Advances in Learning and Instruction Series – serie

Research on collaborative learning is currently a very popular topic in education, psychology and computer science. In recent years, educational research has attempted to determine under what circumstances collaborative learning is more effective than learning alone, and more recently, numerous studies have focused on computer-mediated collaborative learning. In psychology, interest in collaborative learning is related to the emergence of new theories such as 'shared cognition' and 'distributed cognition'. These theories move away from the view traditionally held in cognitive science according to which human cognition is bound inside individual heads. The word 'collaboration' is also used very frequently in computer science to describe the interactions among artificial agents. The term has often been used rather loosely in the different research communities: this book is a contribution towards refining and operationalizing the concept.

The book is written in the framework of a European collaborative research programme, Learning in Humans and Machines, funded by the European Science Foundation. The book's purpose is to collect papers on learning declarative knowledge and problem solving skills that involve multiple representations such as verbal, graphical and mathematical representations, knowledge at different levels of abstraction (e.g. qualitative and quantitative, specific cases or general models). One of the goals of the research programme is to demonstrate existing and to initiate new collaboration between educational sciences, psychology and machine learning. The first aim of this book is to give an overview of the state of the art of the topic of learning involving different representations in the form of overview chapters. The book covers approaches to this topic from different perspectives: educational, cognitive modelling and machine learning. It includes both theoretical analyses and studies in application contexts. The second aim of the book is to present current research on these topics and to articulate research issues for future research. This is done in the form of a collection of research papers and two reflective chapters.

Human learning, reasoning and thinking, and the different sites in which these activities take place, are the focus of this book. It presents the results of research into the nature of learning and the influence of different contexts and factors within the context of learning, the constraints that contexts place on reasoning and learning, and the nature of learning when using the tools and artefacts. It also addresses the nature of the influence of technology on learning, focusing especially on information technology and how it can influence any type of learning situation. The book begins by asking whether the context determines the nature of the knowledge to be learned, such that different sets of contextual practices related to the knowledge in question need to be acquired in order for learning to be successful. Next, it describes the forms of reasoning and learning in social and physical contexts, including but not limiting itself to logical reasoning, and asks how particular types of context constrain or activate different forms of reasoning and learning. It then looks at people learning with computers, examining how IT resources enhance or hinder learning. Finally, it compares human learning with learning done by machines in specific contexts.

Published as part of the "Advances in Learning and Instruction" series, "Modelling Changes in Understanding" brings together Psychologists, Science Educators and Computer Scientists to describe and explain how we develop an understanding of the physical world around us. The contributors examine how changes in our understanding and consequent learning can be modelled using computer software. Focussing on the discipline of Physics, this volume discusses the following topics: the difference in the organisation of knowledge between experts and novices; the construction of accurate models of the learner at different stages in the knowledge acquisition process; computer models which claim to answer questions and accumulate understanding in a similar way to human beings.

"New Perspectives on Conceptual Change" brings together the latest research on conceptual change from perspectives in developmental, cognitive and motivational psychology, instructional psychology and science education. The book addresses four main themes: the interplay between the learner's naive knowledge based on everyday experience and new knowledge conveyed by schooling and formal instruction; traditional cognitive views on knowledge acquisition and new socioconstructionist perspectives; constraints on knowledge acquisition and modification within specific learning domains; and instructional aspects of conceptual change and suggestions for the design of learning environments and teaching processes which promote conceptual change.

This exciting new text examines how knowledge is socially constructed and shared through discursive interactions within the classroom community. The contributors discuss the meaning of the cognitive, emotional and social discourses that exist between teachers and learners and suggest how teachers can create an effective learning partnership to stimulate children. The authors also consider how children, in turn, construe the curriculum and how they perceive the ground-rules and peer-relationships within the classroom community. By reporting findings from state-of-the-art studies in a range of Western cultural contexts, the authors are able to overview key theoretical perspectives and synthesise the methods currently being developed for measuring social interaction in learning and instruction.

In this volume, the authors examine the impact of Feuerstein's theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) on our understanding of the learning, instruction and cognitive modifiability of children, adolescents and young adults. The book begins with a historical essay charting the origins of the theory in Feuerstein's work with holocaust survivors and immigrant children, to the current international acceptance and application of his ideas. The authors discuss key issues such as: the relationship between Feuerstein's theory and the changing agenda of psychological research; developments in the fields of learning potential assessment and their contribution to a more culturally equitable evaluation procedure; the influence of MLE theory on the enhancement of the learning potential of students. The discussion concludes with a consideration of the more problematic aspects of Feuerstein's work and an examination of alternative assessment methods.

Published as part of the successful "Advances in Learning and Instruction Series", this book provides a comprehensive and coherent perspective on the processes and outcomes of a meaningful and worthwhile educational experience in adult and higher education. Assuming a collaborative constructionist perspective for examining educational experience, the authors discuss the core concepts of responsibility and control. These concepts are at the heart of conceptual models of critical thinking and self-directed learning in the study and practice of adult and higher education. In turn, these concepts provide a framework for a stimulating discussion about the design and implementation of teaching methods and learning activities.

With the increased dissemination of information technologies in education, the issue of how learners deal with multimedia information systems has become critical. New research questions have emerged such as: How well do people learn from multimedia documents? How do they achieve integration between text and any other media? How can you make computerised information systems fit user information processing strategies and styles? And what is the potential of hypermedia applications for education, training and work? This volume is based on a selection of papers presented at the first International Seminar on Using Complex Information Systems held in Poitiers, France. The volume presents a comprehensive overview of research issues related to multimedia usage considered from cognitive and instructive perspectives. It relates theories of mental representations, information processing and learning to issues of design and use of multimedia technologies.

Once the basic idea of hypertext had spread rapidly throughout the world via the Internet, the reception of hypertexts soon became subject of empirical research among psychologists, cognitive scientists, and educational researchers. As easy to use software for the writing of hypertexts (HTML editors) is now broadly available, there are no longer any technical obstacles for the use of hypertext production in teaching and learning. This book presents and analyses the learning effects that can be anticipated from the production of hypertexts. It includes laboratory experiments, studies on the production of hypertexts in the context of educational institutions, and reports on software environments designed for the production of hypertext. It includes theoretical, empirically and developmentally oriented contributions. The first three chapters link up directly with research on traditional writing while addressing aspects of the interaction between content and rhetoric during hypertext writing. The next three chapters focus on cooperative learning of students in and through the production of hypertexts. The following two chapters look at new technological possibilities, namely, a software environment for transforming textbooks into personalized hypertexts and the design of hypervideos. The final chapter discusses potential methods for further research.

This volume provides a platform for discussing theoretical and methodological developments in the field of motivation research related to learning and instruction. The combination of socio-cultural, situative and socio-cognitive epistemological traditions underlying the different contributions enables the integration of the motivational, affective and cognitive aspects of learning and the examination of their mutually interacting influences. The methodological implications of these conceptual developments are discussed and a range of innovative research methodologies reported throughout the different chapters. The emphasis on integrative, holistic, systematic and situated approaches to the study of motivation and engagement during the process of learning and over time is in line with contemporary thinking in the discipline of educational psychology as a whole. Overall, this volume highlights how motivation research is reaching out beyond its own traditional domain of study and is taking a leading role in the overall study of learning and instruction.

How do children understand reasoning by mathematical induction? Mathematical induction - Poincare's reasoning by recurrence - is a standard form of inference with two distinctive properties. One is its necessity. The other is its universality or inference from particular to general. This means that mathematical induction is similar to both logical deduction and empirical induction, and yet is different from both. In a major study 40 years ago, Inhelder and Piaget set out two conclusions about the development of this type of reasoning in advance of logical deduction during childhood. This developmental sequence has gone unremarked in research on cognitive development. This study is an adaptation with a sample of 100 hundred children aged five-seven years in school years one and two. It reveals evidence that children can reason by mathematical induction on tasks based on iterative addition and that their inferences were made by necessity. According to the study the main educational implication is clear: young children can carry out iterative actions on actual objects with a view to reasoning about abstract objects such as numbers.

Over the past ten to fifteen years the international scene of research on learning and instruction has witnessed the emergence of important and promising developments. New theoretical frameworks, design principles, and research methodologies focusing on the construction, implementation, and evaluation of powerful learning environments have been put forward, coming from three intersecting subdomains within the broader field of research on learning and instruction - namely instructional psychology, instructional technology, and instructional design. Although it is obvious that the developments in those three subdomains are characterized by similarities and convergencies, there are still important differences. Therefore, there is a great need for scientific debate and attempts to integrate, or justify, the contrasting theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and empirical outcomes. A European research network, coordinated by the Center for Instructional Psychology and Technology of the University of Leuven, has been set up to work towards this end. The present volume is the first collective output of this European research network, and focuses on unravelling and identifying basic component and dimensions of powerful learning environments. It is based on the presentations and discussions that constituted the "piece de resistance" of a first meeting of the research network.

This book opens up new theoretical perspectives and practical possibilities to analyze the learning opportunities emerging in the transitional zones between educational institutions and workplaces. International contributors draw on a range of ideas developed within constructivistic, socio-cultural and activity theory and focus in different ways on the processes of transition, transfer and boundary crossing as central to learning, especially in vocational and professional education contexts. The book begins with four chapters which locate the renewed interest in transfer and the emerging interest in boundary crossing in the context of knowledge society in terms of the following: the historical development of learning theories, the theoretical advances made in socio-cultural approaches as regards learning, transfer and boundary crossing, and sociological approaches to links between school and workplace learning. Part II contains seven chapters that present studies on learning and transfer in different domains of vocational and professional education. Part III presents three studies that describe and analyze learning in workplaces. The chapters of these three parts report on a range of empirical and developmental studies which have developed new 'tools for learning and transfer' in vocational education. The book ends with an epilogue consisting of a critical reflection on the earlier chapters in relation to how they approach two key transfer issues - the relationship between school knowledge and the knowledge acquired in working life, and the relationship between transfer and boundary crossing at the individual and collective levels. The chapters of this book are based on original research undertaken by members and invited experts of a European COST Action A 11 Working Group 2 which includes researchers from twelve different countries.

Relying on a series of empirical workplace studies as well as an extensive review of psychological, sociological and educational literature, the authors develop a framework for examining human competence as a process of networked expertise. Networked expertise refers to competencies that arise from social interaction, knowledge sharing, and collective problem solving. These are embedded in communities and organized groups of experts and professionals. Cognition and intelligent activity are not only individual and mental processes but ones which rely on socio-culturally developed cognitive tools. These include physical and conceptual artifacts as well as socially distributed and shared processes of intelligent activity embedded in complex social and cultural environments. Networked expertise is relational in nature. It is constituted in interaction between individuals, communities, and larger networks supported by cognitive artifacts, and it coevolves with continuously transforming innovative knowledge communities. The focus of the book is on analyzing the socio-cognitive foundations of human intelligent activity. The authors examine theories and models that help to understand individual and social aspects of processes of learning, development of expertise, knowledge creation, and innovation. These processes are studied both in the contexts of education and work, and are illuminated with numerous examples, and interview data. The main topics covered are the development of expertise, distributed cognition and shared expertise, collaborative and cultural learning, and inquiry-based and computer-supported learning processes. The basic tenet of the book is that knowledge sharing should be a core value in all organizations. This is the first step of answering to the challenges of emerging knowledge society.

What do we mean when we say that "learning environments are increasingly complex"? What do we know about the cognitive processing that occurs during complex learning? How can we provide effective instructional support for students who must learn and apply complex knowledge? These questions, and related issues, have fascinated educators and educational researchers for many years and are they are the focus of this book. As a tribute to Joost Lowyck, professor educational technology at the K.U. Leuven, eminent scholars from around the globe have contributed to a far reaching analysis of complexity in learning environments from a cognitive perspective. The chapter authors summarize what we know now about complexity and make specific suggestions for educational practice and for future research on complexity. The different contributions in the several chapters discuss theoretical accounts and empirical findings about learning, the learner, and learning environments. Wide-ranging topics include current descriptions of our cognitive architecture, new contributions to cognitive load theory, research and evaluation design considerations, motivation to learn, the influence of prior knowledge, the use of simulations and multimedia, alternative instructional methods and interventions, studies of the classroom context for complex learning and mental model-building. This book is a tribute to Joose Lowyck, professor educational technology at the KU Leuven. International scholars provide far reaching analysis of complexity in learning environments from a cognitive perspective. It makes specific suggestions for educational practice and for future research.

This book provides a comprehensive discussion of the relationship between higher education and working life from three different perspectives: society, higher education and the world of work. The purpose of the volume is twofold: first, to critically analyse the relationship between higher education and working life, and second, to offer material that helps university teachers develop their teaching in a way that their students will be better prepared for challenges of the continuously changing world. The chapters discuss the interplay between education and work both from the societal point of view and from the pedagogical perspective. The book is divided in three sections. The first section is concerned with higher education as a part of society, giving a broader context for more pedagogically oriented chapters. Section two focuses on transition from higher education to work and the interaction of work and learning in higher education. The third section focuses on changing workplace environments and the role of universities in promoting work based learning. Practical examples of work-related project learning and other practice oriented teaching and learning methods are examined. Also, e-learning solutions carried out through industry-university collaboration are presented. It, thus, examines relationship between higher education and working life from multiple perspectives; and aims to help teachers better prepare students for the working world, using practical examples to clarify points raised in chapters.

To celebrate Erik De Cortes scientific career in the international scientific field of instructional psychology, high profile researchers and scholars were invited by the editors to write an essay on the past, present, and future of the subdomain of instructional psychology of their personal interest and expertise. This book addresses the core topics of the learning sciences from a diversity of perspectives. The sixteen chapters are grouped into the following six sections: Learning and Development; Learning, Reasoning, and Problem Solving; Motivational and Emotional Aspects of Learning; Learning and Assessment; Learning and Technology, and Instructional and Organizational Designs for Learning. These chapters provide overviews of and commentaries on the past decades of research on learning and teaching. Furthermore, the authors look also at the future of research on learning and instruction and its changing role in our fast developing knowledge society. 16 chapters are written by high profile researchers and scholars. Content provides both a review of existing literature and a discussion of the future of the discipline