped to analyze and understand an abstract concept when they have used a simulation. (Sanchez, 2006) “Although students still prefer to play face-to-face, they now also give favorable ratings to the online version” (Bos and Shami, 2006) Students must grapple with science content in order to develop a deep understanding (Colburn, 2004)

Literature Review Can online curriculum be used for enrichment or remediation? (Surr, 2004) When students need remediation, they must be met where they are in terms of motivation needs as well as their need for age-appropriate prior knowledge and development. (Taylor, 1999) Simulations could be used concurrently with hands-on experiments in a powerful way. (Hennessy, 2006)

Methodology Predictive question: Are online lab simulations effective in raising student achievement when used for remediation? Prediction: Online lab simulations are effective in raising student achievement when used as remediation.

Methodology Hands-on inquiry activity for circuits Reflection on activity (pre-assessment) Quiz on activity (pre-assessment) Survey on activity Students who earned below 80% on either assessment completed an online lab simulation for remediation. nly

Methodology Reflection on activity (post-assessment) Quiz on activity (post-assessment) Survey on activity Student interviews - the students who had the highest and lowest average gains in each class

Findings Block 1A: Honors Reflection Average Gain = 35 % Quiz Average Gain = 23% Block 2A: Honors Reflection Average Gain = 20% Quiz Average Gain = 18%

Findings Block 1B: Academic Reflection Average Gain = 26% Quiz Average Gain = 5% Block 2B: Academic Reflection Average Gain = 35% Quiz Average Gain = 6%

Findings

Student Interviews about simulation The concept of current flowing in a circuit was easier to see. Easier to set up Less mistakes Collected better data Helped them score better on assessments

Findings I decreased threats to the internal validity in my quantitative research by Giving the pre-assessments and surveys directly before and after implementation of simulation Only initial scores below 80% were compared to the scores achieved after remediation The tested group of subjects did not change

Findings Possible Threats to the validity of this quantitative research: Testing – students may have performed better simply because it was their second time May have included bias due to the interaction of the testing and the subjects’ knowledge of the research project as well as the interaction of the online lab simulations and the subjects which may only hold true to my subjects.

Conclusion Online lab simulations do raise student achievement when used for remediation. Student written reflections show the improvement of student understanding circuits better than quiz scores. Online lab simulations do allow students to better see what is happening on the microscopic level as suggested by Hennessy in his article (2006). Online lab simulations should not replace the hands- on version.