PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 13: Ecology Education I
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 520 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Testing if an interactive computer package works better than a text in teaching numerical ecology to non-scientists.
Suffling, Roger*,1, Vojtek, Stacey2, Salter, Diane3, Schoner, Vivian3, Harrigan, Kevin2, 1 The School of Planning, Waterloo, On, N2L 3G12 Dept. of Environment and Resource Studies, Waterloo, On, N2L 3G13 The Centre for Learning & Teaching Through Technology (LT3), Waterloo, On, N2l 3G1
ABSTRACT- Our chronic difficulties in teaching numerical ecology to undergraduate non-scientists stimulated us to design a Life Tables interactive package (IP). This material centres on a grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population dataset and includes quizzes, games and videos. The material has greatly increased student interest and enjoyment in Life Tables but we asked if it actually increased their comprehension. We addressed this question experimentally using the IP and material from the Elements of Ecology textbook by Smith and Smith(B). Material was presented in 2 consecutive 45-minute learning periods, using 4 treatments: B then B, B then IP, IP then B and IP then IP. Subjects were tested using a multiple choice quiz before beginning, after 45 minutes, and after 90 minutes of study. A comparable test of retention was made after 3 months. Testing by ANOVA, immediate learning outcomes are comparable between the text and interactive package, but the increase in scores is greater with IP. Presenting IP before B is more effective than the reverse. After 3 months there was about 35% loss in test performance, and this was greater for IP-IP than for B-B. We conclude that the IP is much more motivating and fun but not necessarily more effective in learning outcome. Therefore it should be used as a stimulus for traditional text learning rather than on its own. The results are probably capable of extrapolation to a wide variety of technical learning situations. Final results in August 2005 may differ from the above.
Key words: Learning, Population ecology, Outcome, Interactive software