Effects of orienting activities and practice on achievement,continuing motivation,and student behaviors in a cooperative learning environment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of orienting activities and type of practice on achievement, continuing motivation, and student behaviors in a cooperative learning environment. Eighty graduate education majors were assigned to cooperative groups and required to learn instructional design principles from three instructional television lessons. Each lesson included specific orienting activities (advance organizers or objectives) and different types of practice (verbal information or intellectual skills). Results indicated that subjects who worked in groups that received intellectual skills practice performed better on the application portion of the posttest than those who received verbal information practice. Knowledge acquisition and student behaviors were affected by a combination of type of practice and orienting activity. Groups that received intellectual skills practice discussed more content, gave more help to their fellow group members, and exhibited less individual behavior than groups that received verbal information practice. Groups given objectives discussed significantly more content than groups given advance organizers. The authors wish to thank Steven Ross and the reviewers ofETR&D for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

The effects of variations in lesson control and practice on learning from interactive video

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of variations in lesson control and practice on the learning of facts, procedures, and problem-solving skills during interactive video instruction. Subjects were volunteers from graduate and advanced level undergraduate college classes. The instructional content was a 30-minute videotape. “Project Lifesaver,” which was designed to introduce cardiopulmonary resuscitation [CPR]. Students were randomly assigned to one of three instructional control groups: designer control, learner control, and linear control. A posttest was administered to assess learning of facts, procedures, and problem-solving skills. The results indicated that there were [1] significant differences between practiced and non-practiced information; [2] significant differences on posttest scores among various lesson control groups; and [3] a significant interaction between practice and type of learning.     

A Work in Commercial Prognosis

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of cognitive and behavioral orienting activities and practice on student learning of cued and uncued information. The subjects were 54 ninth-grade students: 28 boys and 26 girls. The instructional content for the study was based on the voyages and discoveries of spacecrafts. A significant difference was found between practiced versus nonpracticed items, high-versus low-ability students, and for cued versus noncued items. In addition, significant interactions were found between orienting activities and cueing, orienting activity and practice, and orienting activity by cueing by practice.     

Lesson Study: towards a collaborative approach to learning in Initial Teacher Education?

Lesson Study (LS) case studies were conducted in two secondary school teaching practice placements in England. Using Dudley’s framework, Geography and Modern Languages trainees and school-based colleagues collaboratively planned a ‘research lesson’. This was taught by the mentor while the trainee and other teachers observed the learning of three ‘focus’ students. The lesson was reviewed and revised for teaching to a parallel group by the trainee and the cycle of observation and evaluation was repeated. In post-lesson study interviews, analysed from a Communities of Practice perspective, mentors claimed that LS facilitated rapid integration of the prospective teacher into departmental working practices while trainees claimed they benefited from the team approach inherent in LS. The process enabled participants to explore collaboratively the ‘pedagogic black-box’ enriching the experience and learning of both trainees and mentors. Successfully integrated, LS improves support for teacher development in teaching practice placements.     

THE EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE LINKING LEVELS IN BIOLOGY LESSONS UPON STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE

Knowledge structure is an important aspect for defining students’ competency in biology learning, but how knowledge structure is influenced by the teaching process in naturalistic biology classroom settings has scarcely been empirically investigated. In this study, 49 biology lessons in the teaching unit blood and circulatory system in 9th grade German classrooms were videotaped and analyzed. Before the lesson, a questionnaire was administered to the students to solicit their responses about learning motivation. After the lesson, students’ learning outcomes on knowledge structure were examined with the concept mapping method. The video coding used in this study focused on the knowledge linking levels during the biology lesson. Out of the 49 classes, those with the highest and those with the lowest linking levels were selected based on the coding results. In high-linking classes, interrelated facts were introduced more often in the lessons, whereas in the lessons of the low-linking classes, isolated pieces of knowledge were predominant. The results from the concept mapping task showed that the students in the high-linking classes constructed more correct relations among the concepts compared to the students in the low-linking classes. The results remained stable even after controlling for learning motivation. These findings confirm the importance of teaching interrelated facts and concepts instead of isolated facts for fostering students’ knowledge structure. As a result, based on the Bavarian biology curriculum, we develop materials and programs to enable students, student teachers, and teachers to focus on interrelated facts and basic concepts instead of isolated facts in biology lessons.     

Generative aspects of the Computer Based Educational Software System (CBESS)

A system of computer-based instruction (CBI) authoring and delivery tools was developed in which generative CBI techniques were used to dynamically create instructional presentations from content databases during program execution. Three applications using these techniques are examined with regard to trade-offs between case of development and limitations imposed by program specificity: 1) A semantic network was used to represent large bodies of terse facts to be memorized. The need for authors to create large numbers of question screens was avoided by a feature enabling questions and foils to be generated on-the-fly from database assertions as the student programs ran. 2) Technical vocabulary training was accomplished with a generative approach in which an array of student learning activities were automatically generated from a database minimally consisting of technical terms and their definitions. 3) A more difficult program allowed greater interface and lesson control flexibility for creating more sophisticated practice lessons in which new instances were dynamically inserted into templates for questions, anticipated answers and feedback. A common application theme emerging from field-testing the programs was their use in learning resource centers to address specific learning objectives from larger courses.     

高职应用电子专业理实一体的教学内容与实践环境配置

理实一体教学是高职教学改革的方向,以职业竞争力为导向的工作过程—支撑平台系统化课程模式教学内容包括基础性课程、基本技术技能平台课程、综合实训课程和工学结合课程。实践教学环境包含理实一体实训室、基本技术技能实训室、校内生产性实训基地和校外实习基地。在实施理实一体教学中,要优化师资配置,增加教学投入,妥善组织校外实习。     

The role of lesson analysis in pre-service teacher education: an empirical investigation of teacher learning from a virtual video-based field experience

A video-based program on lesson analysis for pre-service mathematics teachers was implemented for two consecutive years as part of a teacher education program at the University of Lazio, Italy. Two questions were addressed: What can preservice teachers learn from the analysis of videotaped lessons? How can preservice teachers’ analysis ability, and its improvement, be measured? Two groups of preservice teachers (approximately 140 in total) participated in the program. A three-step lesson analysis framework was applied to three lesson videos: (1) goal(s) and parts of the lesson; (2) student learning; and, (3) teaching alternatives. Preservice teachers’ ability to analyze lessons was measured through an open-ended pre- and post-assessment. In the assessment, preservice teachers were asked to mark and comment on events (in a lesson not included in the program) that they found interesting for: teachers’ actions/decisions; students’ behavior/learning; and, mathematical content. A coding system was developed based on five criteria: elaboration, mathematics content, student learning, critical approach, and alternative strategies. In both studies, the ability to analyze instruction improved significantly on all five criteria. These data suggest promising directions for the development of both an instrument to measure lesson analysis abilities and a model for teacher learning.     

PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF A 5E LEARNING CYCLE LESSON PLAN ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT

The purpose of this paper is to describe the procedures and the analysis of an instrument designed to measure preservice teachers’ ability to develop appropriate 5E learning cycle lesson plans. The 5E inquiry lesson plan (ILP) rubric is comprised of 12 items with a scoring range of zero to four points per item. Content validity was determined through the expertise of a panel of five science educators. Sixty six preservice teachers enrolled in elementary science methods at three universities prepared lesson plans, which were scored by their instructors using the ILP rubric. Using a Pearson two-tailed correlation, inter-rater reliability was established at a value of 0.83. An exploratory factor analysis provided evidence of construct validity, with three factors. The factors included (1) explore, (2) engage/explain/elaborate, and (3) evaluate. In addition, a secondary analysis revealed the means and standard deviations of the students' performance on each of the phases of the 5E that include: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. The engage item held the highest mean rating, and the evaluation items had the lowest mean ratings. Examination of the instrument's structure in light of the 5E phases is discussed and provides directions for future revisions and research.     

Unintended knowledge learnt in primary science practical lessons

This study explored the different kinds of unintended learning in primary school practical science lessons. In this study, unintended learning has been defined as student learning that was found to occur that was not included in the teachers learning objectives for that specific lesson. A total of 22 lessons, taught by five teachers in Korean primary schools with 10- to 12-year-old students, were audio-and video recorded. Pre-lesson interviews with the teachers were conducted to ascertain their intended learning objectives. Students were asked to write short memos after the lesson about what they learnt. Post-lesson interviews with students and teachers were undertaken. What emerged was that there were three types of knowledge that students learnt unintentionally: factual knowledge gained by phenomenon-based reasoning, conceptual knowledge gained by relation- or model-based reasoning, and procedural knowledge acquired by practice. Most unintended learning found in this study fell into the factual knowledge and only a few cases of conceptual knowledge were found. Cases of both explicit procedural knowledge and implicit procedural knowledge were found. This study is significant in that it suggests how unintended learning in practical work can be facilitated as an educative opportunity for meaningful learning by exploring what and how students learnt.     

Educational Vouchers under Test

The context of this research is one in which teachers are now expected to equip their pupils with the disposition and skills for life‐long learning. It is vital, therefore, that teachers themselves are learners, not only in developing their practice but also in modelling for pupils the process of continual learning. This paper is based on a series of post‐lesson interviews, conducted with 25 student teachers following a one‐year postgraduate course within two well‐established school‐based partnerships of initial teacher training. Its focus is on the approaches that the student teachers take to their own learning. Four interviews, conducted with each student teacher over the course of the year, explored their thinking in relation to planning, conducting and evaluating an observed lesson, and their reflections on the learning that informed, or resulted from, that lesson. The findings suggest that while the student teachers all learn from experience, the nature and extent of that learning varies considerably within a number of different dimensions. We argue that understanding the range of approaches that student teachers take to professional learning will leave teacher educators better equipped to help ensure that new entrants to the profession are both competent teachers and competent professional learners.     

On the Evolution of a Lesson: Group Preparation for Teaching Contest as Teacher Professional Development Activity for Chinese Elementary Science Teachers

Group preparation for teaching contest, or lesson polishing, is a teacher professional development activity unique to China. Through participant observation and discourse analysis of a typical case, this study explores how a science lesson evolved through lesson-polishing process and how such process influenced individual learning and the development of local teaching community. Our work illustrates both the values and the issues of lesson polishing as a type of teacher professional development activity. On one hand, combining professional interactions and trial lessons, lesson-polishing activity opens up space for critical yet cooperative professional interactions and tryouts of different designs and teaching strategies, providing opportunities for individual learning and development of practical rationalities within local community. On the other hand, the functions of such activities are greatly limited by the tendency of refining every detail in lesson design, the existence of overriding dispositions and authorities with overriding power, as well as the focus on practical suggestions that can be directly implemented. Suggestions for improvement are made in the final discussion.     

Facilitating growth in prospective teachers’ knowledge: teaching geometry in primary schools

This paper reports on a study that focused on growth of understanding about teaching geometry by a group of prospective teachers engaged in lesson plan study within a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. Participation in the activity was found to facilitate considerable growth in the participants?? pedagogical-content knowledge (PCK). Factors that influenced growth in PCK included the nature of the lesson planning task, the cognitive scaffolds inserted into the CSCL virtual space, the meta-language scaffolds provided to the participants, and the provision of both private and public discourse spaces. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing effective knowledge-building discourse about mathematics PCK within prospective teacher education CSCL environments.     

论"实践本体论"的理论基础与现实意义

马克思主义哲学是实践哲学,是从人的实践活动出发辩证地理解人及人与世界的关系。确定马克思主义哲学的本体论是实践本体论,是马克思主义哲学的重要变革。它的哲学变革的意义主要体现在:改变了哲学自身的存在方式,是实事求是理论原则的依据,对中国社会主义价值观念体系的建构有重要意义。     

Effects of cooperative learning and need for affiliation on performance,time on task,and satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cooperative learning and the need for affiliation on performance, time on task, and satisfaction. Subjects used either a cooperative or individual learning strategy while receiving information, examples, practice, and feedback from an instructional television lesson. Results indicated that subjects who worked cooperatively spent more time working on practice exercises and reported greater satisfaction than those who worked individually. In addition, results revealed an interaction between instructional method and the need for affiliation. Performance of subjects with a high need for affiliation who worked alone was lower than that of all other groups when subjects were asked to apply what they had learned from the lesson. Implications for employing cooperative groups in settings that were originally designed for individual learning are provided.     

Professional learning through the collaborative design of problem-solving lessons

This article analyses lesson study as a mode of professional learning, focused on the development of mathematical problem solving processes, using the lens of cultural-historical activity theory. In particular, we draw attention to two activity systems, the classroom system and the lesson-study system, and the importance of making artefacts instrumental in both. We conceptualise the lesson plan as a boundary object and use this to illustrate how professional learning takes place through the introduction of carefully designed artefacts that draw on teachers’ professional knowledge of potential student approaches, and to the nature of progression in problem-solving processes. We identify the roles of instrumentalisation and instrumentation in supporting professional learning as these artefacts are prepared for use before a lesson and as they are again used as catalysts for reflection in post-lesson discussions. These artefacts are seen to effectively facilitate the socially situated learning of all participants. We conclude that the design of artefacts as boundary objects that support teaching and professional learning in their respective activity systems may be fundamental to the success of lesson study as a collaborative venture.     

The effects of cooperative learning and learner control on high- and average-ability students

The effects of studying alone or in cooperative learning groups on high- and average-ability students were investigated. Also examined were the effects of completing computer-based instruction using either a learner- or program-control version of a lesson. A total of 175 fourth-grade students were classified as being of high or average ability and randomly assigned to paired or individual treatments stratified by ability. Students completed training to enhance small-group interaction before completing a computer-based tutorial and a posttest. Following cooperative learning, students demonstrated increased achievement and efficiency as well as better attitudes toward both the computer lesson and grouping. Students completed more practice items and examples in program-control treatments than in learner-control treatments. However, the form of lesson control did not affect students' achievement or attitudes.     

Experiment to Determine the Most Effective Method of Teaching Current History

Two experiments were conducted to determine if expectancy to teach serves to increase learning beyond that produced by expectancy to be objectively tested. In the first experiment, Ss (N = 54) listened to a tape recorded lesson, with one-half the Ss expecting a following test and the other half expecting both to teach the same lesson to two other Ss and to be tested. Test results for both incentive conditions were nearly identical. In the second experiment, Ss (N = 54) read the lesson with half expecting to have their own lecture performances taped for playing before large audiences. Once, again, expectancy to teach did not affect learning. It was suggested that expectancy to teach may enhance learning only where students are motivated to increase amount of study activity, and have the opportunity to do so.