1.) I would use a longitudinal study to test children in this elementary school over time. Since an observational study is based on collecting data from samples, I would design a questionnaire asking children how much time they spend on mathematical learning applications (math apps) and some representative math problems for testing their mathematical reasoning skill. More specifically, children are going to be asked by questionnaires repeatedly (6 times in three years). The independent variable is children’s exposure to interactive mathematical learning applications, which is measured by the question of “how much time per week you spend on mathematical learning applications”; the dependent variable is children’s mathematical reasoning skills,
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Group A contains students from three classrooms in each grade, and group B contains students from the other three classrooms in each grade. The independent variable is children’s exposure to interactive mathematical learning application which is measured by whether children have access to math app or not in the experiment; the dependent variable is their mathematical reasoning skill measured by the problem sheet at the end of the experiment. Random assignment is required for two groups to share similar characteristics by chance before the experiment to prevent the intervention of confounding variables. In group A, children are asked to use a selected “math app” two hours per day. In group B, children have no access to similar interactive math apps. After four months, all children need to complete a designed problem sheet, which measures the level mathematical reasoning skills. We then use the independent one sample t-test to compare the means between the control group and experimental group on whether the scores of two groups differ from each other. If the result is found to be significant, we may conclude that children who have exposure to math leaning applications tend to have a higher/lower mathematic reason skill by chance in this local elementary school. As the answer to question 1 suggests, since our sample is chosen only from one local elementary school, we may conclude the finding on a larger
Group A contains students from three classrooms in each grade, and group B contains students from the other three classrooms in each grade. The independent variable is children’s exposure to interactive mathematical learning application which is measured by whether children have access to math app or not in the experiment; the dependent variable is their mathematical reasoning skill measured by the problem sheet at the end of the experiment. Random assignment is required for two groups to share similar characteristics by chance before the experiment to prevent the intervention of confounding variables. In group A, children are asked to use a selected “math app” two hours per day. In group B, children have no access to similar interactive math apps. After four months, all children need to complete a designed problem sheet, which measures the level mathematical reasoning skills. We then use the independent one sample t-test to compare the means between the control group and experimental group on whether the scores of two groups differ from each other. If the result is found to be significant, we may conclude that children who have exposure to math leaning applications tend to have a higher/lower mathematic reason skill by chance in this local elementary school. As the answer to question 1 suggests, since our sample is chosen only from one local elementary school, we may conclude the finding on a larger