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This study implemented a three-stage problem-based estimation instruction scenario and combined it with mobile technology to provide elementary teachers with an effective e-tool for observing student estimation and leading effective class or group discussions on the selection and assessment of appropriate strategies for solving daily estimation problems. Twenty-eight fourth graders were randomly sampled and assigned to two groups: the experimental group (problem-based estimation instruction using mobile devices) and the control group (problem-based estimation instruction without mobile devices). The analytical results demonstrated that problem-based estimation instruction could effectively help students learn computational estimation skills. Moreover, using mobile devices for problem-based computational estimation instruction appeared to help students discuss and cooperate with others, and moreover the mobile-device-supported problem-based estimation scenario helped students develop metacognition knowledge of estimation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums are one of the most important institutions providing students with the opportunity to gain knowledge, experience cultures, and develop different interests in an informal learning setting. As information and communication technology (ICT) has become more popular, many researchers have also become concerned with how to use mobile devices to support the museum's functions of lifelong learning. Although researchers have proposed several innovative types of mobile-device based electronic guidebooks, the effects of the most used audio-visual guidebooks have been rarely evaluated. This study explored the effect of a mobile electronic guidebook on visiting behaviors in a museum of history. Visitors' behaviors with two visiting modes (visiting with the electronic guidebook and visiting without supplementary tools) were compared. Forty-two college students were invited to visit the National Museum of History in Taiwan and were randomly assigned to one of the two visit modes. The results showed that the students with the electronic guidebook had a longer holding time with exhibits than the students without supplementary materials. The sequential analysis of visiting behaviors also showed that the students with the electronic guidebook displayed more inquisitive and structural behaviors when interacting with the exhibits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Based on analyses of the difficulties encountered during the process of integrating technology into instruction and the efforts made by researchers to overcome barriers to such integration, we propose that the efforts made to date (e.g., increasing the availability of computer equipment and enhancing computer literacy, support, and training) are not sufficiently comprehensive to achieve the goals of improving teaching efficiency and developing innovative teaching methods. Objectives: The objective of this research commentary is to highlight the importance of the software infrastructure for teachers (SIT) to promoting the integration of information technology into instruction. Research Method and Design: A critical synthesis was conducted on the literature of using computer technology for learning, teaching, and teacher professional development. Conclusions: This study points out the features of SIT, the benefits of using SIT, and the possible approach to the development of SIT, and highlights some problems that have yet to be solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational software for teachers is an important, yet usually ignored, link for integrating information technology into classroom instruction. This study builds a web-based teaching material design and development system. The process in the system is divided into four stages, analysis, design, development, and practice. Eight junior high school history teachers participated in the evaluation of the system. Through experts' reviews and content analyses of their instructional materials and interviews, we found that instructional materials produced using the system appear to be more coherent and systematic, provide deeper and broader information for learning, apply more adequate teaching strategies, and lessen the design and development load on teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concept maps are widely used in education, and have been acclaimed for their excellent results. For efficiently using concept maps in education, computer-based concept mapping systems have been developed. However these computer-based concept mapping systems are limited in their assessment algorithms. The assessment takes only concept nodes as the primary basis, with relation links playing only a minor role. To address this problem, this study proposes a new style of concept map, called the weighted concept map, which assigns a weight to each proposition in a concept map to represent its importance. This study proposes a new assessment based on a weighted concept map and diagnosis analysis. Two studies are conducted to evaluate the methods of assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-four undergraduates used Web-based self- and peer-assessment procedures for evaluating proposals in experimental psychology courses. Students presented their proposals and commented on the proposals of others on the Web. Results indicated that proposal observation and peer interaction enhanced the quality of students' proposals. These procedures also enhanced the interrater reliability of within-group members' proposal ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Web_Soc tutoring system for recursion concept learning is proposed. The system integrates different modes of learning, synchronous and asynchronous, collaborative and individualized, into a World Wide Web (WWW) environment. The paper proposes a collaborative learning protocol. Based on the protocol, the principles of the Socratic dialogue are applied to the collaborative learning of recursion concepts. In order to evaluate the effects on learning of the Web_Soc system, an educational experiment was conducted. The results show that the effects from the Web_Soc system were more obvious than merely studying articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including visualization analytics for second language vocabulary learning, learning instruction system with augment reality, and effects of Kinect motion-sensing interactive system to learning.

Computer simulation has significant potential as a supplementary tool for effective conceptual-change learning based on the integration of technology and appropriate instructional strategies. This study elucidates misconceptions in learning on diodes and constructs a conceptual-change learning system that incorporates prediction-observation-explanation (POE) and simulation-based learning strategies to explore the effects on correcting misconceptions and improving learning performance. Thirty-four sophomore students majoring in engineering participated in the experiments. The empirical results indicate that the system significantly corrects participants' misconceptions on diodes and improves learning performance. This study shows that conceptual-change instructions could correct misconceptions effectively by constructing scenarios that conflict with existing knowledge structures. The results also show that misconceptions on diode models and semiconductor characteristics could be corrected in more than 80% of cases. Conversely, difficulty in correcting misconceptions correlates with the fundamental definition of voltage, circuit analysis, or the interaction between different diode concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software for simulation-based learning of electronics was implemented to help learners understand complex and abstract concepts through observing external representations and exploring concept models. The software comprises modules for visualization and simulative manipulation. Differences in learning performance of using the learning software either with or without the simulative manipulation module were investigated in 49 college sophomores. The learning performance was higher for learning software utilizing simulative manipulation and visualization yields than for that lacking simulative manipulation, which suggests that learning performance can be enhanced if visualized learning can appropriately integrate simulative manipulation activities. An analysis of the learning process revealed that the use of simulative manipulation activities to verify and clarify the existing knowledge is crucial to improving the learning performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the process of asynchronous problem-solving-based discussion activities and aims to understand limitations likely to arise during learners' problem-solving discussions. The research has combined lag-sequential analysis and quantitative content analysis, and expects to use such analyzing methods to further understand the sequential pattern of students' problem-solving discussion behaviors and knowledge-construction levels. In order to avoid influence caused by teachers' subjective guiding methods and ensure objective observations, we observed learners' online problem-solving discussions without intervention or guidance from the teachers. From the sequential pattern derived, we have not only induced a pattern of students' discussion behavior but also discovered that, compared to discussion activity based on a single topic appointed by the teacher, the problem-solving online discussion activity is more helpful for students' knowledge construction. In addition, this research also revealed certain limitations toward the content and behavior of students' discussion without teachers' guidance. Based on the results, this paper proposes a strategy in which teachers can intervene and guide, which is expected to enhance the depth of students' discussion and knowledge construction when a teacher is applying a problem-based learning activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of spatial thinking is relevant to the learning and teaching of many academic domains. One promising method to facilitate learners' higher-order thinking is to utilize a web map mind tool to assist learners in applying spatial thinking to cooperative problem solving. In this study, an environment is designed based on the theory of spatial thinking and developed to help learners engage in project-based learning that utilizes the proposed web map mind tool for tour planning. The participants were 66 college students, and a quasi-experimental research design was employed. This study examined the differences in the learning performance and project performance between participants using the web map mind tool (the experimental group) and ordinary Internet search engines (the control group). The results indicate the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in terms of both learning performance and project performance. In addition, we found that the students in the two groups held a positive learning attitude toward the project activity of tour planning. In terms of students' attitude toward the use of a mind tool, this study only conducted a survey for the experimental group. The results indicated that learners in the experimental group held a positive attitude toward the use of the web map mind tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the sense of place theory and the design principles of guidance and interpretation, this study developed an augmented reality mobile guidance system that used a historical geo-context-embedded visiting strategy. This tool for heritage guidance and educational activities enhanced visitor sense of place. This study consisted of 3 visitor groups (i.e., AR-guidance, audio-guidance, and no-guidance) composed of 87 university students. A quasi-experimental design was adopted to evaluate whether augmented reality guidance more effectively promoted sense of place and learning performance than the other groups. The results indicated that visitors who used AR guidance showed significant learning and sense of place effects. Interviews were also employed to determine the possible factors that contribute to the formation of sense of place. Finally, a majority of the visitors who participated in the study demonstrated positive attitudes toward the use of the AR-guidance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of mobile devices for informal learning has gained attention over recent years. Museum learning is also regarded as an important research topic in the field of informal learning. This study explored a blended mobile museum learning environment (BMMLE). Moreover, this study applied three blended museum learning modes: (a) the traditional museum visit accompanied by a learning website, (b) paper-based learning sheets used during museum visits accompanied by a learning website, and (c) an interactive mobile learning system used during museum visits accompanied by a learning website (i.e., BMMLE). Furthermore, the study explored the learning process through the use of each mode by museum visitors and empirically examined the differences between the learning performances and behavioral patterns of visitors. Study participants included 58 college students. A performance analysis, a behavior analysis of learners' participation on the website and a sequential analysis of the videotaped behaviors of visiting participants were conducted. The findings showed that the BMMLE proposed in this study may enable visitors to focus on the interactions between on-site exhibits and mobile learning systems and that the BMMLE may also extend the interaction period between on-site learning and the learning website, thus facilitating the implementation of the museum's learning activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid advances in the development of information technology, information access has become central to life in the 21st century. In recent years, the development of useful learning-assistance systems has become a popular topic in literature. Learners can benefit from guidance provided by a tool that assists learning when a student has trouble using an e-learning platform. An effective learning-assistance tool can reduce teacher workload and increase the time spent giving individual guidance to learners who fall behind. However, few machine-learning techniques have been used as learning-assistance tools in literature to determine learner status or provide feedback to learners and teachers. Therefore, this work employs a learning-assistance tool that uses learning-reinforcement techniques to continuously interact with an environment and provides learners with suitable and timely feedback to guide students through difficulties, inspire them, and help them complete assigned tasks. The learning-assistance tool can promote learners' information and communication technology (ICT) literacy and assist learners in overcoming difficulties. Furthermore, teacher workload is significantly reduced because appropriate hints or feedback are automatically delivered to learners without teacher involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]