"Computer-mediated communication" refers to communication between people that occurs through the medium of the computer, and includes email, instant messages, chat rooms, newsgroups, and blogs. Learning sciences researchers have made great progress in understanding how CMC can be used to connect learners together, and to allow learners to connect with society at large.
We use the acronym WILD to refer to Wireless Interactive Learning Devices. WILD are powerful and small handheld networked computing devices. The smallest handheld computers fit in one hand easily. The user interacts with the device either by touching the screen with a pen-shaped stylus, or by typing with both thumbs on a small keyboard known as a thumb-pad keyboard. The largest are the size of a paperback book and have a keyboard that is large enough to type on with all ten fingers. Their low price point and high usability has captured the imagination of educators and learning scientists. The
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is an emerging branch of the learning sciences concerned with studying how people can learn together with the help of computers. As we will see in this essay, such a simple statement conceals considerable complexity. The interplay of learning with technology turns out to be quite intricate. The inclusion of collaboration, computer mediation, and distance education has problematized the very notion of learning and called into question prevailing assumptions about how to study it.
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Gerry StahlTimothy KoschmannDan Suthers
Knowledge building, as elaborated in this chapter, represents an attempt to refashion education in a fundamental way, so that it becomes a coherent effort to initiate students into a knowledge creating culture. Accordingly, it involves students not only developing knowledge-building competencies but also coming to see themselves and their work as part of the civilization-wide effort to advance knowledge frontiers. In this context, the Internet becomes more than a desktop library and a rapid mail-delivery system. It becomes the first realistic means for students to connect with civilization
What are our youth using their mobile phones to do? They text message, play games, listen to music, and take pictures, and that's only the beginning. Teenagers are the ones establishing the rules of this new mobile culture ad hoc. To them, the mobile phone is not a device for making phone calls, but rather, a 'lifeline' to the social network and an instrument for coordinating their everyday life. Can this tool, that has seemingly ensconced itself into youth culture, become a tool for informal science learning? This paper will summarize findings that have been collected as part of the Science
Field trips are a popular method for introducing students to concepts, ideas, and experiences that cannot be provided in a classroom environment. This is particularly true for trans-disciplinary areas of teaching and learning, such as science or environmental education. While field trips are generally viewed by educators as beneficial to teaching and learning, and by students as a cherished alternative to classroom instructions, educational research paints a more complex picture. At a time when school systems demand proof of the educational value of field trips, large gaps oftentimes exist
The body of work that examines conversation in learning environments continues to grow seemingly exponentially. At the heart of much of this work is a sense that learning and conversation are somehow linked. This idea can be connected to the theories of Vygotsky (1978), which suggest that people learn by participating in social situations using tools like language. People then internalize the ideas that are expressed in interaction, inserting these ideas into complex networks of knowledge. What we would like to be able to do is identify how people learn in conversations so that we may plan for
This article explores analogy as a communicative tool used by parents to relate children's past experiences to unfamiliar concepts. Two studies explored how similarity comparisons and relational analogies were used in parent-child conversations about science topics. In Study 1, 98 family groups including 4- to 9- year-olds explored two science museum exhibits. Parents suggested comparisons and overtly mapped analogical relations. In Study 2, 48 parents helped first- and third-grade children understand a homework-like question about infections. Parents suggested relational analogies and overtly
Substantial evidence exists to indicate that outdoor science education (OSE)—properly conceived, adequately planned, well taught, and effectively followed up—offers learners opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in ways that add value to their everyday experiences in the classroom. Specifically, OSE can have a positive impact on long-term memory due to the memorable nature of the setting. Effective OSE, and residential experience in particular, can lead to individual growth and improvements in students’ social skills. More importantly, there can be reinforcement between the
Harris and Koenig make a compelling case for the importance of adult “testimony” and its influence on children's developing conceptions of topics in science and religion. This commentary considers how their analysis relates to constructivist and sociocultural theories and discusses several ways in which Harris and Koenig's arguments help to debunk some prevalent assumptions about research on the social context of cognitive development. Finally, a number of additional issues are raised for debate and discussion, and some critiques and suggestions for future research are discussed. The issues
Gender differences in the pursuit of technology careers are a current issue of concern. We report on two studies that use surveys, drawings and interviews to examine sixth- and eighth-grade students' perceptions of knowledgeable computer users and their self-perception as a computer-type person. In Study 1, participants were asked to generate representations of computer users in pictures or words. The results indicate that the majority of representations were of male users and they frequently wore glasses. Students of both genders were more likely to draw males. Eighth-grade students'
Silence of the Lands enables participants to annotate and map the soundscape of wild and urban natural environments. Participants can record and collect ambient sounds, create and share individual and collective cartographies, and use them as conversation pieces of a social dialogue on natural quiet. The result is a virtual museum in which natural quiet is transformed into a living and affective geography that changes over time according to participants' perceptions and interpretations of their natural environment.