Question

A teacher wanted to determine the effectiveness of two different learning tools—a computer program or a hands-on approach—for a particular concept she was preparing to teach. She will assign her students to one of the two methods to spend the whole class time to learn this concept.

Which of the following variables would be moderated due to random assignment?

A. the teacher
B. time spent in class
C. computer experience
D. the different learning tools

Answer 1

Variable C, computer experience, would be moderated due to random assignment in the experiment. By randomly assigning students to the learning methods, prior computer experience's influence on learning outcomes is minimized.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is asking which variable would be moderated due to random assignment in an experiment comparing two different learning tools. Random assignment is a technique used to eliminate the influence of lurking variables by distributing any unknown factors evenly between the groups. Therefore, random assignment would most likely moderate variable C, which is computer experience, because it may affect students' ability to use the computer program as a learning tool. By randomly assigning students to the learning methods, the potential influence of their prior computer experience on the outcome of the study is reduced.

It's also important to note that the term "moderated" in this context means that the influence of the variable is minimized or controlled across the experimental and control groups. As for the other options; the teacher should be consistent for all students to avoid bias (A), time spent in class is a constant (B), and the different learning tools (D) are the independent variable, not a variable affected by random assignment.