Assessment of the Century Model Web Interface in Undergraduate Education to Improve Decision-making and Learning

Abstract

In this study, an assessment of a web-based interface tool used to enhance studentlearning and decision-making is described. The web-based interface tool links to the UNIXversion of the carbon sequestration crop management Century Model. This model processessoil texture, crop, climate, tillage and several other parameters to assess carbon accumulationover a thousand year period. The tool was tested in five courses at Purdue University involvingapproximately 250 science and engineering undergraduate students. The students wereadministered a pretest, lecture, and either a single-field (small scale) or multi-field (large scale)scenario as a homework assignment using the web-based modeling tool, a posttest, and awritten student evaluation. Results revealed a significant difference among pretest scores forthe various courses, and as a result, the pretest score served as a covariate in the statisticalanalysis. No significant differences were detected between the single-field and multi-fieldscenario assignments, student gender or urban vs. rural background. However, student scoreselevated from pretest to posttest after completing the multi-field scenario assignment.Additionally, females and students from a rural background scored higher on the pretest andposttest.