Development of Self-Regulated Learning Skills Within Open-Ended Computer-Based Learning Environments for Science

Over the past decade, open-ended computer-based learning environments have been increasingly used to facilitate students’ learning of complex scientific topics. The non-linearity and open-endedness of these environments create learning opportunities for students, but can also impose challenges in terms of extraneous cognitive load and greater requirements for self-regulated learning (SRL). SRL is crucial for academic success in various educational settings. This dissertation explores how self-regulatory skills develop and the role of gender in the development of SRL skills in Virtual Performance Assessments (VPA), an immersive, open-ended virtual environment designed to assess middle school students’ science inquiry skills. Findings from three analyses combining educational data mining techniques with multilevel modeling indicated that students developed self-regulatory behaviors and strategies as they used VPA. For example, experience with VPA prepared students to adopt more efficient note-taking and note-reviewing strategies. Students who used VPA for the second time engaged in note-taking more frequently, noted a significantly higher quantity of unique information, used the control of variables strategy more frequently in note-taking, and reproduced more domain-specific declarative information in notes than students who used VPA for the first time, all of which have been found to be positively associated with science inquiry performance. Students also learned to exploit more available sources of information by applying learning strategies, in order to either solve inquiry problems, or to monitor and evaluate their solutions. Compared to the second-time users who focused primarily on answering the core inquiry question and selectively collected data, the first-time users’ behaviors showed the repetition and combination of exploratory actions such as talking with non-player characters and collecting data. In addition, consistent gender differences in SRL were observed in this study. Female students were more likely to take notes than male students; they took notes and reviewed notes more frequently and recorded a higher quantity of information in notes, especially information from the research kiosk. Females were also more likely to review notes or read research pages to assist them with the problem-solving and decision-making process than their male counterparts. Possibly due to the higher quantity of information recorded by female note-takers and their tendency to review notes over males, female students’ performance on science inquiry tasks improved across the course of using the two scenarios of VPA, whereas the male students’ science inquiry skills did not show improvement. Results from this dissertation study provide insights into the instructional design of personalized open-ended learning environments to facilitate self-regulated learning for both male and female students

The sequence matters: A systematic literature review of using sequence analysis in Learning Analytics

Describing and analysing sequences of learner actions is becoming more popular in learning analytics. Nevertheless, the authors found a variety of definitions of what a learning sequence is, of which data is used for the analysis, and which methods are implemented, as well as of the purpose and educational interventions designed with them. In this literature review, the authors aim to generate an overview of these concepts to develop a decision framework for using sequence analysis in educational research. After analysing 44 articles, the conclusions enable us to highlight different learning tasks and educational settings where sequences are analysed, identify data mapping models for different types of sequence actions, differentiate methods based on purpose and scope, and identify possible educational interventions based on the outcomes of sequence analysis.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of Learning Analytic

The effect of negative feedback on motivation : a meta-analytic investigation

textAlthough the most prominent view in psychological theory has been that negative feedback should generally have a detrimental impact on motivation, competing perspectives and caveats on this prominent view have suggested that negative feedback may sometimes have neutral or even positive effects on motivation. A meta-analysis of 79 studies examined the effect of negative feedback on motivation and related outcomes with both child and adult samples. Results indicated that negative feedback compared to positive feedback decreased intrinsic motivation and perceived competence. This effect is much smaller when compared to neutral or no feedback. Moderator tests revealed that the effect of negative feedback seems to be less demotivating when a) the feedback statement includes instructional details to improve, b) compared to objective versus normative standards, and c) the task is interesting. Implications for future research and applications to real-world settings are discussed.Educational Psycholog

An investigation into interest and its elicitation in Middle School Science lessons

I surveyed 193 Year 8 students in 50 high schools about their interest in science. Prior interest in science predicted general academic aptitude and lesson interest was inversely proportional to class size. Students with low prior interest in science responded differently from their peers. Novelty of visual teaching materials was the most influential factor in lesson interest. The study reinforced the significance of interest in education

How does extraneous textbook material influence the reading comprehension of normal and impaired college students?

Seductive details are interesting but irrelevant details added to a passage to make it more interesting, and research indicates that such details impair learning and recall of information. Seductive details have traditionally included illustrations, facts, names, and examples, but the effects of boxed material in textbooks have yet to be studied. If seductive details impede normal readers, they may have particularly adverse affects on students with serious reading problems, such as those with learning disabilities (LD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present study examined the effects of boxed material on recall for both “Normal Control” (NC) and “Attentional Deficit” (AD) participants, who each read one of two versions of a text passage entitled “People with Severe and Multiple Disabilities.” The “Original Text” (OT) version contained extraneous information and illustrations, set apart from the rest of the text, as they appear in the textbook Human Exceptionality: Society, School, and Family (Hardman, Drew, & Egan, 1999). The “Modified Text” (MT) version presented this information imbedded in the text and illustrations and “Focus” questions from the margins were eliminated. The Wender Utah Rating Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a Personal History Questionnaire were administered, and students completed a 45-question multiple choice quiz on the passage material and a series of post-study questions. Results indicate that all readers performed significantly better on text information (TI) questions than on boxed information (BI) questions. Clearly contrary to prediction, however, AD participants performed better, on average, than did NC participants, with the effect nearly reaching significance. In addition, questionnaire data indicated that NC and AD participants did not rate significantly differently on either passage clarity or content; AD participants generally find information presented inside boxes in textbooks to be significantly more helpful than do NC participants; and AD participants read the preface and/or “Information for Students” at the beginning of a textbook significantly less often than do NC participants

Improving Metacomprehension and Calibration Accuracy Through Embedded Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategy Prompts

A societal shift from print-based to digital texts has afforded the ability to embed reader support within an instructional text. Numerous factors make eBooks an attractive option for colleges and universities, though undergraduates consistently reaffirm a preference for print-based materials. Given that many undergraduates arrive to college with a deficiency in reading comprehension skills and metacognitive awareness, digital text is able to offer an additional layer of support. A sample population of college undergraduates (N = 80) read an expository text on the basics of photography in the form of a fill-in field PDF. The most robust treatment (mixed) read the text, generated a summary for each page of text, and then was prompted with a metacognitive strategy self-question. The metacognitive treatment received metacognitive strategy prompts only, and the cognitive group implemented the cognitive strategy (summarization) only. A control group read the text with no embedded support. Groups were compared on measures of achievement, attitudes, cognitive load, and metacomprehension and calibration accuracy. Results indicated that a combination of embedded cognitive and metacognitive strategies in digital text improved learner achievement on high-level questions, yielded more accurate predictive calibration, and strengthened the relationship between metacomprehension and performance. Because cognitive load was reported to be significantly higher in the mixed strategy condition, the trade-off between the benefits of embedded reading support and the effects on mental demand should be investigated in more depth. This study found that providing embedded cognitive and metacognitive support in text lead to more accurate calibration and stronger metacomprehension judgments, both of which are common attributes of an academically successful learner

Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author

The question motivating this review paper is, how can computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn- ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory, and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in- teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that, as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency. Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip- ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in- teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity

Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum

The field of specialization known as the science of learning is not, in fact, one field. Science of learning is a term that serves as an umbrella for many lines of research, theory, and application. A term with an even wider reach is Learning Sciences (Sawyer, 2006). The present book represents a sliver, albeit a substantial one, of the scholarship on the science of learning and its application in educational settings (Science of Instruction, Mayer 2011). Although much, but not all, of what is presented in this book is focused on learning in college and university settings, teachers of all academic levels may find the recommendations made by chapter authors of service. The overarching theme of this book is on the interplay between the science of learning, the science of instruction, and the science of assessment (Mayer, 2011). The science of learning is a systematic and empirical approach to understanding how people learn. More formally, Mayer (2011) defined the science of learning as the “scientific study of how people learn” (p. 3). The science of instruction (Mayer 2011), informed in part by the science of learning, is also on display throughout the book. Mayer defined the science of instruction as the “scientific study of how to help people learn” (p. 3). Finally, the assessment of student learning (e.g., learning, remembering, transferring knowledge) during and after instruction helps us determine the effectiveness of our instructional methods. Mayer defined the science of assessment as the “scientific study of how to determine what people know” (p.3). Most of the research and applications presented in this book are completed within a science of learning framework. Researchers first conducted research to understand how people learn in certain controlled contexts (i.e., in the laboratory) and then they, or others, began to consider how these understandings could be applied in educational settings. Work on the cognitive load theory of learning, which is discussed in depth in several chapters of this book (e.g., Chew; Lee and Kalyuga; Mayer; Renkl), provides an excellent example that documents how science of learning has led to valuable work on the science of instruction. Most of the work described in this book is based on theory and research in cognitive psychology. We might have selected other topics (and, thus, other authors) that have their research base in behavior analysis, computational modeling and computer science, neuroscience, etc. We made the selections we did because the work of our authors ties together nicely and seemed to us to have direct applicability in academic settings

The influence of situational interest on the appropriate use of cognitive learning strategies

This study explores the role of two facets of situational interest, interestingness and personal significance, as predictors of the adequate use of three types of cognitive learning strategies (rehearsal strategies, organizational strategies, and elaboration strategies). In order to attain this goal, it introduces a new measure of the adequacy of the use of cognitive learning strategies by using the distance between teachers’ estimates of appropriate use of learning strategies for a specific task and students’ reported strategic behavior. Based on a theoretical model of the use of cognitive learning strategies, the study shows, by means of structural equation modeling, that different facets of situational interest play different roles in predicting students’ surface and deep processing. In summary, it was found that experienced personal significance played a major role in predicting deep-processing strategies for a significant proportion of the 34 tasks in this study, whereas interestingness fell short of expectations. Limitations did arise owing to some missing values, which may blur the findings at the lower interest and achievement end for the student sample. Nevertheless, suggestions have been made for future research, which can help teachers of history classes to determine components of success, namely experienced personal significance, when designing tasks and consequently provide effective learning tasks to their classes