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ERIC Number: ED605756
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0360-1315
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
How Instructors Frame Students' Interactions with Educational Technologies Can Enhance or Reduce Learning with Multiple Representations
Wu, Sally P. W.; Corr, Jainaba; Rau, Martina A.
Grantee Submission, Computers & Education v128 p199-213 2019
Instructors in STEM classrooms often frame students' interactions with technologies to help them learn content. For instance, in many STEM domains, instructors commonly help students translate physical 3D models into 2D drawings by prompting them to focus on (a) orienting physical 3D models and (b) generating 2D drawings. We investigate whether framing prompts that target either of these practices enhance the effectiveness of an educational technology that supports collaborative translation among multiple representations. To this end, we conducted a quasi-experiment with 565 undergraduate chemistry students. All students collaboratively built physical 3D models of molecules and translated them into 2D drawings. In a business-as-usual "control" condition, students drew on paper, without support from an educational technology. In two experimental conditions, students drew in an educational technology that provided feedback and prompted collaboration. One condition received framing prompts to focus on physical models ("model" condition); another received prompts to generate intermediary drawings on paper ("draw" condition). Compared to the control condition, the model condition showed higher learning gains, but the draw condition showed lower learning gains. Analyses of log data showed that students made more model-based errors, and the prompts in the model condition reduced these model-based errors. However, interviews with instructors showed that they prefer drawing-focused prompts, in contrast to our results. These findings offer theoretical insights into how students learn to translate among representations. Furthermore, they yield practical recommendations for the use of educational technologies that support learning with multiple representations.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF); Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1611782; R305B150003
Author Affiliations: N/A