Abstracts - Earli

instructional approaches in developing students’ economics knowledge. Both studies used withinteacherdesigns and provide evidence of benefits for learners who received the problem basedapproach. The first employed 5 high school teachers of 346 students and examined differences inpre-post content knowledge on multiple choice tests, including for students who demonstrateddifferent levels of verbal ability, interest in economics, preference for group work and problemsolving efficacy. The problem based approach appeared to be more effective than traditionallecture/discussion, including for students of average verbal ability and below, who were moreinterested in learning economics, and who were most and least confident in their ability to solveproblems. The second study employed two professors who co-taught four sections ofmicroeconomics at a large, urban, public university, while systematically varying how each taughtdifferent concepts to different sections. Student pre-post gains on content tests were regressedagainst demographic characteristics and the amount of problem based instruction the studentreceived. The class sections that had received more of the problem based curriculum posted higherscores, particularly for assessments of certain concepts. Additionally, the instructor who wastrained in use of problem based learning had much better results. These findings suggest theimportance of aligning the curriculum with assessments and the role of teacher in promotingstudent understanding. In both studies, teacher taught the same content to different classes usingproblem based approach and a traditional lecture/discussion. Both sets of results suggest a problembased approach has the potential to improve educational outcomes.J 1830 August 2007 17:00 - 18:20Room: 1.71 PóczaPaper SessionLearning and instructional technologyChair:Andrea Kárpáti, ELTE University Faculty of Science, HungaryDiscovering the potential of video game culture to support learning: Lessons learned from a highschool computer programming classMichael K. Thomas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USAXun Ge, University of Oklahoma, USABarbara Greene, University of Oklahoma, USAThis study examined the use game development in a high school computer programming class.High school students created games for elementary school students while obtaining formativefeedback from their younger clients. Our experience suggests that in the teaching of computerscience in high schools, the development of games that include common game features such asdynamic feedback systems, backstory, levels, cheats, and compelling graphics challenges studentsand engages them in learning. Incorporating real client feedback is also useful for improving theirwork and connecting it to the "real" world. This paper continues work that was begun with a highschool computer programming class in the spring of 2004. The work in the following yearpresented many interesting new findings.– 568 –