ABSTRACT

Digital instructional tools, such as virtual manipulatives, have been widely adopted as an enhanced approach to inquiry-based learning. However, the optimal ratio of mobile devices to students in instructional settings remain controversial. This research introduced a counterbalanced quasi-experiment to compare the learning performance and group-process satisfaction (GS) of primary school students under various settings of mobile device-student ratios (1:1 or 1:m) and external scripts (ES, with or without). A total of 128 sixth graders (11 drop-outs in the second-round experiment) in four elementary-school classes adopted physics simulations on tablet PCs as virtual manipulatives (VMs). Group worksheets and posttests were administered during and after the inquiry process to assess students’ inquiry performance and knowledge acquisition. The analyses revealed that students under the 1:m condition significantly outperformed their peers in the 1:1 condition in both subterms, concept understanding (CU) and problem-solving (PS), but no significant difference was found in knowledge acquisition (KA). ES showed no effect on students’ learning performance. VMs that students used in collaborative tasks operated separately on each tablet PC, which may have distracted learners’ joint attention. Hence, the collaboration patterns were observed and discussed. Four potential collaboration patterns are discussed at the end of this paper.

摘要

数字教学工具，例如虚拟操作器，已被广泛采用作为基于探究的学习的增强方法。然而，教学环境中移动设备与学生的最佳比例仍然存在争议。本研究引入了平衡准实验，比较小学生在移动设备与学生比例（1:1 或 1:m）和外部脚本（ES，与或没有）。四个小学班级的 128 名六年级学生（第二轮实验中 11 名辍学）采用了平板电脑上的物理模拟作为虚拟操作器 (VM)。在探究过程期间和之后进行小组工作表和后测，以评估学生的探究表现和知识获取。分析显示，1:m条件下的学生在概念理解（CU）和问题解决（PS）方面均显着优于1:1条件下的同龄人，但在知识获取（KA）方面没有发现显着差异。ES 对学生的学习成绩没有影响。学生在协作任务中使用的虚拟机在每台平板电脑上单独运行，这可能会分散学习者的共同注意力。因此，对协作模式进行了观察和讨论。本文末尾讨论了四种潜在的协作模式。ES 对学生的学习成绩没有影响。学生在协作任务中使用的虚拟机在每台平板电脑上单独运行，这可能会分散学习者的共同注意力。因此，对协作模式进行了观察和讨论。本文末尾讨论了四种潜在的协作模式。ES 对学生的学习成绩没有影响。学生在协作任务中使用的虚拟机在每台平板电脑上单独运行，这可能会分散学习者的共同注意力。因此，对协作模式进行了观察和讨论。本文末尾讨论了四种潜在的协作模式。