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Interactive learning technologies, such as robots, increasingly find their way into schools. However, more research is needed to see how children might work with such systems in the future. This paper presents the unsupervised, four month deployment of a Robot-Extended Computer Assisted Learning (RECAL) system with 61 children working in their own classroom. Using automatically collected quantitative data we discuss how their usage patterns and self-regulated learning process developed throughout the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many courses, practical hands-on experience is critical for knowledge construction. In the traditional lab setting, this construction is easy to observe through student engagement. But in an online virtual lab, there are some challenges to track student engagement. Given the continuing trend of increased enrollment in online courses, learning sciences need to address these challenges soon. To measure student engagement and actualize a social constructivist approach to team-based learning in the virtual lab setting, we developed a novel monitoring tool in an open-source electronic health records system (EHR). The Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) approach is used to engage students in learning. In this paper, we present the practice of POGIL and how the monitoring tool measures student engagement in two online courses in the interdisciplinary field of Health Information Management. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at integrating POGIL to improve learning sciences in the EHR clinical practice. While clinicians spend over 52% of a patient visit time on computers (called desktop medicine), there is very little focus on learning sciences and pedagogy to train clinicians. Our findings provide an approach to implement learning sciences theory to eHealth use training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent efforts in science education in China focused on introducing inquiry learning into courses to improve students' understanding of science content and cultivate their creative and independent thinking skills. This study investigated how to design and implement a WISE project successfully in the guidance of knowledge integration framework and examined its effectiveness in students' academic performance. Two groups of Grade 9 Physics students (n=46) in a Chinese secondary school studied the thermal processes through WISE for a month long. Data were collected through pre- and post-tests, Knowledge Integration assessments, audiotapes of students' conversation, collaborative knowledge products, students' individual interview and classroom observation. Results suggested that students made significant overall pre-test to post-test gains on Physics concepts, and embedded assessments in WISE is the best indicator and explanation for it, controlling for pre-test scores. And a case study is illustrated how the WISE platform provided more opportunities for students in integrating content and process. Also, this study identified the most important considerations in designing and implementing WISE project in a Chinese context, they are: (1) emphasize the KI processes; 2) facilitate the collaborative learning environments; 3) change students' beliefs of learning through WISE patterns; 4) provide effective teacher guidance; 5) use the visualizations and experiments meaningfully; 6) scaffold students' metacognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry learning, which creates a similar situation and way of scientific research in the teaching process, lets the students learn to collect, analyze and judge of lots information, through active explore, discover and experience, thus to promote the ability of thinking and creativity. This paper analyses and discusses content organization, plan design and assessment method of implementation plan of inquiry learning based on the course and problems, and combining with the practical teaching process, the scheme implementation is applied. Practice shows that the scheme is feasible and effective to improve students' enthusiasm of active learning, and exercise the students' ability of analyzing and solving problems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the current study we employed the Web-based inquiry-learning environment Young Researcher. In this environment, inquiry processes are supported by various scaffolds to enhance students' self-regulation. The focus is on reflection that guides students to effective analysis of regulative activities. Assignments for reflection are given after several stages of inquiry. In our paper we introduce the learning environment Young Researcher and how its design principles support the acquisition of both transformative and regulative inquiry skills through reflective activities. Our empirical studies demonstrate that this environment enables teachers to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and also provides learners with different types of scaffolds. In our study we tested this learning environment in competitive conditions in which not only transformative inquiry skills were developed but also the quality of students' regulative processes. The outcomes show that in the reflection phase, students' regulative activities should be discussed to enhance their capabilities in transformative inquiry activities. It guided pairs of students toward significant improvements in formulating research questions and hypotheses, in planning study and drawing conclusions, and increased their quality of all regulative activities--planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In addition, it was found that all regulative activities correlate moderately to the level of transformative inquiry skills. Therefore, students' reflection of regulative activities should be supported in order to achieve higher gains in inquiry learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of computer and communication technologies, strengthening students¡¦ high-level thinking abilities has become an important educational objective nowadays. Among various learning strategies, inquiry-based learning has been recognized as being a helpful approach for training the thinking process of students. In this study, the effects of integrating the STS (Science/Technology/Society) strategy into online inquiry-based learning activities on students¡¦ learning achievement and attitude ability are investigated. The participants were divided into an experimental group, which learned with online STS-oriented inquiry learning approach in a science classroom, and control group, which learned with conventional in-class online inquiry learning approach. From the experimental results, it is found that the experimental group reveals better learning achievement and learning attitude than the control group, showing the effectiveness of the innovative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of integrating information literacy into science instruction on students¡¦ problem solving and science learning. In this quasi-experimental study, two 7th-grade classrooms from a public junior-high school were randomly assigned into the experimental group and control group. The former accepted an inquiry-based science curriculum infused information literacy using the Big6 model, while the latter accepted the traditional lecture-oriented instruction. Three tests were administered before and after the instruction to test students¡¦ problem-solving, memory and comprehension. Results showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts on problem-solving and comprehension learning, while not on the memory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]