学习科学的两次重大转折与学习研究的工程转向:基于学术思想史的考察

该文从学术思想史的视角出发,提出自学习科学创建以来,学习研究在三十年间经历了三次重大转向。第一次是让学习研究“立地”的“方法学转向”,以“基于设计的研究”的提出为标志,缓解了百余年来教育学与心理学之间的紧张关系,为学习研究走向统一提供了一个“脚手架”;第二次是让学习研究“顶天”的“基础研究转向”,以教育与认知神经科学崛起为标志,向基础研究下沉,并对实践产生了正反两方面影响。现在即将迎来第三次重大转折——学习研究的“工程转向”与学习工程的崛起。该研究提出,要从前两次重大转折中把握学习研究的未来走向,推动学习工程的崛起和可持续发展,既要基于“基于设计的研究”的工程隐喻,实现科学思维向工程思维的转换,促进学习研究中科学、技术与工程的一体化发展,又要直面学习研究从基础科学向应用实践转化面临的挑战与伦理问题,利用人工智能技术赋予的力量跨越二者之间“过于遥远的桥”,从而缓解“顶天”与“立地”之间重新浮现的巨大张力。     

A theoretically driven teaching and research framework: learning technologies and educational practice

The emphasis of this paper is on the derivation of design principles from qualitative analysis of student reflections based on their participation in authentic, collaborative and technology-mediated activities. This paper reports on the initial phases of a design-based research project at a comprehensive university in South Africa where the authentic nature of the activities contributed to the depth of student reflections and ultimately led to meaningful design principles based entirely on the experiences of students. Students’ reflective reports were analysed for their content using simple inductive coding techniques leading to the identification of themes and the derivation of design principles from further refinement of these themes. These design principles, therefore, have their origins in the specific theories underpinning the learning activities that were used in the teaching and learning process, and contribute once again in an innovative way to this same body of knowledge. This theory-driven praxis thus makes a contribution to both educational theory and teaching practice which is applicable across a variety of contexts and sectors worldwide. More importantly, this can be seen as meaningful research that is socially responsible, with a high theoretical and practical value, and of relevance to a wider international audience.     

Moving beyond the teacher-centred/learner-centred dichotomy: implementing a structured model of active learning in the Maldives

In efforts to improve the quality of education, the disparity between policy and practice in implementing learner-centred pedagogy has been well-documented. Acknowledging these challenges, this study investigated active learning reform using design-based research, an interventionist methodology in the Maldives. The intervention specifically sought to address the policy-practice gap through the development of a structured model of active learning, drawing on recommendations in the literature and moving beyond the simple dichotomy of teacher-centred versus learned-centred pedagogy. Teachers’ enactment of the model was studied within a Maldivian island school. The data identified enabling conditions in teachers’ use of the intervention: the pedagogical model needs to be clearly and simply articulated; promote a staggered approach to reform; and reflect and respect local priorities. These were converted into design principles – an outcome of design-based research intended to inform the work of others enacting similar reforms.     

Using conceptual questions to promote motivation and learning in physics lectures

In the last years, science courses in higher education (HE) have been facing some problems, namely the lack of students’ motivation, the number of students’ failures and drop outs, particular in physics courses. The most probable reason, which has been mentioned in current science education research in HE, is that the level of interaction between teachers and learners in formal instructional settings is very low. In this paper, we describe changes that were introduced in lectures towards the promotion of active learning and analyse its effects in the classroom environment. The introduction of conceptual questions and peer instruction seems to motivate students in the class and help them engage in the learning process. These strategies have been used in the first year of an introductory physics course for engineering students in two different Portuguese HE institutions. The data were collected through questionnaires and student interviews.     

基于设计的研究在“现代学习技术”课程中的运用

基于设计的研究是教育研究中一种新的研究范式.本文借鍪基于设计的研究的方法,以问题来源、理论驱动、分析与设计、教学实施、评价与反思、迭代设计为主线,着重阐述了"现代学习技术"课程探究式学习活动的设计和实施.并总结了基于设计的研究对教学实践的几点意叉.     

Linking teaching and research in an undergraduate course and exploring student learning experiences

ABSTRACT

In this case study, we first describe how teaching and research are linked in a master’s course on tissue engineering. A central component of the course is an authentic research project that the students carry out in smaller groups and in collaboration with faculty. We then explore how the students experience learning in this kind of discovery-oriented environment. Data were collected through a survey, reflective writing, and interviews. Using a general inductive approach for qualitative analysis, we identified three themes related to the students’ learning experiences: learning to navigate the field, learning to do real research, and learning to work with others. Overall, the students strongly valued learning in a discovery-oriented environment and three aspects of the course contributed to much of its success: taking a holistic approach to linking teaching and research, engaging students in the whole inquiry process, and situating authentic problems in an authentic physical and social context.     

Scaling up,writ small: using an assessment for learning audit instrument to stimulate site-based professional development,one school at a time

Abstract

Exploiting the potential that Assessment for Learning (AfL) offers to optimise student learning is contingent on both teachers’ knowledge and use of AfL and the fidelity with which this translates into their daily classroom practices. Quantitative data derived from the use of an Assessment for Learning Audit Instrument (AfLAI) with a large sample (n = 594) across 42 primary schools in the Republic of Ireland serve to deprivatise teachers’ knowledge and use of AfL and the extent to which AfL is embedded in their work. The data confirm that there is urgent need for high-quality teacher professional development to build teacher assessment literacy. However, fiscal constraints coupled with the fractured nature of current provision renders it impossible to offer sustained support on a national scale in the immediate term. In response, this paper proposes the adoption of a design-based implementation research approach to site-based collaborations between researchers, teachers and other constituent groups, such as that engaged in by the authors over recent years, as a mechanism for addressing teachers’ needs in a manner that also supports other participants’ professional interests.     

On the bus and online: instantiating an interactive learning environment through design-based research

The World Health Organization converted an award-winning experiential learning course that takes place on a bus traveling down the “cold chain” for time- and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products in Turkey to an online interactive learning environment through design-based research. Similarities and differences in the objectives of the two courses as well as the overlap in the learning activities, tools, and technologies deployed in courses are delineated. Many learning activities from the real bus course were successfully moved to the online course, but a few learning activities from the bus course could not be replicated in the online environment. However, several new and arguably more effective learning activities were implemented online that could not be accomplished on the bus. Design principles for developing online experiential learning environments were derived from the design-based research.     

Enhancing curricula and learning environments using critical realist perspectives and approaches: a case study and critique

While critical realist (CR) ontological and epistemological perspectives and research approaches are becoming more widely adopted by higher education researchers, the scope of research is relatively limited, and novice researchers in the area still struggle to create rich, in-depth, and critical accounts of these approaches ‘in action’. This article provides an account of teacher-researchers’ exploration of these perspectives in the context of an important aspect their everyday teaching practice – the design of effective curricula and learning environments. The context is research that focused on the design, evaluation, and enhancement of learning environments intended to facilitate students’ development of design thinking expertise. The article outlines the researchers’ CR paradigm positioning and implications for methodologies used to gather, analyse, and theorise data about the response of design and business students to three iterations of a design thinking learning environment. The research involved action research that integrated survey, case study, and theorising methodologies. Examples of data, analyses, and explanatory theory are provided to give insights into specific research tasks and their outcomes. Possible explanations for the findings and their implications for attempts to enhance the learning environment are considered from a CR perspective along with challenges that deploying these approaches may entail.     

Towards characterising design-based learning in engineering education: a review of the literature

Design-based learning is a teaching approach akin to problem-based learning but one to which the design of artefacts, systems and solutions in project-based settings is central. Although design-based learning has been employed in the practice of higher engineering education, it has hardly been theorised at this educational level. The aim of this study is to characterise design-based learning from existing empirical research literature on engineering education. Drawing on a perspective that accounts for domain-specific, idiosyncratic and learner-centred aspects of design problems in the context of engineering education, 50 empirical studies on project-based and problem-based engineering education, to which the design of artefacts is central, were reviewed. Based on the findings, design-based learning is characterised with regard to domain-specificity, learner expertise and task authenticity. The implications of this study for the practice of engineering education are discussed.     

Analysis of Students’ learning of computer programming in a computer laboratory context

ABSTRACT

Previous research shows that many students find it difficult to learn computer programming. To learn computer programming includes both gaining theoretical understanding and learning to develop programmes in practice. To this end, teachers commonly design programming exercises for the students in the computer laboratory. To be able to improve the process of designing such exercises, there is a need of a more detailed understanding of the interaction between learning of theory and learning of practice in laboratory sessions. In this paper, an approach for investigating this interaction is proposed. Theoretically, the approach is based on phenomenography and variation theory. To illustrate the approach, it is demonstrated in detail how it was applied to a small but rich case of empirical data from a computer laboratory session. The main result presented here is the new approach for analysing data. In addition, the results of the case study shed preliminary light on the interaction between learning of practice and learning of theory when students work with programming assignments in the laboratory.     

Women's experiences in the engineering laboratory in Japan

This qualitative study aims to examine Japanese women undergraduate engineering students’ experiences of interacting with departmental peers of the same year in the laboratory setting by using interview data of 32 final-year students at two modestly selective national universities in Japan. Expectation state theory that explains unequal relationship between men and women is used as a framework. Findings suggest that women generally had a discouraging experience while working with their male peers. Specifically, women participated less and lost confidence by comparing with the men who appeared to be confident and competent.     

Action research: a methodology for transformative learning for a professor and his students in an engineering classroom

ABSTRACT

An engineering professor of a first-year thermodynamics course and a PhD student with a focus in engineering education in a large research university in Canada participated in an ethnographic action research study with the intention of increasing active learning in the classroom to enhance student engagement and learning. Unexpected findings included transformative changes to the professor’s epistemology of teaching and learning. Through the action research cycle of planning, implementing, observing, and critically reflecting, modifications were made to the instructional strategies and the learning environment that created a micro engineering community of practice where both students and teaching assistants engaged in deep learning and legitimate peripheral participation on the trajectory to ‘becoming engineers’. Qualitative interview data from the professor, three students, and three teaching assistants are analysed through approaches to learning research and situated learning theory. Engaging in action research had profound repercussions in this case. The authors make the argument for action research as a catalyst for transformative learning required for teachers to engage students in the twenty-first century classroom.     

Using learning styles theory in engineering education

Studies have shown that, while learning different concepts, people sometimes take different approaches (learning styles). Accordingly, their performance reflected differently in their academic studies. With the effect of globalisation to the educational environments, the influence of individual learning styles on educational performance is getting more significant. In this study, a learning style assessment tool was used to examine the relationship between students’ learning styles and their performance in engineering education programmes. At the beginning of the programme, 285 students’ learning styles were measured using a learning style assessment tool. Four years after the engineering education, their performance in the programme was compared with their individual learning styles. This study shows that most of the students are assimilators. Divergers and convergers follow the assimilators. The number of accommodators is very limited. The relationship between engineering students’ learning styles and their performance is found: assimilators and convergers performed better than the divergers and accommodators. The performance difference between assimilators and divergers is statistically significant. The results of this study show that the learning style theory is a potential tool for guiding the design and improvement of courses and helping students to improve their individual performance.     

Intergenerational learning at a nature center: families using prior experiences and participation frameworks to understand raptors

Using a sociocultural framework to approach intergenerational learning, this inquiry examines learning processes used by families during visits to one nature center. Data were collected from videotaped observations of families participating in an environmental education program and a follow-up task to draw the habitat of raptors. Based on a thematic analysis, researchers developed two themes about the learning processes at play in the nature center, related to the use of prior knowledge. First, families’ prior knowledge used at the nature center came from informal education activities: (a) observation in the outdoors and spaces designed to represent an aspect of nature, (b) media (including books and Internet), and (c) experiences at informal education institutions. Second, when sharing prior knowledge, participation frameworks were created through the conversation that leveled the hierarchy between parent and child allowing for negotiation and collaborative idea formation. In the nature center, families valued social harmony by positioning their children as capable contributors of environmental knowledge. Suggestions to researchers taking a sociocultural approach are given, including the potential of ‘participation frameworks’ as an analytical tool to study learning interactions and as a potential tool for environmental educators to encourage families to create roles and structures for successful learning outcomes in nature centers.     

Stability of processing and regulation strategies: Two longitudinal studies on student learning

The way students approach their study tasks isoften assumed to be dependent on the learningcontext. This assumption has received littleresearch attention in terms of longitudinal, orwithin-subjects, designs. In the presentarticle, two longitudinal studies are described which investigate the extent to which learningstrategies change. The strategy part of theInventory of Learning Styles of Vermunt and VanRijswijk (1988) was used to measure the waystudents learn. Repeated measures analyses showa number of statistically significanttrends. The article concludes by comparing thetwo studies, and by suggesting future researchdirections.     

Principles and practices of designing narrative distance for transformative learning experiences

Narratives have a unique ability to grant listeners emotional and cognitive space in a way that encourages them to choose how they will make sense of a story. This effect, called narrative distance, also has the potential to help create transformative learning experiences. This article is a qualitative research study of experts who regularly design for narrative distance. Six experts from a variety of fields were interviewed about the principles and practices of designing for narrative distance with the purpose of discovering ways that instructional designers can better facilitate transformative learning experiences. A variety of principles and practices on how to create narrative distance are categorized under four themes: cognitive space, emotional space, invite change, and meaningful content. General comments are also given on the application of these insights to instructional design along with further suggestions for research.     

Design for learning: Adapting the microscopic anatomy laboratory to adult learners

Medical school curricula are undergoing transformational change in response to calls for integrating content across courses and years to enable better retention and application and for individualizing learning to meet the diverse backgrounds and thus differing needs of students. To address the related teaching challenges, faculty can employ solid principles of adult learning and instructional design and use teaching strategies that stimulate different learning styles. We developed laboratory sessions that follow a learner‐centered instructional design model we refer to as “PLHET,” reflecting the steps of preparing, linking, hooking, engaging, and transferring learning, and also applied teaching strategies that reflect Kolb's four styles of learning (accommodative, divergent, assimilative, and convergent). We utilized a group learning format to promote active learning, teamwork, and self‐direction. Preliminary data based on student surveys of laboratory activity show positive responses. In the future, we will test the hypothesis that this design will improve medical students' performance. Anat Sci Educ © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Meaningful learning from practice: web-based video in professional preparation programmes in university

Web-based video is one of the technologies which can support meaningful learning from practice – in addition to practical benefits such as accessibility of practices, flexibility in updating information, and incorporating video into multimedia resources. A multiple case study was set up on the use of a web-based video learning environment in two post-graduate teacher education programmes and two university Bachelor programmes. The later analysis of practice was reported by students to be the most valuable aspect. Teacher feedback was perceived as more helpful than peer feedback, characterising most peer feedback as pep-talk. Direct video observation is suggested to be insufficient for students’ reflection on conceptual questions and on a more general level of practical experience. Implications for the preparation for professional practice in the university context are indicated.