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The Effectiveness of Multimedia and Activity-Based Supplemental Teaching Resources in Materials Science Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2012

Deborah A. Day
Affiliation:
Science Research Program, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT, United States.
Eeman Abbasi
Affiliation:
Science Research Program, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT, United States.
Brian Liang
Affiliation:
Science Research Program, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT, United States.
Satish Bhat
Affiliation:
Science Research Program, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT, United States.
Scott DeMeo
Affiliation:
Science Research Program, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT, United States.
Jacquelynn Garofano
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States. Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), Yale University and Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States.
Louise Grober
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States. Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), Yale University and Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States.
Nicole Ferrari
Affiliation:
Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), Yale University and Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States.
Christine Broadbridge
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States. Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), Yale University and Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States.
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Abstract

A comparative study investigating the integration of supplemental teaching resources in materials science education was developed for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of teaching strategies. Digital stories created by students, excerpts from the Nova Making Stuff documentaries, YouTube educational videos and student generated demo-kits were used as part of the investigation whereby two 9th grade science classes (n~26) were evaluated. Each participant in the study received one period (40-min) of a traditional lesson on Materials Science including specific content, vocabulary, and a pre- and post- lesson assessment. Additionally, the students in each class participated in a 30-min supplemental component, e.g. video or activity-based demonstration using aforementioned kits or video compilation. Pre- and post- evaluations (e.g. open-ended and likert questions) were administered to all of the participants. As hypothesized, the students’ feedback and performance on assessment activities reveal that the use of multimedia and activity-based resources may be equally effective teaching methods as traditional methods.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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