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Educational technology designs in developing countries mostly focus on making knowledge resources widely available, through MOOCs, repositories and computer‐based tutoring. The use of digital media for cognitive augmentation, particularly interactive designs that help learners understand modelling topics in STEM, is underexplored. We report a 3‐year design study examining this potential in the Indian context, testing two iterations of an interactive system, Touchy‐Feely Vectors (TFV). The design supports learning vectors, a modelling topic pre‐university students struggle with. Virtual lesson‐plans were co‐designed with teachers to augment — but not replace — their existing practices, and to address classroom and resource constraints. Pre‐post testing of TFV‐1 (a computer‐based prototype) showed that it helped students develop a more integrated vector concept, and improved their reasoning. Field‐implementation of TFV‐2 (a textbook‐linked touch‐screen based design) in 6‐classrooms (3‐Control, N=135; 3‐Experimental, N=131) showed that it fostered cognitive engagement in average‐students and geometry‐algebra integration (model‐based reasoning) in good‐students. These results, along with a requirements analysis based on textbooks, indicate that the interaction possibilities supported by different representational media critically shape student reasoning. The study also illustrates a systematic approach to design and test digital media systems that support cognitive augmentation in developing countries. Lay description: What is already known about this topic: Computational modelling is central to model‐based reasoning (MBR) in contemporary scientific practice. Education needs to change to support this new way of thinking. However, it is not clear how this could be done systematically in developing countries.Textbooks are thus not replaceable in developing nation contexts, and any digital media designed to help develop model‐based reasoning in students would need to work with textbooks and existing teaching/learning practice. It is unclear how this could be done.When learning basic model‐based reasoning using static textbook media, students struggle with core MBR topics like vectors. What this paper adds: The paper reports a 3‐year design‐based study, where a vector simulation system was developed (Touchy‐Feely Vectors), which addressed the following issues. Addressing 2 above, the study illustrates a design that builds on static textbook media and associated practices.Addressing 3 above, a 2‐phase field test of the design (N = 266) showed that the system changes student reasoning, towards better integration of algebra and geometry, while reasoning with vectors.Addressing 1 above, the study provides a new model to implement the learning of modelling using interactive simulations, in developing country classrooms.Addressing 1 above, the study offers a clear model for designing such interventions in developing country contexts.More broadly, the study reveals how the nature of the medium used to present science content changes student cognition and reasoning. Implications for practice and/or policy: For curricula: The design we present can be extended easily, to develop similar systems for other topics. The design also illustrates how teachers adopt technology when they participate in the design.For policy: This design provides a workable policy alternative to the costly model of the digital medium replacing current media and its teaching/learning practices.For Research and Pedagogy: Our results suggest that researchers and teachers need to examine the capabilities and constraints of different media while analysing learning difficulties, and develop ways to address these issues [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single Display Groupware (SDG) allows multiple people in the same physical space to interact simultaneously over a single communal display through individual input devices that work on the same machine. The aim of this paper is to show how SDG can be used to improve the way resources are used in schools, allowing students to work simultaneously on individual problems at a shared display, and achieve personalized learning with individual feedback within different cultural contexts. We used computational fluency to apply our concept of 'One Mouse per Child'. It consists of a participatory approach that makes use of personal feedback on an interpersonal computer for the whole classroom. This allows for N simultaneous intelligent tutoring systems, where each child advances at his or her own pace, both within a lecture and throughout the curricular units. Each student must solve a series of mathematical exercises, generated according to his or her performance through a set of pedagogical rules incorporated into the system. In this process, the teacher has an active mediating role, intervening when students require attention. Two exploratory studies were performed. The first study was a multicultural experience between two such distanced socio-economic realities as Chile and India. It showed us that even in different environmental conditions, it is possible to implement this technology with minimal equipment (i.e. a computer, a projector, and one mouse per child). The second study was carried out in a third grade class in a low-income school in Santiago de Chile. The students were asked to solve mainly addition exercises. We established statistically relevant results and observed that the software proved most beneficial for the students with the lowest initial results. This happens because the system adapts to the students' needs, reinforcing the content they most need to work on, thus generating a personalized learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]