Implementation of Web‐based argumentation in facilitating elementary school students to learn environmental issues

This research develops a Web‐based argumentation system named the Web‐based Interactive Argumentation System (WIAS). WIAS can provide teachers with the scaffolding for argumentation instruction. Students can propose their statements, collect supporting evidence and share and discuss with peers online. This research adopts a quasi‐experimental design, applying WIAS to the teaching of environmental issues, including mudslides, global warming and nuclear power. Fifty‐seven elementary school fifth graders from two classes participated in this research. With each class as a unit, they were divided into the WIAS group (n = 30) and the traditional argumentation instruction (TAI) group (n = 27). Before research, all students took the pre‐test of the ‘achievement test for environmental issues (ATEI)’ and the ‘environmental literacy scale (ELS).’ Then all students received argumentation training and six classes of argumentation instruction. Students in the WIAS group performed argumentation in the WIAS, while those in the TAI group performed argumentation in a traditional classroom. After the six‐class argumentation instruction, all students took the post‐test of the ATEI and ELS. The results show that students in the WIAS group have significantly better learning effectiveness than those in the TAI group. Students in the WIAS group also exhibited significantly better improvement in their environmental literacy.     

Supporting middle school students' online reading of scientific resources: moving beyond cursory,fragmented, and opportunistic reading

The abundant scientific resources on the Web provide great opportunities for students to expand their science learning, yet easy access to information does not ensure learning. Prior research has found that middle school students tend to read Web‐based scientific resources in a shallow, superficial manner. A software tool was designed to support middle school students in reading online scientific resources through three key strategies: making explicit a skim–read–summarize structure for online reading, using prompts to guide students' reading and foster articulation of thinking, and connecting reading to learning purposes. This study examined the differences between regular and guided online reading performed by eight pairs of sixth graders in a science inquiry project. The students' online reading processes and conversations were captured by a screen‐recording programme. Analysis of 60 h of screen videos showed that the students' online reading in the regular condition was cursory, fragmented, and opportunistic, while the structured online reading was more deliberate, thorough, and purposeful. Overall, the results suggest that middle school students' online reading of scientific resources needs to be guided.     

Developing a web‐based multimedia assessment system for facilitating science laboratory instruction

This study developed a web‐based multimedia assessment system (WMA system) and applied it to science laboratory instruction. The goal was to improve students' knowledge acquisition under science laboratory instruction. The developed system enabled learners to perform self‐assessments by responding to multimedia technology test items online. The system recorded each learner's complete answer history and provided the students with personalized learning resources. This study adopted a quasi‐experimental research design. The learning content was an “experiment on separating mixtures.” Students participating in the research were divided into a typical science laboratory instruction group (TI group; n = 25) and a group that received instruction through the WMA system (WMA group; n = 26). Before instruction, all the students completed the conceptual knowledge and experimental knowledge pretests. During instruction, the TI group watched the teacher's demonstration experiment, and the students then performed the experiment in a real laboratory. In the WMA group, after learning through the WMA system, the students also performed the experiment in a real laboratory. After instruction, all the students completed the conceptual knowledge and experimental knowledge posttests. The findings indicated that the students in the WMA group showed significantly higher improvements in their scientific conceptual knowledge and experimental knowledge.     

Stop talking and type: comparing virtual and face‐to‐face mentoring in an epistemic game

Research has shown that computer games and other virtual environments can support significant learning gains because they allow young people to explore complex concepts in simulated form. However, in complex problem‐solving domains, complex thinking is learned not only by taking action, but also with the aid of mentors who provide guidance in the form of questions, instructions, advice, feedback and encouragement. In this study, we examine one context of such mentoring to understand the impact of replacing face‐to‐face interactions between mentors and students with virtual, chat‐based interactions. We use pre‐ and post‐measures of learning and a post‐measure of engagement, as well as epistemic network analysis (ENA), a novel quantitative method, to examine student and mentor discourse. Our results suggest that mentoring via online chat can be as effective as mentoring face‐to‐face in appropriately structured contexts more generally – and that ENA may be a useful tool for assessing student and mentor discourse in the context of learning interactions.     

Generic reflective feedback: An effective approach to developing clinical reasoning skills

Problem‐based learning can be an effective tool to develop clinical reasoning skills. However, it traditionally takes place in tutorial groups, giving students little flexibility in how and when they learn. This pilot study compared the effectiveness of generic reflective feedback (GRF) with tutorial‐based reflective feedback on the development of students' clinical reasoning skills. Case studies were placed in an interactive software package, with GRF for the nine patient cases (36 GRF forms in total). The GRF contained information about common mistakes and omissions made by students in previous years. By design, the GRF left some clinical questions unanswered in order to prompt student reflection, enhance the development of their clinical reasoning skills and give the 2010 students (n = 53) greater control over the way in which they engaged with the unit. Clinical reasoning skills development, assessed by responses to the 36 parts across the 9 cases and in the relevant section of the final exam, was compared with the 2009 tutorial cohort (n = 47 students). GRF enabled student progression through each of the nine online cases with minimal tutor intervention. The cohort receiving GRF performed as well as those students engaging in tutorials with individualized feedback. GRF was associated with a significant increase in student satisfaction and flexibility in how and when they learned. We conclude that GRF enabled online enhancement of a case‐based clinical reasoning unit. Further research on how GRF can optimize learning in different online settings is warranted.     

Procedural versus content‐related hints for word problem solving: an exploratory study

For primary school students, mathematical word problems are often more difficult to solve than straightforward number problems. Word problems require reading and analysis skills, and in order to explain their situational contexts, the proper mathematical knowledge and number operations have to be selected. To improve students' ability in solving word problems, the problem solving process could be supported by procedural and content specific guidance or with only procedural support.. This paper evaluates the effect of two types of hints, procedural only and content‐procedural, provided by a computer programme presented in two versions. Students of grade 6 were randomly assigned to these two versions, which offered five lesson units consisting of eight word problems each. The results indicate that on average the students in the procedural‐content hints group (n = 54) finished about just as many problems in the programme as their counterparts in the procedural‐only condition (n = 51). However, the participants in the first group solved more problems correctly and improved their problem‐solving skills more as indicated by the scores on the problem‐solving post‐test. Apart from presenting our analysis of the findings of this study, also its limitations and its possible implications for future research are discussed in this paper.     

Getting it from the Web: why and how online resources are used by independent undergraduate learners

Abstract Undergraduate students access the Internet for a range of purposes, many unrelated to their studies. Increasingly, learners are using the Internet to find information and resources for coursework, whether or not this is promoted or endorsed by their teachers. This article reports an interview study that investigated why and how independent learners use Web‐based resources, exploring not only the academic context of the courses studied, but also any relevant personal, domestic and employment‐related circumstances. Factors were identified, which enhanced or competed with study activities, acting as incentives or disincentives for learners. The findings suggest that it is not technologies per se, but a combination of various contextual factors, that determine students' use of Web resources for learning. Of the academic factors that emerged from the interviews, assessment requirements and pedagogic approach were particularly important.     

Relationship between perceived problem‐solving skills and academic performance of novice learners in introductory programming courses

Past research has shown that student problem‐solving skills may be used to determine student final exam performance. This study reports on the relationship between student perceived problem‐solving skills 1 1 Henceforth, for brevity, we drop the word “perceived” in “student perceived problem‐solving skills” and use either “student perceived problem solving” or simply “student PSS.”
and academic performance in introductory programming, in formative and summative programming assessment tasks. We found that the more effective problem solvers achieved better final exam scores. There was no significant difference in formative assessment performances between effective and poor problem solvers. It is also possible to categorize students on the basis of problem‐solving skills, in order to exploit opportunities to improve learning around constructivist learning theory. Finally, our study identified transferability skills and the study may be extended to identify the impact of problem solving transfer skills on student problem solving for programming.     

Music behind scores: case study of learning improvisation with Playback Orchestra method

For music students in the early stages of learning, the music may seem to be hidden behind the scores. To support home practising, Juntunen has created the Playback Orchestra method with which the students can practise with the support of the notation program playback of the full orchestra. The results of testing the method with first‐grade string instrument students showed that the group who used the playback method learned faster than the group who did not. The clear and expressive body movements that are developed effectively by the playback method also provide support for leading a group by playing. The aim of this recent pilot study was to discover if improvisation benefits from an audio learning component. The research is a qualitative case study combined with quasi‐experimental tests and quantitative analyses. The improvisation task was to describe a storm in a long musical tale, Mickey Mouse in a Storm, which had several episodes in different atmospheres. The results showed that the playback group was clearly better in terms of ‘joy of playing’, ‘concentrating’, ‘finding one's own improvising ideas’ and ‘understanding the overall picture’. The most crucial finding was that ‘intensive continuity’ improved faster in the playback group.     

A mixed methods assessment of students' flow experiences during a mobile augmented reality science game

Current studies have reported that secondary students are highly engaged while playing mobile augmented reality (AR) learning games. Some researchers have posited that players' engagement may indicate a flow experience, but no research results have confirmed this hypothesis with vision‐based AR learning games. This study investigated factors related to students' engagement – as characterized by flow theory – during a collaborative AR, forensic science mystery game using mobile devices. School Scene Investigators: The Case of the Stolen Score Sheets is a vision‐based AR game played inside the school environment with Quick Response codes. A mixed methods approach was employed with 68 urban middle school students. Data sources included pre‐ and post‐surveys, field observations and group interviews. Results showed that neither gender nor interest in science was an important predictor of variability in flow experience. Gaming attitude uniquely predicted 23% of the variance in flow experience. Student flow experience features included a flash of intensity, a sense of discovery and the desire for higher performance. The findings demonstrated a potential for mobile AR science games to increase science interest and help students learn collaboration skills. Implications for future research concerning mobile AR science games are discussed.     

GPU‐Based Spherical Light Field Rendering with Per‐Fragment Depth Correction

Image‐based rendering techniques are a powerful alternative to traditional polygon‐based computer graphics. This paper presents a novel light field rendering technique which performs per‐pixel depth correction of rays for high‐quality reconstruction. Our technique stores combined RGB and depth values in a parabolic 2D texture for every light field sample acquired at discrete positions on a uniform spherical setup. Image synthesis is implemented on the GPU as a fragment program which extracts the correct image information from adjacent cameras for each fragment by applying per‐pixel depth correction of rays. We show that the presented image‐based rendering technique provides a significant improvement compared to previous approaches. We explain two different rendering implementations which make use of a uniform parametrisation to minimise disparity problems and ensure full six degrees of freedom for virtual view synthesis. While one rendering algorithm implements an iterative refinement approach for rendering light fields with per pixel depth correction, the other approach employs a raycaster, which provides superior rendering quality at moderate frame rates. GPU based per‐fragment depth correction of rays, used in both implementations, helps reducing ghosting artifacts to a non‐noticeable amount and provides a rendering technique that performs without exhaustive pre‐processing for 3D object reconstruction and without real‐time ray‐object intersection calculations at rendering time.     

Students' mathematics word problem‐solving achievement in a computer‐based story

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a computer‐based story, which was designed in anchored instruction framework, on sixth‐grade students' mathematics word problem‐solving achievement. Problems were embedded in a story presented on a computer as computer story, and then compared with the paper‐based version of the same story and to a condition that presented the problems as typical, isolated word problems (i.e., a non‐story condition including only problems). One hundred twenty‐eight sixth‐grade students from two public middle schools in Turkey participated in this study. In a pretest–posttest experimental design, students were randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups mentioned earlier in which they solved the same mathematics word problems. A one‐way analysis of covariance was used to analyse students' achievement in the treatment groups. The results indicated that students who solved the problems in the computer story treatment had significantly higher achievement scores than students who solved the problems in the paper story and isolated word problems treatments. In addition, the story was found to be significantly more effective than the non‐story treatment when it was presented on computer.     

EFFICIENT PERSONALIZATION OF E‐LEARNING ACTIVITIES USING A MULTI‐DEVICE DECENTRALIZED RECOMMENDER SYSTEM

Personalization is becoming a key issue in designing effective e‐learning systems and, in this context, a promising solution is represented by software agents. Usually, these systems provide the student with a student agent that interacts with a site agent associated with each e‐learning site. However, in presence of a large number of students and of e‐learning sites, the tasks of the agents are often onerous, even more if the student agents run on devices with limited resources. To face this problem, we propose a new multiagent learning system, called ISABEL. Our system provides each student, that are using a specific device, with a device agent able to autonomously monitor the student's behavior when accessing e‐learning Web sites. Each site is associated, in its turn, with a teacher agent. When a student visits an e‐learning site, the teacher agent collaborates with some tutor agents associated with the student, to provide him with useful recommendations. We present both theoretical and experimental results to show that this distributed approach introduces significant advantages in quality and efficiency of the recommendation activity with respect to the performances of other past recommenders.     

A highly modular and extensible architecture for an integrated IMS‐based authoring system: the <e‐Aula> experience

The <e‐Aula> platform is a new experimental e‐learning environment that adheres closely to IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. e‐learning standards in order to facilitate their applicability in different learning scenarios. <e‐Aula> is equipped with an integrated modular and extensible architecture for the authoring of IMS‐compliant learning materials focused on the IMS manifest. This manifest‐driven architecture facilitates maintenance and promotes the evolution of the authoring system in <e‐Aula>, both of which are mandatory requirements in the successful production and maintenance of content for many different specialized learning domains. In this paper, we describe this authoring system, its manifest‐driven architecture and its implementation using well‐known and robust Java‐based Web technologies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teaching and learning high school physics in Kenyan classrooms using analogies

Abstract

This study provides insights into the nature of the analogies deployed by Kenyan physics teachers and generated by students in class. The analogies looked at (both teacher‐ and student‐generated) were largely environmental (drawn from students’ socio‐cultural environment), anthropomorphic (life and human characteristics ascribed to analogues), and to a limited extent, scientific (analogue and target are science concepts). In some cases, anthropomorphic analogies proved problematic for students, sometimes resulting in serious misconceptions. Good analogy use is based on clear identification of matching and non‐matching features of the analogue‐target structure. Several models, including the General Model for Analogy Teaching (GMAT), Teaching with Analogy (TWA) and Working with Analogies (WWA) are discussed in this paper, with a view to providing a lens through which analogies can be understood. To transform students’ understanding from cultural belief systems to the science system of thinking, while respecting their socio‐cultural backgrounds, can be a daunting task. Where it proves problematic for the students to ‘decamp’ from indigenous ways of reasoning, then collateral learning may be considered.     

Engaging middle school students in scientific practice with a collaborative mobile game

Previous research using collaborative mobile augmented reality games in science education revealed that such games can be used to promote learner engagement and have found that engagement in such mobile games is related to flow. This study investigated whether player's flow experience differed by achievement track, gender, or gender composition of working groups. In an urban school district, 202 students from two eighth‐grade science classes participated in a collaborative mobile science game. Data included a self‐report survey collected after the game that measured player's flow experience. Using a regression model, the relationship of flow experience with achievement track and gender was explored while controlling for group composition and teacher effects. The study found that gender was related to flow experience; specifically, girls reported higher flow experience scores (d = 0.30). Flow experience did not have a statistically significant relationship with achievement track showing that the activity engaged all observed students similarly.     

Comparative analysis of Palm and wearable computers for Participatory Simulations

Abstract Recent educational computer‐based technologies have offered promising lines of research that promote social constructivist learning goals, develop skills required to operate in a knowledge‐based economy ( Roschelle et al. 2000 ), and enable more authentic science‐like problem‐solving. In our research programme, we have been interested in combining these aims for curricular reform in school science by developing innovative and progressive hand‐held and wearable computational learning tools. This paper reports on one such line of research in which the learning outcomes of two distinct technological platforms (wearable computers and Palm hand‐helds) are compared using the same pedagogical strategy of Participatory Simulations. Participatory Simulations use small wearable or hand‐held computers to engage participants in simulations that enable inquiry and experimentation ( Colella 2000 ) allowing students to act out the simulation themselves. The study showed that the newer and more easily distributable version of Participatory Simulations on Palms was equally as capable as the original Tag‐based simulations in engaging students collaboratively in a complex problem‐solving task. We feel that this robust and inexpensive technology holds great promise for promoting collaborative learning as teachers struggle to find authentic ways to integrate technology into the classroom in addition to engaging and motivating students to learn science.     

Alternating optimization to solve penalized regression‐based clustering model

Two previously proposed heuristic algorithms for solving penalized regression‐based clustering model (PRClust) are (a) an algorithm that combines the difference‐of‐convex programming with a coordinate‐wise descent (DC‐CD) algorithm and (b) an algorithm that combines DC with the alternating direction method of multipliers (DC‐ADMM). In this paper, a faster method is proposed for solving PRClust. DC‐CD uses p × n × (n ? 1)/2 slack variables to solve PRClust, where n is the number of data and p is the number of their features. In each iteration of DC‐CD, these slack variable and cluster centres are updated using a second‐order cone programming (SOCP). DC‐ADMM uses p × n × (n ? 1) slack variables. In each iteration of DC‐ADMM, these slack variables and cluster centres are updated using ADMM. In this paper, PRClust is reformulated into an equivalent model to be solved using alternating optimization. Our proposed algorithm needs only n × (n ? 1)/2 slack variables, which is much less than that of DC‐CD and DC‐ADMM and updates them analytically using a simple equation in each iteration of the algorithm. Our proposed algorithm updates only cluster centres using an SOCP. Therefore, our proposed SOCP is much smaller than that of DC‐CD, which is used to update both cluster centres and slack variables. Experimental results on real datasets confirm that our proposed method is faster and much faster than DC‐ADMM and DC‐CD, respectively.