The impact of three‐dimensional computational modeling on student understanding of astronomical concepts: a quantitative analysis

Abstract

The increased availability of computational modeling software has created opportunities for students to engage in scientific inquiry through constructing computer‐based models of scientific phenomena. However, despite the growing trend of integrating technology into science curricula, educators need to understand what aspects of these technologies promote student learning. This study used a multi‐method research approach involving both quantitative (Paper 1) and qualitative data (Paper 2) to examine student conceptual understanding of astronomical phenomena, relative to two different instructional experiences. Specifically, based on students' understandings of both spatial and declarative knowledge, we compared students who had constructed three‐dimensional computational models with students who had experienced traditional lecture‐based instruction. Quantitative analysis of pre‐interview and post‐interview data revealed that construction of three‐dimensional models best facilitated student understandings of spatially related astronomical concepts — whereas traditional instruction techniques best facilitated student understandings of fact‐oriented astronomical knowledge. This paper is the first in a two‐paper set that continues our line of research into whether problem‐based courses such as the Virtual Solar System course can be used as a viable alternative to traditional lecture‐based astronomy courses.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Virtual Reality/Virtual Environments group for their support in using the CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment, and Kenneth E. Hay and Sasha A. Barab for their tireless work on the development of the VSS project. They would also like to express much appreciation to Ron Beghetto for his initial work during the interview process. This manuscript is a revised version of a manuscript presented at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2000 annual conference.

Notes

VRML has been supplanted with the Web3D standard that combines elements of VRML and JAVA 3D.