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BackgroundEvidence-based medicine has been regarded as a prerequisite for ensuring health care quality. The increase in health care professionals’ adoption of web-based medical information and the lack of awareness of alternative access to evidence-based online resources suggest the need for an investigation of their information-searching behaviors of using evidence-based online medical databases. ObjectiveThe main purposes of this study were to (1) modify and validate the internet-specific epistemic beliefs in medicine (ISEBM) questionnaire and (2) explore the associations between health care professionals’ demographics, ISEBM, and intention to use evidence-based online medical databases for clinical practice. MethodsHealth care professionals in a university-affiliated teaching hospital were surveyed using the ISEBM questionnaire. The partial least squares-structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the reliability and validity of ISEBM. Furthermore, the structural model was analyzed to examine the possible linkages between health professionals’ demographics, ISEBM, and intention to utilize the evidence-based online medical databases for clinical practice. ResultsA total of 273 health care professionals with clinical working experience were surveyed. The results of the measurement model analysis indicated that all items had significant loadings ranging from 0.71 to 0.92 with satisfactory composite reliability values ranging from 0.87 to 0.94 and average variance explained values ranging from 0.70 to 0.84. The results of the structural relationship analysis revealed that the source of internet-based medical knowledge (path coefficient –0.26, P=.01) and justification of internet-based knowing in medicine (path coefficient 0.21, P=.001) were correlated with the intention to use evidence-based online medical databases. However, certainty and simplicity of internet-based medical knowledge were not. In addition, gender (path coefficient 0.12, P=.04) and academic degree (path coefficient 0.15, P=.004) were associated with intention to use evidence-based online medical databases for clinical practice. ConclusionsAdvancing health care professionals’ ISEBM regarding source and justification may encourage them to retrieve valid medical information through evidence-based medical databases. Moreover, providing support for specific health care professionals (ie, females, without a master’s degree) may promote their intention to use certain databases for clinical practice.

The study employed epistemic network analysis (ENA) to investigate students' conceptions of science learning with technology. One-hundred and eleven tenth-grade students were asked to express via drawings their conceptions of experienced and ideal learning of science with technology. Their drawings were coded into 20 elements in seven categories. ENA was then employed to generate and compare network models that show structures of the students' conceptions. The results suggest that the students' conceptions are diverse and connected. It was found that (1) the students' conceptions of experienced and ideal learning of science with technology were significantly different, (2) the students who emphasized understanding as the main goal of science learning were better able to envision ideal learning of science with technology in light of how innovative technology can be used to enhance learning experiences, (3) the students who emphasized testing showed conceptions of science learning with technology limited to inside classrooms, and (4) the students who emphasized both understanding and testing demonstrated a pragmatic view of science learning and paid more attention to the affordances and effects of technology. Implications include that the potential of technology has yet to be fully taken advantage of to support science learning and that specific learning experiences may be tailored for students to address or broaden their conceptions of learning. The study may contribute to research by introducing new analysis methods of combining ENA with drawings and to theory and practice by revisiting theoretical frameworks of learning environments based on understanding of students' conceptions.

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.

This article reports an international initiative to develop and validate a "situational interest questionnaire" in three cultural/linguistic contexts: Canada (French), USA (English), and Taiwan (Chinese). The 20-item solution ([alpha] = 0.90) presented four factors: "enjoyment," "value," "attention/sustained work," and "usefulness." These factors and the convergence of the three translations were partially verified through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A shorter, unidimensional 7-item solution is also presented ([alpha] = 0.76) and was confirmed with CFA for two out of the three languages (with all [alpha] > 0.75). This questionnaire, named ISiQ, thus presents "good" or "acceptable" psychometric properties while securing better coverage of the situational interest construct than most surveys do. Reflections about its possible uses and about the stability/volatility of situational interest items are presented.

The advanced visualisation and interactive capabilities make immersive virtual reality (IVR) attractive for educators to investigate its educational benefits. This research reviewed 64 studies published in 2016-2020 to understand how science educators designed, implemented, and evaluated IVR-based learning. The immersive design features (sensory, actional, narrative, and social) originally suggested by Dede provided the framework for the analysis of IVR designs. Educators commonly adopted IVR to better aid visualisation of abstract concepts and enhance learning experience. IVR applications tended to have sensory and actional features, leaving out narrative and social features. Learning theories did not appear to play a strong role in the design, implementation, and evaluation of IVR-based learning. Participants generally reported their IVR experiences as positive on engagement and motivation but the learning outcomes were mixed. No particular immersive design features were identified to result in better learning outcomes. Careful consideration of the immersive design features in alignment with the rationales for adopting IVR and evaluation methods may contribute to more productive investigations of the educational benefits of IVR to improve science teaching and learning.

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 research explored the interrelationship among Taiwanese high school students' conceptions of learning science (COLS), self-regulated learning science (SRLS), and science learning self-efficacy (SLSE). A total of 309 students participated in the study, and the self-report survey data were collected to measure these three constructs. Four COLS factors ("Testing," "Calculating and practicing," "Application," and "Understanding and seeing in a new way"), two SRLS dimensions ("Preparatory SRLS" [task definition, goal setting, planning] and "Enactment SRLS" [controlling, monitoring, reflecting]), and two SLSE factors ("Conceptual understanding" and "Higher-order cognitive skills"), which adhere to the cognitive learning dimensions, were included for analysis. The results revealed a direct relationship between Testing and SLSE without going through any of the SRLS constructs. However, no direct relationship was built among other COLS components and the two SLSE dimensions. There are direct relationships among "Calculating and practicing," "Application," and the two SRLS constructs, but "Understanding and seeing in a new way" solely links to "Enactment SRLS" and not to "Preparatory SRLS." In the end, the two SRLS constructs are directly associated with the students' SLSE dimensions. These results have the important implication that learners' COLS have a significant impact on their SRL engagement, which eventually leads to their beliefs about their cognitive abilities in learning the abstract concepts and critical thinking tasks in science.

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.

Previous studies have provided various reviews with either general or specific scopes to understand virtual reality (VR) technologies for learning and teaching. However, a review of the networking structure among VR-supported education research from a citation-based perspective has not as yet been provided. With the inclusion of a total of 49 articles accompanying 834 citations from the Web of Science, a co-citation network was used to examine the citation relationships of VR-supported research from 2015 to 2020. The result showed that a series of Makransky's articles were identified as the most frequently referenced research. We also present a visualized network diagram for offering a holistic structural understanding of the field. In the network, the mainstream exploring the interaction between individuals' cognition and affection in the context of learning by VR was identified. The result of the co-citation network further revealed several extensions of the research trends such as the issues of the instructional design of VR learning, virtual labs in STEM education, embodied cognition by tangible VR, and the pedagogical influences of VR on young learners. Overall, this study contributes a citation-based approach to revealing the intellectual structure of VR-supported education, providing a fresh understanding and evidence for the field.

Augmented reality (AR) deepens learning interactions by imposing digital information on top of physical settings. This study implemented an AR-enhanced theme-based contextualized learning and aimed to examine the effects of captions (non-caption, English caption and Chinese caption) and English proficiency (less proficient and proficient) on junior high school students' English learning effectiveness, motivation and attitude. Six classes of ninth-graders voluntarily participated in the experimental learning sessions using tablets. A factorial design was employed, and the participants' learning performance, motivation and attitude were evaluated. The results indicated that captions did not affect knowledge comprehension, but English proficiency played a significant role in it. The effects of captions and English proficiency on knowledge application indicated that English captions placed high cognitive load and hindered less proficient learners' knowledge application, but proficient learners performed equally under different caption conditions. Generally, students demonstrated positive motivation toward learning from the AR-enhanced contextualized learning. The proficient learners were more motivated in terms of self-efficacy, proactive learning and learning value. All learners expressed positive attitude toward learning, among whom, those who learned without captions showed greater degrees of confidence and preferences, and the proficient learners showed greater degrees of confidence, preferences, learning process and learning strategy but lower degrees of anxiety.

Past studies have shown that students' conceptions of learning science (CLS) are related to their approaches to learning science (ALS) and to their self-efficacy for learning science (SELS), but it has not yet been studied whether parents' CLS play a role in children's ALS and SELS. This research investigated 472 pairs of Chinese high school students and their parents to identify the new predictive relationships among parents' CLS and students' ALS and SELS. In this study parents' CLS was divided into reproductive and constructivist conceptions. Students' ALS consisted of four factors, whereas SELS only extracted one factor. We found that (1) parents' constructivist CLS was positively associated with students' deep approaches; (2) parental reproductive CLS could positively predict students' surface strategies, while it was likely that the more constructive conceptions that parents held, the less their children would adopt surface strategies; (3) parental constructivist and reproductive CLS were both significant positive predictors of students' surface motive; and (4) parental CLS could make an indirect prediction through students' ALS. The findings indicate that parents should be cautious about the CLS they are portraying in their words and deeds to help foster their children's deep learning motive and strategies.

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.

Forming learners' science concepts and conceptual change entails adaptive epistemic beliefs to support a high degree of interactivity within a coherent knowledge structure. Adaptive epistemic beliefs are characterized by beliefs that knowledge is uncertain and should be justified through experimentation or multiple sources dependent upon the task contexts. Thus, assessing and evaluating learners' adaptive epistemic beliefs is a complex process that requires laborious analysis of learner artifacts based on reliable and valid coding schemes. This article aims to describe new ways of assessing and applying technologies that can measure and foster adaptive epistemic beliefs. We propose new strategies for a theoretically-based human-and-machine symbiotic Learning Analytics (LA) framework. The application of this LA framework may facilitate the development of real-time detecting and representation of the individual and collective epistemic belief networks as well as diagnosing and providing appropriate scaffolds to promote adaptive epistemic beliefs via the design of personalised pedagogical feedback with experts' input. The heuristic application of technology infrastructure may propel a movement for more tangible and personalised learning in science education. The current gaps of using AI-based emerging technologies in science learning and implications for science education are discussed to advance science education in new directions.

Studies measuring online learning have adopted different perspectives, resulting in different approaches to their assessment of online learning. However, when we consider the literature from a wider angle, there may be complimentary or contrasting relationships. This study performed content analysis on a total of 44 studies that used questionnaires with good reliability and validity from the database of the Social Science Citation Index. Through encoding the 241 factors and 1,171 items used in the questionnaires, we found relationships among them that could be supported by classical theoretical frameworks or our general knowledge of instruction. The content measured by these questionnaires can be divided into five categories according to Li's (2001) theory of instructional elements: (1) learning environment, (2) learner, (3) teacher, (4) learning content, and (5) learning interaction. Following the initial analysis, this study used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Oye et al., 2014) to classify 58 factors that reflect the learning environment. In addition, the combination of Marzano and Kendall's (2007) new taxonomy of educational objectives and learning outcomes provides useful information for 111 factors used to assess learners.

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.

The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between academic hardiness in science, conceptions of learning science, and science learning self-efficacy among Malaysian middle school students. The respondents were 320 eighth-grade students from two selected Malaysian middle schools. Three questionnaires were used for this survey: Academic Hardiness in Science (AHS) regarding "commitment," Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS), including "memorizing," "calculating and practicing," and "understanding and seeing in a new way," and Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE), consisting of "cognition," "practical work," "everyday application," and "science communication." These three questionnaires were validated and found to be reliable for measuring students' AHS, COLS, and SLSE. Pearson's correlation findings indicated that AHS was significantly and positively correlated to all the factors in COLS and SLSE, and all the factors in COLS were significantly and positively correlated to all the factors in SLSE. The relationships among AHS, COLS, and SLSE were then identified by the structural equation model technique. Students with a high commitment to learning science, and who perceived learning science as understanding and seeing in a new way are prone to have confidence at all levels of science learning self-efficacy.

Promoting understanding of the epistemologies of science has long been the primary objective in science education, and can be viewed as a form of science learning outcome. Many studies have attempted to understand learners' conceptions of epistemology in science from various perspectives and methods; however, no recent reviews have focused on the measurement of various constructs and variables of epistemologies of science. The main purpose of this review study is to understand how these epistemologies in science teaching and learning were measured, and to provide an overview of recent developments with respect to the measurement issue in the epistemology of science. We searched for articles that were published between 2010 and 2019 and retained 225 eligible studies passing all review criteria for inclusion in this review. Major constructs of epistemologies of science emerging from the studies include epistemic beliefs and views, nature of science, epistemic emotions, epistemic metacognition, epistemic practices, and epistemic resources. These constructs were further categorized into personal, productive, and practical epistemologies. Among these studies, most of the quantitative studies used questionnaires for measuring personal epistemologies, while only a few utilized close-ended items. The majority of the studies adopting qualitative methods investigated personal epistemologies as well. Nevertheless, among studies of practical epistemologies, more studies adopted qualitative methods than quantitative methods. We summarize the characteristics and psychometric properties of the most frequently used quantitative research instruments. Examples of qualitative data collection and data analyses are provided. Relationships between epistemologies and science learning outcomes are discussed, and suggestions are made for future directions.

Chemistry is a subject which involves a number of abstract concepts, making it a difficult and frustrating learning process for many students. Educators and researchers believe that technology could provide an opportunity to address this problem. However, it is challenging to find a model for appropriately and successfully integrating technology into chemistry education. Therefore, in this study, a review was conducted on the technology-enhanced chemistry learning studies published in Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals from 2010 to 2019. This study searched the target articles from the Web of Science (WOS) database and excluded those studies that did not adopt a comparative research design. Finally, 60 studies were included in this research trend analysis. A coding scheme was developed for the types of technology, the types of learning tools, the roles of technology in chemistry learning, learning topics, learning environments, participants, research designs, and the learning outcomes the researchers evaluated. From the analysis results, it was found that (1) inorganic chemistry and physical chemistry courses were the main learning topics, while the formal classroom was most often referred to as the research setting. The most frequently discussed issue was students' learning achievement. (2) Regarding technology integration, offering students learning content through personal computers was the main activity mode. The technology was used for lower-level implementation, that is, providing supplementary materials for students. (3) Finally, using keyword analysis, it is possible to extract the recent concerns of the researchers, and from the results of the study, it is clear that the researchers are placing increasing emphasis on learners' experience and skill development in the learning process. Accordingly, this study highlights the features of the research trends and then provides suggestions for researchers in the technology-enhanced chemistry learning field.

This study explored the mobile language learning experiences that Taiwanese high school English language teachers created. A total of 119 valid mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) lesson plans from 36 senior high schools in the national mobile learning (m-learning) programme in Taiwan were analysed via content analysis. The results showed that: (a) "direct guided learning" and "video sharing" were the most used m-learning strategies; (b) the major learning activity foci were on "vocabulary/grammar" and "viewing," while "writing" received less attention; and (c) students often played the roles of "idea sharer," "worksheet doer" and "information searcher." Extrapolating the results with the replacement–amplification–transformation framework further revealed students as "worksheet doer" in the replacement level and "adaptive" as the distinguishing feature for the amplification and transformation level. Finally, from a mobile pedagogical framework perspective, the lesson plans showed that a certain level of personalization and collaboration was created. The results of this research could contribute to the understanding of teachers' MALL lesson design practice and provide possible directions for supporting teachers' design activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there have been many exchanges of perspectives and debates in the field of conceptual change. Most of the classical views on conceptual change have been criticized, and there have been recent discussions around bridging the cognitive and socio-cultural approaches in the research on conceptual change. On the other hand, researchers and educators in the knowledge building communities have been working towards advancing the frontier of knowledge work and knowledge creation in education in order to cope with the challenges of an emerging knowledge society. In this paper, we examine some of the main principles of knowledge building in relation to fostering conceptual change with reference to specific examples. Specifically, we highlight the foundational goal of knowledge building with respect to conceptual change.

This study used three previously validated instruments, namely Science Academic Hardiness (SAH), Students' Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) and Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE) on 431 Singaporean students. Using structural equation modeling, results showed that the SAH commitment dimension a positive predictor explaining both the reproductive (e.g. science learning as memorizing or testing) and constructivist (e.g. science learning as understanding or seeing in a new way) conceptions of science learning as well as all dimensions of students' self-efficacy among high school students. It was also found that the SAH control dimension is a positive predictor for explaining the SLSE science communication dimension but is a negative predictor for explaining reproductive COLS. Finally, only students with constructivist COLS had significant associations with all SLSE dimensions. These findings suggest that students' personal commitment to learning science is an important aspect to cultivate since it has the ability to predict conceptions of science learning and self-efficacy. Further, creating opportunities for students to be engaged in learning through constructivist ways--such as designing tasks to help students understand and see phenomena in new ways and occasions for students to apply their science knowledge to solve science problems--is likely to lead to positive self-efficacy in practical science work, science communication, and everyday applications of scientific knowledge. Additionally, students' engagement in reproductive ways of learning science--such as memorization, testing, and calculating and practicing--could be reduced since these do not contribute to building students' science learning self-efficacy.

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.

This study aimed to investigate differences in junior and senior (categorised by their years of teaching experience) elementary school teachers' perceptions of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge -- Games (TPACK-G), attitudes towards game, and actual teaching usage. It also aimed to probe how each of the two groups' TPACK-G perceptions predicted their attitudes towards games and actual teaching usage. 376 in-service teachers in Taiwan filled out the questionnaire consisting of game knowledge (GK), game pedagogical knowledge (GPK), game content knowledge (GCK), game pedagogical content knowledge (GPCK), attitudes towards games (AT), and actual teaching usage (AU). The results showed that junior teachers tended to have higher GK, GCK and GPCK than the seniors. GK alone might not be sufficient to predict the teachers' actual teaching usage. To predict teachers' actual teaching usage, the junior teachers might rely on their GPCK, whereas the senior teachers might rely on their GPK.

Given the pivotal role of parents in their children's educational development, numerous studies have examined the impacts of parents' information and communications technology (ICT) proficiency on adolescents' information literacy. However, previous research has tended to treat parents as a holistic unit, ignoring the individual uniqueness of each parent in analyses. Thus, the first aim of this study was to explore the parent profiles in terms of ICT proficiency, which were developed through a person-centered approach employing latent profile analysis. Three distinct parent profiles were identified: quiescent users, compliant users and active users. The second aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the parents' profile memberships and adolescents' information literacy. The results showed that, in general, adolescents whose parents were identified as active users and compliant users tended to perform better on an information literacy test than those of parents categorized as quiescent users. More specifically, those adolescents whose parents were classified as active users achieved significantly higher scores in the information literacy test than those of parents who fit within the profiles of compliant users and quiescent users. Based on the findings, this paper discusses several implications and strategies for enhancing the adolescents' information literacy.

Researchers have been devoted to exploring the impacts of immersive virtual reality (IVR) on education in recent years. However, efforts to probe the role of students' learning traits such as motivated strategies for learning in their IVR learning have been limited. Most studies commonly analyzed learners' perceptions of immersion with a single construct rather than with multiple constructs. Therefore, this study implemented immersive virtual field trips for science learning in three elementary classes (a total of 76 students) for understanding how students' inherent self-efficacy, intrinsic value and self-regulation for science learning related to their perceived immersion (ie, basic attention, temporal dissociation, transportation, emotional involvement, enjoyment) and attitudes (ie, perceived usefulness and behaviors of IVR learning) when engaging in IVR learning environments. The reliability and validity of the constructs in the PLS-SEM path modeling were first confirmed. This study further identified that motivation of intrinsic value and self-regulation may play a dominant role in the students' learning attitudes in IVR environments for science education. It was also verified that the students' immersive experiences of attention and enjoyment significantly mediated their IVR learning. Notably, the students with lower levels of self-efficacy may have been more immersed in IVR environments and further held positive learning attitudes. The findings of this study have implications for practicing IVR-related learning activities in elementary classrooms with considerations of learners' psychological characteristics and perceived immersion when confronting IVR technology.

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) is regarded as one of the contemporary technological innovations with rich educational potential. As a subset of IVR, spherical video-based IVR (SV-IVR) immerses users centrally in a human-recorded real-world environment, allowing them to explore the environment in any directions via mobile phones and cardboard goggles. We have proposed a pedagogical framework--Learner-Immersed Virtual Interactive Expedition (LIVIE), which leverages SV-IVR to integrate immersive and interactive virtual inquiry-based fieldwork into learning and teaching of physical geography. Besides discussing the design of LIVIE, this paper reports on the quasi-experimental study that we carried out to evaluate its pedagogical effectiveness. The research subjects were 566 students from upper, middle and lower academic-category secondary schools in Hong Kong. The study showed that LIVIE had different degrees of positive effects on the high, moderate and low academic-achieving subjects. Our work not only provides evidence for supporting wider adoption of LIVIE in geography education, but it also sheds light on how to design and implement the pedagogical use of SV-IVR in school education.

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.

This study developed a learning system that allows teachers to edit assignments designed to teach students the text structure strategy through the use of four phases: instructing, modeling, practicing, and reflecting. A 7-week instructional experiment was conducted in which 84 12th-grade students learned the text structure strategy using this system. The results produced several significant findings. First, the students demonstrated very different patterns of accessing time when using this system, making it possible to classify them into 3 categories or clusters of users: "low-practice-low-reflection students", who spent little time using the system; "low-practice-high-reflection students" who spent most of their time in the reflecting phase, during which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries primarily by referring to the teacher's examples; and "high-practice-low-reflection students" who spent most of their time in the practicing phase, during which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries without referring to the teacher's examples. Second, the students' patterns of accessing time were related to their prior knowledge, Web experience, and learning performance. In particular, the "low-practice-low-reflection students" had the lowest learning performance. The "low-practice-high-reflection students" had a higher frequency of using PCs to access the Web, a lower level of prior knowledge, and higher gain scores than the "high-practice-low-reflection students". These findings are discussed, and several suggestions are proposed for future research work.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become a key multivariate statistical modeling technique that educational researchers frequently use. This paper reviews the uses of PLS-SEM in 16 major e-learning journals, and provides guidelines for improving the use of PLS-SEM as well as recommendations for future applications in e-learning research. A total of 53 articles using PLS-SEM published in January 2009-August 2019 are reviewed. We assess these published applications in terms of the following key criteria: reasons for using PLS-SEM, model characteristics, sample characteristics, model evaluations and reporting. Our results reveal that small sample size and nonnormal data are the first two major reasons for using PLS-SEM. Moreover, we have identified how to extend the applications of PLS-SEM in the e-learning research field.

This meta-analysis investigates the relative effectiveness of game-based science learning against other instructional methods (Gameplay design) as well as against science game variants enriched with mechanisms (Game-mechanism design). An overall medium effect size for Gameplay design (k = 14, N[subscript es] = 14, g[subscript RE] = 0.646, p = 0.000), and an overall small-to-medium effect size for Game-mechanism design (k = 12, N[subscript es] = 13, adjusted g[subscript RE] = 0.270, p = 0.001) are reported. Further, the results of subgroup analyses suggest that students across educational levels all significantly benefit from game-based science learning although there is no significant difference between the subgroup mean effects. Further, learning and gaming mechanisms play equal roles significantly increasing students' scientific knowledge gains. With these promising results, however, high variance within the subgroups of educational levels and those of gaming mechanisms indicate that gaming mechanisms should be developed with care to meet students' different needs in different educational levels.

We engaged 47 eighth-grade students in a newly developed learning environment that integrates mobile augmented reality (AR) technology to support students' learning of nuclear energy use and radiation pollution, a topic related to a socioscientific issue (SSI) that involves complex reasoning considering scientific evidence and multiple perspectives. We employ the partial least squares structural equation modeling to investigate how the students' context-specific epistemic justification and prior knowledge contributed to their engagement in the learning environment and socioscientific reasoning (SSR) performance after the learning. Data collected include students' responses to the knowledge pretest that assessed students' prior knowledge related to the SSI, the pretest survey that measured students' context-specific epistemic justifications, the Cognitive and Emotional Engagement Survey (CEES) right after the end of the AR activities that measured students' self-reported cognitive and emotional engagement, and the posttest that measured students' socioscientific reasoning performance. The results indicate that students' context-specific epistemic justifications can predict their engagement in the environment, and that prior knowledge and belief in justification by authority can predict students' SSR performance, but in different directions. The results provide insights into how to support students with different personal characteristics to learn with AR technology about SSI, and contribute to a model of personal epistemology within the environment of integrating AR technology for the learning of SSI.

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.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of publication patterns on computational thinking (CT) over two recent periods (period I: 2006-2012; period II: 2013-2018). Based on keyword analysis, a total of 3798 (period I) and 7175 (period II) keywords were found. Derived from the content analysis, a research typology of two-period keywords was consolidated and framed according to its attributes, including background settings, domain-specific factors, and learning outcomes. Main findings show as follows: (1) Regarding the research background, students from secondary and higher education are the main participants; and computer science, mathematics, and engineering are the major subjects. (2) As the domain-specific factors, game and peer collaboration were found to be the main pedagogies, while web-based and face-to-face learning environments were almost equally referred to in CT research settings. However, compared with traditional command-based tools, Scratch, Lego, and Python were identified as the emerging visual-based programming languages. (3) Finally, the keywords related to learning outcomes were classified based on the Bloom's framework of three learning domains. First, knowledge and mental understanding are the main goals in the cognitive domain; motivation and attitude are the main tasks in the affective domain; and social and communication skills are the central outcomes in the training of psychomotor ability. Further discussions and research directions are provided.

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.

In the field of science education, laboratory learning environment has gained renewed interest in the recent decade. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among students' conceptions of science laboratory learning, perceptions of the science laboratory learning environment, and their academic self-efficacy in science learning by adopting the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. A total of 513 senior high school students (262 females) in Taiwan were invited to participate in this survey study. Three instruments were adapted and implemented to investigate the aim of the study (i.e. the conceptions of science laboratory learning questionnaire, the science laboratory environment inventory, and the academic self-efficacy in science learning questionnaire). The results indicated that the students' conceptions of science laboratory learning made a significant contribution to their perceptions of the science laboratory environment, which consequently fostered their science learning self-efficacy. More specifically, students with conceptions of science laboratory learning as reviewing their prior learning profiles tended to highlight the "student cohesiveness," "integration," and "material environment" aspects of the laboratory environment. Moreover, students who held personal ideas of science laboratory learning as acquiring manipulative skills tended to perceive actual science laboratory environments as much more open-ended and to attain advanced academic science learning self-efficacy. In addition, those students who viewed laboratory learning as achieving in-depth understanding, and who perceived that laboratory activities are guided by clear rules, were prone to express a stronger sense of academic self-efficacy. Based on the results, practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of the current research was to develop an instrument for high school students aiming to explore the satisfaction and frustration of their basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence while learning science and to investigate their relation to self-efficacy in science learning. This research involves two studies. In study 1, a total of 392 students (32% females) were solicited from high schools in Taiwan. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed, as expected, that the students' responses were grouped into autonomy satisfaction, autonomy frustration, relatedness satisfaction, relatedness frustration, competence satisfaction, and competence frustration. The regression analysis results indicated that students whose psychological needs were satisfied displayed higher self-efficacy while learning science; however, students whose psychological needs were frustrated showed lower science learning self-efficacy. Study 2 involved 699 students (33.5% females) from high schools in Taiwan. The results of confirmatory factor analysis suggest that the survey items have good construct validity. The results of structural equation modeling also revealed that satisfaction of psychological needs was the positive factor in explaining self-efficacy; on the other hand, frustration of psychological needs did not predict self-efficacy. The findings revealed that the satisfaction of psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence provides potential impetus for positive functioning with respect to science learning.

There is a growing body of research which explores the benefits to the elderly of playing digital games for knowledge acquisition, various skills enhancement and well-being. However, few systematic literature reviews have highlighted and updated the trends and findings regarding digital games designed for older users and learners. Also, a forced dichotomization of the impacts, and discussing a single outcome or purpose of playing digital games as in the previous reviews may provide limited information because digital games may simultaneously produce multiple rather than a single dominant impact. Accordingly, this review aims to investigate and characterize the literature on the mixed impacts of playing digital games that engage older adults aged 65 years or above. Search terms identified 67 papers from 2013 to 2018 which revealed empirical evidence regarding the outcomes of digital games engaging senior adults. Furthermore, a multidimensional framework involving various dimensions to categorize digital games engaging senior adults was developed. Overall, the current review framework features both the needs and characteristics of older adults and the content and types of digital games. The findings regarding the integration of games and the elderly's needs and living experience are also discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.