Powerful Learning Environments Research Articles

Designing a powerful learning environment to promote durable conceptual change

The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effectiveness of a three-dimensional (3D) computer modeling supported predict-observe-explain (POE) strategy on pre-service science teache...

Designing a powerful learning environment to promote durable conceptual change

The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effectiveness of a three-dimensional (3D) computer modeling supported predict–observe–explain (POE) strategy on pre-service science teachers' understanding of lunar concepts. Thirty-three preservice teachers participated in the study. A questionnaire was used to assess participants' understanding of the phases of the Moon and eclipses before, after, and 22 months after the instruction. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants before and after the instruction. The results demonstrated that few participants had a scientific understanding about the targeted lunar concepts before the instruction. However, the majority of the participants had a scientific understanding after the instruction indicating that the instructional intervention was quite effective in facilitating conceptual change. The results also demonstrated that twenty-two months after the instruction most participants maintained their scientific conceptual understanding suggesting that the powerful learning environment designed for this study was effective in promoting a durable conceptual change.

Placement Education Pedagogy as Social Participation: What are Students Really Learning?

This paper draws on empirical fieldwork data of naturally occurring UK physiotherapy placement education to make visible how education is actually carried out and suggest what students may be learning through their placement interactions. The data challenge everyone involved in placement education design and practice to consider the values and practices students are learning to perpetuate through placement education experiences. The researcher undertook an ethnomethodologically informed ethnographic observation of naturally occurring physiotherapy placement education in two UK NHS placement sites. This study adopted a social perspective of learning to focus on the minutiae of placement educator, student and patient interaction practices during student-present therapeutic activities. Two days of placement for each of six senior students were densely recorded in real-time focussing specifically on the verbal, kinesics and proxemics-based elements of the participants' interaction practices. Repeated cycles of data analysis suggested consistent practices irrespective of the placement, educators, students or patients. The data suggest that placement education is a powerful situated learning environment in which students see, experience and learn to reproduce the physiotherapy practices valued by the local placement. Consistently, placement educators and students co-produced patient-facing activities as spectacles of physiotherapy-as-science. In each setting, patients were used as person-absent audiovisual teaching aids from which students learnt to make a case for physiotherapy intervention. The paper challenges physiotherapists and other professions using work-placement education to look behind the rhetoric of their placement documentation and explore the reality of students' learning in the field. The UK-based physiotherapy profession may wish to consider further the possible implications of its self-definition as a 'science-based healthcare profession' on its in-the-presence-of-students interactions with patients.

Adding the “e-” to Learning for Sustainable Development: Challenges and Innovation

Education for sustainability (EfS) poses new challenges to higher education as it necessitates various shifts: from teacher- to learner-centered pedagogies, from input- to output-orientation and from a focus on content to problem-solving and process orientation. E-learning, which follows the principles of situated, constructivist learning, addresses some of these challenges and offers opportunities to design powerful learning environments for EfS. In this conceptual paper, we elaborate characteristics of such e-learning environments that support competence development and education for sustainability. To illustrate and support our line of reasoning we use three mini case studies of our own educational praxis and critically discuss opportunities and threats of such e-learning settings.

Giftedness considered from the perspective of research on learning and instruction

This article argues that research and educational practices relating to gifted students can highly benefit by linking up more closely with the mainstream of research on learning and instruction. The CLIA-model for the design of powerful learning environments that consists of four interconnected components (Competence, Learning, Intervention, and Assessment) is thereby used as a framework. The kind of learning processes needed to acquire adaptive competence are well in tune with features of exceptional performance, namely active, constructive, self-regulated and goal-oriented learning. Therefore gifted students should be taught in powerful learning environments that induce in them learning processes that embody those characteristics. Interventions focused on gifted students such as acceleration, grouping and differentiated instruction can benefit from taking into account the components and characteristics of the CLIA-model.

Differences in design format and powerful learning environment characteristics of continuing pathways in vocational education as related to student performance and satisfaction

An important trend in Dutch Vocational Education and Training (VET) to ensure the curriculum continuity of sequential educational programmes is the design of continuing pathways encompassing more than one qualification level. These continuing pathways are characterised by different design formats and differences in learning environment characteristics that are regarded as powerful. In this study, the variety in design formats and powerful learning environment characteristics of existing continuing pathways, and the relationships between design formats and powerful learning environment characteristics on the one hand and student performance and satisfaction on the other hand were examined. Participants were five co-ordinators and 161 students from five so-called Green Lycea – each of which comprises a two-level (i.e. ‘Pre-Vocational Secondary Education (vmbo)’ and ‘Secondary Vocational Education (mbo)’) agricultural VET trajectory. There are preliminary indications that students benefit most from continuing pathways in which vmbo and mbo elements are truly interwoven, as these have relatively more powerful learning environment characteristics than those of separate pathways. When separate vmbo and mbo programmes are simply stuck together, the pathways seem to be relatively less powerful and to lead to lower satisfaction scores and a decrease in learning performance.

Teachers' implementation of a game-based biotechnology curriculum

Research in education suggests that computer games can serve as powerful learning environments, however, teachers perceive many obstacles to using games as teaching tools. In this study, we examine three science teachers' implementation and perceptions of a curriculum unit incorporating the game, Mission Biotech (MBt) and a set of supporting curriculum materials. The curriculum unit was designed to provide multiple avenues for teachers to adjust and modify materials and implementation plans based on their unique classroom goals and environments. To understand how individual teachers use, conceptualize, and reflect upon the MBt unit and its implementation, we conducted three case studies, including classroom observations and teacher interviews. Findings include many similarities among teachers including adaptation of activities to classroom norms and practices, high value placed on quality curricular resources and support, advantage of the game to provide experiences that are normally out of reach for students, and concerns about effective use of time. Unique features of different teachers revealed implications for design and professional development for game-based curricula. For example, the study revealed that teachers need support to integrate and make explicit connections between the game and supporting curriculum materials.

A New Understanding of Teacher’s Role in Determining Tasks during the Teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

The development of communicative language teaching has had a great effect on the roles that teachers and learners are required to adopt. According to Breen and Candlin (1980) the teacher has three main roles in the communicative classroom. The first is to act as facilitator of the communicative process, the second is to act as a participant and the third is to act as an observer and learner.As in all other fields even in that of teaching English for Specific Purposes the development has been so rapid that updates concerning the teacher’s role in ESP classes are needed. In task-based language teaching the teacher can be regarded in many ways as the learner’s most privileged interlocutor. He is responsible not only for terminology teaching, but also for skills giving to use this terminology in specific contexts in different fields. Our experience in ESP teaching through a project realized with the students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine shows that teachers can create powerful language learning environments by taking continuous care of catering for students’ motivation to invest mental energy in task performance and supporting them while doing so. In this way teaching becomes “more fun”, “ more varied” and

Responsible Management Education for 21st Century Leadership

This paper discusses possible approaches for business schools regarding how to educate students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy. On the basis of the recently published Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) as well as contemporary learning theories, the paper provides concrete recommendations about how to foster students' development towards becoming long-term thinking, responsible business leaders. The paper argues that student learning needs to occur within powerful learning environments to provide active, problem-based and self-directed acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Two approaches to create best-practice learning environments are real-life case studies and real-life student projects which both lead to strong buy-in from students, faculty and company partners. Both approaches are exemplified with the International Management bachelor's degree program at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. As a result, responsible management education fosters students' knowledge, skills and attitudes towards responsible business leadership to shape the future direction of the 21st century.

Considering the Smartphone Learner: developing innovation to investigate the opportunities for students and their interest

Ownership of mobile smartphones amongst the general consumer, professionals and students is growing exponentially. The potential for smartphones in education builds upon experience described in the extensive literature on mobile learning from the previous decade which suggests that the ubiquity, multi-functionality and connectivity of mobile devices offers a new and potentially powerful networked learning environment. This paper reports on a collaborative study conducted by an undergraduate student with the support of two members of academic staff. The research sought to establish the extent to which students are autonomously harnessing smartphone technology to support their learning and the nature of this use. Initial findings were explored through student interviews. The study found that students who own smartphones are largely unaware of their potential to support learning and, in general, do not install smartphone applications for that purpose. They are, however, interested in and open to the potential as they become familiar with the possibilities for a range of purposes. The paper proposes that more consideration needs to be given to smartphones as platforms to support formal, informal and autonomous learner engagement. The study also reflects on its collaborative methodology and the challenges associated with academic innovation.

Investigating the relationships between informal learning and player involvement in digital games

In the last few years, digital games have become increasingly popular with both ‘hardcore’ and ‘casual’ audiences. At the same time, it has been argued that games can be powerful learning environments, since they are seen to encourage active and critical learning through participation in affinity groups and semiotic domains but there is a need for further empirical evidence to explore how this participation occurs and how prevalent it actually is. In addition the effectiveness of games within education indicates mixed results, though it has been suggested that this may indicate that learning through immersive worlds involves a more complex understanding of learning, one that is not so easy to tie to specified learning outcomes. It would seem the area would benefit from research that seeks to develop our understanding of how player involvement and learning come together in this context. This paper presents the preliminary results of a survey carried out in order to explore these issues. The initial findings suggest that how a player identifies as a gamer relates to what they think they gain from their gaming experiences with respect to learning.

Reframing perceptions of the lecture from challenges to opportunities: Embedding active learning and formative assessment into the teaching of large classes

Teaching and assessing large classes can be reframed from focusing on overcoming difficulties with large classes, to seeking the unique educational opportunities provided by such learning environments. We discuss data and examples illustrating how active learning and formative assessment can be successfully embedded into the teaching of large groups. Students evaluated these approaches favourably, and recognised that their own learning was enhanced through being active participants in lectures and having opportunities to receive feedback on their understanding within lectures. Furthermore, the experiences of teaching staff using these techniques were found to be largely positive, demonstrating awareness of the benefits for students as well as benefits for their own engagement and development. These data suggest that if we find the unique opportunities for learning afforded by large groups, the lecture has the potential to become a powerful learning environment.

Training Self-Regulated Learning in the Classroom: Development and Evaluation of Learning Materials to Train Self-Regulated Learning during Regular Mathematics Lessons at Primary School

The aim of the intervention based on the self-regulation theory by Zimmerman (2000) was to promote a powerful learning environment for supporting self-regulated learning by using learning materials. In the study, primary school teachers were asked to implement specific learning materials into their regular mathematics lessons in grade four. These learning materials focused on particular (meta)cognitive and motivational components of self-regulated learning and were subdivided into six units, with which the students of the experimental group were asked to deal with on a weekly basis. The evaluation was based on a quasiexperimental pre-/postcontrol-group design combined with a time series design. Altogether, 135 fourth graders participated in the study. The intervention was evaluated by a self-regulated learning questionnaire, mathematics test, and process data gathered through structured learning diaries for a period of six weeks. The results revealed that students with the self-regulated learning training maintained their level of self-reported self-regulated learning activities from pre- to posttest, whereas a significant decline was observed for the control students. Regarding students’ mathematical achievement, a slightly greater improvement was found for the students with self-regulated learning training.

Fostering meaning-oriented learning and deliberate practice in teacher education

Meaning-oriented learning and deliberate practice may be expected to promote student teachers’ continuous professional development. We interviewed twelve expert teacher educators to explore their understanding of these concepts, as well as pedagogies to stimulate them in teacher education. The experts understood deliberate practice in two ways: an enactment conceptualization focusing on pupil learning, and a regulation conceptualization focusing on teacher learning. Pedagogies were operationalized in twelve design principles, which integrated ideas previously scattered in the literature, and added to it with respect to anticipatory reflection, diverse ways of “modeling”, and student teacher agency in creating a powerful learning environment.

Motivation, Engagement and Learning through Digital Games

Digital games can be powerful learning environments because they encourage active learning and participation within “affinity groups” (Gee, 2004). However, the use of games in formal educational environments is not always successful (O’Neil et al., 2005). There is a need to update existing theories of motivation and engagement in order to take recent game-related developments into account. Understanding the links between why people play games, what keeps them engaged in this process, and what they learn as a result could have a significant impact on how people value and use games for learning. This paper examines key research that relates to motivation, engagement, and informal learning through digital games, in order to highlight the need for empirical studies which examine the activities that occur in and around everyday gaming practice.

Work in Progress: Digital games: Exploring the relationship between motivation, engagement and informal learning

It has been suggested that digital games can be powerful learning environments that encourage active and critical learning, including participation within ‘affinity groups’ and ‘semiotic domains’ (Gee, 2004). However, there is a need to provide further empirical evidence to substantiate these claims, while there is little research that attempts to explore the links between motivation, engagement and informal learning. This paper reports on work in progress which aims to explore theses links through three different studies of adult games players. The first study examines a series of email interviews to find out more about people’s game-playing experiences; the second consists of a set of eight case studies examining how involvement and learning come together in and around instances of game-play; and the third includes a survey, to find out how prevalent certain game-playing activities are amongst different kinds of players. Furthering our understanding of how motivation, engagement and learning relate to each other within commercially available digital games will have important implications for the design of more formal educational environments.

Effects of Peer Mediated Instruction with Task Cards on Motor Skill Acquisition in Tennis

This study compared the motor skill effects of a peer teaching format by means of task cards with a teacher-centered format. Tennis performance of eighth grade students (n = 55) was measured before and after a four week intervention period in a regular physical education program. Results show that peer mediated learning with task cards accomplishes motor goals almost as well as a teacher-centered format in a technical sport like tennis. In addition, it is discussed that peer mediated learning settings with task cards could offer a powerful learning environment, emphasizing social as well as motor goals in physical education.

Workplace learning from a socio-cultural perspective: creating developmental space during the general practice clerkship

Workplace learning in undergraduate medical education has predominantly been studied from a cognitive perspective, despite its complex contextual characteristics, which influence medical students’ learning experiences in such a way that explanation in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and single determinants of instructiveness is unlikely to suffice. There is also a paucity of research which, from a perspective other than the cognitive or descriptive one, investigates student learning in general practice settings, which are often characterised as powerful learning environments. In this study we took a socio-cultural perspective to clarify how students learn during a general practice clerkship and to construct a conceptual framework that captures this type of learning. Our analysis of group interviews with 44 fifth-year undergraduate medical students about their learning experiences in general practice showed that students needed developmental space to be able to learn and develop their professional identity. This space results from the intertwinement of workplace context, personal and professional interactions and emotions such as feeling respected and self-confident. These forces framed students’ participation in patient consultations, conversations with supervisors about consultations and students’ observation of supervisors, thereby determining the opportunities afforded to students to mind their learning. These findings resonate with other conceptual frameworks and learning theories. In order to refine our interpretation, we recommend that further research from a socio-cultural perspective should also explore other aspects of workplace learning in medical education.

Learning in Simulations: Examining the Effectiveness of Information Literacy Instruction Using Middle School Students’ Portfolio Products

Objective –This study compared the effectiveness of simulation-based and didactic instructional approaches in improving students’ understanding of information literacy (IL) concepts and practices. 
 
 Methods – The instructional approaches were implemented with two groups of middle school students (i.e., seventh and eighth grades) over a 4-week period. During the implementation period, all students were required to maintain a portfolio of their work. The portfolios were designed to capture students’ actions as they engaged in a common set of information-based problems. The contents of the portfolios were analyzed to examine the research questions that guided the study. Contingency tables demonstrated observed patterns of difference from week 1 to week 4. Chi-square analysis helped to determine whether a significant relationship existed between instructional approach and shifts in IL proficiency levels at the .05 level. 
 
 Results – There was a significant relationship between the simulation-based approach and increases in students’ ability to 1) recognize the need for information, 2) formulate specific questions that would help in finding needed information, 3) identify a range of information sources for meeting needs, 4) explain successful strategies for accessing needed information, 5) judge the accuracy, relevance and completeness of sources and 6) analyze information from a variety of sources to determine its applicability to a specific problem. Four major distinctions are believed to have caused the students within the simulated instructional environment to experience more proficiency level shifts: situated practice, authenticity, community of practice and an expanded landscape of resources. 
 
 Conclusion – The results of this study suggest that simulation-based instructional approaches have the potential to augment IL learning. The technology-based approaches may provide powerful learning environments (virtual worlds) that allow students to engage in the activities and practice of information specialists, instead of simply learning the facts associated with the discipline.

MyGarden Michigan

School gardens provide a powerful learning environment for experiential learning. Coupling nutrition, gardening, and the virtual world provides an innovative opportunity for youth to learn about the nutritive value of garden produce and the outcomes they may experience by choosing healthy foods. Avatars will select seeds, plant seeds, and tend and harvest their virtual produce. Through this educational experience, youths will increase their nutrition awareness and engage in healthy behaviors.