Abstract:

This paper deals with a research on students using the Gazepoint device to visualize the practices and strategies that students used to solve assignments in the disciplines of natural science. The Eye Tracking is an advanced technology method that can be applied in research in many ways. The principle of this technology is in monitoring the human eye movements over the places what the eye is looking at during a given moment, it is focused on a distance or a time period when an object is monitored. The recording and analyzing the course of view, the sequence of fixation of the eye and the eye movements also have an extensive use in cognitive sciences.

The Gazepoint eye-tracker is currently one of the most accessible technology systems that monitor eye movements of its users. The essence of the study was to find out how the students proceeded in monitoring assignments displayed on the screen, how they continued working with the assignments, and whether the layout of the schematics, tables and applied images affected students‘ correctness for the solution. The main aim of the research was to find some similar segments in the experimental data and obtain clusters that would suggest a similar approach of the problem solved by students – respondents, and to find out if - and possibly how - some strategies in the assignments differ at the talented students from the standard pupil population and compare the outcomes with students’ characteristics.

For both groups of students, some basic measures are proposed to increase the efficiency of student‘s work with an assignment displayed on a computer screen. Thanks to these outcomes, we were able to attain the conclusion that the Eye Tracking is a proper experimental method which we would like to use e.g. for research of gifted students. In our study, we were considering strategies for teaching gifted students.

Keywords:

Eye-tracking, eye movements, data analysis, educational strategies, experimental study, assignment solving strategies, areas of interests.