Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: an Embodied Perspective

Learners studying mechanical or technical processes via dynamic visualizations often fail to build an accurate mental representation of the system’s movements. Based on embodied theories of cognition assuming that action, perception, and cognition are closely intertwined, this paper proposes that the learning effectiveness of dynamic visualizations could be enhanced by grounding the movements of the presentation in people’s own bodily experiences during learning. We discuss recent research on embodied cognition and provide specific strategies for how the body can be used to ground movements during the learning process: (1) making or observing gestures, (2) manipulating and interacting with objects, (3) using body metaphors, and (4) using eye movements as retrieval cues. Implications for the design of dynamic visualizations as well as directions for future research are presented.     

Relations of Children's Effortful Control and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality to School Attitudes in a Low-Income Sample

RESEARCH FINDINGS: The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of children's effortful control and quality of relationships with teachers to school attitudes longitudinally in an ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged sample. Data were collected as part of a larger intervention project during mid-fall, winter, and late spring (ns = 823, 722, and 758, respectively) for 2 cohorts of 3- to 5-year-olds (collected during 2 different school years). Children's effortful control was assessed in the fall with parents' and teachers' reports and 2 behavioral measures. Teacher-child relationship quality was assessed mid-year with teachers' reports of closeness and conflict. Attitudes toward school were assessed in late spring using teachers' and students' reports of school avoidance and liking. Effortful control, in general, was positively correlated with teacher-child closeness and school liking and negatively correlated with conflict and school avoidance. Using structural equation modeling and controlling for sex and ethnicity, we found that effortful control was positively related to teacher-child relationship quality, which in turn was positively related to school attitudes. Furthermore, the relation of effortful control to school attitudes was mediated by teacher-child relationship quality. PRACTICE OR POLICY: Results provide evidence for the importance of relational processes that take place within the classroom context and have implications for teachers and clinicians working to increase school success in ethnic minority and low-income children.     

How do instructional designers evaluate? A qualitative study of evaluation in practice

This study employed a qualitative research design to investigate how instructional designers use evaluation in everyday design practice. While past research has examined how designers spend their time, how they generally make decisions, and expert-novice differences, little attention has been paid to use of context, input, process, or product evaluation, from the perspective of practicing designers. Based on interviews of practitioners, our findings included ten themes regarding how designers use evaluation to improve their products. While these results substantiate to some degree the claim that practitioners believe clients will not pay for formal evaluations, they also suggest that practitioners use evaluation in important but less formal ways. Other conclusions regarding the role of evaluation in design are provided and future directions for training and research are discussed.     

Mode of communication, perceived level of understanding, and perceived quality of life in youth who are deaf or hard of hearing

Given the important role of parent-youth communication in adolescent well-being and quality of life, we sought to examine the relationship between specific communication variables and youth perceived quality of life in general and as a deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) individual. A convenience sample of 230 youth (mean age = 14.1, standard deviation = 2.2; 24% used sign only, 40% speech only, and 36% sign + speech) was surveyed on communication-related issues, generic and DHH-specific quality of life, and depression symptoms. Higher youth perception of their ability to understand parents' communication was significantly correlated with perceived quality of life as well as lower reported depressive symptoms and lower perceived stigma. Youth who use speech as their single mode of communication were more likely to report greater stigma associated with being DHH than youth who used both speech and sign. These findings demonstrate the importance of youths' perceptions of communication with their parents on generic and DHH-specific youth quality of life.     

Collaborative research for sustainable learning: the case of developing innovation capabilities at Volvo Cars

This paper aims to make a contribution to the stream of literature on action research by describing a longitudinal collaborative research project which evolved out of a long-term, participation partnership with Volvo Cars. The collaboration was aimed at developing innovation capabilities in the company and accumulating knowledge on how capabilities are developed. The paper provides insights into the design of collaborative research projects to enable mutual, sustainable learning. It draws on key notions in the literature on collaborative management research and action learning, highlighting the research design of the project at Volvo Cars and its relations to action learning. The paper describes how the research design opened the way to establishing a learning system at Volvo Cars while simultaneously generating new scientific knowledge within the area of innovation capabilities. The paper provides rich and detailed data on a collaborative research setting and highlights key aspects related to organizing and undertaking collaborative research.     

Design of an interactive informational program: Formative evaluation and experimental research

The design and evaluation of an interactive informational program is outlined in this article. Also reported is an integrated research study which examines the effects of differing levels of orientation to an interactive informational program on user confidence and attitudes. Research results indicate that a full orientation providing information, examples, practice, and feedback for various program options can lead to greater levels of user comfort than a more limited type of orientation providing brief information and single examples, and with equally positive user attitudes. However, subjects receiving the full orientation spent less time in the actual program and accessed a smaller proportion of available program segments than did their limited-orientation counterparts. No differences in efficiency were noted between the two groups in the use of the program. Sex differences noted in attitudes and time expended are discussed, with reference to a possible preference by females for greater levels of program support. Recommendations are offered for interactive program developers and future research directions are suggested. This work was supported in part by Summer Research Awards provided by the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Richard Berdel, Cheryl Wissick, and Maureen Glasser in the data collection, and of theETR&D editor and anonymous reviewers for their comments on a draft of this article.     

A partitioning technique for defining instructional groups

A technique is presented for partitioning N students into K groups of fixed sizes using a given measure of proximity for all student pairs. The measure of proximity is typically calculated from a set of variables, such as completed curriculum units or learning style, and constitutes the data needed for a criterion of partition fit. This latter index is explicitly defined by the sum of within-group proximities and when used in conjunction with the optimization procedure discussed, homogeneous groups can be obtained that satisfy externally imposed size requirements. Finally, a simple generalization is suggested for the related task of grouping students to meet upper limit size constraints only.     

Factors affecting rats’ location during conditioned suppression training

If freezing underlies barpress conditioned suppression, then it seems odd that auditory cues paired with shock evoke more freezing than do visual cues, yet evoke similar suppression. Bevins and Ayres (1992) found that auditory and visual cues also evoked similar withdrawal from the bar and dipper areas and suggested that such withdrawal could explain the similar suppression. Seeking to understand that withdrawal, we found evidence in the present study that it was due either to adventitious punishment or to place-aversion learning. The cue for shock seemed to set the occasion for such learning. For example, we found that, as training progressed, rats’ tendency to leave the bar area during the cue first increased, then decreased, then increased again, reflecting, presumably, shock occurrence first inside, then outside, then inside the bar area again. Despite these changes in the rats’ location, barpress suppression remained stable, implying that leaving the bar area, though sufficient for barpress suppression, is unnecessary.