Design Considerations for Conducting Large‐Scale Learning Research Using Innovative Technologies in Schools

Since the advent of computers, scientists who study how people learn have been utilizing technology to uncover the cognitive and neural mechanisms of learning. Recent technological advances have allowed learning scientists to move their research out of the lab and into the wild, to investigate how students learn in real‐world environments. However, the move from the lab to the classroom involves a significant shift in strategy, requiring consideration of factors varying from the design of mobile (vs. lab‐based) technology to the recruitment of participants, as well as the contextual variables to account for in the less‐controlled environment of schools. Here I discuss the learnings our group has gleaned from a research program involving over a thousand elementary and middle school students in a longitudinal, multi‐year design that involves technologies for assessment and improving learning in schools.     

‘Yo antes no reciclaba y esto me cambio por completo la consiencia’: intercultural citizenship education in the English classroom

This article describes a telecollaboration project about the environment in the primary English as a foreign language classroom carried out in 2013/2014 between Argentina and Denmark. It combines English language teaching with intercultural citizenship education and forms part of a network of projects in Europe, the US and East Asia. This is the only one set in the primary school context and in Latin America. After some preparatory work, the Argentinian and Danish children met online through Skype, using English, Spanish and Danish, to design a collaborative poster to raise awareness of the importance of taking care of the environment. Conversational and documentary data were collected and analysed qualitatively, in this case focusing on the Argentinian perspective. With a critical literacy conceptualisation, the project demonstrates growth in self/intercultural awareness, criticality and social justice responsibility, and the emergence of a sense of community of transnational peers amongst the children involved.     

Tablets as an educational tool for enhancing preschool science

Information communication technologies (ICT) is increasingly being introduced in the preschool level, but questions have been raised regarding its potential to develop content knowledge or specific skills. This quasi-experimental study looked into the impact that hand-held tablets can have on science learning outcomes in five-year-olds. Four classes from two preschool institutions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were selected for a six-week intervention. All four classes received training and an inquiry-based science teaching sequence, with one group from each institution also receiving tablets and specific guidance on how to incorporate them into their science lessons. Post-intervention test results showed significant improvements in science outcomes for all students, but no significant difference between the tablet-enhanced classrooms and those taught without ICT. Challenges and opportunities are discussed with regard to including tablets for teaching science at the preschool level.     

Evaluation of Online, On-Demand Science Professional Development Material Involving Two Different Implementation Models

This report presents pilot-test results for a science professional development program featuring online, on-demand materials developed by the National Science Teachers Association. During the spring 2006 semester, 45 middle school teachers from three different school districts across the United States participated in a professional development program designed to facilitate content knowledge and skills in the area of Newtonian force and motion. Participants from one of the school districts experienced a full-day instructor-led workshop along with two web-based seminars with a content-area expert. This was followed by a 4-week period of time in which they had access to self-directed, online, on-demand instructional materials that included activities, information, simulations, examples, and practice with immediate feedback over the targeted outcomes. Participants from the two other school districts only had access to the online materials with no instructor-led experience. This report documents positive gains in achievement as well as levels of confidence in teaching the material within all of the professional development groups. Data about the use of specific features within the online material are included, as well as completion rates and attitude survey results. Recommendations for future study are also included.