Showing papers in "Instructional Science in 1989"

Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems

Abstract: The theory of formative assessment outlined in this article is relevant to a broad spectrum of learning outcomes in a wide variety of subjects. Specifically, it applies wherever multiple criteria are used in making judgments about the quality of student responses. The theory has less relevance for outcomes in which student responses may be assessed simply as correct or incorrect. Feedback is defined in a particular way to highlight its function in formative assessment. This definition differs in several significant respects from that traditionally found in educational research. Three conditions for effective feedback are then identified and their implications discussed. A key premise is that for students to be able to improve, they must develop the capacity to monitor the quality of their own work during actual production. This in turn requires that students possess an appreciation of what high quality work is, that they have the evaluative skill necessary for them to compare with some objectivity the quality of what they are producing in relation to the higher standard, and that they develop a store of tactics or moves which can be drawn upon to modify their own work. It is argued that these skills can be developed by providing direct authentic evaluative experience for students. Instructional systems which do not make explicit provision for the acquisition of evaluative expertise are deficient, because they set up artificial but potentially removable performance ceilings for students.

Overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning : Abstract transfer versus explanatory model construction

Abstract: In most work investigating factors influencing the success of analogies in instruction, an underlying assumption is that students have little or no knowledge of the target situation (the situation to be explained by analogy). It is interesting to ask what influences the success of analogies when students believe they understand the target situation. If this understanding is not normative, instruction must aim at conceptual change rather than simply conceptual growth. Through the analysis of four case studies of tutoring interviews (two of which achieved some noticeable conceptual change and two of which did not) we propose a preliminary list of factors important for success in overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning. First, there must be a usable anchoring conception. Second, the analogical connection between an anchoring example and the target situation may need to be developed explicitly through processes such as the use of intermediate, “bridging” analogies. Third, it may be necessary to engage the student in a process of analogical reasoning in an interactive teaching environment, rather than simply presenting the analogy in tetext or lecture. Finally, the result of this process may need to be more than analogical transfer of abstract relational structure. The analogies may need to be used to enrich the target situation, leading to the student's construction of a new explanatory model.

The Study of Teachers' Written Feedback to Students' Writing: Changes in Theoretical Considerations and the Expansion of Research Contexts.

Abstract: This paper identifies four successive phases in the study of written feedback to students' compositions. The studies included in these phases are distinguished by views of writing instruction reflected in their theoretical frameworks: the view of writing instruction as a series of teacher provided stimuli and students' responses to these stimuli; the view that the writing class is a rhetorical community, where teacher and students interact as readers and writers over texts; the view of learning to write as a phenomenon both natural and problematic, where school may interfere with students' natural development; the view that learning to write, like all other learning, depends on successful student-teacher interactions within student's zone of proximal development. While reviewing recent studies of written feedback, the paper shows how these changing views of writing instruction are accompanied by changing theoretical perspectives for the study of the provision and processing of written feedback as well as by a gradual expansion of research contexts for looking at this problem. Finally, in view of such a line of development, it suggests an agenda for future research.

A more equitable account of the note-taking functions in learning from lecture and from text

Abstract: Previous research investigating the encoding, encoding-plus-storage, and extermal-storage functions of note taking has failed to equate processing opportunities among the groups. The present studies did so by having the encoding group take notes on two occasions without review, the encoding-plus-storage group take notes one time and review notes the next, and the external-storage group twice review a set of borrowed notes. Three forms of note taking were used: conventional, and note taking on skeletal and matrix frameworks. In both Experiment 1, involving lecture learning, and Experiment 2, involving text learning, an advantage was found for the encoding-plus-storage function on tests involving factual-recall and recognition performance but not on tests measuring higher-order performance. With respect to note-taking forms, no advantage existed for any form when information was acquired from lecture. When text material was used there was some advantage for conventional notes and a clear advantage for not taking notes at all, but instead twice reading the material. These findings were explained relative to observed note-taking behaviors, the opportunity for review, and the processing demands proposed by the combination of reading and note taking, particularly when notes must be classified into an existing framework.

A model of student approaches to learning encompassing ways to influence and change approaches

Abstract: The tems surface and deep are widely used to describe student approaches to studying and learning. Different writers have attributed different shades of meaning to the terms, as the categories have resulted from the work of a number of groups or individual researchers. There are greater divergences of opinion on the question of how students can be influenced to adopt either a surface or a deep approach. This paper attempts to synthesise some of the divergent positions into a simple model of student approaches to learning which concentrates on the ways that students may be influenced to adopt either surface or deep approaches. The model recognises the existence of predispositions to either deep or surface approaches, and the use of strategies for particular tasks. A number of contextual variables seem to influence students with a deep predisposition to adopt surface strategies. The transition between surface and deep predispositions is seen as difficult to influence, but three types of intervention are discussed.

Teaching for analogical transfer as a means of improving problem-solving, thinking and learning

Abstract: Analogical transfer is transfer of a basic structure acquired through one or more instances to another instance. A basic structure like this is sometimes called a paradigm. Paradigmatic teaching, i.e. teaching for analogical transfer, requires the teaching of a basic structure by appropriate exemplars as well as the teaching of its application in various fields and contexts. This is demonstrated using research on teaching for problem-solving, inductive thinking, and learning-to-leam.

Overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning: factors influencing understanding in a teaching experiment

Abstract: In most research that investigates factors influencing the success of analogies in instruction, an underlying assumption is that students have little or no knowledge of the target situation. It is interesting to ask what factors influence the success of analogies when students believe they understand the target situation. If this understanding is not normative, instruction must aim at conceptual change rather than simply conceptual growth. Through the analysis of four case studies of tutoring interviews, a preliminary list of factors important for success in overcoming misconceptions via analogical reasoning is proposed. First, there must be a usable anchoring conception. Second, the analogical connection between an anchoring example and the target situation may need to be developed explicitly through processes such as the use of intermediate analogies. Third, it may be necessary to engage the student in a process of analogical reasoning in an interactive teaching environment, rather than simply presenting the analogy in a text or lecture. Finally, the result of this process may need to be the student's construction of a new explanatory model of the target situation. (YP) ************************W********************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *****************************************************,*****************

Instructional behaviors for clearer presentations in the classroom

Abstract: Teachers spend a considerable amount of classroom time talking to students. Much of this talk revolves around expository presentations of information. Teachers claim the reason for the quantity of teacher talk is to clarify instruction to students. However, discrepancies can exist between what teachers assume are the benefits of their talk and how students learn from such talk. To match students' abilities to learn, teachers must produce clearer instructional presentations. This article proposes the importance of structure in developing sound teacher expository presentations. Nine instructional behaviors based on correlational and experimental research during the past two decades are presented in the form of teacher guidelines to maximise precision and structure in teacher talk in order to facilitate student achievement.

The Design of a Self-Improving Tutor : PROTO-TEG

Abstract: This paper presents the principles and the architecture of PROTO-TEG, a self-improving tutor in geometry. This system is able to discover criteria useful for selecting the didactic strategies it has at its disposal. These criteria are expressed as characteristics of the student model. They are elaborated by comparing student model states recorded when a strategy was effective and those recorded when the same strategy was not effective. This comparison is performed by machine learning methods, or, more precisely, by learning concepts from examples. An empirical experiment was performed in order to assess the self-improving functions; conditions were discovered for five of the nine didactic strategies. However, this new knowledge did not lead to PROTO-TEG being more efficient in terms of student performance.

ALICE: Acquisition of linguistic items in the context of examples

Abstract: Most natural language terms-such as verbs, nouns, conjunctions, prepositions-have a context-dependent meaning. The dependence of the meaning on the context changes with languages. This variability accounts for many errors made by students while learning a foreign language.

FL-IDE: Hypertext for Structuring a Conceptual Design for Computer-Assisted Language Learning.

Abstract: A compelling problem for language pedagogues is teaching foreign languages to students so they can retain and use the language skills in real communicative situations. One way to help students learn these skills is to understand and improve current pedagogical approaches to language learning. New technology such as Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) provides pedagogues with rich, multimedia environments for presenting instruction. At the same time, deciding what to present and how to organize the instruction in CALL provides a new challenge. In response to this problem, we discuss preliminary results of a research effort for developing an instructional design environment (IDE) that is uniquely tailored to the needs of developing foreign language instruction. Hypertext features in the IDE software are used to capture and organize into one coherent framework the corpora of theoretical, instructional, and content material that affects foreign language instruction.

Toward a solution of the learning paradox: emergent properties and neurological principles of constructivism

Abstract: Overview. If the constructivist doctrine that complex cognitive structures are actively constructed by the learner is accepted, a key question arises. How can a simple structure generate another more complex structure? As current constructi vist theory of

Some Uses of Natural Language Interfaces in Computer Assisted Language Learning.

Abstract: It has often been proposed that computer programs simulating written conversation could be effective in language teaching and remediation. This paper presents a theoretical rationale for this approach, and reports empirical studies of its potential. Although the studies were concemed mainly with language-impaired children, their findings should have some relevance for the wider field of computer assisted language learning in general.

SPELT (Strategies Program for Effective Learning/Thinking): a description and analysis of instructional procedures

Abstract: The SPELT instructional model is examined in terms of current instructional design principles. The goal of this analysis is to determine the extent to which the design of the SPELT instructional model conforms to proven instructional procedures. It is revealed that parts of the SPELT instructional model, with its three methodologies, are consistent with theory and/or empirical findings of early scramble studies, Bruner's spiral curriculum, Ausubel's progressive differentiation, and Gagne's hierarchical sequencing. Although not empirically validated, Reigeluth and Stein's Elaboration Theory offers the best overall descriptive analysis of the SPELT instructional model.

An intelligent tutoring system for helping children aged 7 to 15 to acquire a second language

Abstract: Traditional approaches to teaching a foreign language in Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems restrict the computer to correcting grammar or vocabulary; this is similar to structural teaching strategies (STS) in which a second language (L2) is learned in relation to a first language (L1). By contrast, this paper suggests that the role of a computer tutor in language learning need not necessarily be confined to that of a foreign language expert. It investigates ways in which to represent both the learner's L2 skills and the foreign language expert. These lead to a novel computational method for teaching a foreign language, suitable for children aged 7 to 15.