Temporal variation in children's self-regulated hypermedia learning

Abstract

This study investigated the macro-level temporal variation in navigation activities, as well as in cognitive and metacognitive activities. The extent to which this temporal variation differed for successful and less successful learners was also considered. We also assessed the extent to which navigation activities could be related to the use of cognitive and metacognitive activities, as measured by think-aloud protocols. For this purpose, 62 5th grade children participated in a 45-min hypermedia assignment on the subject of the heart. It was found that both navigation activities and cognitive and metacognitive activities showed temporal variation. Although no temporal variation was found for less successful learners, more successful learners were more likely to exhibit metacognitive activities at the start, and less likely at the end, of the assignment. Moreover, both more and less successful learners applied cognitive and metacognitive activities differently within the hypermedia environment. These results show how multimodal measurement cumulatively supports our understanding of self-regulated learning of children in hypermedia environments.