A cross-cultural comparison study: The effectiveness of schema training modules among Hispanic students

Abstract

Previous studies indicated that misconceptions related to heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics, persist among engineering juniors and seniors even after they completed college-level courses in these subjects. Researchers have proposed an innovative instructional approach, the ontological schema training method, which helps students develop appropriate schemas or conceptual frameworks for learning difficult science concepts. Three online training modules were designed to help engineering students develop appropriate schemas in heat transfer, diffusion and microfluidics. The effectiveness of these modules was examined with two different student populations from two different universities (US and Hispanic). At each institution, participants were assigned randomly to a control or experimental group. The treatment for each group at both institutions was exactly the same. Preliminary results indicated a mixed effectiveness of the training modules among these populations.