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Many studies have shown the positive impact of serious gaming on learning outcomes, but few have explored the relationships between game immersion and science learning. Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of learning by playing, as well as the dynamic process of game immersion experiences, and to further identify whether, and to what extent, immersion affects science learning through serious gaming by using the techniques of cluster analysis. A total of 63 seventh-grade students participated in the study, and a quasi-experimental research design was employed. The results demonstrated that the students gained a holistic understanding of the relevant scientific concepts because their performances on the scenario-based science assessment were significantly improved across serious gameplaying occasions, and the effect of learning was retained long term. Moreover, serious gaming provided students with the experience of immersion insofar as the students indicated a greater degree of immersion in the game over time. Furthermore, two core clusters presenting meaningful patterns, high gaming performance/high immersion and high science learning/low immersion, were revealed. Finally, various interpretations and implications of the obtained data are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games possess many unique features that facilitate learning. Meanwhile, teaching about evolution is never an easy task due to the existence of some barriers to its learning. Virtual Age, therefore, has been developed in an attempt to harness the power of gaming to increase student understanding of biological evolution. The aim of this study was to examine whether Virtual Age is effective for learning about evolution and to further explore the interplay of student concept learning, gaming performance, and in-game behaviors. A total of 62 7th graders took part in the study, and significant findings were revealed. The students did learn by playing Virtual Age, and their long-term knowledge retention was promising. The in-game behaviors, such as times and duration of viewing the relevant information embedded in Virtual Age, were significantly related to gaming performance (game score), which subsequently influenced learning outcomes. Moreover, the results of cluster analysis indicated that three clusters of low learning outcomes/low gaming performance, high learning outcomes, and high gaming performance emerged. Overall, Virtual Age is an effective game for learning about evolution based on its sound and sophisticated design. Implications derived from the study and suggestions for future work are proposed. We examine whether Virtual Age is effective for evolution learning.We investigate situated gaming-learning interactions through Virtual Age play.Students did learn through Virtual Age play and knowledge retention was promising.Student in-game behaviors were related to gaming performance and learning outcomes.There were relations between prior domain knowledge, use of avatars, and learning.

This study investigates the effect of Web-based Chemistry Problem-Solving, with the attributes of Web-searching and problem-solving scaffolds, on undergraduate students' problem-solving task performance. In addition, the nature and extent of Web-searching strategies students used and its correlation with task performance and domain knowledge also were examined. We recruited a total of 183 undergraduate students, all of whom are taking the freshman chemistry course, to participate in the study to solve three chemistry tasks across a semester. Mandated screen-capture software captured participants' on-screen Web-searching processes were recorded every five seconds. Results demonstrated that students' problem-solving performance was significantly improved from task 1 to 3, and students with more domain knowledge outperformed students with less domain knowledge. Students with higher problem-solving performance employed more existing knowledge and metacognitive Web-searching strategies; and students with lower problem-solving performance employed more cognitive Web-searching strategies. In addition, students' problem-solving performance was correlated with their domain knowledge, use of existing knowledge, and metacognitive Web-searching strategies. Moreover, students' use of existing knowledge was the major factor for predicting their problem-solving performance according to the regression model.

The purpose of this study is to examine the difference in effectiveness between two on-line scientific learning programs - one with an argumentation component and one without an argumentation component - on students' scientific argumentation ability and conceptual change. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Two classes of 8th grade students (the experimental group) received the on-line scientific argumentation learning program about chemical reaction, and the other two classes of 8th grade students (the control group) received the same on-line scientific learning program about chemical reaction, but without argumentation, for two weeks. All 140 students were administered the scientific conception test, conceptual change test, and argumentation test before, one week after, and eight weeks after learning. In addition, the experimental group students' on-line argumentation process was collected. Results showed that the students of the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group, regardless of scientific conceptions, conceptual change, and argumentation. Regression results indicated that hold of scientific conceptions is the best predicator for students' conceptual change, followed by argumentation ability. The quantity and quality of scientific arguments that students generated in a series of argumentation questions improved across the four topics. In addition, students also successfully changed their conceptions from pre- to post-driving questions across four topics. This clearly demonstrates that students' argumentation ability and conceptual change were both facilitated through receiving the on-line Synchronous Argumentation science learning program.

This article reports research from a 3 year digital learning project to unite conceptual change and scientific reasoning in the learning unit of combustion. One group of students had completed the course combining conceptual change and scientific reasoning. The other group of students received conventional instruction. In addition to the quantitative data, six students from each group were interviewed to evaluate their conceptual change, correct concepts and scientific reasoning. Results indicate that the experimental group’s students significantly outperformed the conventional group on the Combustion Achievement Test (CAT), Scientific Reasoning Test (SRT) and Combustion Dependent Reasoning Test (CDRT). Moreover, the experimental group’s students use higher levels of scientific reasoning more frequently and changed their alternative concepts more successfully than did the conventional group. Furthermore, once the experimental group’s students’ successfully changed their conceptions, their concepts tended to be more stable than the conventional group’s students, even after the 6th week of learning. These results demonstrate that combining conceptual change and scientific reasoning indeed improves students’ conceptual change and scientific reasoning ability more effectively than conventional instruction.

To alleviate these difficulties of students learning atomic orbital concepts, this study developed different 3D animations to foster students to generate better learning performance and their sophisticated mental models. The study also explored students' eye movement behaviors. All 60 high school students received the pre- and post-test of atomic orbital concept test and mental model test before and immediately after learning from either static or dynamic 3D animations. The results indicated that the performances of students' mental models are influenced by different 3D animations mode. With respect to eye movements, students who received dynamic 3D animations allocated greater number of fixation, number of saccade, and longer total inspection time as well as saccade distance than those who received static 3D animations. These findings have implications for how to develop well-designed instruction to foster students' learning performance and for the relationship between eye movement behaviors with learning performance.

There is considerable disagreement among researchers about chemistry learning approach. Some have been said to demonstrate an individual advantage, some a social advantage. While there is a great deal of general literature on this field, however, the specific web-based conductive learning is relatively unexplored. We proposed a Chemistry Online Argumentation Courseware (COAC) for enhancing 10th grade students' learning with website exploring conductive components where senior high school students can easily navigate the embedded website links and create effective scientific arguments. The purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation of learners' online argumentation activity. Answers were sought to the question: how does the website exploring strategy influence students' argumentation performance on our conductive COAC. Qualitative results suggested that both Individual and Social group learners had significant improvements in their argumentation ability with the support of website exploring. This study further suggested that the benefit of website exploring argumentation-strategies instruction to the Individual group learners in the chemistry course, they improved fast enough to attain the same progress as the collaborative learners regarding argumentation-based learning. The findings of this study could serve as some general principles for teachers who would like to improve students' website learning strategy use.

The present study was to explore undergraduate students' performance and eye movement between two groups (non-science major and science major) on online scientific literacy assessments. The domain of scientific literacy in assessments consisted of identifying scientific questions, explaining phenomena scientifically, and using evidence scientifically. Eye-tracking system was synchronized to collect the indicator data of eye movement while students were engaging in cognitive processing during the assessments. The results showed that the science group students outperformed significantly than their peers in the non-science group on the assessments. Eye movement data further supported that the science group students allocated greater attention and made deeper cognitive processing at area of interest (AOI) on critical web pages compared to the non-science group ones. This study provides empirical evidence that the eye movement behaviors can give an insight into the information processing during scientific literacy online assessments.

The present study explored the effects of students' prior knowledge of science and online collaborative approaches on their science argumentation learning. Two science teachers and 102 students from four 8th grade science classes were invited to in our study. Students in each class were divided into three groups according to their prior knowledge level on science, they then took either our collaborative - or individual-based online learning program. The results show that high prior-knowledge students significantly outperformed low prior-knowledge students in argumentation. Moreover, students in the collaborative argumentation group performed better than their peers in individual group. This implies that if science teachers create a more collaborative learning environments, it would promote students' communication among peers and facilitate their argumentation learning.

This panel discussion aims at exploring the potential applications of emerging natural user interface (NUI) technologies and the challenges they pose to the design and deployment of cyber-physical systems. Based on their research work, six panelists will take turns to present the outlook, the cyber-physical requirements and the promising applications of implicit NUI. We hope these short presentations will lead to thought-provoking discussions and inspire further innovation.