Formative evaluation of a software prototype with grades five and six students attending school in the Northwest Territories

Jebbink-Whenham, Carolyne (2001) Formative evaluation of a software prototype with grades five and six students attending school in the Northwest Territories. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The focus of this master's project was a formative evaluation of the software prototype "Rainforests of the World" developed by the writer with Dene and non-Dene students attending grades five and six in a northern rural community. The purpose of a formative evaluation was to determine how the prototype could be improved to benefit its users.The evaluation procedure followed the three-stage model developed by Alessi & Trollip (1991); namely the Quality Review, the Pilot Test and a Validative Stage. The Quality Review with subject matter experts and instructional design expert comments was completed in November 1995. This project focused on the Pilot Test with three students and the Validation Stage with twelve students. Protocol analyses and semi-structured interviews were used to answer the validation question: How do Dene and non-Dene students in grades five and six learn about the facts and layers from the "Rainforests of the World" software prototype? Individual students sat with the investigator at the rain forest computer program. Students thought aloud as they used the program to learn about rainforests of the world. Their verbal reports and computer mouse activities were recorded on videotape. It was expected that results from the data that students would learn by the integrating prior knowledge of rainforests with constructivist learning tasks embedded in the computer program.

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