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Full-Text Articles in Education

Mission To Planet Markle: Problem-Based Learning For Teaching Elementary Students Difficult Content And Practices, Melanie Peffer, Maggie Renken, Patrick Enderle, Jonathan Cohen Aug 2019

Mission To Planet Markle: Problem-Based Learning For Teaching Elementary Students Difficult Content And Practices, Melanie Peffer, Maggie Renken, Patrick Enderle, Jonathan Cohen

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Young children can struggle to learn difficult disciplinary content and important skills for practicing science. Problem-based learning (PBL) may be useful for addressing such difficulties, yet evidence to support its usefulness in elementary school-aged children is limited. We considered the role of a PBL unit in improving students’ genetics content understanding and their skills specific to creating arguments with coordinated claims, evidence, and reasoning. First- through fifth-grade students participated in a six-week PBL unit about evolution and genetics. Students worked in mixed age groups and were charged with illustrating a fictitious alien species, called markles, based on a series of …


Using The Solo Taxonomy To Understand Subgoal Labels Effect In Cs1, Adrienne Decker, Lauren Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison Aug 2019

Using The Solo Taxonomy To Understand Subgoal Labels Effect In Cs1, Adrienne Decker, Lauren Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

is work extends previous research on subgoal labeled instructions by examining their effect across a semester-long, Java-based CS1 course. Across four quizzes, students were asked to explain in plain English the process that they would use to solve a programming problem. In this mixed methods study, we used the SOLO taxonomy to categorize student responses about problem-solving processes and compare students who learned with subgoal labels to those who did not. e use of the SOLO taxonomy classification allows us to look deeper than the mere correctness of answers to focus on the quality of the answers produced in terms …


Design And Pilot Testing Of Subgoal Labeled Worked Examples For Five Core Concepts In Cs1, Lauren Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison, Adrienne Decker Jul 2019

Design And Pilot Testing Of Subgoal Labeled Worked Examples For Five Core Concepts In Cs1, Lauren Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison, Adrienne Decker

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Subgoal learning has improved student problem-solving performance in programming, but it has been tested for only one-to-two hours of instruction at a time. Our work pioneers implementing subgoal learning throughout an entire introductory programming course. In this paper we discuss the protocol that we used to identify subgoals for core programming procedures, present the subgoal labels created for the course, and outline the subgoal-labeled instructional materials that were designed for a Java-based course. To examine the effect of subgoal labeled materials on student performance in the course, we compared quiz and exam grades between students who learned using subgoal labels …


Learning Sciences For Computing Education, Lauren Margulieux, Brian Dorn, Kristin Searle Apr 2019

Learning Sciences For Computing Education, Lauren Margulieux, Brian Dorn, Kristin Searle

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

his chapter discusses potential and current overlaps between the learning sciences and computing education research in their origins, theory, and methodology. After an introduction to learning sciences, the chapter describes how both learning sciences and computing education research developed as distinct fields from cognitive science. Despite common roots and common goals, the authors argue that the two fields are less integrated than they should be and recommend theories and methodologies from the learning sciences that could be used more widely in computing education research. The chapter selects for discussion one general learning theory from each of cognition (constructivism), instructional design …


Cognitive Sciences For Computing Education, Anthony V. Robins, Lauren Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison Apr 2019

Cognitive Sciences For Computing Education, Anthony V. Robins, Lauren Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Review Of Measurements Used In Computing Education Research And Suggestions For Increasing Standardization, Lauren Margulieux, Tuba Ketenci, Adriene Decker Jan 2019

Review Of Measurements Used In Computing Education Research And Suggestions For Increasing Standardization, Lauren Margulieux, Tuba Ketenci, Adriene Decker

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

The variables that researchers measure and how they measure them are central in any area of research. Which research questions can be asked and how they are answered depends on measurement. This paper describes a systematic review of the literature in computing education research to summarize the commonly used variables and measurements in 197 papers and to compare them to best practices in measurement for human-subjects research. Characteristics of the literature that are examined in the review include variables measured (including learner characteristics), measurements used, and type of data analysis. The review illuminates common practices related to each of these …


Spatial Encoding Strategy Theory: The Relationship Between Spatial Skill And Stem Achievement, Lauren Margulieux Jan 2019

Spatial Encoding Strategy Theory: The Relationship Between Spatial Skill And Stem Achievement, Lauren Margulieux

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Learners’ spatial skill is a reliable and significant predictor of achievement in STEM, including computing, education. Spatial skill is also malleable, meaning it can be improved through training. Most cognitive skill training improves performance on only a narrow set of similar tasks, but researchers have found ample evidence that spatial training can broadly improve STEM achievement. We do not yet know the cognitive mechanisms that make spatial skill training broadly transferable when other cognitive training is not, but understanding these mechanisms is important for developing training and instruction that consistently benefits learners, especially those starting with low spatial skill. This …


Behavioral Engagement Shifts Among At-Risk High School Students Enrolled In Online Courses, Jennifer Darling-Aduana Jan 2019

Behavioral Engagement Shifts Among At-Risk High School Students Enrolled In Online Courses, Jennifer Darling-Aduana

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Academic behaviors such as attendance are highly associated with academic outcomes. High schools are also increasingly turning to online courses to educate their most marginalized students. In this study, I explored the extent to which enrollment in an online course improved engagement and allowed students to make course progress online outside the traditional school day by examining within-student changes in academic behaviors. Students completed their online course in fewer class periods than required to complete a comparable course in a traditional, face-to-face instructional setting. At the same time, students attended, on average, three additional days of school when enrolled in …