Support for the teacher in technology-enhanced collaborative classroom

This paper presents a study on the role of the teacher in computer-supported class group activities. We discuss various teacher tools that support this role. In the reported studies the students are engaged in group activities through networked computers. Typically they use a two-space collaboration tool. One shared space used for jointly producing a diagrammatic representation (concept map or other form of diagram), and one for text based communication. The group activities have a time span of typical classes: i.e. a few minutes to a few hours. In this context, we focus on the study of typical teacher actions and used representations and on the support that the tools used provided to the teacher for supervision of the class and group activities.     

The Emergence of Abstract Representations in Dyad Problem Solving

Three experiments examined whether group cognitions generate a product that is not easily ascribed to the cognitions that similar individuals have working alone. In each study, secondary-school students solved novel problems working either as individuals or in two-person groups called dyads. An examination of their problem-solving representations demonstrated that the dyads constructed abstractions well above the rate one would expect given a "most competent member" model of group performance applied to the empirical rate of individual abstractions. In the first experiment, dyads induced a numerical parity rule for determining the motions of linked gears four times more often than individuals, who instead tended to rely exclusively on modeling the gears' physical behaviors. In a second experiment requiring the construction of visualizations on the topic of biological transmissions, dyads made abstract visualizations (e.g., directed graphs) significantly more often than individuals. In a third experiment requiring a visualization of organisms and their habitat requirements, dyads made abstract visualizations (e.g., matrices) five times more often than individuals, who instead tended to draw pictures. These results are striking because a long history of experimentation has found little evidence that group performances can match the performances of the most competent individuals, let alone exceed them. The extremely high frequency of abstract representations among dyads suggests that the abstract representations emerged from collaborative cognitions not normally available to isolated individuals. The results are interpreted to be a natural result of the collaborative task demand of creating a common ground. To facilitate discourse, dyads negotiated a common representation that could serve as a touchstone for coordinating the members' different perspectives on the problem. Because the representation bridged multiple perspectives of the problem structure, it tended...     

Computer-Mediated Epistemic Dialogue: Explanation and Argumentation as Vehicles for Understanding Scientific Notions

Epistemic dialogues, involving explanation and argumentation, have been recognized as potential vehicles for conceptual understanding. Although the role of dialogue in learning has received much attention, the problem of creating situations in which students engage in epistemic dialogue has only begun to be addressed. This article highlights the set of factors that must be taken into account in designing a computer-supported collaborative learning situation that encourages students to discuss scientific notions. These factors include the choice of the domain issue, the activities proposed to students, and the role of technology. We describe the design of CONNECT, an integrated environment and task sequence for the collaborative confrontation, negotiation, and construction of text. Results are then presented from a study in which students individually wrote an interpretation of a sound phenomenon, were matched in dyads so as to maximize semantic differences between their texts, and then collaboratively discussed and wrote common texts across the network using CONNECT. We show how careful engineering of the CONNECT environment favors the occurrence of epistemic dialogue and creates opportunities for conceptual understanding. The discussion centers on why these opportunities might be missed, as well as on the conditions required for students to exploit them.     

Effects of representational guidance during computer-supported collaborative learning

This research investigates the role of representational guidance by comparing the effects of two different representational tools. We used a design with two different groups defined by the type of argumentative diagram students co-constructed while working in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The Graphical Debate-tool offered different representational guidance than the Textual Debate-tool. The results show that groups that worked with the Graphical Debate-tool constructed representations of higher quality and wrote essays that were better in terms of grounds quality. Furthermore, working with the Graphical Debate-tool was found to have a positive effect on students’ learning as measured by a knowledge post-test. In contrast to our expectations however, there was little difference between the two conditions regarding the online collaboration process. It can be concluded that representational guidance has an impact on group and individual performance and should therefore be taken into account during instructional design.     

Collaborative learning tasks and the elaboration of conceptual knowledge

In this article we present the results of an experimental study of the influence of task characteristics on the characteristics of elaboration of conceptual knowledge in social interaction. With a pre-test and post-test we measured individual learning outcomes. We constructed a coding scheme that focuses on the communicative functions and propositional content of utterances and on elaborative episodes. The subjects were 40 students who worked in dyads on a collaborative task about electricity in one of four conditions. We compared a concept mapping task with a poster task and investigated the effect of a phase of individual preparation. The post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. Individual preparation created better learning results and the asking of more questions. The concept mapping conditions showed more discussion of electricity concepts, collaboratively elaborated conflicts and reasoning, but no higher individual learning outcomes. In the concept mapping conditions, elaboration was related to individual learning outcomes.     

Fostering collaborative knowledge construction with visualization tools

This study investigates to what extent collaborative knowledge construction can be fostered by providing students with visualization tools as structural support. Students (32) of Educational Psychology took part in the study. The students were subdivided into dyads and asked to solve a case problem of their learning domain under one of two conditions: (1) with content-specific visualization; (2) with content-unspecific visualization. Results show that by being provided with a content-specific visualization tool, both the process and the outcome of the cooperative effort improved. More specifically, dyads under that condition referred to more adequate concepts, risked more conflicts, and were more successful in integrating prior knowledge into the collaborative solution. Moreover, those learning partners had a more similar individual learning outcome.     

Face‐to‐face talk to support computer‐mediated discussion in a primary school literacy practice

In this study, Dutch primary school children used a computer‐mediated discussion forum to discuss the concept of horror stories. In such discussion forums children often write their contributions individually. This paper presents an ongoing empirical study in which the contributions to an electronic discussion forum from children working individually were compared to contributions from children working in dyads. Preliminary results indicated that children working in dyads around the computer wrote more contributions to the computer‐mediated discussion and were more attentive to the collaborative process, than children who wrote their contributions individually.     

Representational guidance and student engagement: examining designs for collaboration in online synchronous environments

In this paper we report the results of a study which investigated the affordances of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) for collaborative learning from a design perspective. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, we conducted a comparative study of the effect of varying representational and interactional design features on a collaborative design activity in three online synchronous environments. We compared environments featuring multiple modes of interaction (MUVEs), shared representations (text chat and 2D still images) and text-only features. Sixty-one students enrolled in an undergraduate course on Child Development participated in the study. Participants were asked to design a theoretically-based, developmentally appropriate, preschool classroom setting. Students were randomly assigned to one of three online learning environments that provided varying levels of representation and interaction. Significant differences in collaborative problem solving interactions were found. Participants in the shared representations + text condition evidenced stronger learning outcomes as regards substantive discussion and integration of child development concepts; while participants in the MUVE condition reported the most enjoyment with the experience. These findings are explained by the concepts of representational guidance, representational bias, educational affordances and interface design metaphors. Suggestions for the design of MUVEs for collaborative learning are provided.     

Working alone and working together: Individual differences in the effects of collaboration on learning handicapped students' writing

Differences between stories written by learning handicapped students working alone and those produced when they worked in dyads were related to individual differences in writing skills and to the collaborative interactions that occurred in the dyads. The relationship between individual and dyad performance was characterized in terms of several outcome models (synergistic, most-competent member, least-competent member, and mean). Of the 10 dyads examined, the synergistic model was appropriate for 2; the other 8 dyads reflected the least-competent member model or a mix of the least-competent and mean models. Synergistic outcomes were associated with lack of disagreeing and contentious interactions and relatively low rates of interaction among the members. Least-competent member outcomes were associated with high rates of interaction and/or high rates of disagreeing or contentious behavior. The discussion focuses on potential tradeoffs between interactions about writing and actual text generation, and the impact of the individual's performance level on this tradeoff.     

Using Concept Maps to Facilitate Collaborative Simulation-Based Inquiry Learning

This study investigates the effect of a shared concept-mapping task on high school students' learning about kinematics in a collaborative simulation-based inquiry setting. Pairs of students were randomly assigned to a concept-mapping condition (12 pairs) or a control condition (13 pairs). Students in the concept-mapping condition had a computer-supported collaborative concept-mapping tool that aimed to integrate concepts and propositions. Students in the control condition used the same learning environment without the concept-mapping tool. Students' interactions with each other and with the simulation were tracked by log files. Learning was assessed with tests of intuitive and structural knowledge and a proposition test. Students in the concept-mapping condition exchanged significantly more chat messages related to experimentation, interpretation, and drawing conclusions and were more engaged in integration-oriented consensus building, which regression analysis showed to be positively related to learning gains for both intuitive and structural knowledge. Students in the concept-mapping condition outperformed their peers on the intuitive and structural knowledge tests. These results suggest that concept maps can positively influence consensus-building activities and learning in a collaborative inquiry-learning setting. The findings of the current study thereby contribute to the ongoing debate about (shared) graphical representations as scaffolds for collaborative learning.     

The catcher in the lie: The role of emotions and epistemic judgments in changing students’ misconceptions and attitudes in a post-truth era

We extend previous theoretical and empirical work by examining the role that emotions and epistemic judgments play when learning from different refutation plus persuasive and expository plus persuasive texts. We examined how variations in messages designed to change misconceptions and attitudes about genetically modified foods (GMFs) might differentially impact the extent to which individuals engage in epistemic judgments; the emotions individuals experience during learning; and, how epistemic judgments and emotions might facilitate or constrain conceptual and attitudinal change. One hundred twenty-five undergraduate university students were randomly assigned to one of four text conditions: refutation plus positive persuasive text, refutation plus negative persuasive text, expository plus positive persuasive text, or expository plus negative persuasive text. Students were asked to think and emote out loud during learning to capture epistemic judgments and emotions as they occurred in real time. After the learning session, students also self-reported the emotions they experienced during learning. Results revealed that students who were given positive persuasive texts experienced more positive emotions (both intensity and frequency) during learning, whereas those who were given negative persuasive texts experienced more negative emotions (frequency) during learning. Students who were given positive persuasive texts engaged in more epistemic judgments and changed more misconceptions about GMFs compared to students in the other three text conditions. Finally, epistemic judgments were significant positive predictors of conceptual and attitudinal change, and both positive emotions and negative emotions predicted attitudinal change. Implications for theories of conceptual and attitudinal change are discussed.     

Development of reasoning skills through participation in collaborative synchronous online discussions

This article investigates the effect of participation in synchronous online discussions on the development of individual reasoning as manifested in reflective essays. Students from a fourth-grade classroom engaged in a series of real-timeonline discussions. The format of the discussion was based on the Collaborative Reasoning approach which has clear guidelines and procedures. The results showed that compared to the students from the contrast classroom, the students who had experienced synchronous online discussions wrote essays with more satisfactory arguments, counterarguments, rebuttals, and textual information. In addition, they wrote longer essays which contained fewer irrelevant statements. These effects of online discussions were consistent between girls and boys and between shy and non-shy children. The students' uses of arguments and rebuttals, as well as the length of their essays, were adequately predicted by the frequency of their contributions in the discussions. The present study suggests that when an online chat is implemented with an instructional approach which has well-established procedures and effective moves, it can provide an intellectually stimulating context in which all students can learn to reason by interacting with one another.     

Structured Collaboration versus Individual Learning in Solving Physics Problems

The research issue in this study is how to structure collaborative learning so that it improves solving physics problems more than individual learning. Structured collaborative learning has been compared with individual learning environments with Schoenfeld’s problem‐solving episodes. Students took a pre‐test and a post‐test and had the opportunity to solve six physics problems. Ninety‐nine students from a secondary school in Shanghai participated in the study. Students who learnt to solve problems in collaboration and students who learnt to solve problems individually with hints improved their problem‐solving skills compared with those who learnt to solve the problems individually without hints. However, it was hard to discern an extra effect for students working collaboratively with hints—although we observed these students working in a more structured way than those in the other groups. We discuss ways to further investigate effective collaborative processes for solving physics problems.     

The role of diagrams in collaborative argumentation-based learning

In this article two studies on the use of diagrams in computer-supported collaborative learning are compared. Focus is on the way argumentative diagrams can be used during collaborative learning tasks, more specifically how diagrams support argumentative interaction between students when they discuss ill-defined topics. The main goal is to discover how diagram construction before discussion, and diagram construction during discussion, influence the way students explore the space of debate during discussion. Twenty pairs of 16/17-year-old students were randomly selected from 126 pairs. Ten pairs worked with a diagram before discussion and ten during discussion. The research showed that students use diagrams in very different ways, ranging from a means for talking to just a notebook. Our expectation that using a diagram during discussion leads to more depth in discussion than using one before discussion, was not confirmed. Possible explanations for this finding are structure of the task, and the way students interpreted the goal of the task.     

The influence of advice in a virtual learning environment

The influence of asynchronous discussion in a virtual learning environment, Blackboard, on subsequent coursework grades was examined with 166 psychology students to determine whether asking questions of the tutor online, and/or reading the questions and the given advice, influenced the grades on the report they were writing. A repeated‐measures quasiexperimental design was used, with and without Blackboard available, to control for confounding variables. The grades on the assignment with Blackboard available were significantly higher than those on the previous assignment (when Blackboard was unavailable). Students who never used Blackboard had significantly lower grades on the assignment than the students who had used it. There was a positive relationship between the number of messages read and the grade achieved on the assignment. Students who read the most discussion board posts wrote significantly better reports (up by 4%) than they had previously. No improvement in grades occurred for the people who read no posts at all. Both the students who asked questions and those who just read the questions and answers (‘lurkers’) ended up with significantly better grades than they had done before Blackboard was introduced.     

Online discussion compensates for suboptimal timing of supportive information presentation in a digitally supported learning environment

This study used a sequential set-up to investigate the consecutive effects of timing of supportive information presentation (information before vs. information during the learning task clusters) in interactive digital learning materials (IDLMs) and type of collaboration (personal discussion vs. online discussion) in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) on student knowledge construction. Students (N = 87) were first randomly assigned to the two information presentation conditions to work individually on a case-based assignment in IDLM. Students who received information during learning task clusters tended to show better results on knowledge construction than those who received information only before each cluster. The students within the two separate information presentation conditions were then randomly assigned to pairs to discuss the outcomes of their assignments under either the personal discussion or online discussion condition in CSCL. When supportive information had been presented before each learning task cluster, online discussion led to better results than personal discussion. When supportive information had been presented during the learning task clusters, however, the online and personal discussion conditions had no differential effect on knowledge construction. Online discussion in CSCL appeared to compensate for suboptimal timing of presentation of supportive information before the learning task clusters in IDLM.     

Conditions for the Effectiveness of Multiple Visual Representations in Enhancing STEM Learning

Visual representations play a critical role in enhancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning. Educational psychology research shows that adding visual representations to text can enhance students’ learning of content knowledge, compared to text-only. But should students learn with a single type of visual representation or with multiple different types of visual representations? This article addresses this question from the perspective of the representation dilemma, namely that students often learn content they do not yet understand from representations they do not yet understand. To benefit from visual representations, students therefore need representational competencies, that is, knowledge about how visual representations depict information about the content. This article reviews literature on representational competencies involved in students’ learning of content knowledge. Building on this review, this article analyzes how the number of visual representations affects the role these representational competencies play during students’ learning of content knowledge. To this end, the article compares two common scenarios: text plus a single type of visual representations (T+SV) and text plus multiple types of visual representations (T+MV). The comparison yields seven hypotheses that describe under which conditions T+MV scenarios are more effective than T+SV scenarios. Finally, the article reviews empirical evidence for each hypothesis and discusses open questions about the representation dilemma.     

Workshop on Friction: Understanding and Addressing Students’ Difficulties in Learning Science Through a Hermeneutical Perspective

Hermeneutics is useful in science and science education by emphasizing the process of understanding. The purpose of this study was to construct a workshop based upon hermeneutical principles and to interpret students’ learning in the workshop through a hermeneutical perspective. When considering the history of Newtonian mechanics, it could be considered that there are two methods of approaching Newtonian mechanics. One method is called the ‘prediction approach’, and the other is called the ‘explanation approach’. The ‘prediction approach’ refers to the application of the principles of Newtonian mechanics. We commonly use the prediction approach because its logical process is natural to us. However, its use is correct only when a force, such as gravitation, is exactly known. On the other hand, the ‘explanation approach’ could be used when the nature of a force is not exactly known. In the workshop, students read a short text offering contradicting ideas about whether to analyze a friction situation using the explanation approach or the prediction approach. Twenty-two college students taking an upper-level mechanics course wrote their ideas about the text. The participants then discussed their ideas within six groups, each composed of three or four students. Through the group discussion, students were able to clarify their preconceptions about friction, and they responded to the group discussion positively. Students started to think about their learning from a holistic perspective. As students thought and discussed the friction problems in the manner of hermeneutical circles, they moved toward a better understanding of friction.     

A Search for Meaning

This article describes an active learning demonstration to increase student interest in and involvement with the topic of research ethics and deception. Students received false, low feedback on an exam and then completed a faculty evaluation form. The class was then informed about the deception and the research issue (the impact of grades on evaluations). Students then discussed their immediate reactions to the experience of deception. Two weeks later students wrote a reflective essay that described how their reactions and views had evolved. The discussion and essays indicated that the demonstration produced a high level of student involvement, empathy toward research participants, and self-examination.