Development and evaluation of a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment for astronomy education

In recent years information technology has been integrated into education to produce a series of trends, beginning with “electronic learning” (e-learning), through “mobile learning” (m-learning) and finally to “ubiquitous learning” (u-learning), which aims to improve learner motivation through overcoming the conventional limitations of time and location. U-learning practices are still being developed, and learners frequently experience difficulty focusing on learning objectives, and effective learning strategy tools are still lacking. This study reports the design of a context-aware astronomy learning system. The system integrates several technologies, including radio frequency identification, wireless communication networks, handheld mobile devices, and databases to help students learn astronomical concepts. Two content modules were developed in the context of natural science education for fifth-grade elementary school students in Taiwan. Indicators of user experience with the system were collected for further phenomenographic analysis, based on four perspectives of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model to assess learner willingness to use this novel u-learning approach. Results show that ease-of-use and the availability of immediate operational or technical support are key factors in increasing learning motivation and performance.     

Using an interactive ubiquitous learning system to enhance authentic learning experiences in a cultural heritage course

This paper proposes a novel interactive ubiquitous learning system (IULS) for authentically teaching a cultural heritage course and imparting relevant concepts to students. Experimental results demonstrated that learning performance was significantly improved after students used the IULS. This study also demonstrated that students using the IULS achieved superior results to those achieved using conventional teaching models. No gender bias affecting the performance of students in the experimental group was observed because each student consistently performed to a higher standard on the learning tasks compared with students in the control group, particularly in learning comprehension-related content. The IULS was more effective in enhancing the overall learning performance of students exhibiting different cognitive styles in liberal arts education courses. Furthermore, the results of a survey on Instructional Materials Motivation Survey revealed that Relevance was the most highly rated motivational factor among students who used the IULS, suggesting that students were motivated to use the IULS. Thus, we believe that a liberal arts education supplemented with the IULS yields a significant learning advantage for students by improving overall learning performance and motivation.     

The effect of manipulatives on mathematics achievement across different learning styles

The current study investigates the influence of manipulatives used in combination with traditional approaches to mathematics education and how varying amounts of time spent on manipulative use influence student achievement across different learning styles. Three learning environments were created that incorporated varying proportions of traditional teaching approaches and manipulative methods. In one of the learning environments, the teacher used strictly lecture- and exercise-based teaching activities, which are more conducive to abstract learning. Abstract learners showed higher academic performance compared with concrete learners in the environment where only traditional methods were used. For the other two environments, which utilised varying combinations of manipulative tools and traditional methods, the differences in the mathematics achievement levels among students of varying learning styles were not statistically significant. The study also showed that concrete learners demonstrated higher performance in mathematics when manipulatives were used than did their counterparts in the environment where only abstract activities were used; however, in the third learning environment, increasing the amount of manipulative use did not provide an extra benefit to concrete learners.     

The effect of feedback on academic achievement in technology-rich learning environments (TREs): A meta-analytic review

This study aimed to investigate the effect of feedback on students' academic achievement in a technology-rich environment through a systematic and quantitative synthesis of the studies conducted over several decades. We focused on three issues: (a) the effectiveness of feedback in enhancing learning performance; (b) possible factors (feedback characteristics and study features) associated with different studies that could have resulted in the inconsistent findings across the studies; and (c) how different types of feedback differed in their effect in enhancing academic achievement. Based on 182 effect sizes extracted from 61 studies, we found that, compared with no feedback condition, feedback had at least a medium effect (g = 0.44, 95%CI [0.324, 0.555]) in enhancing academic achievement, and the effect of explanation feedback was the strongest compared to other types of feedback. The study further revealed that the feedback in blended learning was more effective than that in online learning. Possible explanations and implications of these findings, as well as limitations and future research directions were discussed.     

The role of learning environments in thinking styles

The present study examined the association between students’ perceived general learning environment and their thinking styles (a specific term for ‘intellectual styles’). Seven hundred and fifty-two undergraduates in Shanghai responded to the Thinking Style Inventory-Revised II and the Inventory of Students’ Perceived Learning Environment. Results indicated that students’ perceived learning environment statistically predicted their thinking styles beyond gender, grade, major, and socio-economic status. Specifically, constructivist-oriented teaching, as well as peer morale and identities, were mainly associated with thinking styles that are characterised by cognitive complexity, nonconformity, autonomy and low degrees of structure (known as Type I styles), while clear goals and coherence of curricula mainly statistically predicted thinking styles that are characterised by cognitive simplicity, conformity, authority, and high degrees of structure (known as Type II styles). Student–student cooperation, the nature of assessment and assignments and learning facilities also statistically contributed to thinking styles to varying extents. The implications and limitations of the present findings are discussed.     

A context-aware ubiquitous learning approach for providing instant learning support in personal computer assembly activities

Personal computer assembly courses have been recognized as being essential in helping students understand computer structure as well as the functionality of each computer component. In this study, a context-aware ubiquitous learning approach is proposed for providing instant assistance to individual students in the learning activity of a computer-assembly course. In addition to comparing the learning achievements and learning satisfaction of the students who learned with context-aware ubiquitous learning and conventional technology-enhanced instruction, the computer-assembling performance, cognitive load, learning perceptions, as well as the learning attitudes of the students are also discussed. It was found that those students utilizing context-aware ubiquitous learning achieved better effects than those with conventional technology-enhanced learning. Moreover, with context-aware ubiquitous learning, the field-independent students presented higher acceptance of cognitive load, and more positive learning experience, learning perceptions, learning satisfaction, and learning attitudes than the field-dependent students.     

Impact of learning styles on the community of inquiry presences in multi-disciplinary blended learning environments

In this research, a survey method utilising questionnaires and focus group interviews was employed to determine correlations between students’ learning styles and each of the presences in the CoI Framework across disciplines as well as students’ blended learning experience. To this end, the linear regression model was the statistical approach used to explore the correlation between each of the presences and the learning styles after controlling for the disciplines. Consequently, a three–way cross-tab using Chi-square statistics was the statistical method used to discover the variations of the students’ experience of blended learning under different disciplines and learning styles. A total of 12 lecturers and 377 students from three private institutions were involved in this study. The results show that among the four discipline categories, only the soft-applied has a significant effect on the linear regression model. In this particular discipline, the Kinesthetic variable alone has a significant effect on all the three presences in the CoI Framework. The R-squared values are rather small. Further investigation should be directed towards an inclusion of a larger number of postgraduate participants, more courses in the soft-pure and hard-pure categories, and the learning styles of lecturers.     

Motivation to commit oneself as a determinant of achievement in problem-based learning

Problem-based learning is a constructivist approach toprofessional education stressing the use of real lifeproblems in education. Several previous attempts tounderstand the intricacies of learning in theproblem-based context have led to a causal model,elements of which were tested in the present study.The focus of the investigation was on the students' motivation to committhemselves to studying in a problem-based healthsciences curriculum, expressed in term of levels ofattendance at tutorial meetings. Data were collectedregarding functioning of the tutorial group, tutorfunctioning, level of prior knowledge, quality of theinstructional problems, time spent on individualstudy, academic achievement and increased interest.These data were analyzed using a structural equationsmodeling approach. As hypothesized, commitment appears to bea potent determinant of achievement. In fact, itrepresents one of the strongest determinants oflearning in the model tested.     

Homework style,homework environment,and academic achievement

The study examined the preferred and actual homework styles of 272 seventh graders (134 males and 138 females) who were characterized by (1) three levels of selfperceived homework achievement, (2) three levels of academic achievement, and (3) three levels of homework achievement. Consistencies and differences in the distinguishing components were found within and between the different types of achievement. Although different patterns of distinguishing components emerged between preferred and actual homework styles, there were remarkable consistencies between them that distinguished the achievement levels. In general, high achievers were more self, parent, and teachermotivated and persistent, organized their homework in some order, preferred or did homework in a bright home environment and by themselves, and did better with specific instructions, when compared with low achievers. However, neither preferred nor actual perceptual preferences distinguished the levels of achievement. In both preferred and actual situations, students in the high homework achievement group were more parent-motivated than those in the low homework achievement group, demonstrating the importance of parental involvement in the home learning environment.     

The effect of an MSN agent on learning community and achievement

The use of instant messaging to support e-learning will continue to gain importance because of its speed, effectiveness, and low cost. This study developed an MSN agent to mediate and facilitate students' learning in a Web-based course. The students' acceptance of the MSN agent and its effect on learning community identification and learning achievement were investigated using the technology acceptance model. Results indicated that the MSN agent proved easy to use, and that students recognized its benefits with regard to their learning. In more detail, students perceived that the MSN agent would be beneficial to learning community identification, but this perceived usefulness had less effect on their learning achievement. However, it was found that perceived system usage of the MSN agent was significantly related to learning achievement, which differed from the result of analyzing students' perceived usefulness of the agent. Rather than using a systematic recording log, the perceived system usage of the MSN agent was measured through questionnaires. Interview feedback revealed that effective learning was related to the learners' engagement in the MSN agent and not just from their perceived usefulness of it. Therefore, the MSN agent could have more potential to facilitate students' learning in an online environment if learning activities related to study are designed to promote students' engagement.     

A microworld-based role-playing game development approach to engaging students in interactive,enjoyable, and effective mathematics learning

In traditional teacher-centered mathematics instruction, students might show low learning motivation owing to the lack of applied contexts. Game-based learning has been recognized as a potential approach to addressing this issue; however, without proper alignment between the gaming and math-applied contexts, the benefits of game-based learning could be limited. Therefore, this study aims to develop a microworld-based educational game, which provides simulated contexts encouraging students to explore, discover, and solve practical problems using the mathematics knowledge gained in the class. A quasi-experimental design was implemented in the learning activity of the “Speedy World” unit in an elementary school mathematics course to examine the effectiveness of the proposed approach. A total of 107 sixth graders participated in the experiment. The experimental results showed that the students who learned with the microworld-based gaming approach had better learning achievement and motivation in the mathematics course than those who learned with the conventional technology-enhanced learning approach. In addition, the students also showed that they highly accepted the microworld-based game for learning mathematics. The findings of this study provide good evidence for the importance and necessity of associating authentic applied contexts with gaming contexts in developing computer educational games for mathematics.     

Model construction as a learning activity: a design space and review

Modeling is becoming increasingly important both as a way to learn science and mathematics, and as a useful cognitive skill. Although many learning activities qualify as “modeling”, this article focuses on activities where (1) students construct a model rather than explore a given model, (2) the model is expressed in a formal language rather than drawings, physical objects or natural language texts and (3) the model's predictions are generated by executing it on a computer. Most research on such learning activities has focused on getting students to successfully construct models, which they find very difficult to do. In the hope that new research can find ways to remove this bottleneck, this article attempts to list all the major ideas that have appeared in the literature and might be useful to those developing new learning activities involving model construction. The ideas are organized into a design space with five dimensions: (1) modeling language types, (2) ways for describing the systems that students should model, (3) instructional objectives and their corresponding assessments, (4) common student difficulties and (5) types of scaffolding.     

Examining the self-congruent engagement hypothesis: the link between academic self-schemas,motivational goals,learning approaches and achievement within an academic year

Academic self-schemas are important cognitive frames capable of guiding students’ learning engagement. Using a cohort of Year 10 Australian students, this longitudinal study examined the self-congruence engagement hypothesis which maintains that there is a close relationship among academic self-schemas, achievement goals, learning approaches, learning attitudes and achievement levels in learning mathematics. Students completed a survey and attempted an achievement test at the beginning and close to the end of the academic year. Two hypotheses in relation to the notion of self-engagement congruence were examined. The first hypothesis assumes that students holding a specific academic self-schema will maintain a pattern of engagement and achievement congruent with their specific self-conception over time. The second hypothesis postulates that a change in academic self-schemas will be associated with a corresponding shift in students’ engagement and achievement patterns. Cluster analyses provided clear evidence supporting these two hypotheses.     

The effect of learning style on doctoral course completion in a Web-based learning environment

One hundred and fifty-nine doctoral students, majoring in Computing Technology in Education (CTE), were tracked during the coursework phase in a Web-based learning environment. At the beginning of the coursework, each student completed a demographic data form and Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI). Due to the type of program, it was hypothesized that students would primarily fall into Kolb's Converger and Assimilator categories, and learning style would predict completion of the required courses. Results indicated 84.3% (n=134) of all students finished the required coursework. One hundred and twenty-four of the students (78%) fell into the predicted categories and, of these, 87.1% (n=108) finished the coursework. Students not falling into the predicted categories (n=35) had a 74.3% (n=26) completion rate.An examination of the means scores for both groups indicated that students with a preference for Abstract Conceptualization dropped out of the program at significantly lower rates, t(157)=1.667, p=.045(one-tailed), than students with other preferred learning strategies. The implications are clear. First, students, for the most part, are able to adapt their personal learning styles in order to succeed in a Web-based learning environment. Second, students with a preference for systematic planning and an intellectual understanding of a situation are more likely to succeed than students preferring concrete experience and interaction with other students. Institutions offering programs of this type should be prepared to address learning style issues when developing and offering such programs.     

Comparability of educational achievement and learning attitudes across nations

We estimated the invariance of educational achievement (EA) and learning attitudes (LA) measures across nations. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the invariance of educational achievement and learning attitudes across 55 nations (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] 2006 data, N?=?354,203). The constructs had the same meaning (factor loadings) but different scales (intercepts). Our conclusion is that comparisons of the relationships between educational achievement and learning attitudes across countries need to take into consideration two sources of variability: individual differences of students and group differences of educational systems. The lack of scalar invariance in EA and LA measures means that the relationships between EA and LA may have a different meaning at the level of nations and at the student level within countries. In other words, as PISA measures are not invariant in scalar sense, the comparisons across countries with nationally aggregated scores are not justified.     

Innovative learning and developments in motivation and achievement in upper primary school

Although previous research has shown the potential of innovative learning for enhancing motivation and learning outcomes, further understanding is needed on which aspects of IL are most effective and whether these are equally motivating for different types of students. The present study investigated how developments in students’ motivation and achievement related to different aspects of innovative learning (i.e. authentic learning, collaborative learning and focusing on self-regulation), and whether these relations varied by students’ background characteristics. A sample of 722 grade five students from the Netherlands (average age 11?years old) and their teachers completed questionnaires during four measurements from grade five to grade six. Autoregression analyses were performed. Results showed both positive and negative relations between IL and developments in students’ motivation and achievement, indicating that IL is not a unidimensional construct. Furthermore, the effectiveness of different aspects of IL depended on students’ gender, and social and ethnic background characteristics.     

Incremental validity of thinking styles in predicting academic achievements: an experimental study in hypermedia learning environments

The study examined the incremental validity of thinking styles in predicting academic achievement after controlling for personality and achievement motivation in the hypermedia‐based learning environment. Seventy‐two Chinese college students from Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China, took part in this instructional experiment. The End‐Of‐Semester test was designed to examine the students’ achievement in the course of General Psychology. The results partially supported the hypotheses concerning the relationships between students’ Type I and II thinking styles and their academic achievement in Type I test (including analysis, problem‐solving, and essay tests) and Type II test (including multiple‐choice and cloze tests), and showed that some Type III styles were significantly related to their academic achievement. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the capacity of thinking styles for explaining and predicting academic achievement was sometimes over and above the sum of personality traits and achievement motivation. Implications for educational practice are discussed.     

感知学习风格与教学互动模式研究初探

对学生感知学习风格的了解有利于减少教师对学生的"偏见",为建立良好的教学互动模式打下基础。某种学习偏好可能有助于某种学习技能的培养和提高,老师应帮助学生发展全面平衡的学习风格以适应不同的学习任务,使得学生的学习更有成效。此过程可以加深学生对老师的信任,促进教学互动模式的和谐发展。     

ARCS动机模型在课堂教学中的应用探析

在教学实践中,学生学习动机不足的问题,被很多人认为是学校教育的核心问题。文章运用文献资料法和案例分析法,以ARCS动机模型为理论基础,对在课堂教学中如何运用该模型激发学习动机进行了研究。该模型认为,可以围绕四个因素激发和维持学生的学习动机,即注意（Attention）、切身性（RelevarIce）、自信心（Confidence）和满足感（Satisfaction）。     

再论如何激发特殊儿童学习动机:特殊儿童学与教的心理学研究(II)

ARCS动机模式因其简单而具有操作性,适宜于在特殊教育中推广。本文以ARCS动机模式为理论基础,从注意(attention)、相关性(relevance)、自信心(confidence)、满足感(satisfaction)四个方面初步探讨激发特殊儿童学习动机的教学策略,以期为特殊教育实践提供借鉴。