The effect of nonhuman’s versus human’s external regulation on children’s speech use, manifested self-regulation, and satisfaction during learning tasks

Because of several analytical and methodological critiques on the findings and contexts of children’s private speech (PS), self-regulation learning (SRL), and thinking aloud (TA), the present study was conducted to shed new light on the effect of the nonhuman’s/computer’s versus human’s/teacher’s intervention (C-Condition versus T-Condition) on young children’s speech use, SRL, and satisfaction during learning tasks. Four developmental measurements with novel criteria were used to measure: (1) speech analysis, (3) SRL as a function of task level selection, (3) SRL as a function of task precision, and (4) a friendly-chat questionnaire to measure children’s satisfaction. Two types of intervention (enacted versus verbal encouragement) were applied through computer-based learning environment and investigated by forty preschool children divided by their teachers between the two conditions equivalently. It was hypothesized that children who acted alone (C-Condition) were more PS productive, manifested higher SRL, task performance, and satisfaction. The results confirmed the hypothesis with no significant differential effect of the gender on performance, showed that the injudicious use of encouragement hindered the children’s regulation behavior, and proved that PS and TA elicitation were fully different. However, the results were not confirmed Vygotsky’s view and simultaneously not fully inline with Piaget’s view of self-regulation development.     

The effect of the nonhuman external regulator’s answer-until-correct (AUC) versus knowledge-of-result (KR) task feedback on children’s behavioral regulation during learning tasks

The present study was conducted to shed a new light on the nonhuman’s external regulation effect on children’s behavioral regulation through investigating the effect of the computer’s task feedback answer-until-correct (AUC) versus knowledge-of-result (KR) with 40 preschool children (boys/girls) divided into AUC-Condition versus KR-Condition. The Aginian’s methodology (Agina, Kommers, & Steehouder, 2010) with the latest updates (Agina, Kommers, & Steehouder, 2011) was used, which involves an isolated, computer-based learning system with three different computer’s agents for measuring self-regulation as a function of the task level selection, self-regulation as a function of task precision, and special agent for evaluating children’s satisfaction. It was hypothesized that AUC-Condition will outperform KR-Condition in verbalization intensity, manifested self-regulation, and the degree of satisfaction. Despite the results were not confirmed the hypothesis, the results generated by the game were consistent with the statistical results in which this consistency increases, to a great extent, the reliability of the Aginian’s measurements. However, both results were not confirmed Vygotsky’s view or Piaget’s view of self-regulation development as both concluded that thinking aloud and self-regulation have a reverse relationship and, therefore, thinking aloud, per se, can be used to explore the problems the children may not agree to talk about.     

The effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on detecting the natural development process of young children’s self-regulation during learning tasks

The present study explored the effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on children’s natural development of self-regulation and the effect of each natural developed class on children’s spontaneous thinking aloud and satisfaction. The Aginian’s methodology (Agina et al., 2011a) that relied on special computer agents for the external regulation, measuring self-regulation and children’s satisfaction, and producing the final results in points was used with 40 preschool children, which were divided into classes based on their natural development of self-regulation during learning tasks. The results showed that children who followed Piagetian’s view were outperforming children who followed Vygotskyian’s view and Aginian’s view, which is a new psychological view generated by computer indicates that the child either followed unknown class of self-regulation’s natural development or the child holds an ambiguous psychological problem. The results also showed that the relationship between children’s spontaneous thinking aloud and children’s self-regulation is a reverse. The supplemental analysis showed that computer, as a nonhuman external regulator, can identify those children who hold psychological problems and can integrate the net signed of self-regulation of each child at each task through embedding the mathematics integration where the computer becomes fully conscious with all the occurrences of children’s behavioral regulation.     

The effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on children’s responses to detect children with developmental problems (DP) associated with the natural development of self-regulation during learning tasks

The present study sought to examine the effect of the nonhuman’s external regulation on children’s responses during learning tasks to detect children with developmental problems (DP) associated with the natural development process of self-regulation. The material was an isolated, computer-based learning system that acts as a standalone learning environment and used by 100 preschool children, which were randomly selected from ten preschools without revising their medical files. Participants were classified by the system itself during learning progression in three essential groups based on Aginian’s zone of children regulation (ZCR), which is “the equilibrium point in the self-regulation’s development process that controls the child to be either a self-Vygotskyian’s learner, self-Piagetian’s learner, or self-Aginian’s learner during learning tasks” ( Agina, Kommers, & Steehouder, 2011d). The results showed that the preschool children can spontaneously do diagnostic tests during learning tasks and the nonhuman external regulator was able to analysis children’s responses that, in turn, used for detecting those children with DP. This result was practically confirmed by revising all children’s medical files that matched the final judgment of the nonhuman external regulator. However, the results confirmed that the natural development of self-regulation was fluctuated among three paradoxical views (Vygotskyian vs. Piagetian vs. Aginian).     

The effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on young children’s creative thinking and thinking aloud verbalization during learning mathematical tasks

The present study was conducted to explore the effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on children’s natural development process of creative thinking, the degree of the manifested creative thinking, the influence of children’s verbalization on their creative thinking, and the extent the stimulus material was usable for children during learning math tasks. The Aginian’s methodology (, , ,  and ) that relied on an isolated, computer-based learning system that acts as a standalone learning environment, with special child-simple-calculator was used by 100 healthy preschool children. The results showed that children were fluctuated between negative and positive creative thinkers, children’s verbalization has no effect on their creative thinking, and the relation between the children’s verbalization of thinking aloud and their creative thinking is a reverse relationship. The usability analysis concluded that, fun is not a key element of the usability as it can only be a feature that could facilitate usability. The mathematical analysis showed that the computer, as a nonhuman external regulator, can integrate the net signed of children’s creative thinking through embedding mathematics integration.     

The effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on young children’s self-regulation to regulate their own process of learning

The present study sought to examine the effect of nonhuman’s external regulation on children’s self-regulation to regulate their own process of learning and to what extent did children succeed in terms of application when they talk and think while act alone with nonhuman’s external regulator. The Aginian’s methodology (, , ,  and ) that used an isolated, computer-based learning system and acts as a standalone learning environment with special set of tasks was used by hundred healthy preschool children. The results showed that young children were able to regulate their own process of learning and engage with their full free-will without the need of their real teacher’s regulation. The conclusion provided evidence that the verbalization of thinking aloud should occur spontaneously by nature, the nonhuman’s external regulation has a positive effect on young children’s development when they act with their full free-will, and has a positive effect on their behavior either.     

Effects of feedback in a computer-based assessment for learning

The effects of written feedback in a computer-based assessment for learning on students’ learning outcomes were investigated in an experiment at a Higher Education institute in the Netherlands. Students were randomly assigned to three groups, and were subjected to an assessment for learning with different kinds of feedback. These are immediate knowledge of correct response (KCR) + elaborated feedback (EF), delayed KCR + EF, and delayed knowledge of results (KR). A summative assessment was used as a post-test. No significant effect was found for the feedback condition on student achievement on the post-test. Results suggest that students paid more attention to immediate than to delayed feedback. Furthermore, the time spent reading feedback was positively influenced by students’ attitude and motivation. Students perceived immediate KCR + EF feedback to be more useful for learning than KR. Students also had a more positive attitude towards feedback in a CBA when they received KCR + EF rather than KR only.     

Designing multimedia games for young children’s taxonomic concept development

This study aimed to design and evaluate multimedia games which were based on the theories of children’s development of taxonomic concepts. Factors that might affect children’s classification skills, such as use of single physical characteristics of objects, competition between thematic and taxonomic relationships, difficulty in forming hierarchical categories, were identified. Several strategies for overcoming the above disadvantages, such as verbal hints, linguistic labeling, exemplar comparison, and explicit statements were implemented in the Software for Rebuilding Taxonomy (SoRT) for improving children’s taxonomic concept learning. Sixty children, aged 4 and 5, participated in the evaluation of SoRT. The results showed that the SoRT was helpful to improve children’s distinction between thematic and taxonomic relationships and their learning of hierarchical taxonomic concepts.     

Effects of feedback type and modality on motor skill learning and retention

ABSTRACT

Two types of feedback, including knowledge of results (KR) and knowledge of performance (KP) are typically delivered as part of motor training using different sensory modalities. Twenty-four right-handed individuals performed a computer-based psychomotor training task using a contemporary haptic interface. Results revealed that KP was superior to KR for overall task performance retention, whereas KR was good for training specific aspects of performance. A combination of KP and KR through the same modality did not produce an additive positive learning effect for task performance. Auditory and haptic feedback improved retention over visual, but only with the use of multiple information cues. Design guidelines are provided for training systems for motor skill development and/or rehabilitation.     

The role of physical representations in solving number problems: A comparison of young children’s use of physical and virtual materials

This research aims to explore the role of physical representations in young children’s numerical learning then identify the benefits of using a graphical interface in order to understand the potential for developing interactive technologies in this domain. Three studies are reported that examined the effect of using physical representations (blocks) on children’s (aged 4–8 years) strategies in a numerical partitioning task. The first study describes the role of certain perceptual and manipulative properties of the physical materials, comparing performance with paper and no materials conditions. The study demonstrated an advantage for physical materials and identified a key property reflecting strategies: whether blocks were moved individually or as a group. This finding was investigated in the second study by comparing strategies when children were asked to constrain movements to one block at a time. Significant differences were found in strategies used although differences were reduced by children moving individual blocks quickly in succession using both hands. The final study examined the effect of constraining manipulation using a graphical user interface, where on screen squares could only be moved individually. As predicted, significant differences were found for strategies used between physical and virtual conditions. The findings suggest that differences in the manipulative properties of interfaces may affect children’s numerical strategies and are discussed with respect to the design of effective interactive technologies in this domain.     

Using non-verbal cues to (automatically) assess children’s performance difficulties with arithmetic problems

Intelligent tutoring systems often make use of students’ answers to adapt instruction or feedback on a task. In this paper, we explore the alternative possibility of adapting a system based on the perceived affective and cognitive state of a student. A system can potentially better adapt to the needs of each individual student by using non-verbal behavior. We used a new experimental paradigm inspired by ‘brain training’ software to collect primary school children’s answers to easy and difficult arithmetic problems and made audiovisual recordings of their answers. Adult observers rated these films on perceived difficulty level. Results showed that adults were able to correctly interpret children’s perceived level of difficulty, especially if they saw their face (compared to hearing their voice). They paid attention to features such as ‘looking away’, and ‘frowning’. Then we checked whether we could also automatically predict if the posed problem was either easy or difficult based on the first second of their response. This ‘thin-slice analysis’ could correctly predict the difficulty level in 71% of all cases. When trained on sufficiently many recordings, Adaptive Tutoring Systems should be able to detect children’s state and adapt the difficulty level of their learning materials accordingly.     

An integrated science course designed with information communication technologies to enhance university students’ learning performance

This study evaluated the performance of university students who learned science texts by using, information communication technologies (ICT) including animation, static figures, power point, and e-plus software. The characteristics of students and their achievements and attitudes toward 11 multimedia science courses were analyzed. The 11 samples in this study included 676 undergraduate students who took science courses during the 2005 academic year. The results included the computation of the F-ratio, p-values, and Cohen’s effect-sizes of attitudes toward science and learning science in relation to the student’s gender, attendance of computer orientation classes, use of computer-multimedia, disposition toward computers, and majors. Our study describes some helpful approaches to the incorporation of computer-based multimedia teaching utilizing constructivist design principles to facilitate the student’s understanding and attitude toward science learning.     

Learning in the early years: Social interactions around picturebooks,puzzles and digital technologies

This paper develops an approach to thinking about young children, digital technologies and learning, drawing on research literature that relates children’s learning to the use of books, and on literature that discusses the nature of interaction between adults and children and its relationship to children’s learning. An analysis is given of parents and children using devices marketed as supporting young children’s learning, identifying, within the interactions that take place, the adult’s conception of appropriate use, and showing how this influences the nature of adult–child interaction. The findings are then related to literature on social interaction and learning, and discussed in relation to the assumptions that underpin the design of the devices used. The paper suggests that the artefact can influence adult–child interaction via a conception of appropriate use, which relates to traditions or practices with which the adult is familiar but also to the design features of the artefact. It suggests that it may be time to rethink the design of technologies to support young children’s learning.     

Carrot and stick 2.0: The benefits of natural and motivational prosody in computer-assisted learning

For acquiring new skills or knowledge, contemporary learners frequently rely on the help of educational technologies supplementing human teachers as a learning aid. In the interaction with such systems, speech-based communication between the human user and the technical system has increasingly gained importance. Since spoken computer output can take on a variety of forms depending on the method of speech generation and the employment of prosodic modulations, the effects of such auditory variations on the user’s learning achievement require systematic investigation. The experiment reported here examined the specific effects of speech generation method and prosody of spoken system feedback in a computer-supported learning environment, and may serve as validational tool for future investigations of spoken computer feedback effects on learning. Learning performance in a basic cognitive task was compared between users receiving pre-recorded, naturally spoken system feedback with neutral prosody, pre-recorded feedback with motivating (praising or blaming) prosody, or computer-synthesized feedback. The observed results provide empirical evidence that users of technical tutoring systems benefit from pre-recorded, naturally spoken feedback, and do even more so from feedback with motivational prosodic modulations matching their performance success. Theoretical implications and considerations for future implementations of spoken feedback in computer-based educational systems are discussed.     

The influence of collaboration styles to children’s cognitive performance in digital problem-solving game “William Adventure”: A comparative case study

Since a large variety of digital games have been used in many fields for educational purposes, their real functions in learning have caught much attention as well. This study first defines learning characteristics of problem-solving digital games and their corresponding cognitive levels, then designs and develops a problem-solving game in accordance to the criteria. Tasks in the game context are inter-related to each other so that players need to critically and creatively think about problem solutions. Learners’ task analyses are performed to observe four elementary learners’ gaming paths, behaviors and cognitive activities, individually and collaboratively. System documentation, video recording, researcher observation, and interviews are conducted to analyze learners’ learning strategies and their cognitive performance during the gaming process.     

Monitoring speech recognizer feedback during data entry from short‐term memory: A working memory analysis

Subjects recalled items from short‐term memory by speaking into a speech recognizer. Two experiments examined effects of the type of feedback provided by the device during this data entry task. Three types of feedback were compared, varying in: modality, either auditory or visual; timing, either concurrent or terminal, and specificity, either verbal or nonverbal. Recognizer performance was better with concurrent feedback than with terminal feedback and better with nonverbal feedback than with verbal feedback. In terms of the efficiency of memory (the number of errors and the rate of data throughput), performance was more impaired by concurrent verbal feedback than by nonverbal feedback. Two main functional features of feedback in automatic speech recognition were identified: (1) the degree of similarity between the feedback and the phonologically‐coded information held in short‐term memory, which pointed to the dangers of spoken feedback and to a lesser extent the use of verbal visual feedback, and (2) the extent to which prompting is required to establish the timeliness of data input, a feature which is especially important with isolated‐word speech recognition.     

Online advertising on popular children’s websites: Structural features and privacy issues

This study examined advertisements placed on popular children’s websites. A total of 117 commercial children’s websites, 933 unique ads and 813 advertising websites were included in the sample. Results show that a majority of children’s websites carried advertisements, a third of which were Google ads. Less than half (47%) of the children’s websites and about a quarter (24%) of the advertising websites complied with COPPA when they collected personal information from children. Implications for children’s online safety are discussed.     

Acquisition of troubleshooting skills in a computer simulation: Worked example vs. conventional problem solving instructional strategies

In a computer-based simulation of a chemical processing plant, the differential effects of three instructional strategies for learning how to troubleshoot the plant’s malfunctions were investigated. In an experiment concerning learners’ transfer performance and mental effort, the simulation presented the three strategies to three groups of learners and measured their performance on the transfer tasks. In this experiment, conventional problem solving was contrasted with two worked example strategies. The results indicated a significant difference between practicing problem solving and using worked examples. Learners who practiced problem solving in an interactive simulation outperformed the learners who studied computer-based worked examples. They also invested lower mental effort in transfer tasks. When accounting for the difference in the learners’ domain knowledge, the strategies were not significantly different among the more experienced learners. For the less experienced learners, those who practiced problem solving significantly outperformed their worked example counterparts. Among all participants and also among less experienced learners the problem solving group invested significantly lower mental effort in the performance of transfer tasks. Based on the results of this study, the authors recommend the use of the conventional problem solving strategy with or without worked examples for learning complex skills.     

A study of the relationships among learning styles, participation types, and performance in programming language learning supported by online forums

This study is focused on the relationships among learning styles, participation types, and learning performance for programming language learning supported by an online forum. Kolb’s learning style inventory was used in this study to determine a learner’s learning type: ‘Diverger’, ‘Assimilator’, ‘Converger’, and ‘Accommodator’. Social Learning Theory was also used to define four participation types. These types in turn were used to describe the learning associated with the use of online forums: ‘Replier’, ‘Asker’, ‘Watcher’, and ‘No activity’.A total of 144 students participated in this experiment as part of a half semester ASP.NET programming language learning courses. The course contained an online forum for supporting the students’ social activities and participation. In this study, ‘learning score’ and ‘satisfaction’ were used to measure learning performance.The results of this study were the following: (1) different learning styles were associated with significantly different learning scores and that the ‘Accommodator’ style was associated with superior learning scores; (2) participation types were also associated with significantly different learning scores and that the ‘Replier’ type is associated with superior learning scores; (3) learning satisfaction is not significantly different among the different learning styles or different participation types, but the average is significantly higher than average values (3.5) of 7-point Likert scale; (4) there is no significant association between learning styles and participation types. Explanations and discussions of these results are offered.Based on the results of this study, we propose that programming language learning, supported with online forums and students’ active participation, increases learning performance as measured by student learning scores.