Section Three: Drills and Practice

Description:

The multiple choice question format used in tests has built-in limitations. If the JavaScript modality discussed in Section One does not apply itself to a set of concepts, the "Drills and Practice" type problems might fill the need of the instructor to offer a non-threatening workplace for students to test their knowledge without academic reprisals. The "Drills and Practice" problems presented here are also based on the JavaScript browser language. These problems allow for precise mathematical quantities to be entered and compared to the correct answer. For example, if you wish to test on temperature conversions between the Kelvin, Celsius and Fahrenheit scales, it is possible to build a script that asks the student to enter an appropriate value of Kelvins corresponding to a specific Celsius or Fahrenheit temperature; other combinations of temperatures given and calculated can also be arranged. For the student, utilizing such a program is easy: they simply point their Web browser to an appropriate location and begin the drill. When their question has been entered, they press a button to see the result of their work.

"Drills and Practice" problems are more complex and difficult to create than the JavaScript tutorials of Section One, but they are possible. An example using a dynamic interface to test students on temperature conversions follows. JavaScript has been used in this example, but several different languages could be utilized in theory.

To view the Temperature Conversion Drills and Practice Example, select this link.


Methodology:

As stated in the "Description", above, the "Drills and Practice" problems require a substantially higher quantity of knowledge to complete. In the "JavaScript Tutorials" of Section One, one need simply create a text file with the appropriate text and enter the questions and answers; this is not difficult. The limitation on the "JavaScript tutorial" is that it can ONLY consist of multiple choice or true/false questions, and this can be quite frustrating for fields requiring quantitative mathematical answers.

The "Drills and Practice" problems can be designed to offer problems based on random number generators. In theory if the random number is utilized correctly, any mathematical expression can be manipulated to give questions with answers depending only on the random number. This transcends the "JavaScript Tutorial" limitation, but there is a price: the Drills and Practice code is much harder to create than the JavaScript Tutorial.

I created a "Drills and Practice" example using temperature conversions. A common problem encountered in chemistry is the ability to convert one temperature reading to another scale. When many people in the United States travel to Canada, they experience this problem directly, for temperatures in Canada are reported in Celsius while the United States uses Fahrenheit. The code developed here addresses not only Celsius and Fahrenheit conversions, but also Kelvin scale conversions (a scale based upon absolute zero.)

The code is not necessarily complex or novel, but it does require two things:

  • a thorough knowledge of JavaScript
  • a thorough knowledge of the question to be presented

Code for the temperature conversion "Drills and Practice" problem can be found in Appendix B, and an example of the working application can be found on the accompanying website, http://www.gst-d2l.com/TLC. The working tutorial can be found here.

Creating this JavaScript program proved troublesome - but not insurmountably so - primarily because of my lack of JavaScript knowledge. JavaScript is not a hard language to learn, but like any language, it takes time to master and learn properly. Two references I can recommend for those wishing to learn JavaScript are:

  • Essential JavaScript for Web Professionals by Dan Barrett, Dan Livingston and Micah Brown (Prentice Hall Technical Reference Series, 1999)
  • JavaScript Bible (3rd Edition) by Danny Goodman (IDG Books, 1998)

Through examples and study I learned adequate amounts of JavaScript to create this example.

However, I also found the actual conversion of temperature scales to be troublesome. Temperature values can be both positive or negative (except in the Kelvin scale which can only be zero or positive), and this needed to be taken into account. I also found that the range of numbers created by the program were excessive, so limits were set on its application. Significant figures also proved troublesome.

Regardless, these obstacles were overcome, and future "Drills and Practice" examples will prove easier. It can be done, and hopefully by looking at my example others will not share all of the pitfalls I experienced along the way.


Results:

I sent "sample code" to several student volunteers to test this application, and the results were quite promising. The "JavaScript tutorials" are too narrow in scope to address many of the problems in chemistry, and the "Drills and Practice" methodology overcomes these limitations well.

These examples will provide more than just practice for students. By offering them the opportunity to try "live" examples with an instant feedback mechanism, they will be learning these concepts faster than ever before. The "Drills and Practice" examples are faster-paced and, apparently, more exciting to students than the traditional "do the problem and look in the back of the book for the answer"-type problem learning. Anything that appeals to students will help them learn, and the feedback I've received has been most inspiring.

For this reason I am planning on an entire series of "Drills and Practice" tutorials to cover the concepts of chemistry to the fullest. It will take some time, but now that the framework is complete, other "Drills and Practice" tutorials can be completed with less difficulty. I think they would be useful in distance learning classes and as part of an enhanced web course that is currently under development.

So although it takes more time and effort initially to create a "Drills and Practice" tutorial, the enhanced student learning, the student excitement, and the applications to a variety of subject areas justify the expense.



To view the Temperature Conversion Drills and Practice Example, select this link.
The source code can be found in Appendix B.


Return to the Table of Contents for "Beyond the Internet Syllabus".
Return to the TLC Proposal Homepage.

Questions about this material should be addressed to the author,
Dr. Michael A. Russell,
Professor of Chemistry at
Mt. Hood Community College
Gresham, Oregon

Last Updated on January 30, 2000