Chronotope : an investigation of the spatial and temporal organization in technology-mediated collaborative learning

The present dissertation project investigated the organization of space-time in collaborative learning processes mediated by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The background of my argumentation is that we live in an historical moment in which the introduction of continu-ously evolving virtual spaces and the implementation of novel pedagogical approaches entail the transformation of the spatial and temporal relations of pedagogical activities. In order to examine these transforming space-time relations and the role that they may play in the learning process, I propose an adapted socio-cultural perspective based on the dialogical notion of chronotope. A chronotope depicts the emergent configuration of space-time relations during an intentional, collaborative learning activity. In sum, the perspective that I adopt considers cognition and learning as distributed in the environment, and space and time as interdependent social constructions. The dissertation report aimed to account for multiple types of physical, so-cial, virtual, real and imagined spatialities and temporalities as they are per-ceived, discursively negotiated, and bodily enacted by participants in ICT-mediated learning practices. I carried out four studies that examine various aspects of space-time re-lations. In Study I, I explored how participants in collaborative learning activities locate themselves and the others across multiple physical, social and virtual spaces; in Study II I investigated how the space-time frames detected in students’ discourse on the task affect the process of task inter-pretation; Study III was aimed at analysing if and how space-time configu-rations bodily enacted by participants affect the pace and the quality of the learning process; in Study IV I examined the significance and implications of patterns of organization of space-time during the process of instrumental genesis. All the studies adopt a qualitative ethnographic methodology that involves the triangulation of participant observation, discourse analysis, and video analysis. The results of my studies suggest that examining the organization of space and time can provide crucial insights into technology-mediated col-laborative learning activities, informing both theory and practice. Under-standing how participants locate themselves and the others in space and time might help us to design learning space-times that enhance coordination and collaborative processes. Considering the discursive framing of space-time by the students can help teachers and instructional designers to ensure that divergent assumptions concerning space-time frames will not induce students to deviate from the set task. Modelling the space-time configura-tions bodily enacted by participants may provide cues for scaffolding the learning process, helping students to orchestrate space and manage time, in line with the teachers’ pedagogical aims. Finally, detecting patterns of space-time organization may inform decisions concerning where and when to provide just-in-time information, scaffolds and tools to enhance students’ learning without interrupting their experience of flow.Tämä väitöskirja käsittelee aika-tilan organisointia yhteistoiminnallisissa oppimisprosesseissa, joissa hyödynnetään tieto- ja viestintäteknologiaa. Väitöskirjan argumentin lähtökohta on,että elämme historiallisella hetkellä, jossa oppimisen suhde tilaan ja aikaan on muutoksessa. Muutokseen vaikuttaa uusien virtuaalisten tilojen ja pedagogisten lähestymistapojen käyttöönotto. Kehittelen väitöskirjassa sosiokulttuurista näkökulmaa, jonka avulla voidaan tutkia muuttuvia aika-tila-suhteita ja niiden roolia oppimisprosessissa. Näkökulma hyödyntää dialogista kronotoopin käsitettä, jonka avulla kuvaan tavoitteellisen, yhteistoiminnallisen oppimistoiminnan aikana syntyviä aika-tila-suhteiden muodostelmia.Kaiken kaikkiaan valitsemani näkökulma tarkastelee kognitiota ja oppimista ympäristöön hajautuneina ilmiöinä. Lisäksi tarkastelen tilaa ja aikaa toisistaan riippuvina sosiaalisina konstruktioina. Väitöskirjan tavoitteena oli selittää monentyyppisiä fyysisiä, sosiaalisia, virtuaalisia, todellisia ja kuviteltuja tilallisuuksia ja ajallisuuksia osana tieto- ja viestintäteknologiaa hyödyntäviä oppimiskäytäntöjä. Tavoitteena oli selittää tilallisuuksia ja ajallisuuksia sellaisina kuin osallistujat havaitsivat ne, neuvottelivat niistä diskursiivisesti tai toteuttivat ne kehollisesti. Toteutin neljä osatutkimusta, joissa tutkin aika-tila-suhteita eri näkökulmista. Ensimmäisessä osatutkimuksessa tutkin sitä, miten yhteistoiminnallisen oppimisen osallistujat sijoittivat itsensä ja toisensa useiden fyysisten, sosiaalisten ja virtuaalisten tilojen välillä. Toisessa osatutkimuksessa tarkastelin, miten opiskelijoiden tehtävän tekemiseen liittyvistä keskusteluista tunnistamani aika-tila-kehykset vaikuttivat heidän tehtävän tulkitsemisen prosessiin. Kolmannen osatutkimuksen tavoitteena oli analysoida,kuinka osallistujien kehollisesti toteuttamat aika-tila-muodostelmat vaikuttavat oppimisprosessin tahtiin ja laatuun. Neljännessä osatutkimuksessa tutkin, minkälaisia merkityksiä ja seuraamuksia aika-tila-suhteiden säännönmukaisuuksilla oli työvälineen syntyprosessissa. Kaikissa osatutkimuksissa käytin laadullista etnografista metodologiaa ja hyödynsin tutkimusmenetelmällistä triangulaatiota. Tutkimusmenetelminä käytin osallistuvaa havainnointia, diskurssianalyysiä ja videoanalyysiä. Tutkimukseni tulokset viittaavat siihen, että ajan ja tilan organisoinnin tutkiminen voi tuottaa ratkaisevan tärkeitä oivalluksia teknologiavälitteisestä yhteistoiminnallisesta oppimisesta. Tuloksista on hyötyä sekä käytännössä että teorian kehittämisessä. Sen ymmärtäminen, miten osallistujat sijoittavat itsensä ja toisensa tilassa ja ajassa, voi auttaa suunnittelemaan oppimisympäristöjen aika-tiloja, jotka edistävät osallistujien keskinäistä koordinaatiota ja yhteistoiminnallisia prosesseja. Sen huomioiminen, miten opiskelijat kehystävät aika-tilat diskursiivisesti,voi auttaa opettajia ja oppimisympäristöjen suunnittelijoita varmistamaan, etteivät aika-tila-kehyksiin liittyvät monenlaiset olettamukset saa opiskelijoita poikkeamaan annetusta tehtävästä.Osallistujien kehollisesti toteuttamien aika-tila-asetelmien mallintaminen voi antaa vihjeitä, miten oppimisprosessia voidaan tukea. Opiskelijoita voidaan tukea tilan organisoimisessa ja ajan hallitsemisessa opettajien pedagogisten tavoitteiden suunnassa. Lopuksi aika-tila-suhteiden säännönmukaisuuksien tunnistaminen voi auttaa tekemään päätöksiä siitä, missä ja milloin kannattaa tarjota opiskelijoille oikea-aikaista tietoa, tukea ja välineitä jotka edistävät heidän oppimistaan ilman, että heidän virtauksen kokemuksensa häiriinty

a Review of Instructional Approaches

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020 DL 57/2016/CP1453/CT0066 PTDC/FER-FIL/28278/2017Over the past 20 years, a broad and diverse research literature has emerged to address how students learn to argue through dialogue in educational contexts. However, the variety of approaches used to study this phenomenon makes it challenging to find coherence in what may otherwise seem to be disparate fields of study. In this integrative review, we propose looking at how learning to argue (LTA) has been operationalized thus far in educational research, focusing on how different scholars have framed and fostered argumentative dialogue, assessed its gains, and applied it in different learning contexts. In total, 143 studies from the broad literature on educational dialogue and argumentation were analysed, including all educational levels (from primary to university). The following patterns for studying how dialogue fosters LTA emerged: whole-class ‘low structure’ framing with a goal of dialogue, small-group ‘high structure’ framing with varied argumentative goals, and studies with one-to-one dialectic framing with a goal of persuasive deliberation. The affordances and limitations of these different instructional approaches to LTA research and practice are discussed. We conclude with a discussion of complementarity of the approaches that emerged from our analysis in terms of the pedagogical methods and conditions that promote productive and/or constructive classroom interactions.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Collaborative inquiry learning: models, tools, and challenges

Collaborative inquiry learning is one of the most challenging and exciting ventures for today’s schools. It aims at bringing a new and promising culture of teaching and learning into the classroom where students in groups engage in self-regulated learning activities supported by the teacher. It is expected that this way of learning fosters students’ motivation and interest in science, that they learn to perform steps of inquiry similar to scientists and that they gain knowledge on scientific processes. Starting from general pedagogical reflections and science standards the article reviews some prominent models of inquiry learning. This comparison results in a set of inquiry processes being the basis for cooperation in the scientific network NetCoIL. Inquiry learning is conceived in several ways with emphasis on different processes. For an illustration of the spectrum, some main conceptions of inquiry and their focuses are described. In the next step, the article describes exemplary computer tools and environments from within and outside the NetCoIL network that were designed to support processes of collaborative inquiry learning. These tools are analysed by describing their functionalities as well as effects on student learning known from the literature. The article closes with challenges for further developments elaborated by the NetCoIL network

The student-produced electronic portfolio in craft education

The authors studied primary school students’ experiences of using an electronic portfolio in their craft education over four years. A stimulated recall interview was applied to collect user experiences and qualitative content analysis to analyse the collected data. The results indicate that the electronic portfolio was experienced as a multipurpose tool to support learning. It makes the learning process visible and in that way helps focus on and improves the quality of learning. © ISLS.Peer reviewe

Student-question-based inquiry in science education

Students' questions have an important function in science learning, and in inquiry-based approaches. Inquiry teaching in which the students' own questions are used is promising, but a holistic view of the research and practice is lacking. A systematic review was conducted on 30 articles, both research report articles as well as descriptive and evaluative report articles on the use of students' questions as a starting point for inquiry-based science education. The review was carried out using deductive content analysis. This review concentrates especially on the formulation and utilisation of students' questions in inquiry, the benefits of the reported approaches, and the roles that the teacher and the students take during student-question-based inquiry approaches. This review shows that there are various ways to obtain and use students' questions. The results also highlight the teacher's important role in inquiry teaching already in the planning phase. Moreover, the teacher's role is affected by how much emphasise is placed on science learning, and how much value is put on the students' questions. Finally, a model for student-question-based inquiry (the SQBI-model) for science education is presented. This model should be acknowledged also in the teacher education.Peer reviewe

The Knowledge Building Approach to Science Education: A Problem-Solving Perspective

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. September 2019. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Gillian Roehrig. 1 computer file (PDF); xii, 191 pages.Science education is reasonably constructed around a vision of authentic scientific practices. Yet, this vision of science is clearly a construct as seen when viewing its changes throughout the last 120 years, as well as viewing it through different theoretical perspectives. While there are diverse descriptions of science and its enactment, going back to Dewey and Peirce, the mission of science is commonly considered to be about the advancement of theory through inquiry where problems serve a central function. Beyond the challenge of constructing an understanding of scientific inquiry as theory development where the diversity in perspectives of scientists is seen as essential, there is the challenge of devising pedagogy and approaches that effectively promote this vision. There are a rich mix of approaches working at solving different parts of this complex problem. One such approach is called, "knowledge building" (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006). This approach seeks to scaffold classroom communities such that they develop and grow into a complex community where progressive science-theory improvement emerges. It is considered that these sorts of communities where innovation is the norm have relevance beyond the fields of science and STEM: innovation and knowledge creation is becoming the essential practice of the knowledge age. The knowledge building approach is designed to support the growth of classroom communities that embody the essential nature of progressive scientific inquiry. To effectively support this kind of classroom community development, the unique assets and needs presented by the ever-increasing diversity of thinking and knowing that are emergents of the students' cultures, developmental levels, neurological diversities and iv networks of communities. Overall, this research sought to support and augment classrooms as they strive to grow into classroom communities of scientific inquiry. The research occurred in two stages. It first used philosophical methods to generate a simple, high-level model of problem-solving made possible by Popper's World-3 conception. This conception is a keystone in some epistemologies developed to support approaches aimed at helping students grow in knowledge-innovation practices. The visual problem-solving model that was developed seeks to provide students and teachers with a very simple yet flexible model allowing them to describe, analyze and reflect on the state of their community's knowledge improvement and through this understanding adaptively and effectively respond. The second stage of research utilized hybrid philosophical-empirical methods to develop a framework that describes science in terms of its mission to progressively improve theory through the iterative solving of and subsequent unfolding of new knowledge-problems. These research methods involved an iterative process where promising theories are tested on their ability to describe students' actual online knowledge-building discourse in a satisfying way. In this iterative process, empirical classroom data informed and yet also constrain the theory generation which was informed by diverse theoretical perspectives. These theoretical perspectives included for example, ideas of scientific practices, theories of design such as design thinking and understandings of classroom diversity as represented in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) which were intentionally founded upon theories of v culturally responsive pedagogy. The developed framework seeks to scaffold teachers as they design and enact lessons aimed at growing communities of diverse scientists. Taken together, the products of this research seek to provide conceptual structures to aid the students and teachers in classroom communities as they seek to grow into complex communities of scientists

Enhancing Free-text Interactions in a Communication Skills Learning Environment

Learning environments frequently use gamification to enhance user interactions.Virtual characters with whom players engage in simulated conversations often employ prescripted dialogues; however, free user inputs enable deeper immersion and higher-order cognition. In our learning environment, experts developed a scripted scenario as a sequence of potential actions, and we explore possibilities for enhancing interactions by enabling users to type free inputs that are matched to the pre-scripted statements using Natural Language Processing techniques. In this paper, we introduce a clustering mechanism that provides recommendations for fine-tuning the pre-scripted answers in order to better match user inputs