Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment Research Articles

Progressive inquiry in a computer‐supported biology class

AbstractThe problem addressed in the study was whether 10‐ and 11‐year‐old children, collaborating within a computer‐supported classroom, could engage in progressive inquiry that exhibits an essential principal feature of mature scientific inquiry: namely, engagement in increasingly deep levels of explanation. Technical infrastructure for the study was provided by the Computer‐Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE). The study was carried out by qualitatively analyzing written notes logged by 28 Grade 5/6 students to CSILE's database. Results of the study indicated that with teacher guidance, students were able to produce meaningful intuitive explanations about biological phenomena, guide this process by pursuing their own research questions, and engage in constructive peer interaction that helped them go beyond their intuitive explanations and toward theoretical scientific explanations. Expert evaluations by three widely recognized philosophers of science confirmed the progressive nature of students' inquiry. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 1072–1088, 2003

Telementoring in Community Nursing: A shift from dyadic to communal models of learning and professional development

This article reports on a six-month telementoring initiative in a Canadian community nursing organization. The way in which Internet technologies may support and augment face-to-face mentorship of health care professionals is a relatively unexplored area of research and was the focus of this project. Participants ( N =22) were all employees of Saint Elizabeth Health Care (SEHC), a community nursing agency servicing 150,000 clients in urban and rural Ontario, Canada. Nurse mentees ( n =11) and nurse-mentors ( n =11) engaged in collaborative discourse in webKnowledge Forum, a second-generation computer-supported intentional learning environment (CSILE). Discussions among all participants were directed at collaborative learning and professional development. Results indicate that mentees contributed and read more notes than mentors and were more likely to engage in threaded discourse with peers. Readership patterns were similar for both groups. Fifty-eight per cent of all nurses reported improved asynchronous communication and problem-solving skills as a result of online collaboration. Seventy-five per cent of all respondents reported a positive professional development experience and 50% of all respondents reported improved clinical practice ability as outcomes of the telementorship program. All reported high satisfaction with the technology. It is concluded that this project facilitated a shift from dyadic mentor-mentee (preceptor-intern) training to communal opportunistic learning and professional development.

EMERGENCE OF PROGRESSIVE-INQUIRY CULTURE IN COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

The study focused on analysing the emergence of a progressive-inquiry culture in two CSILE (Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment) classrooms across a three-year period. A principal feature of this kind of culture is the processing of explanatory knowledge instead of merely factual knowledge. The results of the study indicate that the classroom culture changed over the three years following the introduction of CSILE. The explanatory level of knowledge produced by the students became increasingly deeper in tracking from the first to third year. In one of the classrooms, the children's levels of explanation reached substantial depth as we pass from year 1 to year 3; here the difference on this temporal variable was large and significant. In this classroom, the students' inquiry was more and more explicitly focused on construction of their own intuitive explanations, as well as the search for explanatory scientific information. Progress in inquiry culture emerged only through the teacher's extended efforts to expand students' practices of progressive inquiry.

Effective Participation and Discourse through a Computer Network: Investigating Elementary Students' Computer Supported Interaction

In this study we analyzed and described how students and teacher of one Finnish elementary class participated in and communicated through CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment) during the years 1997–1998. To this end, we examined the density of the interaction within class, students' participation rates, students' position in the CSILE mediated network of interaction, and the quality of their discourse. The data consisted of CSILE log files and students' written productions from the CSILE database. Social network analysis and qualitative content analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that the density of interaction among participants was rather high, and all the students used CSILE to some extent. There were, however, substantial differences in the students' participation rates. The results also indicated that one student occupied a central position, and two students an isolated position in the CSILE mediated interaction. The study further revealed that the CSILE mediated discussion was composed of number of short discussion threads. The culture of CSILE mediated discourse and collaboration can be defined as follows; on topic, neutral, and providing information to others' comments or questions.

Creating computer supported collaborative learning in Finnish schools: research perspectives on sociocognitive effects

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is one of the most promising innovations which will improve teaching and learning with the help of modern information and communication technology. In this article, we discuss the theoretical principles derived from educational and cognitive psychology for developing CSCL culture in Finnish schools. We also describe a large research project based on the theoretical principles emphasised. The purpose of the research project is to analyse the cognitive and social effects of CSCL in elementary and high schools. The project is still in progress and is being carried out by setting up CSCL networks in several lower and upper elementary schools and also high school classrooms in Finland. In this paper, we report on our intensive case studies for analysing the socio-cognitive effects of CSCL and describe a study where Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) was used for science learning projects in upper elementary classrooms.

Towards Knowledge Building: From Facts to Explanations in Primary Students' Computer Mediated Discourse

Educational institutions are required to find new pedagogical and cognitive models and practices to cope with the challenges of an emerging knowledge society. In creating a theoretical and practical model for future education, Scardamalia and Bereiter have proposed the concept of knowledge building. An early implementation of this idea was in the networked classroom software and ancillary structures known as Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE). The present study aimed to explore the indicators of knowledge building in computer-mediated discourse among 26 11-year-old Finnish students. The data were collected during a four-week course on Energy, and consisted of students' postings stored in the CSILE database. Analysis revealed three pedagogically and cognitively different modes of discourse: social-oriented, fact-oriented, and explanation-oriented. These modes differed essentially from each other in the nature of the knowledge which students constructed during discourse and in the object and focus of students' communication. During explanation-oriented discourse, students actively used abstract and scientific concepts and the objects of their comments were theories, ideas and methods of research. Such activity is a component of knowledge building.

The Interaction of Motivational Orientation and Knowledge-Seeking Inquiry in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

The relations and possible interaction of students' motivational orientation and the quality of their inquiry in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) were examined. The study was performed among ten-year-old students ( N = 26) in a Finnish elementary school. At the beginning of the learning project, the students were administered similar self-report questionnaires to identify their motivational tendencies. In order to compare the students' general motivational tendencies with their actual engagement, the lessons were videotaped for collecting data on the students' learning and social interaction processes during CSILE (Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment) work. Furthermore, CSILE students' written work was analyzed to examine their practices of knowledge production and the epistemological nature of their inquiry. The study indicates that CSCL may facilitate the active participation of students who have a lot of difficulties in traditional school learning. In addition, regardless of their motivational orientation or school achievements, students tended to produce the same kind of descriptive, empirical, and factual knowledge. It seems that classroom culture and the nature of learning tasks significantly constrain each student's practices of inquiry. Longitudinal process-data is needed in order to analyze possible changes in students' motivational tendencies and knowledge- seeking inquiry.

Cognitive Strategies and Computer‐supported Learning Environments

ABSTRACT The purpose was to investigate cognitive strategies as differential determinants of co‐operative learning in peer‐based interaction environments. Computer‐supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) was used. Participants were 51 students who studied in 3rd Grade classrooms. There were three individual working conditions: optimistic, pessimistic and defensive pessimistic. A total of 52 homogeneously or heterogeneously paired dyads on a measure of cognitive strategies were observed. Results show that individual working conditions are more productive than dyadic conditions. Specifically, optimistic strategy is related to better processing of ideas in databases than the other strategies. Moreover, heterogeneous dyads are not so beneficial configurations. Pessimistic strategy is not so debilitating a strategy as is usually assumed. This study shows that different cognitive strategies, and configurations of them, produce different kinds of results in the processing of ideas with computer‐supported learning environments.

Effects of a Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) on Students' Self-Concept, Self-Regulatory Behavior, and Critical Thinking Ability

Differences in eighth graders' self-concept, self-regulatory behavior, and critical thinking ability between two groups—one group using a software package called CSILE (Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment) in a constructivist learning environment and one control group—were investigated. Data were gathered over a one-year period using a quasi-experimental pre-posttest nonequivalent control group design. Results indicated that the CSILE group had a higher level of self-regard, improved ability to regulate their behavior and an increased ability to make credible judgments about someone else's assertions than did the control group ( p < 0.05). The findings are consistent with Scardamalia's assertion that CSILE emphasizes critical thinking skills [1]. Additionally, students in the CSILE group were in a student-directed learning environment which improved their self-concept and may have transferred to their ability to manage their behavior.