The design of motivational agents and avatars

While the addition of an anthropomorphic interface agent to a learning system generally has little direct impact on learning, it potentially has a huge impact on learner motivation. As such agents become increasingly ubiquitous on the Internet, in virtual worlds, and as interfaces for learning and gaming systems, it is important to design them to optimally impact motivation. The focus of this paper is on the design of agents and avatars (one’s self-representation as a visual agent) for enhancing motivational and affective outcomes, such as improving self-efficacy, engagement and satisfaction, moderating frustration, and/or improving stereotypes. Together with motivational messages and dialogue (which are not discussed here), the agent’s appearance is the most important design feature as it dictates the learner’s perception of the agent as a virtual social model, in the Bandurian sense. The message delivery, through a human-like voice with appropriate and relevant emotional expressions, is also a key motivational design feature. More research is needed to determine the specifics with respect to the ideal agent voice and the role of other nonverbal communication (e.g., deictic gestures) that may contribute to the agent’s role as an embodied motivator, particularly in the long-term.     

If We Teach Them, They Can Learn: Young Students Views of Nature of Science During an Informal Science Education Program

There have been substantial reform efforts in science education to improve students’ understandings of science and its processes and provide continual support for students becoming scientifically literate (AAAS, Benchmarks for science literacy, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993; NRC, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996; NSTA, NSTA position statement: The nature of science, , 2000). Despite previous research, it is still unclear whether young children are actually developmentally ready to conceptualize the ideas that are recommended in the reforms (Akerson and Volrich, J Res Sci Teach 43:377–394, 2006). The purpose of this study was to explore how explicit-reflective instruction could improve young students’ understanding of NOS. During an informal education setting, the authors taught NOS aspects using explicit-reflective instruction. Overall the students participating in the program improved their understanding of the target aspects of NOS through use of explicit reflective instruction. However, the levels of improvement varied across different aspects. Students improved the most in their understanding of the tentative nature of science and the roles of observation in scientific work, although there was still some confusion regarding the distinction between observation and inference. More work needs to be done exploring these specific topics and the role explicit reflective practice can play in identifying the particular problems students have in distinguishing these constructs.     

Inexpensive Options for a High-Tech Learning Environment

Radford University was recently configured with a campus-wide wireless local area network. Using these new capabilities, a classroom-based Honors section of Concepts of Biology was conducted solely using electronic technologies (paper was never transferred from professor to student). To accomplish this, students used common software and freeware. Commercial versions of similar software are designed solely for academic use, however, here the students were trained to use software and technologies that will be available to them once leaving the institution. Overall, students in this course responded favorably to the use of technology and reported that it aided in their learning process.     

The Importance of Teaching and Learning Nature of Science in the Early Childhood Years

Though research has shown that students do not have adequate understandings of nature of science (NOS) by the time they exit high school, there is also evidence that they have not received NOS instruction that would enable them to develop such understandings. How early is “too early” to teach and learn NOS? Are students, particularly young students, not capable of learning NOS due to developmental unreadiness? Or would young children be capable of learning about NOS through appropriate instruction? Young children (Kindergarten through third grade) were interviewed and taught about NOS in a variety of contexts (informal, suburban, and urban) using similar teaching strategies that have been found effective at teaching about NOS with older students. These teaching strategies included explicit decontextualized and contextualized NOS instruction, through the use of children’s literature, debriefings of science lessons, embedded written NOS assessments, and guided inquiries. In each context the researchers interviewed students prior to and after instruction, videotaped science instruction and maintained researcher logs and field notes, collected lesson plans, and copies of student work. The researchers found that in each setting young children did improve their understandings of NOS. Across contexts there were similar understandings of NOS aspects prior to instruction, as well as after instruction. There were also several differences evident across contexts, and across grade levels. However, it is clear that students as young as kindergarten are developmentally capable of conceptualizing NOS when it is taught to them. The authors make recommendations for teaching NOS to young children, and for future studies that explore learning progressions of NOS aspects as students proceed through school.     

Incorporating Service-Learning, Technology, and Research Supportive Teaching Techniques into the University Chemistry Classroom

Technology was integrated into service-learning activities to create an interactive teaching method for undergraduate students at a large research institution. Chemistry students at the University of Central Florida partnered with high school students at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in interactive service learning projects. The projects allowed UCF students to teach newly acquired content knowledge and build upon course lecture and lab exercises. Activities utilized the web-conferencing tool Adobe Connect Pro to enable interaction with high school students, many of whom have limited access to supplemental educational opportunities due to low socioeconomic status. Seventy chemistry I students created lessons to clarify high school students’ misconceptions through the use of refutational texts. In addition, 21 UCF students enrolled in the chemistry II laboratory course acted as virtual lab partners with Crooms students in an interactive guided inquiry experiment focused on chemical kinetics. An overview of project’s design, implementation, and assessments are detailed in the case study and serve as a model for future community partnerships. Emerging technologies are emphasized as well as a suggested set of best practices for future projects.     

Improving the Acquisition of Novel Vocabulary Through the Use of Imagery Interventions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of imagery interventions on the vocabulary acquisition abilities of second grade students. A total of 15 students were randomly assigned to three different intervention conditions: Word Only, which involves the simple verbal presentation of a vocabulary word; Dual Coding, in which a picture was paired with the vocabulary word, and Image Creation, in which students were told to create a mental picture of the vocabulary word in their mind and draw it on paper. These students were taught a total of 21 vocabulary words: seven animal and habitat words, seven musical instrument terms, and seven science terms. A Latin square design was used, in which each group of students rotated through each of the interventions, being exposed to a different treatment condition for each category of words. Participants were measured on the number of words they were successfully able to acquire through the use of experimenter designed comprehension measures. While no statistical significance was shown between the interventions across the word categories, a significant difference was found between the Image Creation and Word Only interventions within the science terms category. Students also reported that the imagery interventions facilitated the ease with which they learned the words. The findings have implications for increasing the success of classroom instruction, specifically for presenting novel vocabulary words to early elementary learners using imagery methods.     

Creating Collaborative Partnership With Local Churches to Improve Academic Performance of K-12 Public Schools

Since their founding, the Black churches have strived to implement and fulfill their missions. These institutions acknowledge the importance to become actively involved in the community as well as engaged in the lives of young people. Black churches are faced with unique challenges every day, however, they provide significant number of resources to the communities at large. In this study, we examine the role of partnerships through local churches and its impact on low performing schools using qualitative methodology. Research shows that low performing schools are influenced positively by partnerships with Black churches.     

Gender Adeptness Among Educational Administrators for Leading Innovative Initiatives in Public Education

It may be concluded that female administrators are perceived as being more adept than their male counterparts for leading innovation in schools and leveraging resources into productive outputs. It may be concluded that both genders of administrators perceive such efforts similarly. The only two skills where gender is significant are the two eornpetencies identified as being alert for new opportunities and synthesizing ideas into focused projects. For the other eight skills indicated in the survey, gender did not play a significant role in such perceptions.     

Rehabilitation and Non-Rehabilitation Counselor Candidates: Comparison of Interview Behavior and Personality Techniques

This study investigated the hypothesis that conventional role stereotypes of rehabilitation and non-rehabilitation counselors attract counselor candidates who differ in preferred modes of counseling interview behavior and in personality characteristics. Twenty-four rehabilitation counselor candidates and 21 non-rehabilitation counselor candidates enrolled in a beginning counseling course held interviews with a standard client. Candidates' responses were classified employing a content analysis scale. All subjects had taken the 16 PF at the beginning of the course. Results found rehabilitation counselor candidates used informative, questioning, diagnosing, and probing responses more frequently and feeling responses less frequently than did non-rehabilitation candidates. Non-rehabilitation candidates appeared less practical, conservative, and group adherent on the 16 PF than rehabilitation candidates.