Koopcon: A new approach towards smarter and less complex learning

This chapter presents Complex Learning, a pedagogical approach based on personalization, hybridization of learning environments, tools and codes, and participatory learning. In this approach, students are supported to become active users and co-producers of learning sources, within the paradigms of complexity, transactional theory, and ubiquitous learning. Its innovative connotation rises up from the pedagogic literature that defines it as a new pedagogical model and from the experiences realized by the authors during the recent years. Complex Learning is able to face the challenge of rethinking teaching and learning, empowering and renewing adult learners’ and trainers’ competences, attitudes, expectations, and effort. Here are described the theoretical foundations, the methodological issues, the practices, and the future perspectives of application of the Complex Learning approach. The practices carried out demonstrate that Complex Learning, with its characteristics of openness, dynamism, and flexibility, can be successfully applied to the fields of vocational training and adult education; they also indicate that, in order to have tangible results, it is necessary to work towards a change in the educational perspective and toward the acquisition and consolidation of specific competences of trainers and tutors.

This chapter presents Complex Learning, a pedagogical approach based on personalization, hybridization of learning environments, tools and codes, and participatory learning. In this approach, students are supported to become active users and co-producers of learning sources, within the paradigms of complexity, transactional theory, and ubiquitous learning. Its innovative connotation rises up from the pedagogic literature that defines it as a new pedagogical model and from the experiences realized by the authors during the recent years. Complex Learning is able to face the challenge of rethinking teaching and learning, empowering and renewing adult learners' and trainers' competences, attitudes, expectations, and effort. Here are described the theoretical foundations, the methodological issues, the practices, and the future perspectives of application of the Complex Learning approach. The practices carried out demonstrate that Complex Learning, with its characteristics of openness, dynamism, and flexibility, can be successfully applied to the fields of vocational training and adult education; they also indicate that, in order to have tangible results, it is necessary to work towards a change in the educational perspective and toward the acquisition and consolidation of specific competences of trainers and tutors.

This study investigates the commonly-held belief in the SLA community that second language acquisition is somehow influenced by the learner’s personality. It builds on previous research on the relation between one personality variable, extraversion, and second language acquisition but is innovative in three ways. First, it examines L2 learners’ speech production in two rather than one L2 and thus puts to the test the hypothesis that the effect of extraversion is stable across different target languages (Dewaele and Furnham 2000). Secondly, whereas most previous studies have investigated the effect of extraversion on fluency (e.g. Rossier 1976, Tapasak, Roodin and Vaught 1978, Busch 1982, Dewaele 1998) this study also looks at the potential effect of this variable on the linguistic accuracy and complexity of learners’ L2 speech production. Thirdly, whereas previous studies were mostly cross-sectional in design, this study adds a longitudinal perspective by considering to what extent the effect of the extraversion–introversion dimension on the fluency, complexity and accuracy of learners’ L2 production remains stable over time. Participants were 25 Dutch-speaking secondary school students learning both English and French as foreign languages in Flanders, Belgium.

The present study investigated the effects of task complexity on complexity, accuracy, and fluency of learners’ written narrative task production. The participants of this study were 30 intermediate students, who were randomly selected as one group. Two picture stories were used for the purpose of the study. All 30 participants were required to look at the picture stories in 15 minutes and narrate them at two separate sessions but in same condition. During the first session, they looked at the pictures which were selected based on the courses they have passed and performed here-and-now (HN) task by writing their narratives in present tense and at the second session, with similar conditions, they performed there-and-then (TT) task by writing their narratives in past tense. After all writings were collected and scored, three scores were obtained by each rater as measures of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The results of statistical analyses showed that tense variation had significant effects on the complexity of learners, but it did not have any significant effects on the accuracy and fluency of EFL learners’. Keywords: task-based language teaching, task complexity, accuracy, fluency, complexity

Co-evolution of learning complexity and social foraging strategies

This paper serves as the introduction to a collection of 8 projects and a commentary seeking to understand and promote complex learning using technology. Selective evidence on the current state of technology for learning in schools is summarized along with numerous recommendations. Key issues associated with the uses of technology to promote complex and active learning are highlighted. It is argued that accessibility and interactivity with the material and other learners are important features which influence the underlying motivational and cognitive processes which affect complex learning using technology. The nature of cooperative learning is briefly summarized emphasizing positive interdependence and individual accountability as means to promote peer interaction. Fourteen learner-centered psychological principles are listed under several headings: cognitive and metacognitive, motivational and affective, developmental and social, and individual difference factors influencing learners and learning. Finally, key issues in the technology integration process are discussed: creating the school vision, taking stock, partnerships, professional development, implementation, and review.

Objectives: Persistent neurobehavioral deficits and brain changes need validation for future brain restoration research. Here neurological and brain changes were determined post-stroke for this purpose. Methods: Two hr middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) or sham (Sham) surgery was performed in male SD rats. Measurements made over 10 weeks included: (1) sensory, motor, beam balance, hindlimb and forepaw behaviors, and (2) complex active place avoidance learning (APA) and simple passive avoidance retention (PA). Electroretinogram (ERG) was measured at term. Measurements of hemispheric loss (infarction), hippocampus CA1 neuronal loss and myelin (Luxol Fast Blue) staining in several fiber tracts were made. Results: Compared to Sham, tMCAO produced significant but acute deficits in forelimb foot fault for only 1 day (max 2144 ± 556 % change, p<0.01) and forelimb cylinder placement for only 2 weeks (max 822 ± 215 % change, p<0.01). Persistent deficits for the 10 week period were exhibited for motor, sensory and beam balance performance and for hindlimb placement (all > 20-fold, p<0.001). Motor behavior and beam balance deficits, although persistent, did decrease 30-40 % over time. tMCAO produced significant, cognitive deficits in APA learning but did not affect PA retention. The impaired APA learning (max 604 ± 83 % change, p<0.001) was prolonged, and in fact exhibited progressive worsening (> 2-fold) over time, thus being most sensitive to brain injury. ERG indicated no difference in visual function. Percent hemispheric loss measured at term was cross-validated by 2 different staining methods (33 ± 4 % for H&E and 34 ± 4 % for TTC). No hippocampus neuronal loss occurred. Fiber tract myelin loss was significant (> 2-fold, P<0.01) in the external capsule and striatum but not in the corpus callosum or anterior commissure. Conclusions: Persistent deficits were identified for neurobehavioral end points for use in future restoration research. Fiber myelin loss in the external capsule and striatum contribute to long term deficits, apparently especially important for cognitive control necessary in complex learning. Investigation of myelin protection/regrowth mediated by oligodendrocytes, and perhaps other cells, will be essential to future stroke research.

Considerable evidence has shown a clear dissociation between the dorsomedial (DMS) and the dorsolateral (DLS) striatum in instrumental conditioning. In particular, DMS activity is necessary to form action-outcome associations, whereas the DLS is required for developing habitual behavior. However, few studies have investigated whether a similar dissociation exists in more complex goal-directed learning processes. The present study examined the role of the two structures in such complex learning by analyzing the effects of excitotoxic DMS and DLS lesions during the acquisition and extinction of spatial alternation behavior, in a continuous alternation T-maze task. We demonstrate that DMS and DLS lesions have opposite effects, the former impairing and the latter improving animal performance during learning and extinction. DMS lesions may impair the acquisition of spatial alternation behavior by disrupting the signal necessary to link a goal with a specific spatial sequence. In contrast, DLS lesions may accelerate goal-driven strategies by minimizing the influence of external stimuli on the response, thus increasing the impact of action-reward contingencies. Taken together, these results suggest that DMS- and DLS-mediated learning strategies develop in parallel and compete for the control of the behavioral response early in learning.

An account of the relationship between fluid intelligence and complex learning in considering storage capacity and executive attention

A number of neural substrates have been proposed to mediate complex learning and memory processes in mammalian organisms. One strategy for testing the involvement of a particular gene in learning and memory is to create a mouse line with a null mutation in that gene. Recently, embryonic stem cell-based gene-targeted homologous recombination techniques have been employed to create a number of such mutant mouse lines that do not express interesting candidate genes. These animals have been examined for impairments in several complex learning paradigms which are known to depend on the integrity of the hippocampus. In this review several complex learning and memory paradigms are described, the techniques to create null mutants are reviewed, and the results of recent studies with null mutants are described. Finally, the limitations for interpretation of behavioral data using null mutants are discussed.

PurposeThis paper aims to endorse and elaborate on the recommendations put forward by Griffin and Mannion (2024).Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, this paper aims to expand on the potential for the application of Precision Teaching (PT) at the School Support Plus (for a few) level of the Irish continuum of support.FindingsThis paper focuses on applying PT to support learners with complex learning needs and emphasises the importance of viewing PT as a flexible system that can be adapted to support all learners.Originality/valueConsiderations and adaptations for using the PT system to support learners with complex learning needs are discussed, including count times, frequency aim ranges, practice type and assuring assent and social validity.

Seven experiments were conducted. First, the influence of the consumption of different concentrations of the organic pesticide Bioganic® on mortality was assessed at 11 different time intervals in Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) as was direct application of the pesticide to the abdomen. Results indicated that the pesticide was not lethal to bees regardless of concentration at any intervals tested whether consumed directly or applied to the abdomen. Second, the effects of different concentrations of the pesticide on Pavlovian conditioning and complex learning were examined in harnessed foragers. Results suggest that the pesticide affected learning; however, this conclusion may be erroneous because the bees would not feed on the pesticide, thus making it impossible to properly assess Pavlovian conditioning and complex learning. Consequently, the effect of the agrochemical on complex learning was examined in free flying bees trained to land on targets. The results of free flying experiments indicated that bees did not avoid a target associated with the smell of the pesticide but did avoid the target if they had to drink the pesticide.

In the traditional framework of cognitive load theory, it is assumed that the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge structures (or schemas) is the only instructional goal, and therefore, the theory is applicable to any instructional task. Accordingly, the basic concepts of intrinsic (productive) and extraneous (unproductive) types of cognitive load were defined based on the relevance (or irrelevance) of the corresponding cognitive processes that impose the load to achieving this universal instructional goal, and the instructional methods advocated by this theory are aimed at enhancing the acquisition of domain-specific schemas. The paper suggests considering this goal within the whole variety of possible specific goals of different learner activities that could be involved in complex learning. This would result in narrowing down of boundaries of cognitive load theory and have implications for distinguishing types of cognitive load, sequencing different goals and instructional tasks, considering the role of learner expertise, and other aspects of complex learning. One of the consequences of this reconceptualization is abandoning the rigid explicit instruction versus minimal guidance dichotomy and replacing it with a more flexible approach based on differentiating specific goals of various learner activities in complex learning. In particular, it may allow reconciling seemingly contradictory results from studies of the effectiveness of worked examples in cognitive load theory (supporting the initial fully guided explicit instruction for novice learners) and studies within the frameworks of productive failure and invention learning that have reportedly demonstrated that minimally guided tasks provided prior to explicit instruction might benefit novice learners.

A major challenge for teachers who implement cooperative learning tasks that have cognitively advanced goals is how to promote the kind of group interaction required to achieve those goals. Such complex learning requires learners to go beyond mere review of information or retrieval of previously-acquired knowledge to engage in thinking analytically about that knowledge, relating it to what they already know, and using that knowledge to construct new knowledge, solve new problems, and address new issues. This chapter presents Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning, a strategy that structures the interaction within a cooperating group to stimulate the cognitive and metacognitive processing appropriate to complex learning tasks. Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning has been found to be effective in promoting complex learning in a number of classroom contexts for groups of learners ranging from fourth graders to graduate students in a variety of subject areas. The teacher's role in implementing this strategy is described along with the theoretical and research bases for the strategy's effectiveness. Many classroom cooperative learning tasks involve learners working together to complete a particular assignment or solve a specific, clear-cut problem; while other tasks entail learners reviewing and retelling material already read or covered in class with the twin goals of achieving a basic understanding of concepts and procedures,

The study determined whether Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) acted as a positive influence to improve the engagement of adolescents with complex learning needs, within their educational setting. The past two years has seen a continuous increase in the number of pupils with complex learning needs in the UK, from 1,244,255 in January 2017 to 1,276,215 in January 2018, an increase from 14.4% to 14.6%. These increasing figures provide a clear rationale for the requirement for a greater utilisation of various learning intervention tools, to begin to meet the dynamic needs of these learners. Seven participants engaged in six EAL sessions over six weeks and were involved in an array of unmounted EAL activities. Questionnaires were formulated with reference to the “Student Engagement (SE) Survey” and were presented to both staff and parents at three points throughout the study, along with Carpenters approved engagement scale for staff to complete weekly, within the lesson following the EAL session. Furthermore, observational research was conducted by the researcher to generate a supportive discussion for the obtained results. Through the quantitative data formulated no significant difference was shown, however a moderate positive correlation between the before and after results of staff and parent questionnaires was presented (Staff Questionnaire p =.119366. Parent Questionnaire p = .145547). Further trends also began to emerge, with correlations forming between improved engagement and specific EAL activities, providing a direction for future research.