<p>This thesis undertakes two main tasks; to explore, within the authentic educational context, variables that influence the quality and outcomes of the knowledge-constructing activity during the simulation exercise; and to find appropriate instruments and methods to measure these variables, processes and outcomes.</p><p>Closed-ended tasks that provided a high degree of structure, i.e., supported students’ regulation of learning during the simulation exercise, were more beneficial for perceived improvement of declarative knowledge and students’ motivation than open-ended tasks. Open-ended tasks did however lead to substantial shifts in students’ cognitive focus in subsequent laboratory exercises and improvement of students’ level of chemistry reasoning in interviews.</p><p>Student attitudes toward learning proved important in the first paper where significantly higher ability to apply chemistry knowledge in interviews could be found for students with relativistic attitudes compared to those with more dualistic perspectives on learning. In the subsequent papers, the effects of attitudes were not as clear, possibly due to too small differences in the learning situations that were compared.</p><p>Quality of the learning discourse during simulation was measured with three qualitatively different methods, focusing on partly different aspects. The different methods gave very similar results regarding the relative quality of the discourses. Thus, “quality” as such seems to be an underlying feature that permeates many aspects of the discourse and consequently could be targeted in different ways, e.g., focusing on quantitative as well as qualitative aspects. The analyses revealed several components of quality; co-operative activity, correctness and complexity of chemistry reasoning, discussion length and intensity, ability to realize cognitive conflict, and reference to theory while reasoning.</p><p>Doing the simulation exercise in a distributed learning setting (written e-communication), supported discussions with higher accuracy and complexity of chemistry reasoning and frequent references to theory while the face-to-face situation allowed for longer and more intense discussions and a higher degree of co-operative activity. Not very surprisingly, high-quality discussions were characterized by high scores in all these components. There were indications that relatively good pre-knowledge might be required to benefit fully from face-to-face discussions.</p><p>The validity of instruments and methods, used to measure flow experiences, attitudes (i.e., epistemological beliefs), knowledge accessibility (intuitive knowledge) and discourse quality are discussed thoroughly. Special interest has been devoted to whether qualitative data should be quantified or not, providing arguments in favor of quantitative methods for analyzing and reporting qualitative data.</p>

This thesis undertakes two main tasks; to explore, within the authentic educational context, variables that influence the quality and outcomes of the knowledge-constructing activity during the simulation exercise; and to find appropriate instruments and methods to measure these variables, processes and outcomes. Closed-ended tasks that provided a high degree of structure, i.e., supported students’ regulation of learning during the simulation exercise, were more beneficial for perceived improvement of declarative knowledge and students’ motivation than open-ended tasks. Open-ended tasks did however lead to substantial shifts in students’ cognitive focus in subsequent laboratory exercises and improvement of students’ level of chemistry reasoning in interviews. Student attitudes toward learning proved important in the first paper where significantly higher ability to apply chemistry knowledge in interviews could be found for students with relativistic attitudes compared to those with more dualistic perspectives on learning. In the subsequent papers, the effects of attitudes were not as clear, possibly due to too small differences in the learning situations that were compared. Quality of the learning discourse during simulation was measured with three qualitatively different methods, focusing on partly different aspects. The different methods gave very similar results regarding the relative quality of the discourses. Thus, “quality” as such seems to be an underlying feature that permeates many aspects of the discourse and consequently could be targeted in different ways, e.g., focusing on quantitative as well as qualitative aspects. The analyses revealed several components of quality; co-operative activity, correctness and complexity of chemistry reasoning, discussion length and intensity, ability to realize cognitive conflict, and reference to theory while reasoning. Doing the simulation exercise in a distributed learning setting (written e-communication), supported discussions with higher accuracy and complexity of chemistry reasoning and frequent references to theory while the face-to-face situation allowed for longer and more intense discussions and a higher degree of co-operative activity. Not very surprisingly, high-quality discussions were characterized by high scores in all these components. There were indications that relatively good pre-knowledge might be required to benefit fully from face-to-face discussions. The validity of instruments and methods, used to measure flow experiences, attitudes (i.e., epistemological beliefs), knowledge accessibility (intuitive knowledge) and discourse quality are discussed thoroughly. Special interest has been devoted to whether qualitative data should be quantified or not, providing arguments in favor of quantitative methods for analyzing and reporting qualitative data.

Affective learning forms part of all kinds of educational experiences, regardless of whether the primary focus of learning is on the psychomotor or the cognitive domain. When students are exposed to these different types of educational experiences, their feelings or emotions will be stirred (Bastable 2003: 333). The aim of this study was to investigate the affective experiences of students who were enrolled for an online module, as part of their study programme. The study specifically aimed to investigate the meanings that students attached to their affective experiences during the module. The rationale of this study was based on the fact that students have affective experiences that influence their decision to persevere with a course. The purpose of this study was thus to explore and interpret the participants’ affective experiences in an online learning environment and to discover important categories of meaning (Marshall&Rossman 1999:33). The basis for the study was the fifth module of a two-year tutored master’s degree in computer-assisted education. This module, with its focus on e-learning, was presented entirely online for a period of six weeks. A game was played in cyberspace; and as the learning experiences of participants were based on surfing the Web, the game was called CyberSurfiver. In the e-learning environment, participants had to interact and communicate mainly by means of e-mail, Internet groups, and the online learning platform WebCT. Participants could also communicate synchronously by means of the Internet-based synchronous tool called Yahoo! Messenger. A qualitative approach was used for this research. A case study was chosen as a design for this study because it reflects particularistic, descriptive and heuristic characteristics. On the one hand, the case study could be related to the online culture but, on the other hand, the study aimed at interpreting meaning attached to experiences within the online culture. This study can be seen as falling within the constructivist-hermeneutic-interpretivist-qualitative paradigm. In this study, two focus group interviews were used as the principal method of data collection. The main purpose of the focus group interviews was to collect data about the affective experiences of participants. The first category identified during the data analysis and coding process of this study was called Curative Factors. The second category was called Process of Affective Development. It was concluded that the participants’ affective development could be compared to the levels of Krathwohl’s Taxonomy. The participants’ affective development were further assessed by means of a learning cycle model developed by Kort and Reilly (2002a:60-61). A third category namely <c>Inhibiting Factors was identified. The findings of this study emphasise the importance of the recognition of the holistic nature of the online students and their experiences, which imply that affective development cannot be separated from cognitive and psychomotor development. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted