Using Perceptual and Adaptive Learning to Advance Chemistry Education This proposal addresses broad Challenge Area 12) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education and specific Challenge Topic 12-OD-101: Efficacy of educational approaches toward promoting STEM competencies. The work will refine and test the efficacy of Chemistry learning modules that incorporate advanced perceptual learning and adaptive learning technologies, both of which have great, but largely untapped, potential to improve STEM learning. The target learning group will be community college students taking basic chemistry courses. This student population is a large and important group, representing a considerable pool of talent for a broad spectrum of health and science-related occupations. The project seeks to address two major problems that limit student learning. One involves students'abilities to grasp and process fluently crucial structures and relations. Recent work suggests that this problem can be addressed with dramatic success by perceptual learning principles embedded in learning technology. A second problem is that learning does not adapt to the needs of the individual learner. These limitations can be overcome by the use of adaptive learning technology in which learning events are sequenced based on learner accuracy and speed. The learning interventions to be tested take the form of Perceptual Learning Modules (PLMs). PLMs accelerate, through short, interactive trials, learners'abilities to quickly and accurately process key structures and relationships in complex domains. PLMs are web-based;they deliver learning and assessment via standard browsers over the Internet;and they can be easily scaled-up for broader use. The technology will incorporate recently patented adaptive learning algorithms that use a continuous stream of performance data to optimize principles of learning and memory, producing improved efficiency of learning and assessment. The project team, consisting of experts in cognitive science, learning technology, curriculum development and evaluation, chemistry and chemistry education, will refine two previously developed Chemistry PLMs and develop one new one using existing adaptive learning software, allowing a broad test of these technologies. Both laboratory pilot studies and full-scale efficacy studies in community college Chemistry courses will be carried out. Efficacy studies will include randomization by participant;treatment groups will be compared to control groups who spend comparable amounts of time using conventional materials;and conditions that test efficacy of specific components of perceptual/adaptive learning will be included. The proposed efficacy studies are expected to yield robust learning gains, indicating the potential of perceptual learning to produce pattern recognition and fluency, and the potential of adaptive learning technologies to fit individual learning needs and produce mastery. Results will have implications for Chemistry education and learning in other STEM fields, particularly for students who struggle with traditional instructional methods. Public Health Relevance: The proposed project will test the efficacy of web-delivered perceptual and adaptive learning technologies in Chemistry learning by community college students, a large and important group that includes a majority of all students enrolled in colleges, many of whom belong to groups traditionally under-represented in STEM fields. Results obtained in this project will inform educational practice;successful outcomes could lead to widespread effective use of perceptual and adaptive learning technologies to remove barriers and improve learning efficiency for large numbers of students in STEM curricula leading to a full-spectrum of health-related occupations.
Relevance of this Research to Public Health The proposed project will test the efficacy of web-delivered perceptual and adaptive learning technologies in Chemistry learning by community college students, a large and important group that includes a majority of all students enrolled in colleges, many of whom belong to groups traditionally under-represented in STEM fields. Results obtained in this project will inform educational practice;successful outcomes could lead to widespread effective use of perceptual and adaptive learning technologies to remove barriers and improve learning efficiency for large numbers of students in STEM curricula leading to a full-spectrum of health-related occupations.
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| Mettler, Everett; Massey, Christine M; Kellman, Philip J (2016) A comparison of adaptive and fixed schedules of practice. J Exp Psychol Gen 145:897-917 |
| Mettler, Everett; Kellman, Philip J (2014) Adaptive response-time-based category sequencing in perceptual learning. Vision Res 99:111-23 |
| Kellman, Philip J (2013) Adaptive and perceptual learning technologies in medical education and training. Mil Med 178:98-106 |
| Krasne, Sally; Hillman, Joseph D; Kellman, Philip J et al. (2013) Applying perceptual and adaptive learning techniques for teaching introductory histopathology. J Pathol Inform 4:34 |
