How does STEM context-based learning work: what we know and what we still do not know

ABSTRACT

Context-based learning (CBL) has influenced teaching and learning science in many countries over the past decades. Twelve years ago, a special issue on CBL was published in this Journal, focusing on CBL curriculum development. Seven papers in this current special issue on CBL now address the question of how a context influences the learning process. The papers focus on the stimulation of learning STEM subjects within contexts, how the learning process occurs and is enhanced, and the application of contexts in different settings. The approaches, results, and implications of the papers are located in a larger view that considers the question of what must be the case if a student not only engages in the tasks of learning but also succeeds at them. Concerning willingness and effort by learners, the papers draw conclusions about which STEM-related interests of students endure and are ephemeral across a decade, design criteria for maximising students’ situational interest, and students’ engagement with content and context simultaneously. Focusing on the opportunity to teach and learn, the papers reveal how a professional development approach functions to support STEM teachers to develop CBL materials, and how specific scaffolding acts in teaching bring students to more complex reasoning. Regarding good teaching, insights are offered on how metacognitive prompts improve teaching. Centring on the social surround that supports teaching and learning, a comparison of two contexts for teaching the same content reveals which aspects of the contexts move student learning forward. From this mapping, paths toward future research are projected.     

The influence of study methods and knowledge processing on academic success and long‐term recall of anatomy learning by first‐year veterinary students

The purpose of this investigation was to quantitatively and qualitatively identify the study methods and learning strategies that veterinary students used to study anatomy during their first year of professional school and to correlate these with their academic achievement and long‐term recall of information. It was surmised that active study methods would be more beneficial than passive method, but this hypothesis was not supported. The activity or passivity of each study method was secondary to the way in which the students processed the learning. No single study method was associated with academic success or long‐term recall; instead, successful students used a multitude of study methods while the struggling students relied on a single method alone, although these methods varied from student to student. Students and their study methods were profiled using the qualitative technique known as phenomenographic analysis to find those who studied in a deep or surface way. The deep‐processing students, who commonly used multiple study methods, not only succeeded in the class but also had better recall. Students who relied on a memorization‐heavy surface approach to learning had limited recall and tended to perform poorly in the class. These results strongly suggest that by encouraging students to integrate their studying by using multiple methods educators can improve both student grades and recall of complex topics. Anat Sci Ed 1:68–74, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Extended matching sets questions for online numeracy assessments: a case study

Extended matching sets questions (EMSQs) are a form of multiple‐choice question (MCQ) consisting of a stem (the question or scenario) with an extended number of possible answers. Although there is no consensus on their absolute format, for the purpose of this paper a multiple‐choice question with ten or more alternative answers is considered to be an EMSQ. Faced with the limitations imposed by virtual learning environment software, I have conducted a case study into the use of the EMSQ format in online assessment of numerical and statistical ability which shows that properly constructed questions of this type can play a valuable role in assessment of numeracy. The extended format was found to work well on screen and resulted in an increase in both student marks and student satisfaction when compared with other answer input formats. This case study indicates that the EMSQ format has much more widespread applicability for online assessment that its traditional uses.     

Project-Based Learning Communities in Developmental Education: A Case Study of Lessons Learned

This case study tracks the application of project-based learning (PBL) during four separate college terms at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon. Each term follows a different learning community of first-term college students enrolled in a program of developmental education (DE), reading, writing, math, and college survival and success (CSS) courses. The study documents the journey from a pilot PBL model to the improved model used today, focuses on each term's PBL goal of increasing student success, and outlines how the PBL succeeded or failed based on student demonstration of their learning community's intended core outcomes. Whereas the initial two terms’ projects were unsuccessful, the framing of a new question and the addition of service learning in the next two terms’ projects made a significant improvement in student self-motivation and helped students achieve intended core outcomes by their own agency. Such active learning and self reliance increased students’ confidence as it challenged them to use their new course skills to create a project they were proud to present to a wide audience. This study then explores the challenges and benefits of integrating the two curricular frameworks, learning communities and PBL, within interdisciplinary courses that include service learning. Considering the already established literature on the success of learning communities and the continually growing literature on the implementation of PBL, this study ultimately demonstrates how to arrive at a project that invigorates a learning community of students, whether the learning community is in one course or spread throughout several interdisciplinary courses.     

谈对远程教育学习支持服务内涵的认识

远程教育学习支持服务是远程教育区别于传统教育的基本特征，远程教育通过恰当而完善的学习支持服务解决师生准分离的实际情况，帮助学生克服学习过程中的障碍，顺利完成学业。本文从实践和理论两个层面对学习支持服务的内涵进行了客观分析，探讨了词语来源、实践需求、文献使用、思想发展等方面，以新的视角形成了对学习支持服务内涵的理解。     

Encouraging College Student Active Engagement in Learning: The Influence of Response Methods

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of two student response methods within selected college lecture halls. Kinesiology majors from three universities were asked to respond to questions during two consecutive lectures, one using “clickers” and the other using hand-raising. Participation and comprehension rates were statistically significantly different following the use of the different response methods. Participant survey responses revealed insight into student participation, question presentation, perceived cognitive engagement, and overall learning in traditional lecture settings using the response methods.     

在现代远程开放教育中开展研究性学习的探索

开放教育“教”与“学”的模式决定了其课程教学的重点是引导学生进行研究性学习．即正确认识教与学矛盾的复杂变化,找出其必然联系,不断改革传统教学手段和方式,积极合理地引用信息技术和现代科技手段,促使教学内容向网络化转变,教学管理向技术型转变,构建新型教与学关系,本文主要从开放教育中研究性学习入手,进行渗透研究性学习,来激发学生学习兴趣,逐步提高学生研究性学习能力,培养学生创新能力与综合实践能力,以适应素质教育发展的需要等方面展开研究。     

Assessing Multimedia Influences on Student Responses Using a Personal Response System

To date, research to date on personal response systems (clickers) has focused on external issues pertaining to the implementation of this technology or broadly measured student learning gains rather than investigating differences in the responses themselves. Multimedia learning makes use of both words and pictures, and research from cognitive psychology suggests that using both words and illustrations improves student learning. This study analyzed student response data from 561 students taking an introductory earth science course to determine whether including an illustration in a clicker question resulted in a higher percentage of correct responses than questions that did not include a corresponding illustration. Questions on topics pertaining to the solid earth were categorized as illustrated questions if they contained a picture, or graph and text-only if the question only contained text. For each type of question, we calculated the percentage of correct responses for each student and compared the results to student ACT-reading, math, and science scores. A within-groups, repeated measures analysis of covariance with instructor as the covariate yielded no significant differences between the percentage of correct responses to either the text-only or the illustrated questions. Similar non-significant differences were obtained when students were grouped into quartiles according to their ACT-reading, -math, and -science scores. These results suggest that the way in which a conceptest question is written does not affect student responses and supports the claim that conceptest questions are a valid formative assessment tool.     

Determinants of Learning Outcome for Students at High School in Norway: A Constructivist Approach

A vital part of student learning is the construction of mental structures encompassing categories believed to affect learning outcome. In this study we investigate this research question through the lenses of a constructivist approach. As the first study on our research question at high school in Norway, our empirical findings make up the main contribution of this study. The data were analyzed by a grounded theory methodology. The results identify 6 dimensions of determinants of learning outcome. The dimensions: student activity, work processes and motivation to learn are manifest of the latent dimension process of learning, while the second latent dimension learning content is manifested in the 3 dimensions: correction, information from teacher and putting into context.     

Show and tell: Student and instructor perceptions of screencast assessment

This study addresses students’ and instructors’ perceptions of screencast assessment and compares this feedback method to traditional paper or digital text-based comments. Screencast assessment allows for asynchronous audio and visual commenting on student papers using screencast software. A pilot study using surveys of 39 students enrolled in lower-level composition classes and surveys of five composition instructors have indicated that screencast assessment promotes detailed and effective feedback on student writing. This feedback method reveals instructor's thought process while grading, and this transparency fosters student–teacher communication about writing. Screencast assessment changes the detail and types of comments, fostering an increased use of macro-level comments over micro-level concerns. The method does not necessarily save time grading but allows for feedback in the same amount of time. Because of the suggestion that students and instructors value screencast assessment, this study warrants a larger scale project in order to investigate the student preference for this feedback and whether the method leads to improvement in student performance.     

Multi-Method Evaluation of Instruction in Engineering Classes

Student evaluation of instruction in college and university courses has been a routine and mandatory part of undergraduate and graduate education for some time. A major shortcoming of the process is that it often relies exclusively on the opinions or qualitative judgments of students rather than the learning or transfer of knowledge that takes place in the classroom. To develop a more objective system of assessment, this research focused on a learning-centered approach to course work and teaching evaluation. Standardized testing tools were developed suitable for measuring the content knowledge of students in a representative group of undergraduate courses. Course evaluations were conducted using two systems of assessment: the traditional student questionnaire feedback system and one based on the learning-centered approach using a computer-based question bank and on-line testing. Significant performance differences were evident in pretest/posttest comparisons of student learning. Favorable ratings of instruction are reflected in opinions on student questionnaires. No relationship was demonstrated between learning and traditional course evaluation outcomes. Our hypothesis that the learning-centered approach provides information that is not available using the traditional student feedback system was supported.Support for this research was provided in part by Grant No. P116B981224-00 from the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Programs awarded to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Education, and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

法学研究生培养方式的革新——优势教学法与团队研习法的结合

传统法学研究生的培养模式不利于发挥教师的整体合力,也不利于创新能力的培养,优势教学法和团队研习法可以克服这两方面缺陷。优势教学法可以充分发挥教学团队的整体合力,实现教学资源的最优配置,让学生接受到最优质的教育。团队研习法让学生组成团队,在协作中共同研究问题,可以让他们感受到创新的乐趣,从而激发创新热情。教学和研习两方面的革新相结合,可以使教、学、研融为一体,促使学生变被动接收知识为主动追求和积极探索知识。     

The Logical Priority of the Question: R. G. Collingwood,Philosophical Hermeneutics and Enquiry‐Based Learning

The thesis that all learning has the character of enquiry is advanced and its implications are explored. R. G. Collingwood's account of ‘the logical priority of the question’ is explained and Hans‐Georg Gadamer's hermeneutical justification and development, particularly the rejection of the re‐enactment thesis, is discussed. Educators are encouraged to consider the following implications of the character of the question implied in all learning: (i) that it is a question that is constituted in the event rather than prepared or given in advance, and that this leads to a necessary tension between learning and the curriculum or scheme, (ii) that it is a question that concerns some subject matter or issue that is at stake for both the student and the object of study, which draws our attention to the ‘intentionality’ of learning, and (iii) that it is a question that operates on the level of being—students are ‘called into question’, and thus transformed, by the object of study.     

Response groups as learning resources when working with portfolios

This article, based on the guidance of 17 teacher education students during their final term, presents the theoretical framework, procedures and results of an extensive experiment with portfolio assessment combined with peer tutoring. A recent reform programme in higher education in Norway has as one of its aims to improve the quality of teaching and better facilitate learning in universities and university colleges. One important aspect of the reform programme is to encourage greater diversity in student assessment, and to establish a closer link between the learning process and the methods of examination. Following up on those intentions, the students are encouraged to work more systematically on written texts as a strategy for learning, accompanied by responses to their drafts offered by the course tutors. The idea of portfolio assessment is central in the reform programme, as also is the concept of reflection. During a term 17 student teachers worked regularly in peer groups giving responses to each other's drafts, which also included separate reflection papers related to their work in the response groups. This way of working seems to have had a positive impact on their learning both as students and as a basis for their further development as professional teachers.     

高校课堂教学方法的现状、积因及其负面影响

高等学校课堂教学仍然普遍存在着重教轻学、重分数轻能力、重结论轻过程、重传承轻创新等严重扼杀学生创新能力、创新意识的积弊,其症结在于教育理念落后、教育教学理论缺失、教师工作压力大责任心弱以及消极的社会影响。这些陈旧落后的教学方法,忽略了学生智能的开发培养,挫伤了学生学习的积极性,消泯了学生的个性与创造性,具有极大的负面影响,必须大力改革。     

Getting the most out of audience response systems: predicting student reactions

Audience response systems (ARS) are effective tools for improving learning outcomes and student engagement in large undergraduate classes. However, if students do not accept ARS and do not find them to be useful, ARS may be less effective. Predicting and improving student perceptions of ARS may help to ensure positive outcomes. The present study expands on previous work by simultaneously evaluating several student and practice variables that may predict student perceptions of ARS. Perceived learning outcomes, engagement, interaction in class, enjoyment of ARS, attendance, and preparation for class were examined using multivariate regression analysis in two undergraduate samples. Student variables, including gender, grade, and year of program predicted student perceptions of ARS. Practice variables, including the consistency of ARS use, question type, question difficulty, and ease of use also predicted student perceptions. The nature and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Senior High School Student Biology Learning in Interactive Teaching

This paper reports Grade 12 students’ biology learning during interactive teaching classes in 2001 in Taiwan. The researcher as teacher, working within an interpretive framework, set out to improve her senior high school student biology teaching and learning. An intervention based on a social constructivist view of learning was designed, implemented and evaluated. The findings of this study indicate that intervention students’ cognitive development was facilitated, their reasoning and social abilities were enhanced, and they enjoyed the lessons more. Their first term examination outcomes were comparable with those in the traditional teaching classes. This study, therefore, provides an example for how interactive teaching, based on a social constructivist view of learning, can be effectively used for teaching and learning biology in the senior high school in Taiwan.     

Students’ Perceptions of Learning in an Online Multiround Business Simulation Game: What Can We Learn from Them?

Multiround business simulation games have been gaining popularity in higher education. However, certain aspects of experiential learning of individual students in the game remain unaddressed in research literature. Team assessments, such as team papers, appear a common, “natural” choice given the team‐based nature of the games but may potentially mask individual learning outcomes. In this study we use a qualitative method to glean from individual students’ papers a deeper understanding of the process of learning of individual students in a team‐based, multiround business simulation game. Our findings indicate that individual and timely assessments are necessary to identify cases of not meeting the expected individual learning outcomes for the instructor's corrective intervention. This study contributes to the understanding of the process and outcomes of student learning in a multiround business simulation game, methods of teaching a supply chain and operations class with a simulation, and methods for better aligning course goals and assessments.     

Research Trends in Science Education from 2003 to 2007: A content analysis of publications in selected journals

The present study was a follow‐up to Tsai and Wen’s (2005) earlier research, in which 802 articles published in the International Journal of Science Education, Science Education, and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching from 1998 to 2002 were analysed in terms of author’s nationality, research type, and research topic. In the present study a total of 869 papers published in the three journals from 2003 to 2007 were analysed, and the results were compared with those of Tsai and Wen. Moreover, this study also identified 31 highly‐cited papers published during 1998–2002 and 20 highly‐cited papers published during 2003–2007. The results showed that authors from countries other than the four major English‐speaking countries (i.e., the USA, the UK, Australia, and Canada) published an increasing number of articles in the past decade. During these five years (2003–2007), science educators showed relatively more interest in research topics involving the context of student learning. Besides, science educators have changed some of their research interests during 1998–2007, with a shift in the research topics from student conception learning and conceptual change (1998–2002) to student learning contexts (2003–2007). Moreover, the investigation of highly‐cited papers in the past decade revealed that studies on argumentation have gained significant attention among science educators.     

浅谈日语专业低年级阶段教学

如何在有限的时间内,通过听、说、读、写、译的基本训练,使学生掌握日语的基本知识,具有初步的语言运用能力,提高教学效果。本文根据以往的教学经验,提出初学阶段要克服害羞的心理;在教学方法上运用TPR返身教学法和对比教学法以交际教学法带动传统教学法;在课堂上正确处理教学秩序与教学方法,教师与学生的关系问题,组织灵活多样的教学活动;从而正确地引导学生建立起学习日语的目的和兴趣,学好日语知识。