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strategy, one shows learners two related cases at
a time, rather than one at a time. This approach
has theoretical roots in ecological psychology and
perception and action research (Gibson, 1979).
Essentially one can direct attention to a feature
by showing two cases side by side that differ by
that very feature on which attention needs to be
focused. Contrasting cases has been shown to be
an effective strategy in other domain areas such
as algebra (Rittle-Johnson & Star, 2006; Derry,
Wilsman, & Hackbarth, 2007) and psychology
(Schwartz & Bransford, 1998). However, it has
not been tested in the domain of engineering or
science education before. Related research has
also found giving students contrasting cases
activities or simulation activities is more effec-
tive when employed
before
a class lecture rather
than afterward (Brant, Hooper, & Sugrue, 1991;
Schwartz & Bransford, 1998). That supports the
notion that a supplementary online resource for
learning and investigating circuit behavior may
be effectively integrated into a circuits class,
especially when students explore the simulation
before hearing a lecture about the related concepts
and formulas. Even though students may or may
not fully understand the model underlying the
simulation they use, they may form questions
or strategies for learning about the domain after
exploring the circuit. So even when a simulation
is not completely understandable to a student, it
may engender a preparedness for future learn-
ing, and the students may become more curious
or attentive when presented with a subsequent
lecture or other learning activity (Schwartz &
Bransford, 1998).
There are also other instructional techniques
that are quite similar to contrasting cases but have
different theoretical foundations and differences
in their implementation. These include:
Our ultimate goal is to develop a complete learning
environment that facilitates student understand-
ing of electrical circuit behavior and principles,
including all the invariant principles we identified
as important for understanding analog electrical
circuits. Holton (in press) has reviewed how,
with the right supporting instructional strategies,
simulations such as ours can serve as a founda-
tion for a well-rounded learning environment that
addresses knowledge-centered, learner-centered,
assessment-centered, and community centered is-
sues as delineated in the framework provided in the
topic
How People Learn
(Bransford et al., 1999).
However, as mentioned above, students only
showed improvement on some of our test ques-
tions when using our animated circuit simulation.
Furthermore, students in real classrooms still need
a reason (raison d'etre) to use our simulation,
as well as our dynamic assessment tool. Two
additional strategies will be being pursued to
address these issues and hopefully create a more
well-rounded environment for learning about
electrical circuit behavior. One is the contrasting
cases strategy, and another is the creation of an
online challenge-based community for learning
about electrical engineering.
the contrasting cases Strategy
We believe difficulties on the non-temporal ques-
tions in our AC/DC Concept Inventory primarily
revolve around students' lack of distinctions be-
tween different circuit components and behaviors.
As mentioned above, students often conflate
various variables such as voltage and current
and various components such as capacitors and
inductors and circuit configurations such as series
versus parallel. Sometimes students even ignore
the fact that a circuit is AC rather than DC.
One strategy for helping students notice and
make new distinctions is contrasting cases (Brans-
ford, Franks, Vye, & Sherwood, 1989). Using this
•
Analogies
(e.g., Gentner & Gentner, 1983;
Clement, 1993)-show a system or scenario
that is analogically isomorphic to the target
domain being learned. This strategy has
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