Using Supplemental Videos to Teach Energy Efficient Construction Systems: SIPs and ICF

My Fall 2009 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section paper titled Teaching Passive House Construction: Video vs GraphicWhich One Achieves Higher Assessment? confirmed, through student assessment, Gangwer's finding that 65% of students are visual learners, and that graphics with text provide a more effective means of introducing a new topic than the use of video alone, where video depicts the same material as the graphics,.In addition, I made a recommendation to use graphics with text and video together to introduce a new topic such as Passive Housing.The goal of the present paper is to test this recommendation.Does the addition of short topic specific videos to instruction already aided with visual handouts further assist student learning?This study was conducted by testing 2 lower level construction classes each consisting of 17 students.One group was the control group and the other the test group.The control group was given 2 lectures (topics: Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) and Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) each with diagrams of construction details but without supplemental video.The test group was given 2 separate but identical lectures, each with diagrams of construction details, and 1 short topic specific supplemental video per topic.Quizzes conducted in both groups showed that the test group scored higher on questions on these topics than the control group, and the difference in quiz scores between the 2 groups was statistically significant.These results suggest that topic specific videos are a valuable educational tool when accompanied by visual handouts.