Frontline Learning Research (E-Journal - EARLI, European Association for Research on Learning)
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Fostering students’ systems thinking through futures education
Full text linkIn an era of worsening environmental crises, students may not perceive themselves as able to impact and change the inevitably upcoming futures. Accordingly, a common goal of educational systems has been to increase students' agency and sensemaking in a complex world. Simultaneously, students are facing unprecedented levels of futures anxiety, and educational institutions undervalue the importance of future thinking. To take on a constructive approach on futures thinking, we examine how students’ systems thinking skills develop during a futures education course in which they write their own visions of a hopeful future. By looking at the thematic spheres of society, nature, and technology, we analyse how students develop systemic understandings of the complex system that is the context of the study: the city of the future. The study examines how students’ written futures visions develop throughout the course, and how those developments indicate development in systems thinking. The results show that the futures education course allowed students to improve their understandings of the interconnectedness of the topics they raised, fostering more holistic and active understandings of the futures, here shown through the multidimensional development of systems thinking. Students developed a deeper understanding of the interrelationships of society, nature, and technology, and developed understandings of the pathways to change and the agency and action needed to achieve their futures
Revisiting the Three Basic Dimensions model: A critical empirical investigation of the indirect effects of student-perceived teaching quality on student outcomes
Full text linkThe Three Basic Dimensions model, theorizes three mediators for the effect of teaching quality dimensions on student outcomes. However, the proposed mediating paths and their effects have largely not been empirically tested. This study investigated the mediating role of depth-of-processing, time-on-task, and need satisfaction between student-perceived teaching quality and student mathematics achievement and interest, expanding the TBD model to include mediation paths suggested by theories of motivation, cognition, and effort. Data from the TALIS Video Study for Germany, comprising 958 secondary school students in 41 classrooms, were used to run multilevel longitudinal and correlational mediation analyses. The results only found mediation effects at the student level; there were no mediating effects at the classroom level. Not all of the hypothesized relationships thought to exist between the mediators and achievement and interest outcomes were confirmed. The conceptual sequence of the variables, the choice of correlational vs. longitudinal evidence, and the level of analysis were all shown to have an impact on the results. The study thus confirms some of the assumptions of the TBD model, identifies new paths between teaching quality and student outcomes, and provides suggestions for how to proceed with further investigation of a model which should be expanded and more thoroughly empirically tested
Developing Scenarios for Exploring Teacher Agency in Universities: A Multimethod Study
Full text linkLecturers who are actively engaged in shaping their teaching and teaching practices demonstrate agency. Teacher agency has increasingly been described as a key factor in educational development at universities. Lecturers are expected to innovatively develop courses and continuously improve their teaching practices to respond to, for example, student needs and labor market demands. In this multimethod study, we examined the process of developing and validating scenarios for measuring teacher agency in universities. We conducted four studies to create 23 scenarios that capture the complex nature of teacher agency. First, we interviewed university lecturers to identify bumpy moments in their teaching practice, and so found scenarios based on real-life experiences. Then, we employed two expert panels, to evaluate and refine the scenarios, which enhanced their validity. Finally, we used a pilot study to standardize the data collection procedures. Our multimethod study has established reliability by triangulating methods and researchers, involving multiple stakeholders, and providing detailed descriptions of the research process. This project holds implications for research and practice. The scenarios can be used in professional academic development programs for the collection of research data and to promote self-reflection, peer consultation activities, and professional growth and agency among university lecturers
Primary and lower secondary students’ learning agency and social support
Full text linkMaking initiatives and having ownership over one’s learning is a key for applying and creating knowledge, acquiring new abilities, actively steering one’s life and the engaging in change in society. Understanding the preconditions for such learning should be in the core of designing learning environments and the primary interest of frontline learning research. This study focuses on exploring students’ sense of their learning agency in studying and the role of teacher and peer support in cultivating it. We examined how primary (grades 1-6) and lower secondary school students (grades 7-9) perceive their learning agency (LA), its relationship with the experienced teacher and peer support in studying. Also, differences between the girls and boys, and schools located in low and high SES neighborhoods was examined. We assessed the structure and level of learning agency by using a new measurement and explorative structural equation modeling (ESEM). Results show that learning agency consists of interdependent elements of motivation to learn, self-efficacy beliefs about learning and strategies for learning in meaning making, problem solving and scaffolding in studying. The experienced learning agency was related to social support experienced in several ways. Also differences in learning agency and social support in terms of grade level, gender and SES were detected. Results indicate that meaning making especially calls for intentional support from teachers in lower secondary grades and that girls and boys have partly different support needs in terms of cultivating strong sense of learning agency
Assessing Students’ Interpretations of Histograms Before and After Interpreting Dotplots: A Gaze-Based Machine Learning Analysis
Full text linkMany students persistently misinterpret histograms. Literature suggests that having students solve dotplot items may prepare for interpreting histograms, as interpreting dotplots can help students realize that the statistical variable is presented on the horizontal axis. In this study, we explore a special case of this suggestion, namely, how students’ histogram interpretations alter during an assessment. The research question is: In what way do secondary school students’ histogram interpretations change after solving dotplot items? Two histogram items were solved before solving dotplot items and two after. Students were asked to estimate or compare arithmetic means. Students’ gaze data, answers, and cued retrospective verbal reports were collected. We used students’ gaze data on four histogram items as inputs for a machine learning algorithm (MLA; random forest). Results show that the MLA can quite accurately classify whether students’ gaze data belonged to an item solved before or after the dotplot items. Moreover, the direction (e.g., almost vertical) and length of students’ saccades were different on the before and after items. These changes can indicate a change in strategies. A plausible explanation is that solving dotplot items creates readiness for learning and that reflecting on the solution strategy during recall then brings new insights. This study has implications for assessments and homework. Novel in the study is its use of spatial gaze data and its use of an MLA for finding differences in gazes that are relevant for changes in students’ task-specific strategies
Rethinking Pedagogical Use of Eye Trackers for Visual Problems with Eye Gaze Interpretation Tasks
Full text linkEye tracking technology enables the visualisation of a problem solver's eye movement while working on a problem. The eye movement of experts has been used to draw attention to expert problem solving processes in a bid to teach procedural skills to learners. Such affordances appear as eye movement modelling examples (EMME) in the literature. This work intends to further this line of work by suggesting how eye gaze data can not only guide attention but also scaffold learning through constructive engagement with the problem solving process of another human. Inferring the models’ problem solving process, be it that of an expert or novice, from their eye gaze display would require a learner to make interpretations that are rooted in the knowledge elements relevant to such problem solving. Such tasks, if designed properly, are expected to probe or foster a deeper understanding of a topic as their solutions would require not only following the expert gaze to learn a particular skill, but also interpreting the solution process as evident from the gaze pattern of an expert or even of a novice. This position paper presents a case for such tasks, which we call eye gaze interpretation (EGI) tasks. We start with the theoretical background of these tasks, followed by a conceptual example and representation to elucidate the concept of EGI tasks. Thereafter, we discuss design considerations and pedagogical affordances, using a domain-specific (chemistry) spectral graph problem. Finally, we explore the possibilities and constraints of EGI tasks in various fields that require visual representations for problem solving
Modeling and Measuring Domain-Specific Quantitative Reasoning in Higher Education Business and Economics
Full text linkQuantitative reasoning is considered a crucial prerequisite for acquiring domain-specific expertise in higher education. To ascertain whether students are developing quantitative reasoning, validly assessing its development over the course of their studies is required. However, when measuring quantitative reasoning in an academic study program, it is often confounded with other skills. Following a situated approach, we focus on quantitative reasoning in the domain of business and economics and define domain-specific quantitative reasoning primarily as a skill and capacity that allows for reasoned thinking regarding numbers, arithmetic operations, graph analyses, and patterns in real-world business and economics tasks, leading to problem solving. As many studies demonstrate, well-established instruments for assessing business and economics knowledge like the Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE) and the Examen General para el Egreso de la Licenciatura (EGEL) contain items that require domain-specific quantitative reasoning skills. In this study, we follow a new approach and assume that assessing business and economics knowledge offers the opportunity to extract domain-specific quantitative reasoning as the skill for handling quantitative data in domain-specific tasks. We present an approach where quantitative reasoning – embedded in existing measurements from TUCE and EGEL tasks – will be empirically extracted. Hereby, we reveal that items tapping domain-specific quantitative reasoning constitute an empirically separable factor within a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and that this factor (domain-specific quantitative reasoning) can be validly and reliably measured using existing knowledge assessments. This novel methodological approach, which is based on obtaining information on students’ quantitative reasoning skills using existing domain-specific tests, offers a practical alternative to broad test batteries for assessing students’ learning outcomes in higher education
Examining Classroom Contexts in Support of Culturally Diverse Learners’ Engagement: An Integration of Self-Regulated Learning and Culturally Responsive Pedagogical Practices.
Full text linkResearch shows that culturally diverse students are often disengaged in multicultural classrooms. To address this challenge, literatures on self-regulated learning (SRL) and culturally responsive teaching (CRT) both document practices that foster engagement, although from different perspectives. This study examined how classroom teachers at schools that enrol students from diverse cultural communities on the West Coast of Canada built on a Culturally Responsive Self-Regulated Learning Framework to design complex tasks that integrated SRL pedagogical practices (SLPPs) and culturally-responsive pedagogical practices (CRPPs) to support student engagement. Two elementary school teachers and their 43 students (i.e., grades 4 and 5) participated in this study. We used a multiple, parallel case study design that embedded mixed methods approaches to examine how the teachers integrated SRLPPs and CRPPs into complex tasks; how culturally diverse students engaged in each teacher’s task; and how students’ experiences of engagement were related to their teachers' practices. We generated evidence through video-taped classroom observations, records of classroom practices, students’ work samples, a student self-report, and teacher interviews. Overall findings showed: (1) that teachers were able to build on the CR-SRL framework to guide their design of an CR-SRL complex task; (2) benefits to students’ engagement when those practices were present; and (3) dynamic learner-context interactions in that student engagement was situated in features of the complex task that were present on a given day. We close by highlighting implications of these findings, limitations, and future directions.
 
Learning analytics for academic paths: student evaluations of two dashboards for study planning and monitoring
Full text linkAn in-depth understanding of student experiences and evaluations of learning analytics dashboards (LADs) is needed to develop supportive learning analytics tools. This study investigates how students (N = 140) evaluated two student-facing LADs as a support for academic path-level self-regulated learning (SRL) through the concrete processes of planning and monitoring studies. Aim of the study was to gain new understanding about student perspectives for LAD use on academic path-level context. The study specifically focused on the student evaluations of the dashboard support and challenges, and the differences of student evaluations based on their self-efficacy beliefs and resource management strategies. The findings revealed that students evaluated dashboard use helpful for their study planning and monitoring, while the challenge aspects mostly included further information needs and development ideas. Students with higher self-efficacy evaluated the dashboards as more helpful for study planning than those with lower self-efficacy, and students with lower help seeking skills evaluated the dashboards as more helpful for study monitoring than those with higher help seeking skills. The results indicate that the design of LAD can help students to focus on different aspects of study planning and monitoring and that students with different beliefs and capabilities might benefit from different LAD designs and use practices. The study provides theory-informed approach for investigating LAD use in academic path-level context and extends current understanding of students as users of LADs
What do students think about differentiation and within-class achievement grouping?
Full text linkDifferentiation and achievement grouping are frequently implemented practices to adapt education to students’ varying educational needs based on achievement level. Potential didactical and socioemotional advantages and disadvantages of these practices have been discussed in the literature. However, little is known about the perspective of students themselves. This study examined how students (N = 428) perceived differentiation and within-class homogeneous achievement grouping in primary mathematics education, with attention for potential differences between students of diverse achievement levels. Students of Grades 1, 3 and 5 completed a questionnaire about various differentiated mathematics activities and (if applicable) within-class achievement grouping. In line with the didactical perspective on differentiation, extended instruction and less difficult tasks were appreciated most by low-achieving students whereas more difficult tasks were appreciated most by high-achieving students. Students of all achievement groups had largely positive attitudes about achievement grouping and about their own achievement group. However, some differences between achievement groups were found, with less favourable results for students placed in low achievement groups. Students’ responses to open-ended questions provided additional insights into the reasons behind students’ evaluations of differentiation and achievement grouping. Differences between grade levels were also explored