Classroom Experiments for Large Lecture Courses: A Wireless Solution

经济学（82）经济学专业的学生参加了大型讲座为基础的入门课程很少有机会与课程内容互动。正因为如此，他们没有获得对材料的深刻理解或分析和解释复杂经济事件的能力。课堂实验已被证明是有用的，在帮助学生理解的材料。在过去，这些练习在大型课程中是不切实际的。本项目正在开发无线教室技术，让大班学生在班会时间参与课堂实验。我们已经组建了一个跨学科的小组，正在创建一个学习系统，使人们有可能实现大班课堂实验的好处。我们的愿景是一个便携式系统组成的标准电子手持设备（如PDA），与笔记本电脑，将组织经济学模拟，如市场，公共产品环境和经济游戏。虽然其他研究人员正在进行基于互联网的实验，但除非学生异步完成练习，否则这种系统不会转化为大型课堂。教师只有非常有限的能力来修改游戏以回应学生的问题或建议。评估是这个项目的关键组成部分。我们设计了一个控制实验，收集数据的性能在一个大型讲座课程。我们正在评估这种无线系统在多大程度上可以提高学生的成绩和降低成本。

Economics (82)Economics students enrolled in large lecture-based introductory courses rarely have theopportunity to interact with course content. Because of this they do not gain a deepunderstanding of the material or the ability to analyze and interpret complex economicevents. Classroom experiments have been shown to be useful in aiding studentunderstanding of the material. In the past these exercises have been impractical in largecourses. This project is developing wireless classroom technology to allow students inlarge classes to participate in classroom experiments during the class meeting times. Wehave assembled a cross-disciplinary group that is creating a learning system that is making it possible to realize the benefits of classroom experiments in large classes. Our vision is of aportable system composed of standard electronic handheld devices (such as PDAs) thatcommunicate with a laptop computer that will organize economics simulations such asmarkets, public goods environments and economic games. While other researchers arecurrently working on internet-based experiments, such systems do not translate to largeclasses unless students complete the exercise asynchronously. The instructor has onlyvery limited ability to revise the game in response to student questions or suggestions.Evaluation is a critical component of this project. We have designed a controlledexperiment to collect data on performance in a large lecture course. We are evaluatingto what extent this wireless system can improve student outcomes and reduce costs.