Investigation of the effectiveness of different teaching tools

A 120-minute experimental classroom lecture was conducted in a class of 93 students to assess the effectiveness of the six different teaching tools. In this study, the effectiveness of a classroom lecture is defined as (i) understanding of lecture material and (ii) stimulating student interest in learning. The teaching methods of a diagram, model, worked example, short video clip, 3-dimensional computer animation, and 'incorrect' 'learn-from-mistakes' example to illustrate and explain a concept/theory were used during the 120-minute session. The teaching method using a model is found to be the most effective tool, while diagram and worked example are slightly better than the short video clip and 3-dimensional computer animation. The 'learn from mistakes' example is relatively less effective. It must be emphasized that the above findings are based on one single experiment and also the mean scores for each teaching tool are rather close. In other words, no particular teaching tool is far better than the other tools. It is believed that the findings from this experiment could shed some light on how Hong Kong students learn a concept/theory