Children’s Macro-Level Navigation Patterns in Hypermedia and their Relation with Task Structure and Learning Outcomes

This study investigated macro-level navigation patterns in children’s hypermedia learning, and how they related to task structure and learning outcomes. For this purpose, 5th and 6th grade learners performed a hypermedia assignment in which a high (n=57) versus a low (n=54) level of structure was provided. By means of qualitative analyses of their navigation activities, 6 macro-level navigation patterns were distinguished: linear reading, selective reading, video viewing, massed writing, late onset writing, and unpredictable reading. Results showed that the linear reading pattern was more frequent in the high structure environment, and that both the high structure environment and the linear reading pattern were associated with the highest quality of the children’s written assignments. Navigation patterns and task structure did not clearly predict children’s declarative knowledge gains or knowledge transfer. These findings show that there are multiple ways to navigate through a hypermedia environment, but that these are not all equally successful for learning. Moreover, the provided task structure in the environment may affect the occurrence of successful navigation patterns

Dyadic executive function effects in children's collaborative hypermedia learning

The current study investigated the extent to which executive functions (EF) affect how prior knowledge predicts hypermedia learning outcomes in primary school children. Learning outcomes were: individual knowledge and transfer, and dyadic assignment quality. Eighty-seven same-sex dyads participated in a hypermedia WebQuest assignment about the heart and living a healthy lifestyle. EF measures were action control and attention control. Dyadic analyses were performed using actor-partner interdependence models with dyads distinguished by EF. Analyses showed that one's own pre-test predicted one's own and partner's post-test for both higher and lower EF dyad members. Furthermore, for dyad members with relative higher EF only, their own and partner's pre-test predicted transfer. Finally, the lower action control dyad member's pre-test and the higher attention control dyad member's pre-test predicted assignment quality. These results show the importance of EF and prior knowledge for deeper conceptual understanding in a collaborative learning setting

Temporal variation in children's self-regulated hypermedia learning

This study investigated the macro-level temporal variation in navigation activities, as well as in cognitive and metacognitive activities. The extent to which this temporal variation differed for successful and less successful learners was also considered. We also assessed the extent to which navigation activities could be related to the use of cognitive and metacognitive activities, as measured by think-aloud protocols. For this purpose, 62 5th grade children participated in a 45-min hypermedia assignment on the subject of the heart. It was found that both navigation activities and cognitive and metacognitive activities showed temporal variation. Although no temporal variation was found for less successful learners, more successful learners were more likely to exhibit metacognitive activities at the start, and less likely at the end, of the assignment. Moreover, both more and less successful learners applied cognitive and metacognitive activities differently within the hypermedia environment. These results show how multimodal measurement cumulatively supports our understanding of self-regulated learning of children in hypermedia environments

How social challenges affect children’s regulation and assignment quality in hypermedia: a process mining study

The present study investigated the extent to which 18 dyads in 5th and 6th grade, who experienced low levels of social challenge, differed from 12 dyads who experience high levels of social challenge in terms of the quality of their written assignment, as well as the frequency and sequential pattern of their cognitive, metacognitive, relational, and off-task activities during a collaborative hypermedia assignment. Sequential analyses were performed by means of process mining with a fuzzy miner algorithm. Results showed that assignment quality was higher for low social challenge dyads. In addition, these more successful dyads showed more cognitive processing activities, more high-cognition, and fewer off-task activities. In terms of their process models, low and high challenge dyads showed marked differences. More specifically, high social challenge dyads showed a vicious cycle of social challenges and off-task behaviors, whereas low social challenge dyads engaged in high-cognition. In addition, for low challenge dyads, but not high challenge dyads, the various metacognitive activities were closely connected to each other. These findings indicate that social challenges not only affect assignment quality, but also fundamentally affect the overall learning process

Dubbel bijzondere leerlingen: Balanceren tussen talent en uitdaging

Wat doe je als een leerling zowel kenmerken van begaafdheid als een leer- of ontwikkelingsprobleem laat zien? Hoe herken je zo’n leerling en wat heeft deze nodig? De onderzoekers van het project ‘Tussen-wal-en-schip’ geven handvatten