Instructional Science

Illustrative examples demonstrate how abstract information can be applied in real-world. In the context of advancing evidence-informed teaching practice, the current intervention study investigated to what extent student teachers should be supported in learning educational theories and findings by different example-based approaches. Conducting a 1 × 3-factorial design, N = 105 student teachers were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: After a pre-test, all groups received the same learning instruction on the topic of cooperative learning. Then, (1) n = 35 students were prompted to generate own examples for the instructional text, (2) n = 35 students received examples along with the text, and (3) n = 35 students studied the text only, without any prompts or examples. In a post-questionnaire, it was retrospectively assessed how students perceived their learning control in engaging with the material; in a post-test, knowledge retention and knowledge transfer were measured. As assumed, findings revealed that generating examples enhanced perceived learning control and learning outcomes compared to studying provided examples. Students who learned with the instructional text only achieved lowest learning outcomes; but contrary to the expectations, these students perceived their learning control comparably high as those who generated examples. Mediation analyses indicated that for students who received illustrative examples or the instructional text only, a greater learning control perception was positively associated with knowledge retention, subsequently enhancing knowledge transfer. The study underscores the benefits of illustrative examples in teacher education, particularly when students engage in generating them. It suggests further examination of how and why example generation facilitates learning.

Computer-supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA) is an effective pedagogy to help deepen the learners’ understanding of content knowledge and develop their 21st-century competencies such as communication and collaboration skills, as well as creative and inventive thinking. In this study, the Spiral Model of Collaborative Knowledge Improvement (SMCKI) was employed to script learners’ CSCA in a secondary school classroom in Singapore. This exploratory study examined whether students’ argumentation artifacts, English language writing, and argumentation writing improved through the scripted CSCA activity. The results showed that students improved in both English language writing and argumentation writing quality across the various phases of SMCKI. The implications of these findings for the design and implementation of scripted CSCA in authentic classroom teaching and learning settings are discussed.

Prior research has shown that Productive Failure (PF), where learners attempt (and fail) to solve a problem prior to receiving instruction, is more effective for conceptual knowledge acquisition than receiving instruction first (Direct Instruction; DI). Higher diversity in generated solution attempts seemed positively associated with conceptual knowledge acquisition. The present study investigated whether observing another student’s attempts to solve the problem prior to receiving instruction (i.e., Vicarious Failure; VF) is as beneficial as PF for conceptual knowledge acquisition in mathematics and whether this depends on the diversity in the observed solution attempts. In the high solution diversity condition (VF-high), students observed five solution attempts that (taken together) included all four components of the to-be-learned canonical solution, while in the low diversity condition (VF-low), the solution attempts included only two of these components. Secondary education students (n = 152) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: PF, VF-high, VF-low, and Direct Instruction (DI). As expected, students in the VF-high condition significantly outperformed students in the VF-low and DI conditions and performed as well as students in the PF condition on the conceptual knowledge posttest. Surprisingly, the PF effect found in previous studies was not replicated, i.e., the PF condition descriptively seemed to outperform the DI condition, but this difference was not statistically significant. Our findings provide further insight into the mechanisms that explain why engaging with problems prior to instruction is effective, suggesting that students’ activation of prior knowledge is more critical than whether they experience failure first hand.

Early mathematics education presents middle-school students with the challenge of adding and subtracting negative integers. This paper reports on results from the experimental implementation of a proposed educational design for integer arithmetic that utilized the number-line (NL) form as a resource for students to enact simple addition and subtraction problems under two conditions: (1) a body-scale floor-based NL, where arithmetic operations are enacted by walking; and (2) a regular desk-based NL supplemented with an action-figure for re-enacting the floor-based solutions. This design is the first iteration of a design-based research project and was developed based on the experience of the first author’s five years teaching in this topic. 15 Grade 7 students participated in the project’s pilot study that centered on how students coordinate procedurally analogous calculation activities across the large and small NL. The activity elicited students’ implicit confusions surrounding integer subtraction, thus creating opportunities for corrective intervention. Analyses also generated operative inferences shaping the subsequent design iteration. Implications are drawn more broadly for enactive mathematics pedagogy, particularly through the lens of comparing students’ egocentric orientations toward immersive instantiations of cultural–historical mathematical forms to their allocentric perceptual orientations toward the normative forms of the same concepts. As Extended Reality (XR, e.g. virtual reality, augmented reality) experiences enter mathematics classrooms, it may become vital to develop pedagogical methodologies in support of coordinating conceptually complementary perceptual perspectives.

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.

Abstract

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.

Abstract

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.

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.

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.