The Effects of a Web-Based Learning Environment on Student Motivation in a High School Earth Science Course

Collaborating closely with a 10th-grade science teacher, we designed a Web-based learning environment (Web-LE) to improve student motivation to learn science. Factors believed to enhance intrinsic motivation (challenge, control, curiosity, and fantasy) were integrated into the instructional design of the Web-based learning tool. The Web-LE was implemented in the teacher’s 10th-grade classroom as a three-day student-centered learning activity. Data collection methods included individual student interviews, teacher interviews, motivation questionnaires, and observations. This study revealed multiple forms of evidence that the Web-LE and the associated learning activity improved student motivation. This study illustrates the benefits of educational researchers working closely with teachers using design-based research methods to successfully solve instructional problems and identify reusable design principles. Design principles for the integration of intrinsic motivation factors into the development of similar Web-LEs are presented as well as directions far future research.     

The effects of a web-based learning environment on student motivation in a high school earth science course

Collaborating closely with a tenth-grade science teacher, we designed a Web-Based Learning Environment (Web-LE) to improve the students’ motivation to learn science. Factors believed to enhance intrinsic motivation (challenge, control, curiosity, and fantasy) were integrated into the instructional design of the Web-based learning tool. The Web-LE was implemented in the teacher’s tenth-grade classroom as a three-day student-centered learning activity. Data collection methods included individual student interviews, teacher interviews, motivation questionnaires, and observations. This study revealed multiple forms of evidence that the Web-LE and the associated learning activity improved students’ motivation. This study illustrates the benefits of educational researchers working closely with teachers using design-based research methods to successfully solve instructional problems and identify reusable design principles. Design principles for the integration of intrinsic motivation factors into the development of similar Web-LEs are presented as well as directions for future research.     

Application of bayes’ theory in designing computer‐based adaptive instructional strategies 1

Presented are variables and conditions for design of a computer‐based adaptive instructional system. The design strategy uses Bayes’ theory of conditional probability to determine an instructional sequence according to individual student characteristics and needs. The adaptive strategy uses prior estimates based on student pretask and on‐task performance in an algorithm that makes selections of instructional sequence from a table of generated values. The computer system provides a dynamic environment which updates each students on‐task learning progress and modifies the instructional sequence accordingly. The purpose of this adaptive strategy is to improve the effectiveness of the learning environment, resulting in reductions in student learning time while improving task acquisition.     

Motivation and strategy use in science: Individual differences and classroom effects

This study examines individual and classroom-level differences in motivation and strategy usage in sixth- and seventh-grade middle school science. Results suggest that students who experience academic difficulties differ from both high achieving and special education students on measures of self-efficacy, goal orientation, expectancy, value, and self-concept of ability in science, with students who experience academic difficulties occasionally demonstrating less adaptive patterns of motivation and cognition than special education students in science. We used hierarchical linear modeling to examine between-classroom differences in learning-focused goal orientation. Findings indicate that students who have science teachers that use ability-focused instructional practices (e.g., pointing out the best students as an example to others) are less learning focused, and exhibit a diminished relation between self-concept of ability and being learning focused in science. Implications for science education reform are discussed.     

Teaching about complex systems is no simple matter: building effective professional development for computer-supported complex systems instruction

The recent next generation science standards in the United States have emphasized learning about complex systems as a core feature of science learning. Over the past 15 years, a number of educational tools and theories have been investigated to help students learn about complex systems; but surprisingly, little research has been devoted to identifying the supports that teachers need to teach about complex systems in the classroom. In this paper, we aim to address this gap in the literature. We describe a 2-year professional development study in which we gathered data on teachers’ abilities and perceptions regarding the delivery of computer-supported complex systems curricula. We present results across the 2 years of the project and demonstrate the need for particular instructional supports to improve implementation efforts, including providing differentiated opportunities to build expertise and addressing teacher beliefs about whether computational-model construction belongs in the science classroom. Results from students’ classroom experiences and learning over the 2 years are offered to further illustrate the impact of these instructional supports.     

Exploring preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of science curriculum materials in respect to socioscientific issues

The work presented here represents a preliminary effort undertaken to address the role of teachers in supporting students’ learning and decision-making about socioscientific issues (SSI) by characterizing preservice elementary teachers’ critique and adaptation of SSI-based science curriculum materials and identifying factors that serve to mediate this process. Four undergraduate preservice elementary teachers were studied over the course of one semester. Results indicate that the teachers navigated multiple learning goals, as well as their own subject-matter knowledge, informal reasoning about SSI, and role identity, in their critique and adaptation of SSI-oriented science instructional materials. Implications for science teacher education and the design of curriculum materials in respect to SSI are discussed.     

高中思想政治课中的适应性教学设计

适应性教学要求根据学生的个别能力以及需求特点,动态地组织和呈现适合学生学习水平的内容信息、在具体的教学情境中采用变化的教学策略等。据此进行教学设计,可以在充分掌握学生已有的基本知识结构、掌握学生学习需要和能力等差异的基础上,通过对教材和资源安排的灵活性来满足每位学生的学习需要和个性差异。     

Behaviorism,Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective

The way we define learning and what we believe about the way learning occurs has important implications for situations in which we want to facilitate changes in what people know and/ or do. Learning theories provide instructional designers with verified instructional strategies and techniques for facilitating learning as well as a foundation for intelligent strategy selection. Yet many designers are operating under the constraints of a limited theoretical background. This paper is an attempt to familiarize designers with three relevant positions on learning (behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist) which provide structured foundations for planning and conducting instructional design activities. Each learning perspective is discussed in terms of its specific interpretation of the learning process and the resulting implications for instructional designers and educational practitioners. The information presented here provides the reader with a comparison of these three different viewpoints and illustrates how these differences might be translated into practical applications in instructional situations.     

Not a stale metaphor: the continued relevance of pedagogical content knowledge for science research and education

Recently, theorists have raised concerns that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become “a stale metaphor” that disregards diversity and equity, offers little to help teachers address students’ misconceptions, and portrays knowledge as “in the head” versus in practice. We refute these notions using grounded theory to specify ways one 7th-grade science teacher enacted PCK to advance student learning. With the definition of PCK as knowledge at the intersection of content and teaching, we utilised a framework for science PCK to explore instructional decision-making. Interviews conducted over three years revealed specific ways the teacher enacted PCK by designing and delivering instruction built on each of the seven conceptual science PCK components. The teacher enacted PCK to plan and deliver instruction that was responsive, adaptive, and considerate of changing needs of students and the changing classroom landscape. She infused PCK into instructional decision-making, instructional interactions, and mentoring of a student teacher, modelling the translation of educational theory into practice and habits of mind necessary for expert teaching. This enactment actively refutes Settlage’s critiques, and depicts PCK as a vibrant and effective stance for teaching that enhances learning.     

10步骤的10~+问题——与《综合学习设计》作者的对话

国际教学设计研究自20世纪90年代起开始转型,其中心也不再仅仅局限于教学设计研究的发源地美国。本访谈将要介绍的就是来自荷兰的当代国际著名教学设计专家和教育技术专家范梅里恩伯尔和基尔希纳,着重了解他们团队提出并持续20余年不断完善的"综合学习设计及其十个步骤",具体体现在《综合学习设计:四元素十步骤系统方法》一书中。两位作者曾经非常深刻地概括过这一理论的特质是:聚焦综合学习,以学习理论为厚实基础并采用高度灵活的设计方法,以有效解决当前教育培训领域的三大痼疾:学习任务分割化、学习内容碎片化和学习迁移悖论,并以此为教学设计的复兴作出贡献,回应瞬息万变知识社会的教育需求。综合学习设计代表了一种新的教学设计方法论,值得注意的是,梅里尔的"五星教学设计(首要教学原理)"和范梅里恩伯尔等的"综合学习设计(四元教学设计)"不约而同地于2002年发表在国际教育技术权威刊物《教育技术研究与发展》上。严格地说,它们不是一两个个别的理论或者模型,而是一股有着共同旨趣和追求、前景广阔的教学设计新潮流。由盛群力主持翻译的《综合学习设计:四元素十步骤系统方法》(下文简称《综合学习设计》)已经由福建教育出版社正式出版(当代前沿教学设计译丛,2012年7月)。正像梅里尔对这一理论做出的评价那样:"《综合学习设计》一书是设计有效教学的绝佳宝典,综合学习设计有助于教学达到有效果、有效率和有学习参与热诚的境界。"十个步骤融合了"问题教学"与"直导教学"的各自优势,对当前不尚空谈、务实探索的各种已有成果进行了绝妙综合。美国南加州大学洛杉矶分校认知技术研究中心教授、著名教育技术专家理查德.克拉克曾经这样感叹道:"《综合学习设计》代表了一种非常综合的方法,即既有最佳实践的依据,又有可靠研究的支撑,体现了有关学习、培训与迁移研究的现有水准,任何涉足教学、公司培训或者培训系统管理的人士阅读本书都是明智的选择。"我们则认为,《综合学习设计》系统反映了当代国际教学设计一流研发团队的最新应用成果,是将教育技术先进生产力转化为教学实践效益的可贵尝试。如果您立志为面向完整任务、聚焦解决问题与实现学习迁移而开展教学;如果您希冀了解教学设计潮流,开发创生性人力资源,探索促进专业成长的道路,那么,就请和我们一起"浸入"!杰罗姆.J.G.范梅里恩伯尔(Jeroen J.G.Van Merrinboer,1959-)现任荷兰马斯特里赫特大学教育发展与研究系学习与教学方向教授,曾多年担任荷兰开放大学教育技术研究中心主任和荷兰十所大学联校教育研究中心主任。范梅里恩伯尔在特温特大学获得教学技术学方向的哲学博士学位,在认知架构与教学、综合学习的教学设计、教学设计的整体化方法和适应性数字学习应用等方面颇有专长。他已经发表了150余篇学术论文,且担任《学习与教学》等数家学术刊物的编委。他因出版代表作《掌握综合认知能力》(1997)和提出"综合学习设计"(或称"四元教学设计")被公认是世界教育技术研究领域的一位领军人物,并曾获得美国教育传播与技术协会颁发的"国际贡献奖"。保罗.A.基尔希纳(Paul A.Kirschner,1951-)系荷兰开放大学学习科学与技术中心(CELSTEC)教育心理学教授,同时也是学习与认知研究项目负责人、荷兰国家终身学习实验室(NeLLL)科研主任。他在荷兰开放大学获得哲学博士学位。作为一位国际知名的学者,基尔希纳的研究擅长领域包括终身学习、计算机支持的协作学习、数字化或其他创新性学习环境的设计、开放教育资源、教育媒体应用、教师远程学习材料开发、认知能力的实际应用、设计与开发电子学习环境和工作环境以及信息技术教育系统的创新与应用等。     

知识技术视野中的教育技术思想简史

作为探究教育教学系统构造的技术过程的学科,教育技术学包括教学设计与课程开发两方面的内容,教育技术的历史进步表现为教学设计和课程开发技术原理和技术效应件的进化。教学设计的整体原理至今仍为加涅的"教学—学习映射表",局部效应件的进化则包括教学目标、学习结果分类、教学策略制定等。在课程开发领域,至今尚未出现整体性的课程开发技术原理;虽然博比特、查特斯、加涅等人对活动设计、课程任务有过一些研究,但社会角色的分析技术、课程知识的组织、课程目标的分类等技术效应件也都不够成熟。     

Using Technology to Assist in Realizing Effective Learning and Instruction: A Principled Approach to the Use of Computers in Collaborative Learning

This article describes a principled approach to the design of computer-based tools for use in collaborative instruction. We argue that a project should progress through four steps: (a) making explicit the instructional requirements that serve as design goals for the project; (b) performing a detailed study of current educational practice with regard to these goals; (c) developing a specification based on the identified requirements/limitations of the instructional setting and the known capabilities of the technology; and (d) producing an implementation that allows for local adaptation to instructional practice. We propose six principles of effective learning and instruction, which we view to be the critical features of learning in complex and ill-structured fields. Next, a detailed case study is presented based on the preclinical training given to medical students in the first 2 years of medical school. The problems of providing adequate instruction in the preclinical years are described, as is an instructional method known as problem-based learning (PBL) that has been introduced to redress some of these problems. The product of this design process is a set of specifications for technical augmentations that we believe will serve not only the needs of PBL but also those of other methods of instruction that depend on collaborative, case-based, or student-centered learning.     

Knowledge engineering: An alternative approach to curriculum design for science education at a distance

Most of the curriculum design models within the technical-scientific approach utilise the rational and sequential process of designing and inter-relating the various elements of the design process. While this procedure may be efficient and adequate for conventional education in which the designers are professional science educators, there is doubt if it satisfies the particular needs of distance education. The experience accumulated through a multi-disciplinary team approach to distance learning courseware development for higher education at the University of Southern Queensland Distance Education Centre motivated this study which primarily focused on a search for an alternative approach to curriculum development with a more satisfactory functional value. Using selected units in Engineering as a focus, an experiment was designed in which a variant of the classical Wheeler model was used. This paper reports the results of this experiment. The implications for contemporary curriculum development initiatives in science especially within distance education settings are pointed out. Specializations: science education, learning strategies, curriculum development, instructional design, research and development in distance education. Specializations: Cognitive Science, curriculum development, instructional design, expert systems, research and development in distance education. Specializations: science education, learning strategies, curriculum development, instructional design, research and development in distance education.     

Powerful learning environments? How university students differ in their response to instructional measures

This study aimed at measuring the effects of a university educational reform project on student learning, and individual differences in students' responses to similar instructional measures. The reforms mainly failed to influence reported learning strategies in the direction of more deep and self-regulated learning. One explanation for this could be that the instructional measures were not powerful enough to create more deep-level learning strategies. In a second study, a different explanation was explored. It was found that student groups with different learner characteristics tend to use instructional measures in different ways, such that they suit their own habits, ideas and preferences of learning well. This makes it quite clear that direct influence of instructional measures on learning processes does not take place. We explore suggestions for adapting instructional practice.     

Strategies for accommodating individuals' styles and preferences in flexible learning programmes

There has been a considerable growth in the use of flexible methods of delivery for workplace learning and development. However, in designing programmes of flexible learning there is often the assumption that learners will exhibit uniformity in the ways in which they process and organise information (cognitive style), in their predispositions towards particular learning formats and media (instructional preferences) and the conscious actions they employ to deal with the demands of specific learning situations (learning strategies). In adopting such a stance one runs the risk of ignoring important aspects of individual differences in styles, preferences and strategies. Our purpose in this paper will be to: (i) consider some aspects of individual difference that are pertinent to the delivery of flexible learning in the workplace; (ii) identify some of the challenges that extant differences in styles and preferences between individuals may raise for instructional designers and learning facilitators; (iii) suggest ways in which models of flexible learning design and delivery may acknowledge and accommodate individual differences in styles and preferences through the use of an appropriate range of instructional design, learning and support strategies.     

Editors' Note

Although educational research and practice has found many benefits of long-term and complex design activities, an issue of growing concern is that students might lose sight of science learning while diverting their attention to design aesthetics, collaborative management, and technology. A question is whether or not science is actually separate from these aspects; it may be that science permeates the design environment and is thus contexted within these other activities. To investigate this possibility we followed a classroom of 33 students, divided into 7 teams, and we examined their science discussions as they planned for creating instructional software designs. Specifically, we investigated which conversational contexts gave rise to science talk. We found that a focus on the fine-grained details of the instructional science designs themselves and the contributions of more design-experienced students played an important role in the sophistication of the science content in the planning discussions. In examining less productive contexts for science talk, we found that a conversational focus in planning discussions on collaboration and software issues, as well as the science focus of the software designs, impacted the quality of science integration. In our discussion, we address the issue of which design contexts afford opportunities for richer discourse and the implications for other project-based design activities.