Meaningful learning

About: Meaningful learning is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4247 publications have been published within this topic receiving 86610 citations.

Students' questions: a potential resource for teaching and learning science

Abstract: Students' questions play an important role in meaningful learning and scientific inquiry. They are a potential resource for both teaching and learning science. Despite the capacity of students' questions for enhancing learning, much of this potential still remains untapped. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine and review the existing research on students' questions and to explore ways of advancing future work into this area. The paper begins by highlighting the importance and role of students' questions from the perspectives of both the learner and the teacher. It then reviews the empirical research on students' questions, with a focus on four areas: (1) the nature and types of these questions; (2) the effects of teaching students questioning skills; (3) the relationship between students' questions and selected variables; and (4) teachers' responses to, and students' perceptions of, students' questions. Following this, some issues and implications of students' questions for classroom instru...

How Does Technology-Enabled Active Learning Affect Undergraduate Students' Understanding of Electromagnetism Concepts?

Abstract: Educational technology supports meaningful learning and enables the presentation of spatial and dynamic images, which portray relationships among complex concepts. The Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) involves media-rich software for simulation and visualization in freshman physics carried out in a specially redesigned classroom to facilitate group interaction. These technology-based learning materials are especially useful in electromagnetism to help students conceptualize phenomena and processes. This study analyzes the effects of the unique learning environment of the TEAL project on students' cognitive and affective outcomes. The assessment of the project included examining students' conceptual understanding before and after studying electromagnetism in a media-rich environment. We also investigated the effect of this environment on students' preferences regarding the various teaching methods. As part of the project, we developed pre-...

The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning: An Integrated Model of Text and Picture Comprehension

Abstract: Abstract This chapter presents an integrated model of text and picture comprehension that takes into account that learners can use multiple sensory modalities. The model encompasses reading comprehension, listening comprehension, visual picture comprehension, and sound comprehension (i.e., auditory picture comprehension). The model's cognitive architecture consists of sensory registers, working memory, and long-term memory. It furthermore includes a cognitive level and a perceptual level. The cognitive level is characterized by two representational channels: a verbal channel and a pictorial channel. The perceptual level is characterized by multiple sensory channels. After presenting the model, the chapter derives predictions, which can be empirically tested. It reports research findings that can be explained by the model, and it derives practical suggestions for instructional design. Finally, the chapter discusses limitations of the model and points out directions for further research. Introduction The term multimedia means different things on different levels. On the level of technology, it means the use of multiple delivery media such as computers, screens, and loudspeakers. On the level of presentation formats, it means the use of different forms of representation such as texts and pictures. On the level of sensory modalities, it means the use of multiple senses such as the eye and the ear. The level of technology is of course very important in practice, but it is not of high interest from a psychological point of view, because comprehension is not fundamentally different when a text passage is delivered either by a computer screen or by a printed book, or if a picture is presented by a poster or by a slide.

Understanding cognitive presence in an online and blended community of inquiry: Assessing outcomes and processes for deep approaches to learning.

Abstract: This paper focuses on deep and meaningful learning approaches and outcomes associated with online and blended communities of inquiry. Applying mixed methodology for the research design, the study used transcript analysis, learning outcomes, perceived learning, satisfaction, and interviews to assess learning processes and outcomes. The findings for learning processes and outcomes indicated that students in both online and blended courses were able to reach high levels of cognitive presence and learning outcomes. The results suggest that cognitive presence in a community of inquiry is associated with perceived and actual learning outcomes. It is recommended that future research efforts focus on quantitative measures to establish links between cognitive presence and the quality of learning outcomes.

Applying the science of learning to medical education

Abstract: OBJECTIVE The goal of this paper is to examine how to apply the science of learning to medical education. SCIENCE OF LEARNING The science of learning is the scientific study of how people learn. Multimedia learning - learning from words and pictures - is particularly relevant to medical education. The cognitive theory of multimedia learning is an information-processing explanation of how people learn from words and pictures. It is based on the idea that people have separate channels for processing words and pictures, that the capacity to process information in working memory is limited, and that meaningful learning requires appropriate cognitive processing during learning. SCIENCE OF INSTRUCTION The science of instruction is the scientific study of how to help people learn. Three important instructional goals are: to reduce extraneous processing (cognitive processing that does not serve an instructional objective) during learning; to manage essential processing (cognitive processing aimed at representing the essential material in working memory) during learning, and to foster generative processing (cognitive processing aimed at making sense of the material) during learning. Nine evidence-based principles for accomplishing these goals are presented. CONCLUSIONS Applying the science of learning to medical education can be a fruitful venture that improves medical instruction and cognitive theory.