Frontline Learning Research (E-Journal - EARLI, European Association for Research on Learning)
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Explaining university students’ strong commitment to understand through individual and contextual elements
Get PDFSince the late 1970s numerous studies have explored students’ approaches to learning (referred to as the ‘SAL’ tradition). These studies have provided valuable evidence of students’ study strategies and intentions at the university. Since extensive research already exists on students’ approaches to learning, there is a need to move forward and analyse student learning from new perspectives. In the present in-depth qualitative study, we analyse interviews of 34 students who scored extremely highly on the deep approach scale in a pre-test in our previous quantitative study (authors, 2013) and thus are likely to have a strong commitment to understand, and a ‘disposition to understand for oneself’ which is a recently introduced, yet unexplored phenomenon (see Entwistle & McCune, 2009; McCune & Entwistle, 2011). We identified several individual and contextual elements which provided explanations for the students’ high scores on the deep approach, as well as for the increase, decrease or stability in their deep approach during one course. The results showed that most students showed a strong commitment to understand, but those whose deep approach sharply decreased during the course showed less commitment and their descriptions revealed problems with, for example,study skills, time management and regulation of learning. However, contextual elements such as the students' experiences of the course teaching and their interest in the course content did not clearly provide explanations for the changes in the deep approach. Elements of a 'disposition to understand for oneself clearly emerged among students whose deep approach did not decrease, or decreased only slightly.
The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring features of constructivist learning environments in higher education
Get PDFThis study was aimed at mapping features of constructivist activities in higher education settings, constructing and validating a new scale for measuring their presence in lecture face-to-face based environments (LBE), seminars (SM), and distance learning environments (DLE). A mix-method approach was implemented in three phases. The first phase was aimed at qualitatively analysing classroom observational activities as experienced by students, in order to learn about actual instantiations of the theoretical constructivist features. The results foregrounded eight categories: 'knowledge construction', 'authenticity', 'multiple perspectives', 'prior knowledge', 'in-depth learning', 'teacher- student interaction', 'social interaction' and 'cooperative dialogue'. The second phase was aimed at developing a questionnaire, based on the descriptions gathered in Phase 1. The third quantitative phase was used to validate the developed questionnaire (Constructivist Learning in Higher Education Settings scale [CLHES]) by using structural equation modelling. In addition, students' academic self-efficacy had been chosen as a criterion variable in order to further assess construct validity of the CLHES. Lastly, a multivariate analysis of covariance was applied to allow the characterisation of differences between the learning settings in regard to the CLHES eight factors and academic self-efficacy. The scales were submitted to 597 undergraduate third-year college students. According to the main results: construct validity of the new scale has been confirmed; teacher-student and student-student interactions were positively connected to self-efficacy for learning; and SM were perceived as generally more constructivist when compared with the other learning environments. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Basic Arithmetical Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities in the Secondary Special Schools: An Exploratory Study covering Fifth to Ninth Grade
Get PDFThe mission of German special schools is to enhance the education of students with Special Educational Needs in the area of Learning (SEN-L). However, recent studies indicate that graduate students with SEN-L from special schools show difficulties in basic arithmetical operations, and the development of basic mathematical skills during secondary special school is not warranted. This study presents a newly developed test of basic arithmetical skills, based on already established tests. The test examines the arithmetical skills of students with SEN-L from fifth to ninth grade. The sample consisted of 110 students from three special schools in Munich. Testing took place in January and June 2013. The test shows to be an effective tool that reliably and precisely assesses students’ performance across different grades. The test items can be used without creating floor and ceiling effects among fifth to ninth grade students with SEN-L. The items’ conformity to the dichotomous Rasch model is demonstrated. The students’ skills turn out to be very heterogeneous, both overall and within grades. Many of the students do not even master basic arithmetical skills that are taught in primary school, although achievement improves in higher grades
Student teachers’ perception of dilemmatic demands and the relation to epistemological beliefs
Get PDFTeaching is characterized by contradictory demands, resulting in teaching dilemmas. For example, to promote the continuous learning of students, teachers need to set up rules and control them, which in turn can undermine students’ intrinsic motivation. Teachers have to become aware of these contradictions and need to understand that not all aspects of good teaching can be maximized at the same time. An adequate representation of the dilemmatic nature of problems of teaching is therefore crucial for judging different teaching situations. Also, an adequate epistemological understanding is needed. We assessed student teachers’ (N = 122) perceptions of demands in teaching in general and in regards to specific situations, as well as their epistemological beliefs. Perception of demands in general influenced the judgment of specific situations, but there was also a situation-specific component. Epistemological beliefs were related to the perceptions of demands in general, especially in situations in which the dilemmatic content was highly visible. Together, findings suggest that epistemological beliefs shape the perception of demands in teaching in general, and that the perception of demand in general again influences perception in specific situations
Methodological Advances in Research on Learning and Instruction and in the Learning Sciences
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Constructing nomological nets on the basis of process analyses to strengthen CSCL research
Get PDFDue to the nature of collaborative learning, realising perfectly controlled experiments often requires an unreasonable amount of resources and sometimes it is not possible at all. Against this background, I propose to augment as good as feasible experimental design with a nomological net of relations between instructional support (intervention), learning processes and learning outcomes. Nomological networks are known from construct validity. In construct validity, the relations between variables (e.g. group differences, correlation matrices) are used to provide evidence for the validity of a measure. By adding multiple process and outcome variables together with the corresponding relations between intervention, process and outcome, the validity of causal relations found can be strengthened. I suggest adopting quality criteria from good research designs to evaluate the nomological nets. The resulting net needs to be (1) theory grounded, (2) situational, (3) feasible, (4) redundant, and (5) efficient. By making these nomological nets explicit and by designing them according to the presented criteria, CSCL research becomes more potent: the risk of inconclusive results is reduced while results that form a consistent nomological net can be interpreted with a stronger confidence, even if the experimental design has some flaws. If this becomes standard in CSCL research, it can be expected to contribute significantly better to knowledge accumulation in this area of research
A change in perspective – Teacher education as an open system
Get PDFTeacher education is the environment for the learning and instruction of prospective teachers. Its structure, components, and contents shape the development of relevant competences which enable prospective teachers to be effective in the classroom. But its relevance is questioned because respective research, characterised by inconclusive results, does not offer explanations about the reasons why certain teacher education programmes are more effective than others in the development of relevant competences. One reason for the lack of explanations can be found in the way research assesses the effectiveness of teacher education. This might be due to problems regarding the conceptualisations of teacher education, as well as to the inherent selection and non-random allocation problems in research on the relation between teacher education and student achievement. In this paper we respond to claims for an organisational perspective on teacher education and develop such a new perspective. Accordingly, we provide these claims with an adequate theoretical foundation and develop an organisational model of teacher education based on Open Systems Theory. Besides being one of the first integrative organisational models of teacher education, it is among the first models which illustrate the relations and interdependencies of systems, its different parts, and its different levels, and enables researchers to investigate these interdependencies. The development of this model is further based on an alteration of the input variables of the concept of teacher quality. Moreover, the model has consequences for the notion of teacher education effectiveness. We illustrate these changes, and discuss them and the model with respect to possible areas of further research
The future of self-assessment in classroom practice: Reframing self-assessment as a core competency
Get PDFFormative assessment policies argue that student self-assessment of work products and processes is useful for raising academic performance. This view draws on self-regulation of learning theories about setting targets and evaluating progress against criteria as a basis for meta-cognitively informed improvement of learning outcomes. However, the reliability of assessment is necessary for the validity of assessment interpretations. Research into psychological processes underlying the human ability to self-evaluate work raises serious doubts about the quality of students’ judgments. It has been shown that novices (i.e., students) tend to lack sufficient knowledge by which to evaluate their own work appropriately and, when possessing that knowledge, they are likely not to make use of it. Additionally, psychological safety factors indicate that self-assessment can be compromised by interpersonal relations present in classroom environments. Furthermore, since progress in many educational domains is relatively ill-defined, it is difficult for learners, let alone instructors, to validly evaluate progress or status. A recent review of studies in elementary and secondary schooling (K-12) found that the correlation between self-ratings and teacher ratings, between self-estimates of performance and actual test scores, and between student and teacher rubric-based judgments tended to be positive, ranging from weak to moderate (i.e., values ranging from r ≈ .20 to .80), with few studies reporting correlations r > .60. However, these values were not consistent across student experience and academic proficiency, with much less accuracy seen with younger and less proficient students. This paper argues that, instead of treating student self-assessment as an assessment method, a more pedagogical approach is needed that treats self-assessment as an important student competence or skill. As such self-evaluation needs a developmentally appropriate curriculum that is developed incrementally over time through consistent, scaffolded training and practice. Hence, to improve student skills in self-assessment, research must examine how the underlying skills required for self-assessment map onto student cognitive capabilities and the task characteristics of the work students are likely to encounter as they progress through schooling. This progression (like those developed for other key competencies like literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking) would help teachers consistently implement developmentally appropriate versions of self-assessment, giving students opportunities to develop these life-long skills
Cognitively central actors and their personal networks in an energy efficiency training program
Get PDFThis article aims to examine cognitively central actors and their personal networks in the emerging field of energy efficiency. Cognitively central actors are frequently sought for professional advice by other actors and, therefore, they are positioned in the middle of a social network. They often are important knowledge resources, especially in emerging fields where standard knowledge exchange mechanisms are weak. By adopting a personal network approach, we identified the cognitively central participants of a one-year energy efficiency training program, studied the structure and heterogeneity of their personal networks and determined which features were relevant to achieving these cognitively central positions. At the end of the training, the social networking questionnaire was sent to 74 course participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for the six most-central actors, whose personal networks were larger than those of the other participants. These six actors differed from each other in many respects; there did not appear to be a single explanation for why these persons achieved their central positions. In conclusion, we propose that becoming a cognitively central actor is an intricate process. It cannot be explained only, for instance, by actors’ educational backgrounds, the level of their previous energy efficiency knowledge or their field of know-how. To understand this phenomenon, we must examine which organizations such people come from and how their expert profiles, which are related to their fields and competences, fit into the wider context of energy efficiency. More research is needed to determine whether the results are only typical of emerging fields
How we use what we learn in Math: An integrative account of the development of commutativity.
Get PDFOne of the crucial issues in mathematics development is how children acquire mathematical concepts and procedures. Most researchers now agree that this knowledge develops iteratively (e.g., Resnick, 1992). However, little is known about how well this knowledge is integrated into a more abstract concept and how children come to spontaneously apply such concepts. Expertise research suggests that spontaneously spot and use a principle whenever it applies requires well-integrated conceptual and procedural knowledge. Here, we report a method allowing to asses procedural and conceptual knowledge about the commutative principle in an unobtrusive manner. In two different tasks, procedural and conceptual knowledge of second and third graders as well as adult students were assessed independently and without any hint concerning commutativity. Results show that, even though second graders according to our measures already possessed procedural and conceptual knowledge about commutativity, the knowledge assessed in these two tasks was unrelated. An integrated relation between the two measures first emerged with some of the third graders and was further strengthened for adult students