Science education involves learning about phenomena at three levels: concrete (facts and generalizations), conceptual (concepts and theories), and metaconceptual (epistemology) (Snir et al. in "J Sci Educ Technol" 2(2):373-388, 1993). Models are key components in science, can help build conceptual understanding, and may also build…

Whereas some educational designers believe that students should learn new concepts through explorative problem solving within dedicated environments that constrain key parameters of their search and then support their progressive appropriation of empowering disciplinary forms, others are critical of the ultimate efficacy of this discovery-based…

Simulation games can play a critical role in enabling students to navigate the problem spaces of the past while simultaneously critiquing the models designers offer to represent those problem spaces. There is much to be gained through their use. This includes rich opportunities for students to engage the past as independent historians; to consider…

How do people select among different strategies to accomplish a given task? Across disciplines, the strategy selection problem represents a major challenge. We propose a quantitative model that predicts how selection emerges through the interplay among strategies, cognitive capacities, and the environment. This interplay carves out for each…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is a mode of testing which enables more efficient and accurate recovery of one or more latent traits. Traditionally, CAT is built upon Item Response Theory (IRT) models that assume unidimensionality. However, the problem of how to build CAT upon latent class models (LCM) has not been investigated until recently,…

Many e-learning applications and games have been studied to identify the common interaction models of constructivist learning, namely: 1. Move the object to appropriate location; 2. Place objects in appropriate order and location(s); 3. Click to identify; 4. Change the variable factors to observe the effects; and 5. System personification and…

Reviews the problems of classifying gaming techniques and suggests a heuristic approach as one solution. Definitions of simulation, models, role, and game and play are discussed to help develop a classification based on a technique called gaming simulation. (Author/LRW)

Although cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) can be useful in the analysis and interpretation of existing tests, little has been developed to specify how one might construct a good test using aspects of the CDMs. This article discusses the derivation of a general CDM index based on Kullback-Leibler information that will serve as a measure of how…

Gaming is discussed against a background of rationalist and historicist traditions of reality; trivial and nontrivial machine models of problem solving; and rigid-rule and free-form games. (JKP)

Newell and Simon's new theory of thinking is summarized and some educational implications developed. The enaction theory implies that thinking is a skill and should be taught like other skills, by teaching methods of how to perform it. The traditional theory of thinking and its influence are briefly discussed. (Author/MH)