The effect of metacognitive strategy instruction on L2 learner beliefs and listening skills

This pilot study investigated the effect of semester-long strategy-based instruction on learner beliefs and skills in the processing of aural input by adult learners of English as a second language at metacognitive and procedural levels. The study addressed two frequently encountered learner beliefs thought to impede L2 processing of aural input: The little words aren’t important; intonation is merely decorative. Working on the premise that learner beliefs underpin learner strategies for processing aural input and are reflected in learner productive and receptive skills, pre- and post-instruction instruments measured both learners’ awareness of connected speech processes and the functions of intonation, and their ability to segment a continuous speech stream, and to process utterances for speaker intent. Findings using repeated measures analysis of variance support strategy-based metacognitive training in connected speech and stress and intonation to promote listening skills awareness, aid word segmentation, and facilitate understanding utterance content and intended meaning.Published versio

Software scaffolds to promote regulation during scientific inquiry learning

This research addresses issues in the design of online scaffolds for regulation within inquiry learning environments. The learning environment in this study included a physics simulation, data analysis tools, and a model editor for students to create runnable models. A regulative support tool called the Process Coordinator (PC) was designed to assist students in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their investigative efforts within this environment. In an empirical evaluation, 20 dyads received a “full” version of the PC with regulative assistance; dyads in the control group (n = 15) worked with an “empty” PC which contained minimal structures for regulative support. Results showed that both the frequency and duration of regulative tool use differed in favor of the PC+ dyads, who also wrote better lab reports. PC− dyads viewed the content helpfiles more often and produced better domain models. Implications of these differential effects are discussed and suggestions for future research are advanced

Collaboration scripts - a conceptual analysis

This article presents a conceptual analysis of collaboration scripts used in face-to-face and computer-mediated collaborative learning. Collaboration scripts are scaffolds that aim to improve collaboration through structuring the interactive processes between two or more learning partners. Collaboration scripts consist of at least five components: (a) learning objectives, (b) type of activities, (c) sequencing, (d) role distribution, and (e) type of representation. These components serve as a basis for comparing prototypical collaboration script approaches for face-to-face vs. computer-mediated learning. As our analysis reveals, collaboration scripts for face-to-face learning often focus on supporting collaborators in engaging in activities that are specifically related to individual knowledge acquisition. Scripts for computer-mediated collaboration are typically concerned with facilitating communicative-coordinative processes that occur among group members. The two lines of research can be consolidated to facilitate the design of collaboration scripts, which both support participation and coordination, as well as induce learning activities closely related to individual knowledge acquisition and metacognition. In addition, research on collaboration scripts needs to consider the learners’ internal collaboration scripts as a further determinant of collaboration behavior. The article closes with the presentation of a conceptual framework incorporating both external and internal collaboration scripts

Teachers in an Interdisciplinary Learning Community: Engaging, Integrating, and Strengthening K-12 Education

This study examines the inputs (processes and strategies) and outputs (perceptions, skill development, classroom transfer, disciplinary integration, social networking, and community development) of a yearlong, interdisciplinary teacher learning and development experience. Eleven secondary math and science teachers partnered with an interdisciplinary team of university engineering mentors in a yearlong engineering education and project implementation program. It consisted of a 6-week on-site resident professional development and collaboration experience, with an ongoing support and follow-up including digital systems. Mixed-method, multisource data indicate that teachers engaged with motivations combining personal, intrinsic interest and classroom integration goals. They formed and sustained an active community of learning and practice that supported their success, on-site and through classroom integration, thereby promoting innovations. Teachers reported positive perceptions throughout the program and demonstrated significant, productive trajectories of change-over-time. Teachers learned and transferred task-specific engineering and scientific skills, as well as more general inquiry-based pedagogical strategies to their secondary classrooms.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

How do the perceptions of early childhood teachers towards their early childhood English Language Learners (ELLS) govern their pedagogical practices with the early childhood ELLS in their classrooms?

The purpose of this parallel mixed-methodology study was to examine, through a critical lens, how the perceptions of early childhood teachers towards their early childhood English Language learners (ELLs) govern their pedagogical practices. The study was conducted in ten (N = 10) early childhood classrooms, ranging from grades pre-K to third grades, in one suburban school with a culturally and linguistically diverse student population. Quantitative data was gathered through the administration of Pohan and Aguilar\u27s (2001) Professional beliefs about diversity 5-point Likert scale. Additionally, qualitative data was collected through interviews, classroom observations, and material artifacts. The same sample of participants (N = 10) was used for both sources of data collection. Results indicated that the majority of teacher participants held negative perceptions towards the ELL pupils in their classrooms as well as demonstrated a lack of understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy and theories of second language acquisition. Implications for in-service teacher professional development in order to cultivate understandings of the theories of second language acquisition and culturally responsive pedagogy are discussed

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

A systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008 identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online learning. Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening, 51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta-analysis. The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes—measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation—was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. Analysts noted that these blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions. This finding suggests that the positive effects associated with blended learning should not be attributed to the media, per se. An unexpected finding was the small number of rigorous published studies contrasting online and face-to-face learning conditions for K–12 students. In light of this small corpus, caution is required in generalizing to the K–12 population because the results are derived for the most part from studies in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education)

Reflective Assessment, Feedback and Academic Achievement in High School Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of metacognitive strategies and content-specific feedback on student achievement in high school mathematics. Participants in the study consisted of a convenience sample of honors geometry students in grades 9 and 10 in a private high school located in Daytona Beach, Florida. Beyond answering the specific research questions raised in the study, an additional aim was to contribute to the growing body of knowledge pertaining to effective ways to use metacognitive instruction and provide effective content-specific feedback to improve student achievement and learning. A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control-group design with repeated-measures was employed in the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed to address the research questions. Specifically, an ANOVA with repeated measures, two-tailed test, was performed. For this purpose, a single within-subject factor, termed Assessment, was defined. Three levels were allocated to this factor, Pre-test, Post-test and Retention Test. Group was defined as a between-subjects factor and the two levels allocated to this factor were Comparison and Experimental. Tests of statistical significance were analyzed at the .05 level. There was a statistically significant main effect of the variable Group (F(1, 73) = 7.27, p = .009, hp2 = .091). Students in the experimental group outperformed the students in the comparison group. According to the effect size estimate, about 9% of variance in the Testing variable was attributable to the Group variable. Specifically, there was a statistically significant difference in the post-test (p = .02, Cohen’s d = .57). This effect size calculated using Cohen’s d formula is considered medium in magnitude (Cohen, 1988, 1992). There was statistically significant time effect (F(1, 73) = 1185, p = .000, hp2 = .942). The retention test scores were lower than the post-test scores, however, students in the experimental group significantly outperformed the students in the comparison group in the retention test scores (p = .00, Cohen’s d = .69). The findings of this study offer a modest contribution to the body of empirical research on the impact of metacognitive practice and content-specific feedback on academic achievement at the high school level. Further studies are warranted to add to the body of literature and more specifically to provide great clarity regarding the magnitude of the current investigation

Supporting Mathematical Argumentation and Proof Skills: Comparing the Effectiveness of a Sequential and a Concurrent Instructional Approach to Support Resource-Based Cognitive Skills

An increasing number of learning goals refer to the acquisition of cognitive skills that can be described as 'resource-based,' as they require the availability, coordination, and integration of multiple underlying resources such as skills and knowledge facets. However, research on the support of cognitive skills rarely takes this resource-based nature explicitly into account. This is mirrored in prior research on mathematical argumentation and proof skills: Although repeatedly highlighted as resource-based, for example relying on mathematical topic knowledge, methodological knowledge, mathematical strategic knowledge, and problem-solving skills, little evidence exists on how to support mathematical argumentation and proof skills based on its resources. To address this gap, a quasi-experimental intervention study with undergraduate mathematics students examined the effectiveness of different approaches to support both mathematical argumentation and proof skills and four of its resources. Based on the part-/whole-task debate from instructional design, two approaches were implemented during students' work on proof construction tasks: (i) a sequential approach focusing and supporting each resource of mathematical argumentation and proof skills sequentially after each other and (ii) a concurrent approach focusing and supporting multiple resources concurrently. Empirical analyses show pronounced effects of both approaches regarding the resources underlying mathematical argumentation and proof skills. However, the effects of both approaches are mostly comparable, and only mathematical strategic knowledge benefits significantly more from the concurrent approach. Regarding mathematical argumentation and proof skills, short-term effects of both approaches are at best mixed and show differing effects based on prior attainment, possibly indicating an expertise reversal effect of the relatively short intervention. Data suggests that students with low prior attainment benefited most from the intervention, specifically from the concurrent approach. A supplementary qualitative analysis showcases how supporting multiple resources concurrently alongside mathematical argumentation and proof skills can lead to a synergistic integration of these during proof construction and can be beneficial yet demanding for students. Although results require further empirical underpinning, both approaches appear promising to support the resources underlying mathematical argumentation and proof skills and likely also show positive long-term effects on mathematical argumentation and proof skills, especially for initially weaker students

Confronting Pedagogy in “Confronting Globalization”: The Use of Role-Play Simulations to Foster Interdisciplinary/Global Learning

With the increasing emphasis on global learning as part of the redesigned institutional mission of American higher education, there will arguably be a need for a variety of global learning experiences across the undergraduate curriculum. Efforts to incorporate global learning in course content at home by globalizing or internationalizing the curricula are already underway at many institutions of higher education. This article offers a set of recommendations for educators wishing to globalize their courses by adopting an interdisciplinary approach to global learning specifically through the use of role-play simulations. As a problem-based pedagogy, role-play simulations are uniquely equipped to deliver interdisciplinary and global learning outcomes since both fields are explicitly geared towards practical problem-solving. It will be argued that an interdisciplinary approach to global learning through the use of role-play simulations offers a number of pedagogical advantages to traditional teaching techniques