One important issue in Bayesian estimation is the determination of an effective informative prior. In hierarchical Bayes models, the uncertainty of hyperparameters in a prior can be further modeled via their own priors, namely, hyper priors. This study introduces a framework to construct hyper priors for both the mean and the variance…

Virtual agents are animated life-like characters generally used in virtual learning environments to facilitate learning tasks. With virtual agent, students can hold meaningful interactions throughout the learning process for more effective cognition. Hence, the effectiveness of virtual agent in term of promoting positive emotions is very much…

Courses: Public Relations, Organizational/Crisis Communication, Social Media in Organizations. Objective: The goal for this activity is for students to simulate an organizational response to an environmental/health crisis impacting their business operations. By working through various components of a crisis event, students apply theoretical…

Synthesizing findings about the indirect (mediated) effect plays an important role in determining the mechanism through which variables affect one another. This simulation study compared six methods for synthesizing indirect effects: correlation-based MASEM, parameter-based MASEM, marginal likelihood synthesis, an adjustment to marginal likelihood…

This contribution presents and discusses the methodology and results of a panel study analyzing the effects of a simulation on students' learning outcomes. The focus is on how sustainable knowledge acquisition can be enhanced through participation in simulation as well as on presenting and discussing one way this learning can be analyzed. The…

In this article we illustrate how one teacher used PhET cannonball simulation as an instructional tool to improve students' algebraic reasoning in a fifth grade classroom. Three instructional phases effective to implementation of simulation included: Free play, Structured inquiry and, Synthesizing ideas.

This article takes as its starting point a recognition of play as meaning-making, and the playground as a rich and dynamic 'meaning-makerspace' where children draw moment-to-moment, rapidly and readily on the multiple resources available to them to make signs of their interest evident. These resources are drawn from their own lifeworlds, folkloric…

Modeling is an important element of discovery and design processes because it can help individuals to comprehend and facilitate solutions to problems, mediate among mental and external representations, and off-load cognitive demands. However, engaging in model generation, comprehension, and transformation requires the orchestration of domain…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of applications created using a web-based 3D design environment on the spatial visualisation and mental rotation abilities of secondary school students. A total of 63 school students from the sixth grade participated in the study. The researchers applied a mixed research method including both…

One of the most understudied health disparity populations in the United States is the Deaf community, a sociolinguistic minority group of more than 500,000 individuals who communicate via American Sign Language. Research on Deaf health disparities is lacking due to inaccessible recruitment, sampling, and data collection procedures, as well as the…

Anatomy education has been revolutionized through digital media, resulting in major advances in realism, portability, scalability, and user satisfaction. However, while such approaches may well be more portable, realistic, or satisfying than traditional photographic presentations, it is less clear that they have any superiority in terms of student…

The purpose of this research was to explore how effective the bottom-up approach to producing and shaping educational legislation is in Ukraine and to identify what observed changes take place in students if the bottom-up approach is simulated in the classroom. Qualitative instruments and observational data were used to yield the data. Those were…

This article illustrates the benefits of off the shelf simulation software to increase learning for students in the classroom. Furthermore, the use of a computer game presents a unique opportunity for increased understanding of transportation fundamentals in a fun environment. Another benefit is that the use of the simulation helps Millennial…

Various studies have widely utilized mixed reality (MR) in primary and secondary (K-12) education. Nevertheless, there has been relatively no explicit focus on a substantial amount of studies that are reviewed systematically in order to present and suggest the educational benefits of MR technology for the development of learning environments. The…

Unique affordances of 3D multi-user virtual environments (e.g., immersive simulation, avatar tele/copresence) have attracted language teachers and researchers to explore the effects of Second Life (SL) on learners' language outcomes and perceptions. Research on such a synergy of language education and virtual learning has suggested learners'…