Examining Children’s Engineering Practices During an Engineering Activity in a Designed Learning Setting: A Focus on Troubleshooting (Fundamental)

This chapter describes inquiry and learning in science and arts-based informal settings. Informal institutions, generally museums, galleries, zoos, and science centers, are designed to be interactive spaces that foster self-directed explorations and learning of different arts, exhibits, specimens, and materials on display. Observations, dialogues, and questioning approaches are generally used to facilitate inquiry-based learning in informal settings. In arts-based settings, the emphasis is on advancing visual literacy, and in science-based settings inquiry is used both as a pedagogical approach and as modeling scientific practice. In both kinds of settings, teacher learning and professional development is used to help teachers understand the process of inquiry and facilitate inquiry-based learning with students both in the classroom and in informal institutions. The challenge and the value of inquiry-based learning in informal settings is that conversations and trajectories can go in unexpected ways. It is important to continue to research inquiry and learning in informal settings, for example studying the kinds of questions and prompts that support productive conversation, the role of digital technologies in supporting learning, and, importantly, considering the sociocultural aspects of inquiry. Inquiry in informal settings supports diverse ways of accessing science and art.

We narrate a qualitative descriptive study on the translation of the pedagogical model of primary school seamless science inquiry learning (SSIL), originally with the mandatory requirement of 1:1 (one-mobile-device-per-student) and 24 × 7 (24 h a day, 7 days a week) setting, to a more scalable and sustainable model that fits the conditions of typical schools in Singapore and elsewhere. Seamless learning as a hybrid learning model refers to a continuous, holistic learning process across learning contexts, such as formal and informal learning settings, individual and collaborative learning, and learning in both the physical and digital realms. We discuss the adaptation of the SSIL model which remove the constraint of the requirement of one device per student and its implementation in three schools over the duration of two academic years. Through a process of scaffolding by the researchers, as manifested by five pedagogical design principles known as C2FIP (Connectivity, socio-Constructivist learning, Formative assessment, leveraging resources in Informal settings, Personalised learning), primary science teachers were empowered to design good SSIL lesson plans that adhered to techno-pedagogical design principles. Data analysis showed teacher growth in designing and implementing SSIL lessons and evidence of student learning.KeywordsSeamless learningDesign principlesDiffusion of innovationsScience inquiry learning

It is often assumed that because the current generation of students is more technologically competent than previous generations, they would prefer to use technology for both formal and informal learning. The results of a series of empirical studies indicated that students in formal settings preferred face-to-face contact with their instructors and used Web 2.0 tools for communication and to complete specific class assignments; in their personal lives, these technologies were used for communication, music and video downloads, and online gaming. Although students did not use social networking in their classes, the use of these tools may provide educators with an alternative to course management systems. Results from a community sample indicated a preference towards using the Internet for information gathering, and even though respondents reported that the incorporation of social networking sites in informal education settings would be nice, it was not expected. Overall, both student and community participants utilized technology that was familiar to them. Thus, assuming technological competence in our students and implementing various technological applications in the classroom may be counterproductive if guidance and training are not provided.

Conventional approaches to vocational education and training (VET) globally are inadequate to meet either present or future needs. They are based on assumptions about VET being inferior to academic education and that only those who cannot get into academic education would pursue vocational learning. They assume that formal vocational learning is the only or main form of vocational learning and that formal VET graduates will transition into formal sector jobs concentrated largely around metals, motors and manufacturing. None of this is true. In Africa, most people are working and learning in informal settings. Many have a powerful vocational impulse. Even many of the poorest are using digital technologies for their learning. Moreover, a focus on skills to produce more is pushing us further and further beyond the boundaries for the safe operating of this planet. In response, this book focuses on social skills ecosystems in which a range of actors come together to negotiate skills needs, including in informal and rural settings and in the production of skills for the maintenance and replenishing of the natural resource nexus. This focus highlights the complexity of interactions in local and horizontal relationships between actor-citizens in a place and the often top-down and disabling actions of states trying to do development to subject-recipients.

There are pedagogical shifts in learning where self-educated are being encouraged to be active in their own learning. Educational research increasingly recognizes the fact that a significant amount of learning is happening in the informal settings. Furthermore, due to the proliferation of varieties of products, consumers need to be educated with relevant information of the products in the informal settings. Cultural background, health reasons and religious inclinations are considered influencing factors to the decision on whether to consume or not. As such, relevant information such as ingredients of the food products may provide strong inclination on the decision to purchase. Thus, consumers may benefit from mobile learning in informal setting (e.g., scanning codes to obtain further information of the ingredient of the product). Thus, the main objective of this study is to design Halal-Checker Mobile Application by using agile user centered design. Agile user centered design is the integration of User-Centered Design and agile methods. The Human Computer Interaction (HCI) technique and agile approach adapted are Contextual Design Model, User Personas and extreme programming. The results shown in this study are, (i) contextual design model and user personas and (ii) development of Halal-checker mobile application prototype using extreme programming. Future work may involve including more HCI techniques and agile approaches together in the agile user centered design methodology to improve the quality of the digital mobile artifacts.

All-­day schools serving children from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. four times a week are still uncommon in Switzerland. In trying to implement an all-­day school schedule, teachers and social workers are requested to cooperate professionally during the day. A current study looks at the multi-­professional cooperation in order to clarify responsibilities and expectations. The results are based on interviews with two teachers and two social workers that were analysed by using hermeneutic sociology of knowledge. It becomes evident that the parental absence is used to legitimate the own profession. Informal learning settings, where the stakeholders need to act and think together beyond their traditional roles and where lines of responsibility are not as well-­demarcated as in formal learning settings, the potential for conflict among the stakeholders is the greatest.

Self-regulation with respect to informal learning

Stereotypes tend to pervade the debates on Chinese parents’ expectation of their children’s academic achievement and if or how they value play. Yet little is known about the relationship between play and concept formation, as well as how play and conceptual learning are set up through specific activity settings in Chinese families. Vygotsky’s (1966) concept of play is the creation of an imaginary situation. From this point of view, children’s engagement in play may largely be directed towards a process of abstraction and generalization of the meaning, which is in the essence of concept formation (Vygotsky, 1987a, 1987b). This study is aimed at investigating the links between play and young children’s concept formation in Chinese families. This study adopted an in-depth qualitative case study following the dialectical-interactive approach within the cultural-historical paradigm. Four parents and two children (a boy and a girl) participated from two families (with only one child in each) in Mainland China. The children were around three years at the beginning of this study. The two participating families were recruited through educators in a public kindergarten, and were intentionally selected considering their similar socio-economic status. The data were collected over two main observation periods (3.5 months and 3 months with an interval of 10 months) through digital video observations of children’s participation in everyday family activities (especial family play), videoed parent interviews and parents’ participated filming of the activities they are valued. The analysis of data has been carried out by means of three main levels of interpretations, namely, common sense interpretation, situated practice interpretation, and interpretation on a thematic level (Hedegaard, 2008c) in order to get rich and comprehensive understanding of children’s everyday family practices in relation to play and learning within Chinese cultural context. This thesis is conducted in the format of a thesis by publication. The important study results are reported through the four publications. Overall, the study finds that the shared imaginary situation between parents and a child in family collective play provides the conditions for the child’s concept formation. The shared sustained imaginary situation created through family collective play shows its importance in a child’s motive orientation towards parents’ valued conceptual learning (Publication 1), in the child’s potential conscious awareness of certain scientific phenomenon (Publication 2), in mediating the child’s conceptual thinking through sharable pretend signs (Publication 3) and in fostering the child’s exploration of the ideal descriptions of certain conceptual rules (Publication 4). The findings indicate that children’s family collective play is in relation to their concept formation in Chinese families. In this study it has been demonstrated that play has its role in creating the potential (or ZPD) of a child’s concept formation. A new conception of children’s imaginative play and its role in their concept formation has been synthesized, which provides extended understanding of Vygotsky’s concept of play. Methodologically, this study is evident in how meaningful the cultural-historical approach can frame the study to investigate a child’s process and mechanism of concept formation during family play. In addition, this study provides the local knowledge in relation to the links between play and learning in informal settings, which pedagogically contributes to how play can be understood and utilized in informal settings in early childhood education.

This study analysed 498 articles published between 2005 and 2023 on Self-regulated Language Learning (SRLL) indexed in the core collection of the Web of Science database, using a bibliometric methodology based on scientific mapping, co-occurrence and burstness analysis. Results show China is the most influential contributor to SRLL research, with the largest number of total publications and citations. According to the keyword co-occurrence and burstness analysis, mobile-learning, higher education, learning context, learner strategies stand out in this field. It is also shown that listening as a significant linguistic skill is less explored in the SRLL field. It is proven that learners' language skills could be improved through mobile-assisted collaborative learning in informal settings. By identifying the developmental patterns in SRLL research, this paper can guide future researchers to explore in-depth the significant issues in this field and bring insight for further SRLL studies in terms of themes, pedagogy and methodologies.

Studies of children’s learning with family and friends give us insight into how children can learn beyond the classroom. The learning process is often characterised by autonomy, choosing what they learn, curiosity, interest and enjoyment, interactions and conversations with friends, and operating at their own pace and in their chosen way. The argument is that ways of learning science outside school can inform a framework to enhance school science experiences. Evidence in the chapter is drawn from research on learning in informal settings, studies located in web-mediated environments and project based activities.

Informal learning institutions like zoos, aquariums, science centers, and botanic gardens are popular among the American public. Many offer science-related activities, suggesting an “ecology” of sites varying in degree with regards to science and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) learning in general. Understanding public perceptions of the STEM learning ecology can inform decisions about increasing STEM literacy in the United States. The current qualitative study used interactive workshops to understand the public’s perceptions of zoos and aquariums (Z/As) in particular, compared to other settings, for their potential to support STEM learning. Visitors identified a wide range of settings in institutions and their everyday lives where they experienced STEM learning opportunities. The primary STEM discipline they encountered was science, even though the opportunities were not explicit. They also recognized that these settings offer the potential for learning about technology, engineering, and math through staff facilitation. They distinguished Z/As from other cultural organizations because of opportunities to learn about science as it related to animals. Implications for STEM learning in informal settings are discussed for its potential to engage the public in STEM outside of the formal education context.

Characterising Learning in Informal Settings Using Deep Learning with Network Data

Arrow’s theorem poses limits to the translation of the different preference orders on a set of options into a single preference order. In this paper, I argue, against opinions to the contrary, that Arrow’s theorem applies fully to multi-criteria decision problems as they occur in engineering design, making solution methods to such problems subject to the theorem’s negative result. Discussing the meaning and consequences for engineering design, I review the solution methods to such problems presented in the engineering design literature in the light of the theorem. It appears that underlying such methods is a mix-up of two fundamentally different problem definitions, as the theory of multi-attribute preferences, which is often presented as an adequate approach for engineering design, in fact fails to address the Arrowian multi-criteria problem. Finally, I suggest ways how engineering design might adopt results from discussions of Arrow’s theorem elsewhere in resolving its multi-criteria decision problems.

In this paper, we invite the engineering design research community to examine the current state of the engineering design lexicon. We expose the nature and the pervasiveness of practices that often hinder intelligible discourse within the engineering design literature. In particular, we show how such commonly used terms as criterion and metric are used sometimes as synonyms and sometimes not, often leading to material miscommunications. In our view, the engineering design discipline has reached a point in its evolution where clarity and conciseness of its lexicon should be a priority. Today’s design activity takes place in a truly multidisciplinary environment, which often involves engineers of diverse backgrounds. Written and oral design discourse among design researchers does not rely on a generally accepted and documented lexicon. These situations are symptomatic of a communication infrastructure that is not effectively facilitating the vigorous evolution of the engineering design discipline of recent years. In addition to detailing the outlines of the design lexicon deficiency, we also propose some avenues to a constructive and productive community-wide discussion on this subject. We invite readers to contribute their views by participating in the web discussion at http://www.eng.buffalo.edu/Research/DBD/.

Informal learning settings have been shown to improve student achievement.The positive effects of museum-based learning may be increased if content knowledge activities are included before visiting the museum and if post-visit activities are planned to build upon the museum experience.The purpose of this study was to examine the use of classroom activities before, during, and after a visit to a science museum.Teachers were given a 17 item forced response selfreport instrument to complete that was designed by the researcher.Data analysis revealed more use of previsit activities than post-visit activities.Recommendations are made for further research and future practice.