Learning by Augmented Reality : Cluster Analysis Approach

Because the use of augmented reality (AR) is increasing, it is important to study its possibilities within both formal and informal learning contexts. We clustered 146 sixth graders using AR at a science center based on their reasoning, motivation, and science learning results using the self-organizing maps method (SOM) to identify AR-using subgroups. The aim was to consider reasons why the AR method could be of more beneficial for some students than others. The clustering results complemented earlier findings on AR gains in learning, as an unexpected response to intervention was discovered using this nonlinear analysis. The previous results had indicated that after the AR experience, science test results generally improved and particularly among students with the lowest achievement. The SOM-clustering results showed a majority group of boys, especially those interested in science learning both at school and at the science center using AR. Despite low school achievement, their high motivation led to good science learning results. The prior results, according to which girls closed the science knowledge gap between boys after using AR, became more relative, as two girldominated subgroups were identified. The reasons for the results were considered on the basis of motivation, multimedia learning theory, and concept formation theories. Keywords: science learning, augmented reality, informal learning environment, SOM-clustering, self-determination theoryPeer reviewe

Psyykkinen hyvinvointi koulussa ja sen yhteys akateemiseen ja prososiaaliseen itsesäätelyyn sekä koulusaavutuksiin

This cross-sectional study analyzed psychological well-being at school using the Self-Determination theory as a theoretical frame-work. The study explored basic psychological needs fulfillment (BPNS), academic (SRQ-A), prosocial self-regulation (SRQ-P) and motivation, and their relationship with achievement in general, special and selective education (N=786, 444 boys, 345 girls, mean age 12 yrs 8 mths). Motivation starts behavior which becomes guided by self-regulation. The perceived locus of control (PLOC) affects how self-determined this behavior will be; in other words, to what extent it is autonomously regulated. In order learn and thus to be able to accept external goals, a student has to feel emotionally safe and have sufficient ego-flexibility—all of which builds on satisfied psychological needs. In this study those conditions were explored. In addition to traditional methods Self-organizing maps (SOM), was used in order to cluster the students according to their well-being, self-regulation, motivation and achievement scores. The main impacts of this research were: a presentation of the theory based alternative of studying psychological well-being at school and usage of both the variable and person-oriented approach. In this Finnish sample the results showed that the majority of students felt well, but the well-being varied by group. Overall about for 11–15% the basic needs were deprived depending on the educational group. Age and educational group were the most effective factors; gender was important in relation to prosocial identified behavior. Although the person-oriented SOM-approach, was in a large extent confirming what was no-ticed by using comparison of the variables: the SEN groups had lower levels of basic needs fulfillment and less autonomous self-regulation, interesting deviations of that rule appeared. Some of the SEL- and GEN-group members ended up in the more unfavorable SOM-clusters, and not all SEN-group members belonged to the poorest clusters (although not to the best either). This evidence refines the well-being and self-regulation picture, and may re-direct intervention plans, and turn our focus also on students who might otherwise remain unnoticed. On the other hand, these results imply simultaneously that in special education groups the average is not the whole truth. On the basis of theoretical and empirical considerations an intervention model was sug-gested. The aim of the model was to shift amotivation or external motivation in a more intrinsic direction. According to the theoretical and empirical evidence this can be achieved first by studying the self-concept a student has, and then trying to affect both inner and environmental factors—including a consideration of the basic psychological needs. Keywords: academic self-regulation, prosocial self-regulation, basic psychological needs, moti-vation, achievementUuden oppimiselle on henkistä tilaa, jos oppilas voi hyvin. Väitöstukimuksessa lähdettiin oppilaan kokemuksesta. Selvitettiin oppilaan psyykkistä hyvinvointia, siihen sidoksissa olevaa motivaatiota ja koulusaavutuksia. Tuloksena oli, että enemmistö vajaan 800 oppilaan joukosta voi hyvin. Kuitenkin tavanomaisen kokoisessa luokassa keskimäärin kolme tai neljä oppilasta voi huonosti. Se sitoo heidän psyykkistä energiaansa – jota silloin ei riitä opiskeluun. Psyykkisen hyvinvoinnin, motivaation ja koulusaavutusten mukaan muodostui kuusi klusteria. Odottamatonta oli, että yleisopetuksen ja testein valittujen luokkien oppilaista enemmän kuin joka neljäs sijoittui ”onnettomien suorittajien” klusteriin, jossa koulumenestys oli kyllä hyvä, mutta psyykkiset perustarpeet heikosti tyydyttyvät. Toisaalta yhtä suuri osa heistä kuului kaikkein suotuisimpaan ryhmään. Ennakko-oletuksia vahvistavasti havaittiin, että erityisopetuksen oppilaat ja pojat olivat yliedustettuina ”motivoitumattomien ja heikosti suoriutuvien” klusterissa ja kaikkein suotuisimmassa alaryhmässä erityisoppilaiden osuus oli erittäin vähäinen. Se ei kuitenkaan ollut koko totuus, vaan osa erityis oppilaista sijoittui ryhmään, jossa perustarpeet olivat kunnossa ja koulusaavutukset keskimääräisiä. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että tietyn tyyppiseen luokkaan joutuminen tai pääseminen määrää koulu-uran laatua ja suuntaa. Ei riitä, että enemmistö oppilaista voi hyvin. Tutkimuksen taustateorian perusteella kaikkien riittävän hyvinvoinnin tukeminen koulussa ei vaadi lisäresursseja, vaan on mahdollista, kun lähdetään psyykkisten perustarpeiden tukemisesta: autonomiasta, pätevyydestä ja liittymisestä. Mitä enemmän oppilas tuntee olevansa oppimisensa ohjaimissa ja kuuluvansa yhteisöön, sitä paremmin hän hyväksyy myös ulkopuolisia (esimerkiksi opetussuunnitelman) tavoitteita - mikä on kouluoppimisen edellytys. Pätevyyden tunne saa tarttumaan uusiin haasteisiin. Pätevyyden tunnetta kasvattavissa oppimisympäristöissä älykkyys ymmärretään muotoutuvana ja moniulotteisena ja virhe nähdään tutkimuskohteena eikä uhkana. Pinnallisen suorittamisen sijasta oppilaat innostuvat todellisesta oppimisesta, kun ulkonaisen palkitsemisen sijasta iloitaan yhdessä omista ja muidenkin kehitysaskelista. Oppimisympäristötekijöillä voidaan vaikuttaa siihen, miten oppilas tulkitsee opettajilta, vanhemmilta ja tovereilta saamaansa palautetta. Tulkintojen perusteella määräytyy, miten hän sitoutuu koulutyöhön, selviää vastoinkäymisistä ja miten hänen tulevaisuuden uskonsa rakentuu

Hands-On Math and Art Exhibition Promoting Science Attitudes and Educational Plans

Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)The current science, technology, engineering, art, math education (STEAM) approach emphasizes integration of abstract science and mathematical ideas for concrete solutions by art. The main aim was to find out how experience of learning mathematics differed between the contexts of school and an informal Math and Art Exhibition. The study participants () were 12-13 years old from Finland. Several valid questionnaires and tests were applied (e.g., SRQ-A, RAVEN) in pre- and post-design showing a good reliability. The results based on General Linear Modeling and Structural Equation Path Modeling underline the motivational effects. The experience of the effectiveness of hands-on learning at school and at the exhibition was not consistent across the subgroups. The lowest achieving group appreciated the exhibition alternative for math learning compared to learning math at school. The boys considered the exhibition to be more useful than the girls as it fostered their science and technology attitudes. However, for the girls, the attractiveness of the exhibition, the experienced situation motivation, was much more strongly connected to the attitudes on science and technology and the worthiness of mathematics. Interestingly, the pupils experienced that even this short informal learning intervention affected their science and technology attitudes and educational plans.Peer reviewe

STEAM-Learning to Mars: Students’ Ideas of Space Research

Multidisciplinarity and the enrichment of science and mathematics education toward the so-called STEAM-approach where the A stands for art, has raised a lot of academic interest in the past decade. In this study, 5th and 6th graders from the greater Helsinki area (N = 390) participated in a several months long, Mars-colonization themed STEAM-learning intervention. Testing the students’ science knowledge using pre- and post-tests, their learning outcomes were compared to those of 5th and 6th graders from a control school (N = 119), who during the same period studied STEM-subjects in a more traditional manner. The main factors that were taken into account during the comparisons were gender and academic achievement level. Based on only whether there was any improvement between the pre- and post-test scores, girls were found to have benefitted from the Mars-module more than boys did. While also considering the magnitude of the said improvement, no significant difference in the effectiveness of the learning module was found between genders. The group of academically highest-achieving students improved their test scores the most after participating in the STEAM-learning module. This is an important, somewhat surprising finding, as often informal, outside of school learning has been found to benefit especially students with lower grade point averages

Situational interest and learning in a science center mathematics exhibition

Peer reviewe

Mathematical thinking skills, self-concept and learning outcomes of 12-year-olds visiting a Mathematics Science Centre Exhibition in Latvia and Sweden

Peer reviewe

Changes and stability in daily cortisol values and their correlation to attention measured in a prolonged working task among Finnish six-year-old day-care children

Peer reviewe

Teachers’ perceptions of educational reform aimed at inclusion

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Probability Distribution of the Response Times in Self-paced Continuous Search Tasks

When psychologists began to use intelligence tests, they used simple, overlearned tasks to determine the pattern of individual reaction times (RT). Measures of RT variation were proposed as possible indicators of intelligence. However, a fundamental question has remained partly unanswered: Is there an existing theory that explains individual RT variation? In this paper, a theory is proposed for the response times obtained in the Attention Concentration Test. The test consists of two different conditions: a fixed condition and a random condition. For each of these conditions a different RT model was developed both based on the basic assumption, that the individual response times have an approximately shifted exponential distribution. Empirical data were obtained from two different samples (N = 362, N = 334) of Finnish students. The method used to check the validity of each model involved computing the intercept and slope of the linear regression of the standard deviation from the stationary response times on the mean corrected for shift. In this regression analysis, the standard deviation is the dependent variable and the mean corrected for the shift the independent variable. The shift parameter was estimated by using the smallest reaction time. The observed intercept and slope were compared with the predicted intercept and slope according to the proposed models. The model for the fixed condition of the test did not hold. The model for the random condition, however, did. The findings were interpreted according to the arrangement of the targets as they occurred in each bar.When psychologists began to use intelligence tests, they also used simple, overlearned tasks to determine the pattern of individual reaction times (RT). Measures of RT variation were proposed as possible indicators of intelligence. However, a fundamental question has remained partly unanswered: Is there an existing theory that explains individual RT variation? In this paper, a theory is proposed for the response times obtained in the Attention Concentration Test. The test consists of two different conditions: a fixed condition and a random condition. For each of these two conditions a different RT model was developed both based on the basic assumption that the individual response times have an approximately shifted exponential distribution. Empirical data was obtained from two different samples (N = 362, N = 334) of Finnish students. The method used to check the validity of each model involved computing the intercept and slope of the linear regression of the standard deviation from the stationary response times on the mean corrected for shift. In this regression analysis, the standard deviation is the dependent variable and the mean corrected for shift the independent variable. The shift parameter was estimated by using the smallest reaction time. The observed intercept and slope were compared with the predicted intercept and slope according to the proposed models. The model for the fixed condition of the test did not hold. The model for the random condition,however, did. The findings were interpreted according to the arrangement of the targets as they occurred in each bar.Peer reviewe