Easily too difficult: Estimating item difficulty in computer simulated microworlds

作者：

Highlights：

• Difficulties of Microworlds were predicted based on six characteristics.

• It was possible to predict the Microworlds' difficulty almost perfectly.

• The paper shows the importance of distinguishing knowledge acquisition and application.

• A potential item model for automatic creation of Microworlds is discussed.

摘要

•Difficulties of Microworlds were predicted based on six characteristics.•It was possible to predict the Microworlds' difficulty almost perfectly.•The paper shows the importance of distinguishing knowledge acquisition and application.•A potential item model for automatic creation of Microworlds is discussed.

论文关键词：Microworlds,Computer simulation,Problem solving,Linear logistic test model,Item difficulty

论文评审过程：Received 11 June 2016, Revised 5 August 2016, Accepted 15 August 2016, Available online 26 August 2016, Version of Record 26 August 2016.

论文官网地址：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.025