Collaborative Research: WITS: A Wireless Interactive Teaching System

合作研究：WITS：无线互动教学系统

• 批准号: 0618666
• 负责人: Catherine Eckel
• 金额: $ 15.42万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Dallas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0618666&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; WITS; Wireless; Interactive

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.

这项拨款为无线互动教学系统（WITS）的教师开发人员提供了额外的国家科学基金会支持。WITS是一种相对较新的、有效的方法，可以提高本科学生，特别是社会科学专业学生的STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）教育质量。WITS是一种廉价的便携式无线手持电脑系统，旨在通过称为“课堂实验”的互动练习，使经济学课堂上的主动学习成为可能并增强其主动性。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射在屏幕上，也可以发布在网站上，用于回答相关的家庭作业。从早期在经济学原理课程中应用WITS收集的评估数据发现，其影响很大（S. Ball， C. Eckel和C. Rojas，“技术改善经济学原理课程中的学习：使用我们的WITS”，《美国经济学评论》，论文和会议录，2006年5月）。该项目正在创建更多经济学领域的WITS模块，扩大使用WITS的学者群体，并将WITS的使用扩展到更多样化的学生群体。(1)项目正在创建和测试10个新模块，用于微观经济学理论和经济学选修课程，以及政治学和公共政策等相关学科的课程。它还为以前开发的原则练习和新练习创建了学生和教师手册。(2)为了扩大学者群体，项目团队正在为pi所在的两所截然不同的大学的高级研究生和目标教师举办培训课程，并协助新用户在课堂上开发和实施互动练习。这项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WITS对学生学习影响的测试，以了解迄今为止测量到的巨大学习收益是否可以推广到其他教育环境。首先是微观经济理论的学生。第二种是少数族裔和社区大学生。智力优势：早期对WITS系统影响的研究发现，使用WITS系统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最多的学生（女性和大一新生）的表现。目前将WITS扩展到微观经济学理论和专业课程是一个很大的进步，因为这些课程使学生能够将理论应用于现实世界的问题。它们是经济学本科学位的基本要素。在准备教授这类课程时，WITS系统的灵活性提高了教师教学生如何发展和检验自己的假设的能力，从而使学生通过科学来学习经济学。更广泛的影响：鉴于我们最初试点项目的结果，在学生来自不同背景、能力水平和学习方式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它对招收女学生进入经济学和建立跨学科桥梁的预期积极影响。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。随着WITS在其他领域的实施，其他更广泛的影响涉及在经济学和其他社会科学之间建立智力桥梁。