Frontline Learning Research (E-Journal - EARLI, European Association for Research on Learning)
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Experimentation skills in primary school: an inventory of children’s understanding of experimental design
No full textExperimentation skills are a central component of scientific thinking, and many studies have investigated whether and when primary-school children develop adequate experimentation strategies. However, the answers to these questions vary substantially depending on the type of task that is used: while discovery tasks, which require children to engage in unguided experimentation, typically do not reveal systematic skills in primary school, choice tasks suggest an early use of adequate experimentation strategies. To acquire a more accurate description of primary-school experimentation, this article proposes a novel multiple-select paper-and-pencil inventory that measures children’s understanding of experimental design. The two reported studies investigated the psychometric properties of this instrument and addressed the development of primary-school experimentation. Study 1 assessed the validity of the item format by comparing 2 items and an interview measure in a sample of 71 third- and fourth-graders (9- and 10-year-olds), while Study 2 investigated the reliability and the convergent validity of the inventory by administering it to 411 second-, third- and fourth-graders (8-, 9- and 10-year-olds) and by comparing children’s performance in the 11-item scale to 2 conventional experimentation tasks. The obtained results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the inventory and suggest that a solid understanding of experimental design first emerges at the end of primary school
The Development of Adolescents’ Self-concept of Ability through Grades 7-9 and the Role of Parental Beliefs
Full text linkThis study examined the development of adolescents’ self-concept of ability in math and literacy during secondary school, and the role that mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs concerning their child’s abilities play in this development. Also examined was whether the role of mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs about their adolescent child’s ability in math and literacy differs according to the adolescent’s gender and level of performance. A total of 231 adolescents and their mothers and fathers were followed up across secondary school. The results showed, first, that adolescents’ self-concept of ability declined slightly from grade 7 to grade 9 in both math and literacy. Second, mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs about their adolescent child’s abilities in grade 7 predicted the child’s subsequent self-concept in grade 9, but only in math. Third, the role of mothers’ beliefs in their child’s self-concept of math ability was found to be stronger among high-performing than low-performing adolescents
Learning actions, objects and types of interaction: A methodological analysis of expansive learning among pre-service teachers
Full text linkThe paper analyzes a collaborative learning process among Finnish pre-service teachers planning their own learning in a self-regulated way. The study builds on cultural-historical activity theory and the theory of expansive learning, integrating for the first time an analysis of learning actions and an analysis of types of interaction. We examine the theory of expansive learning as a possible conceptual and methodological framework for understanding this type of collaborative learning. The task of the paper is primarily methodological. We believe that cultural-historical activity theory needs to be turned into methods and procedures of systematic empirical analysis, and this article examines one such methodological solution. At the same time, we aim to uncover some substantive dynamics of expansive learning in collaborative teacher education oriented at open-ended problems and tasks. An almost complete expansive mini-cycle of learning actions appeared in the pre-service teachers’ meeting. However, an analysis of the steps of formation of the shared object revealed a more complex iterative process. As the expansive learning process moved epistemically from questioning to analysis, modeling and implementation, it also moved interactionally from coordination to cooperation and communication. Yet there was no mechanical correspondence between specific learning actions and specific types of interaction. Transitions and disturbances were crucial for the dynamics of expansive learning. A full assessment of a potentially expansive mini-cycle of learning calls for extending the time scale of the analysis
Training the brain or tending a garden? Students’ metaphors of learning predict their self-reported learning patterns
No full textConceptions of learning are seen as an important factor in shaping students’ patterns of learning. However, conceptions are often implicit and difficult to assess. Metaphors have been proposed as a method to assess conceptions, because metaphors are closely linked to the conceptual system. Therefore, in our study we assessed which conceptions of learning are visible in students’ metaphors of learning and examined whether these metaphors predict differences in students’ learning patterns. Altogether, N = 91 students of educational science from a German university filled in a questionnaire on their personal metaphors of learning, their learning strategy use, epistemological beliefs, and their motivation. Four kinds of metaphors could be differentiated: regulation-related metaphors, learning as knowledge acquisition, learning as problem solving, or as personality development. A discriminant analysis revealed that students with personality development metaphors and with problem solving metaphors were more intrinsically motivated and more aware of the relativism of knowledge than students with regulation-related or knowledge acquisition metaphors. Students with personality development metaphors differed from students with problem solving metaphors in their stronger use of deep processing strategies, their lower extrinsic motivation and their stronger rejection of a dualism of knowledge. The study demonstrates that metaphors of learning are a suitable tool for assessing students’ conceptions of learning and gives new insights on using this innovative method as an assessment tool
It’s not a math lesson - we’re learning to draw! Teachers’ use of visual representations in instructing word problem solving in sixth grade of elementary school.
Full text linkNon-routine word problem solving is an essential feature of the mathematical development of elementary school students worldwide. Many students experience difficulties in solving these problems due to erroneous problem comprehension. These difficulties could be alleviated by instructing students how to use visual representations that clarify the problem structure and the relations between solution-relevant elements (so-called visual-schematic representations). Research shows that instructional effectiveness depends largely on teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching. Teachers’ knowledge of visual representations is therefore essential to instructing word problem comprehension in this way. As there is little to no literature investigating teachers’ practices in this area, the goal of the present study is to examine teachers’ use of visual representations to support non-routine word problem solving. Eight mainstream elementary school teachers implemented an innovative approach focused on the use of visual-schematic representations. After a short training, teachers were able to produce these representations during instruction. However, some teachers seemed unclear about what these representations comprise and what function they serve within the word problem solving context. Teachers seemed to base their use of representations on personal preferences rather than on an optimal fit with the word problem characteristics. These aspects need to be addressed in teacher training and professional development programs. This study makes an unique contribution to research in the important and problematic area of word problem solving in regular classrooms. The results of this study are relevant for educational researcher, teachers, and teacher educators who deal with difficulties in instructing mathematical word problems
Learning from errors: A model of individual processes
Full text linkErrors bear the potential to improve knowledge acquisition, provided that learners are able to deal with them in an adaptive and reflexive manner. However, learners experience a host of different—often impeding or maladaptive—emotional and motivational states in the face of academic errors. Research has made few attempts to develop a theory that focuses on learning from errors (with the exceptions of the theory of impasse-driven learning and the theory of negative knowledge) and, in particular, a theoretical framework that focuses on antecedent motivational processes. By integrating theories of self-regulated learning, volition, attributions, and appraisals, we propose a model that highlights individual processes that are characteristic of this specific learning phenomenon. More precisely, our theoretical framework aims to explain how emotional, motivational and self-regulatory processes—influenced by personal and contextual conditions—interact in order to facilitate or impede adaptive dealing with errors and appropriate metacognitions and cognitive activities. Our objective is to provide a framework that allows for the systematic integration of various aspects that have been targeted in previous research and to guide and stimulate future research on learning from errors. As a first evidence for validation, we summarise research findings that address specific parts of the proposed model
A social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time
Full text linkThis paper presents a social practice theory of learning and becoming across contexts and time. Our perspective is rooted in the Danish tradition of critical psychology (Dreier, 1997; Mørck & Huniche, 2006; Nissen, 2005), and we use social practice theory to interpret the pathway of one adolescent whom we followed as part of a longitudinal study of interest-related learning. A social practice theory calls out the ways people pursue diverse concerns, become aware of new possibilities for action as they move across settings of practice, and learn as they adjust contributions to the flow of ongoing activity and to fit demands and structures of local institutions. It also highlights the ways that existing institutional structures of practice frame the choices people make about how and where to participate in activities. This perspective on learning is potentially transformative, in that it provides a way to promote equity by surfacing issues associated with linkages among settings of practice, networks of actors who support persons’ movement across settings, and diversities in structures of practices that shape opportunities to learn and become
Visual and Analytic Strategies in Geometry
Full text linkWe argue that there is an increasing reliance on analytic strategies compared to visuo-spatial strategies, which is related to geometry expertise and not on individual differences in cognitive style. A Visual/Analytic Strategy Test (VAST) was developed to investigate the use of visuo-spatial and analytic strategies in geometry in 30 mathematics teachers and 134 11th grade students. Students’ performance in the VAST was also compared to performance in tests of visuo-spatial abilities, of abstract reasoning, and of geometrical knowledge. The results showed high performance of all the participants in the VAST items that could be solved by relying on visuo-spatial strategies. However, only the math teachers showed high performance in the VAST items that required the application of analytic geometrical strategies. There were high correlations between the students’ performance in the tests of visuo-spatial and abstract reasoning abilities and the VAST Analytic Strategies scale, but the contribution of these tests to the VAST analytic performance became statistically insignificant when geometrical knowledge was used as a mediating factor. The implications of this work for the learning and assessment of geometrical knowledge are discussed.
The Generalized Internal/External Frame of Reference Model: An Extension to Dimensional Comparison Theory
Full text linkThe dimensional comparison theory (DCT) is based on the internal/external frame of reference model (I/E model). The model focuses on the effects of external (e.g., “How good am I in math compared to my classmates?”) and internal, dimensional comparisons (e.g., “How good am I in math compared to English?”) on academic self-concepts with widespread consequences for students’ self-evaluation, motivation, and behavioral choices. This article presents an extension to the DCT: The proposal of a generalized internal/external frame of reference model (GI/E model that allows the application of previous findings on academic self-concepts to a variety of domain-specific comparison targets and standards. On the side of targets and standards it not only deals with the academic area but also with other areas, which are compared intra-individually. On the side of the consequences, it deals with other variables besides self-concepts, i.e. with motivational constructs, (learning) behaviors or personality characteristics as the outcomes of external and dimensional comparison processes. The present article closes with an examination and discussion of the contributions of the DCT by applying standards of good theories to it
Harnessing emotions to deliberative argumentation in classroom discussions on historical issues in multi-cultural contexts
Full text linkAbstractThis theoretical paper is about the role of emotions in historical reasoning in the context of classroom discussions. Peer deliberations around texts have become important practices in history education according to progressive pedagogies. However, in the context of issues involving emotions, such approaches may result in an obstacle for historical clairvoyance. The expression of strong emotions may bias the use of sources, compromise historical reasoning, and impede argumentative dialogue. Coping with emotions in the history classrooms is a new challenge in history education. In this paper, we suggest that rather than attempting to foster positive emotion only or to avoid emotions all together, we should look at ways of engaging with emotion in history teaching. We present examples of peer deliberations on charged historical topics according to three pedagogical approaches that address emotions in different ways. The protocols we present open numerous questions: (a) whether facilitating engagement with own and the other's emotions may lead to better processing of information and better deliberation of a historical question; (b) whether promoting national pride boosts reliance on collective narratives; and (c) whether adopting a critical teaching approach eliminates emotions and biases. Based on these examples and findings in social psychology, we bring forward working hypotheses according to which we suggest that instead of dodging emotional issues, teachers should harness emotions – not only positive but also negative ones, to critical and productive engagement in classroom activities.