Instructional Science

Although previous studies have revealed that knowledge gaps, which refer to differences in what individuals want to know and what they already know, lead to curiosity, students may not experience curiosity for every phenomenon they believe they lack the knowledge of. Herein, we empirically examined the reasons for not feeling curious about the unknown when recognizing science-related knowledge gaps, with a specific focus on interest. Two consecutive studies were conducted. In Study 1, we investigated the association between curiosity arousal and a feeling of interest using the chi-square, Breslow–Day, and Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel tests. In Study 2, we utilized a mixed-method approach to examine whether students’ individual and situational interests could predict curiosity arousal. Twenty-five sixth-grade students participated in Study 1, and six of them participated in Study 2. Based on the results of our study, we observed a robust connection between curiosity and interest, irrespective of students’ level of science curiosity or knowledge gap. Notably, contextualized curiosity, which is aroused when recognizing knowledge gaps within specific contexts, presented a stronger association with situational interest. By contrast, decontextualized curiosity, which is aroused when recognizing knowledge gaps not specific to a particular context, exhibited an association with individual interest. However, interest alone does not account for all instances of curiosity arousal, as indicated by exceptions where it is challenging to attribute the arousal of curiosity solely to interest. We discussed the interpretation and limitations of these results, as well as their implications for education and future research.

In classrooms that implement student-driven, collaborative knowledge building, there is a lot for teachers to attend to in student work, alongside numerous ways of interpreting and responding to what is noticed, giving rise to countless possibilities of furthering students’ inquiry and discourse. The current study aims to make sense of these possibilities by identifying patterns in a veteran teacher’s reflective noticing of student inquiry in two Grade 5 classrooms. Using a Knowledge Building approach, the fifth graders studied the human body systems supported by a collaborative online environment (Knowledge Forum) over an eight-month period. The teacher kept weekly journals to record her reflective noticing of student inquiry and envisioning (planning) of possible ways to facilitate deeper knowledge building work. Using a grounded theory approach, we analyzed the teacher’s reflective journal entries to identify critical themes characterizing the teacher’s attention, interpretation, and planning of responsive moves. Visual network analysis further traced multiple pathways of teacher noticing and envisioning, each involving attending to specific changes in student inquiry and discourse, interpreting these changes within a temporal context, and envisioning responsive actions that could be taken up with her students. The teacher’s responsive moves focused on leveraging student-generated ideas to unfold new possibilities of deepening, expanding, or better co-regulating their inquiry and discourse. The findings shed light on how teachers may work with emergent processes of student-driven inquiry to scaffold ever-deeper knowledge building in a collaborative community.

The purpose of the study was to investigate (a) whether the effects of hand tracing and whole-body tracing reported in the literature could be extended to adults, and (b) the relative superiority of whole-body tracing over hand tracing. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the potential effects of these two kinesthetic approaches on learning outcomes, cognitive load, and intrinsic motivation. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that hand tracing enhanced germane load contingent upon a low-to-medium level of perceived difficulty. This effect disappeared in Experiment 2 where additional measures were taken to improve treatment fidelity. The findings of Experiment 2 revealed the beneficial effects of whole-body tracing on germane load, extraneous load, interest, and self-monitoring, some of which were dependent upon learners’ perceived difficulty and invested effort. These findings, along with implications, limitations, and future research directions, were discussed within the framework of cognitive load theory and embodied cognition theory.

Peer feedback is widely applied to support peer learning and accumulating studies pointed out that feedback features directly impact its learning benefits. However, existing peer feedback studies provide limited insights into group-level peer feedback activities in authentic classrooms. This study conducted group-level peer feedback activity in social studies classrooms of a Singapore secondary school. Fourteen groups of students (N = 61, Female = 61) participated in group-level peer feedback during the computer-supported collaborative argumentation activities. Students’ collaborative argumentation and peer feedback were collected. Paired sample t-test was conducted to compare each group’s argumentation performance before and after peer feedback activity. Qualitative content analysis was implemented to identify the cognitive and affective features of peer feedback given and received by more-improvement groups and less-improvement groups. A comparison of the feature networks between two student groups revealed the effective practices of peer feedback. The results demonstrated the key role of the specific solution when student groups gave and received peer feedback apart from problem identification and general suggestions. Besides, providing peer feedback at the overall argumentation level was found to be more beneficial than a word or evidence level. When receiving feedback, the use of hedge was found to bring more group improvement than mitigation language. These findings highlight the important features of peer feedback in group-level peer feedback activities, providing insights for the design and instruction of group-level peer feedback activities in authentic classrooms.

The rising application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Bard in language teaching and learning heralds a transformative era. Yet, the experiences and perspectives of university students on integrating these tools into their translation studies remain underexplored. This qualitative study, conducted in a research-intensive, Sino-foreign cooperative university in southern China, explored university students’ perceived benefits and challenges of utilizing GenAI in translation practices, as well as their preferred support mechanisms for addressing encountered issues. Data was collected through open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and analyzed by using reflexive thematic analysis. Results underscored the advantages of GenAI in enhancing translation efficiency, quality, learning, and practice, fostering a positive outlook and social benefits. Nevertheless, issues such as adequacy, prompt engineering efficacy, practical application, technical limitations, accountability, transparency, and potential AI dependency were noted. Beyond existing self-help strategies, there was an expressed need for additional guidance from educators and institutions. This study enriches our comprehension of how university students perceive and engage with GenAI tools in translation, offering insights for educators and academic institutions to optimize future teaching strategies. It also outlines the study’s limitations and proposes directions for subsequent research.

Instructors traditionally lecture on new content before providing practice problems, but learning is often superficial. Exploratory learning before instruction deepens conceptual understanding by giving students a novel activity to explore before direct instruction. We examined how increasing the salience of contrasting cases in exploration versus practice activities impacts these learning benefits. Undergraduate students in statistics courses (Experiments 1–2) or a lab study (Experiment 3) completed a problem-solving activity either before (explore-first condition) or after (instruct-first condition) instruction about statistical variance. In Experiment 1 (N = 116), the problem-solving activity included a dataset with minimally contrasting cases. In Experiment 2 (N = 143), the activity increased the contrasts between cases to highlight important problem features. In Experiment 3 (N = 225), students were randomly assigned to complete problems with either minimal or increased contrasts. Students completed a posttest measuring conceptual understanding. When contrasts were minimal (Exps. 1&3), posttest scores were equal between explore-first and instruct-first conditions. When contrasts were increased (Exps. 2&3), posttest scores were higher in the explore-first condition compared to the instruct-first condition. However, in Experiment 3, minimal contrasts led to middling scores that were neither better nor worse than increased contrasts. Students in the instruct-first conditions used fewer correct problem steps on the learning activity when given increased compared to minimal contrasts, suggesting disengagement. Exploratory learning before instruction may help deepen cognitive engagement, showing benefits only when students might otherwise disengage.

The study examined the influence of feedback features on revision uptake in dialogic peer feedback activities, and the moderating effect of self-efficacy and prior knowledge on this relationship. Data were collected over a 10-week course at a comprehensive university in China, involving 29 students and resulting in 242 revision-oriented comments. To understand peer feedback features, we analyzed the feedback received by students in terms of cognition (identification, explanation, suggestion, or solution) and affect (positive, negative, positive-and-negative, or neutral). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that: (1) explanation, suggestion and positive-and-negative evaluation negatively predicted revision uptake; (2) self-efficacy had a significant positive effect on revision uptake, and also played a role in moderating the relationship between explanation and uptake; (3) although prior knowledge could not directly predict revision uptake, it moderated the relationship between positive-and-negative evaluation and feedback uptake. These findings have instructional implications for designing and organizing peer feedback activities.

Cognitive load studies are mostly centered on information on perceived cognitive load. Single-item subjective rating scales are the dominant measurement practice to investigate overall cognitive load. Usually, either invested mental effort or perceived task difficulty is used as an overall cognitive load measure. However, the extent to which the results of these two single-items differ has not yet been sufficiently investigated. Although subjective rating scales are widely used, they are criticized and questioned as their validity is doubted. This study examines construct validity of both cognitive load rating scales (invested mental effort, perceived task difficulty) using relative task difficulty and task demands (cognitive processes and availability of possible answer options) as criteria, adds further evidence supporting the validity of single-item subjective ratings as an indicator for overall cognitive load, and shows how ratings of cognitive load differ when the invested mental effort or the perceived task difficulty item is used. The results indicate that self-ratings might be influenced by the availability of possible answer options as well as cognitive processes necessary to work on a task. The findings also confirm the idea that self-ratings for perceived task difficulty and invested mental effort do not measure the same but different aspects of overall cognitive load. Furthermore, our findings clearly advise to precisely examine at which point and how frequently cognitive load is measured as delayed ratings are closely related to more demanding items within a set of items. Considering advantages of single-item subjective ratings (easy to implement even in huge samples, low time exposure, and suitableness for repeated measures) and disadvantages of alternative ways to measure cognitive load (regarding cost and time efficiency and problem of additional load), current results confirm the use of these items to get an impression of the overall cognitive load. However, the results also suggest that both items do not measure the same thing and researchers should therefore discuss carefully which item they use and how this may limit the results of their study.

Recent research has shown that enhancing instructional videos with questions, such as self-explanation prompts, and thus shifting the process from receptive to constructive learning, is beneficial to learning. However, the inclusion of questions is often confounded with the implementation of learner pacing through navigation features. Furthermore, previous studies have often not controlled for learning time. To address these shortcomings, an experiment (N = 128) was conducted. Participants watched an instructional video about cloud formation and lightning, with learning time controlled. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, navigation features (learner pacing vs. system pacing) and self-explanation prompts (prompts vs. no prompts) were manipulated. The results showed no effects of navigation features and self-explanation prompts on learning performance. While navigation features did not affect cognitive load, self-explanation prompts increased both intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. Overall, the quality of responses to prompts was low but positively related to comprehension. The results are discussed in terms of the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive framework and Cognitive Load Theory. They highlight the importance of boundary conditions when investigating the effects of interactive features in instructional videos.

Exploratory learning before instruction typically benefits conceptual understanding compared to traditional instruction-first methods. The current study examined whether different exploration prompts impact students’ exploration approaches and learning outcomes, using a quasi-experimental design. Undergraduate students (N = 164) in psychological statistics courses were taught the procedure and concepts of standard deviation. Students in the instruct-first condition received direct instruction then a practice problem. Students in the explore-first conditions attempted the problem before instruction, with exploration prompts differing between conditions. Students in the explore-first invent condition were asked to invent a formula; students in the explore-first generate condition were asked to come up with different ways of measuring consistency. Students in the explore-first generate condition scored significantly higher on procedural knowledge (problem solving) than in the explore-first invent condition, conceptual knowledge than in both other conditions, and preparation for future learning (transfer) than in the instruct-first condition. Students in the explore-first invent condition scored no differently on any learning outcomes than in the instruct-first condition. Students given the strategy generation prompt more broadly explored different strategies during the exploration activity, but used fewer correct solution steps than those given the invention prompt. Broader exploration—and not accuracy—was associated with higher conceptual knowledge. Conversely, students in the instruct-first condition used fewer, more accurate, strategies on the activity compared to the explore-first conditions. They also showed greater misconceptions during the activity and posttest, indicating superficial understanding. Both explore-first conditions induced greater awareness of knowledge gaps compared to the instruct-first condition. Generating multiple strategies likely helped students discern important problem features, deepening conceptual structures that supported learning even beyond the initial lesson.

Any teaching method may have both strengths and weaknesses concerning student learning outcomes. The current study investigated the moderating roles of student dispositions in the relationship between instructional activity and science literacy performance based on data from the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015. Using samples from the US (n = 7,875) and China (n = 9,081), we found the moderating role of student science self-efficacy in relationships between instructional activity and student science literacy. The findings suggested that instructional activity showed a differential association with science literacy outcomes depending on the level of student science self-efficacy across the two countries. In addition, all student disposition variables appear to be significantly associated with science literacy performance. These results suggest that student dispositions should be considered an integral part of science learning processes.

Discussion has become a crucial method of interactive learning in online collaborative environments. This study aims to identify the impact of different task motivation compositions and learning scaffolding on attention, learning performance, and behavioral patterns. The 90 Chinese undergraduate and graduate students (Mage=20.38, SDage=1.63) were told that they would be engaged in an online collaborative knowledge-building task with a virtual peer and a teacher. The peer and the teacher were actually simulated participant and their responses were pre-set. ANOVA results indicated that task motivation, but not learning scaffolding, had a significant effect on attention. Task motivation and learning scaffolding interactively accounted for learning performance. Furthermore, the result of mediation analysis shows that the association between task motivation and learning performance was mediated by attention, but the indirect effects of all the mediating variables were not significant between learning scaffolding and learning performance. In addition, students’ deep knowledge construction behavior in online discussion increased significantly in the conceptual and reflective scaffold conditions compared to just providing conceptual scaffolding irrespective of task motivation. These results suggest that although learning scaffolding does not significantly improve learners’ visual attention, the contribution of learning scaffolds to online discussion cannot be neglected. The practical implications of this study for online education are that learning scaffolding, especially reflective scaffolding, should be provided as a way to engage learners in productive, difficult conversations and improve the quality of their discussions in addition to enhancing task motivation.

This research sought to answer the question about what students learnt from a self-regulated learning (SRL) video annotation tool in a hybrid secondary acting classroom. SRL is an important skill for students to self-direct their own learning processes. For the intervention, students engaged in a series of SRL activities through the video annotation tool, VideoAnt, for six weeks during the distance learning period. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was conducted. Quantitative data was collected using the International Thespian Society – Acting Rubric to assess students’ acting skills. Qualitative data was collected via semi-structured individual interviews. Quantitative findings demonstrated students gained proficiency in acting skills after using the video annotation tool in the acting classroom. Interview data about participants’ perceptions of the intervention were analyzed to triangulate quantitative findings. Implications of these findings for theatre/art educators and academics investing in SRL are discussed.

Learning of motor skills in physical education classes occurs through different instructional approaches: via instructional explanations from the teacher (I), and via self-determined practice (problem-solving; PS). In our study, we explored whether the sequence of PS and I impacts performance enhancement among primary school children learning javelin throwing. Fifty 4th graders participated and were allocated to either I-PS or PS-I or PS-I with additional practice. Across groups, the children demonstrated improvements in executing movement features, yet there was no significant improvement in throwing distance. The temporal order of PS and I did not mediate these improvements. Additional practice did not lead to further improvements in performance. Our results contrast with earlier results in secondary school children in whom PS-I was more effective than I-PS Loibl & Leukel (2023). The lack of a significant advantage for PS-I over I-PS could stem from the primary children’s limited ability to develop declarative knowledge during PS that links to the content of I.

One discussion in the context of education for sustainable development centers around the importance of suitable teaching materials for promoting pro-environmental attitudes. Especially applications that let learners travel to otherwise difficult to reach places seem promising for digital sustainability education that is both accessible and socially just. Applications for German-speaking learners are however rare, and it has often not been checked whether those that exist are fit for classroom use. Therefore, this paper focuses on an investigation of the Virtual Reality (VR) learning application "On Biodiversity’s Tracks", developed by greenpeace, with a focus on the environment of the Amazon rainforest. In an experimental study, (1) VR-based and (2) traditional lesson conditions were compared in terms of their effects on self-appraisal of knowledge, interest, and attitude. Pre- and post-questionnaires were used to uncover between-subject and within-subject effects. 172 students at eight secondary schools in Germany were recruited. The results revealed that both experimental conditions were effective regarding increase of self-appraised knowledge. An increase in interest was barely found in either condition. Changes at the attitudinal level could mostly not be discovered. Further analyses highlighted that, unlike the experimental conditions, there were significant differences in self-rated learning outcomes between the types of schools. In general, our results indicate that VR learning applications can contribute to the teaching of topics such as sustainability and biodiversity in a target group-oriented and meaningful way. However, further research is needed to adequately assess VR learning effectiveness, especially regarding affective learning outcomes, due to their importance for sustainable behaviors of subsequent generations.

In learning journals, prompts were shown to increase self-regulated learning processes effectively. As studies on effects of long-term prompting are sparse, this study investigates the effects of prompting cognitive and metacognitive self-regulation strategies short-term and long-term in learning journals on learners’ strategy use, self-efficacy, and learning outcome. Therefore, 74 university students kept a weekly learning journal as follow-up course work over a period of eight weeks. All students’ learning journals included prompts for a short-term period, half of the students were prompted long-term. While self-efficacy was assessed via self-reports, strategy use was measured with self-reports and qualitative data from the learning journals. Learning outcomes were assessed via course exams. Short-term prompting increased self-reported cognitive and metacognitive strategy use, and the quantity of cognitive strategy use. Yet, it did not affect self-efficacy, which predicted the learning outcome. Irrespective whether prompting continued or not, self-reported cognitive and metacognitive strategy use, and self-efficacy decreased. Qualitative data indicate that the quantity of learners’ cognitive strategy use kept stable irrespective of the condition. The results indicate that short-term prompting activates cognitive and metacognitive strategy use. Long-term prompting in learning journals had no effect on strategy use, self-efficacy, and performance. Future research should investigate possible enhancers of long-term prompting like feedback, adaptive prompts or additional support.

In teacher education, video representations of practice offer a motivating means for applying conceptual teaching knowledge toward real-world settings. With video analysis, preservice teachers can begin cultivating professional vision skills through noticing and reasoning about presented core teaching practices. However, with novices’ limited prior knowledge and experience, processing transient information from video can be challenging. Multimedia learning research suggests instructional design techniques for support, such as signaling keyword cues during video viewing, or presenting focused self-explanation prompts which target theoretical knowledge application during video analysis. This study investigates the professional vision skills of noticing and reasoning (operationalized as descriptions and interpretations of relevant noticed events) from 130 preservice teachers participating in a video-analysis training on the core practice of small-group instruction. By means of experimental comparisons, we examine the effects of signaling cues and focused self-explanation prompts on professional vision performance. Further, we explore the impact of these techniques, considering preservice teachers’ situational interest. Overall, results demonstrated that preservice teachers’ professional vision skills improved from pretest to posttest, but the instructional design techniques did not generally offer additional support. However, moderation analysis indicated that training with cues fostered professional vision skills for preservice teachers with low situational interest. This suggests that for uninterested novices, signaling cues may compensate for the generative processing boost typically associated with situational interest. Research and practice implications involve the consideration of situational interest as a powerful component of instructional design, and that keyword cueing can offer an alternative when interest is difficult to elicit.

Discourse analysis, as a mainstream research method in classroom teaching, has gained widespread attention in education. Educators believe that children's thinking development requires support from interactive discourse. In this study, four primary school mathematics classes were segmented based on the form, frequency, content, and purpose of teacher-student interactions. A total of 73 dialogue segments were selected for coding, resulting in 338 codes. The coding process was based on the turn of talk and assigned corresponding coding numbers to the content of teacher-student discourse in the fragments according to the Bloom-Turney teaching questioning code list and the Hierarchical Framework of Student Thinking Level based on Biggs-Collis Structure of the observed learning outcome. The results show that Knowledge level question (Q1), Understanding level question (Q2), Application level question (Q3), Synthesis level question (Q5), and Evaluation level question (Q6) are related to students' low-level thinking. The questions of Analysis level (Q4), Synthesis level (Q5), and Evaluation level (Q6) are related to students' high-level thinking. We found that there are variety of interactive structures between teachers and students in the question and answer session, among which three interaction structures show significant performance, namely Q2 → M (Multiple-point structural level) → Q4 → C (Correlational structural level), Q3 → M → Q4 → C, Q3 → M → Q6 → A (Abstract-extension level), these structures can show how teachers timely adjust the types of questions according to students' answers to improve students' thinking level.