Pupils' choice of computer tools as affected by the learning context.

Publication: Journal of Interactive Learning Research

Publication Date: 22-SEP-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

This study investigates the role of basic elements of a learning context namely: the given tasks, the nature of the provided tools, and the pupils' gender in their choice of tools provided by an open problem-solving computer environment. Pupils' choice of tools is discussed through the description of an experiment involving the interaction of (30) 14-year-old pupils with a variety of tools provided by such a computer environment: the C.AR.ME microworld (Kordaki & Potari, 1998). These tools were designed to support pupils' learning of basic geometrical concepts namely: the concept of conservation of area and its measurement. The analysis of the data shows that the diversity of tasks allowed pupils to use different tools, and that the nature of tasks that asked pupils to solve them 'in any possible way' challenged pupils to use all the provided tools in alternative ways. Moreover, the nature of certain tools encouraged pupils to select those most appropriate for their cognitive development thereby expressing the different kinds of knowledge they possessed. Finally, all the pupils tried to use more than two of the provided tools to perform each task, while most of them faced difficulties in using these tools in combination. Boys performed better than girls in using a combination of tools.

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Many researchers acknowledge the role of the learning context on pupils' learning strategies (Vygotsky, 1978; Saxe, 1990; Jonassen, 2000). Basic elements of a learning context are the learners and the learning activities, as well as the learning tools and materials provided.

Pupils' learning strategies are significantly affected by the nature and the availability of the provided tools (Vygotsky, 1978; Noss & Hoyles, 1996). Computer technologies provide us with the ability to design appropriate learning tools which can play a highly significant role in the whole learning context (Noss & Hoyles, 1996). Open problem-solving computer environments can integrate a variety of tools thereby providing pupils with opportunities to avail themselves of those most appropriate for their cognitive development. In these environments, pupils have the opportunity to express their inter- and intra-individual differences regarding the learning concepts (Kordaki & Potari, 2002). By using different tools, different external representations of a concept can be constructed by the pupils (Dyfour-Janvier, Bednarz & Belanger, 1987). Figures, drawings, geometrical shapes, text, Venn diagrams, tree diagrams, flow diagrams, graphs, tables, equations, and simulations, as well as computational objects, are the constituent parts of different representational systems that can be integrated into a computer environment (Kaput, 1994; Dyfour-Janvier, Bednarz & Belanger, 1987). These external representational systems can become embodiments of a pupil's internal conceptualizations and can play a crucial role in that pupil's thinking (Dyfour-Janvier, Bednarz & Belanger, 1987; Noss & Hoyles, 1996). Pupils have the opportunity to express themselves through these systems, thereby supporting their internal representations with external ones (Dreyfus 1995; Sutherland, 1995). Different representational systems can be linked and can interact so that the variations in one system can affect the others, and these alterations can be visualized (Janvier, 1987; Kaput, 1994). By interacting within different linked representational systems, pupils have the opportunity to construct multidimensional, dynamic, and more abstract views of the related learning concepts (Dyfour-Janvier, Bednarz & Belanger, 1987; Janvier, 1987; Lesh, Post & Mehr, 1987). Regarding a learning concept, each individual pupil has available a variety of different representational systems to express the different kinds of knowledge he/she possesses such as intuitive knowledge, analytical as well as formal knowledge (Dyfour-Janvier, Bednarz & Belanger, 1987; Squires & Preece, 1999; Kordaki & Potari, 2002).

From a cognitive point of view, representational systems can be viewed as transparent or opaque (Lesh, Mehr, & Post, 1987). An opaque representation would emphasize some aspects of the idea(s) or structure(s) and de-emphasize others; these include properties beyond the idea(s) and structure(s) represented at the user interface. A transparent representation has no more meaning than the idea(s) or structure(s) it represents. Tools can be characterized as 'cognitively opaque' or 'cognitively transparent' by the kind of representations produced by using them. From a usability perspective, tools can also be viewed as 'transparent' or 'opaque;' these tools are viewed as 'transparent' when their use is clear and simple for the user, and 'opaque' when their use illuminates difficulties (Kordaki & Avouris, 2001).

The learning tasks also seem to significantly affect the pupils' learning behaviour (Vygotsky, 1978; Nardi, 1996; Fisher, 2000). Pupils' inter-individual learning differences also affect the kind of problem-solving strategies they develop (Lemerise, 1992). Regarding these differences the gender of pupils can play a significant role (Fennema, 1996). More specifically, gender differences still exist in the performance of tasks that require functioning at high cognitive levels. It is worth mentioning that studies demonstrating relationships between pupils' choices of computer-based tools and the diversity of the specific basic elements that constitute a learning context, as those mentioned above, have not yet been reported.

In this study we provide pupils with the opportunity to interact with the tools included in a specific open learning environment: the C.AR.ME microworld (Kordaki & Potari, 1998). These tools are presented and discussed in the following section of this article. Next, an experiment demonstrates the relationships between pupils' choice of tools and: a) the nature of the tools used in terms of the two previously mentioned issues: their cognitive transparency and their usability, b) the diversity of tasks, and c) the differences deriving from pupils' gender. Finally, the findings of this study are discussed and conclusions are presented.

A MICROWORLD PROVIDING A VARIETY OF TOOLS

The 'Conservation of Area and its Measurement' (C.AR.ME) microworld is an educational software environment that has been designed as an interactive open problem-solving environment to support pupils' experimentation with the geometric concepts of conservation of area and its measurement. This environment provides a variety of tools for the pupils, giving them the opportunity to construct multiple representations of the concepts of conservation of area and its measurement. These representations are considered as qualitative, quantitative, and dynamic representations of the above concepts. The tools provided are presented in Figure 1 and discussed in relation to the representations that can be constructed by using them in this section.

T1. Tools that simulate pupils' sensory-motor actions

A variety of tools are provided to the pupils to construct different representations of equivalent areas by manipulating them without the use of numbers. These constructions can be realised by using the following tools: Select All, Select Part, Cut, Paste, Rotate, and Symmetry. These tools are presented under the 'Edit' column in Figure 1 and permit direct manipulation of shapes. These tools can be used by the pupils to construct equivalent areas in two ways: changing only the position of a figure and splitting an area into its non-overlapping parts and recomposing these parts to form new equivalent shapes, as shown in Figure 2.

All these constructions can be viewed as different representations of the concept of conservation of area. They are 'transparent' representations, reported in the literature, as prerequisites for pupils' understanding of the concept of area measurement. In terms of usability, the above tools can be used intuitively, since they simulate object manipulation activities. However, the way they have been implemented in the version of the software used, through a combination of menu commands and direct manipulation operations, could create confusion to the pupils.

T2. Tools for automatic measurements...

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