The effect of closed laboratory activities
on the comprehension of five concepts
and the perception of effectiveness
of the course in a second semester
computer science course

Abstract of Doctoral Thesis

Debra Lynn Burton, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Austin, 1992
Supervisors: Lowell J. Bethel and Nell B. Dale

The investigation studied the effects of using closed laboratories on students at a major southwest research university enrolled in the second computer science course required of computer science majors. Students are required to attend a discussion section in addition to the lecture. There were a total of ten discussion sections, half were randomly assigned to remain discussion sections throughout the semester and half to act as closed laboratories for five weeks while the selected concepts were being covered (one-third of the total weeks).

In this study four hypotheses were tested, two major and two minor, using data collected by the Burton Perception Instrument and the Burton Comprehension Instrument. The tested hypotheses were: (1) no significant difference between the two groups on comprehension of the five concepts, (2) no significant difference between the two groups on perception of the effectiveness of the course, (3) no significant difference between the students identified as less likely to succeed in the two groups on comprehension of the five concepts, and (4) no significant difference between the students identified as less likely to succeed in the two groups on the perception of the effectiveness of the course.

The results of the analyses showed that the inclusion of the closed laboratories made no significant difference on the concept comprehension or perception of the effectiveness of the course. Therefore the use of closed laboratories appears to be no more effective than traditional discussion sections. In terms of the students identified as less likely to succeed in the course, the results were the same, there was not significant difference between those students who attended discussions all semester and those that attended closed laboratories for five weeks (approximately one-third of the semester) and regular discussion sections the remainder of the semester.

Copyright (c) 1992 by Debra Lynn Burton. Presentation of this material by the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author, who has retained all copyrights in the works.