Showing papers on "Meaningful learning published in 1995"

Situated cognition and learning environments: roles, structures, and implications for design

Abstract: Situated cognition has emerged as a powerful perspective in providing meaningful learning and promoting the transfer of knowledge to real-life situations. While considerable interest has been generated in situated learning environments, few guidelines exist related to their design. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical underpinnings of situated cognition and to derive implications for the design of situated learning environments. The conceptual framework centers on four basic issues: the role of context, the role of content, the role of facilitation, and the role of assessment.

Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning

Abstract: intergrating technology for meaningful learning , intergrating technology for meaningful learning , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

A generative theory of textbook design : using annotated illustrations to foster meaningful learning of science text

Abstract: In three experiments, college students read a text explaining how lightning works and then took problem-solving transfer tests. Some students (integrated group) also viewed illustrations depicting the major stages in the formation of lightning that (a) were placed adjacent to corresponding text paragraphs and (b) contained annotations repeating the verbal cause-and-effect information from the text. Other students (separated group) viewed the same illustrations (a) on a separate page and (b) without annotations, after they had finished reading the text. The integrated group generated approximately 50% more creative solutions on transfer problems than the separated group, and this pattern was stronger for students who lacked experience in meteorology than for high-experience students. The positive effects of integrated illustrations depended on incorporating annotations (i.e., captions and labels) into the illustrations rather than placing illustrations close to corresponding paragraphs. Results were interpreted in light of a generative theory of multimedia learning which posits that meaningful learning requires constructing connections between visual and verbal representations of a system.

Can concept mapping be used to promote meaningful learning in nurse education

Abstract: Recent changes in nurse education have led to a desire in nurse educators to promote meaningful learning rather than rote learning of facts. A major metacognitive learning strategy that appears to promote this is concept mapping. However, many nurse educators appear to be unaware of this strategy's existence, or of the research evidence available that supports the claim of promoting meaningful learning. This paper sets out to address these issues. It explores the nature of a concept map, the research on concept mapping and meaningful learning and possible reasons why its use has not been noticeable in nurse education. By addressing these issues it is hoped that more nurse educators will attempt to use concept mapping in the promotion of meaningful learning.

Operationalizing mental models: strategies for assessing mental models to support meaningful learning and design-supportive learning environments

Abstract: Mental models are the conceptual and operational repre­ sentations that humans develop while interacting with complex systems. Being able to reliably and validly operationalize users' mental models will help us to as­ sess advanced knowledge and problem solving skills acquired while interacting with constructivist learning environments. Additionally, understanding effective and ineffective models will provide us advice for design­ ing the kinds of scaffolding, modeling, and coaching that should be included in learning environments to support effective mental model deveelpment. This pa­ per describes an initial study assessing the mental mod­ els of novice and experienced refrigeration technicians.

Exploring the lived experiences of psychiatric nursing students through self‐reflective journals

Abstract: This study explores the use of journals to identify important issues facing nursing students when learning in a psychiatric setting During a 13-week psychiatric clinical experience, 18 third-year students kept journals describing the most significant event that occurred each week, reflecting on the impact and accompanying attitudes of that event Throughout the clinical experience, the nursing faculty read the students' journals and provided written feedback on a bi-weekly basis Major themes that students wrote about in their journals were identified These included meaningful learning, issues of the novice, relationships, control, self-reflection, and identification with clients Keeping a journal provided the students with an opportunity to become more self-reflective in their practice The issues identified by students in their journals may assist nurse educators to anticipate the learning needs of their students in psychiatry

The Problem-Based Learning Approach as an Enhancement Factor of Personal Meaningfulness of Learning.

Abstract: Does the problem-based learning (PBL) approach contribute to personally meaningful learning? This study used a double-cohort design to explore the question by focusing a PBL singlecourse, which was compared to a conventional one. Consecutive sampling of medical students was obtained for both groups. Student outcomes measured were Course Valuing Inventory (CVI), affect, and preceptorship appeal responses. Paired tests showed significant increases in CVI scores from start to end of term in the PBL group only. Significant trends were observed in the relationships between experiencing the PBL approach and CVI score level, positive affect mode, and strength of preceptorship appeal. Stratified analysis did not detect confounding effects on the outcome measures from background course experience, learners' characteristics, or time trend. The findings suggest that the PBL approach can improve the quality of the learning environment in both cognitive and emotional ways for most students.

A guide for developing an interdisciplinary thematic unit

Abstract: 1. INTRODUCTION TO AN INTERDISCIPINARY THEMATIC UNIT Chapter Introduction Knowledge and Meaningful Learning Styles of Learning and Implications for Interdisciplinary Thematic Instruction Integrated Curriculum and Related Terms Curriculum Integration: Summary of Purposes Integrated Curriculum: A Spectrum of Design Role of Theoretical Origins of Instructional Styles and their Relation to Constructivism and Integrated Curriculum Role of the Teacher in an Integrated Curriculum Role of the Students and Input in an Integrated Curriculum Role of the School for Optimal Curriculum Integration Role of Curriculum Standards Role of Modern Technology and Community Resources in an Integrated Curriculum Beginning an Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit Facts on Praxis and Other Teacher Tests Summary If a Colleague, Community Member, or Parent Asks You About!. Exercises Chapter Notes For Further Reading 2. INITIATING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY THEMATIC UNIT Chapter Introduction Selecting a Theme for an Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit Reviewing Curriculum Standards Standards and High-Stakes Testing: When All Students Are Expected to Do Well on a Mandated Assessment, Then All Should Be Given Equal Opportunity to Prepare for it Selecting a Theme: A Beginning Process Giving the ITU a Name Developing a Scope and Sequence for Content and Instruction Using the Community as a Rich Resource Sharing Materials Before and During Unit Implementation Facts on Praxis and Other Teacher Tests Summary If a Colleague, Community Member, or Parent Asks You About!. Exercises Chapter Notes For Further Reading 3. DEVELOPING OBJECTIVES Chapter Introduction Clarifying Aims, Goals, and Objectives Relating Instructional Objectives to Aligned Curriculum and Authentic Assessment Clarifying Goal Indicators and Standards-Based Education Considering Overt and Covert Performance Outcomes Considering Performance Outcomes- Assessment Compatibility Considering Balance of Behaviorism and Constructivism Teaching Toward Multiple Objectives, Understandings, and Appreciations: The Reality of Classroom Instruction Preparing Instructional Objectives Reviewing Domains of Learning and the Developmental Needs of Students Considering the Domains and Character Education Using the Taxonomies of the Domains Observing for Connected Learning: Journals, Logs, and Portfolios Refining Goals and Objectives: Another Sharing of Materials Facts on Praxis and Other Teacher Tests Summary If a Colleague, Community Member, or Parent Asks You About!. Exercises Chapter Notes For Further Reading 4. ASSESSING STUDENT LEARNING Chapter Introduction Reviewing Purposes of Assessment Guiding Principles of an Assessment Program Clarifying Terms Used in Assessment Assessing Student Achievement: A Three-Step Process Assessing Student Learning: Some Approaches Assessing for Affective and Psychomotor Domain Learning Assessing Student Involvement Maintaining Records of Student Achievement Grading and Marking Student Achievement Testing for Achievement Preparing Assessment Items: General Guidelines Attaining Content Validity Performance Testing: Expensive and Time Intensive Preparing and Using More Assessment Items: Descriptions, Examples, and Guidelines Assessing Your ITU by Field Testing Facts on Praxis and Other Teacher Tests Summary If a Colleague, Community Member, or Parent Asks You About!. Exercises Chapter Notes For Further Reading 5. COMPLETING YOUR ITU: FINALIZING ACTIVITIES, LESSONS, AND UNITS Chapter Introduction Planning and Learning Activities Planning Lessons for Interdisciplinary Thematic Instruction Preparing Elements of a Lesson Plan Sample Interdisciplinary Thematic Units Sample ITU 1 Sample ITU 2 Sample ITU 3 Facts on Praxis and Other Teacher Tests Summary If a Colleague, Community Member, or Parent Asks You About!. Exercises Chapter Notes For Further Reading APPENDIX PLANNING MASTERS Planning Master 1.1 Self-Check Exercise: Overview of Teacher Interactions Planning Master 1.2 Self-Check Exercise: Overview of Student Interactions Planning Master 1.3 Interactive Exercise: Student Input in an ITU GLOSSARY CHILDREN'S BOOK INDEX NAME INDEX SUBJECT INDEX

Perspectives on Education: A Constructivist Approach to an Introductory Course

Abstract: Introduction Preservice teachers possess constructed knowledge, attitudes, assumptions, beliefs, and values about teaching and learning. These pre-existing ideas include: (a) well-established teacher role identifies (Crow, 1987); (b) unrealistically optimistic expectations about their future teaching performance (Weinstein, 1989); (c) strong convictions about teaching and how to teach (Clark, 1988); and (d) an extensive inventory of "personal practically knowledge composed of such experiential matters as images, rituals, habits, cycles, routines, and rhythms" (Connelley & Clandinin, 1985, pp. 194-195). Such perspectives frame preservice teachers' beliefs about effective teaching (Perry & Rog, 1990) and serve as preexisting knowledge structures on teaching (Stoddart & Roehler, 1990). This paper describes an introductory teacher preparation coarse constructed on those preexisting knowledge structures and beliefs about teaching that our students bring along with them. Knowledge - especially knowledge about teaching - is constructed by preservice teachers in order to make sense of their world. With over 10,000 hours of classroom experience from which to draw, varying and disparate repertoires of beliefs and values about teaching and learning shape the preservice teachers' views. These prospective teachers tend to construct primitive, underdeveloped knowledge bases that influence their teaching styles and affect their responses to teacher education programs (Powell, 1991). Book, Byers and Freeman argue that this prior knowledge is a key reason "many candidates come to formal teacher preparation believing that they have little to learn" (cited in Lanier & Little, 1986, p. 542). Laying the Groundwork Approximately 200 students annually enter our secondary education preservice program. With the belief that constructivism undergirds our preservice teachers' thinking, two of the four faculty assigned the entry-level course decided to introduce a constructivist "theme" in their sections of the initial preservice secondary course. Grounded in constructivist learning principles, the authors developed an entry-level preservice secondary education course to unearth and address teacher candidates' preconceptions about teaching. Beginning the search for the preexisting knowledge of novice, preservice teachers, the focus of this 15-week, three (3) semester credit course is designed to develop a foundation for meaningful learning to influence and guide preservice secondary education teachers. These preservice teachers enter our 36 semester credit secondary program as juniors, having completed the majority of their content specialization prior to pursuing teacher education. Undergirding the curriculum is our belief that the principles and consequences of constructivism significantly influence the teaching and learning process. Learners construct views and perceptions that they relate to preexisting knowledge structures. They actively construct the structures (or schemata) that help them do this. In turn, those cognitive structures are refined and restructured. It is upon this framework that preservice teachers build their rationale for teaching as well as bolster their personal practical knowledge about teaching. In designing this course, we developed activities and strategies to "promote the development of more powerful and effective constructions" (Confrey, 1990, p. 111). This influence led us to provide opportunities for our teacher candidates to "critically evaluate the various philosophies and methods [they] encounter in terms of [their] own goals, values, and principles" (Henderson, 1992, p.30). An effective and convincing example of this type of activity is early concept mapping of our teacher candidates' knowledge bases about teaching. Constructivist learning principles provided the course framework; students were encouraged to examine and evaluate their beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge about teaching. …

Proposition Generating Task (PGT): A Measure of Meaningful Learning and of Conceptual Change.

Abstract: Diagnostic assessment is essential for ascertaining meaningful learning and requires the use of innovative strategies. In this study, we introduce the proposition generating task (PGT), demonstrate its use, and describe results which show that it is an effective, reliable, and valid measure. In the PGT, students are required to consider just two concepts at a time, and construct a full sentence to explain the nature of the link between these concepts. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the use of the PGT as a tool that can uncover students' understanding of the relationship between the concepts of photosynthesis and respiration, before and after the study of photosynthesis. The propositions generated in the pre-test and post-test were analysed and divided into six categories, and each proposition was also assigned a score on a scale of 0 to 4. Some of the unique advantages of the PGT over other strategies are as follows: (a) it requires neither special training nor practice; (b) it is not time con...

Writers, Editors, and Readers: Authentic Assessment in the Newspaper Class.

Abstract: It's this realness that makes my newspaper class a meaningful learning experience for my students and a satisfying teaching experience for me. With the authentic task of a publication, the students see themselves as writers with an important job to do. Thus, the steps of the writing process become real and opportunities for authentic assessment necessary. While in other English classes I have taught, including Expository Composition and Creative Writing, I often have to prod my students to revise a rough draft or edit for errors, in Newspaper Staff I have actually heard, "There's no way I can get this story the way I want it in three drafts!" Likewise, it is in this class where students view themselves as a team of real

Making Game Artifacts To Facilitate Rich and Meaningful Learning.

Abstract: The artifacts (instructional games) created by a class of fourth-grade students engaged in designing educational games are analyzed. To facilitate the analysis, these artifacts were compared with products created by students in a similar design context who were creating instructional software. In both situations, inner-city fourth graders were asked to create products in Logo to teach third graders about fractions. Of the 32 products created, 16 were instructional games. Evaluation of the development process indicated that both instructional and game designers improved their understandings of Logo and their own knowledge of fractions. Analysis of the project demonstrated that the given design task made a difference in terms of the product and process and in terms of the learning experience. Instructional software designers used Logo code to create fraction representations, but game designers usually preferred to use modified geometric shapes. Game designers tended to place the game in the foreground; software designers made fractions central. Game designers also preferred active manipulation and animated scenes. For these students, the openness of the design task varied according to the task specifications. (Contains 16 figures representing computer screens and 17 references.) (SLD) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. U S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office 04 Educa1.00a. Resew" ar0 EDu ATIONAL RESOURCES tNE ophAto ION CENTER 1ERICI Thm document has tree" repioduc ed as received 1000, the Dets00 0,genaano,' ongnnating it C Minco changes ea.e beor mane , .n0/4e reprOduCt.On Quality Poosts 01 view or opm,005 Slated .s lv .. ment 00 001 ,sectss.ailly ,c0,ese OE RI posnon 0. 1,4v , fil Y425/t/ /A) ./i/9 f/t Making Game Artifacts to Facilitate Rich and Meaningful Learning Yasmin Kafai University of California, Los Angeles Session 3.1.37: Artifacts of Learning: A Perspective on Students' Learning Processes and Strategies through their Learning Products Ame1ican Educational Research Association April 1995, San Francisco Address for Correspondence: UCLA Graduate School of Education I Lehrer, 1991; Carver, 1991); these educational researchers and practitioners stress the importance of self-directed, complex and personally meaningful activities for students' learning. Constructionist theory (Papert, 1980; 1993) also emphasizes that learning happens particular well if the learner is engaged in creating an external and shareable product such as a robot, computer game or bookin short, an artifact. One of the pedagogical challenges, among many others, is it to find tasks that stimulate and sustain students' cognitive engagements with the subject matter at hand and, at the same time, are personally meaningful to students. Video games are a central part of children's culture of the late 20th century (Greenfield, 1984; Provenzo, 1991). The number of hours spent in front of screens and the quality of engagement that children show for these games speak for the energizing nature of video games. Yet, video games are rarely in discussion as rich contexts for academic learning. The approach chosen by most researchers to harness the motivating power of video games is to create educational games for students to play and learn with. A different approach places students in the roles of producers (rather than consumers) of educational video games to capitulize on their motivating power (Kafai, 1993, 1995). In this context, students are asked to design scftware game artifacts that teach mathematical concepts to younger students. It uses as a foundation the learning through design approach developed by Harel (1988, 1991) that sees the resulting video games as "an artifact that is a shareable, critiquable externalization of knowledge" (Blumenfeld et al., 1991). But it extends this view by considering the artifact not just a product of knowledge telling but also as an interesting and unique piece on its own reflecting students' personal interests and choices. Furthermore, it emphasizes the notion of a fully finished product is part of the learning experience. J Kafai .AERA 1995: Artifacts of Learning 3 As a case in point for the learning experience, I present and analyze the 16 artifacts created by a class of fourth grade students that were engaged in designing educational games to teach fractions to a class of third graders (Kafai, 1995). To facilitate the analyses of the students' end products I chose to compare them with products produced by children in a similar design context yet with one important difference: students were creating instructional software and not instructional games. In other words, although both classes of students were creating a piece of software intended for the use of others, the nature of the artifact itself was different. This comparison will allow me to evaluate the aspect of the nature of the artifact in more detail and the processes which led to its completion. In the following sections, I will briefly introduce theoretical background, research setting and methods, and students that participated in the two research studies. I will then summarize the main results of the comparative evaluation before moving over to an analysis and discussion of the artifacts created by children in both design situations. LEARNING THROUGH MAKING SOFTWARE ARTIFACTS Learning through making games is based on Harel's (1988, 1991) learning through design approach that sees learning as an integrative process paying careful attention to the interplay of cultural and individual aspects in the construction of interactive objects and how they affect children's thinking, learning, feeling, and socializing. In learning through design students use their knowledge in an active fashion when designing a producttheir educational games or softwarefor the use of others. The design of educational software or games puts the students in charge of their own learning by letting them decide what theme to choose for their software or games, what features of their software or games to implement at what time point, and what questions to ask about fractions. It allows students to approach this task in their own personal way. One central aspect is the length and intensity of involvement in this project. Students were engaged over an extended period of time in designing and implementing all features of their software. This aspect gave students time to mess around and to build relationships in special ways, not only with their computer programs but also with the subject matters involved. Learning through designing either instructional software or games, integrated the learning of programming and mathematical concepts in a new fashion (see Kafai, 1995, for expanded version of literature review). From a point of view of mathematics education, it emphasizes the role of constructing external representations of fractions as a way to build internal representations (e.g., Harel, 1988; Janvier, 1987; Papert, 1991; Streefland, 1991) instead of using given manipulatives such as Cuisenaire rods. From a point of view of programming instruction, it emphasizes the reflexive nature of programming knowledge: programming is not only good for its own sake but can also be supportive of other learning such as fractions. Learning through designing instructional software or games also makes the learning instruKafai 'AERA 1995: Artifacts of Learning 4 mental to a larger intellectual and social goal: Products such as instructional software or educational games are explicitly designed for use by others. Designing, then, puts students in charge and engages them in a continuous dialogue with their own ideas and with the ic1,2as of intended users and co-designers. Students assume control in their learning through asking questions, gathering information, and putting all this to work by creating an educational games or software for younger students to learn about fractions.

Uso de estrategias facilitadoras del aprendizaje significativo en los cursos de Física introductoria

Abstract: While students do learn some reading and study skills in high school, these skills are applicable only to nontechnical material, it seems that only a few students learn about the role of concepts and their relationships. As a result, it is common for students to memorize definitions or procedural rules without relating the meanings of the words in the definition or rules to ideas they already understand. In fact, students often come to believe that rote memorization of course information is the only way to learn.Moreover, they have many difficulties in developing problem solving skills. As instructors, we may want to reduce rote learning, but often find ourselves helpless to achieve more meaningful learning in the classroom. Two major reasons for this dilemma are: (1) Students are not aware that there is an alternative to rote learning. (2) Concepts that are to be learned are presented in such a way as to encourage rote memorization.The intention of using meaningful learning tools (concept maps ans Vee diagrams) is to provide the student with an alternative to rote memorization by showing students that it is more efficient to learn in a meaningful way. Further, when used by educators, these tools can also provide them information about how instruction can be organized to facilitate meaningful learning and discourage rote memorization. It is the intention of this paper, to present two powerful meaningful learning tools: Concept maps and Vee diagrams. These tools had been introduced by Novak and Gowin more than a decade ago and have become important tools for both students and teachers.It can be said that concept mapping is a way to help students and educators to see the meaning of learning materials, and knowledge Vee diagramming is a way to help students and educators to penetrate the structure and meaning of the knowledge they seek to understand.the Vee diagram also helps teachers and students see more clearly the constructed nature of knowledge.

Using journal writing in a graduate science education course to promote constructivist pedagogy

Abstract: The journal writing activity was an opportunity for Tom and his classmates to personalize a constructivist vision of teaching and learning, a step Gallagher’s (1993) teachers identified as the beginning of their transition to a constructivist practice. The efficacy of the journal writing activity may be attributed to its capacity to engage students in metacognitive thinking. That is, the students had an opportunity to think about their ideas rather than merely with them (Kuhn, Amsel, & O’Loughlin, 1988). Indeed, various researchers have associated metacognition with cognitive development, meaningful learning, and conceptual change (e.g., Champagne, Gunstone, & Klopfer, 1985; Kuhn et al., 1988; Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993).

On Meaningful Measurement: Issues of Reliability and Validity from a Humanistic Constructivist Information‐Processing Perspective

Abstract: In the past decade, there has been interest in the assessment of cognitive and affective processes and products for the purposes of meaningful learning. Meaningful measurement (MM) has been proposed which is in accordance with a humanistic constructivist information‐processing perspective. Students’ responses to the assessment tasks are now evaluated according to an item response measurement model, together with a hypothesized model detailing the progressive forms of knowing/competence under examination. There is a possibility of incorporating student errors and alternative frameworks into these evaluation procedures. Meaningful measurement leads us to examine the composite concepts of “ability” and “difficulty”. Under the rubric of meaningful measurement, validity assessment (i.e. internal and external components of construct validity) is essentially the same as an inquiry into the meanings afforded by the measurements. Concepts of reliability, expressed as a group statistics which is applied in...