Advances in Physiology Education, Vol 266, Issue 6 47-S54, Copyright © 1994 by American Physiological Society
Computers as teachers: learning from animations
L. S. Lilienfield and N. C. Broering
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia 20007.
The effectiveness of an interactive multimedia computer program, the
"Electronic Textbook in Human Physiology," in improving the knowledge of
students studying cardiovascular physiology was determined from scores on
tests given before and immediately after completion of a two-hour animation
program on the Cardiac Cycle and Introduction to Electrocardiography and by
comparison of performance on a final examination taken later with their
unexposed (control) classmates. Unsigned comments on the use of the program
were obtained from all participants and were universally laudatory. A
marked and significant improvement in the immediate posttest compared with
the pretest scores was found. More importantly, the students who had used
the computer program achieved a significantly higher grade in the
cardiovascular section of the final exam than their (control) classmates.
Several possible explanations of the results are offered; the most likely
one is that the use of the computer program facilitated learning. The
implications of this, especially for curriculum planning, are discussed.
