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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this study was to explore the connection between teacher ideologies/beliefs and the teacher's use of cooperative/collaborative learning in the high school English classroom. An overview of the elements of educational philosophy and their interaction with innovative teaching methodology was presented to afford a better understanding of the connection between the individual teacher's epistemological ideologies/beliefs and implementation of cooperative/collaborative learning. This study utilized quantitative research methodology. Data were collected through use of survey responses and informal discussions with department chairpersons and teachers. The data analysis revealed that teacher's individual educational philosophy influences use of innovative methodology such as collaborative learning. In addition, data revealed that the collaborative learning is a type of methodology that can easily be incorporated into any teacher's pedagogical repertoire, despite the educational philosophy stance of the teacher. / 2031-01-01

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This sequential, mixed methods study explored students' attitudes towards collaborative learning and their responses to collaborative learning problems in relation to their identity salience. Identities are motivators of human actions that impact an individual's self-esteem and behavioral tendencies (Stryker, 1968). An individual has three identity aspects that are related to different behavioral tendencies: individual, relational, and collective aspects. The identity aspect that an individual acts out across a variety of situations is their identity salience. Implied by the identity salience theory, students' behaviors may be detrimental or beneficial to the effectiveness of collaborative learning based on their identity salience. Results of the study revealed a possible relationship between students' identity salience and their attitudes, prior experiences, working preferences, and priorities in collaborative learning. In addition, results of the study also disclosed students' behavioral tendencies in dealing with collaborative learning problems including group tension, the free-rider effect, and role taking in relation to students' identity salience. Findings of this study can be used to support further investigations on personalized student grouping for effective collaborative learning. / Ph. D.

This thesis considers teachers’ and pupils’ conceptions of effective thinking, and analyses how these are developed through an explicit thinking skills intervention. An analysis of children’s concepts of intelligence has shown that, with age, children tend to associate ‘cleverness’ with knowledge acquisition rather than active thinking. Perhaps as a reflection of this it is increasingly popular to teach thinking skills in schools, although how best to support practitioners in this task remains contested. This thesis presents findings from three linked studies conducted to discover pupils’ and practitioners’ understandings of ‘effective thinking’ (which few research studies have attempted) before intervening to explicitly enhance children’s thinking skills. Study 1 was questionnaire-based and investigated teachers’ definitions of effective thinking, their views of thinking skills taught within the curriculum and whether thinking skills are fostered developmentally. 127 questionnaires were returned representing teachers from 36 primary schools in central Scotland. A qualitative analysis of teachers’ concepts indicated that many did not have a clear understanding of ‘effective thinking’. Quantitative data indicated that practitioners believe thinking skills are more frequently integrated into some curricular areas than others and highlighted the lack of a developmental progression of thinking skills being taught throughout primary school. In Study 2, 75 children were interviewed with 25 children from each of the following ages: 5, 7 and 11 years. This study explored the development of children’s definitions of intelligence and effective thinking and the characteristics and causes associated with each. It also produced novel data on how children’s knowledge of thinking skills changes over time. Content analysis revealed age trends in children’s definitions of intelligence, as, with age, children were increasingly likely to hold cognitive views and incorporate knowledge into those definitions. Whilst no age trends were found in children’s concepts of effective thinking, with all three age groups defining it as a cognitive ability, clear developmental trends emerged in children’s understandings of individual thinking skills. The final study (involving 178 primary 7 pupils and their teachers) challenged these concepts through an intervention designed to evaluate the effects of infusing thinking skills throughout the curriculum, and investigated the belief that collaborative learning enhances thinking skills. There were three intervention conditions: collaborative, individual and control. Six thinking skills were focused on, with training sessions and curricular lesson plans devised to support practitioners. The intervention lessons were based on an identified underpinning pedagogy of effective thinking (i.e., making the thinking skill explicit; fostering appropriate thinking dispositions; developing metacognition and encouraging transfer). The intervention evaluation utilised standardised and study-specific pre- and post-tests. Results demonstrated statistically significant gains for the individual and collaborative learning conditions in a range of thinking skills. The greatest increase in performance was seen in the collaborative learning condition. These three studies highlight the importance of gathering baseline data on understandings of effective thinking before intervening to successfully develop awareness of the cognitive processes involved in ‘good thinking’ and enhance children’s thinking skills. The findings from this thesis have significant implications for education; practitioners need clearer guidance on how to teach a coherent developmental progression of thinking skills, and need to be supported when explicitly infusing thinking skills throughout the curriculum.

Computer-based interactive learning environments in physics can help students to differentiate between their intuitive views on natural phenomena and the formalisms of Newtonian physics. This thesis describes empirical investigations of a specific type of interactive learning environments, computer-based simulations. In many cases computer simulations deal with a simplified and idealised version of the natural phenomenon. Presenting the user with a simplification of reality is seen as one of the advantages of simulations, since too complex and too realistic simulations may sometimes be overwhelming for learners and may not permit the identification of the underlying model. Yet implications arise about the degree to which students either expect or perceive simulations to be real and how these expectations and perceptions affect their interaction with the simulation. Reality for the purposes of this research is considered to be a construct comprising the visual fidelity (fidelity) and the complexity of the underlying physical model (complexity) of the simulation. Evaluation of a number of simulations, two case studies and interviews with simulation designers and educators suggested these components. Altering the relation between fidelity and complexity levels affects students' learning and contributes to the students' perception of reality. This is demonstrated in a study of a number of simulations of the same physical phenomenon (Newtonian collisions) with degrees of fidelity and complexity which have been examined to test this hypothesis. Two empirical studies were then conducted to investigate the use of simulations which represented different fidelity and complexity levels. Analyses were carried out on videotapes and questionnaires of students interacting collaboratively with the simulations (40 hours of computer based activity). The empirical approaches to these studies, reports on work done, including the emerging data in multiple forms (questionnaires, video and audio tapes of the students interaction) and its analysis are presented in this thesis. The work reported looks at students' interaction with the simulations (pre to post test learning gain and issues concerning pre and post testing), their comments on the interface and the model underlying the simulation. The thesis supports the view that well designed computer-based simulations can promote learning and that design issues are essential to the creation of successful simulations. The findings claim that: a) enhanced fidelity of an instructional simulation has positive effects on the learner outcome, b) interfaces which use multiple representations offer valuable information which facilitates problem solving strategies, and c) low complexity simulations are better suited to novice learners. These outcomes are presented as implications for simulation design and the use and development of a syntax in simulation design is also discussed (design criteria for how systems might be built). Finally the outcomes' applicability, the limitations of the studies, as well as the scope for further research that should lead to an understanding of the factors which promote successful use of simulations in the teaching of physics are presented.

This thesis concerns groupwork, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and social relationships. The use of the computer, especially when it involves the web, is claimed to be one of the most powerful tools for providing teachers and learners with an interactive and independent learning environment. This claim is justified by the immediate and wide accessed to resources. Although CSCL involves many technologies and functions, it is agreed that its universal feature is to encourage students to seek in-depth learning. The main purpose of this research is to empirically investigate the influences on learning outcomes in CSCL environments, specifically to understand how affordances for collaboration contribute to user experience as well as performance in groupwork; and to study social relationships and how they may affect learning performance. The main motivations behind this research are: 1) contradictions in the literature about the effectiveness of using the technology in groupwork, and 2) the shortcomings of existing collaborative environments, such as a poor sense of presence and limited non-verbal communication. Evaluations of collaborative technology have tended to follow either an ethnographic approach to investigate the context of use in depth, or more focused experimental analyses directed towards specific questions about collaboration. However, this research followed the mixed methods approach which has been successfully applied in HCI (Murphy et al., 1999; Ormerod et al., 2004), so this approach is suitable for investigating CSCL affordances and requirements. A series of seven field studies was conducted, using both quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (observations and interviews) methods. Synthesising the analysis of the seven studies involved experimentally comparing the affordances of some existing collaborative technologies (Blackboard and SecondLife). Overall, the results offer four main contributions. First, a conceptual model of the factors that impact performance in CSCL environments is developed, including three main dimensions: technology, group and learner features. Second, the key theoretical findings in this research show that social relationships and overall group activities do not correlate directly with performance, so our results appear to agree with previous findings that social relationships have no positive effect on learning performance. However, some social familiarity does appear to promote group interaction and performance. Comparing the use of technologies with face-to-face collaboration produced a complex picture. The 3D virtual world did not produce the expected benefit, probably because of usability problems encountered with the avatars. In contrast, the text-based virtual world was perceived as being more usable, even though for some groups it was considered to be boring and not a stimulating user experience. Although face-to-face collaboration was expected to be most effective, and indeed it was quickest and rated best on experience and positive emotions, it did not produce more accurate results. Third, was the mixed methods research approach and the discourse analysis method used to analyse the Blackboard threads in this research. Finally, the research provides guidelines for both educators and designers of CSCL environments. Although the exploratory nature of the study resulted in certain limitations, the study enriches existing knowledge in the area of CSCL and provides theoretical, methodological and practical insights that suggest promising opportunities for future research.

This thesis presents a qualitative investigation of the effects of social competence on the participation of students with learning disabilities (LD) in the science learning processes associated with collaborative, guided inquiry learning. An inclusive Grade 2 classroom provided the setting for the study. Detailed classroom observations were the primary source of data. In addition, the researcher conducted two interviews with the teacher, and collected samples of students’ written work. The purpose of the research was to investigate: (a) How do teachers and peers mediate the participation of students with LD in collaborative, guided inquiry science activities, (b) What learning processes do students with LD participate in during collaborative, guided inquiry science activities, and (c) What components of social competence support and constrain the participation of students with LD during collaborative, guided inquiry science activities? The findings of the study suggest five key ideas for research and teaching in collaborative, guided inquiry science in inclusive classrooms. First, using a variety of collaborative learning formats (whole-class, small-group, and pairs) creates more opportunities for the successful participation of diverse students with LD. Second, creating an inclusive community where students feel accepted and valued may enhance the academic and social success of students with LD. Third, careful selection of partners for students with LD is important for a positive learning experience. Students with LD should be partnered with academically successful, socially competent peers; also, this study suggested that students with LD experience more success working collaboratively in pairs rather than in small groups. Fourth, a variety of strategies are needed to promote active participation and positive social interactions for students with and without LD during collaborative, guided inquiry learning. Fifth, adopting a general approach to teaching collaborative inquiry that crosses curriculum borders may enhance success of inclusive teaching practices. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-14 20:05:55.867 / SSHRC