How Does Level of Guidance Affect Understanding When Students Use a Dynamic Simulation of Liquid–Vapor Equilibrium?

Abstract

In Chapter 13 entitled “How Does Level of Guidance Affect Understanding When Students Use a Dynamic Simulation of Liquid–Vapor Equilibrium?” Akaygun and Jones present research on visualizations of molecular structure and dynamics being powerful learning tools. Scientific visualizations that are enlightening for experts may not only be difficult for novices to interpret, but may also not address misconceptions commonly held by novices. The chapter explores the students’ learning using either a worksheet with a high level of guidance or a more open-ended worksheet with a minimal level of guidance. Students also completed a pre-test and post-test of conceptual understanding and an attitude survey. Results showed that many students were able to correct their understandings after learning with simulation. No difference in conceptual understanding was found between the groups using worksheets of different guidance levels. However, comments about both simulation and worksheets on the evaluation questionnaire were more positive for students who had used the open-ended version. Students who had used the open-ended worksheet were also more likely to focus on the content of the lesson in their remarks, while students who used the more guided worksheets were more likely to focus on the structure of the lesson.