How will the size of of a wet object affect the rate of evaporation?
This is the question that is presented to the students.
Students are provided with an guided activity sheet and a flash applet to manipulate.
There is an obvious problem with this task. The activity sheet and flash applet do not relate to the question. Both ask the student about factors (plural) affecting evaporation but the question only asks for one factor, the surface area of the object. There is also no explanation of what rate is and a vague explanation giving a scale of 0-9.
There are some positive points to this task. The applet is easy to follow, very self descriptive, in some way is task oriented and is also fun to use. The exercise leans towards a cognitive approach but we feel as a group that there is a discrepancy between the complexity of the language of the activity sheet and the reality of the imagery. Not taking anything away from the applet, which obviously has taken time to design we feel that its function does not relate to the task.
The applet is only a simulation and does not provide for a realistic approach to the situation. For example if one is good at flying on a PC simulator it does not necessarily mean you can fly a real airplane. The activity sheet leads directly into students being asked to design an investigation to further explain the concept that they have learnt through this applet. We feel as a group that students should be exposed to a more tangible method before being asked to do this.
The applet does not provide sufficient information for the student to complete the task at hand. The applet is a nice idea but should be used soley as an introduction to the activity / topic but should not be set as a cognitive activity.
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