A study about the learning of students who worked with computational modeling and simulation in the study of simple electric circuits

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the learning of students who worked with computational modeling and simulation using the software Modellus in the study of simple electric circuits. The theoretical framework was based on Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning and Halloun’s schematic modeling approach. The quantitative results show that there were statistically significant differences in the performance of students who worked with the computational activities (experimental group), when compared to the one in which students were just exposed to a traditional method of teaching (control group). The qualitative results suggest that many students from the experimental group seemed to have achieved meaningful learning, and the students’ interaction among themselves and with the teacher as well during the computational activities has strongly contributed for that.