Recent work in science education has emphasized the importance of the conceptual, social, and epistemic dimensions in science learning. But what about the material dimension--the actual physical materials that students use? The way their characteristics and affordances limit or determine instruction has thus far not been as thoroughly explored.…

A qualitative study was conducted in a secondary school to evaluate student learning processes and outcomes by examining their inquiry questions, journals, and maker artifacts in a curriculum-based maker learning environment supported by the Guided Inquiry Design (GID). Thirteen 8th-grade students in a suburban middle school in the southwest of…

Instructional Design Knowledge (IDK) can inform technology integration decisions and Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) can help instructional design processes. As a means to understand how teachers may draw from their TPACK and IDK as they design instructions and develop technology-enhanced learning activities, we examined the…

Interactive features of the hyper-video environment, such as indexing, bookmarks, links to learning materials, multiple-choice questions, and personal and shared annotations, can enhance learning processes. This paper examines integration of the "Annoto" hyper-video platform in three large undergraduate courses (A, B & C) at a large…

Constructing scientific arguments is an important practice for students because it helps them to make sense of data using scientific knowledge and within the conceptual and experimental boundaries of an investigation. In this study, we used a text mining method called Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to identify underlying patterns in students…

The exponential growth in technological capability has resulted in increased interest on the short- and long-term effects of designed artifacts, leading to a focus in many design fields on the ethics and values that are inscribed in the designs we create. While ethical awareness is a key concern in many engineering, technology, and design…

Learning can be engaged by dialectic, that is, by identifying pros and cons that inhere in propositions, and more generally, by raising questions about the validity of claims. We report here on a classroom case study of dialectical constructivist pedagogy: Students created dialectical analyses of two lectures and four books as core activities in a…

In this exploratory, descriptive study we examined how discussion goals were accomplished during face-to-face and online case-based discussions facilitated by the same co-instructors. An analysis of discussion transcripts suggests that despite different instructor and student participation patterns across contexts, the instructors' goals of…

Virtual learning environments are used in higher education around the world to promote student learning. However, in many countries it has not yielded the expected effect on student interaction and learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of certain pedagogical approaches would promote student interaction,…

Instructional strategies can be helpful in facilitating students' knowledge construction and developing advanced cognitive skills. In the context of collaborative learning, instructional strategies as scripts can guide learners to engage in more meaningful interaction. Previous studies have been investigated the benefits of different instructional…

The purpose of the study was to investigate how to scaffold students' critical thinking skills in the process of co-writing and co-reflection of wikibooks in formal learning contexts. To observe critical thinking skills in wiki collaborations under different levels of instructional guidance, two graduate wikibook projects were selected: an…

Individual gameplay interest is affected by numerous factors and a competition setting is also of importance as there are factors that need to be managed. To understand the motivational variables related to an educational game competition, this study explored the interrelatedness between self-efficacy, competitive anxiety, and gameplay interest in…

There is a lack of published research on designing Web-based instruction for the adult U.S. Latino population. Instructional designers need guidance on how to design culturally relevant learning environments for this audience, particularly for Latino people from Mexican heritage. The authors used content analysis to investigate the extent to which…

Current literature indicates an increased pedagogical value of technology integration in university coursework. One form of technology that encourages collaborative, online teaching and learning is a "wiki," an online application that allows participants to partner and direct a website. This article describes the design and formative evaluation of…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the content features of educational technology curricula for primary education developed by national governments. A qualitative cross-case document analysis of the national educational technology curriculum of Norway, Flanders and England was conducted. The analysis focuses on the underlying visions,…