Purpose: This paper aims to describe the web-based scaffold dynamic simulation system (PRES-on) designed for pre-service teachers. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes the initial design of a web-based scaffold dynamic simulation system (PRES-on) as a cognitive tool for learners to represent problems. For the widespread use of the…

The goal of the study was to improve high school students' problem solving performance as they worked with IMMEX, an online chemistry problem solving simulation. The intervention included brief text messages added to the simulation to encourage students to reflect on their problem solving strategies and to adopt more effective problem solving…

Drawing on a participatory study of the Perplex City alternate reality game, this paper considers the data obtained through participation and a detailed survey of the most engaged players, in order to determine the most engaging features and suggest methods for their transfer to educational contexts. Originally presented at a conference in 2008,…

The purpose of this embedded quasi-experimental mixed methods research was to use solving simple linear equations as the lens for looking at the effectiveness of concrete and virtual manipulatives as compared to a control group using learning methods without manipulatives. Further, the researcher wanted to investigate unique benefits and drawbacks…

This design/problem-solving activity challenges students to design a replacement bridge for one that has been designated as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The Aycock MS Technology/STEM Magnet Program Virtual Bridge Design Challenge is an authentic introduction to the engineering design process. It is a socially relevant…

In contexts other than immersive virtual environments, theoretical and empirical work has identified flow experience as a major factor in learning and human-computer interaction. Flow is defined as a "holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement". We applied the concept of flow to modeling the experience of…

Over a 13-month period, the Schome Park Programme operated the first "closed" (i.e. protected) Teen Second Life project in Europe. The project organised diverse educational events that centred on use of a virtual world and an associated asynchronous forum and wiki. Students and staff together exploited the affordances of the environment…

This study focuses on investigating the nature of small-group collaborative interaction in a voice-enhanced multiplayer game called "eScape". The aim was to analyse the elements of groups' collaborative discussion and to explore the nature of the players' shared problem solving activity during the solution critical moments in the game. The data…

The focus of the current study is to understand which unique features of an immersive virtual reality environment have the potential to improve learning relative motion concepts. Thirty-seven undergraduate students learned relative motion concepts using computer simulation either in immersive virtual environment (IVE) or non-immersive desktop…

The purpose of this study was to examine how school psychologists implemented the problem-solving consultation process within a computer-simulated school environment. Four school psychologists were recruited to complete three simulated consultation cases. The school environment was computer generated and all of the teachers and target students…

In a diagnostic problem solving operation of a computer-simulated chemical plant, chemical engineering students were randomly assigned to two groups: one studying product-oriented worked examples, the other practicing conventional problem solving. Effects of these instructional strategies on the progression of learners' mental models were examined…

The aim of this study is to scrutinize the characteristics of conceptual meaning making when students engage with virtual worlds in combination with a spreadsheet with the aim to develop graphs. We study how these tools and the representations they contain or enable students to construct serve to influence their understanding of energy resource…

This research team has developed a learning trajectory on 3D visualization for elementary children. This paper focuses on the interchange among the three Spatial Operational Capacity framework representations, namely, 3D models, 2D conventional diagrams, and semiotic abstract representations, and the critical role of a dynamic computer interface…

Engagement in game design tasks can help preservice teachers develop pedagogical and technical skills for teaching and promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Through the design process, preservice teachers not only exercise critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, but also learn about an instructional method to support their…

As much research has demonstrated, novel scientific concepts do not arise fully formed in the head of a scientist but are created in problem-solving processes, which can extend for considerable periods and even span generations of scientists. To understand concept formation and conceptual change it is important to investigate these processes in…