5 research outputs found
Distributed cognition in the middle years: using a forum format to elicit mental models of assessment.
The project, Mental Models and Robotics and Middle Schooling, was an empirical qualitative study centred
within information processing theory and linked with the introspection mediating process tracing paradigm. The
study involved students and their teacher in a socio-economically diverse urban primary school and aimed to
establish how the identification of participants’ mental models can assist in the authentic assessment of learning
through a richer understanding of the cognitive development taking place in a technology-based learning experience.
Semi-structured and stimulated recall interviews, questionnaires, teach-back episodes, and teacher and
student journals were used to externalise participants’ mental models. However, the effect of distributed cognition
and the shared understanding of the nature, process, and response to assessment could not be determined by these
instruments alone. A videoed forum of the student participants, held subsequent to an assessment episode designed
by them, was used to elicit the mental models of assessment from teacher and learner points of view. Results of this
forum indicates that middle years students can inform us of their understanding and need for authentic assessment
practices that would clearly demonstrate their individual learning journey while adhering to systemic principles
Distributed cognition in the middle years: using a forum format to elicit mental models of assessment
The project, Mental Models and Robotics and Middle Schooling, was an empirical qualitative study centred
within information processing theory and linked with the introspection mediating process tracing paradigm. The
study involved students and their teacher in a socio-economically diverse urban primary school and aimed to
establish how the identification of participants’ mental models can assist in the authentic assessment of learning
through a richer understanding of the cognitive development taking place in a technology-based learning experience.
Semi-structured and stimulated recall interviews, questionnaires, teach-back episodes, and teacher and
student journals were used to externalise participants’ mental models. However, the effect of distributed cognition
and the shared understanding of the nature, process, and response to assessment could not be determined by these
instruments alone. A videoed forum of the student participants, held subsequent to an assessment episode designed
by them, was used to elicit the mental models of assessment from teacher and learner points of view. Results of this
forum indicates that middle years students can inform us of their understanding and need for authentic assessment
practices that would clearly demonstrate their individual learning journey while adhering to systemic principles
Matching mental models : the starting point for authentic assessment in robotics
This paper discusses the matches and mismatches
that occur between the mental models held by the
teacher and students undertaking a robotics activity in
an Australian school. It proposes that an
understanding of participants’ mental models of
learning and assessment plays an important role in
planning for, and reporting, on authentic assessment
of a technology-based activity.
The longitudinal project, over 20 months, was an
empirical qualitative study centred within information
processing theory and linked with the introspection
mediating process tracing paradigm. It involved
students and their teacher in a socio-economically
diverse urban Australian primary school and aimed to
establish how the identification of participants’ mental
models can assist in the authentic assessment of
learning through a richer understanding of the
cognitive development taking place in a technologybased
learning experience.
Robotics, as a component of the Queensland
Technology Years 1 to 10 Syllabus published in 2003,
provides a rich, multi-disciplinary environment in
which to engage middle years students in Australia.
The syllabus document provides guidance on
planning and assessment for design and technology
activities and provides a specific module for robotics.
However, engagement is not enough to ensure
learning. All participants, students or teachers, bring to
such activities their own mental models of robotics,
learning, and assessment. Can understanding the
matches and mismatches of such mental models
provide a greater understanding of the individual’s
learning journey and the suitable assessment
practices required to map the journey? This paper
explores the participants’ mental models at the halfway
point of the project