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Notwithstanding the advantages of incorporating Augmented Reality (AR) in education, AR's concrete uses as compared to other technologies are not fully recognised. Moreover, many of the existing studies have neglected to examine the impact of pedagogy and its corresponding instructional models, whilst implementing AR in teaching and learning. In leveraging the affordances of AR, an inquiry-based learning framework, referred to as QIMS, was proposed in this study. A learning package was developed on the topic of plant reproduction for primary 5 students (aged 11-12) based on the QIMS framework. Using a quasi-experimental approach, this study evaluated three conditions (AR and QIMS; QIMS; Non-AR and Non-QIMS) for a series of science lessons in a primary school. 117 students took part in this study. The quantitative results showed that although there was no statistically significant difference in students' academic performance when AR was used, students' self-directed learning and creative thinking skills increased significantly after partaking in the QIMS inquiry-based lessons. The usage of AR and QIMS had a significant effect in increasing students' critical thinking and knowledge creation efficacy skills. Moreover, in view of students' academic outcomes, the integration of QIMS and AR proved to be more beneficial to low-progress students. Qualitative analysis of the interview data from teachers and students aids in accounting for the quantitative results and indicate productive implementation strategies. The findings of this study will guide the design of future AR interventions, by providing insights for both researchers and practitioners on how to integrate and implement AR with pedagogical approaches.

The lack of teachers and equipment is a major obstacle to the implementation of Computational Thinking (CT) in education, particularly for rural schools. Although CT education has been investigated for many years, less attention has been paid to lower primary schools in rural areas. This study contributes to filling this gap by investigating the impact of three different learning approaches on the CT of grade-two primary school students in a rural area in China. Seventy-seven students were randomly assigned to three learning approaches, namely traditional lectures, Game-Based Learning (GBL) using a newly designed board game in classrooms, and GBL with parental involvement. The findings showed that both GBL approaches (i.e., with and without parents) significantly enhanced the students' CT skills compared to the traditional approach. The findings also showed that the GBL approach with parental involvement significantly enhanced students' attitudes toward learning CT compared with the other two approaches.

Background and Context: Computational thinking (CT) is considered as a valuable literacy for all students, and its inclusion in compulsory schooling could increase the numbers of underrepresented students who pursue computing-related careers. Computer Science Unplugged (CSU) had success in making computer science (CS) accessible to K-12 students in outreach settings. Such "unplugged" approaches have the potential to do the same in formal education. Objective: This review considers how research findings on unplugged pedagogies might advance CS/CT education priorities, while highlighting areas of unknown and tension. Method: We conducted a search in academic databases using terms +unplugged "computer science" and +unplugged CT, and related terms. Findings: We synthesized our review with existing ones to inform the priorities of CS-for-all and CT development. We surfaced CSU's limitations to broaden access for underrepresented students and suggested a remedy. We proposed 10 research questions that fill key gaps to support efforts that provide "just" access to quality CS/CT education.

Guided by the Boundary Activity based Learning (BABL) principle, mobile technology-supported inquiry learning activities were implemented in a primary four science class in Hong Kong. An exploratory study was conducted to examine the effects of the BABL guided inquiry activities on students' learning performance and to explore how the key element, the boundary object, operated in different learning spaces. In the study, mixed research methods were used to evaluate students' conceptual understanding and their engagement in and attitudes toward BABL activities. The reciprocal interactions of students' cognition were qualitatively analyzed in terms of the forms and functions of boundary objects in the BABL environment. The results showed that students made significant improvements in conceptual understanding and were engaged in BABL activities. The study also revealed that the generation of abstract boundary objects, together with physical boundary objects, promoted students' learning and thinking as they shuttled between the classroom and the outside. This research contributes to informing educators about how to design and implement technology-supported teaching and learning through the use of boundary objects in crossing learning contexts.

In traditional mathematics education, students have typically been asked to solve lots of tedious and uninteresting exercises for developing the arithmetic skills of addition and subtraction. The paper provides an account of learning arithmetic skills in a more interesting way through the collaborative playing of a puzzle game. 83 students in three classes in Grade 4 were asked to solve arithmetic problems with three different methods: via playing an adapted "cross number puzzle" game on Group Scribbles (GS) collaboratively, via playing the same game on GS individually, and via the traditional method of teaching and learning, i.e. with no games at all. Analysis of the pre and post learning achievement data reveals that the two classes who played the game performed better than the control class, with the collaborative class students achieving better than the individual class students. By playing the game, low-ability students, in particular, made the most significant progress in arithmetic capability and in building up their confidence in doing arithmetic calculations. (Contains 14 tables and 11 figures.)

Background and purpose: To date, there has been little research on the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) for delivering a mobile technology-supported science curriculum. To address this, a TPD model for a science curriculum supported by mobile technology was developed and evaluated in this paper. The study reported focuses on the establishment of the TPD model and exploration of its impact on teacher behaviors in the curriculum implementation. Sample, design, and methods: In the study, two representative science teachers' implementation of the science curriculum was presented together with an in-depth study of the TPD sessions. The data from the teacher-led PD working sessions, classroom observation and teacher interview were collected. Mixed methods and case study were used to analyze the teacher performance on the PD working sessions and on the curriculum implementation. Results: Our findings suggested that teachers benefited from the structured TPD which provided opportunities for sharing, extensive feedback, and reflection of the curriculum implementation. It showed that teachers had transformed questioning from traditional ways into constructivist-oriented patterns in the classroom. More student-centered activities were conducted and complemented with teachers' various scaffolds for learning. Analysis of learning artifacts attested to improvements in students' conceptual understanding of science. Conclusion: TPD refers to a continuing and dynamic system for PD which needs to be changed and elaborated based on teacher needs, school context and the problems and challenges encountered in the teaching practice. TPD development and teachers' growth in the belief and competences on the instruction constitute a mutual evolution process. Their evolution could guarantee the apt enactment and spread of the curriculum innovation to impact depth, to sustain and to spread.

Appropriate design of collaborative learning activities for students using mobile devices can be supported by different forms of scaffolding provided by peers, by the teacher or by the technology. Building on prior studies in mCSCL (mobile computer-supported collaborative learning), we developed Chinese-PP, a novel in-class mobile synchronous collaborative learning game for constructing Chinese characters from components, with the unique characteristic of spontaneous small group formations. In this paper, we propose a distributed scaffolding design framework to guide us in examining and refining/revising the interplay among various forms of scaffolding in the learning model across various design-based research (DBR) cycles of our study on Chinese-PP in a primary school in Singapore. We believe a generalized scaffolding design framework has the potential to inform technology-enhanced learning research with a structure to support the iterative process of enacting and redesigning the socio-techno-pedagogical frameworks developed by individual research projects.

When inquiry-based learning is designed for a collaborative context, the interactions that arise in the learning environment can become fairly complex. While the learning effectiveness of such learning environments has been reported in the literature, there have been fewer studies on the students' learning processes. To address this, the article presents a study of science learning in a computer-supported learning environment called Collaborative Science Inquiry (CSI), which integrates guided inquiry principles for activity design, employs modelling and visualisation tools for promoting conceptual understanding and incorporates key computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) elements for enabling students' collaboration. With the aim of understanding the process of students' conceptual changes supported by the CSI learning environment as used in a secondary school, data on students' test achievements, responses to learning tasks and peer discussions in collaboration were collected, analysed and discussed. The results of the qualitative and quantitative data analysis indicated that guided inquiry coupled with CSCL elements facilitated by the CSI system can engage students in inquiry activities and promote their conceptual understanding in a progressive way.

The research literature reports on designs of ubiquitous and seamless learning environments enabled by the integration of mobile technology into learning. However, the lack of good pedagogical designs that provide for sustainability and the inadequate investigation of learning outcomes remain major gaps in the current studies on mobile learning. This paper seeks to contribute to addressing these issues by reporting on a study concerning the principles of integrating mobile learning into a standards-based science curriculum. It also explores how mobile learning activities have impacted students' academic and activity performances in and out of the classroom over a whole academic year. Mixed methods were used to examine students' performances, and a yearly comparison was made for assessing students' progression in their conceptual understanding in science. Data analysis on students' test results, mobile learning artifacts, and their activity performances in the classroom suggested that they had improved in their conceptual understanding and self-reflection on these conceptual changes. Students were engaged in mobile learning activities both in the classroom and out of the classroom through sustained exposure to and experience of the mobilized science curriculum.

Though discussion of the teacher factor in ICT-enabled science learning abounds in the literature, the investigation of Teacher Enactments (TEs) of ICT-facilitated lessons through exploring teaching practices is still under-explored and under-recognized. Current studies are still lacking in evidence-based findings of TEs based on the investigation of teaching practices. This study explores the TEs of science lessons supported by a web-based learning platform, namely, Collaborative Science Inquiry (CSI), by two experienced teachers in their respective classes. The CSI system is built on a model-based inquiry framework integrated with Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) elements. The CSI lessons selected were on the topic of "Diffusion and Osmosis" in Grade 7. Through examining the ways in which teachers instructed, questioned, and interacted with the students, we identified the commonalities and differences in TEs that subsequently influenced students' conceptual understanding and their involvement in collaborative inquiry. The factors that contributed to these discrepancies were then discussed. Implications were proposed to inform the use of complex ICT tools in the science classroom.

In this project report, the authors describe the five transformations that a primary school in Singapore underwent as it adopted an inquiry pedagogy and curriculum along with a 1:1 deployment of smartphones. Based on the students' end-of-year test scores, not only did the students learn the prescribed content, but also they developed key 21st century skills. Taken together, the transformations have engendered a cultural change at Nan Chiau Primary School. (Contains 6 figures and 1 footnote.)

This paper shares the theoretical and methodological frameworks that are deployed in a 3-year study to examine how Singapore primary school students leverage on mobile technology for seamless learning. This notion of seamless learning refers to the integrated and synergistic effects of learning in both formal and informal settings, which is distributed across different learning processes (emergent or planned) as well as across different spaces (in or out of class). Drawing insights from the literature and our study, we assert that we should jettison the technology-centric view to adopt a socio-cultural framework. This move puts us in a better position to make sense of the rich complexities coalescing around the students'" in-situ" use of mobile devices. We also critiqued the adequacy of our people-centred data collection method, in particular, cooperative inquiry in capturing instances of seamless learning. Challenges of operationalising the cooperative inquiry approaches are also detailed in the paper.

This paper describes the design of a technology platform for supporting content-independent collaborative mobile learning in the classroom. The technical architecture provides mechanisms for assigning different content or materials to students and then guiding them to form groups with other students in which the combination and integration of their content satisfies some pre-assigned critera or goal. The uniqueness of this lies in the dynamic forming of collaborative groups rather than having fixed or preassigned groupings of students for doing collaborative work. We present the theoretical underpinnings of our approach, the initial design of the software and the iterative cycles of a Design-based Research (DBR) approach that tries out the continuously being-refined design with primary school students. Feedback and data collected from observing students' actual learning behaviors and motivations in the cycles were used to propose a new cycle of the system and user-interface redesign. Such school-based trials provided demonstrations of the platform in supporting two content-specific learning applications, namely in mathematics and Chinese language learning activities in a primary school setting. They show the enactment of collaborative scaffolding comprising peer, technological and teacher scaffolding in supporting the students' formation of groups, and their collaboration and learning.

In this paper, we present a mobile technology-assisted seamless learning process design where students were facilitated to develop their personalized and diversified understanding in a primary school's science topic of the life cycles of various living things. A goal-based approach to experiential learning model was adopted as the pedagogical design to support the student's personalized learning process. We chose to report the student's inquiry into the life cycles of the spinach plant and the butterfly to pinpoint the how the student's personalized learning was fostered in the experiential learning. The learning process consisted of (a) in-class enculturation and question posing; (b) out-of-class field trip observation; (c) on site reflection after observation; (c) data collection and conceptualization of life cycles in the field trip; (d) the hands-on experimentation of growing the spinach plant and rearing a butterfly after the trip at home; (e) creation of animations and composition based on the hands-on experience individually either at home or in class to re-conceptualize the life cycles of the spinach plant and the butterfly, and (f) sharing and evaluation of their work in class. Each student was assigned a smartphone on a 1:1, 24 x 7 basis, which was used by individuals to mediate their seamless learning experience across multiple contexts. Through our analysis of the learning content, processes and products, we illuminate how the goal-based approach applied to mobile-assisted experiential learning facilitates students' personalized learning and helps them to fulfill their agency in such learning experiences.

While addition and subtraction is a key mathematical skill for young children, a typical activity for them in classrooms involves doing repetitive arithmetic calculation exercises. In this study, we explore a collaborative way for students to learn these skills in a technology-enabled way with wireless computers. Two classes, comprising a total of 52 students in Grade 4 (ages 10 or 11) participated in the study. They used the Group Scribbles software to run an adapted version of the "Cross Number Puzzle" that was designed with the "feedback" mechanism to assist students' problem solving. In one class, students played the game individually and in the other class, students played the game collaboratively. The low-ability students in the collaborative class were found to have made the most significant progress in arithmetic skills through playing this game. Three dominant interactive collaboration patterns, one contributing to productive interactions and two to less productive interactions, were also identified in the students' collaboration. (Contains 8 tables and 22 figures.)

A key stimulus of learning efficacy for students in the classroom is active participation and engagement in the learning process. This study examines the nature of teacher-student and student-student discourse when leveraged by an interactive technology--Group Scribbles (GS) in a Primary 5 Science classroom in Singapore which supports rapid collaborative knowledge building (RCKB). We envisaged nine design principles for RCKB in the design of lessons and postulated a logic model that links and explains the effects of our design principles to the ultimate goal of learning efficacy. We presented a case study of a GS lesson which shows that GS affordances leveraged by good lesson and activity design could enable the students to have more epistemic agency. Students had opportunities to participate spontaneously in class discussions by fully expressing their ideas without inhibition. The technology effect is used to support instant formative feedback and interactions among students effectively.

Within the field of Mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (mCSCL), we are interested in exploring the space of collaborative activities that enable students to practice communication, negotiation and decision-making skills. Collaboration is via learning activities that circumvent the constraints of fixed seating or locations of students. This paper presents one such collaborative learning activity that involves young students forming groups to achieve a specific goal (get the fractions on their handhelds to sum to one). Collaborative scaffolding is provided by the designed mobile collaborative application as well as by the students' social relationships and the teacher's facilitation. We report on our initial trials which show that the socio-technical design of the activity helps students in identifying their own strategies and stimulates collaboration. Beyond this specific application, we propose a generic model for mobile computer supported collaborative activities that can support a range of other tasks in learning languages, science or other disciplines. (Contains 20 figures.)

This exploratory study analyzes how students use different communication modes to share information, negotiate meaning and construct knowledge in the process of doing a group learning activity in a Primary Grade 5 blended learning environment in Singapore. Small groups of students interacted face-to-face over a computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology called Group Scribbles (GS) to jointly complete a learning task. The lesson designers attempted to optimize the use of CMC technology and face-to-face (F2F) discussion in students' collaborative learning, with the aim of harnessing the specific features of each medium. Building on notions from communication studies and from interaction analysis, we observed the construction and evolution of the interactions through analyzing the artifacts that were produced by a group of students--in verbal talk, gestures, and sketches drawn and text inscribed in GS. F2F and GS interactions intertwined to support collaborative learning. The findings from this study could inform design aspects concerning integrating and reinforcing the strengths of both communication modes when introducing computer-assisted collaborative learning (CSCL) in a F2F classroom. (Contains 4 figures.)

With the mass adoption of mobile computing devices by the current school generation, significant opportunities have emerged for genuinely supporting differentiated and personalized learning experiences through mobile devices. In our school-based research work in introducing mobilized curricula to a class, we observe one compelling mobilized lesson that exploits the affordances of mobile learning to provide multiple learning pathways for elementary grade (primary) 2 students. Through the lesson, students move beyond classroom activities that merely mimic what the teacher says and does in the classroom, and yet they still learn in personally meaningful ways. In deconstructing the lesson, we provide an in-depth analysis of how the affordances of mobile computing enable personalized learning from four facets: (a) allowing multiple entry points and learning pathways, (b) supporting multi-modality, (c) enabling student improvisation in situ, and (d) supporting the sharing and creation of student artifacts on the move. A key property of mobile technology that enables these affordances lies with the small form factor and the lightweightness of these devices which make them non-obtrusive in the learning spaces of the student. This article makes a contribution on the design aspects of mobilized lessons, namely, what the affordances of mobile technologies can enable. (Contains 2 tables and 9 figures.)

This article examines the potential of mobile computing and Web 2.0 technology to support knowledge building in formal and informal settings. Desktop-based knowledge building tools have limited affordances of supporting one-to-one access, learning "in situ," and seamless integration in and out of school environments. In this initial study, we explore how recent advances of mobile and Web 2.0 technologies can be utilized to support seamless knowledge building processes and to enhance contextualized learning experiences across multiple locations. Using design research as a methodological framework, we analyzed current practices and configurations of mobile learning in one primary school in Singapore, and codesigned a learning scenario with teachers toward seamless knowledge building experiences. The artifacts of primary grade 4 students created in the Google Maps space were analyzed to examine the knowledge building processes based on a location-based mobile learning scenario. We conclude by discussing both possibilities and challenges of knowledge building using mobile Web 2.0 technologies based on our early experiences. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The history of science education reform has been fundamentally centered around science curriculum development and implementation. The advent of mobile technologies has necessitated a re-examination of how students could better learn science through these 21st century tools. Conventional teaching materials may not prepare students to learn the inquiry way and to become self-directed and social learners who could learn “everywhere and all the time (seamlessly)” using mobile technologies. This paper is based on our first year of work in our mobile learning research project in transforming primary three science lessons into a “mobilized” curriculum for a classroom context in which students routinely use mobile technologies. Using an exemplar fungi topic, we discuss our approach as well as experiences in deconstructing and reconstructing an existing curriculum through a co-design approach with teachers in a Singapore local school. In doing so, we make a contribution to the methodology for developing mobilized science curricula for in-class learning that also extends to out-of-class learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes the findings of an exploratory cycle of a design-based research project and examines the learning effectiveness of collaborative activities that are supported by the GroupScribbles (GS) software technology in two Singapore primary science classrooms. The students had ten weeks of GS-based lessons in science, which were co-designed by teachers and researchers to teach the curriculum by tapping on collaborative work in small groups as well as in the whole class. The results show that the GS classes performed better than non-GS classes as measured by traditional assessments. With GS, students were found to have more opportunities to participate in class discussions, and were exposed to diversified ideas. Analysis of data collected in the classroom as well as data on students’ attitudes and perceptions indicate that GS facilitated students’ collaborative learning, and improved students’ epistemology and attitudes toward science learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This design-based research uses handheld computers as cognitive tools to facilitate students' inquiry-based learning on environmental issues — 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in a Singapore primary school. Using handheld computers throughout a field trip, 79 Primary grade 4 students investigated how wastes are produced and what impact 3Rs can have on protecting the environment. The handheld computers were used to support, guide, and extend student thinking process within and out of classroom. Pre- and post-tests were conducted to examine their awareness and knowledge on 3Rs. Pre and post-surveys were administrated to explore student attitudes and perceptions on the role of the handheld computers in learning. The research results indicated improvements in the students' understanding of the 3Rs and internalization of their understanding through application of the 3Rs concepts. In this study, it was not only the technology affordances but also the way the technologies were used in the context of the learning environment and the associated pedagogy that enabled the handheld computers to serve as cognitive tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a study of synchronous mobile computer-supported collaborative learning (mCSCL) that emphasized levels of pre-structuring in the context of primary school participants who need more guidance to benefit from the collaborative work. The male and female participants, who were, on average, 8-year-old primary school students, used Internet-connected mobile devices to work synchronously in small groups on mathematics tasks. The study examined two mCSCL interaction modes. In the first mode, each group member is assigned a role, and should have completed one part of the task before the group members negotiated their solutions. In the second mode, all group members completed parts of the task individually, and then negotiated their solutions to progress through the activity. The two interaction modes were compared in terms of student task completion attempts and incorrect completion attempts. The study results are of medium to large effect size and indicated that for tasks of lower difficulty, task distribution using roles led to statistically significantly more incorrect task completion attempts compared to the design without roles. For tasks of greater difficulty, there were more incorrect task completion attempts in groups with no explicit distribution of work compared to the groups with roles. The design of synchronous mCSCL technology emphasizes the importance of state preservation mechanisms, synchronization mechanisms, and immediate feedback messages. Practical implications of this study are that teachers must actively consider the type of mCSCL design they choose when preparing their mobile collaborative lessons, and choose an adequate design for the planned task difficulty level. • Study on Role-to-Collaborative and Individual-to-Collaborative interaction. • R-to-C interaction includes task and subtask distribution. • In I-to-C interaction, students work individually and negotiate their solutions. • R-to-C interaction is recommended for more and I-to-C for less difficult tasks. • mCSCL design should consider state preservation, synchronization and feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]