When The Student Becomes the Master: Learning by Creating Math Tutoring Videos

Last registered on March 16, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
When The Student Becomes the Master: Learning by Creating Math Tutoring Videos
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011884
Initial registration date
August 03, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
August 10, 2023, 1:21 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
March 16, 2024, 7:35 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
Midwest (IL, IA, WI, OH, MI)

Primary Investigator

Name
Rohen Shah
Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-03-04
End date
2024-07-15
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
I2
Secondary IDs
J24
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Teaching is anecdotally considered a good way to improve one’s own knowledge, but field evidence on learning by teaching is sparse. In this study, I partner with 22 middle and high schools in the midwestern United States to test the impact of creating math tutoring videos on students’ math skills. Stratified by teacher, 130 math classrooms are randomly assigned to either 1) Control, 2) Watchers, or 3) Creators conditions. In the “Watchers” classrooms, teachers assign a weekly PSAT math problem and students are given a link to a “help” video to watch. Students in the “Creators” classrooms are assigned the same problem, but are asked to create a video explaining the solution. The primary outcomes are students’ math class grades, as well as their score on a 15-question test of PSAT/ACT questions that cover material related to the treatment tasks. I additionally track how often the “help” video link is clicked in each class period as a mediator variable, as well as the compliance and accuracy of the weekly tasks for both Creators and Watchers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Shah, Rohen. 2024. "When The Student Becomes the Master: Learning by Creating Math Tutoring Videos." AEA RCT Registry. March 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11884-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Treated students will be asked to create one video per week where they explain a mathematics topic.
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-18
Intervention End Date
2024-06-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Math Knowledge
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The primary outcomes will be the students' math grades and math test scores.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Math Confidence and Likelihood of watching "help" video.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Students' answer to a survey question about their confidence level in mathematics (on a scale from 1-10). This question will also be asked at the baseline. Students' likelihood of watching the "help" video will be tracked, and serves as a mediator variable that might explain why the treatment leads to skill improvement.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study will take place during the Spring 2024 semester, and depending on the success of implementation, additional rounds might be conducted during the summer 2024 and fall 2024 semesters. Teachers who teach at least two periods of the same math class will be eligible to participate. These periods will randomly assigned to the “Creators” and “Watchers” conditions. In cases where teachers teach more than two periods, one period will also be assigned to a control condition. The class period assigned to the “Watchers” condition will be asked to solve a weekly math problem (in addition to their usual assignments), primarily taken from the PSAT and ACT, and will be provided with a “help” video that shows how to answer a similar problem. The class period assigned to the “Creators” condition will receive the same problem, but their task will be to create a video explaining the solution. Control periods will not receive any weekly tasks beyond their regular class assignments. 8 tasks will be given in total between March 2024 and May 2024. Students will be given a pre- and post- test on the PSAT/ACT questions that cover material related to the treatment tasks. Additionally, I will track how often the “help” video link is clicked in each class period, as well as the compliance and accuracy of the weekly tasks for both Creators and Watchers.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in the office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Classroom
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
130 (50 Creators, 50 Watchers, 30 Control)
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
750 Creators (50 classrooms), 750 Watchers (50 classrooms), 500 Control (30 classrooms); these are estimates.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
.15 SD
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Student Survey
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Student Survey

MD5: 50cf3dbb98037f527a5211cfe485b92b

SHA1: 15a2626c40bc0be653698cce1f9a741076adb2c1

Uploaded At: March 16, 2024

Document Name
Sample Task (Watchers)
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Sample Task (Watchers)

MD5: b86e8bf3327eb8d9709f64be9859d76c

SHA1: 488c2f38a33a5e44a49cc626175e3a84e4b42008

Uploaded At: March 16, 2024

Document Name
Sample Task (Creators)
Document Type
other
Document Description
File
Sample Task (Creators)

MD5: ac65d61785bab8f6b634a5872552ae1d

SHA1: b1bb6e8f4083716c9a4396b156cb26eb0a19211a

Uploaded At: March 16, 2024

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Chicago - Social and Behavioral Sciences IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-06-05
IRB Approval Number
IRB23-0041
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Registered Analysis Plan

MD5: 385c66f90b38c32273105db6f3164a17

SHA1: cb5000c1f4ebd264aa5758743ff87f634602a95b

Uploaded At: March 16, 2024