We sought to test a hypothesis that systemic blind spots in active learning are a barrier both for instructors--who cannot see what every student is actually thinking on each concept in each class--and for students--who often cannot tell precisely whether their thinking is right or wrong, let alone exactly how to fix it. We tested a strategy for…

Multiple studies have shown benefits of problem-solving prior to instruction (cf. Productive Failure, Invention) in comparison to direct instruction. However, students' solutions prior to instruction are usually erroneous or incomplete. In analogy to "guided" discovery learning, it might therefore be fruitful to lead students…

Using a computer-based scientific discovery learning environment on buoyancy in fluids we investigated the "effects of goal specificity" (nonspecific goals vs. specific goals) for two goal types (problem solving goals vs. learning goals) on "strategy use" and "instructional efficiency". Our empirical findings close an important research gap,…

Providing exploratory activities prior to explicit instruction can facilitate learning. However, the level of guidance provided during the exploration has largely gone unstudied. In this study, we examined the effects of 1 form of guidance, feedback, during exploratory mathematics problem solving for children with varying levels of prior domain…

Research was conducted to compare the effects of three different methods of teaching LOGO to fifth graders with a broad range of academic ability. The first method, based on Papert's idea of discovery learning, involved teacher presentation of LOGO instruction and student control of pace of learning. The second method involved the use of…

This is the first of two papers that develop a framework and encourage discussion of research and programmatic concerns on arithmetic word problem solving. The two papers include a comprehensive framework for expanding the traditional three to five sentence word problem into a scheme that assures problems will be of a variety of structures and…

This symposium compares the third grade outcome profiles of Follow Through curricular models classified on the basis of their theoretical underpinnings as (1) behaviorally programed, (2) cognitive-discovery, or (3) open classroom. Outcome profiles are presented for academic tests, conceptual problem-solving, and selected affective measures, and…

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been recognized as an important educational strategy and has been adopted in many medical schools. There is confusion, however, about what constitutes PBL. Describes 11 steps in the continuum between PBL and information-oriented learning, task-based learning being the final step at the problem-based end of the…

The goals of this study were to investigate problem-solving in a context that requires a rich interaction among social, motivational, and cognitive processes and to compare the effects of the mediated and discovery models of learning on students' problem-solving processes in the complex technology-based learning environment. Subjects were 88…

Compares models of the classroom dynamics for a traditional laboratory setting and a problem-solving-centered environment, both at the eighth grade science level. Descriptive data indicate no differences in the models, whereas path analyses suggest that, in the problem-solving model, student behaviors significantly correlate to lesson structure,…

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…