Exploring lake ecology in a computer-supported learning environment

Drawing on knowledge building and social cognitive perspectives on academic literacy, this chapter argues for a design framework of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environment featured by Knowledge Forum for Chinese tertiary business English students. An initial design study was reported to evaluate the design effect of CSCL environment on collaboration and academic literacy and to further investigate factors facilitating academic literacy development. Four intact classes with 102 Year One students participated in a 12-week project learning in two different learning environments, namely Computer-Supported Collaborative Inquiry Learning (CSCIL) and Regular Project-Based Learning environment (RPBL). Data was obtained from exam results, survey, essay writing quality, and focus group interviews. Four dimensions of academic literacy were identified and rated. MANOVA analyses showed significant main effects of environment indicating that CSCIL groups have significant higher gains in conceptual understanding and argumentative construction. Contrastive analyses of focus group interview data identify the interplay of social, cognitive, and technological dynamics that facilitate collaborative conceptual understanding and argumentative construction. Implications and further design issues are also discussed.

The project “Representation of Childhood at the Museums of Latvia, Integrated in the E-Learning Environment of Higher Education” was a response to the need for sources in the history of education that would accommodate the interests of students in educational sciences. The article aims at sharing the project experience in (1) mapping the history of childhood in museums, (2) building the digitised museum objects database, (3) integrating the database in learning environment, and (4) reflecting on the lessons learned through the project. The mapping was done in 30 museums, digitising 1190 artefacts and creating a “draft” database, which in 2021 was used by 74 master’s students in educational sciences at the University of Latvia. We concluded that object-based childhood interpretation entails subjectivism in both the creation of museum collections and the choice of objects for the database. The objects selected by students revealed that educational science students are interested in less attractive sources for exhibitions as educational documentation and statistics. The project findings draw attention to the gaps in childhood history, for example, children with special needs are still “invisible”, the material culture created by children themselves is poorly exhibited and the question about the 1990s as the “end” of childhood history in Latvia is open. The students’ work with the database revealed challenges in history didactics; for example, how to prepare students for the “translation” of modern educational concepts into the language of history. Further development of the education history database depends on technical solutions, as well as on engaging students in systematic feeding of the database.

This study explores the arrival of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies in a collaborative Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment from the perspective of students. It examines the emerging practices students develop individually and in groups as well as the tensions they navigate in response to GenAI’s sudden arrival, its inherent limitations and multifaceted affordances, as well as the evolving landscape of formal and informal rules that frame its use. Grounded in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, the study adopts an exploratory research approach, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data from a survey administered to 1st and 5th semester IT students in a systemic PBL university (n = 83). Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and principal component analysis, while qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings indicate a high adoption rate and generally favorable attitudes toward GenAI across both semesters. While 1st semester students were more likely to report no prior experience with GenAI compared to 5th semester students, no notable differences were observed regarding frequency or patterns of use. Overall, the arrival of GenAI manifests in the students’ individual and collaborative study practices by enabling or obstructing both epistemic and pragmatic mediations of the objects. However, these interactions have been found to be accompanied by several tensions– specifically between the mediation of different objects, between students and their project groups, and between students and the rules framing GenAI use, which are discussed and contextualized in light of theory and contemporary research.

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ engagement with a multimedia enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment, Alien Rescue, and to find out in what ways students consider Alien Rescue motivating. Alien Rescue is a PBL environment for students to learn science. Fifty-seven sixth-grade students were interviewed. Analysis of the interviews using the constant comparative method showed that students were intrinsically motivated and that there were 11 key elements of the PBL environment that helped evoke students’ motivation: authenticity, challenge, cognitive engagement, competence, choice, fantasy, identity, interactivity, novelty, sensory engagement, and social relations. These elements can be grouped into 5 perspectives of the sources of intrinsic motivation for students using Alien Rescue: problem solving, playing, socializing, information processing, and voluntary acting, with problem solving and playing contributing the highest level of intrinsic motivation. The findings are discussed with respect to designing multimedia learning environments.

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ engagement with a multimedia enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment, Alien Rescue, and to find out in what ways students consider Alien Rescue motivating. Alien Rescue is a PBL environment for students to learn science. Fifty-seven sixth-grade students were interviewed. Analysis of the interviews using the constant comparative method showed that students were intrinsically motivated and that there were 11 key elements of the PBL environment that helped evoke students’ motivation: authenticity, challenge, cognitive engagement, competence, choice, fantasy, identity, interactivity, novelty, sensory engagement, and social relations. These elements can be grouped into 5 perspectives of the sources of intrinsic motivation for students using Alien Rescue: problem solving, playing, socializing, information processing, and voluntary acting, with problem solving and playing contributing the highest level of intrinsic motivation. The findings are discussed with respect to designing multimedia learning environments.

Productive use of learning resources in an online problem-based learning environment

Online discussions provide opportunities for learners to engage in argumentative debate, but learners rarely formulate well-grounded arguments or benefit individually from participating in online discussions. Learners often do not explicitly warrant their arguments and fail to construct counterarguments (incomplete formal argumentation structure), which is hypothesized to impede individual knowledge acquisition. Computer-supported scripts have been found to support learners during online discussions. Such scripts can support specific discourse activities, such as the construction of single arguments, by supporting learners in explicitly warranting their claims or in constructing specific argumentation sequences, e.g., argument-counterargument sequences, during online discussions. Partici- pation in argumentative discourse is seen to promote both knowledge on argumentation and domain-specific knowledge. However, there have been few empirical investigations regarding the extent to which computer-supported collaboration scripts can foster the formal quality of argumentation and thereby facilitate the individual acquisition of knowledge. One hundred and twenty (120) students of Educational Science participated in the study with a 2×2-factorial design (with vs. without script for the construction of single arguments and with vs. without script for the construction of argumentation sequences) and were randomly divided into groups of three. Results indicated that the collaboration scripts could improve the formal quality of single arguments and the formal quality of argumentation sequences in online discussions. Scripts also facilitated the acquisition of knowledge on argumentation, without affecting the acquisition of domain- specific knowledge.

A key ingredient of computational argumentation in AI is the generation of arguments in favor of or against claims under scrutiny. In this paper we look at the complexity of argument construction and reasoning in the prominent structured formalism of assumption-based argumentation (ABA). We point out that reasoning in ABA by means of constructing an abstract argumentation framework (AF) gives rise to two main sources of complexity: (i) constructing the AF and (ii) reasoning within the constructed graph. Since both steps are intractable in general, it is no surprise that the best performing state-of-the-art ABA reasoners skip the instantiation procedure entirely and perform tasks directly on the input knowledge base. Driven by this observation, we identify and study atomic and symmetric ABA, two ABA fragments that preserve the expressive power of general ABA, and that can be utilized to have milder complexity in the first or second step. We show that using atomic ABA allows for an instantiation procedure for general ABA leading to polynomially-bounded AFs and that symmetric ABA can be used to create AFs that have mild complexity to reason on. By an experimental evaluation, we show that using the former approach with modern AF solvers can be competitive with state-of-the-art ABA solvers, improving on previous AF instantiation approaches that are hindered by intractable argument construction.

Critical thinking is widely considered an important competency to acquire in education. Learner exposure to problems and collaboration has been shown to help in improving critical thinking processes. These elements are contained in a learner-centered learning environment, such as problem-based learning. In addition to critical thinking, higher order thinking skills also contain elements of PBL. However, the definitions of HOT and critical thinking are often poorly defined and overlapping. Therefore, this SJR research aims to investigate how HOTs and critical thinking are conceptualized in a PBL environment. Another objective of this study was to review the evidence of the effectiveness of the PBL environment in developing HOTs and critical thinking. The results showed that from various references, it was found that the focus of the study was more on the process of critical thinking rather than critical thinking disposition (i.e., the tendency or willingness to engage in critical thinking). Furthermore, despite the positive effects of PBL on HOTs and critical thinking, limitations in the findings include the lack of clarity and consistency in how researchers conceptualize and measure these forms of thinking, both HOTs and critical thinking. In addition, important components of PBL are often overlooked. Finally, the study also identified various design issues in the effects study, such as the lack of a control group, which makes the results of the investigation questionable.

Problem-based learning: the story continues to unfold.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an important and effective learning technique. The increasing speed and capacity of computing and wireless communication and the decreasing costs of hardware components has made mobile personal computing a viable platform solution to the barriers incurred in the typical PBL process. Wireless infrastructures are becoming a standardized commodity. This paper deals with the development of various design principles, and methods that emphasize the effective integration and utilization of mobile solutions to construct efficient, robust, and reusable software modules in the context of a university's learning environment in computer engineering. A mobile personal software system framework has been developed and prototyped. The system framework supports several important factors involved in a PBL environment, such as resource sharing, cross-functional teamwork, and efficient information distribution. A mixture of modern personal pocket and tablet PCs, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology is used for the platform

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a central need of students who are blind: the ability to access science curriculum content. Design/methodology/approach Agent-based modeling is a relatively new computational modeling paradigm that models complex dynamic systems. NetLogo is a widely used agent-based modeling language that enables exploration and construction of models of complex systems by programming and running the rules and behaviors. Sonification of variables and events in an agent-based NetLogo computer model of gas in a container is used to convey phenomena information. This study examined mainly two research topics: the scientific conceptual knowledge and systems reasoning that were learned as a result of interaction with the listen-to-complexity (L2C) environment as appeared in answers to the pre- and post-tests and the learning topics of kinetic molecular theory of gas in chemistry that was learned as a result of interaction with the L2C environment. The case study research focused on A., a woman who is adventitiously blind, for eight sessions. Findings The participant successfully completed all curricular assignments; her scientific conceptual knowledge and systems reasoning became more specific and aligned with scientific knowledge. Practical implications A practical implication of further studies is that they are likely to have an impact on the accessibility of learning materials, especially in science education for students who are blind, as equal access to low-cost learning environments that are equivalent to those used by sighted users would support their inclusion in the K-12 academic curriculum. Originality/value The innovative and low-cost learning system that is used in this research is based on transmittal of visual information of dynamic and complex systems, providing perceptual compensation by harnessing auditory feedback. For the first time the L2C system is based on sound that represents a dynamic rather than a static array. In this study, the authors explore how a combination of several auditory representations may affect cognitive learning ability.

Going forward from N. Frye's (1969) Anatomy of Criticism, we derive from genre literature the idea that radicals, i.e. root characteristics, of persistent conversation exist and can help define important aspects of such conversations. We identify from longitudinal interviews with members of a distributed, computer-supported learning environment, three dimensions of interactivity that revolve around speaker-audience relations. We propose three radicals of in persistent conversation: (1) visibility (the means, methods and opportunities for presentation, addressing primarily speakers' concerns with the presentation of self); (2) relation (the tie between speaker and audience, and among audience co-participants, addressing the speaker's concerns with the range and identity of the audience, and audience members' concerns about relations with each other); and (3) co-presence (the temporal, virtual and/or physical co-presence of speaking and listening participants, addressing concerns about being with others at the same time and place, and giving and receiving immediate feedback). We conclude with implications for social and technical design.

This study presents a conceptual framework of learning through agent negotiation. In a computer-supported learning environment, interaction plays a critical role for developing instructional strategies and promoting learning effectiveness. Learners, peers, and instructors often bring different ideas and perspectives to the learning process. Thus, how to resolve these differences and without creating unnecessary discontentment can be of paramount important in a learning system. This study aims at developing a unified conceptual framework to promote effective interaction through negotiation and then to enhance the learning performance as well.

Current collaborative learning systems focus on maximizing shared information. However, “meaningful learning” is not simply information sharing but, more importantly, knowledge construction. CLARE is a computer-supported learning environment that facilitates meaningful learning through collaborative knowledge construction. CLARE provides a semi-formal representation language called RESRA and an explicit process model called SECAI. Experimental evaluation through 300 hours of classroom usage indicates that CLARE does support meaningful learning, and that a major bottleneck to computer-mediated knowledge construction is summarization. Lessons learned through the design and evaluation of CLARE provide new insights into both collaborative learning systems and collaborative learning theories.