The new science education reform documents call for integration of engineering into K-12 science classes. Engineering design and practices are new to most science teachers, meaning that implementing effective engineering instruction is likely to be challenging. This quasi-experimental study explored the influence of teacher-developed, engineering…

Tangible programming tools enable children to easily learn the programming process, previously considered to be difficult for them. While various tangible programming tools have been developed, there is still a lack of available tools to help students experience the general programming process. This study therefore developed a tool called…

Deaf children have significant difficulties in comprehending written text. This is mainly due to the hearing loss that prevents them from being exposed to oral language when they were an infant. However, it is also due to the type of educational intervention they are faced with, which accustoms them to decoding single words and isolated sentences,…

Embedding support devices in educational computer games has been asserted to positively affect learning outcomes. However, there is only limited direct empirical evidence on which design variations of support provision influence learning. In order to better understand the impact of support design on novices' learning, the current study…

The aim of this study is to test the effects of dynamically scaffolding social regulation of middle school students working in a computer-based learning environment. Dyads in the scaffolding condition (N=56) are supported with computer-generated scaffolds and students in the control condition (N=54) do not receive scaffolds. The scaffolds are…

Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) have the potential to provide one-on-one, just-in-time instruction, guidance or mentoring in classrooms where such individualized human interactions may be infeasible. Much current APA research focuses on a wide range of design variables tested with small samples or in laboratory settings, while overlooking…

Impact on student achievement of randomly assigned students working individually or collaboratively in mixed- and matched-gender pairs at a computer on predetermined science tasks was investigated. Collaborative dyads shared a computer and screen as each operated an independent keyboard and mouse. A mixed gender control group working individually…

This study reports the impact of Recurrent On-Line Synchronous Scientific Argumentation learning on 8th grade students' scientific argumentation ability and conceptual change involving physical science. The control group (N = 76) were recruited to receive conventional instruction whereas the experimental group (N = 74) received the Recurrent…

This research investigates students' performance while writing Chinese essays using an interactive online writing system. Participants include students from two seventh-grade classes of a junior high school in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. The experimental group uses the conditioned writing interactive online system, while the control group receives…

This study investigates the effectiveness digital game-based learning (DGBL) on students' problem solving, learning motivation, and academic achievement. In order to provide substantive empirical evidence, a quasi-experimental design was implemented over the course of a full semester (23 weeks). Two ninth-grade Civics and Society classes, with a…

This study reports on the design and testing of an integrated suite of vocabulary training games for Nintendo[TM] collectively designated "My Word Coach" (Ubisoft, 2008). The games' design is based on a wide range of learning research, from classic studies on recycling patterns to frequency studies of modern corpora. Its general usage…

Traditional modes of chemistry education in schools focus on imparting chemistry knowledge to students via instruction. Consequently, students often acquire the mistaken understanding that scientific knowledge comprises a fixed body of "proven" facts. They fail to comprehend that the construction of scientific understanding is a human…

The goal of this study is to develop a virtual farm for educational applications. Users can play the role of a farmer by planting vegetables and raising poultry on the virtual farm to observe their growth through online learning activities. The virtual farm possesses educational and entertaining functions, and it is designed by simulating the real…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of Digital storytelling (DST) on the academic achievement, critical thinking, and learning motivation of senior high school students learning English as a foreign language. The one-year study adopted a pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design involving 110 10th grade students in two English…

The relative positions of the sun, moon, and earth, their movements, and their relationships are abstract and difficult to understand astronomical concepts in elementary school science. This study proposes a three-dimensional (3-D) virtual reality (VR) model named the "Sun and Moon System." This e-learning resource was designed by…