Abstract—The continued development of the Internet has
caused the concepts of network infrastructure and simple
network troubleshooting to become important teaching
objectives of certain college curricula. However, the abstract
nature of network concepts and the high cost of equipment for
network-related practice have become educational challenges
for teachers in the relevant fields. Therefore, simulation
learning and simulation learning software have become major
instructional tools to assist teachers. Unfortunately, most
simulation learning software is individually manipulated, which
may cause feelings of isolation among students during the course
of learning. Therefore, in this study, a quasi-experimental
approach was utilized to investigate how teaching strategies for
simulation learning and for integrating simulation learning with
collaborative problem solving (CPS) impacted learning
outcomes. Assessments by one-way analysis of covariance
revealed that the post-test scores were significantly better in the
experimental group than in the control group, suggesting that
the integrated educational activities were beneficial to students'
learning. The results of this study can serve as a reference for
teachers in relevant fields with respect to designing educational
activities that can help students learn more effectively and
improve students’ teamwork abilities.
Index Terms—Simulation-based learning, CPS, collaborative
problem solving, information and computer education, packet
tracer.
The authors are with the Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan
(e-mail: sklu@sce.pccu.edu.tw, sklu@sce.pccu.edu.tw).
Cite: Hsin-Ke Lu and Peng-Chun Lin, "A Study of the Impact of Collaborative Problem-Solving Strategies on Students’ Performance of Simulation-Based Learning — A Case of Network Basic Concepts Course," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 361-366, 2017.