Researching undergraduate social science research

The experience(s) of undergraduate research students in the social sciences is under-represented in the literature in comparison to the natural sciences or science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The strength of STEM undergraduate research learning environments is understood to be related to an apprenticeship-mode of learning supported by more experienced (post-graduate) peers, often through ongoing research projects. Studies of undergraduate research reveal that this is not typical in the social sciences, and students report facing specific challenges to the development of their identities as researchers that include fear, intellectual confusion and emotional unsettlement. This paper examines how a social science learning environment, designed as a research study itself, fostered beginning researchers communities of practice, realised a distinct mode of apprenticing based on peers’ similarly peripheral community membership, and enabled students to reframe emotional unsettlement. It argues that, effectively mediated, talk can powerfully improve undergraduate social science research students’ experiences.     

The use of self,peer and teacher assessment as a feedback system in a learning environment aimed at fostering skills of cooperation in an entrepreneurial context

Education is criticized for producing inert knowledge and for paying too little attention to skills such as cooperating and problem solving. Powerful learning environments have the potential to overcome these educational shortcomings. The goal of this research was to find out ways in which a ‘learning enterprise’ can best be supported (coached) in order to constitute a powerful learning environment aimed at teaching certain cooperative skills in a business context. This ‘learning enterprise’ constitutes an entrepreneurial context in which students in secondary or higher education are working together to conceptualize and eventually commercialize a product. In this research, the impact of different ways of supporting a learning enterprise will be compared. These ways are based on existing guiding principles for the design of powerful learning environments and on a further elaboration of these principles in what is conceptualized as an ‘equilibrium model’. In this model, the balances that are needed between motivating students, activating them towards self‐regulated learning, coaching, structuring and steering the learning processes have been elaborated. Based on this model a differentiation between a ‘student‐controlled’, a ‘teacher‐controlled and a ‘coached approach’, as an equilibrated way between the various approaches to coaching a learning enterprise, has been worked out. We hypothesize that the coached approach will give the best learning results in relation to cooperative skills. A combination of self, peer and teacher assessment of these skills, and an adequate feedback‐strategy based on these assessments, should be an important part of approaches used. These approaches were put into practice in a design experiment, and the impact was compared by means of a pre‐test/post‐test design. Results confirmed the postulated hypotheses that there will need to be a balance between, on the one hand giving students enough freedom for self‐discovery and self‐regulation, and on the other hand steering the students in such a way that certain problems can be avoided and that every student can get optimal learning chances. An adequate assessment‐strategy is needed to search for this balance. Further, a systematic action research of the design experiences resulted in more information on how best to coach a learning enterprise. This information has been summarized in the form of general guidelines.     

Online learning experiences of new versus continuing learners: a large-scale replication study

A vast body of research has indicated the importance of distinguishing new vs. continuing students’ learning experiences in blended and online environments. Continuing learners may have developed learning and coping mechanisms for ‘surviving’ in such learning environments, while new learners might still need to adjust their learning approaches to the new learning context. In this large-scale replication study, we investigated whether and how the learning satisfaction experiences of 16,670 new vs. 99,976 continuing students were different. Using logistical regression modelling of learner satisfaction scores of 422 undergraduate blended and online modules (including 232 learner and module learning design variables), our findings indicated that new learners indeed differed subtly in their learning and teaching experiences across two consecutive academic years. The minor differences in key drivers between the 2014 and 2015 cohorts also indicate that institutions need to continuously monitor and act upon changing learning needs.     

An examination of digital game-based situated learning applied to Chinese language poetry education

By gradually placing more importance on game-based education and changing learning motivation by applying game-playing characteristics, students’ learning experiences can be enhanced and a better learning effect can be achieved. When teaching the content of Chinese poetry in Taiwanese junior high schools, most teachers only explain the meaning of Chinese poetry, while it is difficult for students to understand why poets write these poems, resulting in learning confusion. This paper implemented a digital game-based situated learning system based on Tang Dynasty poems for learning Chinese poetry to simulate the situations of hardship encountered by poets when writing poetry in animated form to help junior high school students in Taiwan to have greater understanding when learning the content of Chinese poetry. The research results show that students who used the Gourd Tang Dynasty system in game-based instruction had significantly better learning achievements than students who underwent traditional narrative instruction. Among them, students in the low learning ability group improved in their grades significantly more than students in the high learning ability group in terms of their Tang Dynasty poetry learning. Furthermore, the authors examined the predictive relationships between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and behavioural intention related to the digital game-based situated learning system for Chinese language poetry. The factor of perceived usefulness was a key factor in the students’ positive attitudes towards the digital game-based situated learning system. There were no significant differences with respect to individual characteristics (i.e. gender, online game experience and digital learning experience). The results demonstrate that this type of system can be widely accepted by students with different learning experiences.     

Research into Practice: Current Trends in Educational Technology Research: The Study of Learning Environments

Educational technology research has passed through a number of stages, focusing, in turn, on the content to be learned, the format of instructional messages, and the interaction between computers and students. The field is now concerned with the study of learning in complete, complex, and interactive learning environments. These environments allow both the simulation of experiences that students might have in the real world and also the creation of compelling experiences that cannot normally be experienced directly. Learning environments also often allow students to communicate their own ideas with the use of a variety of symbol systems. These environments are also frequently inhabited by more than one person, making learning within them a social activity where learning is distributed among both people and artifacts. Finally, these learning environments are complex. Studying how they contribute to learning therefore requires research methods other than controlled experiments. This paper reviews research on learning environments to give both an historical perspective on educational technology research and a selective view of the current state of the discipline. It concludes by identifying implications for both practice and future research.     

“But at school … I became a bit shy”: Korean immigrant adolescents’ discursive participation in science classrooms

In reform-based science curricula, students’ discursive participation is highly encouraged as a means of science learning as well as a goal of science education. However, Asian immigrant students are perceived to be quiet and passive in classroom discursive situations, and this reticence implies that they may face challenges in discourse-rich science classroom learning environments. Given this potentially conflicting situation, the present study aims to understand how and why Asian immigrant students participate in science classroom discourse. Findings from interviews with seven Korean immigrant adolescents illustrate that they are indeed hesitant to speak up in classrooms. Drawing upon cultural historical perspectives on identity and agency, this study shows how immigrant experiences shaped the participants’ othered identity and influenced their science classroom participation, as well as how they negotiated their identities and situations to participate in science classroom and peer communities. I will discuss implications of this study for science education research and science teacher education to support classroom participation of immigrant students.     

Cooperative learning on an international masters

Postgraduate taught provision in Anglophone higher education contexts is becoming increasingly populated by cohorts of students from a wide range of linguistic, cultural and educational backgrounds. However, the voices of these students on their learning experiences remain largely unheard. Little previous research exists on the experiences of higher degree students as they participate in group work in multi-cultural settings. This study investigates the perspectives of students from a variety of educational backgrounds on their experiences of cooperative learning in multi-national groups on a Masters programme at a UK university. Seven focus groups were conducted with students from a range of countries including Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC) and non-CHC backgrounds. Students perceived group work as often lacking adequate structure, leading to feelings of confusion and insecurity. While it was apparent that a complex interplay of cultural, cognitive, and linguistic factors impacted on the functioning of collaborative learning, the data highlighted the need to provide students with more structure and guidance for cooperative learning environments and the importance of creating intercultural learning opportunities for students to better understand the impact of cultural backgrounds on approaches to cooperative learning in multi-national situations.     

Learning and Instruction: a review of main research lines during recent decades

Research on learning and instruction focuses on structural and procedural characteristics of guided human learning as well as its internal and external constraints including the embeddedness of human learning into social systems. Instruction (which is in this context just as a synonym for teaching) needs to be aligned with these characteristics of human learning in order to be successful. The following article provides an overview of main research lines on learning and instruction during the recent decades with a special focus on educational psychology and empirical pedagogy. In a first step, the article will outline basic theoretical approaches to teaching and learning. Second, it will analyze the role of learning environments and students’ learning activities within these environments and, third, the role of self-directed learning in such environments. Fourth, the paper will consider the role of media in learning and instruction with a special focus on possibilities to enhance students’ cognitive flexibility. In a fifth step, the article will specify cognitive and developmental constraints of learning and its instructional consequences. Finally, the article will suggest perspectives for further interdisciplinary research in this area.     

Learning science by doing science: an authentic science process-learning model in postsecondary education

Research on understanding the full extent that an authentic science research experience engages students in how scientists think and act is sparse. ‘Learning-science-by-doing-science’ (LSDS) is an emerging self-guided process-learning model in postsecondary science education. It offers authentic science research opportunities that drive students to think and act like scientists. This study investigates the LSDS approach as a potential model for science learning at postsecondary level and aims to answer a main research inquiry – what are the students’ and teaching staff’s perceptions of students’ learning gains and the quality of their learning experiences in an authentic research environment within the LSDS model? To answer this question, data were collected from the students, alumni, instructors, teaching assistants and the program director via questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. Students’ and staff’s lived experiences and their perceptions on their authentic research experiences within the LSDS model were used to articulate the key attributes and stages of the LSDS model. The outcomes of this study can be used to help other science programs implement similar authentic research process learning approaches in their own contexts.     

The danger of subverting students’ views in schools

This paper is firmly grounded in the position that engaging with students’ voices in schools is central to the development of inclusive practices. It explores the tensions that can be created when efforts are made to engage with students’ voices in relation to their experiences of learning and teaching. An example from a three-year research and development project, which worked alongside teachers to use students’ voices as a way of developing inclusive practices, is used to illustrate these tensions. This project, though showing that students’ voices can be a powerful means for understanding learning and teaching in schools, also encountered challenges with these processes. This paper focuses on the experiences of one secondary school which (possibly inadvertently) subverted and undermined students’ voice initiatives and explores the potential negative impacts of this on individual students, on students as a whole, and on teacher development. By doing this, suggestions as to how such tensions can be avoided in schools are offered, with the aim being to allow a genuine engagement with the views of students.     

Innovation in postgraduate teaching: mixed methods to enhance learning and learning about learning

Growing pressure to restructure and reform tertiary education is encouraging university academics to use innovative practices that assist students to develop ‘employable’ skills. The hybrid approach described in this paper stimulated students to be self‐directed adult learners who maximized their learning of content and skills by means of problem‐based learning and action research strategies. The lecturer also operated as a reflective practitioner and role model by using an action research approach. This paper demonstrates the value of student empowerment, communication and leadership in autonomous learning groups. It outlines methods by which academic teaching staff can build continuous improvement into a university unit’s curriculum design and processes. These can be powerful additions to lecturers’ teaching strategies and to students’ learning experiences.     

Frailty in transition? Troubling the norms,boundaries and limitations of transition theory and practice

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on ‘transition’ and how it is understood within higher education. Drawing on data from concept map-mediated interviews at two institutions, we examine the conceptions of transition held by academic and professional staff, who work to support students’ learning into and through higher education. We suggest that normative understandings of transition often draw upon a grand-narrative that orchestrates and reiterates a stereotypic understanding of students’ experiences. Often this narrative involves students’ interpellation into a field of discourse where the subject is constructed as both homogeneous and in deficit: ill-prepared, lacking in independence, as vulnerable and in need of support. However, this study suggests that beneath this discourse lies a more nuanced picture: one where students’ experiences can be conceptualised as diverse and fluid. Moreover, we employ the concept of pedagogic ‘frailty’ to expose the significance of the environments and wider contexts in which students ‘transition’, and to explore the impact of systemic tensions upon students’ experiences. This article further argues that future research should shift discussions away from the deficits of students, and examine how we can make underlying environmental and systemic challenges more explicit, in order to widen our understanding and discussions of these constraints.     

Students as Scholars: Integrating Independent Research into Undergraduate Education

Undergraduate programs across the country are working to develop students as scholars, integrating independent scholarly experiences into traditional undergraduate classroom environments (see, e.g. George Mason University's Students as Scholars Quality Enhancement Plan; Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; University of Houston’s Learning through Discovery; University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program; etc.). Scholars and universities have touted the benefits of engaging students in research experiences for students as well as faculty. However, there is little empirical work exploring how undergraduate students adapt to their new role as scholars. In this paper, we explore the process of students integrating research into their undergraduate classroom experience. Based on participant observation and pre and postsemester survey data, we discuss the process of students learning as scholars in a capstone Criminology, Law & Society course. We focus on how students gathered and analyzed data and integrated their research experience into their overall learning for the course. We find the process of research reinforces the learning objectives of the course.     

A qualitative approach to understanding the role of lecture capture in student learning experiences

Lectures continue to be the dominant form of university teaching, and lecture capture technologies are tentatively taken up to support this form of delivery, rather than being used as a viable alternative. Much of the previous research, however, has been self-reports or survey-based, with far less attention given to qualitative explorations. This study aims to bridge this gap by using qualitative methods in order to examine students’ experiences of lecture capture provisions within the context of their own learning by utilising six focus groups to generate data. Thematic analysis was used to understand group opinions and experiences of lecture capture within university teaching. Two conceptual themes emerged: enhancing the learning environment and working and learning strategically. Results show that the value of lecture capture provisions could not be fully evaluated by students without considering their current learning environments. The main positive function of lecture capturing was to alleviate negative perceptions of lectures as a learning event, but it also provided students an opportunity to learn strategically. The extent to which lecture capturing develops and enhances the learning experience is discussed. Recommendations for how universities could utilise lecture capturing are proposed.     

Relationships between student scientific epistemological beliefs and perceptions of constructivist learning environments

This study was conducted to explore the interplay between students’ scientific epistemological beliefs and their perceptions of constructivist learning environments. Through analysing 1,176 Taiwanese tenth-graders’ (16-year-olds) questionnaire responses, this study found that students tended to perceive that actual learning environments were less constructivist orientated than what they preferred. Students having epistemological beliefs more orientated to constructivist views of science (as opposed to empiricist views about science) tended to have a view that actual learning environments did not provide sufficient opportunities for social negotiations (p < 0.01) and prior knowledge integration (p < 0.01); and moreover, they show significantly stronger preferences to learn in the constructivist learning environments where they could (1) interact and negotiate meanings with others (p < 0.001), (2) integrate their prior knowledge and experiences with newly constructed knowledge (p < 0.001) and (3) meaningfully control their learning activities (p < 0.001). The main thrust of the findings drawn from this study indicates that teachers need to be very aware of students’ epistemological orientation towards scientific knowledge, and to complement these preferences when designing learning experiences, especially to provide constructivist-based lessons to enhance science learning for students who are epistemologically constructivist orientated.     

The Dynamic Association of Interest and Confusion: The Potential for Moderation by Utility Value and Gender

Abstract

To better understand students’ experiences while learning in an online computer-science course, we adopted a dynamical systems analytic framework in which we tested linked patterns of confusion and interest over time and investigated whether and how those patterns might change as a function of students’ exposure to a utility value (UV) intervention and gender. We assessed interest and confusion via event contingent experience-sampled questionnaires that displayed immediately after students had engaged with key examples or exercises. Results indicated that students’ exposure to a UV intervention and gender affected the levels of confusion that students reported and the associations between interest and confusion levels over time. Implications for educators and researchers are discussed.     

What do students believe about effective classroom management? A mixed-methods investigation in Western Australian high schools

Students’ views about teaching, learning, and school experiences are important considerations in education. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of teachers who create and maintain safe and supportive learning environments. To achieve this, a survey was conducted with 360 students to capture students’ views on their classroom experiences. Follow-up focus group discussions were used to further elaborate and clarify students’ perceptions. Despite varying school contexts, students provided consistent reports that effective classroom managers meet students’ needs by developing caring relationships and controlling the classroom environment while developing student responsibility and engaging students in their learning.     

Re-viewing student teamwork: preparation for the ‘real world’ or bundles of situated social practices?

Research in Australian business education continues to emphasise the importance of students learning teamwork as an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum. However, entrenched conceptual and practical confusion as to what the term ‘teamwork’ means and how it ought to be enacted remains a vexed issue capable of distorting and diminishing teamwork, learning and related pedagogy. In this paper, we critically re-examine the view that developing teamwork in an undergraduate business degree equips students for work in the real world. By focusing on the ‘real world’ metaphor-in-use in a cross-disciplinary business capstone subject, we interrogate the spatio-temporal dimensions of teamwork and its realist conceptions and performance. The research draws upon the perceptions of interviewed academics conducting teamwork activities in undergraduate business courses and the lived experiences of the authors. The findings highlight how the use of multiple models of teamwork, constructed by competing discourses and linked to the dualities and invocations constructed by ‘the real world’ metaphor, further exacerbate confusion. We suggest re-viewing and re-valuing student teamwork as the performance of situated, social practices opening new spaces for student teamwork, learning and pedagogical practice.     

Personal voices in higher education: A digital storytelling experience for pre-service teachers

Digital storytelling (DST) has recently emerged as a new tool in instructional environments. DST involves the combination of media and technology with traditional storytelling to help students learn. This paper examines the use of DST in a university course and pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their learning experiences using this tool. Thirty-eight pre-service teachers participated in the study, in which DST was employed as a learning activity. In the course, the participants created personal digital stories about their careers. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for data collection and analysis. The findings indicate that DST is very useful for learning. The pre-service teachers perceived DST as an attractive way to share ideas and feelings, and valuable for using in lessons. DST served as a practical learning tool to present the students’ personal experiences to others, and the process encouraged emotional interactions. Implications regarding these findings are discussed.     

Same place,different experiences: exploring the influence of gender on students’ science museum experiences

Providing learning environments that are motivating for female students and male students alike is a challenge for science educators. This overview of the research conducted in science museums provides initial insights into informal educational settings that allow female visitors to have experiences which foster development of science interest and learning. The discussion of the influence of gender on learning experiences in informal science environments raises questions and calls for further research and more comprehensive reporting of research results. Findings related to gender‐equitable learning in settings such as science museums would be beneficial and extend the present knowledge base in science education.