USING AN AUTHORING SYSTEM TO FACILITATE STUDENT-CENTERED DISCOVERY ORIENTED LEARNING

Introductory students ''brainstormed'' experiments on subliminal messages and behavior, then evaluated them in terms of ethics, practicality, measurement, and control. The instructor used Authorware Professional and a Macintosh IIcx to implement five student-generated experiments in which students served as subjects. The pedagogical rationale for the exercise was to give students a sense of investment and ownership in the process of scientific inquiry, to ''create a demand'' for knowledge of statistics and experimental methods, and to make a convincing case for empiricism as a way of knowing. The exercise generated enthusiasm, produced meaningful discussions, and increased students' understanding of experimentation, measurement, control, and statistics. It was concluded that providing students with this experience would not have been possible without a sophisticated authoring system, and that this student-centered discovery oriented approach may be used effectively in a number of natural science and social science courses where on-line experimentation is appropriate.