The study of elementary students'' navigation path on learning website

• Main Authors: Ma Pao-Ho, 馬保和
• Other Authors: Chao-Ti HSIUNG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/25233307136093502916

碩士 === 國立台北師範學院 === 數理教育研究所 === 91 === The purpose of this study was to find various patterns of navigation path and to see if there is something about the relationship of the navigation process, the science achievement and the cognitive style (Field Dependence / Field Independence), through exploring their navigation processes. 135 fifth graders are divided into an experimental group of 67 students and a control group of 68 students. There is a self-made learning website which contains 30 non-interactive pages describing “The affecting factors of seasonal changes”. After the experimental group of students browsing the learning website under unconstrained time period, 135 fifth graders had a science achievement test, while the control group received no treatment but achievement test. After taking the achievement test, the experimental group continued to have a “navigation behavior and manner” questionnaire and a Grouped Embedded Figure Test (It is concerned with each student’s cognitive style). Each student’s navigation path data, which were collected from web’s log file, were translated into figures. We analyzed these figures and find different navigation path patterns. The conclusions were: ( I ). Student’s initial navigation patterns can be divided into two types. 65.5 percent of the students are “depth-first” pattern and 30 percent of the students are “breadth-first” pattern. The “depth-first” pattern refers to the mode that users would follow the same topic to get into the website. The “breadth-first” pattern means that the users would browse the pages at the same level, and then move to another. Furthermore, a t-test was performed to test the two groups of students, the “breadth-first” group and the “depth-first” group, and see if their cognitive styles are significantly different from each other. The results of the test show that there is no significant difference. We also find students’ navigation patterns could be divided into two types by reviewing if they have ever used the “back to homepage” button. 61 percent of the students prefer to use the “back to homepage” button, while 39 percent students never use it. Likewise, a t-test was performed to test the two types of groups and explored that if students’ cognitive styles are significantly different from each other. The outcome reveals that there is no significant difference between them. ( II ). By analyzing the web’s log files, we got four behavior indexes: (1). The time that each student spends on surfing the website (2). The average time that a student browses on one page (3). The time that a student spends on browsing the homepage (4). The time that a student spends on browsing pages with animation. And then we performed some different tests (The four indexes are used to t-test students’ science achievement respectively). According to the four t-tests, we couldn’t find any significant differences between the two groups of “high achievement” the “low achievement” and each of the four indexes. An further research shows that science achievement of fifth graders correlated significantly with students’ cognitive styles. (III). With respect to “navigation behavior and manner” questionnaire, students liked to click hyperlinks to see what’s there, and they were just browsing but not reading; students were mostly satisfied with this web-based learning. The teachers of the fifth and sixth graders could take the research results for reference in constructing and designing the websites of web-based learning.