Background: Skill integration is vital in students' mastery development and is especially prominent in developing code tracing skills which are foundational to programming, an increasingly important area in the current STEM education. However, instructional design to support skill integration in learning technologies has been limited. Objectives:…

Background: Computer-based scaffolding has been intensively used to facilitate students' self-regulated learning (SRL). However, most previous studies investigated how computer-based scaffoldings affected the cognitive aspect of SRL, such as knowledge gains and understanding levels. In contrast, more evidence is needed to examine the effects of…

Research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has strongly emphasized the value of providing student support of either fixed (e.g. collaboration scripts) or dynamic form (e.g. adaptive supportive interventions). Currently, however, there is not sufficient evidence corroborating the potential of adaptive support methods to improve…