Quantitative Data
These materials were tested with a first semester general chemistry class taught during the summer 2000 term. After all of the students had completed the macroscopic laboratory activity, they were given a web site address and told to download the laboratory write-up for the microscopic activity. If they turned in the completed lab report they would receive extra credit points. Twenty-five of the thirty-five students in the section completed the assignment. The group of students who had completed the simulation activity received an average score of 60% on the examination on gas law behavior given by the instructor of the course who was not associated with the project. The other ten students had an average score of 48%. Since the experimental group was self-selected, the scores of these two groups on an unrelated unit of material were obtained. On the unit test that preceded the Gas Law Unit the average scores of the two groups was 67% and 63%. Although the small size of the experimental and reference group would council caution in interpreting these results, this outcome appears promising.