Many studies have incorporated concept maps into digital games to enable learners to make connections between subject concepts in the game. However, most learners do not associate spontaneously with the thematic concepts in the game but need to be facilitated by effective scaffolding mechanisms to reconceptualize the learning process and content. Therefore, this study proposed a knowledge check-based concept map-guided gaming strategy for chemistry learning for secondary-level learners. Specifically, the knowledge check-based concept map-guided gaming strategy was employed as a learning strategy while playing digital games. The knowledge check mechanismwas developed based on the notation of two-tier testing. Moreover, the learning environment was a self-developed chemical classification-based digital game, in which learners learned through concept mapping guided gaming tasks with factual and conceptual questions to confirm that they can actually learn content and conceptual understanding in the game. To understand the effects of the proposed strategy, a quasi-experimental design was adopted to measure compare two groups’ learning achievement, problem-solving awareness, critical thinking tendency, and germane cognitive load of seventh-grade students using the knowledge check-based concept map-guided gaming strategy and the conventional concept map-guided gaming strategy. The results of the study showed that learners’ learning achievement, problem-solving awareness, critical thinking tendency, and germane cognitive load in chemistry learning were effectively improved by the knowledge check-based concept map-guided gaming strategy. Furthermore, this study implies that teachers can adjust their teaching scaffolds and provide strategies according to learners’ learning behaviors in digital game-based learning.
This study examines the potential of virtual reality (VR) technology in language learning, specifically for the Maltese language. Despite the popularity and advancement of VR, its use in teaching minor languages like Maltese has not been extensively explored. The concern is that the lack of technological resources may lead to the extinction of the Maltese language in the digital world. The study utilizes a primarily qualitative research methodology, with a minor quantitative component, to collect data from twenty-five teachers regarding the use of VR in Maltese language learning contexts. The findings reveal both the potential benefits and challenges of using VR in teaching Maltese as a second language (ML2). Although the participants have not used VR for teaching Maltese due to the absence of Maltese VR apps, they have experience with VR in English. They praise VR for its ability to create an immersive and engaging learning environment with entertaining features. However, the study also highlights several challenges associated with VR, including high costs, the bulkiness of headsets, and technical issues. It underscores the pressing need for additional research and development in this field to ensure the preservation of the Maltese language in the digital era.
Developing countries around the world are scaling up education interventions. New educational technologies offer opportunities to develop new models to deliver quality education at scale. However, the literature suggests that defining scale is complex, especially in heterogeneous contexts. This paper provides a conceptualization of scale as a dynamic process with three key dimensions: ‘quantity’, ‘diffusion,’ and ‘quality’ through the case of a multi-state, multi-stakeholder program called Connected Learning Initiative in India. It also describes the implementation processes that involve teacher professional development, student engagement, technological developments, and efforts to improve classroom processes in a multifactor environment of stakeholder needs, context, and variance in resources. In conclusion, robust and flexible design approaches for scale are discussed, with implications for further research.
Secondary science students still struggle to master scientific concepts and apply content-based knowledge. The instructional design behind the incorporation of innovative technology and the use of game-based learning (GBL) could be a key to increasing student acquisition of science knowledge. Using a mixed methods design, this study examined the effects of a scaffolded Game-based Learning (GBL) science unit using a virtual reality (VR) game component. The VR game focused on the scientific method, lab safety, and equipment, and purposefully embedded instructional scaffolds to support the needs of diverse learners. The quasi-experimental study (pre- and post-test design) investigated the acquisition of targeted science knowledge with student groups of differing motivation levels and under two different game modes (immersive and non-immersive). With a mixed methods embedded design, quantitative data (student pre- and post-tests) was analyzed first followed by qualitative data (classroom video observations and student focus groups). Statistical analysis revealed: (1) students demonstrate an overall improvement on the post-test of targeted science knowledge in a scaffolded GBL learning design, (2) students using the immersive VR mode showed greater improvement in targeted science knowledge than students using the non-immersive desktop game, and (3) students with low intrinsic motivation performed better in the immersive VR than the desktop version. Further examination of qualitative data uncovered the GBL curricular activities and scaffolds may have also contributed to students’ science learning gains through reflection and discussion after gameplay experiences. The repeated multimodal learning opportunities and the opportunities to learn through whole-body movements were also found to be the potential reasons why the immersive VR group outperformed the non-immersive group.
Educational chatbots are gaining momentum due to their distinctive affordances of interactivity, immediacy, ease of use, and individualized experience. However, a fairly limited body of literature discusses how a chatbot can facilitate collaborative learning among peers in extensive reading contexts to encourage more vibrant interactions supporting further interest development. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze the affordances and limitations of a chatbot to facilitate human–human interactions by incorporating the refined Academically Productive Talk framework for nurturing a learning community, forming accurate knowledge, fostering rigorous thinking, and encouraging affective responses for elementary school learners. Specifically, the purpose of the research was to observe the situational interest of the learners, their interaction patterns, and their social learning behaviors. This research developed a chatbot stored with 64 children’s storybooks to initiate and facilitate peer dialogues. A group of 30 learners were paired up to conduct two chatbot-facilitated dialogic reading activities. A total of 30 discourse logs and students’ feedback on a survey of situational interest were analyzed. The discourse analysis of this research supports the affordances of the chatbot acting as an effective dialogue initiator and discussion facilitator to support both human-chatbot and human–human social learning. The chatbot encourages a diverse interactive dialogic climate, and four interaction patterns were identified. The situational interest of the initial encounter with the chatbot was boosted; however, their interest was unable to be sustained. The implications for the affordances and limitations of educational chatbots are discussed.
Recently, integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has gained sustained attention in K-12 settings, and engineering design-based pedagogy has become a key issue. Compared with rich research in higher education, relatively few studies are performed on engineering education in K-12 schools. In this study, we combined Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) model with the engineering design process (EDP), naming EDP-CDIO, aiming to promote high school students’ STEM competence and compare its effects with the conventional CDIO approach. A pretest–posttest nonequivalent group design was conducted among 64 eleventh-grade students with eleven lessons. Quantitative data were collected via a pretest and posttest, and qualitative data were collected via artifacts and semistructured interviews. The repeated-measures analysis of variance and epistemic network analysis revealed that, compared with the conventional CDIO approach, the EDP-CDIO model significantly improved students’ STEM knowledge, skills, and attitudes and developed more comprehensive epistemic networks in STEM competence. These findings provide a reference for K-12 STEM teachers, encouraging them to implement the EDP-CDIO model more frequently in the classroom, especially with the iterative design process.
We report findings from an eDelphi study that aimed to explore 16 expert panelists’ perspectives regarding the key attributes of learning experience design (LXD) as it relates to the following: design, disciplines, methods, and theory. Findings suggest consensus was reached regarding LXD’s focus on learner-centrism and incorporating human-centered design practices to design learning environments. LXD practitioners adapt methods and theories from fields such as human–computer interaction and user experience. Implications suggest a need to develop specific methods and theories within our own field.
Research on the educational value of play tends to focus on active players, especially when evaluating novel interaction technologies. However, a long history of scholarship underscores observing communal practice as a primary means of enculturation and learning. This paper demonstrates learning opportunities available within a range of participation forms—from spectator to player and some in between—that emerge around Geometris, a collaborative, body-scale geometry game, as installed in a children’s science museum. Considering learning as participation in communal practice, I present frequency analysis of roughly 350 participants followed by thick narrative descriptions of 3 focal groups to characterize the learning opportunities available within diverse forms of participation in this technologically enabled gameplay. I also identify particular design elements—namely the user-agnostic input mechanism and certain crowd control measures—that inadvertently enabled these participation forms. Theoretical implications include the pedagogically relevant range of action–perception possibilities available across participation forms. Additionally, proposed design heuristics could facilitate these diverse forms of participation in other educational designs.
Multiple document comprehension and knowledge integration across domains are particularly important for pre-service teachers, as integrated professional knowledge forms the basis for teaching expertise and competence. This study examines the effects of instructional prompts and relevance prompts embedded in pre-service teachers’ learning processes on the quality their knowledge integration in multiple document comprehension across domains. 109 pre-service teachers participated in an experimental study. They read four texts on “competencies” from different knowledge domains and wrote a text on a given scenario. Experimental group 1 was aided with instructional and relevance prompts, while experimental group 2 received only relevance prompts. The control group received no prompting. Perceived relevance of knowledge integration was assessed in a pre-post-test. Pre-service teachers’ separative and integrative learning, epistemological beliefs, metacognition, study-specific self-concept, and post-experimental motivation were assessed as control variables. Participants’ texts were analyzed concerning knowledge integration by raters and with computer linguistic measures. A key finding is that combined complex prompting enhances pre-service teachers perceived relevance of knowledge integration. This study found effects of prompting types on the pre-service teachers’ semantic knowledge structures. Implications for transfer are discussed.
Gamification is gaining popularity in education because of its positive effects on learning motivation and engagement. However, several studies have doubted the long-term sustainable effects of gamification pedagogy, arguing that it provides only short-term benefits. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to explore the sustainability of gamification effects in learning. A crossover quasi-experiment was designed to trace the change of the impact of a gamified reading tool on children’s reading over time. The results show that active participants’ reading habits, motivation, and interests increased sharply during the use of the gamification application and then decreased slightly after they ceased using the application but remained higher than before the intervention. A discussion of how to create the persistence and sustainability of the effects of gamification for learning is presented.
Blended synchronous learning has diffused widely owing to its flexibility and accessibility. One of the special forms—blended synchronous classroom program (BSCP) for equitable education has fruited in some countries and areas. An in-depth understanding of the adoption and diffusion of an innovation is beneficial to a wider range of innovation. However, there might be a barrier for the diffusion of BSCP’s successful experience to other area due to differences in sociocultural orientation. In addition, there is basically little evidence on how BSCP is adopted and spread in a certain area. According to the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, a principal is generally the main innovation initiator in the school. Therefore, this study explores how BSCP had been adopted and diffused in an area in Southeastern China from the perspective of principals in primary and junior middle schools using Rogers’s DOI theory as the theoretical lens. The data was mainly collected from in-depth one-on-one interviews with nine (9) experienced principals. The results showed that multi-aspect factors provided preconditions for innovation of BSCP. Even though with a certain degree of complexity, perceived positive characteristics of BSCP helped the principals make the decision to adopt BSCP. In addition, practical strategies and creative man-made mechanisms ensured BSCP’s success and sustainability. Finally, the highlights for the BSCP’s adoption and diffusion in Yongkang are discussed from sociocultural orientation. The study will contribute to the wider diffusion study empirically and theoretically.
The systematic literature review (1) investigates whether ‘serious games’ provide a viable solution to the limitations posed by traditional high-stakes performance assessments and (2) aims to synthesize game design principles for the game-based performance assessment of professional competencies. In total, 56 publications were included in the final review, targeting knowledge, motor skills and cognitive skills and further narrowed down to teaching, training or assessing professional competencies. Our review demonstrates that serious games are able to provide an environment and task authentic to the target competency. Collected in-game behaviors indicate that serious games are able to elicit behavior that is related to a candidates’ ability level. Progress feedback and freedom of gameplay in serious games can be implemented to provide an engaging and enjoyable environment for candidates. Few studies examined adaptivity and some examined serious games without an authentic environment or task. Overall, the review gives an overview of game design principles for game-based performance assessment. It highlights two research gaps regarding authenticity and adaptivity and concludes with three implications for practice.
This study investigated preservice teachers’ experiences of helping peers with technical support. Considering college-aged students prefer to seek help from relative experts rather than instructors, the rationale for the study was to contribute to the literature on relative expertise by exploring how preservice teachers supported peers. A mixed methods approach was employed using (1) social network analysis to find and identify the preservice teachers who assisted the greatest number of peers and (2) phenomenological interviewing and thematic analysis to understand how they helped their peers with technical support. Findings show that prior to serving as a relative expert around technical support, a preservice teacher explores tools and becomes comfortable with offering support. Findings also show how relative experts are approached by peers, how they offer support, and what changes they exhibit in confidence and comfort as a result of offering support. The findings in this study could be leveraged by teacher education programs to increase outcomes related to technology use and relative expertise. Implications and future research directions are noted including the potential value of peer technical support to help preservice teachers more easily transition to inservice teaching.
Computational thinking (CT) has received growing interest as a research subject in the last decade, with research contributions attempting to capitalize on the benefits that CT may provide. This study included a systematic analysis aimed at revealing current trends in the CT subject, identifying educational interventions, and emerging assessment instruments. It also gave an overview of how teachers learned CT skills and how they integrated the CT curriculum into classroom practices. We searched the data in the Web of Science database and identified 360 articles. Most importantly, it emphasized the following points: (a) the most popular subject areas in CT literature; (b) CT intervention tools; (c) CT assessment practices used so far within educational courses; and (d) effective CT approaches to influence pre-service teachers. Results from this review revealed that CT’s promotion in education had achieved significant progress in recent years. Along with the growth in the number of CT studies, the number of subjects, research questions, and teaching approaches also increased in recent years. It was also found that CT was mostly used in science, mathematics, programming, and computer science tasks, with little work in artificial intelligence (AI) and non-STEM areas. The essence of this paper implicated the researchers in designing the curriculum based on different subject domains. Furthermore, we recommended integrating augmented reality-based games using CT methodologies into the curriculum.
The purpose of this study is to explore the current status of micro-credentialing policies and practices in Middle Eastern and North African universities. Using a quantitative approach and a comprehensive questionnaire based on recent work by the Australasian Council on Open, Distance, and e-Learning (as reported by ACODE, Survey of micro-credentialing practice in Australasian universities 2021: An ACODE Whitepaper—October 2021, 2021), the study investigates areas such as standards, policies, adoption rates, integration into the curriculum, credentialing engines, and professional development. The findings indicate that micro-credentialing is still in its early stages in the region, with most universities initiating micro-credentialing within the past four years. The lack of a favorable policy ecosystem and standards for learning design, content, delivery, assessment, sizing, and issuance are identified as significant hindrances to the adoption of micro-credentials. To advance the micro-credential market, the study recommends that stakeholders collaborate and create quality standards, accountability mechanisms, financing strategies, and documentation frameworks that promote interoperability. The study suggests that improving policies for micro-credentials could help legitimize them and promote a more unified vision of micro-credentials as a crucial component of the national educational strategy.
Computer science is often integrated within early childhood education (ECE) through the use of educational robots. This requires adequate preparation of ECE teachers to program and debug, which can be done with scaffolding. In this paper, we use a QUANT + qual mixed method approach incorporating lag sequential analysis, ICAP framework coding, sentiment analysis, and supplementary qualitative analysis. Students tended to engage more with tasks in the revision and evaluation phases than in the exploration phase, and became less dependent on scaffolding prompts and more competent in debugging, as debugging task complexity increased. This study addresses a key gap in the scaffolding literature in that it examined learners’ interactions with scaffolding for evidence of decreased reliance on scaffolding.
Painting is the most fundamental kind of art, and is one important part of creative practice in art courses. In typical painting classes, students paint a picture independently with only a few theoretical explanations and may lack authentic experience of the painting topic. It would therefore be meaningful to construct a new painting form to enhance students’ learning efficiency and creativity. Previous research indicated that high-quality collaboration and digital technology have the potential to enhance students’ innovation in art courses. Therefore, in the current study, a virtual reality-based collaborative painting (VR-CP) approach was developed and applied to painting in a primary school art class to verify its effectiveness. A total of 45 fifth graders from China were recruited and randomly divided into an experimental group, with 21 students learning with the VR-CP approach, and 24 students in the control group, which adopted the conventional paper-and-brush collaborative painting (C-CP) approach. The results showed that the VR-CP approach can facilitate students’ creative thinking behaviors of exploring, knowing what they want to do, analyzing ideas, and taking risks, as well as the development of product creative quality. It was found that the students learning with the VR-CP approach tended to demonstrate better collaboration levels and used more bidirectional-sharing strategies than the students learning with the C-CP approach.
Generative AI such as ChatGPT provides an instant and individualized learning environment, and may have the potential to motivate student self-regulated learning (SRL), more effectively than other non-AI technologies. However, the impact of ChatGPT on student motivation, SRL, and needs satisfaction is unclear. Motivation and the SRL process can be explained using self-determination theory (SDT) and the three phases of forethought, performance, and self-reflection, respectively. Accordingly, a Delphi design was employed in this study to determine how ChatGPT-based learning activities satisfy students’ each SDT need, and foster each SRL phase from a teacher perspective. We involved 36 SDT school teachers with extensive expertise in technology enhanced learning to develop a classification tool for learning activities that affect student needs satisfaction and SRL phases using ChatGPT. We collaborated with the teachers in three rounds to investigate and identify the activities, and we revised labels, descriptions, and explanations. The major finding is that a classification tool for 20 learning activities using ChatGPT was developed. The tool suggests how ChatGPT better satisfy SDT-based needs, and fosters the three SRL phrases. This classification tool can assist researchers in replicating, implementing, and integrating successful ChatGPT in education research and development projects. The tool can inspire teachers to modify the activities using generative AI for their own teaching, and inform policymakers on how to develop guidelines for AI in education.
Data-based decision-making is a well-established field of research in education. In particular, the potential of data use for addressing heterogeneous learning needs is emphasized. With data collected during the learning process of students, teachers gain insight into the performance, strengths, and weaknesses of their students and are potentially able to adjust their teaching accordingly. Digital media are becoming increasingly important for the use of learning data. Students can use digital learning platforms to work on exercises and receive direct feedback, while teachers gain data on the students’ learning processes. Although both data-based decision-making and the use of digital media in schools are already widely studied, there is little evidence on the combination of the two issues. This systematic review aims to answer to what extent the connection between data-based decision-making and the use of digital learning platforms has already been researched in terms of using digital learning data for further instructional design. The analysis of n = 11 studies revealed that the use of data from digital learning platforms for instructional design has so far been researched exploratively. Nevertheless, we gained initial insights into which digital learning platforms teachers use, which data they can obtain from them, and how they further use these data.
This qualitative research study aims to examine the potential of the commercially available serious game, Spiritfarer. The study focuses on the game's unique approach to serious themes and its ability to facilitate discussions about grief. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze lived experience descriptions from 54 participants. Findings indicate that Spiritfarer can impact gamers' outlook, knowledge, and behaviors, particularly related to grief, empathy, and loss management. The game achieves this through effective game design principles that generate emotional reactions and establish a connection between the narrative, characters, and players.
Productive classroom discussion has been shown to support student learning across academic domains. Facilitating successful discussion hinges on the teacher’s ability to make adept in-the-moment observations of various aspects of student talk and classroom dynamics. In two studies, we explore a pedagogical intervention using contrasting cases to support novice teachers in learning to notice key features of classroom discussion. Study 1 involves preservice teachers in a bilingual teaching methods course in a university-based credential program. Study 2 involves undergraduates in an education psychology course, many of whom are prospective teachers. Study participants engaged in analyzing transcript-based contrasting cases of discussion vignettes as they collaboratively developed guiding principles for effective class discussion. Data include pre- and post-instruction video noticing task reflections, principles identified, and transcribed partner discussions during the activity. Post-instruction, learners displayed increased student-centered noticing when watching videos of classroom discussions. Additionally, there was increased awareness of the absence of productive features or missed opportunities within the discourse. In this proof-of-concept set of studies, we explore the potential of contrasting cases-based activities to help prepare teachers for the complex task of orchestrating discussion by supporting them in learning to notice.
The content of argumentative essays is determined by multiple factors, but belief influences are understudied compared to topic knowledge and argument schema. We investigate how beliefs influence the inclusion of basic components in argumentative writing. A pre-screening survey identified believers and disbelievers in gun control effectiveness. In a subsequent laboratory session, subjects (N = 324) read a one-sided text that was either consistent or inconsistent with their beliefs. Subjects then reported their beliefs and wrote a 250-word argumentative essay explaining them. These essays were coded for the presence or absence of a claim, the number of reasons supporting the claim, the presence of a counterargument, text content, and other factors. 682 supplementary subjects provided approximately 10 ratings for each essay on several factors, including position, clarity, and consideration of both sides. Subjects who read a belief consistent text wrote essays that were more likely to contain a claim, more reasons, and text content. Subjects who read a belief inconsistent text were more likely to include an evaluative statement about the text and to consider both sides of the issue. Individual differences in belief change were related to the likelihood of stating a claim, the number of reasons, and likelihood of mentioning text content. Results suggest that beliefs influence the basic components of argumentation that are included in argumentative essays. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Because of the improvement-oriented nature of peer-feedback activities, students have to deal with errors (e.g., spelling and argumentation errors) when providing and processing peer-feedback on writing assignments. Despite the central role of errors in feedback activities, it is uncertain how students deal with errors and whether the dealing with errors is affected by interpersonal perceptions. Therefore, this study explores (1) whether cognitive sub-phases are distinguishable during the process of dealing with errors and (2) the extent to which dealing with errors is affected by interpersonal perceptions. Six dyads of Dutch 11th grade students provided and processed peer-feedback on argumentative texts while thinking-aloud, and they reflected on the processes in a post-interview. The think-aloud utterances and interviews were analyzed with a mixed-methods design, using quantitative content analyses, and qualitative thematic analyses. The dealing with errors during peer-feedback provision displayed two patterns: error identification either occurred simultaneously with the decoding and often any evaluation-related thoughts lacked, or error-identification occurred as a result of an interpreting/evaluating phase. Also during peer-feedback processing, two main patterns were observable: students either knew immediately whether they agreed with feedback, or they first had to study the feedback more thoroughly. Additionally, interpersonal perceptions seemed to affect most students implicitly during feedback provision, and most students explicitly during feedback processing. As such, this study provides empirical evidence for the existence of cognitive sub-phases in the process of dealing with errors during peer-feedback activities, and portrays how these activities may be affected by interpersonal perceptions.
As educational systems design and build new spaces aimed for learning in the digital age, small group configurations around large screens have become a highly popular spatial feature in classrooms and libraries. In this paper, we introduce the idea of intermediate indexing as occurring in the space between the knot of intertwined resources at the fine-grained level of interactions and the public knowledge building effort at the community level. Arguing that these intermediate processes occur in these configurations, we explored a classroom community that studied within a learning space designed to support knowledge building between individuals, small groups, and the community. In this paper, we report on our interaction analysis of a small group of students around a large screen as they negotiate a set of ideas that they want to make public to their community. The results of this study elucidate how collective monitoring of artifacts and documents, inclusive participation structures, and fluid turn-taking transitions in these configurations ultimately contribute to the knowledge building effort.
This study explored the use of an innovative instructional approach called Productive Failure (PF) to design an educational game and its support. The study then examined the effects of two different types of instruction—PF vs. Direct Instruction (DI)—on learning genetics and relevant mathematical knowledge in a Game-Based Learning (GBL) environment. One hundred fifty-seven Year 10 students from two high schools participated in two quasi-experimental studies. The participants were divided into two treatment groups: one group learned targeted concepts using PF with GBL (PF-GBL), while the other group learned the same concepts using DI with GBL (DI-GBL). The results of the first study indicated that the PF-GBL group showed significantly higher learning gains than the DI-GBL group on explanatory genetics knowledge. In the second study, no group difference was found between the PF-GBL group and the DI-GBL group on learning genetics and relevant mathematical knowledge. Implications of findings, limitations, and future research are discussed.
The present study examines the influence of individual competencies on knowledge integration in inter- and transdisciplinary work. Perspective taking, reflexivity, analogical reasoning, and tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty were investigated as core competencies for fostering knowledge integration. Additional hypotheses assumed that the positive effects are valid in the scientific and economic contexts and that individual competencies predict knowledge integration at different levels of expertise. To test the hypotheses, 421 participants, comprised of students (N = 165) and individuals working in science (N = 152) and economics (N = 104), answered questionnaires on knowledge integration and competencies of knowledge integration in an online survey. Further questions collected demographic data and inquired about experience and expertise in inter- and transdisciplinary work. The main result was that all postulated competencies positively related to knowledge integration. Analogical reasoning and perspective taking showed the strongest relationships with knowledge integration. Further results show that all competencies are positively related to knowledge integration in the student and expert sample, yet the interrelationships differ between the scientific and economic sample. This investigation into the competencies of knowledge integration contributes to the education of inter- and transdisciplinarians in academia and business practice.
Research suggests that troubleshooting activities that require students to reflect on teacher-crafted erroneous examples; i.e., erroneous solutions to problems that correspond to widespread naïve ideas, are beneficial to learning. One possible explanation to these beneficial effects is that troubleshooting activities encourage students to test the quality of their own naïve ideas, not only the ones driving the erroneous examples, thereby improving learning. Few studies have addressed this claim, and the results are inconsistent. These studies, however, were not designed to examine the extent to which students with different naïve ideas benefit from troubleshooting activities. Here, ten 9th grade classes took part in a field experimental study that applied a pre-post-test design after finishing a unit on exponents. Students in each class were randomly assigned to a troubleshooting (114 students) or a self-diagnosis activity (112 students). Self-diagnosis activities are considered to directly nudge students to examine the quality of their own naïve ideas by requiring them to reflect on their solutions. The troubleshooting and self-diagnosis activities both capitalized on the pre-test problems. Both groups increased their proficiency in exponents to a comparable extent from the pre-test to the immediate and the delayed post-test. Troubleshooting students with different naïve ideas detected the errors in the erroneous examples equally well, and their error detection significantly and positively correlated with their self-repair of their own naïve ideas. These findings suggest that all the students benefitted from troubleshooting activities, regardless of whether their own naïve ideas resembled the ones driving the erroneous examples or not.
The conceptualization of pre-service teachers’ knowledge integration typically involves the distinction of two types: first-order knowledge integration, which includes merging domain-specific knowledge entities into a common knowledge base, and second-order knowledge integration, which refers to the integrated (simultaneous) application of knowledge from diverse domains. This study investigates the effect of instructional prompts in the form of (a) relevance instructions and (b) guiding questions on promoting pre-service teachers’ first-order knowledge integration in a reading- and writing-based learning setting with three domain-specific study texts: one text each referring to content knowledge (CK), general pedagogical knowledge (PK), or pedagogical-content knowledge (PCK). Furthermore, the study explores whether pre-service teachers’ second-order knowledge integration depends on the degree to which they engaged in first-order knowledge integration when reading and writing about different domain-specific learning contents. The study applied a three parallel group experimental design. An analysis of essays written by N = 83 German language pre-service teachers indicated positive effects of both prompts on first-order knowledge integration. Moreover, a mediation analysis showed that pre-service teachers’ second-order knowledge integration is mediated by their first-order knowledge integration. The results are discussed and integrated into the existing body of research, practical implications are presented, and limitations of the study are explained.
This study investigates when and how awareness of knowledge gaps (AKG) manifests by observing the problem-solving phase of the educational approach known as problem-solving followed by instruction (PS-I). By comprehensively exploring cognitive and metacognitive process of learners during this phase and categorizing students’ judgements of knowledge structure in relation to AKG, it strengthens the underlying mechanisms of PS-I. With sixteen university students as participants, this study quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes conversations that take place during problem-solving activities. In the analysis, the authors suggest a total of ten cognitive and metacognitive events that occur and six judgements of knowledge structure in relation to AKG. The findings indicate that students spend most of their time solving the problem and seldom evaluate their thoughts; few express awareness of a knowledge gap. The authors discuss the relationships between the judgements of knowledge structure and consider when—and to what extent—students perceive their knowledge gaps. Lastly, the authors bring four learning behaviors (i.e., representing and reflecting on knowledge; recognizing and specifying knowledge gaps) with possible instructional strategies to promote each learning behavior.
Students’ strongly positive STEM interest and identity predict their future study and career choices in a STEM field. STEM education studies addressing multiple disciplines together are insufficient, as they have produced mixed findings and inadequate direction for advancing integrated STEM education. Self-determination theory (SDT) provides an understanding of motivational processes that influence the development of STEM interest and identity. This study investigated the effectiveness of a set of proposed teacher needs-supportive strategies on student STEM interest and identity development during a proposed 12-week SDT-based STEM program. Three hundred forty-two ninth grade students were randomly assigned to SDT and non-SDT groups during the program. The results support the application of SDT in integrated STEM learning and explain how supporting student needs affects their STEM interest and identity, which is crucial in interdisciplinary learning and the development of adolescent interest and identity in K–12. Moreover, the results contribute to SDT by adding a new dimension—integrated STEM interest and identity—and presenting more evidence on how the teacher’s needs-supportive strategies foster this dimension. These results have practical implications for advancing integrated STEM education in addition to new opportunities for using fewer resources to effectively foster student interest and identity in compulsory education.
The purpose of this research is to examine whether, and how, an asynchronous online learning community pedagogical approach can address students’ challenge of integrating disciplinary ideas into an interdisciplinary understanding. A quasi-experimental research design was conducted in which 51 undergraduate students were allocated into two groups who learned a similar asynchronous online interdisciplinary course. The two groups differed in the learning mode in which the courses were designed and taught: a learning community (LC) mode for the experimental group, versus an individual learning (IL) mode for the control group. We used a designated rubric to compare the quality of students’ interdisciplinary understanding, as expressed in a synthesis essay each student wrote. Findings show that students’ abilities to synthesize disciplinary ideas were significantly higher in the LC group. Since synthesis of disciplinary ideas is the goal and essence of interdisciplinarity, we view these findings as indicating a higher quality of interdisciplinary understanding among the LC mode students. This work demonstrates and delineates the potential of the LC approach to promote the development of interdisciplinary understanding in higher-education asynchronous online environments.
In this study, we investigated the impact of prompting on young students’ source consideration when watching videos with conflicting information. 262 French 7th graders were shown a series of videos in which two speakers (varying in credibility) took opposite stances on the topic of organic farming. The students were either given no prompts (control group), an indirect form of prompting (watching an instructional video on the benefits of sourcing before processing the material), a direct form of prompting (filling out source credibility rating scales during the processing of the material) or a combination of direct and indirect prompting. While the impact of the instructional video on students’ source consideration proved marginal, students who had to fill in the source credibility rating scales during the processing of the material remembered the identity of the speakers better (notably in delayed posttest), were more inclined to consider the expert interviewee as more convincing and to mention interviewees’ expertise to justify their judgement. These results suggest that prompting seventh graders to evaluate the credibility of the sources during the processing of the material through the completion of credibility rating scales is an efficient method to improve their consideration of source information when watching videos.
Computer-simulated experiments have been gaining popularity over hands-on experiments in science education, given the availability of technology and the trend of distance learning. Past studies have focused primarily on comparing the learning outcomes and user experiences of the two experiment modes. In this study, we used an eye tracker to investigate the learning processes involved in manipulating hands-on and computer-simulated experiments, and the effect of prior knowledge and experiment mode on eye movements. A total of 105 undergraduates completed either mode of experiment to learn about pulley mechanics. Participants were asked to read relevant concepts before conducting the experiments to ensure they had basic knowledge about the subject matter. Results showed that the learning outcome of experimentation was affected by prior knowledge but not experiment mode. As for eye movements, the two experiment workstations were divided into nine functional regions. The findings revealed that eye movements in most regions were affected by the experiment mode, but not prior knowledge. The simulation group had shorter total fixation durations and smaller pupil sizes than the hands-on group, implying a lower cognitive load in learning in computer-simulated experiments. Lag sequential analysis and entropy analysis were conducted on cross-regional fixation transitions. The results revealed that participants in hands-on experiments tended to make more diversified fixation transitions across regions, whereas those in simulated experiments showed a higher level of concentration in the spatial pattern of fixation transitions. While sequential analysis offers insights into important fixation transitions on a regional level, entropy analysis allows for a more macro perspective on the overall transition distribution and facilitates conventional statistical modeling that takes individual differences into account.
This present study examines the psycho-emotional and psychophysiological effects that variations in the tempo of background music have on learners who are completing reading comprehension tests while being monitored used multi-modal computer technology. Results of seventy-four (N = 74) participants indicated that listening to fast tempo music (150 bpm) predicted lower reading comprehension scores, increased emotional expressions of fear, joy and contempt, and higher skin conductance responses (SCRs). Results indicated that participants were more likely to produce higher scores while listening to slow tempo music (110 bpm), but such findings were not connected to significant differences in facial emotion expressions or psychophysiological responses. Contrasting these were control/no-music conditions in which participants exhibited moderated scores. Results from the fast-tempo condition can possibly be attributed in part to an affective valence of emotions and psychophysiological responses, as the multimodal data suggests that a combined regulatory mechanism may be at play while engaged in a learning task. This paper raises several questions regarding the use and effects of background music in performance-based learning settings and the role of affective-stimuli on cognitive regulation.
Knowledge Building principles such as real ideas, authentic problems; epistemic agency; and collective responsibility for advancement of community knowledge convey ways in which Knowledge Building mirrors work in knowledge-creating communities. Previous studies suggest Metadiscourse—discourse about discourse—helps sustain and improve community knowledge. Do students’ emotions differ during metadiscourse compared to other discourse contexts? Is metadiscourse even possible in early elementary grades? If so, what emotions are associated with discourse moves requiring high-level reflection on prior discourse? Is it possible that such reflection engenders positive emotions required for sustained creative work with ideas? To address these issues, the authors engaged 22 grade 2 students (7 years old) in monthly metadiscourse sessions over four months, during which they discussed how their ideas changed, what they still wondered about, and what ideas they wanted to pursue. Video recordings of face-to-face sessions, online Knowledge Forum notes, students’ interviews, teacher’s reflections, and field notes were analyzed using discourse analysis, multi-faceted coding, and correlation analysis. The authors examined how students’ emotions and discourse moves differ in Knowledge Building discourse and metadiscourse and correlations between emotions and different discourse moves. The results show: (1) greater levels of enjoyment, reflection on previous ideas, and proposals for new directions for inquiry during metadiscourse sessions; (2) confidence positively associated with explanations and proposals for new directions for inquiry; (3) positive emotions associated with increasingly challenging cognitive work. The relationships between early elementary-grade students’ emotions and cognition during Knowledge Building is an underdeveloped area of investigation; in an effort to guide future research a model for regulating emotions in Knowledge Building is presented.
Relying on multiple documents to answer questions is becoming common for both academic and personal inquiry tasks. These tasks often require students to explain phenomena by taking various causal factors that are mentioned separately in different documents and integrating them into a coherent multi-causal explanation of some phenomena. However, inquiry questions may not make this requirement explicit and may instead simply ask students to explain why the phenomenon occurs. This paper explores an Activity Model Hypothesis that posits students lack knowledge that their explanation should be multi-causal and how to engage in the kind of thinking needed to construct such an explanation. This experiment, conducted on a sample of eigth grade students, manipulated whether students received a short 10-min lesson on the nature of scientific explanations and multi-causal reasoning. Students who received this causal chain lesson wrote essays that were more causally complex and integrated, and subsequently performed better on an inference verification test, than students who did not receive the lesson. These results point to relatively simple changes to instructions that can provide the support students need for successful multiple-document comprehension.
Creativity is a valuable skill for instructional designers. However, few studies have researched creativity in instructional design (ID) graduate courses. Future professionals' creative thinking is necessary to address societal, technological, and economic challenges. Developing creative thinking in novice instructional designers could allow them to generate creative solutions to ill-structured problems in real-world contexts. This multiple case study investigated the extent to which the nine core courses in an online instructional design master’s program encouraged creativity. We conducted a document analysis of course materials for each course, to analyze whether creativity indicators derived from creativity literature were present. Subsequently, a cross-case synthesis was used to identify patterns across the cases. Semi-structured interviews of the lead course instructors were conducted to evaluate the extent to which they deliberately included creativity concepts into the course design process. Results indicated core courses include learning activities and instructional strategies with the potential to foster creativity. However, explicit references mentioning creativity or being creative were only found in three courses. Lead instructors considered creativity an important aspect of teaching and learning and a concept that needs to be further developed and discussed in ID education. Implications for instructional design education are discussed.
Teachers form expectations that can influence their students’ performance, and there are a variety of ways these expectations can be communicated. In the current study, we tested a novel method for communicating expectations via examples of student work—examples that contain basic, entry-level work and communicate low, but manageable expectations or examples that contain complex, advanced-level work and communicate high and challenging expectations. Across three semesters, 91 college students in a data management course completed a class assignment that involved exploratory coding activities. Prior to the assignment, students were randomly assigned to view basic or advanced examples of student work. Students assigned to the advanced-examples condition reported higher perceptions of task difficulty and frustration, but they also exhibited higher levels of performance in terms of the complexity of their own work. Results suggest that setting challenging expectations can create a desirable difficulty that ultimately benefits students’ performance in an authentic learning environment.
In this study, we investigate how pre-service teachers’ group dialogues emerged and intersected across time and space as students collaboratively constructed a video-based mind map to prepare for oral exams in a pedagogy course. The study was conducted as part of a design-based research project investigating the ways that video-based mind maps can support learning as both a collaborative activity and a classroom resource. We applied interaction analysis methods to recordings taken during the production of the mind map as well as the videos made by students within the mind map itself to analyze synchronous and asynchronous dialogues among group members as they viewed, recorded, and uploaded videos. The findings offer an in-depth understanding of how collaboration occurs in different space-time configurations within and across groups as mediated by video resources. We discuss how these findings contribute to computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) research on the ways collaboration can emerge across different levels of activity as well as the pedagogical implications for introducing video-based dialogues into the classroom.
Group awareness (GA) is essential for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), as it informs learners about other group members’ activities, knowledge, and emotions. A key advantage of GA support is that it can collect, process, and visualize GA information, which provides a basis for students’ reflection and adjustment during collaborative learning, thus facilitating their learning performance. However, empirical findings regarding the effectiveness of GA support have been inconsistent. The present study conducted the first three-level meta-analysis of 46 empirical studies to examine the effects of GA support on students’ learning performance and further explore the possible moderating factors that may have contributed to the inconsistencies of primary studies. The results indicated the following: (1) GA support in CSCL had a moderate significant effect on students’ learning performance (Hedges’g = 0.46, p < 0.001); (2) GA support in CSCL had the greatest influence on students’ cognitive development (Hedges’g = 0.49, p < 0.001), followed by behavioral participation (Hedges’g = 0.47, p < 0.001), and then social emotion (Hedges’g = 0.38, p < 0.001); and (3) GA support type and group size were the only two significant moderating factors. Based on these findings, we propose several theoretical and pedagogical implications.
This study extends research on perspectival understanding (Greeno & van de Sande, 2007) by using Du Bois’ (2007) discourse work on stancetaking to investigate how students expressed their perspectives on course content through a variety of stances/positions as they negotiated meaning in online discussions. Participants were students in a hybrid graduate-level course with weekly synchronous computer-mediated discussions. Adapting Du Bois’ stancetaking triangle, we coded discussion transcripts for shifts in stance and for evidence of influence on students’ perspective taking as they considered course concepts. Findings were that stances and stance objects (that is, topics) were introduced as students collaborated in discussion, with an epistemic stance indicating students’ primary focus on wanting to learn and understand course concepts. Evaluative and affective stances were less frequent and most often intertwined with an epistemic stance but nevertheless important in supporting the group’s discussion. Synchronous online discussions afforded a venue for iterative discourse interactions of evaluation, positioning, and alignment and for shared knowledge co-construction and perspectival understanding.
A key commitment of computer-supported collaborative learning research is to study how people learn in collaborative settings to guide development of methods for capture and design for learning. Computer-supported collaborative learning research has a tradition of studying how the physical world plays a part in collaborative learning. Within the field, a material turn is emerging that considers how digital and tangible technologies actively contribute to collaborative learning processes. Studying how tangible materials produce collaborative learning visibly and algorithmically is particularly important at a time when advanced algorithms are integrated into educational contexts in ways that are not always transparent. However, the needed methodologies for capturing how non-human agents take part in collaborative learning remains underdeveloped. The present study builds on current CSCL research that investigates materials in collaborative learning and introduces posthumanist perspectives with the aim to decenter humans methodologically and to probe empirically whether and how these perspectives contribute to empirical understanding of collaborative learning processes. Taking fiber crafts (e.g., weaving and fabric manipulation) as a context for computational learning, the present study conducted a posthumanist analysis of differences among human and non-human participants in collaboration using video data to investigate how middle school youths and fiber craft components performed algorithms over time. The findings show how both youths and craft materials actively contributed to the performance of algorithms. In weaving, algorithms became repeated youth-material movements one dimension at a time. In fabric manipulation, algorithms became a repeated confluence of component parts. Decentering humans through an analysis of differences among human and non-human introduced human-material collaboration as a productive unit of analysis for understanding how materials and people together contribute to producing what can be recognized as computational performance. The findings of this research contribute to ongoing conversations in CSCL research on how computational materials can be considered in collaborative learning and present a new approach to capture collaborative learning as physical expansion over time. The study has implications for future research on capturing collaborative computational learning and designing physical computational learning opportunities that show technology as evolving.
By adopting a situated and interactional approach, we explore students’ immersive VR experiences as resources for collaborative meaning making and learning. We draw on data from a project in which teachers and researchers co-developed a learning design for upper secondary students involving immersive VR technology. In this learning design, students viewed a cinematic VR film where they encountered different people telling personal stories about exclusion and discrimination, followed by reflective group dialogues with their teacher about their experiences in this environment. Through a detailed interaction analysis of these dialogues, we identify four dimensions that characterize students’ meaning making: (1) the feeling of taking part in conversations, (2) attending to bodily expressions of others, (3) students’ own bodily responses, (4) teacher guidance. We discuss how the findings from our analysis contribute to the field of CSCL, and which also have implications for instructional work that includes the use of immersive VR environments.