Collaborative Research: WITS: A Wireless Interactive Teaching System

该补助金为无线交互式教学系统（WITS）的教师开发人员提供额外的NSF支持。WITS是一种相对较新的有效方法，可以提高本科生的STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）教育质量，特别是在社会科学领域。WITS是一种廉价的便携式无线手持计算机系统，旨在通过称为“课堂实验”的交互式练习，实现并增强经济学课堂上的主动学习。在经济学中，这些实验可以用来生动地说明许多不同的重要概念。这些练习的决策和结果数据在课堂上根据需要投影在屏幕上，并可以张贴在网站上，用于回答相关的家庭作业。从WITS在经济学原理课程中的早期应用中收集的评估数据发现其影响很大（S。鲍尔角Eckel和C，Rojas，“技术改善了经济学大原则课程的学习：使用我们的WITS，”美国经济学评论，论文和会议记录，2006年5月）。该项目正在创建更多的经济学WITS模块，扩大使用WITS的学者社区，并将WITS的使用扩展到更多样化的学生群体。(1)该项目正在创建和测试10个新模块，用于微观经济理论和经济学选修课，以及政治学和公共政策等相关学科的课程。它还为以前制定的原则练习和新练习编写学生和教师手册。(2)为了扩大学者群体，项目小组正在为高级研究生和两所非常不同的大学的目标教员举办培训班，并协助新用户在课堂上开发和实施互动练习。这一培训活动也有助于我们为今后的广泛传播工作做好准备。(3)目前正在进行两套新的测试，以测试WITS对学生学习的影响，以确定迄今为止测量的大量学习成果是否适用于其他教育环境。第一个是微观经济学理论的学生。第二个是少数民族和社区大学的学生。智力优势：早期对WITS系统影响的研究发现，使用它将经济学实验纳入经济学原理课程可以提高学生的表现，特别是那些经常与材料斗争的学生（女性和新生）的表现。目前WITS向微观经济理论和专业课程的扩展是一大步，因为这些课程使学生能够将理论应用于真实的世界问题。它们是本科经济学学位的基本要素。在准备教授这类课程时，WITS系统的灵活性增强了教师教学生如何开发和验证自己的假设的能力，使学生通过做科学来学习经济学。更广泛的影响：鉴于我们最初的试点项目的结果，在学生来自各种背景、能力水平和学习风格的环境中测试该系统尤为重要。这项研究的更广泛影响还包括预期对招收女学生进入经济学和建立跨学科桥梁产生积极影响。WITS系统可以适用于其他STEM学科的教学，从而将吸引力和学习收益扩展到经济学之外。其他更广泛的影响包括在经济学和其他社会科学之间建立知识桥梁，因为WITS在其他领域实施。

This grant provides additional NSF support to the faculty developers of the Wireless Interactive Teaching System (WITS). WITS is a relatively new, effective approach to improving the quality of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education for undergraduate students, particularly in the social sciences. WITS is an inexpensive, portable wireless system of handheld computers designed to enable and enhance active learning in economics classes using interactive exercises called "classroom experiments." Within economics, these experiments can be used to illustrate vividly many different important concepts. Decision and outcome data from these exercises are projected on a screen as needed during class and can be posted on a web site for use in answering related homework assignments. Assessment data collected from early applications of WITS in economic principles classes have found its impact to be large (S. Ball, C. Eckel, and C, Rojas, "Technology Improves Learning in Large Principles of Economics Classes: Using Our WITS," American Economics Review, Papers and Proceedings, May 2006). This project is creating more WITS modules in economics, expanding the community of scholars using WITS, and extending the use of WITS to more diverse student groups. (1) The project is creating and testing ten new modules for use in microeconomic theory and economics elective courses, as well as courses in related disciplines such as political science and public policy. It is also creating student and instructor manuals for the previously developed principles exercises and the new exercises. (2) In order to expand the community of scholars, the project team is conducting training sessions for senior graduate students and targeted faculty at the PIs' two very different universities, and assisting new users in developing and implementing interactive exercises in their classes. This training activity is also serving to prepare us for future broad dissemination efforts. (3) Two new sets of tests of the impact of WITS on student learning are being conducted to see whether the large learning gains measured so far generalize across other educational settings. The first is with students in microeconomic theory. The second is with minority and community college students. Intellectual Merit: Earlier research of the impact of the WITS system found that using it to incorporate economics experiments in principles of economics classes improved student performance, especially the performance of students that often struggle the most with the material (women and freshmen). The current expansion of WITS to microeconomic theory and to major's courses is a big step because these courses prepare students to apply theory to real world problems. They are essential elements of an undergraduate economics degree. In preparing to teach these kinds of courses, the flexibility of the WITS system enhances instructors' ability to teach students how to develop and test their own hypotheses, so that students learn economics by doing science. Broader Impacts: Given the results of our initial pilot program, it is particularly important to test the system in environments where students are drawn from a variety of backgrounds, ability levels, and learning styles. Broader impacts of the research also include its expected positive impact on the recruitment of women students into economics, and on building interdisciplinary bridges. The WITS system can be adapted for teaching in other STEM disciplines, thus extending the attraction power and learning gains beyond economics. Additional broader impacts involve building intellectual bridges between economics and other social sciences, as WITS is implemented in other fields.