This study studied the types of peer scaffolding presented in scientific experimental activities. The study included 14 university students. For the experimental activity of 'determining temperature changes using the meridian altitude of the sun,' information regarding experimental behaviors, thinking aloud, discourse, and retrospective interview…

Teacher education programs seek to foster dispositions that welcome student differences in race, culture, language and ability. However, pre-service teachers' dispositions are difficult to transform because they tend to be aligned with the field of schooling where differences are punished or excluded. This study examines an activity for…

This study focuses on the investigation of the effects of computer simulation and animation (CSA) on students' cognitive processes in an undergraduate engineering course. The revised Bloom's taxonomy, which consists of six categories in the cognitive process domain, was employed in this study. Five of the six categories were investigated,…

The authors present an analysis of facilitation across three cohorts of a phase-two professional development project. Four types of discourse are introduced and defined (correcting, eliciting, probing, and responsive). The analysis attends to implementation fidelity and facilitator moves in light of these four types of discourse. Conjectures about…

The authors describe several types of classroom assessment techniques (CATs) and cognitive scaffolding procedures that they have developed over the years. They then bring the procedures together in a sample lecture/group learning class presentation.

The aim of this study is to test collaborative concept mapping activities using computers in a classroom scenario and to evaluate the possibilities that Elkar-CM offers for collaboratively learning non-technical topics. Elkar-CM is a multi-lingual and multi-media software program designed for drawing concept maps (CMs) collaboratively. Concept…

The National Research Council (NRC) has indicated that effective instruction in colleges of agriculture should prepare students to enter a dynamically changing workplace by helping students learn to be proficient in 21st century skills. The NRC suggested that effective instruction in colleges of agriculture should encompass a hospitable learning…

In this article I focus on the mediational role of communicative activity in the co-construction of meaning involved when pupils write collaboratively. I explore the developmental nature of peer intermental or social activity within a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) by drawing on perspectives from sociocultural theory and the dialogical aspects…

Employers in the 21st century seek graduates with a demonstrated ability to be independent, self-managing, lifelong learners. In this paper the authors explore student responses to a tutorial activity designed to promote lifelong learning skills. The activity is framed around situated learning theory, and capitalises on the affordances of video…

Betty's Brain is a computer-based learning environment that capitalizes on the social aspects of learning. In Betty's Brain, students instruct a character called a Teachable Agent (TA) which can reason based on how it is taught. Two studies demonstrate the "protege effect": students make greater effort to learn for their TAs than they do…