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The goal of this article is to propose a framework for understanding the nature of "how people construct problems" by interacting with situations and subsequently to offer implications for instructional design and future research. We propose that people must interactively frame the components of a situation in order to establish the meaning of a problem to solve. Although this interactive meaning-making process is critical to real-world problem solving, little research has been devoted to understanding the nature of interactive problem-framing or how to support students in framing problems effectively. Therefore, in this paper, we attempt to approach problem-framing from the perspective of cognitive theories focused on situated interactivity and propose a synthesized conceptual model based on the interaction of agents and context. We argue that solving a real-world problem involves a process of building it (the problem) by interactively shaping distributed situational resources into structures of meaning aimed towards the resolution of perceived contradictions. Using the key elements of the model, we also propose opportunities for future empirical research and possible implications for instructional design that can help facilitate the development of students' abilities to meaningfully frame problems.

Echoing the increasing emphasis on STEM literacy, computational thinking has become a national priority in K-12 schools. Scholars have acknowledged abstraction as the keystone of computational thinking. To foster K-12 students' computational thinking and STEM literacy, students' ability to think abstractly should be enhanced. However, the existing curriculum in K-12 education may not adequately equip learners with the proper abstraction needed for the STEM workforce. Given the absence of a synthesized understanding of abstraction, effective instructional guidance for fostering student abstraction is also elusive. To overcome the gap in understanding abstraction, we attempted to conceptualize a synthesized framework of abstraction in computational thinking and proposed a set of design guidelines that may enhance students' uptake of abstraction. In this paper, we describe the importance of abstraction in computational thinking and existing challenges in developing students' ability to perform abstraction. Then, by reviewing the cognitive dimensions of abstraction and the role of abstraction in computing education, we identify three cognitive processes underlying abstraction in computational thinking (e.g., filtering information, locating similarities, and mapping problem structures). We thereby propose a conceptual framework of abstraction in computational thinking. Finally, design guidelines for fostering abstraction in computational thinking are provided with illustrated examples of a tailored STEM-integrative learning environment.

Reflection has been emphasized as crucial for learning and development. Yet, the social dimension of reflection is under-researched. Thus, this article proposes a conceptual framework to shed light on the social aspect of reflection and promote consistent and coherent research on group reflection. The authors first revisited reflection to recognize and justify the importance of group reflection as an explicit form of reflective practice in social contexts. Next, we conducted a 10-year (2010-2020) systematic review to examine the recent research on group reflection and identify gaps for future investigation. Based on the review findings, group composition and guidance on the practice were identified as two critical features in examining how individuals reflect at the interpersonal level to construct shared understanding within the group. Considering individuals' attributes as the source for various group compositions, we propose a three-dimensional framework to direct research on group reflection, including dimensions of (a) personal attributes, (b) group diversity, and (c) guidance on group reflection. This conceptual framework includes key attributes of group composition and four categories of guidance that may influence group reflection. Furthermore, we illustrate the application of the conceptual framework in three main research areas with specific examples of research questions. Last, we discuss the implications for future research beyond the conceptual framework.

The fast-paced advances in technology and scientific knowledge in the 21st century call for learners to possess professional skills that complement their technical skills to make meaningful contributions in communities. This article introduces a cross-disciplinary leadership training program, Graduate Scholars Leadership, Engagement, and Development (GS LEAD), that was designed and implemented to train students in professional skills including problem-solving, interdisciplinary teamwork, leadership, communication, and engagement. This training program provided learning opportunities for incoming graduate students to work beyond their laboratories, across disciplines, and into communities to identify real-world problems and design sustainable solutions. The design and implementation of the program, the findings of participating students' development in Program Year 1, and suggestions for future program design are discussed.

Graduate education advances students' competencies and skills to prepare them as professionals and should provide various learning experiences to support their development as socially responsible professionals who meet role expectations. Learning experiences that support the development of students' professionalism are discussed in the research, but limitations lie in understanding the constructs of professionalism. In response, this study examined formal and informal learning experiences that influence graduate students' understanding of professionalism and relevant learning experiences that support the development of professionalism. The study concludes with the implications of possible instructional strategies that can be used to promote professionalism in higher education.

Failure is an inevitable human experience, which can offer great learning opportunities. Yet, in current educational contexts, failure has largely been eschewed to minimize students' frustration and confusion. Such a failure-avoidance approach is also reflected in the cases used for instruction. To maximize learning, more studies are needed to explore effective ways to better utilize failure cases for educational purposes. This qualitative study aimed to explore how students perceived their experience of learning a case-based online module that uses failure cases and discover in what ways using failure cases in the module impacted students' perceived learning experience. To answer the research questions, 16 3rd-year veterinary students were recruited for individual interviews. Learning experience survey data and students' written responses to reflection and review questions embedded in the module were collected from 38 students. Through thematic analysis of the interview data and students' written responses, three themes regarding students' learning experience were identified, including engaged in the module both cognitively and emotionally, enjoyed listening to experts' feedback, and eye-opening and reassuring experience of hearing experts' failure stories, which were supported by survey results. Regarding the impact of using failure cases on students' perceived learning experience, four major themes are identified including enhancing engagement, emotional reassurance and confidence builder, creating bigger impact, and encouraging improvement. Based on the discussions of the findings of the study, implications for instructional design regarding the use of failure cases are provided to help educators create more effective case-based learning environments.

Employing authentic cases experienced by practitioners in educational contexts is critical to expanding students' experience and engaging students in authentic problems to promote their real-world problem-solving skills. Although in real life, practitioners experience both success and failure and learn from both, little research has been done so far to conceptualize why and how failure should be employed in case-based learning (CBL) as a way to develop students' abilities to solve ill-structured problems. The goal of this paper is to theoretically justify the need for integrating failure cases in CBL to help students become better problem solvers. To achieve this, this paper attempted to approach failure from the perspective of human error and proposed a classification of failure based on the degree of explicitness of human error involved in problem solving. Based on discussions of potential benefits and challenges of integrating different types of failure cases in education, this paper also proposed instructional design strategies that can help facilitate better use of failure cases.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between students' patterns of reflective thinking and their performance in solving design problems. Reflective thinking is a critical element in the process of solving ill-defined design problems. Many educators are dedicated to finding ways to promote students' reflection. Yet few empirical studies attempt to explore the relationship between reflective thinking and design performance. 44 students enrolled in a Biomedical Microelectromechanical Systems and Medical Devices course participated in this study. Through a self-assessed questionnaire, students' reflection patterns were collected in three areas: timing of reflection, objects of reflection, and levels of reflection. Also, students' performance scores on their team project in biomedical device design were collected. The results revealed a general pattern of student designers' reflection behaviors and a number of significant different reflection patterns between high-performing and low-performing students as they approached a design problem-solving task. Implications for supporting students' reflective thinking and enhancing their problem-solving abilities in design tasks were discussed.

This study investigated the case-based method (CBM) instructional-design theory and its application in designing self-directed online instruction. The purpose of this study was to validate and refine the theory for a self-directed online instruction context. Guided by formative research methodology, this study first developed an online tutorial based on 13 design assumptions synthesized from the CBM literature. The researchers then formatively evaluated the online tutorial as a design instance of CBM through two iterations of design, evaluation, and revision. The major findings included: (1) perceived value of various CBM design features, (2) benefits and limitations of applying CBM in the tutorial design, and (3) validation and revision of a set of generic and context-specific CBM design assumptions. These findings extend our understanding of CBM to the context of self-directed online instruction and provide useful insights and practical guidance to inform instructional design practices.

One of the important goals of problem-based learning (PBL) in medical education is to enhance medical students' clinical reasoning--hypothetico-deductive reasoning (HDR) in particular--through small group discussions. However, few studies have focused on explicit strategies for promoting students' HDR during group discussions in PBL. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework that integrates Toulmin's argumentation model (1958) into Barrows's HDR process (1994). This framework explains the structure of argumentation (a claim, data, and a warrant) contextualized in each phase of HDR during PBL. This paper suggests four instructional strategies--understanding argument structures, questioning, elaborating on structural knowledge, and assessing argumentation--for promoting medical students' argumentation in relation to HDR processes. Further implications of the proposed framework for other disciplines, such as science, legal, and engineering education, are also discussed.

The article discusses the development and implementation of eMPACTTM, a career navigation system for clinical research coordinators (CRCs). The system aims to provide tailored training and job opportunities based on CRCs' competencies and career goals. It emphasizes the importance of purposeful training and career support for CRCs, as well as data-driven decision-making in career advancement. The eMPACTTM system has shown promising results in supporting individual career advancement and enhancing workforce diversity, but further research is needed to evaluate its long-term impact and expand its services to other sectors of the clinical research profession. [Extracted from the article]

How people learn is influenced by the cultural contexts in which their learning occurs. This qualitative case study explored challenges Korean medical students and tutors experienced during their PBL sessions from a cultural perspective using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Twelve preclinical medical students and nine tutors from a large Korean medical school participated in interviews. The interview data were analyzed using the constant comparative method and classified according to Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Twenty-two themes emerged within the following overarching categories: large power distance (6 themes), high uncertainty avoidance (6), individualism (3), collectivism (4), and masculinity/short-term orientation (3). This article discusses culturally responsive solutions with regard to each cultural dimension, which would help overcome these challenges and enhance the experiences of students and tutors with PBL.

To date, many instructional systems are designed to support learners as they progress through a problem-solving task. Often these systems are designed in accordance with instructional design models that progress the learner efficiently through the problem-solving process. However, theories from various fields have discussed failure as a strategic way to engender learning. Although researchers suggest that failure may be an element of problem-solving, no models have discussed how to employ failure strategically within instructional design. Given this gap, we first present failure-based research from various theoretical frameworks. Based on the research, we proffer failure-based principles for learning systems design. Implications and future research are also discussed.

Reflection is a critical factor in solving design problems. Using good methods to observe designers' reflection is essential to inform the design of the learning environments that support the development of design problem-solving skills. In this study, we have developed and validated a novel self-reporting questionnaire as an efficient instrument to explore reflection, called Assessing Reflective Thinking in Solving Design Problems (ARTiD). This questionnaire has been developed based on the three-dimensional model for reflective thinking: the timing, the objects and the levels of reflection. A total of 294 undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of engineering, computer science and instructional design were recruited to participate in one of four iterative, formative tests through which reliability and validity analyses were performed to revise and confirm the questionnaire. Examples of participants' reflection patterns were demonstrated to show the practical value of this questionnaire. In conclusion, the final version of ARTiD was presented as a valid instrument to explore students' reflection for research and educational practice. In addition, we found that ARTiD can be used as an effective learning tool to guide student designers' reflections toward better learning and performance.

Design tasks are omnipresent in our everyday lives. Previous research shows that reflective thinking is one of the critical factors in solving design problems. Related research has attempted to capture designers' reflective thinking process. Yet a close inspection of designers' reflective thinking taking place during their design process demands further effort. To understand designer's reflective practice and to find better ways to promote novices' reflective thinking in solving real-world design problems, a comprehensive model was developed. This model identified three dimensions to guide the understanding of designers' reflective thinking during a design process: (1) the timing of reflection, indicating the points in the process where reflective thinking occurs, (2) the objects of reflection, showing the different types of objects that designers may reflect upon, and (3) the levels of reflection, referring to the different levels of designers' reflection. This model provides for meaningful aspects of reflective thinking to be situated in a design process, which can guide educators and instructional designers in developing appropriate learning environments for facilitating novice and practicing designers' reflective thinking. Moreover, the model can serve as a stepping stone for further research.

This study explores how students' learning styles influence their learning while solving complex problems when a case-based e-learning environment is implemented in a conventional lecture-oriented classroom. Seventy students from an anaesthesiology class at a dental school participated in this study over a 3-week period. Five learning-outcome tests and two course-satisfaction surveys were implemented during the case-based instruction using a blended approach (online and face-to-face). The results of one-way ANOVAs with repeated measures revealed that the four learning styles (active-reflective, sensing-intuitive, visual-verbal, sequential-global) did not influence students' learning experience and learning outcomes during the implementation of case-based e-learning. However, the pattern of the students' performance graph and further analysis with a liberal approach implied that the active-reflective learning style may influence learning outcomes slightly at an earlier time during the case-based learning implementation; however, as time passed, this learning style no longer influenced their learning at all. Thus, learning styles may not be considered important or may be considered only during the early stages of instructional implementation in order to facilitate the students' transition to the new case-based learning environment. It is more efficient to encourage students to adapt to different learning environments than to design adaptive systems in order to embrace diverse learning styles.

This design-based research study is aimed at two goals: (1) developing a feasible case-based instructional model that could enhance college students' ill-structured problem solving abilities, while (2) implementing the model to improve teacher education students' real-world problem solving abilities to deal with dilemmas faced by practicing teachers in elementary classrooms. To achieve these goals, an online case-based learning environment for classroom management problem solving (CBL-CMPS) was developed based on Jonassen's (in: Reigeluth (ed.) "Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, 1999") constructivist learning environment model and the general process of ill-structured problem solving (1997). Two successive studies, in which the effectiveness of the CBL-CMPS was tested while the CBL-CMPS was revised, showed that the individual components of the CBL-CMPS promoted ill-structured problem solving abilities respectively, and that the CBL-CMPS as a whole learning environment was effective to a degree for the transfer of learning in ill-structured problem solving. The potential, challenge, and implications of the CBL-CMPS are discussed.

No one would disagree that one of the major goals of higher education is to help college students develop as professionals who are able to deal with real-world problems in complex and dynamic situations, and who can make reasoned and reflective decisions with ethical and moral responsibility. In spite of the importance of promoting students' ill-defined, real-world problem-solving abilities in higher education, the reality is that college instructors are challenged by the difficulty of creating such a learning environment in their classrooms. Among many reasons, the authors consider a primary one to be the lack of research-based, feasible learning methods, resources, and tools that can be easily adapted by overloaded college instructors. In this paper, the authors introduce the Case-Based Learning for Classroom Management Problem Solving (CBL-CMPS) project, which was funded by The Center for Learning and Teaching at the University of Georgia. This project aimed at two interrelated goals. First, they wanted to develop a "feasible" case-based learning environment model that can enhance college students' ill-defined, real-world problem solving in general. Second, they wanted to improve teacher-education students' ill-defined problem-solving abilities, particularly in classroom management issues, by developing and implementing a theory-driven, case-based learning environment. The process of their ongoing design and implementation of this instructional intervention is iterative. In this paper, the authors present some snapshots of their experience with analysis, design, and implementation. (Contains 5 figures.)

In this article, we report a research project on web-based case instruction that was developed and implemented to allow prospective early childhood teachers to be exposed to various dilemmas faced by practicing teachers. The goal of this project was to design an instructional tool and method that could help prospective teachers expand their notion of classroom management beyond a set of techniques. We collected 23 prospective teachers' pre and postessays before and after the 3-week implementation of the web-based case instruction, along with surveys and a focus group interview data. The initial data analysis results indicated that this instructional method was effective for (a) promoting prospective teachers' awareness of multiple perspectives, (b) encouraging them to explore diverse ways of problem solving, and (c) articulating their justification based on a sense of moral responsibility and affective engagement. We conclude with implications for future research and early childhood teacher education.

This study investigates how the combination of instructor modeling and question prompts for peer-questioning influences students' online questioning and answering activities. Fourteen students in a turfgrass management online class at a large land-grant university participated in two three-week sessions of online discussion. Two randomly selected small groups (n = 6) received question prompts and instructor modeling while the other two discussion groups (n = 8) did not. Their online interactions (frequency, length, and type of questions) and selected follow-up telephone interviews were analyzed. The results of the descriptive statistics of students' online activities and the interview reveal that the instructor's participation in online discussion played a critical role in modeling students' questioning activities and in facilitating students' continuous use of the given online peer questioning guidance. Thus, the combination of instructor modeling and question prompts is more effective than providing either strategy alone. The results are discussed from the viewpoint of distributed scaffolding. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

Although many benefits of case-based instruction with multimedia have been reported, there are few empirical studies of how the benefits of multimedia case-based instructions (MCBIs) are mediated by students' individual differences, such as their learning styles. Understanding the relationships between students' learning styles and the learning benefits of MCBIs is important not only for the effective design of case instructions, but also for their appropriate use. The purpose of this study is to investigate how students' learning styles (sensing-intuitive, sequential-global, active-reflective, and visual-verbal dimensions) interact with the students' perceived benefits from the MCBI lesson in order to redesign the MCBI that accommodates students' diverse learning styles. Fifty-seven fourth-year students in a dental school participated in this study. The students were given a one-hour long lesson of MCBI for anesthesiology through the Internet. Then, students' learning styles and their learning experience with the instruction were collected through the Internet. The results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that sensing, sequential, and reflective learners tended to have a more meaningful learning experience with the given MCBI lesson compared with intuitive, global, and active learners. The implications for the design of MCBI and the recommendations for further studies are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.) [Part of this research was sponsored by Educate Co., Ltd. in Seoul, Korea.]

Meaningful discussion that facilitates reflective thinking can be initiated when learners raise thoughtful questions or provide critical feedback; however, generating effective questions requires a certain level of domain knowledge and meta-cognitive skills of the question-askers. We propose a peer-questioning scaffolding framework intended to facilitate meta-cognition and learning through scaffolding effective peer-questioning in online discussion. This framework assumes that novice students who lack domain and meta-cognitive knowledge can be scaffolded to generate meaningful interactions at an early stage of learning and the resulting peer-generated adaptive questions can facilitate learners' meta-cognition. Thus, this study investigated the effects of providing online scaffolding for generating adaptive questions to peers during online small group discussion. A field experimental time-series control-group design was employed as a mixed model for the research design. Thirty-nine college students from an online introductory class on turf grass management participated in the study. The findings revealed that the scaffolds were useful to increase the frequency of student questioning behavior during online discussion. For some students, the online guidance reportedly served as "a starting point" to generate questions when they had difficulty asking questions. However, the guidance did not improve the quality of questions and thus learning outcomes. The interview data indicated that peer-generated adaptive questions served a critical role in facilitating learner's reflection and knowledge reconstruction. Further study should focus on the quality improvement of peer-generated questions while considering adaptive and dynamic forms of scaffolding and intermediate factors such as prior knowledge, meta-cognition, task complexity, and scaffolding type.

Shares results of the authors' attempts to build a simulation model of the potential impacts of Web-based learning on various university sub-systems such as libraries, facilities, and budgets. The authors worked to identify the major components, values, and subsystems necessary for a potentially robust simulation based on change, adoption, and diffusion theories, as well as information about the systems of higher education and online learning. (Author/AEF)

Examines the role of goals in the learning process and reviews another theoretical perspective, experienced cognition as additional justification for the constructivist revolution affecting the field of instructional design. Addresses the implications of experienced cognition for dealing with learning goals and learning environments. (Contains 32 references.) (AEF)