Changes in Students' Understanding of and Visual Attention on Digitally Represented Graphs Across Two Domains in Higher Education: A Postreplication Study

The Impact of Virtual Interactive Three-Dimensional Model in the Conceptualization of the Anatomy of the Sacrum: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction Virtual interactive three-dimensional model (VI3DM) is an emerging technology with promising futures in medical education. It allows learners to view and interact with the three-dimensional (3D) object in an isolated virtual environment, as well as on screen-based platforms. This technology seems more helpful in understanding the learning objectives that demand high cognitive and visuospatial skills. The sacrum, part of the posterior wall of the bony pelvis, is a structure of interest to medical professionals and forensic experts. Understanding the anatomy and relations of the sacrum demands good spatial understanding. Hypothetically, virtual 3D models should help in learning the anatomy of the sacrum along with its relations and attachments. This study was conducted to find out the effect of low-cost digital 3D models on the anatomical knowledge of the study. Aims and objectives The goal of the work was to identify the role of virtual 3D models in the conceptualization of the anatomy of the sacrum. The study's objectives were to identify the impact of virtual 3D models on students' knowledge of the external features, relations, attachments, and joints formed by the sacrum. Material and methods Two hundred first-year medical students (168 males and 32 females) who participated in the study after providing informed consent were divided into two equal groups, a control group (n=100) and an experimental group (n=100), after matching the age, gender, and anatomical knowledge of the sacrum. We used two-dimensional (2D) images and virtual interactive 3D models of the sacrum as control and intervention, respectively, in this randomized controlled study. We conducted a post-test quiz after the 30-minute session of self-directed learning. Results The mean difference between the post-test score and the pre-test score of the experimental group (4.1±1.6 ) was significantly higher than the difference between the post-test and pre-test scores of the control group (2.5±1.2). The virtual interactive 3D model of the sacrum was significantly effective in the conceptualization of the sacrum anatomy. Conclusion A virtual interactive 3D model is an effective tool to conceptualize the anatomy of the sacrum and can be explored for its use in further complex anatomical structures. Digital 3D models can become a platform for the application of various virtual realities (VR) and artificial intelligences in medical education.

Epistemic Network Analyses of Economics Students' Graph Understanding: An Eye-Tracking Study

Learning to solve graph tasks is one of the key prerequisites of acquiring domain-specific knowledge in most study domains. Analyses of graph understanding often use eye-tracking and focus on analyzing how much time students spend gazing at particular areas of a graph-Areas of Interest (AOIs). To gain a deeper insight into students' task-solving process, we argue that the gaze shifts between students' fixations on different AOIs (so-termed transitions) also need to be included in holistic analyses of graph understanding that consider the importance of transitions for the task-solving process. Thus, we introduced Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) as a novel approach to analyze eye-tracking data of 23 university students who solved eight multiple-choice graph tasks in physics and economics. ENA is a method for quantifying, visualizing, and interpreting network data allowing a weighted analysis of the gaze patterns of both correct and incorrect graph task solvers considering the interrelations between fixations and transitions. After an analysis of the differences in the number of fixations and the number of single transitions between correct and incorrect solvers, we conducted an ENA for each task. We demonstrate that an isolated analysis of fixations and transitions provides only a limited insight into graph solving behavior. In contrast, ENA identifies differences between the gaze patterns of students who solved the graph tasks correctly and incorrectly across the multiple graph tasks. For instance, incorrect solvers shifted their gaze from the graph to the x-axis and from the question to the graph comparatively more often than correct solvers. The results indicate that incorrect solvers often have problems transferring textual information into graphical information and rely more on partly irrelevant parts of a graph. Finally, we discuss how the findings can be used to design experimental studies and for innovative instructional procedures in higher education.