How adolescents navigate Wikipedia to answer questions / ¿Cómo navegan los adolescentes en Wikipedia para contestar preguntas?

Abstract

In one experiment, we explored how high school students use hyperlink relevance cues while they navigate to answer questions from hypertexts. Current evidence has shown that students may navigate by either performing a deep semantic analysis of the relationship between the question and the existing hyperlinks, or by matching words in the question to words in the hyperlink labels. We focused on how students combine both cues during navigation, and how comprehension skills relate to the use of such cues. Our study revealed that 14 year old students (N = 53) selected hyperlinks by relying to a similar degree on both word matching and semantic overlap. Furthermore, when there was a conflict between an irrelevant link cued via word matching and a relevant link only cued through semantic overlap, students’ comprehension skills facilitated their initial selection of an informative relevant link. To conclude, we discuss the implications of these results for current models of hypertext navigation.     

Effects of fading support on hypertext navigation and performance in student-centered e-learning environments

Whether fading support for problems affects accuracy of hypertext navigation and problem performance is investigated in this study. In a student-centered e-learning environment conceptual support is added to help domain novices get an overview of the problem domain, while strategic support is provided to help domain novices get insight into the problem demands. It is assumed that such support helps learners because it lowers the cognitive load of navigation. This frees up cognitive capacity for learning provided that the support fades and becomes less intrusive as a function of learner expertise. It is hypothesized that fading support during practice helps learners navigate more accurately during practice and achieve a higher practice and test performance as compared to learners receiving full support or no support during practice. This study confirms the beneficial effects of fading support on navigation but no effects of fading were found on practice and test performance.     

SAVANT: How to Help Engineers to Learn New Concepts

The increasing demand for engineers in fast-changing specialities requires new ways of teaching technical subjects in higher engineering education; but introducing computers as ordinarly learning tools is far from being simple. For the past 10 years, we have been exploring original ways of using new technologies to help students learn new concepts. The solutions which were experimented with in Telecom Paris by engineering students include an hypertext encyclopaedia, a multimedia network system and an intelligent tutoring system which tries to sustain ‘natural’ conversations with students. All these systems were designed for the same specific purpose: to help the students learn new technical concepts by themselves.     

Effectiveness of Multimedia Pedagogical Agents Predicted by Diverse Theories: a Meta-Analysis

Multimedia pedagogical agents are on-screen characters that allow users to navigate or learn in multimedia environments. Several agents’ characteristics may moderate their instructional effectiveness, including appearance, gender, nonverbal communication, motion, and voice. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to test hypotheses from diverse theories predicting the effects of these agents’ characteristics. We tested predictions of cognitive load theory, cognitive theory of multimedia learning, computers are social actors, social agency theory, uncanny valley, and the action observation network. Our meta-analysis of 32 effect sizes (N?=?2104) revealed a small overall effect (g+?=?0.20), showing that learning with multimedia pedagogical agents was more effective than learning without these agents. As predicted by the redundancy effect of cognitive load theory and the coherence principle of cognitive theory of multimedia learning, 2D agents (g+?=?0.38) tended to be more effective than 3D agents (g+?=?0.11). As predicted by the computers are social actors hypothesis, most of the agents’ characteristics, including nonverbal communication, motion, and voice, appeared not to moderate their effectiveness. We conclude that multimedia pedagogical agents help learning through multimedia, and that students may be able to learn similarly from different types of agents.

     

Middle school students’ learning of mechanics concepts through engagement in different sequences of physical and virtual experiments

ABSTRACT

Physical and virtual experimentation are thought to have different affordances for supporting students’ learning. Research investigating the use of physical and virtual experiments to support students’ learning has identified a variety of, sometimes conflicting, outcomes. Unanswered questions remain about how physical and virtual experiments may impact students’ learning and for which contexts and content areas they may be most effective. Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined eighth grade students’ (N?=?100) learning of physics concepts related to pulleys depending on the sequence of physical and virtual labs they engaged in. Five classes of students were assigned to either the: physical first condition (PF) (n?=?55), where students performed a physical pulley experiment and then performed the same experiment virtually, or virtual first condition (VF) (n?=?45), with the opposite sequence. Repeated measures ANOVA’s were conducted to examine how physical and virtual labs impacted students’ learning of specific physics concepts. While we did not find clear-cut support that one sequence was better, we did find evidence that participating in virtual experiments may be more beneficial for learning certain physics concepts, such as work and mechanical advantage. Our findings support the idea that if time or physical materials are limited, using virtual experiments may help students understand work and mechanical advantage.     

Effects of emotional intelligence and supportive text messages on academic outcomes in first-year undergraduates

An increase in the number of students entering higher education has intensified the need for targeted strategies to support a wider range of student requirements. Current research suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) may be associated with academic success, progression and retention in university students but the use of EI screening as a prospective measure of success requires further investigation. This study evaluates the utility of prospective EI screening to predict progression rates, mean grades, attendance and online engagement in a sample of first-year undergraduate students enrolled on the same degree programme (N = 358). A supportive text messaging intervention was employed during potentially stressful periods of the academic year with a subsection of participants (n = 60) who demonstrated low total EI scores relative to the cohort. Results showed no effects of EI classification on progression rates, mean grades, attendance or online engagement (all p > 0.418). Alternatively, the text messaging intervention was associated with significant improvements compared with a matched control group for progression rates (p = 0.027), mean grades (p = 0.026) and attendance (p = 0.007). The frequency of access to the virtual learning environment also tended to be higher in the intervention group compared with the control group (p = 0.059). In conclusion, this study did not identify any benefits of EI screening as a prospective indicator of student success but provides encouraging indications that a text messaging support intervention could help to improve progression rates, mean grades, attendance and online engagement in first-year undergraduate students. Further research is warranted to develop these proof-of-concept findings.     

Using Cognitive Flexibility Hypertext to Develop Sexual Harassment Cases

Abstract

The use of cognitive flexibility theory as a theoretical framework for designing hypertext has been found to be beneficial for learning in ill-structured domains. However, little is known of what role the learning task plays in the effectiveness of this approach. The present study examined the relationship between task, navigation, and learning transfer when utilizing a cognitive flexibility hypertext about sexual harassment with 34 graduate management students. Due to the nature of the topic, the effects of the task on student attitudes were also studied. The conclusions of the study were that there were no significant differences for the navigational choices or transfer scores, but there did appear to be a relationship between task and changing students' attitudes towards the topic.     

Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Brief Cognitive Behavioral Skills Group on an Ethnically Diverse Campus

This study examined the effectiveness of a brief cognitive behavioral skills group in reducing anxiety, depression, and worry among a sample of low-income predominantly ethnic minority college students. Students were assigned to a skills group (N?=?54) or a wait-list control group (N?=?30). Students completed assessment at preintervention, postintervention, and 1-month follow-up. Linear mixed model analyses revealed significant interaction (time?×?condition) on all outcome variables, although there were different patterns for each dependent variable. Results support the use of a brief cognitive behavioral skills group among low-income predominantly ethnic minority students to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and worry.     

Observing complex systems thinking in the zone of proximal development

Our paper builds on the construct of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky in Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978) to analyze the relationship between students’ answers and the help they receive as they construct them. We report on a secondary analysis of classroom and interview data that was collected with 1st and 2nd grade students completing a short scaffolded inquiry project designed to help them learn about how honeybees collect nectar. We explore how the progression of questions reveal students’ understanding of complex systems by examining how students’ progression through the questions tended to become more sophisticated as we increased support. We further compare two complex-systems perspectives, Component-Mechanism-Phenomena and agent-based approaches, to see how each would categorize students’ explanations. Findings demonstrate the value of the ZPD as an analytic framework in exploring students’ systems understanding in terms of the nature of questions (e.g., sequencing, type of question) and multiple conceptual models (e.g., component-mechanisms-phenomenon, single agent or aggregate behaviors), and how this might impact students’ groupings according to their ability and subsequent instructional support.     

Teacher facilitating of group learning in science with digital technology and insights into students’ agency in learning to learn

ABSTRACT

The study provides an insight into how teachers may facilitate students’ group learning in science with digital technology, which was examined when Norwegian lower secondary school students engaged in learning concepts of mitosis and meiosis. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the teacher’s assistance draw on Galperin’s conceptualisation of learning.

Findings reveal patterns in the teacher’s guidance: the teacher fulfilled the orienting, executive and controlling functions while assisting students in identifying the key features of mitosis and meiosis and solving the compare and contrast task. The teacher relied on and interplayed with the available mediational resources: compare and contrast task, digital animations, and collaborating peers. However, it was the compare and contrast task that demonstrated an approach to study scientific concepts which may have contributed to the development of learners’ understanding about to engage in learning in science. By adopting such an approach, learning activity has the potential to not only help students to achieve learning outcomes but it acquires a functional significance, becoming a tool in the learning process aimed at the development of students’ as learners. The digital animations, in turn, demonstrated scientific processes that were otherwise invisible for students and triggered group discussions. The study, therefore, raises questions about the need for practitioners’ awareness of the type of support the technology and other resources provide to assist both conceptual learning and enhancing students’ agency in learning to learn.     

Fostering learners’ metacognitive skills of keyword reformulation in image seeking by location-based hierarchical navigation

It is critical that students learn how to retrieve useful information in hypermedia environments, a task that is often especially difficult when it comes to image retrieval, as little text feedback is given that allows them to reformulate keywords they need to use. This situation may make students feel disorientated while attempting image searching. This study thus designed an image navigation tool, location-based hierarchical navigation support (LHINS), which can dynamically construct a compact WordNet-based hierarchy augmented by location. Using this tool, learners can assimilate new information based on their existing knowledge structure, thus avoiding cognitive overload so as to scaffold their metacognitive skills. Sixty-four high school students were invited to take part in an experiment to test the efficacy of the proposed tool compared to a normal keyword-based search (NKBS) system. The experiment evaluated not only the students’ task completion time in the NKBS and LHINS groups, but also their keyword reformulation process, in order to determine the differences in their metacognitive skills. The results revealed that the LHINS group tended to complete the tasks faster and develop better metacognitive skills related to keyword reformulation as compared to the NKBS group. This finding suggests that an image search engine, enhanced by a compact hierarchical navigation tool, can help learners develop better search strategies. When examining how learners with different cognitive styles used the tool, the results showed that learner performance depends on cognitive style, as well as the image retrieval system used, and thus a more detailed investigation of the interaction between the tool and cognitive styles was conducted. Based on these results, several suggestions are derived for designing a more powerful image navigation tool.     

Attaining meaningful learning of concepts in genetics and ecology: An examination of the potency of the concept-mapping technique

Studies have shown that in their study of biology, students perceive genetics and ecology to be difficult areas to learn. This has translated into rote learning of genetics and ecological concepts and reflected in poor performance in tests involving these concepts. Considering the importance of genetics and ecology to man's understanding of himself and his environment, there is a need to inquire into ways of ensuring that students attain meaningful learning of genetics and ecology rather than learning by rote. The efficacy of the concept-mapping strategy was tried out in this study with 138 predegree biology students. The results showed that the 63 students in the experimental group who employed the concept-mapping technique performed significantly better on the test of meaningful learning in genetics, t(136) = 16.01. p < 0.001, and ecology, t(136) = 12.27, p < 0.001, than their control group counterparts (N = 75). The implications of these results for teacher education in biology are addressed in the article.     

Toward implementing distributed scaffolding: Helping students learn science from design

In this article, we present two studies that helped us understand the kinds of support that students need to learn science successfully from design activities. Both were enacted in the context of an approach to learning science from design called learning by design (LBD). In our first study, we designed and integrated a paper‐and‐pencil scaffolding tool, the design diary, into an LBD unit to support students' design‐related activities. We learned two important lessons from the first study. First, we refined our understanding of the processes involved in designing and the ways we might present those processes to students. Second, and more important, we observed that in the dynamic, complex environment of the classroom, not all of the scaffolding could be provided with any one tool or agent. We found that students need multiple forms of support and multiple learning opportunities to learn science successfully from design activities. In our next study, we provided additional support through an organized system of tools and agents. Our analysis of data from the second study leads us to believe that supporting multiple students in a classroom requires us to rethink the notion of scaffolding as it applied to groups of learners in a classroom. We put forth the notion of distributed scaffolding as an approach to supporting hands‐on inquiry learning in a classroom. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 185–217, 2005     

The role of perceived support and local culture in undergraduate research mentoring by underrepresented minority faculty members: findings from a multi-institutional research collaboration

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate research is value-added experiential learning that cultivates creative and intentional learners in and out of the classroom. However, only recently have researchers begun investigating the mechanisms related to mentoring undergraduate researchers, with scant attention being paid to the experiences of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty members. Using unique data collected from an online survey of faculty members (overall N = 215, URM n = 25), we find departmental and institutional support to be the key factors correlated with mentoring undergraduate research students. Reported support is more influential for URM faculty than white faculty, providing evidence of the importance of institutional policy as a mechanism to facilitate URM faculty participation in the high impact practice of mentoring undergraduate researchers. The findings are discussed in the context of institutional initiatives designed to support student and faculty success in the 21st century.     

Exploring reasons and consequences of academic procrastination: an interview study

In the present study, we broadly investigated reasons and consequences of academic procrastination. Additionally, we explored whether students seeking help from student counselling services to overcome academic procrastination (counselling group) report more serious reasons and consequences of academic procrastination than students who procrastinate but seek no counselling support (non-counselling group). We conducted standardized interviews with university students (N?=?36, of which 16 belonged to the counselling group) and analysed these using qualitative content analysis and frequency analysis. The reasons and consequences of academic procrastination, each summarized in a separate category system, were manifold. The category systems consisted of 20 main categories in total, subsuming 81 subcategories, of which 32 were inductively developed. The counselling group reported more serious reasons and consequences of academic procrastination than the non-counselling group. Our results suggest considering academic procrastination as a self-regulation failure and contribute to constructing interventions tailored to students’ specific needs.     

A quasi-experimental study comparing learning gains associated with serious educational gameplay and hands-on science in elementary classrooms

Serious educational gameplay continues to gain traction in K-12 educational settings, as access to novel technologies increases. Increased access to computers and other devices has shifted the landscape of the classroom, increasing students' screen-time, as technology infused lessons replace other learning experiences. Amid this context, our research team created a serious educational game (SEG) designed for elementary science learners. Previous studies have linked serious gameplay to learning gains and changes in attitudes, yet the rigor of the studies often underwhelms, as the studies lack an adequate sample size, detailed student data, or quality comparison groups. These limitations are compounded in the study of science learning in elementary schools, due to structural difficulties and student variability that impede the implementation of this type of experimentation. This research attends to this knowledge gap, as our team conducted two quasi-experimental studies to explore the learning gains associated with Virtual Vet, a SEG designed to address the fundamental science concepts associated with the human body systems and the subsequent effect of diabetes and obesity related illnesses on the given body systems. In Study 1, students (n = 232) were randomly assigned to play Virtual Vet or participate in guided inquiry lessons that addressed the same objectives. Our study found that students in the game condition outperformed the non-game condition. Based on this finding, we designed Study 2 to compare learning outcomes associated with two conditions: students play only Virtual Vet or students play Virtual Vet and they participate in the guided inquiry activities, which doubled the instructional time for this group. Students (n = 166) were assigned to one of the conditions and we found no significant increase in learning gains for the students who participated in both activities. These results indicate that well-designed SEGs powerfully facilitate and support science learning in elementary settings.     

Teaching for Creativity by Science Teachers in Grades 5–10

This classroom observation study explored how science teachers (N = 22) teach for creativity in grades 5–10 in Oman. We designed an observation form with 4 main categories that targeted the instructional practices related to teaching for creativity: questioning strategy, teacher’s responses to students’ ideas, classroom activities to support creativity, and whole-lesson methods that foster creativity. An open-ended survey was also designed to explore participants’ justifications for their instructional decisions and practices. The findings indicate that the overall level of teaching for creativity was low and that participants’ performance was the highest for teacher’s responses to students’ ideas category and the lowest for classroom activities to support creativity category. We observed that a teacher-centered approach with instructional practices geared toward preparing students for examinations was dominant and that these science teachers were bound to the textbook, following cookbook-style activities. Participants believed that they did not have enough time to cover the content and teach for creativity and that they were not prepared to teach for creativity. Based on these findings, we recommend that programs be developed to prepare science teachers to teach for creativity.

     

Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá: Conceptualizing the self-authorship experience of gay Latino college men using conocimiento

This essay aims to enhance our conceptual understanding of students with intersectional identities, specifically gay Latino men in college. We first explain how ethnic, gender, and sexual identities can act as compounding influences. Second, we review two distinct but complementary developmental theories. Conocimiento captures the disruptive, challenging path experienced by marginalized Latino youth. Self-authorship situates the broader developmental process in and beyond college. Our modified framework—conociéndose y escribiéndose—conceptualizes how college students navigate multiple marginalized identities. Finally, we discuss the implications of this intersectional framework for LGBTQ+ students and institutions seeking to enhance diversity, inclusion, and student success.     

网络课程中导航系统的设计

导航是保证网络课程质量的一个重要因素,需要精心设计和全面考虑.良好的导航设计可以引导学习者有效的学习,提高学习效率.本文分析网络课程中导航系统的重要性,阐述导航系统设计应遵循的原则,并探讨在导航系统设计时应考虑的问题及常用策略.