An investigation of the effects of a graphic organizer in an online serious game on learning outcomes and attitudinal perceptions

A serious game, which is designed for learning purposes rather than recreational purposes, has been applied for digital game-based Learning. This study investigated the effects of graphic organizers in a serious game, “The Transistor”, on learning outcomes and attitudinal perceptions. A total of 99 participants were randomly assigned to three groups: non-organizer group, advance organizer group, and post organizer group. The results revealed that participants using a post organizer, which was presented after the game for review, outperformed those using a non-organizer and an advance organizer on both learning outcomes (recall test scores and recycling intention) and attitudinal perceptions (perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction). These findings implied that a post-graphic organizer could enhance the instructional value of a serious game. More detailed implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Examining the effects of combining self-explanation principles with an educational game on learning science concepts

Educational researchers have indicated that although computer games have the potential to promote students’ motivation and engagement, the work on how to design effective games that fulfil educational purposes is still in its infancy. This study aimed to examine how integration of self-explanation into a computer game affected primary schoolers’ acquisition of light and shadow concepts. The participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group and played a computer game with or without self-explanation prompts individually as a treatment. Students’ conceptual understanding was evaluated through a pretest and a posttest administered right after the treatment. The results revealed that by controlling the pretest scores, students who played the game with self-explanation features did not outperform those who played the game without any prompts in the posttest. Further analyses of the experimental group students’ responses to the self-explanation prompts also indicated that the students with more correct responses to the prompts did not perform better than those with lower accuracy rates. The deficits in the use of self-explanation prompts are identified, and possible improvements to enhance the function of self-explanation in educational games are proposed.     

运用数字设备进行视觉学习的行为解析——以设计专业学生为例

运用问卷调查并就结果进行分析,探讨学生对数字影像的解读、判断与使用的习惯与能力,借以了解设计专业学生的视觉思维与价值观,用以提供执行教学策略时的参考。     

The benefits of a challenge: student motivation and flow experience in tablet-PC-game-based learning

Advances in technology have led to continuous innovation in teaching and learning methods. For instance, the use of tablet PCs (TPCs) in classroom instruction has been shown to be effective in attracting and motivating students' interest and increasing their desire to participate in learning activities. In this paper, we used a TPCs game – an iPad app called Motion Math: Hungry Fish – to help young students learn to theoretically understand and practically implement the mathematical concepts of addition and subtraction. Based on findings from a pilot study, we categorized the game's 18 levels of difficulty into “challenging” (experimental group) and “matching” (control group) games. We aimed to investigate whether challenging games were more able than matching games to improve the students' motivation, flow experience, self-efficacy for technology, self-efficacy for science, feelings about the TPC game, and satisfaction with the learning approach. The findings showed that the students in the experimental group achieved better flow experience, learning performance, and satisfaction.     

Exploring the role of flow experience,learning performance and potential behavior clusters in elementary students' game-based learning

Well-designed game-based learning can provide students with an innovative environment that may enhance students' motivation and engagement in learning and thus improve their learning performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among elementary school students' flow experience and learning performances. We also investigated the gender and grade differences as well as the types of potential clusters of flow experiences and performance. Thirty-four elementary school students participated in this study. This study conducted correction analysis, difference analysis and a two-stage cluster analysis. The findings suggested that the students with higher flow experiences tended to have higher learning performances. The results of gender differences showed that female students had high performance scores and great flow experiences in the mini-educational game in this study. Moreover, the results revealed that the students of higher grade had significantly higher scores in both performance and flow experience than the students of lower grade. The result of cluster analysis fell into three categories: low performance/low flow experience students, high flow experience students and high performance/high flow experience students. On the basis of our findings, we also proposed suggestions for future game-based learning research.     

Effects of learning approaches,locus of control,socio-economic status and self-efficacy on academic achievement: a Turkish perspective

In this study the effects of learning approaches, locus of control (LOC), socio-economic status and self-efficacy on undergraduate students in North Cyprus was investigated. Four questionnaires were administered on 99 students in order to collect data regarding the learning approaches, LOC, self-efficacy and demographic factors. High cumulative grade point average and self-efficacy were shown to be an indicator of academic achievement and high self-efficacy was related to the use of deep approach (DA). Students, whose mothers had lower levels of education, were found to also predict academic success. No direct significant relationship between DA and academic achievement was found.     

Collaboration in Visual Culture Learning Communities: Towards a Synergy of Individual and Collective Creative Practice

A visual culture learning community (VCLC) is an adolescent or young adult group engaged in expression and creation outside of formal institutions and without adult supervision. In the framework of an international, comparative research project executed between 2010 and 2014, members of a variety of eight self‐initiated visual culture groups ranging from manga and cosplay through contemporary art forms, fanart video, graffiti and cosplay in five urban areas (Amsterdam, Budapest, Chicago, Helsinki and Hong Kong) were studied through interview, participant observation and analysis of art works. In this article, collaborative group practices and processes in informal learning environments are presented through results of on‐site observations, interviews and analyses of creations. VCLCs are identified as inspiring, collaborative spaces of peer mentoring that enhance both visual skills and self‐esteem. Authors reveal how identity formation is interrelated with networking and knowledge sharing. Adolescents and young adults become participants of global communities of their creative genres through reinterpretation and individualisation of shared visual repertoires. In conclusion, implications for art education from the VCLC model for creative collaboration are suggested.     

Situated learning theory and the pedagogy of teacher education: Towards an integrative view of teacher behavior and teacher learning

Lave and Wenger have greatly influenced existing views of learning and teaching, but relatively little has been written about the implications for the understanding of teacher behavior and teacher learning, and for the pedagogy of teacher education. Based on their work, a three-level model of learning is used to analyze the friction between teacher behavior in practice and the wish to ground teachers' practices in theory. Supported by empirical data on teacher learning and brain research, this model reconciles the situated learning perspective with traditional cognitive theory, and leads to concrete implications for the pedagogy of teacher education.     

当代大学生体育行为的调查与分析

采用文献法、实验跟踪调查法、问卷调查法及统计方法,对河南几所高校大学生参加体育锻炼的项目、动机、对体育锻炼的喜爱程度进行调查,试图全面了解当代大学生体育行为的状况,发现存在问题。提出看法和建议,以便更好地开展高校体育教学,促进《全民健身计划纲要》的贯彻落实,同时也为管理部门决策提供参考依据．     

Qualitative descriptions of error recovery patterns across reading level and sentence type: an eye movement analysis.

Purposes of the present study included describing a variety of error recovery patterns based on eye movement (EM) measures of sentence parsing across reading level and error type. A qualitative pattern analysis of EM mappings was completed for students with reading disabilities (n = 10) and nondisabled students (n = 10) who were parsing control and erred sentences. Independent variables included error type (syntactically ambiguous, semantically anomalous, and control sentences) and reading proficiency level. Dependent variables consisted of seven eye movement measures. Chi-square analyses were performed to examine group differences across frequencies per pattern. Results suggest that the error recovery strategies deployed by both groups were similar in pattern and frequency; patterns were largely organized, strategic, and efficient, as predicted. Evidence for seven newly defined strategies was found, with indications of multiple strategies within sentences by both groups. Strategies tended to be error "reanalysis" (vs. "recovery") heuristics, in that readers from both groups used regressions to reanalyze regions of inconsistency rather than regions of disambiguation. Earlier conclusions regarding disorganized processing and individual differences among adolescents with reading disabilities are discussed.     

Commentary: Towards an Integrated View of Learning from Text and Visual Displays

Visuo-spatial text adjuncts such as static or animated pictures, geographic maps, thematic maps, graphs, and knowledge maps that have been analyzed in the articles contained in this special issue provide complex pictorial information that complements the verbal information of texts. These spatial text adjuncts are considered as depictive representations that can support communication, thinking, and learning. An essential precondition of this supportive function is that the visuo-spatial displays interact appropriately with human visual perception and the individual's cognitive system, which is characterized by prior knowledge, cognitive abilities, and learning skills. Accordingly, effective learning with visuo-spatial text adjuncts can be fostered by instructional design and by adequate processing strategies, both dependent on sufficient understanding of how the human cognitive system interacts with these displays. Perspectives for further research in this area are provided.     

我国本科教学质量的研究热点、演化与前沿——基于CiteSpace的可视化分析

伴随"一流本科"建设步伐的加快,本科教学质量研究成为我国高等教育领域研究的重要主题。运用文献计量学方法,选取2009—2019年CNKI数据库,以"本科教学质量"为篇名进行文献检索,筛选得出2029篇有效文献。利用CiteSpace 5.6 R3软件进行可视化知识图谱分析。研究发现:(1)新建本科院校、实践教学、教学改革、人才培养、质量监控等关键词成为近10年来的热点;(2)我国本科教学质量研究脉络主要是以教学质量、质量工程、本科教学、应用型本科院校、教学评价等话题交织演进;(3)突发性检测揭示以应用型本科、国家标准、审核评估、保障体系、应用型本科院校为话题引领的研究前沿。文章分析指出,我国本科教学质量研究的多元交叉研究有待增强,影响机制研究有待深化,定量实证研究亟待推进。     

Time limits in testing: An analysis of eye movements and visual attention in spatial problem solving

Individuals with an aptitude for interpreting spatial information (high mental rotation ability: HMRA) typically master anatomy with more ease, and more quickly, than those with low mental rotation ability (LMRA). This article explores how visual attention differs with time limits on spatial reasoning tests. Participants were assorted to two groups based on their mental rotation ability scores and their eye movements were collected during these tests. Analysis of salience during testing revealed similarities between MRA groups in untimed conditions but significant differences between the groups in the timed one. Question‐by‐question analyses demonstrate that HMRA individuals were more consistent across the two timing conditions (κ = 0.25), than the LMRA (κ = 0.013). It is clear that the groups respond to time limits differently and their apprehension of images during spatial problem solving differs significantly. Without time restrictions, salience analysis suggests LMRA individuals attended to similar aspects of the images as HMRA and their test scores rose concomitantly. Under timed conditions however, LMRA diverge from HMRA attention patterns, adopting inflexible approaches to visual search and attaining lower test scores. With this in mind, anatomical educators may wish to revisit some evaluations and teaching approaches in their own practice. Although examinations need to evaluate understanding of anatomical relationships, the addition of time limits may induce an unforeseen interaction of spatial reasoning and anatomical knowledge. Anat Sci Educ 10: 528–537. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

结构—行动:流动农民的社会网络分析

近年来,“流动农民”已成为学术界研究的热点,面对主流的个体主义方法所持的地位结构视角的缺陷,本文试图从社会结构与行动的视角出发,借靠社会网络理论来分析流动农民外出就业的途径选择及流动农民作为“城里的乡下人”的社会支持网络结构。     

Financing constraints and corporate investment: an empirical analysis of china''s manufacturing firms

With the measurement of dividend payout ratio, logistic regression index value and the firm size financing constraints, this paper investigated the investment behavior of China's manufacturing firms over the period from 1998 to 2003, and the relationship between financing constraints and corporate investment using the OLS regression method. The empirical evidence shows that there are certain extent financing constraints in China's manufacturing firms, but the results are different with different variables to measure the financing constraints.     

Metacognition in joint discussions: an analysis of the patterns of interaction and the metacognitive content of the networked discussions in mathematics

The aim of this study was to examine metacognition in computer-supported collaborative problem solving. The subjects of the study were 13-year-old Finnish secondary school students (N = 16). The Knowledge Forum learning environment was used to support student pairs’ problem-solving task involving polygons in a geometry course. The data consist of the student pairs’ posted computer notes (n = 95). To examine metacognition in a social context in the networked discussions, the features and patterns of networked interaction, the metacognitive content of the computer notes and their relations were examined. To examine the features of networked interaction, the social network analysis measures were used. The patterns of networked interaction were displayed with the multidimensional scaling technique. In the analysis, metacognitive contents of the computer notes were categorized as metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive skills, and not metacognitive. Further, with the correspondence analysis, we examined how the student pairs’ metacognitive activity was distributed. The results of the study revealed that the metacognitive activity varied among participants, although some aspects of metacognition such as planning were never encountered. It was found that there is a relation between metacognitive activity and the features of interaction. The student pairs who monitored and evaluated the ongoing discussions had a strategically optimal position in the communication network.     

Learning for an unknown context: a comparative case study on some Swedish and Polish Political Science students' experiences of the transition from university to working life

This comparative small‐scale (Swedish and Polish sample) longitudinal qualitative study investigates political science students' conceptions of their studies, their future profession and their workplace learning. The students (10 in Sweden and 11 in Poland) were interviewed twice, first when they were at the end of their studies and a second time when they had worked for approximately one year. The questions asked were designed to try to understand the transition from higher education to work life. The results indicate that they bring with them a set of academic generic skills from their education when they enter working life. Furthermore, the students in the two countries have very different perceptions of the subject Political Science, and the expectations they have regarding their studies and future working life also differ considerably.