Control of variables strategy across phases of inquiry in virtual labs

Sarah Perez, Jonathan Massey-Allard, Joss Ives, Deborah Butler, Doug Bonn, Jeff Bale, Ido Roll

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Control of Variables Strategy (CVS) is the process of isolating the effect of single variables when conducting scientific inquiry. We assess how CVS can help student achieve different levels of understanding when implemented in different parts of the inquiry process. 148 students worked with minimally-guided inquiry activities using virtual labs on two different physics topics. The virtual labs allowed for exploration, data collection, and graphical analysis. Using student log data, we identified how CVS manifests itself through these phases of students’ inquiry process. We found that students using CVS during data collection and plotting was associated with students achieving more qualitative and quantitative models, respectively. This did not hold, however, for more complicated mathematical relationships, emphasizing the importance of mathematical and graphical interpretation skills when doing CVS.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationArtificial Intelligence in Education - 19th International Conference, AIED 2018, Proceedings
EditorsRose Luckin, Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, Benedict du Boulay, Manolis Mavrikis, Carolyn Penstein Rosé, Bruce McLaren, Roberto Martinez-Maldonado, H. Ulrich Hoppe
Pages271-275
Number of pages5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event19th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2018 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: 27 Jun 201830 Jun 2018

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume10948 LNAI

Conference

Conference19th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period27/06/1830/06/18

Keywords

  • Control variable strategies
  • Inquiry learning
  • Virtual lab

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Control of variables strategy across phases of inquiry in virtual labs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this