The Effects of Cognitive Disequilibrium on Student Question Generation While Interacting with AutoTutor

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to test the effects of cognitive disequilibrium on student question generation while interacting with an intelligent tutoring system. Students were placed in a state of cognitive disequilibrium while they interacted with AutoTutor on topics of computer literacy. The students were tutored on three topics in computer literacy: hardware, operating system, and the internet. During the course of the study a confederate was present to answer any questions that the participant may have had. Additional analyses examined any potential influence the confederates had on student question asking. Lastly, the study explored the relationship between emotions and cognitive disequilibrium. More specifically, the study examined the temporal relationship between confusion and student generated questions. Based on previous cognitive disequilibrium literature, it was predicted that students who were placed in a state of cognitive disequilibrium would generate a significantly higher proportion of question than participants who were not placed in a state of cognitive disequilibrium. Additionally, it was predicted that students who were placed in a state of cognitive disequilibrium would generate “better” questions than participants who were not in a state of cognitive disequilibrium. Results revealed that participants who were not placed in a state of cognitive disequilibrium generated a significantly higher proportion of questions. Furthermore, there were no significant differences found between participants for deep or intermediate questions. Results did reveal significant main effects as a function of time for certain action units. Lastly, it was discovered that certain measures of individual differences were significant predictors of student question generation

Proceedings of QG2010: The Third Workshop on Question Generation

These are the peer-reviewed proceedings of "QG2010, The Third Workshop on Question Generation". The workshop included a special track for "QGSTEC2010: The First Question Generation Shared Task and Evaluation Challenge". QG2010 was held as part of The Tenth International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS2010)

Managing affect in learners' questions in undergraduate science

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Society for Research into Higher Education.This article aims to position students' classroom questioning within the literature surrounding affect and its impact on learning. The article consists of two main sections. First, the act of questioning is discussed in order to highlight how affect shapes the process of questioning, and a four-part genesis to question-asking that we call CARE is described: the construction, asking, reception and evaluation of a learner's question. This work is contextualised through studies in science education and through our work with university students in undergraduate chemistry, although conducted in the firm belief that it has more general application. The second section focuses on teaching strategies to encourage and manage learners' questions, based here upon the conviction that university students in this case learn through questioning, and that an inquiry-based environment promotes better learning than a simple ‘transmission’ setting. Seven teaching strategies developed from the authors' work are described, where university teachers ‘scaffold’ learning through supporting learners' questions, and working with these to structure and organise the content and the shape of their teaching. The article concludes with a summary of the main issues, highlighting the impact of the affective dimension of learning through questioning, and a discussion of the implications for future research

Inside Out: Detecting Learners' Confusion to Improve Interactive Digital Learning Environments

Confusion is an emotion that is likely to occur while learning complex information. This emotion can be beneficial to learners in that it can foster engagement, leading to deeper understanding. However, if learners fail to resolve confusion, its effect can be detrimental to learning. Such detrimental learning experiences are particularly concerning within digital learning environments (DLEs), where a teacher is not physically present to monitor learner engagement and adapt the learning experience accordingly. However, with better information about a learner's emotion and behavior, it is possible to improve the design of interactive DLEs (IDLEs) not only in promoting productive confusion but also in preventing overwhelming confusion. This article reviews different methodological approaches for detecting confusion, such as self-report and behavioral and physiological measures, and discusses their implications within the theoretical framework of a zone of optimal confusion. The specificities of several methodologies and their potential application in IDLEs are discussed

SELF-AUTHORSHIP AND THE EFFECTS OF REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK IN POST-STUDY ABROAD U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS: STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND

Traditionally, in our globally diverse and intertwined society, study abroad has served as a valuable, enriching, and life-changing aspect of college and university offerings and opportunities for students. Today, the lives of post-study abroad students will be defined by the ways they make sense of unexpected major events surrounding the history-changing COVID-19 pandemic and the contemporary protests against racism and social injustice. A large body of research exists on study abroad, culture shock, self-authorship, provocative moments, cross-cultural reentry, and reverse culture shock. A lack of research exists on what ways post-study abroad U.S. students make meaning of their experiences in emerging self-authorship, and research on post-study abroad students and the COVID-19 pandemic is rare. The overarching purpose of this exploratory inquiry was to describe in what ways, if any, that the post-study abroad experience facilitates the development of emerging self-authorship of U.S. college students. Self-authorship provided the theoretical framework for this inquiry. Clarke and Braun’s reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the interviews and journals of two U.S. post-study abroad college students. The findings revealed that the post-study abroad experience facilitated the development of emerging self-authorship of U.S. college students through the themes of pain, partnerships, and perspective, with grief layered among each of these themes. The students eventually accepted their realities of post-study abroad, found meaning, and showed signs of nudging ahead in emerging self-authorship. The implications from this inquiry provided ways for stakeholders to support students through their post-study abroad experiences and support emerging self-authorship

The Art of Voluntelling: Research on Mandated and Altruistic Volunteers

A comparison of mandated and altruistic volunteers that completed community service hours was conducted. Participants were enrolled at a mid-sized, mid-Western university. T-test and correlational analysis were conducted on data gathered through the Community Service Attitudinal Scale (2000). The data was used to compare and contrast the characteristics of mandated and altruistic volunteers. Mandated volunteers (M = 5.73, SD = 1.40) reported feeling like they were not making as much of an impact performing community service compared to altruistic volunteers (M = 6.61, SD = 1.17) at significance level (t(72) = 2.88, p\u3c 0.01). Altruistic (M=6.25, SD=1.35) and mandated (M=6.07, SD=1.35) volunteers did not report a significant (t(70) = 0.55, p = 0.52) difference of satisfaction in their community service experience. Altruistic volunteers (M = 6.49, SD = 1.34) reported being more likely to volunteer again in the future then mandated volunteers (M = 5.71, SD = 1.58) at significance level (t(70) = 2.34, p = .01). Recommendations for student affairs professionals include creating environments where volunteers recognize the impact they have on the community and facilitating reflection. A final recommendation is for civic engagement offices to collaborate with student organizations, academic departments, and student affairs offices

Teacher sensemaking and implementation fidelity : how do I know what I do until I see what I did

The teacher, as the implementer of a program’s core components, is the most crucial factor that influences the process of educational implementation of any professional development (PD) program. Focusing on how teachers resolve their ambiguity and uncertainties will provide insight regarding how teachers’ participation in PD can influence their decision about implementing the program’s core components (Allen & Penuel, 2015). The purpose of this research is to explore how science teachers’ sensemaking processes influence implementation fidelity of a PD program that emphasizes reform-oriented instructional approaches. The main research question is, how does science teacher sense-making influence implementation fidelity? Using qualitative case study and numerous data resources (observation of PD, survey, classroom observation and rating, interview, self-report, and artifacts collection) the research revealed six common triggers of teacher sensemaking instances of the program’s core components shared by all teacher participants. They are: the value of PD in their classroom, their emotion regarding the implementation of the core components, the relevance of the PD program to students’ needs, the relevance of PD to state standards, the implementation network that operates within school, and time constraints. The triggers of teacher sensemaking instances that arise only on the low fidelity implementers are: the abundance of information gained from professional learning experiences, lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities to implement the core components, lack of clarity in the setting and environment for implementation, and lack of success measures for implementation. On the other hand, sensemaking of the high-fidelity implementers is focusing on: availability and accessibility to instructional resources, accessibility of the experts, their current progression toward establishing a student-centered classroom, and availability of planning time during the PD. The research also identifies four types of teachers’ implementation orientation as they make sense of the PD program. They are, (i) passive distributive, (ii) critical evaluative, (iii) creative emergent, and (iv) transformative. The research found that teacher sensemaking of PD is interconnected with their implementation. Thus, to study teacher sensemaking is not only to focus on how teachers make sense of the PD program, but also to study how they implement the reform-oriented program in the classroom.Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Educatio

The Role of Source Monitoring in Resolving Cognitive Disequilibrium on Texts with Controversial Topics

This dissertation investigated the effects of text position (i.e. the position that the author of the text who argues in support of a controversial issue), agent roles (tutor versus student), and agent speech acts on source monitoring and how these factors impact memory for information in a learning environment with conversational agents. Previous research on learning from text with conversational agents has supported the claim that agent disagreements stimulate a state of cognitive disequilibrium and confusion in the participants, which leads to deep learning when resolved. Source monitoring is one plausible strategy to resolve conflict engendered from cognitive disequilibrium. This dissertation combines two lines of research (i.e., cognitive disequilibrium and source monitoring) to investigate the interacting effects of agent disagreements with each other, with the texts on controversial topics, and with the participants personal positions on topics. Participants read texts that had either a pro or con position regarding a controversial topic while listening to a concurrent disagreeing or agreeing discussion between a teacher and student agent regarding the text. The results showed that participants prior belief was the biggest predictor of memory for text overall. In addition, when participants reported a strong stance regarding supporting or not supporting a topic, the agent disagreement did not affect their discriminatory memory for atypical information. On the other hand, when participants reported a neutral stance regarding supporting or not supporting a topic, the agent disagreements assisted the participants in discriminating the surface structure of the text (i.e., the wording and syntax) as well as their summarization. Source memory was not shown to be a mediating factor for learning during cognitive disequilibrium, whereas the nature of the topics had a large mediating factor for all memory measures. The results were discussed in the context of memory models that make predictions on how incongruence with prior beliefs and messages from texts and agents affects recognition and recall differently

The Effects of Epistemic Beliefs on Undergraduate Students\u27 Emotions and Attitudes towards Genetically Modified Foods

Much research has explored socio-scientific issues (SSIs) in science instruction, including the connections between conceptions and attitude. Studies have also shown that epistemic beliefs affect epistemic emotions, which are a key component of students’ reaction to complex scientific topics. Correcting misconceptions can also result in emotional and attitude change, particularly surrounding the topic of genetically modified foods (GMFs). However, the impact of epistemic beliefs on emotions and attitude towards GMFs has largely gone unexplored. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of epistemic beliefs on epistemic emotions and attitudes towards GMFs. This quantitative correlational study sampled 78 students from a large Christian university in Virginia. Participants were assessed for epistemic belief, then read refutation and persuasive texts about GMFs prior to completing questionnaires about epistemic emotions and attitudes towards GMFs. These variables were measured using the following instruments: the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI), the Epistemically-Related Emotion Scales (EES), and the Attitudes about GMFs survey. The results did not indicate a predictive relationship between epistemic beliefs and emotions or attitudes towards GMFs. However, a significant predictive relationship between negative epistemic emotions and negative attitudes towards GMFs was found. As a result, the null hypothesis was rejected, and the regression analysis yielded a significant effect size. The contribution of these findings to the scholarly literature, as well as their practical implications, is discussed