Abstract
This article investigated how a component of a computerized simulation (Extracurricular Activities) could influence the behavior of early childhood preservice teachers before and after they were involved in four weeks of field experience. Statistical measures applied to analyze the data were Somers'd, Gamma, correlation and regression analyses, with significant differences as follow: Somers'd (d = .322, p < .08); Gamma (.450, p < .08); Pearson's R (.466, p < .02); Spearman (.379, p < .08); Regression (b = .485, p < .02). Regression model explains 21.7% of overall variation in the dependent variable (R2 = .217). Results indicate that preservice early childhood teachers tend to rate the effectiveness of the simulation higher after the field experience than before it. Qualitative analysis explored subjects' participation in extracurricular activities before and after field experience, and their related explanations along with thematic descriptions.
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