Productive failure refers to an instructional strategy that tasks students with attempting to solve a complex and/or ill-structured problem prior to instruction about the topic. In their problem-solving attempts, the students are anticipated to fail. Failure is a subject of discussion in many theories related to learning (e.g., expertise and self-regulation). In these theories, failure is considered as a natural occurrence where the learners must identify a method to recover. However, recent literature has begun to investigate the efficacy of leading learners directly to experience failure as an instructional strategy. This study investigated the effectiveness of the instructional strategy “productive failure” in improving learners’ conceptual knowledge in chemistry. Productive failure is comprised of two phases, exploration and consolidation. Exploration refers to learners having the opportunity to generate multiple solutions to a problem (i.e., attempt to solve the problem through multiple representations). Consolidation refers to an event where learners refine, correct, and/or consolidate the knowledge generated in the exploration phase. The research on productive failure has traditionally used a complex and/or ill-structured problem during the exploration phase and teacher-led instruction in the consolidation phase. Thus, productive failure is defined as a preparation for future learning activity, in that the exploration phase prepares individuals to learn from the subsequent consolidation phase. Compared to other instructional strategies, productive failure has led to improved knowledge gains on concepts, whereas other learning outcomes result in minimal or no gain. While the efficacy of this approach has been documented throughout the literature, many of the learner characteristics moderating their success under this strategy have not been identified. The types of elements that lead to improved learning under this approach should relate to learners’ abilities to persist through the exploration phase and realize the connection among explored concepts during the consolidation phase. Two characteristics that fit these criteria are cognitive flexibility and need for cognition. Cognitive flexibility deals with a person’s ability to adapt to a learning situation and quickly restructure their way of thinking. Need for cognition refers to a learners’ disposition towards difficult activity. The purpose of this study was to document the effects of productive failure against direct instruction with practice on conceptual learning. Also, this study aimed to identify a moderating role between learners’ need for cognition and cognitive flexibility in their conceptual learning outcomes. In addition, the study investigated four exploratory hypotheses dealing with learners’ satisfaction and process variables of problem solving. The study occurred in an undergraduate chemistry course with 64 students enrolled at a research three university in the southeastern United States during the Fall 2017 semester. This study focused on the topic of chemical reactions, where learners were tasked with explaining molecular changes in a substance. Of the 64 students invited, 58 attended the session where the learners had an opportunity to consent. Of the 58 students, 52 consented to be a part of the study. Those 52 students were randomly assigned into one of the two conditions. Throughout the implementation of the study, six participants dropped out by not attending one or more sessions. This left a remaining 46 total students, with 24 in the direct instruction with practice condition and 22 in the productive failure condition. The difference between these groups was in the sequence of events. Learners in the productive failure condition were tasked to solve a complex problem before instruction on the topic (i.e., chemical reactions), whereas these events were reversed for participants in the comparison group. All participants completed five separate instruments: a demographic and background survey, the cognitive flexibility measure, the need for cognition measure, a satisfaction measure, and a knowledge test before and after instruction. In addition, information on learners’ problem solving performance (i.e., self-reported problem solving time and number of solutions generated) was gather in each group. A combination of t-tests and two-way ANOVAs were conducted to investigate the seven hypotheses laid out within this study. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the conditions in their posttest scores (i.e., conceptual learning). While cognitive flexibility approached being a significant predictor, neither it nor need for cognition were significant factors impacting learning in either group. The exploratory hypotheses indicated that cognitive flexibility impacted the amount of time learners spent on problem solving, while need for cognition had no impact. Finally, learners’ satisfaction on productive failure was not originally equivalent but in a delayed measure there was no significant differences among the groups. The implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2018. / March 27, 2018. / chemistry, conceptual knowledge, instructional design, productive failure / Includes bibliographical references. / Aubteen Darabi, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Charness, University Representative; James D. Klein, Committee Member; Insu Paek, Committee Member.

Motivating learners to participate and interact in online discussions is a challenge faced by many instructors. Despite clear guidelines, learners do not always participate in online discussions and do not meet the expected participation criteria or requirements for the course. Because online interactions are integral to social constructivist learning, little or no learner participation can be a barrier to social dialogue process for knowledge building and learning. While learner participation in online discussions can be attributed to several contextual factors, formative feedback is important to motivate learner participation and interaction. One reason why students might not be motivated to participate could be little or no awareness of how to effectively interact in a course discussion. In this context, SNA can be used to visualize the structure and patterns of interaction in online discussions. Such information can be used to create self-awareness as well as an awareness of other students’ participation. This study explored if structural indicators e.g., participant location in the discussion and relational information about their interaction with others when provided as SNA-based feedback, can motivate learner participation and interaction in online discussion. For the purposes of providing SNA-based feedback, the study used Ego network and two centrality measures—Degree and Eigenvector. The ego network is the neighborhood of a participant and showed direct connections with others in the discussion network. Degree centrality was a measure of the total number of messages sent or received from different interaction partners. Eigenvector centrality was a measure of interaction with partners who in turn, have more interaction partners. Participants with a high centrality score are those who interact more with other participants as they send messages and receive replies. This study addressed student reactions to the SNA-based feedback. Of particular interest was motivational reactions of students and whether they would use the feedback to optimize their discussion participation and interaction. The two research questions that guided this study are: 1) What are learner perceptions of the SNA-based feedback? 2) How do learners participate and interact in the course discussion before and after receiving SNA-based feedback? The participants in the study were 10 students enrolled in a graduate level online course at a large southern research university. The 10 participants agreed to receive feedback and complete a survey at the end of the study. Of these 10 students, three agreed to participate in a follow-up interview. A modified version of Deci and Ryan’s (2007) Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) for pre- and post-survey was used in the study to measure learner motivation to participate in online discussions. Scores on the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction subscales in a modified version of Keller’s (1987) IMMS survey were used to measure motivational reactions of students to SNA-based feedback. Prompted interviews were conducted with the three participants who indicated willingness to participate. The results of the IMI survey indicated that the students were motivated regarding their beliefs about online discussion. Regarding the perceptions of the SNA-based feedback, the results of the modified IMMS survey showed three of the 10 participants with high motivational reactions, two with low motivational reactions, and the remaining five showing medium motivational reactions regarding their perception of the SNA-based feedback. The Contribution Index (CI) showed that four participants each received more messages than the total number of messages sent. The remaining six participants sent more messages than the number of messages each participant received. While the motivational reactions to SNA-based feedback did not encourage the participants to post more messages, a visible change in behavior was noticeable in early discussion postings by the participants. Findings from this study indicate that the participants actively participated and engaged in the discussions throughout the entire discussion week. The participants appreciated the feedback as it provided them an opportunity to reflect on their behavior and also used to guide how they wanted to participate in the discussion. The participants also noticed a greater sense of connectedness with the whole class after receiving SNA-based feedback. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / November 13, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Vanessa P. Dennen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ulla Sypher, University Representative; James D. Klein, Committee Member; Aubteen Darabi, Committee Member.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Liberty Theological Seminary and Graduate School, 2007.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of providing behavioral objectives prior to instruction on the achievement of students in a one-semester college general chemistry course and to determine the effect of providing behavioral objectives of selected chemistry experiments in the acquisition of achievement associated with laboratory work. The population consisted of 244 students enrolled in 12 sections of General Chemistry 102 at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Nakornayok, Thailand, during the second semester of 1990. Twelve sections were assigned at random to three different treatments and one control group. Students in group I received behavioral objectives for both classroom and laboratory instruction. Students in group II received behavioral objectives for classroom instruction and non-behavioral objectives for laboratory instruction. Students in group III received non-behavioral objectives for classroom instruction and behavioral objectives for laboratory instruction. The control group received non-behavioral objectives for both classroom and laboratory instruction. A list of behavioral objectives at cognitive level was distributed to each student prior to the beginning of each unit during two four-week units of study. A one-way analysis of covariance was used to analyze the achievement test scores. Scheffe's test was used for multiple comparisons. The 0.05 level was used to determine the significance of the results. There was a significant difference in achievement between students in group I and the control group. There was a significant difference in achievement between students in group II and the control group. There was a significant difference in achievement between students in group III and the control group. It was concluded that providing students with behavioral objectives prior to instruction did significantly enhance achievement in chemistry, as compared with providing students with non-behavioral objectives prior to instruction in both classroom and laboratory instruction. This conclusion was limited to the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Thailand and any similar situation and groups that may exist. / Graduation date: 1991

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Utah State University, Dept. of Instructional Technology, 2002. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-145).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-220). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-220). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.D. Sc.)--University of Queensland. / CD-ROM by S.M. Mubarak and L.J. Walsh. Copyright date on the CD-ROM given as 1998. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2002. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-190). Also available via the Internet.