In this paper, we demonstrate how machine learning could be used to quickly assess a student's multimodal representational thinking. Multimodal representational thinking is the complex construct that encodes how students form conceptual, perceptual, graphical, or mathematical symbols in their mind. The augmented reality (AR) technology is adopted…

Extensive research has shown that one of the benefits of programming to learn about scientific phenomena is that it facilitates learning about mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. However, using programming activities in classrooms is associated with costs such as requiring additional time to learn to program or students needing prior experience…

This study investigated how students' and teachers' pedagogical roles in mobile learning moderated the relationship between high school students' perceived usefulness of mobile technology and the actual use frequency, as well as how students' perceived usefulness impacted their physics learning achievement. We examined 803 high school freshmen who…

Central to evolution is the concept of a common ancestry from which all life has emerged over immense time scales, but learning and teaching temporal aspects of evolution remain challenging. This study investigated students' interpretation of evolutionary time when engaging with a multi-touch tabletop application called DeepTree, a dynamic…

The goal of this study was to investigate the timing of online homework completion and its effects on student performance. Data was collected from two large, first-semester general chemistry sections at a southwestern university. Specifically, this study aims to explore the link between when students complete their homework relative to the date…

Engaging in argumentation from evidence is challenging for most middle school students. We report the design of a media-based mentoring system to support middle school students in engaging in argumentation in the context of a game-infused science curriculum. Our design emphasizes learners apprenticing with college student mentors around the…

The present paper informs about an analysis of students' conceptions about car braking distances and also presents one of the novel methods of learning: an interactive computer program Tracker that we used to analyse the process of braking of a car. The analysis of the students' conceptions about car braking distances consisted in…

Both complex systems methods (such as agent-based modeling) and computational methods (such as programming) provide powerful ways for students to understand new phenomena. To understand how to effectively teach complex systems and computational content to younger students, we conducted a study in four urban middle school classrooms comparing…

There has been increased recognition in the past decades that model-based inquiry (MBI) is a promising approach for cultivating deep understandings by helping students unite phenomena and underlying mechanisms. Although multiple technology tools have been used to improve the effectiveness of MBI, there are not enough detailed examinations of how…

We report a case study of two highly qualified science teachers as they implemented laptop computers in their Years 9 and 10 science classes at the beginning of the "Digital Education Revolution," Australia's national one-to-one laptop program initiated in 2009. When a large-scale investment is made in a significant educational change,…

Model-based reasoning has been introduced as an authentic way of learning science, and many researchers have developed technological tools for learning with models. This paper describes how a model-based tool, "BioLogica"™, was used to facilitate genetics learning in secondary 3-level biology in Singapore. The research team co-designed…

When solving a scientific problem through experimentation, students may have the responsibility to design the experiment. When students work in a conventional condition, with paper and pencil, the designed procedures stay at a very general level. There is a need for additional scaffolds to help the students perform this complex task. We propose a…

This paper describes a qualitative study that investigated the nature of the participation structures and how the participation structures were organized by four science teachers when they constructed and communicated science content in their classrooms with computer technology. Participation structures focus on the activity structures and…

Automated computerized scoring systems (ACSSs) are being increasingly used to analyze text in many educational settings. Nevertheless, the impact of misspelled words (MSW) on scoring accuracy remains to be investigated in many domains, particularly jargon-rich disciplines such as the life sciences. Empirical studies confirm that MSW are a…

Researchers from multiple perspectives have shown that young students can engage in the scientific reasoning involved in science experimentation. However, there is little research on how well these young students learn in inquiry-based learning environments that focus on using scientific experimentation strategies to learn new scientific…