ERIC Number: EJ686082
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Aug
Pages: 14
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0266-4909
EISSN: N/A
Triple Scheme of Learning Support Design for Scientific Discovery Learning Based on Computer Simulation: Experimental Research
Zhang, Jianwei; Chen, Qi; Sun, Yanquing; Reid, David J.
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, v20 n4 p269-282 Aug 2004
Learning support studies involving simulation-based scientific discovery learning have tended to adopt an ad hoc strategies-oriented approach in which the support strategies are typically pre-specified according to learners' difficulties in particular activities. This article proposes a more integrated approach, a triple scheme for learning support design on the basis of the systematic analysis of the internal conditions of scientific discovery learning. The triple learning support scheme involves: (a) interpretative support that helps learners with knowledge access and the generation of meaningful and integrative understandings; (b) experimental support that scaffolds learners in systematic and valid experimental activities; and (c) reflective support that increases learners' self-awareness of the discovery processes and prompts their reflective abstraction and integration. Two experiments were conducted with eighth graders (13-year-olds) to examine the effects of these learning supports embedded into a simulation program on floating and sinking. The overall results support the main hypotheses that learning supports in a simulation environment should be directed towards the three perspectives to invite meaningful, systematic, and reflective discovery learning.
Descriptors: Grade 8, Discovery Processes, Discovery Learning, Simulation, Thinking Skills, Teaching Methods, Science Instruction, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Metacognition, Instructional Design
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A