Abstract

 
Online experiments are frequently used to engage students and improve pedagogy in introductory micro¬economics classrooms. This paper compared student scores on homework problem sets to evaluate whether the experiments helped improve student understand¬ing of economic concepts. Two composite scores were created for each student: one based on the homework problem sets that involved an online experiment compo¬nent and another for the problem sets that did not have any associated online experiments. The results showed an increase in student scores, ranging from 1% to 5% when online experiments were conducted prior to the related homework. Two statistical tests – paired t-tests conducted on the mean score and Wilcoxon signed rank test on the median scores – showed that the increase in student scores are statistically significant. The variances in student scores were also found to be reduced with the use of online experiments. The descriptive answers given by students were able to recall the experimental setup and use it to explain related economic concepts.
 
 
 
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