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Series F: Computer and Systems Sciences Vol. 84

The ASI Series Books Published as a Result of Activities of the Special Programme on ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

This book contains the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held within the activities of the NATO Special Programme on Advanced Educational Technology, running from 1988 to 1993 under the auspices of the NATO Science Committee.

The books published so far as a result of the activities of the Special Programme are:

Vol. F 67: Designing Hypermedia for Learning. Edited by D. H. Jonassen and H. Mandl. 1990.

Vol. F 76: Multimedia Interface Design in Education. Edited by A. D. N. Edwards and S. Holland. 1992.

Vol. F 78: Integrating Advanced Technology into Technology Education. Edited by M. Hacker, A. Gordon, and M. de Vries. 1991.

Vol. F 80: Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Foreign Language Learning. The Bridge to International Communication. Edited by M. L Swartz and M. Yazdani. 1992.

Vol. F 81: Cognitive Tools for Learning. Edited by PAM. Kommers, D.H. Jonassen, and J.T. Mayes. 1992.

Vol. F 84: Computer-Based Learning Environments and Problem Solving. Edited by E. De Corte, M. C. Linn, H. Mandl, and L. Verschaffel. 1992.

Vol. F 85: Adaptive Learning Environments. Foundations and Frontiers. Edited by M. Jones and P. H. Winne. 1992.

Vol. F 86: Intelligent Learning Environments and Knowledge Acquisition in Physics. Edited by A. Tiberghien and H. Mandl. 1992.

Computer-Based Learning Environments and Problem Solving

Edited by

Erik De Corte University of Leuven Center for Instructional Psychology and Technology (CIP&T) Vesaliusstraat 2, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Marcia C. Linn University of California at Berkeley, Graduate School of Education Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Heinz Mandl Universitat MOnchen Institut fOr Empirische Padagogik und Padagogische Psychologie Leopoldstrasse 13, W-8000 MOnchen 40, FRG

Lieven Verschaffel University of Leuven Center for Instructional Psychology and Technology (CIP&T) Vesaliusstraat 2, B-30oo Leuven, Belgium

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong Barcelona Budapest Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Computer-Based Learning Environments and Problem Solving, held in Leuven, Belgium, September 26-29, 1990

CR Subject Classification (1991): K.3.1, JA, 1.2

Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extra.spring.com

ISBN-13:978-3-642-77230-6 e-ISBN-13:978-3-642-77228-3 001: 10.1007/978-3-642-77228-3

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law.

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1992

Typesetting: Camera ready by authors 45/3140 - 5 4 3 210 - Printed on acid-free paper

Table of Contents

Editors' Preface

Part I. Encouraging Knowledge Construction

Introduction to Part I Marcia Linn

Formal education versus everyday learning Jan J. Elshout

IX

1

5

Images of learning ........................................... 19 Andrea A. diSessa

An architecture for collaborative knowledge building ...................... 41 Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter

How do Lisp programmers draw on previous experience to solve novel problems? ................................................ 67 Marcia C. Linn, Michael Katz, Michael J. Clancy, and Margaret Recker

Analysis-based learning on multiple levels of mental domain representation ........ 103 Rolf Ploetzner and Hans Spada

Modeling active, hypothesis-driven learning from worked-out examples ........... 129 Peter Reimann

Fostering conceptual change: The role of computer-based environments .......... 149 Stella Vosniadou

Computers in a community of learners ............................... 163 Joseph C. Campione, Ann L. Brown, and Michael Jay

VI Table of Contents

Part II. Stimulating Higber-Order Thinking and Problem Solving

Introduction to Part IT ........................................ 189 Erik De Corte and Lieven Verschaffel

Teaching for transfer of problem-solving skills to computer programming . . . . . . . .. 193 Richard E. Mayer

Cognitive effects of learning to program in Logo: A one-year study with sixth-graders .............................................. 207 Erik De Corte, Lieven Verschaffel, and Hilde Schrooten

The role of social interaction in the development of higher-order thinking in Logo environments ................................... 229 Douglas H. Clements and Bonnie K. Nastasi

Effects with and of computers and the study of computer-based learning environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 249 Gavriel Salomon

Facilitating domain-general problem solving: Computers, cognitive processes and instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 265 Richard E. Clark

Conceptual fields, problem solving and intelligent computer tools ............. 287 Gerard Vergnaud

Part III. Creating Learning Environments

Introduction to Part ill Heinz Mandl

309

Table of Contents VII

Augmenting the discourse of learning with computer-based learning environments ........................................ 313 Roy D. Pea

Scientific reasoning across different domains .......................... 345 Robert Glaser, Leona Schauble, Kalyani Raghavan, and Colleen Zeitz

A rule-based diagnosis system for identifying misconceptions in qualitative reasoning in the physical domain "superposition of motion" .......... 373 Heinz Mandl, lUrgen Bollwahn, Aemilian Hron, Uwe Oestermeier, and Sigmar-Olaf Tergan

The provision of tutorial support for learning with computer-based simulations ..... 391 Peter Goodyear

Learning and instruction with computer simulations: Learning processes involved ................................................ 411 Ton de long and Melanie Njoo

Two uses of computers in science teaching: Horizontal motion simulation and simulation building .......................................... 429 Magnus Moar, Fiona Spensley, Tim O'Shea, Ronnie Singer, Sara Hennessey, and Eileen Scanlon

Direct manipulation of physical concepts in a computerized exploratory laboratory ............................................... 445 Vitor Duarte Teodoro

Multimedia learning environments designed with organizing principles from non-school settings ...................................... 465 Christina L. Allen

Editors' Preface

Most would agree that the acquisition of problem-solving ability is a primary goal of general

education. Yet, recent international assessments of student achievement reveal that, despite the

growing interest in this ability, students' problem-solving performance often remains disturbingly

poor. This volume documents that a large amount of research carried out in different parts of the

world and in a variety of content domains, has resulted in a series of significant findings and

principles, that provide a fairly sound basis for improving the learning and instruction of problem

solving.

An important force in this improvement in teaching and learning problem-solving skills was

the emergence of computer learning environments in the early 1980s. Due to the unprecedented

possibilities for data presentation and handling, for high-level interactivity, and for quick and

individually adapted feedback, the computer was expected to become a unique instrument in the

hands of the teacher for enhancing students' cognitive skills.

A substantial number of studies has been conducted relating to the hypothesis that

computer-based learning environments can significantly facilitate the acquisition and transfer of

higher-order thinking and learning skills. These investigations have been done from different

theoretical perspectives (e.g., discovery learning versus guided instruction), using different kinds

of software (programming languages, educational games, and subject-matter related software),

and with learners from different ages and cultural backgrounds. This research has produced

divergent, sometimes even conflicting results relating to the cognitive-effects hypothesis: While

some researchers have reported highly significant positive effects of computerized learning

environments on subjects' ability to apply valuable" cognitive skills, others have found no

significant gains. A substantial body of theoretical, methodological, and developmental

knowledge has accumulated and is summarized in this volume.

The present volume emerges from a NATO Advanced Research Workshop that aimed at

assembling, discussing and reviewing this knowledge in a multidisciplinary confrontation of

experts in cognitive science, computer science, educational technology, and instructional

psychology.

x Editors' Preface

The volume includes three related parts: I. Encouraging knowledge construction; n. Stimulating higher-order thinking and problem solving; m. Creating learning environments.

In the first contribution of Part I, Elshout describes and critically discusses the growing

interest of educational psychologists and philosophers in everyday life as the ideal learning

environment. He argues that the recent enthusiasm for informal educational settings is not wholly

rational and shows that there is a heavy price attached to adopting this approach. He reminds

readers that the criticized formal educational settings have important positive sides. Elshout

expects that this current direction for research on learning and instruction has reached a point of

diminishing returns and anticipates that researchers will soon seek a balance between formal and

informal learning.

DiSessa discusses the current images of learning offered by research groups and argues that

the activities of learners have not received sufficient attention. He describes a potential theory

of activities by examining how learners generate new ideas and insights. To illustrate the

argument, diSessa analyzes the activities of a group of learners who, working in a science class,

grapple with alternative ways to represent motion. He argues that these students are acting as

designers and illustrates how they eventually agree that graphing speed versus time is the best

representation for motion.

Scardamalia and Bereiter outline the architecture and the major characteristics of a

hypermedia system built around a student-generated data-base, called CSILE (Computer­

Supported Intentional Learning Environments). In CSILE students work cooperatively to

elaborate and upgrade information on-line with several support systems within knowledge­

building environments, including data exploration, explanatory coherence, analogy, and

pUblication environments. The authors sketch the educational philosophy underlying this kind of

computer-supported learning environment, and discuss the practical implications of using it in

schools.

Linn, Katz, Clancy, and Recker explain why more and more instructors teach Lisp in

introductory courses and explore ways to facilitate knowledge construction. They seek to identify

the "templates" constructed by Lisp programmers, as well as the skills these programmers use

to solve complex problems. Templates are generalized, reusable programming building blocks.

They describe why a programming environment called the Perspective Library supports students

as they construct programming knowledge and explain how "case studies" help students learn to

solve complex problems.

Editors' Preface XI

Ploetzner and Spada describe a computer simulation model called KAGE (Knowledge

Acquisition Governed by Experimentation), that models how students learn the physics of elastic

impacts as a part of classical mechanics. KAGE reconstructs the acquisition of qualitative and

quantitative knowledge about functional relationships between physical variables. Thereby it

predicts the knowledge states that result when particular learning mechanisms are applied to

certain instructional information. Using KAGE as a computer-supported learning environment

takes advantage of research findings on knowledge acquisition and enables knowledge-based

adaptation to the student's needs.

Starting from a discussion of the use of examples in human problem solving and learning,

and of the difficulties involved in learning from examples, Reimann concentrates on the question

of how to foster the development of effective learning-from-examples skills in students. The

strategy that he proposes can be characterized as an active, hypothesis-driven, explanation­

oriented approach to studying examples. Based on this analysis, he presents a conceptual

framework that serves as the foundation for the design of an intelligent tutoring system to help

students improve their example-analysis skills.

Vosniadou draws on a program of research on knowledge acquisition in astronomy to make

recommendations about designing instruction in general and designing computer-based learning

environments in particular. In her view, knowledge acquisition in the domain of science results

from actively restructuring one's prior understanding of the physical world. This understanding

stems from a set of fundamental ontological beliefs, synthesized into mental models, that students

use in a relatively consistent fashion during problem solving. For instruction to be successful,

it must make students realize the inadequacy of their beliefs and provide a different explanatory

framework to replace the one they constructed on the basis of their everyday experience.

Computer-based learning environments offer opportunities for the exploration of alternative,

counter-intuitive hypotheses, and the modelling of expert performance which are difficult to

create in traditional learning environments.

Campione, Brown, and Jay report on investigations of computers as tools for sustained

learning in the science classroom. Students aged 10 to 14 compose illustrated books about science

topics and share them with their peers. Students, working in groups of 5 to 7 at one computer,

gather, synthesize, and communicate information. They learn to select relevant information, to

summarize, and revise their ideas and to report using desktop publishing. The teachers working

with these students engage in some direct instruction but primarily support and guide students

in their own explorations.

XII Editors' Preface

In the opening chapter of Part II, Mayer discusses the issues of teaching problem solving

and transfer within the domain of computer programming. He starts from the following question:

how can we create environments in which novice programmers can learn to apply what they have

learned to the solution of new programming problems? Three effective methods for promoting

such (near) transfer are discussed and illustrated with examples from recent research: (1) to

provide conceptual models of the computer during instruction, (2) to pretrain the users in relevant

prerequisite skills, such as comprehending a list of directions, and (3) to encourage users to

develop the problem-solving strategies of experts, such as breaking a problem into separate parts.

De Corte, Verschaffel, and Schrooten report an empirical study that aimed at the

development of a powerful Logo environment for the acquisition and transfer of four higher­

order thinking skills in sixth-grade children. The results showed that the thinking skills were

mastered very well within the Logo environment and that positive transfer effects were obtained

for three out of the four thinking skills. Starting from the results of their own study and of other

recent successful studies, some crucial characteristics of powerful Logo learning environments

are identified and suggestions for further research are formulated.

Clements and Nastasi review three separate studies examining the role of social interaction

processes as mediators of the effects of Logo on children's higher-order cognitive skills. The

results of these studies suggest that the enhancement of these cognitive skills may indeed be

mediated by engagement in specific conflict-resolution strategies that are particularly engendered

by the Logo environment.

Salomon contrasts several different theoretical and methodological approaches to the study

of computer-based learning environments and problem solving. First, he argues that one should

make a clear distinction between two different ways in which intelligent technologies like the

computer may have an effect on human cognitive capacities: they may affect problem-solving

during interaction with computer programs (effects with technology) and they may leave a more

lasting cognitive residue as a consequence (effects o/technology). Second, two different research

approaches of the cognitive effects of intelligent technologies are contrasted, illustrated and

discussed; namely, the analytic approach, leading to experiments in which one single instructional

variable is manipulated and the other components are controlled, and the systemic approach

studying a whole instructional environment the components of which are systemically

interrelated, reciprocally influencing each other, therefore making it impossible to single out any

one component so as to leave everything else unchanged.

Editors' Preface XIII

Clark's chapter reviews the research on transfer of problem-solving skills between

knowledge domains. He makes the point that there is but scarce empirical evidence in favor of

the role of computers and instruction in computer programming in either specific or general

transfer. He recommends that future studies focus on cognitive processes that are required for

realizing transfer and on how these processes can be supported by transfer-oriented instruction.

In this respect, he distinguishes two types of cognitive processes that are engaged when domain­

general transfer occurs: the selecting of structural features that are shared by the source and

target schema, and the connecting of the features in two (or more) domains during transfer.

Based on this review of the research, a number of instructional prescriptions are offered for the

design of instruction intended to facilitate domain-general problem solving.

According to Vergnaud, a major theoretical question of cognitive and instructional

psychology is the relationship between conceptual knowledge on the one hand and problem­

solving capacity on the other. Computer-based environments make available new possibilities for

establishing a better relationship between problem solving and the development of a specific

knowledge base. But one must analyse carefully the kind of situations that can be provided

fruitfully (and the limitations), the kind of interaction that can be managed (and the limitations),

the kind of symbolic representations and manipulations that can be used (and the limitations).

Vergnaud presents his "theory of conceptual fields" as an appropriate framework for doing such

an analysis.

Pea opens Part III with a sketch of the key concepts of a new perspective on learning and

problem solving, namely the situated learning and cognition paradigm, in which learning and

problem solving is considered as entering into a web of social relations and actions that are

constituted by various practices, accountabilities and duties that make up the discourse of

scientific knowing. He articulates some of the specific implications for designers of this new

perspective and of the charge that computer tools should serve to augment students' sense-making

capacities and their learning conversations. Illustrations are taken from his own research project

called the "Optics Dynagrams Project", in which small groups of students work with a software

simulation of phenomena of geometrical optics.

The report by Glaser, Schauble, Raghavan, and Zeitz describes studies of students

engaging in self-directed exploration with computer-based laboratories that simulate phenomena

in microeconomics, basic circuit laws and the reflection of light. Each has an intelligent coach

that monitors and guides students' experimentation activity and includes discovery tools that

support activities like recordering, sorting, and graphing of data; the generation of hypotheses;

XIV Editors' Preface

and the creation and evaluation of expressions stating the laws among three or more variables.

The implications for understanding scientific discovery and science instruction are discussed.

Mandl, Bollwahn, Hron, Oestermeier, and Tergan report on a project in which an

automatic diagnosis system on knowledge acquisition and on misconceptions was developed in

the context of a computer-based physics-learning environment on superposition of motion. The

learning environment was designed according to the principle of inductive learning. It consists

of a sequence of similar tasks of increasing complexity. The diagnosis system is able to compare

correct and incorrect solutions with the learner's actual solution and thus to infer his or her

conceptual knowledge base.

Goodyear's chapter considers a number of key issues concerned with supporting

simulation-based learning through the provision of appropriate tutorial interventions. It focuses

on sources of pedagogical knowledge that have the capacity to inform real-time decision-making

in such contexts. It looks both to empirical studies of learning and to research on the action and

thinkiilg of teachers as potential sources of practical pedagogical knowledge.

De Jong and Njoo report on a part of a research project the goal of which is to develop

an authoring tool that will enable the creation of an Intelligent Simulation Learning Environment

(ISLE). An ISLE can be described as a computer simulation embedded in an environment that

includes a diversity of types of instructional support. According to De Jong and Njoo, four

themes are essential for instructional use of simulations: simulation models, instructional goals,

learning processes, and learner activity. The significance of these themes for designing an ISLE

is assessed by combining them with the classical components of intelligent tutoring systems,

namely the domain, the learner, the instruction, and the learner- interface components.

Moar, Spensley, O'Shea, Singer, Hennessey, and Scanlon describe the unique range of

functions that computers may provide for the learning of mathematics and science. Of particular

importance they consider: their interactivity (exemplified by supporting direct manipulation),

memory augmentation, qualitative reasoning, conflict resolution, and presentation of

counterfactual examples. Two ways in which these themes have been explored are discussed.

First, in the design of an alternate-realities simulation of exploring horizontal motion, and

second, in the design of an educational animation/modelling system.

The first part of Teodoro's chapter examines the unique role of the computer in science

and mathematics education and outlines an approach to computer use in these subject matters and

its implications for software development. He introduces the concept of metabook, a

teaching/learning tool for exploring formal subject-matter domains like math and science which

intimately relates a book with one or more pieces of software. Afterwards he describes an

Editors' Preface xv

example of a computer exploratory environment for exploring Newtonian dynamics as an

example of the implementation of this approach, followed by some preliminary findings on how

students solve problems within this environment.

According to Allen, the social context motivating and sustaining the use of computer-based

learning environments is typically weak. To address this problem, she examines and develops

the concept of communities-in-practice. She further exemplifies this concept by presenting a

current research project on small-group research, composing, and presentation with multimedia

computing technologies, and discusses the implications of communities-of-practice theory and

findings for the design of successful learning environments.

We should like to express our thanks to all those who have contributed in some way to the

NATO Advanced Research Workshop on computer-based learning environments and problem

solving, and to the production of the present volume.

We are especially indebted to the NATO Scientific Affairs Division for its substantial

financial support which made the organization of the workshop and the publication of the present

volume possible. We also acknowledge the additional support of the other sponsors: the Belgian

National Fund for Scientific Research, Apple Computer Europe, Inc., and the University of

Leuven. We thank Apple Computer Belgium, Inc., and IBM Belgium for making available

computer equipment throughout the workshop; the demonstrations of software enhanced the

amount and the quality of the interactions between the participants.

Our special thanks go to Hilde Schrooten for her assistance in organizing the workshop,

and especially for her valuable and painstaking help in preparing the camera-ready manuscript

of this volume.

Leuven

January 1992

Erik De Corte

Marcia Linn

Heinz Mandl

Lieven Verschaffel