Does (Non‐)Meaningful Sensori‐Motor Engagement Promote Learning With Animated Physical Systems?

Previous research indicates that sensori‐motor experience with physical systems can have a positive effect on learning. However, it is not clear whether this effect is caused by mere bodily engagement or the intrinsically meaningful information that such interaction affords in performing the learning task. We investigated (N = 74), through the use of a Wii Balance Board, whether different forms of physical engagement that was either meaningfully, non‐meaningfully, or minimally related to the learning content would be beneficial (or detrimental) to learning about the workings of seesaws from instructional animations. The results were inconclusive, indicating that motoric competency on lever problem solving did not significantly differ between conditions, nor were response speed and transfer performance affected. These findings suggest that adult's implicit and explicit knowledge about physical systems is stable and not easily affected by (contradictory) sensori‐motor experiences. Implications for embodied learning are discussed.     

Effective Education for Young Children in Primary Schools

This ongoing Dutch study into the school careers of young children in primary schools has focused in part on the influence of school and class organisation on linguistic and cognitive development. In the first year of the study, data on the school and class characteristics were gathered in 28 primary schools by means of questionnaires, interviews, journals and observation. A multi-level analysis shows that differences in pupil achievements between classes already exist at the beginning of primary school, but that these differences are, to a large extent, explained by the characteristics of the pupils’ backgrounds. The Dutch vocabulary of pupils at the end of their first year is mainly determined by earlier linguistic achievement and the ethnicity and SES of the pupil, rather than the school or class organisation. The scores on a performance intelligence test (block patterns) at the end of the first year could not be exclusively explained by the pupils’ background characteristics but also by some school characteristics.     

A hint is not always a help

This paper discusses the construction of hints for mathematical problems and their effectiveness. From a set of 15 non-standard problems on functions every problem was presented to a hundred ninth-grade students (age about 15). Hints might be used if necessary. Hint effectiveness was studied as a function of hint characteristics. The following results were obtained: Hints which stimulate concrete action are effective, if the action serves as a model for the required solution method. Hints which give only warnings against certain mistakes are ineffective. Hints which show a great part of the solution of a problem seem to be effective; however the solution was often reached with lack of understanding. The results are compared with results obtained by Trismen (1981, 1982).     

Redesigning a learning and assessment environment: The influence on students' perceptions of assessment demands and their learning strategies

The study aimed to determine if students in a redesigned course, firstly, hold different perceptions of the assessment demands and, secondly, adjusted their learning strategies towards deeper learning. Contrary to expectations, the students in the original assignment-based (ABL) course (n = 406 students) adopted more deep- learning strategies and less surface-learning strategies than the students in the problem-based (PBL) course (n = 312 students). Although both course format as well as assessment clearly differed in the two conditions, this has not resulted in different perceptions of the assessment demands. Additionally, the results show clearly that the students who express their intentions to employ a certain learning strategy perceive the assessment demands as such and actually employ a related learning strategy.     

Peer teaching: Academic achievement of teacher-led versus student-led discussion groups

Problem-based small-group discussions are the cornerstone of health sciences education at the University of Limburg (The Netherlands). In each of three courses, fifteen discussion groups of about eight students were randomly assigned a staff-tutor (control condition) or student-tutor (experimental condition).In two of the courses no significant differences in cognitive test achievement between the two conditions were found. In one course students tutored by staff-tutors performed significantly better than students tutored by student-tutors. However, no significant differences in test performance were found between students tutored by high-achieving versus average-achieving student-tutors. These findings contradict the congruence hypothesis from information processing theory. Several other explanations are explored.     

Cognitive load measurements and stimulated recall interviews for studying the effects of information and communications technology

Many researchers use information and communications technology (ICT)-tools to augment learning in a great variety of tasks. Their effects are generally measured in terms of intended outcomes. This article argues for the use of additional, more general measures to obtain a more complete impression of the effects of ICT-tools. The first study presented in this article shows why tools should not only be studied in terms of their specific intended outcomes, but also in terms of their effects on working memory, and the cognitive mechanisms needed to achieve the intended outcomes. The second study uses cognitive load measurements and stimulated recall interviews to obtain a more comprehensive view of the effects of learning tools. Results suggest that traditional outcome measures need to be complemented with quantitative and qualitative measures of cognitive processes to substantiate conclusions about intended effects of ICT-tools.

Performance assessment in serious games: Compensating for the effects of randomness

This paper is about performance assessment in serious games. We conceive serious gaming as a process of player-lead decision taking. Starting from combinatorics and item-response theory we provide an analytical model that makes explicit to what extent observed player performances (decisions) are blurred by chance processes (guessing behaviors). We found large effects both theoretically and practically. In two existing serious games random guess scores were found to explain up to 41 % of total scores. Monte Carlo simulation of random game play confirmed the substantial impact of randomness on performance. For valid performance assessments, be it in-game or post-game, the effects of randomness should be included to produce re-calibrated scores that can reasonably be interpreted as the players’ achievements.     

Design Elements for a CSCL Environment in a Teacher Training Programme

In the design of a Telematic Learning Environment (TLE) in which student teachers learn collaboratively, we consider three clusters of design elements as important: the Telematic Work Environment, the guidance of the instructor and the task instruction. We will have a look at the way group and task behaviour, triggered by these design elements influence the collaborative outcomes. Experiments have revealed that the technical environment is not as important as we had expected beforehand. This research shows that the task instruction (pre-imposed structure, role taking and intrinsic motivation for the task) and the group process itself have far more impact on the online collaborative work of the student teachers.     

Exploring teachers' instructional design practices from a systems design perspective

Curricular changes in higher vocationaleducation have rendered teachers' instructionaldesign activities increasingly important. Usinga repertory grid technique, this paper sets outto analyse current design activities of tenteacher trainers. Their actual approach iscompared with an instructional systems design(ISD) approach and related to innovativeteacher roles. Teachers' activities show animbalance in two ID phases, that is problemanalysis and evaluation. The results suggestthat they attempt to translate curricular goalsdirectly into concrete lessons and they payrelatively little attention to evaluation. Inline with this finding, they underrate the twoinnovative teacher roles of the `diagnostician'and the `evaluator'. It is argued thatimbalanced or incomplete design approaches andperceived roles may hinder innovation ineducation. Implications for the support ofteachers' design activities are discussed.