this paper is to provide a clear link between the theoretical principles of constructivism and the practice of instructional design and the practice of teaching. We will begin with a basic characterization of constructivism identifying what we believe to be the central principles in learning and understanding. We will then identify and elaborate on eight instructional principles for the design of a constructivist learning environment. Finally, we will exam what we consider to be one of the best exemplars of a constructivist learning environment -- Problem Based Learning as described by Barrows (1985, 1986, 1992) at the Southern Illinois University Medical School and at the Problem Based Learning Institute for high school teachers .

Recent calls for instructional innovation in undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) courses and pro-grams highlight the need for a solid foundation of education research at the undergraduate level on which to base policy and practice. We report herein the results of a recta-analysis that integrates research on undergraduate SMET education since 1980. The meta-analysis dem-onstrates that various forms of small-group learning are effective in promoting greater academic achievement, more favorable attitudes toward learning, and increased persistence through SMET courses and programs. The magnitude of the effects reported in this study exceeds most findings in comparable reviews of research on educa-tional innovations and supports more widespread implementation of small-group learning in undergraduate SMET. The need to strengthen science and mathematics education in the U.S. was repeatedly emphasized in education studies conducted during the 1980s (e.g.,

This study quantitatively synthesized the empirical research on the effects of social context (i.e., small group versus individual learning) when students learn using computer technology. In total, 486 independent findings were extracted from 122 studies involving 11,317 learners. The results indicate that, on average, small group learning had significantly more positive effects than individual learning on student individual achievement (mean ES =+0.15), group task performance (mean ES = +0.31), and several process and affective outcomes. However, findings on both individual achievement and group task performance were significantly heterogeneous. Through weighted least squares univariate and multiple regression analyses, we found that variability in each of the two cognitive outcomes could be accounted for by a few technology, task, grouping, and learner characteristics in the studies. Computer technology (CT) and the tremendous growth of information technologies are transforming the world and the way education is conducted. Electronic data processing, information systems, graphic designs, and computer-mediated communication are making the computer an increasingly indispensable tool in nearly every aspect of work and life. In schools, students are using CT to facilitate their learning in various subjects as well as to acquire CT knowledge and skills to meet the challenges in this rapidly changing technological and information age. For example, in mathematics and science, educators and scientists are beginning to worry that school learning cannot keep pace with the developments in science, and they suggest using CT to help fill the gap (Molnar, 1997). More efforts than ever before are being made by governments and institutions to introduce and integrate computers in schools. It is estimated that over 4.4 million computers are currently installed in America’s classrooms and the ratio of students to computers has dropped from 125 students per computer in 1984 to the current ratio of 10 students

In this article we describe the emerging area of text classification research focused on the problem of collaborative learning process analysis both from a broad perspective and more specifically in terms of a new publicly available tool set called TagHelper tools. Analyzing the variety of different facets of learners’ interaction that are important for their learning is a time consuming and effortful process. Improving automated analyses of such highly valued processes of collaborative learning by adapting and applying recent text classification technologies would make it a less arduous task to obtain insights from corpus data. It also holds the potential for enabling substantially improved on-line instruction both by providing teachers and facilitators with reports about the groups they are moderating and by scaffolding technology as in the emerging area of context sensitive collaborative learning support triggered dynamically on an as-needed basis. In this article, we report on an interdisciplinary research project, which has been investigating the effectiveness of applying text classification technology to a large CSCL discourse corpus that had been analyzed by human coders using a theory-based multi-dimensional coding scheme. We report promising results and include an in-depth discussion of important issues such as reliability, validity, and efficiency that should be considered when deciding on the appropriateness of adopting a new technology such as TagHelper tools.

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Tutored Video Instruction (TVI) is a collaborative learning methodology in which a small group of students studies a videotape of a lecture. We constructed a fully virtual version of TVI called Distributed Tutored Video Instruction (DTVI), in which each student has a networked computer with audio microphone-headset and video camera to support communication within the group. In this report, we compare survey questionnaires, observations of student interactions, and grade outcomes for students in the face-to-face TVI condition with those of students in the DTVI condition. Our analysis also includes comparisons with students in the original lecture. This two and a half year study involved approximately 700 students at two universities. Despite finding a few statistically significant process differences between TVI and DTVI, the interactions were for the most part quite similar. Course grade outcomes for TVI and DTVI were indistinguishable, and these collaborative conditions proved better than lecture. We conclude that this kind of highly interactive virtual collaboration can be an effective way to learn.

1 Situated Support for Learning: Storm’s Weekend with Rachael While much attention has been paid to the content of support for learning, less attention has been given to its context. This paper introduces the notion of “situated support, ” and argues that the identity of the source of support and the connectedness of that support to other elements of the learning environment are of primary importance. MOOSE Crossing is a text-based virtual reality environment (or “MUD”) designed to be a constructionist learning environment for children eight to thirteen years of age. A microanalysis is presented of the situated nature of support for learning on MOOSE Crossing over the course of one weekend where a twelve-year-old girl learned to write simple computer programs.

Over the last three years, we have been developing a collaborative digital library interface where two children can collaborate using multiple mice on a single computer to access multimedia information concerning animals. This technology, called "SearchKids" leverages our lab's past work in co-present collaborative zoomable interfaces for young children. This paper describes the differences in children's collaborative behavior and dialogue when using two different software conditions to search for animals in the digital library. In this study, half the children had to "confirm" their collaborative activities (e.g., both children had to click on a given area to move to that area). The other half used an "independent" collaboration technique (e.g., just one mouse click allows the pair to move to that area). The participants in this study were 98 second and third grade children (ages 7-9 years old) from a suburban public elementary school in Prince George's County, Maryland. The children were randomly divided into two groups and paired with a classmate of the same gender. Each pair was asked to find as many items as possible from a list of 20 items given a limit of 20 minutes. Sessions were video taped and the first and last five minutes of each session were coded for discussion type and frequency. The results of our study showed distinct differences between groups in how children discussed their shared goals, collaborative tasks, and what outcomes they had in successfully finding multimedia information in the digital library. These findings suggest various ways educators might use and technologists might develop new collaborative technologies for learning.

: Traditionally, collaborative technologies are intended to directly support joint, collaborative activity, taking their cues from communication and media. Here, empirical findings are presented about the types of information needs associated with the formation of a knowledge-building community among professional learning technology researchers. Several issues are outlined in designing, facilitating, supporting, and measuring knowledge-building activity in such a community of practice. It is argued that, rather than communication tools, a knowledge-building community is better served by knowledge-networking tools that support individual information needs (both social and topical) relevant to participating in the community. Introduction Finding a professional connection with a colleague seems like a simple task but can devour hours of time. An anecdote illustrates why this is hard. A researcher whom we'll call David got a call with a question about research on interactive toys. David ...

Ubiquity of Internet potentially allows delivering a variety of electronic learning contents to a wide audience. This work proposes a new on-line learning paradigm namely Collaborative Learning on-Demand (CLoD) and its supporting technology. The CLoD paradigm enables a group of workmates to on-demand request and watch the playback of an archived multimedia session for the purpose of collaborating and cooperatively constructing knowledge. CLoD is featured by cooperative playback systems which are networked infrastructures providing collaborative media on-demand services. The chapter also details our MBone-based cooperative playback system -- ViCRO -- and presents an investigation of its usability.