Chemical bonding is central to explaining many phenomena. Research in chemical education and the Framework for K-12 Science Education (the "Framework") argue for new approaches to learning chemical bonding grounded in (1) using ideas of the balance of electric forces and energy minimization to explain bond formation, (2) using learning…

Learning-by-teaching has been identified as one of the more effective approaches to learning. Recently, educational researchers have investigated virtual environments in order to utilize the learning-by-teaching pedagogy. In a face-to-face learning-by-teaching situation, the role of the learners is to teach their peers or instructors. In virtual…

Betty's Brain is an open-ended learning environment in which students learn about science topics by teaching a virtual agent named Betty through the construction of a visual causal map that represents the relevant science phenomena. The task is complex, and success requires the use of metacognitive strategies that support knowledge acquisition,…

This study aims at highlighting the collaborative activity of two high school students (age 14) in the cases of modeling the complex biological process of plant growth with two different tools: the "paper & pencil" concept mapping technique and the computer-supported educational environment "ModelsCreator". Students' shared activity in both cases…

For the thirty-fourth year, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Jacksonville, FL. A limited quantity of these Proceedings were printed and sold in both hardcopy and electronic…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…