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 Effect of Employing Self-Explanation Strategy with Worked Examples on Acquiring Computer Programing Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of employing self-explanation learning strategy supported with Worked Examples on acquiring computer programing skills among freshmen high school students. The study adopted a quasi-experimental method, where an experimental group (n = 33) used the self-explanation strategy supported with worked examples in learning programing, and a control group (n = 31) learned to do programing using the learning method defined in the National Guidelines for teaching computer curriculum. The results of the study showed that students in the experimental group achieved significantly better in programing knowledge and skills compared to the control group. The study recommended to include the self-explanation strategy in computer programing courses in high school computer literacy textbooks. Keywords: Computer programing, Self-explanation, Worked examples, Computer educatio

The effects of feedback protocol and learning environment perceptions on self -regulated learning

The current research investigated the effects of differing feedback protocols in a multimedia learning environment to determine if changes would occur over time in goal orientation, self-regulation, self-efficacy or achievement. Subjects from an traditional undergraduate chemistry course were assigned to either a norm-referenced or self-referenced feedback group. Goal orientation and self-efficacy were measured via self-report surveys pre-post instruction, self-regulation was measured as the cumulative number of times each subject opened a worked example/self-explanation prompt while engaged in weekly web-based quizzes, and achievement was measured using final semester course grades. Perceptions of the learning environment were also probed as a potential mediating variable via self-report surveys by using a median split to assign subjects to either a class-task group, where learners believed that the instructor valued effort more than ability or a class-ability group, where learners believed that the instructor valued innate ability more than effort; Results revealed that subjects did not significantly change their goal orientation type or magnitude as a result of the differing feedback protocols, even with the addition of learning environment perception as a potential mediating variable. Overall, subjects made significant decreases along the mastery approach and performance approach goal orientation subscales. While this was not anticipated, the results are consistent with other recent research within this context (Senko & Harackiewicz, 2005). Subjects also did not demonstrate significant differences in self-regulation, although a trend did emerge with those from the norm-referenced feedback group with a class-task perception of the learning environment less likely to use worked examples. Subjects from this group also demonstrated the greatest gains in self-efficacy over the course of the semester; however these changes failed to meet the criterion for statistical significance and these differences did not lead to any notable differences in achievement. While it remains unclear as to why these subjects used worked examples less, the increase in self-efficacy is contrary to other studies along this line of research (Crippen & Earl, 2007). However, increases in self-efficacy from subjects with a class-task learning environment perception are supported in the literature (Midgley, Maehr, Hicks, Urdan, & Roeser, 1995); Recommendations for future research within this context such as authenticating subjects\u27 perceptions of their assigned treatment condition, introducing additional feedback protocols such as a combined, choice, or control condition and building in a better gauge to track the time and context of potential changes in goal orientation, self-regulation, and self-efficacy are also discussed

Development of computer science online and preliminary validation of its efficacy as an instructional environment

CS Online was developed as an instructional environment to address many issues facing computer science education. One of these is the need to rekindle interest in introductory computer science. CS Online seeks to accomplish this by offering active learning experiences set in real-world contexts. The intended outcomes are increased interest in computer science as an academic discipline, increased enrollments in related courses, and increased achievement resulting from cognitive skills growth; The CS Online system generated data while 36 high school students solved programming problems, and questionnaires administered by the system were used to collect information about students\u27 self-regulatory skills and experience in math and computers. In addition, qualitative data analysis of source code submitted by students was conducted to determine how students progressed through the problem solving process and the common mistakes they made; The study revealed that students with differing levels of math and computer experience and self-regulatory skills were able to adequately complete programming problems using the system. The descriptive data on the 36 students indicated that students with high motivation seemed to outperform low motivation students in all performance measures in the study. Those who had high planning skills also seemed to outperform the low group in most of the performance measures. A similar pattern was observed in the students with high versus low math and computer skills. As the task difficulty increased, students with high planning skills seemed to require increasingly fewer attempts to complete exercises than those with lower planning skills. A qualitative analysis of problem solving revealed that students erred in syntax, logic, and then grammar---in that order. It was also shown that students spent considerable time re-running programs to observe output or to clean-up code; Although the findings suggest that in general motivation and planning seem to be important components of learning a programming language, the current descriptive findings should be interpreted with caution. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted. To examine effects of self-regulation on learning and performance, other relevant variables, such as existing computer language skills, may be included to control their effects on the performance; Additional findings suggest that the use of hints were helpful for students with lower math skills, computer skills, and motivation. Teachers can encourage the use of hints for those who need the extra help, but can discourage their use for the more highly skilled and motivated. The findings also suggest that, based on the types of mistakes students commonly made, instruction on debugging skills should be considered to reduce the number of syntax, logic, and grammar errors. Less time spent correcting errors becomes more time spent on problem solving. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Improving Self-Efficacy in Problem Solving: Learning from Errors and Feedback

This study examined the social cognitive theoretical prediction that self-efficacy is enhanced by feedback that fosters problem solving skills. The anxiety addressed in this study was similar to low efficacy perceptions in solving statistics problems for adults whose background is far removed from the field of statistics. The study employed an experimental process to compare the changes in efficacy, problem solving, anxiety, and satisfaction scores for 138 students in two groups of feedback and no feedback. The sample represented 23 majors in a regional public university in the South. Students in the feedback group showed a statistically significant gain in their problem scores over the no feedback group; however, the mean efficacy scores were lower for both groups after the problem solving experiment. Both groups showed similar averages with respect to anxiety and satisfaction scores in regard to problem solving. The incongruence in problem scores with efficacy and anxiety scores was attributed to students' over rating of their abilities prior to actually performing the tasks. The process of calibration was identified as an explanation for the statistically significant correlation between problem solving scores and post - efficacy scores for the feedback group. The qualitative analysis of the contents of the feedback that students provided for each question indicated that those who provided more thoughtful self-explanations, and elaborated on the rationale for their choices showed higher gains in problem scores from pre- to posttest over those who gave fewer comments or did not elaborate on their responses. The number of statistics and mathematics courses taken previously correlated significantly with students' gain in problem scores. The findings in this study support the social cognitive theoretical prediction that feedback can impact self-efficacy positively when students are provided with real time evaluation and assessment indicators. Therefore, this study needs to be implemented with similar problems over a longer period of time for students to learn how to monitor their works and peers' work and how to integrate peers' comments in deriving the solutions and receive timely feedback from the teacher on their progress

Examining Preservice Teachers\u27 Reasoning and Decision Making in Three Case-Based Approaches

The general purpose of this dissertation was to compare three general approaches (worked examples, faded worked examples, and case-based reasoning) to using cases to help preservice teachers advance in complex decision making or problem solving skills. Each approach has empirical studies demonstrating that it can lead to student learning (Jonassen, 1999). However, case-based reasoning and the other two approaches emerged from different traditions that imply different principles for the design of learning environments. Furthermore, no study has yet compared these approaches in terms of their relative effectiveness in improving preservice teachers\u27 reasoning and decision making related to teaching issues, including classroom management. To that end, this dissertation was aimed at comparing the impact of these three case-based approaches on preservice teachers\u27 reasoning and decision making related to classroom management. This dissertation is presented in nontraditional dissertation format as approved by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Iowa State University. It involves three publishable journal articles that would represent Chapter 2, 3 and 4 respectively, along with general introduction and conclusion chapters. The first paper presented a review of literature on the use of cases in teacher education to examine and foster preservice teachers\u27 reasoning and decision making. Comparative examination of the 20 studies in terms of their theoretical and methodological implications for the use of cases to examine or enhance preservice teachers\u27 reasoning and decision making revealed that (a) Students need considerable instructional guidance to effectively use cases and to develop the cognitive and motivational skills to process cases effectively, (b) Changing student conceptions/beliefs about effective teaching and decision-making is a developmental process that occurs over considerable time, and (c) If cases are to be integrated into a teacher education program effectively, their use probably needs to be integrated across multiple experiences within courses and across the sequence of courses in the program. The second paper presented a study which compared the impact of three types of case-based methods (worked example, faded worked example, and case-based reasoning) on preservice teachers\u27 (n=71) learning and decision making about classroom management. In addition to pre-post performance data, a set of individual difference variables and decision-related measures were used to examine the relative impact of each case method on students\u27 interaction with decision tasks and whether decision related measures were associated with the differences in student characteristics. The pre-posttests results did not show a pattern of increased correct performance on the posttest. Additionally, students\u27 interaction with decision tasks did not change as a function of treatment. Furthermore, the relationships between individual differences and decision-related measures were consistent with the existing literature. Overall, the results suggested that students had some established beliefs about classroom management and this short terms intervention was not successful on changing their beliefs or prior conceptions. Finally, the third paper presented a study which focused on analyzing students\u27 open ended responses to classroom management problems presented before, during, and after instruction using one of these methods. The treatment groups did not differ significantly on the number of the alternatives they created and selected in decision tasks or the number of reasons students used to justify their decisions. However, the worked example group, compared to the case-based reasoning and faded worked example groups, consistently performed better on analyzing cases and solving problem cases related to classroom management. Additionally, in each group, the majority of the classroom management strategies generated on all three assessments focused on suppressing inappropriate behavior, rather than promoting appropriate behavior or helping students develop self-regulation

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Cognitive load theory, educational research, and instructional design: some food for thought

Cognitive load is a theoretical notion with an increasingly central role in the educational research literature. The basic idea of cognitive load theory is that cognitive capacity in working memory is limited, so that if a learning task requires too much capacity, learning will be hampered. The recommended remedy is to design instructional systems that optimize the use of working memory capacity and avoid cognitive overload. Cognitive load theory has advanced educational research considerably and has been used to explain a large set of experimental findings. This article sets out to explore the open questions and the boundaries of cognitive load theory by identifying a number of problematic conceptual, methodological and application-related issues. It concludes by presenting a research agenda for future studies of cognitive load

Exploring the Use of Faded Worked Examples as a Problem Solving Approach for Underprepared Students

It is not uncommon for students to find themselves underprepared when entering a post secondary institution. In additional to lower levels of academic achievement, underprepared students may not be aware that they lack the skills needed to be successful and effectively acquire and process information. Because of this, students that enter post-secondary institutions underprepared often require more support in and out of the college classroom. In computational based classes, such as math, engineering, chemistry or physics, this support often includes an introduction to effective problem solving strategies. This study introduced faded worked examples as a problem solving approach to students identified as mathematically underprepared in a college chemistry course. Faded worked examples are similar to worked examples but fade out steps for students to complete, allowing support within the problem solving approach as learning improves. The goal of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of this problem solving approach and their belief in its potential to enhance their learning, particularly with students identified as academically underprepared. Overall, students reported that faded worked examples enhanced their overall learning and problem solving abilities in chemistry and the step by step process allowed for a better understanding of the course material