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Recent studies have reported a growing trend of using student-generated diagrams for assessment in science teaching and research. However, many educators tend to use diagrams to explore students' perceptions of scientists and their work rather than explore conceptual understanding of abstract concepts. In this study, we used diagrams to investigate students' conceptual understanding of the nature of hydrogen bonds among water molecules in snowflakes. Participants were 70 first- and second-year university students. Following a sequence of interview prompts, the students drew diagrams to illustrate the interactions amongst water molecules in snowflakes. Sixty students' diagrams were analyzed inductively using a constant comparison method. Most diagrams showed that the students did not have major challenges drawing the water molecule structure, recognizing polarity of a water molecule, or recognizing the intermolecular nature of hydrogen bonds. However, the diagrams revealed varied ways in which students conceptualized the formation of hydrogen bonds. A third of the diagrams revealed students' alternative conceptions about the role of lone pairs of electrons in the formation of hydrogen bonds. Most diagrams which showed a good understanding of the nature of a hydrogen bond revealed students' difficulties in recognizing molecular interactions in a 3D space. Our findings suggest that student-generated diagrams can provide a powerful way to understand students' conceptions of abstract science concepts.

In recent years, chemistry educators are increasingly adopting immersive virtual reality (IVR) technology to help learners visualise molecular interactions. However, educational studies on IVR mostly investigated its usability and user perceptions leaving out its impact on improving conceptual understanding. If they evaluated students' knowledge gains, they tended to use information recall tests to assess knowledge gains. Employing interviews and diagram-drawing tasks, this study explored how students' conceptual understanding of the nature of hydrogen bonds and the shape of snowflakes changed through a collaborative IVR experience on snowflakes. Participants were 68 undergraduate chemistry students. Videos of pre-/post-interviews and student-generated diagrams were analysed. The results indicated a marked improvement in students' conceptual understanding of the nature of hydrogen bonds among water molecules in snowflakes. After IVR, 57 students provided scientifically acceptable explanations of the nature of hydrogen bonds. Improvements in students' understanding were related to the intermolecular nature of hydrogen bonds, the role of lone pairs of electrons in forming hydrogen bonds, and molecular interactions in 3D space. This study suggests that collaborative IVR could be a powerful way for students to visualise molecular interactions, examine their alternative conceptions, and build more coherent understanding. Implications for the design and implementation of IVR activities for science learning are discussed.

The positive effects of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) on students' learning outcomes and processes have been widely reported in individual empirical studies and meta-analyses. More specifically, in the meta-analysis by Chen, Wang, Kirschner, and Tsai (2018), the effects were found to be attributed to the three main elements of CSCL including collaborative learning, computer use, extra learning environments/tools or extra supporting strategies. This study extends that meta-analysis by examining the moderating effects of educational level and subject area on the effectiveness of CSCL. The moderating effects of educational level were found not to be significant on the effectiveness of collaborative learning, computer use, extra learning environments or tools, or extra supporting strategies with respect to student knowledge achievement. Subject area, on the other hand, was found to be a significant moderator for the effectiveness of extra learning environments or tools and extra supporting strategies. When using extra learning environments or tools for CSCL, larger effect sizes were found for engineering and science courses; when using extra supporting strategies for CSCL, larger effect sizes were found for science and social science courses. The results also showed that more studies were conducted at the university level and in engineering, science, and social science disciplines.

This study analysed students' auto-photographs with transcripts to understand their conceptions of learning and to compare the differences among different grade levels. A total of 549 Taiwanese college students took photographs and wrote accompanying textual descriptions to illustrate how they conceptualised learning. A coding checklist was developed to analyse the characteristics of the students' auto-photography, and showed that their main view of learning was alone by themselves, the main learning contexts were outside of school, and observing/experiencing/thinking were the main learning activities. The textual data analysed using the content analysis method revealed nine categories of conceptions of learning, namely learning as memorising, gaining higher status, practicing tutorial problems, a process not bound by context or time, the increase of knowledge, applying, autonomous learning, understanding and seeing in a new way. In addition, in cross-sectional analysis, two main findings were revealed: (1) students' views of learning shifted from stereotypes of acquiring knowledge (e.g. teachers lecturing in classrooms) in the lower grade levels to observing/experiencing learning outside of school in the higher grade levels; and (2) higher-grade-level students possessed weaker autonomous learning conceptions than lower-grade-level students. The results of this study suggest a possible development trend of students' learning conceptions that warrants further investigation.

This study aimed to investigate the differences between pre-service teachers' (PSTs) perceived TPACK given the different clusters of their epistemic beliefs collected via a questionnaire. The responses gathered from 807 Chinese PSTs were utilised to elicit such a relationship. All of the participants responded to the Pre-service Teachers' Epistemic Belief (PTEB) survey and the Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) survey. The results of the cluster analysis revealed that the PSTs were characterised into three clusters according to their responses to the PTEB, labelled as the Positivist, Partial Constructivist and Constructivist clusters. The ANOVA revealed that the pre-service teachers in both the Positivist and Partial Constructivist clusters had stronger perceptions of their TPACK than did the Constructivist PSTs. The results imply that more nuanced approaches are needed to develop PSTs' TPACK with reference to their epistemic profiles. In addition, it seems that the epistemic nature of creating TPACK may need to be discussed explicitly to foster PSTs' epistemic developments.

Programming learning has become an essential literacy for computer science (CS) and non-CS students in the digital age. Researchers have addressed that students' conceptions of learning influence their approaches to learning, and thus impact their learning outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to uncover students' conceptions of programming learning (CoPL) and approaches to programming learning (APL), and analyzed the differences between CS and non-CS students. Phenomenographic analysis was adopted to analyze 31 college students (20 CS-related, and 11 not) from northern Taiwan. Results revealed six categories of CoPL hierarchically: (1) memorizing concepts, logic, and syntax; (2) computing and practicing programming writing; (3) expressing programmers' ideas and relieving pressure; (4) applying and understanding; (5) increasing one's knowledge and improving one's competence; and (6) seeing in a new way. Four categories of APL were also found, namely: (1) copying from the textbook, teachers, or others; (2) rote memory; (3) multiple exploration attempts; and (4) online or offline community interactions. Furthermore, we found that most CS students held higher level CoPL (e.g., seeing in a new way) than non-CS students. However, compared with non-CS students, CS students adopted more surface approaches to learning programming, such as copying and rote memory. Implications are discussed.

Background and context: Researchers have been looking into the complexity of computer science (CS) education and tried to apply rigorous and relevant educational research methods to understand and facilitate the learning experience of students. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore college students' conceptions of learning CS to shed light on student learning activities, feelings, contexts, and beliefs about their learning. Method: Draw-a-picture technique was used as an emerging research technique in CS education. Using a modified coding checklist, we analyzed the drawings into 9 categories with 50 sub-categories. Findings: College students most frequently expressed computer programming as the learning activity by illustrating syntax and semantics of programming languages in the drawings. Problem-solving constructs like decomposition and abstraction were also recorded along with other tools like diagramming techniques. Gender and prior computer science experience were analyzed as moderators. Implications: The results provide a baseline for future research on the topic and preliminary evidence in using the method to discern student learning conceptions in CS.

In recent years, in the field of education, there has been a clear progressive trend toward precision education. As a rapidly evolving AI technique, machine learning is viewed as an important means to realize it. In this paper, we systematically review 40 empirical studies regarding machine-learning-based precision education. The results showed that the majority of studies focused on the prediction of learning performance or dropouts, and were carried out in online or blended learning environments among university students majoring in computer science or STEM, whereas the data sources were divergent. The commonly used machine learning algorithms, evaluation methods, and validation approaches are presented. The emerging issues and future directions are discussed accordingly.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how engaging with a computer-supported collaborative knowledge-building environment helps students to develop a more sophisticated approach to scientific inquiry. A total of 52 undergraduate students took a course entitled "Introduction to Natural Sciences" that was based on knowledge-building pedagogy. They were engaged in using the Knowledge Forum (KF) to conduct scientific inquiries and construct scientific concepts through online collaboration. We analyzed (1) the contents of students' online discussions and (2) students' online activity logs. Data were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results indicated that (1) after engaging in scientific inquiry using KF, the students were able to develop more sophisticated scientific concepts; and (2) while the quality of the students' scientific inquiries was overall correlated with the quantity of their online activities, it was found that not all types of knowledge-building activities contribute to effective scientific inquiry. Only when the focus of students' online activities is placed on sustained idea improvement can the quality of their inquiries actually be enhanced. We discuss possible ways of improving how students conduct online inquiries.

Attaining coherence in writing remains a huge challenge for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This study investigated how EFL college students structured their expository essays and attained coherence in a content-based language learning course by comparing the effects of the cognitive and linguistic approaches. Three classes participated, each of which was introduced to a scaffold: linguistic Theme-Rheme (TR), an approach to examine text structure, cognitive concept mapping (CM), tools to structure content knowledge, and a traditional approach for the control group. Pre- and post-knowledge tests and post-intervention essays were collected. The results showed that prior knowledge and different organization strategies played different roles in predicting overall writing scores and, specifically, the organization scores. Generally, a wider range of organization features predicted CM group's essays. Among the organization features, linear thematic progression, often contributing to effective flow, consistently predicted both overall writing and organization scores in the combined samples, and had the strongest predictive power in the TR group. By contrast, none of the organization features was found to significantly predict the control group's writing performance. The results suggest that the two experimental approaches have different potentials in developing different organization strategies in attaining coherence in writing.

In this study, we reviewed 76 journal articles on employing drawing assessment as a research tool in science education. Findings from the systematic review suggest four justifications for using drawing as a type of research tool, including assessment via drawing as (a) an alternative method considering young participants' verbal or writing abilities, and affective or economic reasons, (b) a unique method that can reveal aspects not easily measured by other methods, (c) a major method that reflects characteristics of science subjects, and (d) a formative assessment to diagnose students' ideas to benefit their learning. Furthermore, five research trends of studies using drawing as assessment tools are identified, including: (a) students' conceptions of scientists from the Draw-a-Scientist-Test (DAST) and evolving studies, (b) students' understanding or mental models of science concepts, (c) participants' conceptions of science learning or teaching, (d) students' inquiry abilities and modelling skills via drawing, and (e) technology to support drawing. For each trend, we synthesised and commented on the current findings. A framework conceptualising phases and issues when designing research and instruments employing drawing assessments is proposed. The review provides insights into the design and future direction of research employing drawing assessments in science education.

This study developed a video playing system that incorporated two signaling devices, headings and table of contents, for supporting video learning and navigation. An experiment was conducted for understanding the effects of the system on learning and navigation performance of the immediate and delayed tests. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to three conditions: the structure heading group with the two signaling devices, the heading group with the heading device, and the control group without any signaling device. The results revealed several significant findings. First, the two signaling devices can effectively help learners remember the structural information, but not detailed video content. Second, the table of contents may be detrimental for learning and navigation when learners have enough time to view the whole video. Third, the table of contents is helpful for learners to quickly grasp the structural knowledge when they just have a little time to view the video. These findings are discussed and a new video playing system prototype is proposed.

This study investigated learners' conceptions of learning English and their online self-regulation in a web-based learning environment among. Two questionnaires, Conceptions of Learning English (COLE) and Online Self-regulation of English Learning (OSEL) were administered to 843 university students in China. Based on their different conceptions of learning English, participants were clustered into four groups. Two groups of students considered the process of learning English as understanding and seeing in a new way or being test-oriented. Another two groups consisted of students with high commitment to or low engagement in learning English. The results of ANOVA analysis and Scheffé's test revealed significant differences among the profiled participants in four groups. Students who considered learning English as understanding and seeing in a new way tended to have the strongest online self-regulatory competence. However, students who were test-oriented reported poorly in all aspects of online self-regulation. Our findings echoed previous studies on the relationship between conceptions of learning English and online self-regulation, particularly the negative association between learners' test-oriented conceptions of learning English and their online self-regulation. This research enables us to better understand English language learners in China, particularly in the era of information technology. Implications for practice or policy: (1) The research provided illuminating insights into four groups of learners about their conceptions of learning English and online self-regulation; (2) More challenging learning tasks should be assigned to students with high commitment and more interest-arousing learning tasks to students with low engagement; and (3) Teachers should guide learners who view learning English as seeing in a new way and being test-oriented, to balance their internal interests in learning English with concern about achieving success in examinations.

Close links between students' conceptions of and approaches to learning were established in the past research. However, only a few quantitative studies investigated this relationship particularly with regard to mobile learning (m-learning). The correlation between learners' conceptions and approaches to m-learning was analysed using a partial least squares analysis applied to data obtained from a sample of 971 undergraduate students in China. The results indicated that students' conceptions of m-learning could be classified into reproductive, transitional, and constructive levels. Students may hold multiple m-learning applications than a predominant one; hence, examining m-learning as one monolithic entity may provide limited information. Latent profile analysis identified four learning profiles based on students' preferred m-learning applications: passive, mixed, surface-supportive, and high-engagement.. Moreover, a general trend was observed, whereby students with reproductive and surface-supportive learning profiles showed a tendency to adopt surface approaches, whereas those expressing constructive and mixed learning profiles were more inclined to adopt deep approaches. Interestingly, students with transitional conceptions and high-engagement learning profiles tended to take both surface and deep approaches.

This study explored the relationships among preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching using mobile devices and the quality of technology integration in lesson plans. A total of 47 preservice teachers in Taiwan who had experienced designing their own lesson plans and teaching materials (ie, eBooks and applications) for teaching using mobile devices (ie, smart phones and tablet PCs) participated in this study. The results showed that four qualitatively different conceptions of teaching using mobile devices were identified, namely "technology support," "knowledge transmission," "learning facilitation," and "supporting students to learn." This study also found that the teachers who had more constructivist perceptions of teaching using mobile devices, such as facilitating students' understanding in a convenient way or supporting student learning in a more active way, appeared to attain better quality technology integration in their lesson plans than those teachers with traditional conceptions.

The flipped classroom has gained a great deal of attention in educational research and practice in recent years. The purposes of this study are to understand the relationship between students' online self-regulated learning (SRL) and their perceptions of learning in a flipped classrooms (FC), to identify possible mediators in this relationship, and to explain how this relationship predicts students' intentions to participate in an FC. Two questionnaires were used to gather data from 576 undergraduate or graduate students in Taiwan. The structural equation model showed that students' in-class interactions and online SRL are predictors of their perceived quality of usefulness of online learning activities and positive experience of FC, and these, in turn, associate with their intentional behaviours of participating in FC. While students' perceived value of interactions in physical classrooms directly related to their intentions to participate in FC, their online SRL predicts their intentions to participate in flipped learning only when mediated by the perceived quality of the usefulness of the online learning activities and positive experience of FC.

The purpose of the study was to measure graduate students' academic hardiness (GSAH) and academic self-efficacy (GSASE) and to examine the relationships between the two. A total of 202 graduate students across disciplines were recruited to complete two questionnaires (GSAH and GSASE). Results of exploratory factor analyses showed that the GSAH and GSASE were reliable for assessing graduate students' academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy. Comparing master's and doctoral students' scores in the GSAH and GSASE scales, we found that doctoral students outperformed master's students. The findings also revealed that three dimensions of GSAH (commitment, control of affect, and challenge) were strong predictors of graduate students' academic self-efficacy. These results confirm and strengthen the relation between graduate students' academic hardiness and academic self-efficacy. This study calls attention to graduate students' ability to recognize and appraise causes of their failure and to learn how to overcome academic difficulties.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest among language educators in implementing and researching collaborative learning in wiki-based learning environments. However, little empirical evidence has been reported about the role of EFL learners' online self-regulating capacity in their collaborative learning. This study used wiki-based literature circles as an instructional method to engage EFL learners in collaborative learning. Using a mixed research method, this study examined the under-researched relationship between learners' online self-regulation and their attitude toward learning through wiki-based literature circles activities. Quantitative data were collected from two surveys, the online self-regulated English learning (OSEL) and the attitude toward wiki-based literature circles (AWLC), among 228 university students in China. Qualitative data were collected from a follow-up interview of 13 participants to explore further the interplay between the students' online self-regulation and their attitude. The results indicated that students hold positive attitude toward learning through wiki-based literature circles in terms of perceived usefulness, self-efficacy, affection, and behavior. The findings partially confirmed the positive correlations between students' self-regulated learning strategies and their attitudes. More interestingly, stepwise regression analysis revealed that students' goal setting acted as a significant predicator of their perceived usefulness of and self-efficacy in completing wiki-based literature circles activities. Self-evaluation was found to be the variable to predict the learners' affection for and behavior in doing this task. This study highlighted the positive role of students' goal setting and self-evaluation for explaining their attitude toward wiki-based collaborative learning. Pedagogical implications and future work are also addressed.

Previous studies have revealed the close relationship between students' conceptions of and approaches to learning. However, few studies have explored this relationship in the field of learning mass communication. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationships between students' conceptions of learning mass communication (COLMC) and approaches to learning mass communication (ALMC). The two questionnaires were validated using a sample of 362 Taiwanese university students. Eight factors were derived from the COLMC questionnaire ("Memorizing," "Aiming for examination," "Video production," "Integrated marketing communication," "Increase of knowledge," "Applying," "Understanding," and "Seeing in a new way"), and five factors were derived from the ALMC questionnaire ("Deep motive," "Deep strategy," "Surface motive," "Surface strategy-narrow study target," and "Surface strategy-rote learning"). Two newly developed factors, "Video production" and "Integrated marketing communication" were added to COLMC as unique features for mass communication students. The results indicated that these two questionnaires exhibited adequate reliability for assessing students' conceptions of and approaches to learning mass communication. It was also found that the "Memorizing" and "Aiming for examination" factors in COLMC predicted students' surface strategies in learning mass communication. In addition, students with conceptions of "Integrated marketing communication" tended to adopt deep motive for learning mass communication. In conclusion, this study revealed the relationships between students' COLMC and ALMC in Taiwan. Furthermore, it may provide mass communication teachers with a better understanding of how students' conceptions of learning relate to their approaches to learning mass communication.

Science learning self-efficacy could be regarded as a multi-factor belief which comprises different aspects such as cognitive skills, practical work, and everyday application. However, few studies have investigated the relationships among these factors that compose science learning self-efficacy. Also, culture may play an important role in explaining the relationships among these factors. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate cultural differences in science learning self-efficacy and examine the relationships within factors constituting science learning self-efficacy by adopting a survey instrument for administration to students in the U.S. and Taiwan. A total of 218 university students (62.40% females) were surveyed in the U.S.A, and 224 university students (49.10% females) in Taiwan were also invited to take part in the study. The results of the structural equation modelling revealed cultural differences in the relationships among the factors of science learning self-efficacy. It was found that U.S. students' confidence in their ability to employ higher-order cognitive skills tended to promote their confidence in their ability to accomplish practical work, strengthening their academic self-efficacy. However, the aforementioned mediation was not found for the Taiwanese participants.

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between learners' online self-regulation and their self-efficacy in the context of learning English as a foreign language (EFL). We collected data from two surveys, the online self-regulated English learning (OSEL) and the English language self-efficacy (ELSE), among 424 university students in China. Principal component analyses showed that the OSEL included six sub-scales, namely, goal setting, environment structuring, task strategies, time management, help seeking and self-evaluation, while the ELSE consisted of four factors targeting self-efficacy in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The correlation analysis confirmed the associations between all scales of the OSEL and those of the ELSE. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that self-evaluation was the most powerful predictor for explaining participants' variance of self-efficacy in English listening, speaking, and reading. Moreover, learners' environment structuring could significantly explain their self-efficacy in both speaking and writing, whereas goal setting could only predict students' self-efficacy in writing. These findings reveal the intricate relationship between online self-regulation and self-efficacy among the EFL learners, and further highlights the positive role of learners' self-evaluation, environment structuring and goal setting for explaining their English language self-efficacy. Pedagogical implications and future research are discussed at the end of this paper.

Research on self-efficacy has been a productive field while limited studies have explored language learners' formation of academic self-efficacy. This quantitative study developed an instrument with two questionnaires for assessing English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' formation of self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy. It further investigated the complex relationship among learners' sources of self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy and their English proficiency. The participants were 700 EFL learners at a comprehensive university in China, who took a compulsory language course for improving their overall English proficiency. The results validated the two questionnaires and further confirmed the correlations among the three constructs. It is very striking to see that the 'social persuasion' played the most significant and positive role for predicting learners' academic self-efficacy and all aspects of English proficiency. Moreover, 'physiological states' were found as a negative predictor for explaining learners' achievements in English listening and reading. The research highlights the importance of socio-cultural factors during learners' formation of academic self-efficacy in China, particularly the significant roles played by the influential social agents. Implications are provided for reducing EFL learners' physiological stress and sustaining their academic self-efficacy for improving their language proficiency.

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in the flipped classroom model, and many flipped programs have been funded and implemented to explore the effectiveness of this new model. However, previous studies centering on comparative assessment have indicated that it is not always entirely successful in terms of promoting students' performance and/or satisfaction, which warrants further research on the contributing factors and driving mechanism accounting for students' perceptions of flipped settings. In order to fill this gap, in this study, a students' satisfaction model for the flipped classroom was constructed based on the experiential learning theory. A total of 178 undergraduate students in Mainland China participated in 32-week College English flipped classes, from whom 146 valid questionnaires were obtained. The proposed research model was evaluated through longitudinal surveys followed by the structural equation modeling technique. The results indicated that, compared with the designs of Personalized Learning Climate, learners' Prior Learning Experience is a far more significant antecedent for predicting their satisfaction. Furthermore, Perceived Quality (with five first-order dimensions) and Perceived Value are two vital mediators to student satisfaction. The implications of this study are also discussed.

Previous studies have examined the online research behaviors of graduate students in terms of how they seek and retrieve research-related information on the Web across diverse disciplines. However, few have focused on graduate students' searching activities, and particularly for their research tasks. Drawing on Kuiper, Volman, and Terwel's (2008) three aspects of web literacy skills (searching, reading, and evaluating), this qualitative study aims to better understand a group of graduate engineering students' searching, reading, and evaluating processes for research purposes. Through in-depth interviews and the think-aloud protocol, we compared the strategies employed by 22 Taiwanese graduate engineering students. The results showed that the students' online research behaviors included seeking and obtaining, reading and interpreting, and assessing and evaluating sources. The findings suggest that specialized training for preparing novice researchers to critically evaluate relevant information or scholarly work to fulfill their research purposes is needed. Implications for enhancing the information literacy of engineering students are discussed.

This paper reports on an investigation of adult online learning for 91 Taiwanese in-service preschool teachers enrolled in online degree programs. By using an open-ended written essay to investigate what learners thought they were learning through online education (their conceptions) and how they engaged in online education (their approaches), qualitatively different categories of conceptions and approaches were identified through a phenomenographic analysis approach. The results found that their conceptions of online education ranged from "a way of diploma completion" to "a way of lifelong learning," while their approaches ranged from "interacting with people" to "getting involved in the community of sharing." In addition, the teacher-learners with fragmented conceptions ("a way of diploma completion") tended to have surface approaches ("interacting with people"), and those with cohesive conceptions ("a way of lifelong learning") tended to have deep approaches in online education ("getting involved in the community of sharing").

This study investigated the relationships among college students' epistemic beliefs in biology (EBB), conceptions of learning biology (COLB), and strategies of learning biology (SLB). EBB includes four dimensions, namely "multiple-source," "uncertainty," "development," and "justification." COLB is further divided into "constructivist" and "reproductive" conceptions, while SLB represents deep strategies and surface learning strategies. Questionnaire responses were gathered from 303 college students. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed acceptable model fits. Mediation testing further revealed two paths with complete mediation. In sum, students' epistemic beliefs of "uncertainty" and "justification" in biology were statistically significant in explaining the constructivist and reproductive COLB, respectively; and "uncertainty" was statistically significant in explaining the deep SLB as well. The results of mediation testing further revealed that "uncertainty" predicted surface strategies through the mediation of "reproductive" conceptions; and the relationship between "justification" and deep strategies was mediated by "constructivist" COLB. This study provides evidence for the essential roles some epistemic beliefs play in predicting students' learning.

In the area of science education research, studies have attempted to investigate conceptions of learning, approaches to learning, and self-efficacy, mainly focusing on science in general or on specific subjects such as biology, physics, and chemistry. However, few empirical studies have probed students' earth science learning. This study aimed to explore the relationships among undergraduates' conceptions of, approaches to, and self-efficacy for learning earth science by adopting the structural equation modeling technique. A total of 268 Taiwanese undergraduates (144 females) participated in this study. Three instruments were modified to assess the students' conceptions of, approaches to, and self-efficacy for learning earth science. The results indicated that students' conceptions of learning made a significant contribution to their approaches to learning, which were consequently correlated with their learning self-efficacy. More specifically, students with stronger agreement that learning earth science involves applying the knowledge and skills learned to unknown problems were prone to possess higher confidence in learning earth science. Moreover, students viewing earth science learning as understanding earth science knowledge were more likely to adopt meaningful strategies to learn earth science, and hence expressed a higher sense of self-efficacy. Based on the results, practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Background: The sophistication of students' conceptions of science learning has been found to be positively related to their approaches to and outcomes for science learning. Little research has been conducted to particularly investigate students' conceptions of science learning by laboratory. Purpose: The purpose of this research, consisting of two studies, was to explore Taiwanese university science-major students' conceptions of learning science by laboratory (CLSL). Sample: In Study I, interview data were gathered from 47 university science-major students. In Study II, 287 university science-major students' responses to a CLSL survey were collected. Design and methods: In Study I, the interview data were analyzed using the phenomenographic method. Based on the findings derived from Study I, Study II developed an instrument for assessing students' CLSL by exploratory factor analysis. Results: Study I revealed six categories of CLSL, including memorizing, verifying, acquiring manipulative skills, obtaining authentic experience, reviewing prior learning profiles, and achieving indepth understanding. The factor analysis in Study II revealed that the "verifying" category was eliminated, but found another new category of "examining prior knowledge." Conclusions: This study finally proposes a framework to describe the variations of CLSL, consisting of three features: cognitive orientation, metacognitive orientation, and epistemic orientation. Possible factors influencing students' CLSL are also discussed.

The aim of this study was to explore Taiwanese college students' conceptions of and approaches to learning computer science and then explore the relationships between the two. Two surveys, Conceptions of Learning Computer Science (COLCS) and Approaches to Learning Computer Science (ALCS), were administered to 421 college students majoring in computer science-related departments in Taiwan. The COLCS survey included the following seven factors, in a hierarchical order: learning computer science as "Memorizing," "Testing," "Calculating and practicing," "Programming," "Increasing one's knowledge," "Application and understanding," and "Seeing in a new way." Particularly, differing from previous learning conception studies, one newly developed factor, "Programming," was added to COLCS to incorporate this unique feature for computer science students. The ALCS survey consisted of four factors: "Surface motive," "Surface strategy," "Deep motive," and "Deep strategy." The results showed that these two surveys were deemed to be sufficiently reliable for assessing students' conceptions of and approaches to learning computer science. It was also found that the "Programming" factor should be considered as a higher-level learning conception, similar to the other higher-level conceptions in COLCS such as "Increase one's knowledge," "Application and understanding," and "Seeing in a new way." Furthermore, the "Application" and "Understanding" factors were merged into a single factor, "Application and understanding," in this study. However, it was indicated that both Taiwanese college students' lower- and higher-level learning conceptions were positively correlated to their surface motivations to learn computer science.

This study investigates whether engaging college students (n = 42) in a knowledge building environment would help them work as a community to construct their collective knowledge of history of science and, accordingly, develop a more informed scientific view. The study adopted mixed-method analyses and data mainly came from surveys and student online discourse recorded in a database. Findings indicate that students' knowledge building activities were conducive to the development of their online collaboration as a learning process and the effective collective knowledge work concerning natural science history as a learning outcome. Moreover, students were able to attain a more constructivist-oriented epistemic view that sees scientific theories as invented, tentative, and improvable objects. Finally, based on course reflection, students also regarded their collective learning experiences in this course as meaningful and productive.

The main purposes of this study were to identify Taiwanese university students' physics learning profiles in terms of their critical conceptions of learning physics and to compare their physics learning self-efficacy with the different learning profiles. A total of 250 Taiwanese undergraduates who were majoring in physics participated in this study and were invited to complete two instruments, physics learning profile and physics learning self-efficacy (PLSE). The main results indicated that, first, the two instruments developed in this study had satisfactory validity and reliability. Second, three fundamental physics learning profiles, the "reproductive," "transitional," and "constructive" profiles, were characterized based on the cluster analysis. It is also evident that the three learning profiles demonstrated different levels of self-efficacy for the five PLSE dimensions. The students with a reproductive profile tended to possess the lowest PLSE across the five dimensions. The students with a transitional profile may possess higher confidence in higher-order cognitive skills and laboratory activities than those with a reproductive profile. However, only those with a constructive profile, highlighting a comprehensive understanding of physics knowledge/concepts as well as de-emphasizing physics learning as preparing for tests and calculating and practising tutorial problems, possessed stronger PLSE in applying what they learned to real-world contexts as well as in scientifically communicating with others.

This research surveyed three hundred and ninety pre-service and three hundred and ninety four in-service teachers with regards to the seven factors of technological pedagogical content knowledge, their beliefs about constructivist oriented teaching (CB) and design disposition (DD). Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the survey based on the nine-factor model had high reliability and validity. Significant differences between pre-service and in-service teachers in the TPACK factors and CB and DD were found and the differences reveal that the pre-service teachers are less knowledgeable and confident with regards to all the factors. In order to identify predictors of TPACK, the research further explores the relationships among TPACK factors, CB and DD through structural equation models. The findings reveal that DD consistently predict both pre-service and in-service teachers' TPACK and this provide support about the importance of design disposition for TPACK advancement. However, CB does not predict the pre-service teachers' TPACK. In addition, CB is a significantly negative predictor for the in-service teachers' TPACK. The findings may imply that while the inservice teachers believe strongly in constructivist oriented teaching, they need further professional development in designing instruction to actualize their desired form of education.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between Chinese higher education students' epistemic beliefs and their judgmental standards of searching for literature online. Data were collected from 449 higher education students (152 college students and 297 graduate students) in Beijing via two self-reported questionnaires: one was the Epistemic Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ), including four scales (Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge, and Certainty of Knowledge); the other was the Online Judgmental Standards of Searching for Literature Questionnaire (OJSSLQ), consisting of six scales (Multiple sources, Authority, Content, Quantitative Indicators, Clarity, and Ease of Access). Through exploratory factor analyses, this study confirmed the reliability and validity of the EBQ and OJSSLQ. Further analyses indicated that there were significant differences between college and graduate students for the Content and Ease of Access judgmental standards of searching for literature online whereby graduate students had higher standards for these two factors, but there were no differences for the other factors. Correlation analysis between the EBQ and OJSSLQ was conducted for the college and graduate students. An interplay between the students' epistemic beliefs and their evaluative standards of searching for literature online was found. For example, the results indicated that both college and graduate students with the epistemic belief that learning requires great efforts and processes (Learning Effort/Process) had the tendency to judge the academic information by the standards of Authority and Content (i.e. checking the authority of literature or carefully reading the content). This study also found that epistemic beliefs might increasingly play a role in the students' judgmental standards of searching for literature online as they progressed into advanced study.

This study investigates 201 Singaporean teachers' perceptions of their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), lesson design practices, and design dispositions through a survey instrument. Investigation of these constructs reveal important variables influencing teachers' perceptions of TPACK which have not yet been explored. The confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis confirm the validity and reliability of the instrument. The structural equation model shows that the teachers' perceptions of design dispositions (orientations towards design) and lesson design practices (approaches used for lesson design) have direct relationships with the teachers' perceptions of TPACK. The results of this study show that to enhance teachers' TPACK perceptions, teacher educators need to help teachers develop lesson design practices that support ideation and iteration. They also need to develop teachers' design dispositions that are amenable to exploring and resolving conflicting lesson design ideas. Going beyond TPACK, understandings of teachers' lesson design practices and design dispositions are important for teacher educators to better design professional development for integration of information and communications technology.

This study examined the gender difference in students' perceived discussion strategies in face-to-face and online asynchronous contexts. A survey of 363 university students and follow-up interviews of 20 participants was conducted to examine any gender differences within each context and between the two contexts. The Discussion Strategies Scale was developed to examine students' discussion strategies for both contexts in four dimensions: comprehension, interaction, elaboration and anxiety. The results show that no gender difference was found within the face-to-face context; however, within the online asynchronous context, the females perceived themselves better than did the males regarding their elaboration strategies. Although both genders experienced less anxiety in asynchronous discussion, the males perceived themselves as having better strategies in face-to-face discussion than in asynchronous discussion and the females perceived themselves as having about the same level of sophistication in both contexts. This study provides an in-depth observation of how both genders adapt themselves to different discussion contexts. We conclude that female students adapted themselves, as strategic learners, better than the males in asynchronous learning situations in which the male students were not as active as they were in traditional face-to-face discussion contexts.

This study aims to explore Taiwanese university students' conceptions of learning biology as memorizing or as understanding, and their self-efficacy. To this end, two questionnaires were utilized to survey 293 Taiwanese university students with biology-related majors. A questionnaire for measuring students' conceptions of memorizing and understanding was validated through an exploratory factor analysis of participants' responses. As for the questionnaire regarding the students' biology learning self-efficacy (BLSE), an exploratory factor analysis revealed a total of four factors including higher-order cognitive skills (BLSE-HC), everyday application (BLSE-EA), science communication (BLSE-SC), and practical works (BLSE-PW). The results of the cluster analysis according to the participants' conceptions of learning biology indicated that students in the two major clusters either viewed learning biology as understanding or possessed mixed-conceptions of memorizing and understanding. The students in the third cluster mainly focused on memorizing in their learning while the students in the fourth cluster showed less agreement with both conceptions of memorizing and understanding. This study further revealed that the conception of learning as understanding was positively associated with the BLSE of university students with biology-related majors. However, the conception of learning as memorizing may foster students' BLSE only when such a notion co-exists with the conception of learning with understanding.

The purposes of this study were to investigate the measurement invariance and gender differences in the Internet-specific epistemic beliefs between male and female undergraduates. A total of 735 university students in Taiwan were surveyed using the Internet-specific epistemic beliefs questionnaire (ISEQ). By conducting structural equation modeling (SEM), the measurement invariance and latent mean comparisons across gendered groups were tested. After the invariance tests were all satisfied, the latent mean analysis approach was conducted. The results of the latent mean comparisons revealed that a gender gap occurred in the uncertainty, complexity and source of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs; however no gender difference was found in the justification dimension. In general, the study findings suggest that differences in beliefs regarding Internet-based knowledge exist between undergraduate males and females. The gendered issue of Internet-based learning and epistemic beliefs cannot be ignored. Finally, some suggestions for developing Internet-related curricula and instruction were also proposed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of cognitive load experience between students' scientific epistemic beliefs and information commitments, which refer to online evaluative standards and online searching strategies. A total of 344 science-related major students participated in this study. Three questionnaires were used to ascertain the students' scientific epistemic beliefs, information commitments, and cognitive load experience. Structural equation modeling was then used to analyze the moderating effect of cognitive load, with the results revealing its significant moderating effect. The relationships between sophisticated scientific epistemic beliefs and the advanced evaluative standards used by the students were significantly stronger for low than for high cognitive load students. Moreover, considering the searching strategies that the students used, the relationships between sophisticated scientific epistemic beliefs and advanced searching strategies were also stronger for low than for high cognitive load students. However, for the high cognitive load students, only one of the sophisticated scientific epistemic belief dimensions was found to positively associate with advanced evaluative standard dimensions.

Online information searching tasks are usually implemented in a technology-enhanced science curriculum or merged in an inquiry-based science curriculum. The purpose of this study was to examine the role students' different levels of scientific epistemic beliefs (SEBs) play in their online information searching strategies and behaviors. Based on the measurement of an SEB survey, 42 undergraduate and graduate students in Taiwan were recruited from a pool of 240 students and were divided into sophisticated and naïve SEB groups. The students' self-perceived online searching strategies were evaluated by the Online Information Searching Strategies Inventory, and their search behaviors were recorded by screen-capture videos. A sequential analysis was further used to analyze the students' searching behavioral patterns. The results showed that those students with more sophisticated SEBs tended to employ more advanced online searching strategies and to demonstrate a more metacognitive searching pattern.

Past studies investigating university level students' views of nature of science (NOS) were relatively few and most of them were conducted in Western countries. This paper focuses upon comparing the quantitative patterns in Western (US Caucasian and African-American) and non-Western (Taiwanese) students' views of NOS (VNOS) by adopting a survey instrument. This analysis combined with qualitative data begin to uncover details of potential cultural differences in patterns specifically in the US educational context by comparing Caucasian and African-American student responses to a question from a commonly used assessment of VNOS. Results show different patterns of views along the four dimensions of NOS (social negotiation, invented/creative NOS, cultural impacts, and changing/tentative feature of science) according to student major, student gender, and student ethnicity. These differences and similarities have the potential to impact undergraduate education and underrepresentation of cultural minorities in science careers and call for further research into NOS views in the context of diverse student groups.

Epistemic beliefs have been considered as important components of the self-regulatory model; however, their relationships with self-regulated learning processes in the Internet context need further research. The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between Internet-specific epistemic belief dimensions and self-regulated learning activities while using the Internet for academic information searching. A total of 758 university students were sampled in this study. Through factor analyses, four dimensions of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs were identified, labeled as certainty of Internet-based knowledge, simplicity of Internet-based knowledge, source of Internet-based knowledge, and justification for Internet-based knowing. Factor analyses also revealed two dimensions of self-regulated learning while using the Internet for academic searching, namely preparatory self-regulated learning (i.e., task definition as well as goal setting and planning) and enactment self-regulated learning (i.e., controlling, monitoring, and reflecting). The results of the structural relationship analysis indicated that the preparatory phase of self-regulated learning positively correlated with Internet-specific epistemic beliefs relating to justification for Internet-based knowing, and was also negatively associated with two other dimensions of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs regarding simplicity of Internet-based knowledge and source of Internet-based knowledge. In addition, preparatory self-regulated learning mediated the relationships between these three dimensions of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and the enactment phase of self-regulated learning.

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in chemistry. Two questionnaires, conceptions of learning chemistry (COLC) and approaches to learning chemistry (ALC), were developed to identify 369 college chemistry-major students' (220 males and 149 females) conceptions of and approaches to learning chemistry. First, it was found that students in higher grade levels (juniors and seniors) tended to express more agreement with higher-level COLC, such as learning chemistry by transforming, than those in lower grades (freshmen and sophomores). The regression analyses, in general, revealed that the students who expressed lower-level COLC, such as learning chemistry by memorizing and preparing for tests, tended to use surface approaches to learning chemistry, whereas those students possessing higher-level COLC, that is, learning chemistry by transforming, tended to use deep approaches to learning chemistry. However, inconsistent with theoretical perspectives, this study revealed that learning chemistry by memorizing could positively predict a deep motive for learning chemistry, while learning chemistry by transforming was associated with a surface motive for learning chemistry. The special features of learning chemistry which might account for these relationships are discussed.

Teacher-centered instruction has been widely adopted in college computer science classrooms and has some benefits in training computer science undergraduates. Meanwhile, student-centered contexts have been advocated to promote computer science education. How computer science learners respond to or prefer the two types of teacher authority, student-centered versus teacher-centered, has not yet been fully examined. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to probe how preference for teacher-centered learning or student-centered learning may affect self-efficacy in learning computer science among undergraduate computer science majors. The participants were 804 college computer science majors across Taiwan. They anonymously responded to the "Teacher Authority Scale" (with four subscales: "Preference for autonomy," "Preference for participative management," "Preference for dependency," and "Preference for teacher control") and the "Self-efficacy in Learning Computer Science Scale." Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to delineate two sets of variables. The results indicate that preference for autonomy in computer science learning positively predicts self-efficacy in learning computer science with the strongest coefficient. Computer science learner preference for teacher control is also a positive predictor. However, preference for participation in managing the computer class and preference for depending on the teacher did not play a significant role in the students' self-efficacy in learning computer science.

The application of information and communication technology in instruction is highly emphasized in the contemporary education of science teachers. This paper hence aims to explore science teachers' perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) addressing teachers' perceptions of the affordances of technology application in instruction. A total of 222 pre- and in-service science teachers in Singapore were surveyed. Structural equation models analysis was utilized to examine the model of TPACK involving the seven factors of technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), as well as synthesized knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content (TPC). The results confirm the seven-factor model and indicate that the science teachers' perceived TPC significantly and positively correlated with all the other TPACK factors. This paper further reveals the relationships between the science teachers' perceptions of TPACK and their demographic characteristics such as teaching experience, gender, and age. The findings indicate that female science teachers perceive higher self-confidence in pedagogical knowledge but lower self-confidence in technological knowledge than males. Further, female in-service science teachers' perceptions of TK, TPK, TCK, and TPC significantly and negatively correlate with their age.

This study is an initial attempt to explore the relationship between conditions, students' conceptions of and approaches to online argumentation. A total of 45 college students participated in the study. Twenty-one students participated in online argumentation activities with no cognitive tool (in the control condition), and 24 students undertook the same online argumentation tasks with the cognitive tool of question prompts (in the experimental condition). The results showed that in the both conditions, the students with fragmented conceptions tended to adopt surface approaches. Particularly, students in the experimental condition develop potentially deeper approaches, but the conditions with the question prompts probably had little influence on their conceptions of online argumentation. (Contains 9 tables and 3 figures.)

The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire (called the Conceptions of Learning Management [COLM] inventory) to assess students' six categories of learning management (i.e. the learning of management), including learning management as "memorizing," "testing,'" "applying," "gaining higher status," "understanding" and "seeing in a new way." Testing the scales with 428 students confirmed a six-factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis, and indicated an acceptable reliability and validity. The results also revealed gender and grade level differences in students' conceptions of learning management. Moreover, the "testing" conception was negatively correlated with the conceptions of "applying," "gaining higher status," "understanding" and "seeing in a new way." Possible reasons were discussed through a follow-up interview study, showing that students who agreed more with the "testing" conception regarded tests as a motivation for studying, while students agreeing less focused more on applying and understanding knowledge than on preparing for tests in learning management. (Contains 1 figure and 7 tables.)

Students' online academic help seeking (OAHS) can be facilitated by the aid of technology, but improvement in OAHS may also involve personal variables such as self-regulated learning (SRL), and "information commitments" (ICs), which are evaluative standards and strategies of online information. Accordingly, three instruments--an OAHS, an SRL, and an ICs questionnaire--were adopted to explore the role of SRL and ICs in the OAHS of 328 university students in Taiwan. The results verify that the students' perceived SRL mediates the relationships between their perceptions of their ICs and OAHS to some degree. The enhancement of learners' SRL may encourage their use of sophisticated ICs when involved in OAHS. When the students made informal OAHS queries, however, they tended to use less sophisticated strategies, and the significance of their perceived SRL was not apparent. This study contributes to a better understanding of university students' online academic help seeking. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.)