Modification of a school program in the German Museum to enhance students' attitudes and understanding

The study examines the nature, conditions and outcomes of student learning from an organized guided tour in the German Museum in Munich. The instructional methods that best support student cognitive and affective learning were investigated as well as how students' motivational and emotional states influence their achievement. A sample of 96 secondary school students took part in two different versions of a guided tour on an energy topic. The tours varied in the degree of support of student's active involvement, group work and the variety of general activities offered during the tour. The data collected indicate that both tour versions led to an increase in student understanding of the visit topic to nearly the same extent. However, the version stimulating students' active participation, group work and including a larger variety of activities aroused more positive attitudes. Students of the modified school program showed higher interest and intrinsic motivation, felt more competent and were less bored after the guided tour. In addition, the results suggest that students' visit-related emotional states predict the degree of their post-visit topic understanding, even when demographics and prior knowledge are taken into consideration

Instruktionale Unterstützung beim Lernen mit Computersimulationen

In einem Literaturüberblick wird die Effektivität von Maßnahmen der instruktionalen Unterstützung für das Lernen mit Computersimulationen dargestellt. Computersimulationen veranschaulichen anderweitig schwer vermittelbare Sachverhalte in einer hochgradig realistischen Lernumgebung. Lernende können sowohl deklaratives als auch prozedurales Wissen erwerben. Interaktivität und Kontrollmöglichkeiten über die Computersimulation motivieren Benutzer zum selbstgesteuerten Lernen. Die Vorteile von Computersimulationen werden jedoch von Problemen geschmälert, die Lernende auf kognitiver und metakognitiver Ebene zeigen. Entdeckendes Lernen mit Computersimulationen führt i.d.R. nicht zu den gewünschten Lernerfolgen. Vielmehr benötigen Lernende für den erfolgreichen Wissenserwerb mit Computersimulationen instruktionale Unterstützung. Zur interpretativen Unterstützung erweisen sich Arbeitsaufträge und ausgearbeitete Lösungsbeispiele als geeignet. Als experimentelle Unterstützung sind permanent verfügbare Hintergrundinformationen, Führung und abzugebende Begründungen hilfreich. Zur reflektierenden Unterstützung sind differenzierte Rückmeldungen des Lernsystems und die Betrachtung der eigenen Vorgehensweise dienlich. Die Ergebnisse des Literaturüberblicks werden auf der Grundlage der kognitiven Belastungstheorie diskutiert. (DIPF/Orig.)In a review of the literature, the effectiveness of instructional support for learning with computer simulations is presented. Computer simulations depict topics that are oftentimes difficult to teach in a highly realistic learning environment, thus enabling learners to acquire declarative as well as procedural knowledge. Computer simulations provide interactivity and control options that motivate users to self-regulated learning. However, the advantages of computer simulations are diminished due to problems that learners show on the cognitive and metacognitive level. Discovery learning with computer simulations does not typically result in the desired learning outcomes. Rather, for successful knowledge acquisition with computer simulations instructional support is needed. For interpretative support, assignments and worked-out examples prove to be appropriate. Permanently available background information, guidance, and justifications are helpful for experimental support. Sophisticated feedback of the learning system as well as reflecting on one \u27s own procedure are effective for reflective support. The results of the literature review are discussed on the basis of cognitive load theory. (DIPF/Orig.

Collaborative inquiry learning: models, tools, and challenges

Collaborative inquiry learning is one of the most challenging and exciting ventures for today’s schools. It aims at bringing a new and promising culture of teaching and learning into the classroom where students in groups engage in self-regulated learning activities supported by the teacher. It is expected that this way of learning fosters students’ motivation and interest in science, that they learn to perform steps of inquiry similar to scientists and that they gain knowledge on scientific processes. Starting from general pedagogical reflections and science standards the article reviews some prominent models of inquiry learning. This comparison results in a set of inquiry processes being the basis for cooperation in the scientific network NetCoIL. Inquiry learning is conceived in several ways with emphasis on different processes. For an illustration of the spectrum, some main conceptions of inquiry and their focuses are described. In the next step, the article describes exemplary computer tools and environments from within and outside the NetCoIL network that were designed to support processes of collaborative inquiry learning. These tools are analysed by describing their functionalities as well as effects on student learning known from the literature. The article closes with challenges for further developments elaborated by the NetCoIL network

The role of the teacher in computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning

The article presents an analysis of practices in teaching with computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning environments. We describe the role of the teacher in computer-supported collaborative inquiry learning by five principles which span the whole instructional process, from the preparation of the lesson up to the assessment of learning achievement. For successful implementation of computer-supported projects the teacher has to (1) envision the lesson, (2) enable collaboration, (3) encourage students, (4) ensure learning, and (5) evaluate achievement. We analyse classroom scenarios provided by eight teachers or mentors who implemented one of four different approaches developed by multimedia researchers: WISE, Modeling Across the Curriculum, Co-Lab, or ReCoIL. Teachers or mentors responded to a semistructured questionnaire about their experiences in implementing the inquiry lesson. A comparison of different classroom scenarios according to the mentioned five principles informed our analysis of teacher activities that contribute to the success of student inquiry while using such technology-enhanced approaches. We conclude with a discussion of the often neglected role of the teacher in computer-supported learning

How does learning with hypertext become more effective?An empirical comparison of a linear and a network-basedhypermedia learning environment

In der Forschung zum Lernen mit Hypertext und Hypermedia lässt sich zwischen einer system- und einer benutzerzentrierten Perspektive unterscheiden. Dabei steht aus systemorientierter Sicht die Optimierung des Lernsystems im Vordergrund, während aus benutzerzentrierter Sicht die Interaktion von Lernendem und Lernsystem in den Mittelpunkt rückt. Mit der vergleichenden Untersuchung zweier hypermedialer Lernumgebungen wird hier eine der systemzentrierten Perspektive zugehörige Forschungsarbeit präsentiert. Durch Variation von Lernzielen finden aber auch benutzerrelevante Aspekte Berücksichtigung. 65 Studierende des ersten Semesters bekommen die Aufgabe, sich in einer linearen oder einer netzwerkartigen Programmversion über Aspekte des Themas Säuren und Basen zu informieren. Dazu erhielten sie entweder vorgegebene Lernziele oder konnten sich die Lernziele selbst wählen. In den Ergebnissen zeigt sich ein signifikanter Haupteffekt zugunsten des vernetzten Hypertextprogramms sowie ein tendenziell besseres Lernen unter spezifizierter Zielvorgabe. Hypermediale Lernumgebungen können an Lerneffektivität gewinnnen, wenn die technischen Möglichkeiten des Lernsystems problemorientiert genutzt und durch benutzerorientierte Lernhilfen sachgemessen ergänzt werden. (DIPF/Orig.

Museum learning: a study of motivation and learning achievement

Wilde M, Urhahne D. Museum learning: a study of motivation and learning achievement. Journal of Biological Education. 2008;42(2):78-83.According to Reinmann-Rothmeier and Mandl (2001), learning environments should provide an ideal balance between constructivist and instructive elements. Most interesting for constructivist learning processes is the combination of the cognitive and the motivational domain. In an empirical study with 207 fifth-graders of the highest stratification level, we evaluated three different approaches to the learning process based on a visit to the Natural History Museum in Berlin: the three approaches were principally characterised by closed, open and mixed tasks. One objective of our study was to assess learning achieved through the visit and the effect of different treatments. Another goal was to evaluate the motivation of the three treatment groups. We conducted a pre/post-test study with follow-up measurement. The test instruments consisted of 26 open and closed questions in the cognitive domain and a further 12 items (subdivided into four subsections) for measuring motivation according to self-determination theory. In contrast to our hypotheses based on constructivist theories, open tasks were less successful for gaining knowledge and less intrinsically motivating

Theories of Motivation in Education: An Integrative Framework

Several major theories have been established in research on motivation in education to describe, explain, and predict the direction, initiation, intensity, and persistence of learning behaviors. The most commonly cited theories of academic motivation include expectancy-value theory, social cognitive theory, self-determination theory, interest theory, achievement goal theory, and attribution theory. To gain a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences among these prominent theories, we present an integrative framework based on an action model (Heckhausen & Heckhausen, 2018). The basic model is deliberately parsimonious, consisting of six stages of action: the situation, the self, the goal, the action, the outcome, and the consequences. Motivational constructs from each major theory are related to these determinants in the course of action, mainly revealing differences and to a lesser extent commonalities. In the integrative model, learning outcomes represent a typical indicator of goal-directed behavior. Associated recent meta-analyses demonstrate the empirical relationship between the motivational constructs of the six central theories and academic achievement. They provide evidence for the explanatory value of each theory for students’ learning

Accuracy of teachers' judgments of students' subjective well-being

The study examined teachers' competence to assess students' subjective well-being, which is the basis of mental health and youth development. Forty-four teachers were asked to judge students' attitudes towards school, enjoyment at school, academic self-concept, worries about school, social problems, and physical complaints in school. Teachers' judgments were related to the self-reports of 800 eighth-grade secondary school students. Results show that teachers predicted students' subjective well-being with low to moderate accuracy, but were able to capture positive aspects of student well-being with higher accuracy than negative ones. The reason may be that students in general report about high well-being at school, making it difficult for teachers to detect negative student feelings. The study signalizes considerable potential for improvement, especially in case of student difficulties, because teachers are hardly in a position to judge students' physical, social, and psychological problems with accuracy. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved