Cognitive load theory vs. constructivist approaches: which best leads to efficient,deep learning?

Computer‐assisted learning, in the form of simulation‐based training, is heavily focused upon by the military. Because computer‐based learning offers highly portable, reusable, and cost‐efficient training options, the military has dedicated significant resources to the investigation of instructional strategies that improve learning efficiency within this environment. In order to identify efficient instructional strategies, this paper investigates the two major learning theories that dominate the recent literature on optimizing knowledge acquisition: cognitive load theory (CLT) and constructivism. According to CLT, instructional guidance that promotes efficient learning is most beneficial. Constructivist approaches, in contrast, emphasize the importance of developing a conceptual understanding of the learning material. Supporters of these theories have debated the merits and shortcomings of both positions. However, in the absence of consensus, instructional designers lack a well‐defined model for training complex skills in a rapid, efficient manner. The current study investigates the relative utility of CLT and constructivist‐based approaches for teaching complex skills using a military command and control task. Findings suggest that the acquisition of procedural, declarative, and conceptual knowledge, as well as decision‐making skills, did not differ as a function of the type of instruction used. However, integrated knowledge was slightly better retained by the group provided with CLT‐based instruction. These results are contrary to our expectation that constructivist approaches, which focus on the development and integration of information, would yield better performance in an applied problem‐based environment. Thus, while contemporary researchers continue to defend the use of constructivist strategies for teaching, our research supports earlier findings that question the utility, efficiency, and impact of these strategies in applied domains.     

Evaluating a range of learning schedules: hybrid training schedules may be as good as or better than distributed practice for some tasks

We investigated theoretically and empirically a range of training schedules on tasks with three knowledge types: declarative, procedural, and perceptual-motor. We predicted performance for 6435 potential eight-block training schedules with ACT-R's declarative memory equations. Hybrid training schedules (schedules consisting of distributed and massed practice) were predicted to produce better performance than purely distributed or massed training schedules. The results of an empirical study (N = 40) testing four exemplar schedules indicated a more complex picture. There were no statistical differences among the groups in the declarative and procedural tasks. We also found that participants in the hybrid practice groups produced reliably better performance than ones in the distributed practice group for the perceptual-motor task – the results indicate training schedules with some spacing and some intensiveness may lead to better performance, particularly for perceptual-motor tasks, and that tasks with mixed types of knowledge might be better taught with a hybrid schedule.     

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.     

A project management perspective on student's declarative commitments to goals established within asynchronous communication

Teamwork and technology, even as people are seeing their increased use in organizations, are becoming important components of problem‐based learning in academic settings. Yet, fostering computer‐assisted teamwork is complex and time consuming. Knowing how and when to intervene would prove useful. This study draws from the field of project management to explore how students commit to project goals using collective asynchronous text‐based communication technology. Declarative commitments – goal‐orientated public, voluntary, explicit and non‐retractable messages comprised of a term, an objective and a focus – made by 34 teams during a four‐phase 13‐week project were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative results show that declarative commitments voluntarily and formally package information about project constraints into a relatively potent message about tasks, coordination and project completion. Team members' suggestions as to what should be carried out in the project and requests for help often preceded others' declarative commitments. As with persuasive communication (i.e. aimed at changing beliefs, attitudes and behaviours), declarative commitments were followed by demands for clarification, new declarative commitments, confirmations of upheld commitments and clear approvals of what was committed to. Looking at project progression from a broader perspective, quantitative analyses show that declarative commitments did partially mediate the relationship between frequencies of task issues and of task solutions. This was particularly pronounced in the mid‐point of the project, but it was not the case during the initial or final phases of the project. Taken together, these results suggest that teachers can facilitate computer‐assisted learning and project goal attainment by monitoring asynchronous electronic discussions, and by eliciting and structuring declarative commitments.     

Designing on‐demand education for simultaneous development of domain‐specific and self‐directed learning skills

On‐demand education enables individual learners to choose their learning pathways according to their own learning needs. They must use self‐directed learning (SDL) skills involving self‐assessment and task selection to determine appropriate pathways for learning. Learners who lack these skills must develop them because SDL skills are prerequisite to developing domain‐specific skills. This article describes the design of an on‐demand learning environment developed to enable novices to simultaneously develop their SDL and domain‐specific skills. Learners received advice on their self‐assessments and their selections of subsequent learning tasks. In the domain of system dynamics – a way to model a dynamic system and draw graphs depicting the system's behaviour over time – advice on self‐assessment is provided in a scoring rubric containing relevant performance standards. Advice on task selection indicates all relevant task aspects to be taken into account, including recommendations for suitable learning tasks which meet the individual learner's needs. This article discusses the design of the environment and the learners' perceptions of its usefulness. Most of the times, the learners found the advice appropriate and they followed it in 78% of their task selections.     

Using wikis and collaborative learning for science teachers' professional development

Wiki bears great potential to transform learning and instruction by scaffolding personal and social constructivism. Past studies have shown that proper application of wiki benefits both students and teachers; however, few studies have integrated wiki and collaborative learning to examine the growth of science teachers' Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). This study introduced a wiki‐based TPACK growth model and examined nine elementary and middle science teachers' knowledge growth in a graduate‐level course. Data sources included reflective journals, wiki data and interviews. Results showed that with wiki, science teachers learned to design more understandable and lively science teaching content, and they collaboratively generated creative instructional strategies. Furthermore, wiki and collaborative learning helped in‐service teachers exchange and elaborate ideas related to the development of TPACK. Implications, suggestions and future research directions were put forward regarding wiki, TPACK and in‐service teachers' professional development.     

Interactive computer simulation and animation for improving student learning of particle kinetics

Computer simulation and animation (CSA) has been receiving growing attention and wide application in engineering education in recent years. A new interactive CSA module was developed in the present study to improve student learning of particle kinetics in an undergraduate engineering dynamics course. The unique feature of this CSA module is that it integrates computer visualization with mathematical modeling, so students can directly connect engineering dynamics phenomena to underlying mathematics. A quasi‐experimental pretest–post‐test research design including a comparison group (n = 65) and an intervention group (n = 77) was implemented to assess to what extent the developed CSA module improved student learning. The results show that this new CSA module increased students' class‐average conceptual and procedural learning gains by 29% and 37% respectively. The difference in learning gains between the two groups is statistically significant (Z = ?4.526, p = 0.000) based on a nonparametric statistical Mann–Whitney U test. It is found that the improvement of students' conceptual understanding and the improvement of their procedural skills are asymmetrical in this CSA learning environment. The CSA module can serve as an excellent tool to supplement traditional lectures, but cannot fully replace human teachers or tutors in teaching.     

Evaluating the learning process of mechanical CAD students

There is little theoretical or experimental research on how beginner-level trainees learn CAD skills in formal training sessions. This work presents findings on how trainees develop their skills in utilizing a solid mechanical CAD tool (Pro/Engineer version 2000i² and later version Wildfire). Exercises at the beginner and intermediate levels were designed so that several variations of a solid object are built by non-experienced trainees as they accumulate training time. In this case, trainees are fourth year mechanical engineering seniors and as such, they were of a similar technical and gender make-up. This assessment was conducted over the duration of training (16-week long semester). The test exercises were used to assess the trainees’ speed and proficiency in the use of CAD by (1) measuring their performance time and (2) feature count (number of features-of-size used to build the test parts). Using performance time data, empirical learning curves are generated. Breaking these curves into declarative and procedural components provides insight into how fast the trainees develop cognitive and motor CAD skills. In order to confirm that this methodology can be extended to other CAD platforms, a follow-up study was performed on a different set of beginner-level trainees with similar make-up while using the same beginner-level parts but with a more recent version of Pro/Engineer: Wildfire. One significant result of this study is that the procedural and declarative components of CAD learning are largely cognitive.     

Fostering historical knowledge and thinking skills using hypermedia learning environments: The role of self-regulated learning

In this study, we examined how high-school students utilized a hypermedia learning environment (HLE) to acquire declarative knowledge of a historical topic, as well as historical thinking skills. In particular, we were interested in whether self-regulated learning (SRL; Winne & Hadwin, 1998; Zimmerman, 2000) processing was related to the acquisition of declarative knowledge and historical thinking. We found that, using the HLE, participants did learn from pretest to posttest, and that they most often engaged in strategy use SRL processes. However, the frequency of participant use of planning SRL processes, not strategy use, was predictive of learning. This study has implications for how educators use HLEs to foster historical thinking skills, and suggests that scaffolding planning skills may facilitate students’ use of computers as cognitive and metacognitive tools for learning (Azevedo, 2005; Lajoie, 2000).     

Are two heads always better than one? Differential effects of collaboration on students�� computer-supported learning in mathematics

While some studies found positive effects of collaboration on student learning in mathematics, others found none or even negative effects. This study evaluates whether the varying impact of collaboration can be explained by differences in the type of knowledge that is promoted by the instruction. If the instructional material requires students to reason with mathematical concepts, collaboration may increase students’ learning outcome as it promotes mutual elaboration. If, however, the instructional material is focused on practicing procedures, collaboration may result in task distribution and thus reduce practice opportunities necessary for procedural skill fluency. To evaluate differential influences of collaboration, we compared four conditions: individual vs. collaborative learning with conceptual instructional material, and individual vs. collaborative learning with procedural instructional material. The instruction was computer-supported and provided adaptive feedback. We analyzed the effect of the conditions on several levels: Logfiles of students’ problem-solving actions and video-recordings enabled a detailed analysis of performance and learning processes during instruction. In addition, a post-test assessed individual knowledge acquisition. We found that collaboration improved performance during the learning phase in both the conceptual and the procedural condition; however, conceptual and procedural material had a differential effect on the quality of student collaboration: Conceptual material promoted mutual elaboration; procedural material promoted task distribution and ineffective learning behaviors. Consequently, collaboration positively influenced conceptual knowledge acquisition, while no positive effect on procedural knowledge acquisition was found. We discuss limitations of our study, address methodological implications, and suggest practical implications for the school context.     

A Hybrid Architecture for Situated Learning of Reactive Sequential Decision Making

In developing autonomous agents, one usually emphasizes only (situated) procedural knowledge, ignoring more explicit declarative knowledge. On the other hand, in developing symbolic reasoning models, one usually emphasizes only declarative knowledge, ignoring procedural knowledge. In contrast, we have developed a learning model CLARION, which is a hybrid connectionist model consisting of both localist and distributed representations, based on the two-level approach proposed in [40]. CLARION learns and utilizes both procedural and declarative knowledge, tapping into the synergy of the two types of processes, and enables an agent to learn in situated contexts and generalize resulting knowledge to different scenarios. It unifies connectionist, reinforcement, and symbolic learning in a synergistic way, to perform on-line, bottom-up learning. This summary paper presents one version of the architecture and some results of the experiments.     

Motivational beliefs and perceptions of instructional quality: predicting satisfaction with online training*

Abstract Many would agree that learning on the Web – a highly autonomous learning environment – may be difficult for individuals who lack motivation and self‐regulated learning skills. Using a social cognitive view of academic motivation and self‐regulation, the objective of the present study was to investigate the relations between students' motivational beliefs, their perceptions of the learning environment and their satisfaction with a self‐paced, online course. Service academy undergraduates (n = 646) completed a questionnaire following online training. Pearson correlations indicate that task value, self‐efficacy and perceived instructional quality were significantly positively related to each other and to students' overall satisfaction with the self‐paced, online course. Additionally, results from a three‐step hierarchical regression reveal that task value, self‐efficacy and instructional quality were significant positive predictors of students' satisfaction; the final regression model accounted for approximately 54% of the variance in the outcome measure. These findings support and extend prior research in traditional classrooms and online education in university settings, indicating that military students' motivational beliefs about a learning task and their perceptions of instructional quality are related, in important ways, to their overall satisfaction with online instruction. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Declarative representation of strategic control knowledge

Strategic (control) knowledge typically specifies how a target task is solved. Representing such knowledge declaratively remains a difficult and practical knowledge engineering challenge. The key to addressing this challenge rests on two observations. One, strategic knowledge comprises two finer types of knowledge: subgoaling knowledge used to construct the goal structure for each problem situation pertaining to a target task, and goal-sequencing knowledge used to choose which subgoal in this goal structure is to be pursued at any given moment. Second, when subgoaling knowledge is explicit and expressed in declarative ontological terms, it is possible to fully express goal-sequencing knowledge in the same declarative terms. Building on these observations, we achieve three things. First, we analyse several conventional knowledge-based applications whose subgoaling and goal-sequencing knowledge is implicit, showing that making their subgoaling knowledge explicit permits (re)representing their goal-sequencing knowledge declaratively. Among the applications analysed are MORE and NEOMYCIN. Second, upon studying the roles of goal-sequencing knowledge vis-á-vis subgoaling knowledge, we develop a declarative formalism for representing goal-sequencing knowledge. Finally, we discuss and illustrate key benefits from using our declarative formalism, including an enhanced ability to validate and reuse goal-sequencing knowledge.     

任务型协作学习在高职院校计算机类 实践教学中的应用研究

任务型协作学习是适用于计算机类学生学习操作类知识和技能的学习模式,它以企业项目为平台,以典型任 务为载体,引领软件知识点的学习,着重培养学生的综合职业能力。在高职计算机类实践教学中采用任务型协作学习,具有良 好的现实意义。     

Teaching genetics with multimedia results in better acquisition of knowledge and improvement in comprehension

The main goal of this study was to explore whether the use of multimedia in genetics instruction contributes more to students' knowledge and comprehension than other instructional modes. We were also concerned with the influence of different instructional modes on the retention of knowledge and comprehension. In a quasi‐experimental design, four comparable groups of 3rd and 4th grade high school students were taught the process of protein synthesis: group 1 was taught in the traditional lecture format (n = 112 students), group 2 only by reading text (n = 124 students), group 3 through multimedia that integrated two short computer animations (n = 115 students) and group 4 by text supplemented with illustrations (n = 117 students). All students received one pre‐test in order to estimate their prior knowledge, and two post‐tests in order to assess knowledge and comprehension immediately after learning and again after 5 weeks. Results showed that students comprising groups 3 and 4 acquired better knowledge and improved comprehension skills than the other two groups. Similar results were observed for retention of acquired knowledge and improved comprehension. These findings lead to the conclusion that better learning outcomes can be obtained by the use of animations or at least illustrations when learning genetics.     

The effectiveness of using procedural scaffoldings in a paper-plus-smartphone collaborative learning context

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using procedural scaffoldings in fostering students’ group discourse levels and learning outcomes in a paper-plus-smartphone collaborative learning context. All participants used built-in camera smartphones to learn new knowledge by scanning Quick Response (QR) codes, a type of two-dimensional barcode, embedded in paper-based learning materials in this study. Sixty undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at a four-year university in southern Taiwan participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned into two different groups, using procedural scaffoldings learning and non-procedural scaffoldings learning. The learning unit about the Long Tail, an important concept used in products sales, was the learning task that participants were expected to complete. During the experiment, pretest–posttest and the completed group worksheets were used to collect data. The researchers applied content analyses, chi-square test, t-test, and ANCOVA to answer research questions. The findings indicated that participants in the experimental group using procedural scaffoldings achieved better learning outcomes than their counterparts in the control group in terms of group discourse levels, group learning, and individual learning.     

The instructor's gaze guidance in video lectures improves learning

Instructor behaviour is known to affect learning performance, but it is unclear which specific instructor behaviours can optimize learning. We used eye‐tracking technology and questionnaires to test whether the instructor's gaze guidance affected learners' visual attention, social presence, and learning performance, using four video lectures: declarative knowledge with and without the instructor's gaze guidance and procedural knowledge with and without the instructor's gaze guidance. The results showed that the instructor's gaze guidance not only guided learners to allocate more visual attention to corresponding learning content but also increased learners' sense of social presence and learning. Furthermore, the link between the instructor's gaze guidance and better learning was especially strong for participants with a high sense of social connection with the instructor when they learned procedural knowledge. The findings lead to a strong recommendation for educational practitioners: Instructors should provide gaze guidance in video lectures for better learning performance.     

Efficiency of learning environment using GeoGebra when calculus contents are learned in collaborative groups

In this paper we present a modern approach of teaching mathematics based on the computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) of calculus contents. The collaborative learning was used in calculus course at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, for examining functions and drawing their graphs. In 2012 the authors decided to improve the collaborative learning introducing GeoGebra application. Small four member groups were formed by using Kagan's (1994) principles. Two groups of students, the experimental, and the control one were observed. The students in the experimental group learned with the help of GeoGebra, and the students in the control group learned without using GeoGebra.Comparison between those two groups of the first year calculus students, regarding their way of learning and the results achieved, is described below. Before the students' collaborative learning, they were tested with a pre-test and their knowledge necessary for examining functions was verified. The pre-test showed that there was no significant statistical difference between the experimental and the control group. The experimental group worked with the help of the computer and the control one without it. After the collaborative learning, the students were tested with a test (colloquium) and the results of the experimental group were significantly better than the results of students in the control group. At the end of the course the students did their exams (post-test), and the results of the experimental group were significantly better than the results of students in the control group.Some students from the experimental group had to answer questions in an interview related to the use of GeoGebra during their collaborative learning. In order to see the students' difficulties in solving problems, students in the experimental group were asked to cross out incorrect parts of solutions, not to erase them. The teachers reviewed the students' tasks done during the collaborative learning and after that the students who had corrected their mistakes were invited for an interview about using GeoGebra for overcoming their difficulties. Based on the students' results in the tests, answers in the questionnaire and in the interview, it can be concluded that GeoGebra has enabled an easier learning of this material. The GeoGebra package enables the students to check whether each step in the process of solving a task was correctly done or not. The results of our research show that GeoGebra can help those students having insufficient knowledge (necessary for solving those tasks) to improve it.We can say that our research shows that the students' learning achievement in examining functions and drawing their graphs is better when they use GeoGebra, working in collaborative groups than without using it. Also, GeoGebra enables creation of effective learning environment for examining functions and drawing their graphs.