Children's Learning from Multiple Media in Informal Mathematics Education

许多非正式的科学和数学教育项目采用多种媒体，假设教育效益将超出单一媒体的范围。然而，这一假设尚未得到全面的实证检验。本研究使用Cyberchase（一个针对8至11岁儿童的多媒体非正式数学项目）来调查多媒体组件之间的协同作用以及它们如何相互作用以产生累积的教育成果。研究问题：(1)多媒体数学学习与单一媒介数学学习有何不同？(2)与不同类型媒体的接触会产生什么结果？会产生什么样的协同效应？(3)如何开发可靠的研究方法来评估个别媒体的贡献及其相互作用？(4)非正规教育项目如何利用每种媒介的优势？(5)如何设计和使用媒体组件以最好地互补？研究分为四个阶段：(1)准备阶段——在征得家长同意的情况下，在全国范围内招募参与者。确定方法和措施。(2)自然主义-追踪600-800名三、四年级学生对各种赛博追逐媒体的自然主义使用情况。评估数学问题的解决和对数学的态度。(3)实验-通过将参与者的子集（N = 300-400）分配到暴露于不同组合的赛博追逐媒体的几个实验条件中，建立因果关系。测量从测试前到测试后态度和问题解决的变化。(4)分析-采用适当的回归和模型拟合分析来分析自然数据和实验数据，并将两者综合起来。由于缺乏相关的现有研究，本研究将阐明Cyberchase对教育的影响，以及对非正式STEM教育的多媒体方法的设计和评估。它将促进我们对儿童非正式数学学习的理论理解，特别是儿童如何从各种媒体中学习，每种媒体带来什么优势，以及媒体之间可能存在什么协同作用，并为未来使用多种媒体的非正式项目的最佳实践设计和评估提供信息。

Many informal science and mathematics education projects employ multiple media, assuming that educational benefits will extend beyond those of a single medium. However, this assumption has not been tested empirically in a comprehensive way. This research uses Cyberchase (a multiple-media, informal mathematics project for 8- to 11-year-olds) to investigate synergy among multiple media components and how they interact to yield cumulative educational outcomes.Research questions: (1) How does mathematics learning from multiple media differ from learning from a single medium? (2) What outcomes derive from engagement with different types of media and what types of synergy occur? (3) How can reliable research methods be developed to assess contributions of individual media and their interactions? (4) How can informal education projects capitalize on the strengths of each medium? (5) How can media components be designed and employed to best complement each other?The research has four phases: (1) Preparatory - Recruit participants nationally with parental consent. Finalize methods and measures. (2) Naturalistic - Track naturalistic use of various Cyberchase media among 600-800 third and fourth graders. Assess mathematical problem solving and attitudes toward math. (3) Experimental - Establish causality by assigning a subset of the participants (N = 300-400) to several experimental conditions that are exposed to different combinations of Cyberchase media. Measure change in attitudes and problem solving from pretest to posttest. (4) Analysis - Employ appropriate regression and model fitting analyses to analyze the naturalistic and experimental data, and to synthesize the two.Because of the paucity of relevant existing research, this research will shed light on the educational impact of Cyberchase and on the design and assessment of multiple-media approaches to informal STEM education overall. It will advance our theoretical understanding of children's informal mathematics learning - specifically, how children learn from various media, what strengths each medium brings to bear, and what synergy might exist among media - and inform the best practice design and evaluation of future informal projects that use multiple media.