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This research explored the interrelationship among Taiwanese high school students’ conceptions of learning science (COLS), self-regulated learning science (SRLS), and science learning self-efficacy (SLSE). A total of 309 students participated in the study, and the self-report survey data were collected to measure these three constructs. Four COLS factors (Testing, Calculating and practicing, Application, and Understanding and seeing in a new way), two SRLS dimensions (Preparatory SRLS [task definition, goal setting, planning] and Enactment SRLS [controlling, monitoring, reflecting]), and two SLSE factors (Conceptual understanding and Higher-order cognitive skills), which adhere to the cognitive learning dimensions, were included for analysis. The results revealed a direct relationship between Testing and SLSE without going through any of the SRLS constructs. However, no direct relationship was built among other COLS components and the two SLSE dimensions. There are direct relationships among Calculating and practicing, Application, and the two SRLS constructs, but Understanding and seeing in a new way solely links to Enactment SRLS and not to Preparatory SRLS. In the end, the two SRLS constructs are directly associated with the students’ SLSE dimensions. These results have the important implication that learners’ COLS have a significant impact on their SRL engagement, which eventually leads to their beliefs about their cognitive abilities in learning the abstract concepts and critical thinking tasks in science.

The COVID-19 pandemic demanded pedagogical transformation that could engage Chinese English learners in a technology-mediated authentic language learning environment, which in turn challenged learners to develop both self-directed and collaborative learning skills in order to achieve meaningful learning. To understand students’ meaningful online English learning, this study surveyed 529 Chinese university students on their perceptions of authentic language learning (AULL), self-directed learning (SDL), collaborative learning (CL), and their English self-efficacy (ESE) during the online learning period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The validation findings indicated that the survey possessed satisfactory validity and internal consistency. Survey results revealed Chinese university students’ meaningful language learning with technology in an online English course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling (SEM) unveiled the interconnected relationships among AULL, SDL, CL, and students’ ESE. More importantly, the mediating effects of SDL and CL offered a deeper understanding of language learners’ meaningful online learning process. Results can inform educators about the importance of structuring authentic language learning with SDL and CL for both online and face-to-face learning beyond the pandemic. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40299-021-00571-z.

Computational thinking has received tremendous attention from computer science educators and educational researchers in the last decade. However, most prior literature defines computational thinking as thinking outcomes rather than thinking processes. Based on Selby and Woodland’s framework, this study developed and validated the Computational Thinking Scale (CTS) to assess all students’ thought processes of computational thinking for both general and specific problem-solving contexts in five dimensions: abstraction, decomposition, algorithmic thinking, evaluation and generalization. A survey including 25 candidate items for CTS as well as demographic variables was administered to 388 junior high school students in Taiwan. An explorative factor analysis using the principal axis method with the oblimin rotation was used to validate the scale. Finally, 19 items were extracted successfully under the designed five dimensions, with a total explained variance of 64.03% and an overall reliability of 0.91. Results of the demographic comparisons showed that boys had a greater disposition than girls in decomposition thinking when solving problems using computer programming. In addition, programming learning experience, especially self-directed learning and after-school learning, had significant positive effects on all dimensions of CTS. Several future studies are suggested using this tool.

This study aimed to investigate the differences between pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) perceived TPACK given the different clusters of their epistemic beliefs collected via a questionnaire. The respo...

The emergence of new media technologies has empowered individuals to not merely consume but also create, share and critique media contents. Such activities are dependent on new media literacy (NML)...

The aim of this study was, first, to validate the instruments of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Games (TPACK-Games) and the Game-based-learning Teaching Belief Scale (GTBS). Second, a ...

This study aimed to investigate differences in junior and senior (categorised by their years of teaching experience) elementary school teachers’ perceptions of the Technological Pedagogical Content...

This study used three previously validated instruments, namely Science Academic Hardiness (SAH), Students’ Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) and Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE) on 431 Singaporean students. Using structural equation modeling, results showed that the SAH commitment dimension a positive predictor explaining both the reproductive (e.g. science learning as memorizing or testing) and constructivist (e.g. science learning as understanding or seeing in a new way) conceptions of science learning as well as all dimensions of students’ self-efficacy among high school students. It was also found that the SAH control dimension is a positive predictor for explaining the SLSE science communication dimension but is a negative predictor for explaining reproductive COLS. Finally, only students with constructivist COLS had significant associations with all SLSE dimensions. These findings suggest that students’ personal commitment to learning science is an important aspect to cultivate since it has the ability to predict conceptions of science learning and self-efficacy. Further, creating opportunities for students to be engaged in learning through constructivist ways—such as designing tasks to help students understand and see phenomena in new ways and occasions for students to apply their science knowledge to solve science problems—is likely to lead to positive self-efficacy in practical science work, science communication, and everyday applications of scientific knowledge. Additionally, students’ engagement in reproductive ways of learning science—such as memorization, testing, and calculating and practicing—could be reduced since these do not contribute to building students’ science learning self-efficacy.

The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between academic hardiness in science, conceptions of learning science, and science learning self-efficacy among Malaysian middle school students. The respondents were 320 eighth-grade students from two selected Malaysian middle schools. Three questionnaires were used for this survey: Academic Hardiness in Science (AHS) regarding “commitment,” Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS), including “memorizing,” “calculating and practicing,” and “understanding and seeing in a new way,” and Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE), consisting of “cognition,” “practical work,” “everyday application,” and “science communication.” These three questionnaires were validated and found to be reliable for measuring students’ AHS, COLS, and SLSE. Pearson’s correlation findings indicated that AHS was significantly and positively correlated to all the factors in COLS and SLSE, and all the factors in COLS were significantly and positively correlated to all the factors in SLSE. The relationships among AHS, COLS, and SLSE were then identified by the structural equation model technique. Students with a high commitment to learning science, and who perceived learning science as understanding and seeing in a new way are prone to have confidence at all levels of science learning self-efficacy.

This study investigated learners’ conceptions of learning English and their online self-regulation in a web-based learning environment among. Two questionnaires, Conceptions of Learning English (COLE) and Online Self-regulation of English Learning (OSEL) were administered to 843 university students in China. Based on their different conceptions of learning English, participants were clustered into four groups. Two groups of students considered the process of learning English as understanding and seeing in a new way or being test-oriented. Another two groups consisted of students with high commitment to or low engagement in learning English. The results of ANOVA analysis and Scheffé’s test revealed significant differences among the profiled participants in four groups. Students who considered learning English as understanding and seeing in a new way tended to have the strongest online self-regulatory competence. However, students who were test-oriented reported poorly in all aspects of online self-regulation. Our findings echoed previous studies on the relationship between conceptions of learning English and online self-regulation, particularly the negative association between learners’ test-oriented conceptions of learning English and their online self-regulation. This research enables us to better understand English language learners in China, particularly in the era of information technology.

This study adapted a questionnaire design to survey six identified core dimensions of twenty-first-century learning among China high school students. The core dimensions are learning processes that...

In the field of science education, laboratory learning environment has gained renewed interest in the recent decade. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among students’ conceptions of science laboratory learning, perceptions of the science laboratory learning environment, and their academic self-efficacy in science learning by adopting the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. A total of 513 senior high school students (262 females) in Taiwan were invited to participate in this survey study. Three instruments were adapted and implemented to investigate the aim of the study (i.e. the conceptions of science laboratory learning questionnaire, the science laboratory environment inventory, and the academic self-efficacy in science learning questionnaire). The results indicated that the students’ conceptions of science laboratory learning made a significant contribution to their perceptions of the science laboratory environment, which consequently fostered their science learning self-efficacy. More specifically, students with conceptions of science laboratory learning as reviewing their prior learning profiles tended to highlight the “student cohesiveness,” “integration,” and “material environment” aspects of the laboratory environment. Moreover, students who held personal ideas of science laboratory learning as acquiring manipulative skills tended to perceive actual science laboratory environments as much more open-ended and to attain advanced academic science learning self-efficacy. In addition, those students who viewed laboratory learning as achieving in-depth understanding, and who perceived that laboratory activities are guided by clear rules, were prone to express a stronger sense of academic self-efficacy. Based on the results, practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest among language educators in implementing and researching collaborative learning in wiki-based learning environments. However, little empirical...

Most studies of Augmented Reality (AR) in education have considered students' learning outcomes and motivation. Previous studies have revealed that AR has the potential to help students learn abstract conceptions in mathematics. In this paper, a series of statistics and probability lessons using AR installed on tablets was designed and developed to examine the effect of the AR technology by comparing the conceptions and learning approaches of junior high school students with different levels of self‐efficacy. A total of 101 students were divided into two groups based on their mathematics learning self‐efficacy. The analysis of the results shows that AR applications in mathematics courses can help students with higher self‐efficacy to pay closer attention to higher level conceptions. It can also help higher self‐efficacy students to apply more advanced strategies when learning mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flipped classroom has gained a great deal of attention in educational research and practice in recent years. The purposes of this study are to understand the relationship between students’ onli...

This study presents a structural relationship model that integrates English language learners’ motivation with their online self-regulation. Two questionnaires, Online Language Learning Motivation (OLLM) and Online Self-regulated English Learning (OSEL), were developed and administered to 293 Chinese university students. The results indicated that OLLM consists of five factors, namely online language learning experience, cultural interest, instrumentality-promotion, instrumentality-prevention, and others’ expectations. Meanwhile, OSEL is composed of six factors: goal setting, time management, environment structuring, help seeking, task strategies, and self-evaluation. The path analysis revealed that students with a positive future image of their language learning and an intrinsic interest in English culture tended to have better self-regulatory capacity in online learning environments. In contrast, students who learn English so as to avoid negative academic results might be less motivated to carry out online self-regulated learning. Also worthy of note is the negative association between L2 learners’ previous online learning experience and their online self-regulatory efforts. Learners with positive online learning experiences tended to be more flexible and independent in their self-regulatory learning process. Related pedagogical implications are discussed, such as motivating learners to visualize a successful future self, improving their inherent interest in learning English, and designing more effective online tasks.

To help students build twenty-first century learning skills, teachers must have reasonable perceptions about twenty-first century learning. To investigate Chinese teachers’ perceptions of twenty-first century learning competencies (TP21CLC), we conducted a survey (N = 340) using the questionnaire “Teachers’ Perceptions of 21st Century Learning Competencies.” This scale consists of six subscales including collaborative learning; self-directed learning; meaningful use of information and communication technology; critical thinking; creative thinking; and problem solving. Teachers rated each item on two forms of expression: perceptions of preferred learning and perceptions of actual learning. The results indicated that there was a clear gap between actual and preferred perceptions of twenty-first century learning. In addition, teachers’ perceptions of meaningful use of information and communication technology (ICT) had significant, positive correlations with other factors of TP21CLC.

Previous studies have revealed the close relationship between students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning. However, few studies have explored this relationship in the field of learning mass communication. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationships between students’ conceptions of learning mass communication (COLMC) and approaches to learning mass communication (ALMC). The two questionnaires were validated using a sample of 362 Taiwanese university students. Eight factors were derived from the COLMC questionnaire (“Memorizing,” “Aiming for examination,” “Video production,” “Integrated marketing communication,” “Increase of knowledge,” “Applying,” “Understanding,” and “Seeing in a new way”), and five factors were derived from the ALMC questionnaire (“Deep motive,” “Deep strategy,” “Surface motive,” “Surface strategy-narrow study target,” and “Surface strategy-rote learning”). Two newly developed factors, “Video production” and “Integrated marketing communication” were added to COLMC as unique features for mass communication students. The results indicated that these two questionnaires exhibited adequate reliability for assessing students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning mass communication. It was also found that the “Memorizing” and “Aiming for examination” factors in COLMC predicted students’ surface strategies in learning mass communication. In addition, students with conceptions of “Integrated marketing communication” tended to adopt deep motive for learning mass communication. In conclusion, this study revealed the relationships between students’ COLMC and ALMC in Taiwan. Furthermore, it may provide mass communication teachers with a better understanding of how students’ conceptions of learning relate to their approaches to learning mass communication.

In this study, a one-year program was conducted to investigate the relationships between students’ perceptions of mobile learning and their tendencies of peer interaction and higher-order thinking in issue-based mobile learning activities. To achieve the research objective, a survey consisting of eight scales, namely, usability, continuity, adaptive content, collaboration, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity, was developed. A total of 658 students from 38 high schools in Taiwan filled in the questionnaire after experiencing issue-based mobile learning activities. From the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, it was found that the questionnaire had high reliability and validity. The structural equation model further revealed that the provision of adaptive content in the mobile learning had positive impacts on the students’ tendency to interact with peers (i.e., collaboration and communication), which further affected their tendency to engage in higher-order thinking (i.e., problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity). The findings of this study provide a good reference for researchers and school teachers who intend to promote mobile learning in school settings.

Research on self-efficacy has been a productive field while limited studies have explored language learners’ formation of academic self-efficacy. This quantitative study developed an instrument with two questionnaires for assessing English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ formation of self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy. It further investigated the complex relationship among learners’ sources of self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy and their English proficiency. The participants were 700 EFL learners at a comprehensive university in China, who took a compulsory language course for improving their overall English proficiency. The results validated the two questionnaires and further confirmed the correlations among the three constructs. It is very striking to see that the ‘social persuasion’ played the most significant and positive role for predicting learners’ academic self-efficacy and all aspects of English proficiency. Moreover, ‘physiological states’ were found as a negative predictor for explaining learners’ achievements in English listening and reading. The research highlights the importance of socio-cultural factors during learners’ formation of academic self-efficacy in China, particularly the significant roles played by the influential social agents. Implications are provided for reducing EFL learners’ physiological stress and sustaining their academic self-efficacy for improving their language proficiency.

Conceptions of learning mathematics and their relations to academic self-efficacy and performance have recently received much attention. However, a forced dichotomization of the conceptions of learning and discussing a single conception at a time may provide limited information because students may simultaneously hold multiple conceptions of learning rather than using a dominant one while learning. Accordingly, it would be more comprehensive to characterize students according to several critical conceptions, forming mathematics learning profiles. In so doing, students with a specific profile could be portrayed with an outline of various conceptions of learning mathematics. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of students' mathematics learning profiles in terms of three critical conceptions of learning mathematics (learning as preparing for tests, learning as calculating and practicing, and learning as achieving understanding) in their mathematics learning self-efficacy and academic performance. A total of 422 students were solicited from junior-high schools in Taiwan. The results of the latent profile analysis revealed four learning profiles that were able to characterize students, namely the high-engagement, mixed, passive, and surface-understanding learning profiles. Furthermore, the MANOVA results indicated that students with a high-engagement learning profile displayed the best mean value for mathematics learning self-efficacy, as well as the best academic performance; on the other hand, the students with a passive learning profile showed the lowest mean value for mathematics learning self-efficacy as well as inferior academic performance.

This study investigated the relationships among college students’ epistemic beliefs in biology (EBB), conceptions of learning biology (COLB), and strategies of learning biology (SLB). EBB includes four dimensions, namely ‘multiple-source,’ ‘uncertainty,’ ‘development,’ and ‘justification.’ COLB is further divided into ‘constructivist’ and ‘reproductive’ conceptions, while SLB represents deep strategies and surface learning strategies. Questionnaire responses were gathered from 303 college students. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed acceptable model fits. Mediation testing further revealed two paths with complete mediation. In sum, students’ epistemic beliefs of ‘uncertainty’ and ‘justification’ in biology were statistically significant in explaining the constructivist and reproductive COLB, respectively; and ‘uncertainty’ was statistically significant in explaining the deep SLB as well. The results of mediation testing further revealed that ‘u...

This study explored the structural relationships among secondary school students’ conceptions, self-regulation, and strategies of learning science in mainland China. Three questionnaires, namely conceptions of learning science (COLS), self-regulation of learning science (SROLS), and strategies of learning science (SLS) were developed for investigating 333 Chinese high school learners’ conceptions, metacognitive self-regulation, and strategies in science. The confirmatory factor analysis results verified the validity of the three surveys. Moreover, the path analyses revealed a series of interesting findings. Learners with lower-level COLS, namely “memorizing,” “testing,” and “practicing and calculating,” tended to use surface learning strategies such as “minimizing scope of the study” and “rote learning.” However, learners’ higher-level COLS, namely “increase of knowledge,” “applying,” “understanding,” and “seeing in a new way,” had complicated connections with their SROLS and SLS. On the one hand, learners’ higher-level COLS had negative relations to “minimizing scope of the study” and “rote learning.” On the other hand, their higher-level COLS were powerful predicators for their metacognitive self-regulation and further affected their use of “deep strategy” and “rote learning.” Though Chinese secondary students with higher-level COLS usually have a negative view of “rote learning,” the functioning of their metacognitive self-regulation may change their initial attitudes towards the surface strategy. Learners with higher-level COLS still used “rote learning” as a prior step for achieving deep learning. Therefore, we concluded that the SROLS played an important mediating role between the COLS and SLS and may change learners’ original intention to utilize learning strategies.

Mobile technology has been increasingly applied to educational settings in the past decade. Although researchers have attempted to investigate both students’ and teachers’ preferences regarding mobile learning, few studies have investigated the differences between the two, an understanding of which is important for developing effective mobile learning environments. To address this issue, a mobile learning environmental preference survey (MLEPS) consisting of eight factors, “ease of use,” “continuity,” “relevance,” “adaptive content,” “multiple sources,” “timely guidance,” “student negotiation” and “inquiry learning,” was developed in this study. A total of 1239 students (609 males and 630 females) and 429 teachers (208 males and 221 females) who employed mobile technology to learn and teach in schools completed the questionnaire. From the structural equation models, it was found that the major difference between the preferences of teachers and students in learning with mobile technologies was that the teachers tended to focus more on the technical issues, while the students cared more about the richness and usefulness of the learning content. In addition, both the students and teachers considered that the “anytime” and “anywhere” support provided via the mobile technology played an important role during the learning activities, engaging them in searching for information, collecting data, interpreting data and summarizing findings. It is therefore suggested that learning environments which conform to both students’ and teachers’ preferences be developed in the future.

We review studies measuring people's perceptions of technology learning environments.A framework conceptualizing technology learning environments (TSLEs) is proposed.It includes six dimensions: technical, content, cognitive, metacognitive, social, & affective.The studies considered more the technical, cognitive and social dimensions.The results provide insights into an overview of the instruments used for TSLEs. In this study we reviewed 22 studies on developing instruments that measure teachers', students' and adult students' perceptions of learning environments enhanced by a certain type of technology. We conducted a review of all the instruments to propose a new framework conceptualizing technology-supported learning environments (TSLEs) for future instructional designs, and research on learning environments. This framework was also confirmed with the literature on learning theories. The framework consists of six dimensions: technical, content, cognitive, metacognitive, social, and affective. We found that the studies took more into consideration the technical, cognitive and social dimensions, and less the content, metacognitive, and affective dimensions. Moreover, usability in the technical dimension, relevance in the content dimension, inquiry learning in the cognitive dimension, student autonomy in the metacognitive dimension, and teacher support in the social dimension are the salient features most often investigated in TSLEs. The results provide insights into an overview of the instruments used for TSLEs, implications for the instructional design of TSLEs, and trends in the current and future research on perceptions of TSLEs.

Although the effectiveness of online peer assessment for writing performance has been documented, some students may not perceive or attain learning benefits due to receiving certain types of feedback messages. This study therefore aims to explore the role of feedback messages in students' writing performance. The feedback messages given by 47 undergraduate students in a three-round online peer assessment review were firstly examined by a series of content analyses regarding the affective, cognitive, and metacognitive aspects of the comments. The influences of the feedback messages on the students' performance progression during the three rounds of review were then explored. The results show that cognitive feedback (e.g.,direct correction) was more helpful for the students' writing learning gains than was affective feedback (e.g., praising comments) and metacognitive feedback (e.g., reflecting comments). However, this effect on the students' performance progression decreased in the last stage of the activity.

Objective: Nowadays, technology plays an important role in learning; hence, it is important to explore the relationships between EFL learners’ usage of technology and their approaches to learning English. Method: This study involved 186 English department undergraduates in Taiwan and utilized two questionnaires to respectively survey EFL learners’ usage of technology and their approaches to learning English. In particular, the approaches to learning English survey used in this study is a newly designed questionnaire which includes eight factors: Intrinsic Interest, Commitment to Work, Relating Ideas, Understanding, Fear of Failure, Aim for Qualification, Minimizing Scope of Study, and Memorization. Results and findings: Exploratory factor analysis revealed adequate validity of the new questionnaire. The regression analyses indicated that EFL learners’ approaches to learning English were associated with their technology usage for learning English such as recommendation, usefulness, and ease of use. Discussion: This study will contribute to our understanding of EFL learners using technology for learning in the future.

AS ONLINE TECHNOLOGY HAS become increasingly pervasive in children's lives, this study explores: (1) early childhood teachers' views and preferences for use among the various functions of a Constructivist Internet-Based Environment (CIBE) in early childhood settings; and (2) whether early childhood teachers' technology-related knowledge (ECTTK) can predict their preferences. By employing a mixed-methods study with 168 pre-K teachers in Singapore, our findings indicate that: (1) the five functions of CIBE cater to the different curriculum activities, including thematic-based learning, instruction of content knowledge, group project work, children's free play and science learning; and (2) teachers' general technological knowledge, technological content knowledge, and technological pedagogical knowledge are able to predict their preferences for using a CIBE. We discuss these findings and make suggestions regarding ways to optimise the adoption of a CIBE to cater to a broad spectrum of early school learning activities.

This study aims to explore Taiwanese university students’ conceptions of learning biology as memorizing or as understanding, and their self-efficacy. To this end, two questionnaires were utilized to survey 293 Taiwanese university students with biology-related majors. A questionnaire for measuring students’ conceptions of memorizing and understanding was validated through an exploratory factor analysis of participants’ responses. As for the questionnaire regarding the students’ biology learning self-efficacy (BLSE), an exploratory factor analysis revealed a total of four factors including higher-order cognitive skills (BLSE-HC), everyday application (BLSE-EA), science communication (BLSE-SC), and practical works (BLSE-PW). The results of the cluster analysis according to the participants’ conceptions of learning biology indicated that students in the two major clusters either viewed learning biology as understanding or possessed mixed-conceptions of memorizing and understanding. The students in the third ...

Previous studies have suggested that understanding the relationships and developmental paths among TPACK constructs plays a crucial role in teachers’ TPACK development process. Researchers (Chai et al., Edu Technol Soc 13(4):63–73, 2010) have found that technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge are all significant predictors of pre-service teachers’ TPACK. Thus, one of the major concerns that educators may have is, which type of knowledge should come first in an educational technology course in order to enhance the participants’ TPACK. This study was conducted to examine the effects of the technology- and pedagogy-oriented course design on improving in-service preschool teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge-Games (TPACK-G) as well as their acceptance of digital game-based learning. The participants were 49 in-service preschool teachers. They were assigned into a technology- and a pedagogy-oriented group. The results show that when integrating the TPACK-G framework into the preschool context, teachers who were taught with game knowledge first tended to have higher competencies in game knowledge and game pedagogical content knowledge than those who were first instructed with game pedagogical knowledge.

Contemporary preschool teachers should be considered to have the abilities required to integrate technology into their teaching. Hence, how to integrate technology into preschool teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge is an important issue. The current study hypothesizes that preschool teachers’ perceptions of classroom authority could be one of the important factors affecting their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between preschool teachers’ perceptions of classroom authority and their TPACK. Two questionnaires, the Preschool Teacher Authority Scale (PTAS) and the TPACK survey, were administered to 303 in-service preschool teachers in Taiwan. The cluster analyses revealed that the preschool teachers were characterized into four distinct clusters of teacher authority according to their responses on the PTAS, which were labelled as the clusters of Low engagement, Surface constructivist, Teacher dominance and High commitment. The ANOVA analyses showed that the preschool teachers in the Teacher dominance and High commitment clusters had greater agreement than other teachers with teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. In addition, for all the technological related knowledge (TCK, TPK and TPACK), the preschool teachers in the High commitment cluster perceived technology-related knowledge as having greater importance than did other teachers.

The main purposes of this study were to identify Taiwanese university students’ physics learning profiles in terms of their critical conceptions of learning physics and to compare their physics learning self-efficacy with the different learning profiles. A total of 250 Taiwanese undergraduates who were majoring in physics participated in this study and were invited to complete two instruments, physics learning profile and physics learning self-efficacy (PLSE). The main results indicated that, first, the two instruments developed in this study had satisfactory validity and reliability. Second, three fundamental physics learning profiles, the reproductive, transitional, and constructive profiles, were characterized based on the cluster analysis. It is also evident that the three learning profiles demonstrated different levels of self-efficacy for the five PLSE dimensions. The students with a reproductive profile tended to possess the lowest PLSE across the five dimensions. The students with a transitional profile may possess higher confidence in higher-order cognitive skills and laboratory activities than those with a reproductive profile. However, only those with a constructive profile, highlighting a comprehensive understanding of physics knowledge/concepts as well as de-emphasizing physics learning as preparing for tests and calculating and practising tutorial problems, possessed stronger PLSE in applying what they learned to real-world contexts as well as in scientifically communicating with others.

The aim of this study was to explore Taiwanese college students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning computer science and then explore the relationships between the two. Two surveys, Conceptions of Learning Computer Science (COLCS) and Approaches to Learning Computer Science (ALCS), were administered to 421 college students majoring in computer science-related departments in Taiwan. The COLCS survey included the following seven factors, in a hierarchical order: learning computer science as “Memorizing,” “Testing,” “Calculating and practicing,” “Programming,” “Increasing one’s knowledge,” “Application and understanding,” and “Seeing in a new way.” Particularly, differing from previous learning conception studies, one newly developed factor, “Programming,” was added to COLCS to incorporate this unique feature for computer science students. The ALCS survey consisted of four factors: “Surface motive,” “Surface strategy,” “Deep motive,” and “Deep strategy.” The results showed that these two surveys were deemed to be sufficiently reliable for assessing students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning computer science. It was also found that the “Programming” factor should be considered as a higher-level learning conception, similar to the other higher-level conceptions in COLCS such as “Increase one’s knowledge,” “Application and understanding,” and “Seeing in a new way.” Furthermore, the “Application” and “Understanding” factors were merged into a single factor, “Application and understanding,” in this study. However, it was indicated that both Taiwanese college students’ lower- and higher-level learning conceptions were positively correlated to their surface motivations to learn computer science.

Teacher-centered instruction has been widely adopted in college computer science classrooms and has some benefits in training computer science undergraduates. Meanwhile, student-centered contexts have been advocated to promote computer science education. How computer science learners respond to or prefer the two types of teacher authority, student-centered versus teacher-centered, has not yet been fully examined. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to probe how preference for teacher-centered learning or student-centered learning may affect self-efficacy in learning computer science among undergraduate computer science majors. The participants were 804 college computer science majors across Taiwan. They anonymously responded to the “Teacher Authority Scale” (with four subscales: “Preference for autonomy,” “Preference for participative management,” “Preference for dependency,” and “Preference for teacher control”) and the “Self-efficacy in Learning Computer Science Scale.” Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to delineate two sets of variables. The results indicate that preference for autonomy in computer science learning positively predicts selfefficacy in learning computer science with the strongest coefficient. Computer science learner preference for teacher control is also a positive predictor. However, preference for participation in managing the computer class and preference for depending on the teacher did not play a significant role in the students' self-efficacy in learning computer science.

This study attempted to explore 157 Taiwan high school teachers’ perceptions of 21st century learning practice, design disposition, and usage of ICT. To this aim, the participating teachers were surveyed by means of a questionnaire to evaluate their perceptions of 21st century learning practice, ICT usage, and design disposition. The main results indicate no significant gender differences were found among the adopted scales. Moreover, several significant correlation patterns among the four scales of perceptions of 21st century learning practice (“Critical Thinking,” “Self-directed Learning,” “Creative Thinking,” and “Problem Solving”) and “Meaningful Usage of ICT” scale in both male and female groups were found. Furthermore, in the female teacher group, “Design Disposition” was significantly positively correlated with “Self-directed Learning” as well as “Problem Solving.” However, in the male teacher group, there were no significant correlations between their “Design Disposition” and the scales of perceptions 21st century learning practice.

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in chemistry. Two questionnaires, conceptions of learning chemistry (COLC) and approaches to learning chemistry (ALC), were developed to identify 369 college chemistry-major students' (220 males and 149 females) conceptions of and approaches to learning chemistry. First, it was found that students in higher grade levels (juniors and seniors) tended to express more agreement with higher-level COLC, such as learning chemistry by transforming, than those in lower grades (freshmen and sophomores). The regression analyses, in general, revealed that the students who expressed lower-level COLC, such as learning chemistry by memorizing and preparing for tests, tended to use surface approaches to learning chemistry, whereas those students possessing higher-level COLC, that is, learning chemistry by transforming, tended to use deep approaches to learning chemistry. However, inconsistent with theoretical perspectives, this study revealed that learning chemistry by memorizing could positively predict a deep motive for learning chemistry, while learning chemistry by transforming was associated with a surface motive for learning chemistry. The special features of learning chemistry which might account for these relationships are discussed.

The study aims to discuss the robotic learning, which relates to the designing of four-legged robot, language programming, controlling the single-chip and communicating the process, for high school students. 28 sophomore students participate in the groups of collaboration or cooperation, and each student records the assessments of the designing robot, the programming, the single-chip controller, and the communication process in each week class. The class is eight weeks course. After each class, four experts assess each assessment for exploring the relation between each assessment in robotics learning. The purpose of this study explore the differences between each group in robotics learning. The result of the study indicates that the students in collaborative group are outstanding than the group of cooperation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' conceptions of and approaches to learning science in two different forms: internet-assisted instruction and traditional (face-to-face only) instruction. The participants who took part in the study were 79 college students enrolled in a physiology class in north Taiwan. In all, 46 of the participants were from one class and 33 were from another class. Using a quasi-experimental research approach, the class of 46 students was assigned to be the “internet-assisted instruction group,” whereas the class of 33 students was assigned to be the “traditional instruction group.” The treatment consisted of a series of online inquiry activities. To explore the effects of different forms of instruction on students' conceptions of and approaches to learning science, two questionnaires were administered before and after the instruction: the Conceptions of Learning Science Questionnaire and the Approaches to Learning Science Questionnaire. Analysis of covariance results revealed that the students in the internet-assisted instruction group showed less agreement than the traditional instruction group in the less advanced conceptions of learning science (such as learning as memorizing and testing). In addition, the internet-assisted instruction group displayed significantly more agreement than the traditional instruction group in more sophisticated conceptions (such as learning as seeing in a new way). Moreover, the internet-assisted instruction group expressed more orientation toward the approaches of deep motive and deep strategy than the traditional instruction group. However, the students in the internet-assisted instruction group also showed more surface motive than the traditional instruction group did.

This study reports the findings of a study which examined the relationship between conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in biology. This study, which used structural equation modelling, also sorted to identify gender differences in the relationship. Two questionnaires, the Conceptions of Learning Biology (COLB) and the Approaches to Learning Biology (ALB), were developed to investigate 582 undergraduate biology majors’ (275 females and 307 males) conceptions of and approaches to learning biology, respectively. The results indicate a general trend that, while the students possessing lower-level COLB, ‘Memorizing’, ‘Testing’, and ‘Calculating and Practising’, tend to adopt a surface approach to learning in biology, the students expressing higher-level conceptions, ‘Increasing one’s knowledge’, ‘Application’, and ‘Understanding and seeing in a new way’, are more likely to adopt a deep approach to learning in biology. This study also found several salient gender differences in the COLB, as well ...

Educational researchers have suggested that computer games have a profound influence on students’ motivation, knowledge construction, and learning performance, but little empirical research has targeted preschoolers. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of implementing a computer game that integrates the prediction-observation-explanation (POE) strategy (White and Gunstone in Probing understanding. Routledge, New York, 1992) on facilitating preschoolers’ acquisition of scientific concepts regarding light and shadow. The children’s alternative conceptions were explored as well. Fifty participants were randomly assigned into either an experimental group that played a computer game integrating the POE model or a control group that played a non-POE computer game. By assessing the students’ conceptual understanding through interviews, this study revealed that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the concepts regarding “shadow formation in daylight” and “shadow orientation.” However, children in both groups, after playing the games, still expressed some alternative conceptions such as “Shadows always appear behind a person” and “Shadows should be on the same side as the sun.”

This study used an online peer assessment activity to help 47 college students to learn biology through writing. Each student submitted a biology writing report to an online system and then experienced three rounds of peer assessment. During the online peer assessment process, self, peer and expert evaluation scores for the writing were gathered across three rounds. It was found that self-assessment scores were not quite consistent with the expert's scores, but the peer assessment scores demonstrated adequate validity with the expert's evaluation. In particular, when the students had more rounds of peer assessment for reviewing the writing, the validity of the peer scores was enhanced. An examination of the students' writing scores, allocated by peers and expert, indicated that the students significantly improved the writing as the peer assessment activity proceeded. Content analyses of the students' writing also revealed that their writing gradually developed with significantly better coverage, richness and organization resulting from the online peer assessment activity.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest among educational researchers in exploring the relationships between learners’ epistemological beliefs and their conceptions of learning. This study was conducted to investigate these relationships particularly in the domain of science. The participants in this study included 407 Taiwanese college science‐major students. All of them responded to two major questionnaires, one assessing their scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) and the other one probing their conceptions of learning science (COLS). The SEB questionnaire included four factors: “certainty,” “source,” “development,” and “justification” of science knowledge. The COLS survey consisted of six factors in a hierarchical order, that is, learning science as “memorizing,” “preparing for tests,” “calculating and practicing,” “increasing one’s knowledge,” “application,” and “understanding and seeing in a new way.” The students’ confidence and interest toward learning science were also assessed...

Online information searching strategies (OISS) used by students can be viewed as a key indicator in online learning environments. Therefore, developments in their OISS may also involve variables such as self-regulated learning (SRL) and online information evaluative standards (OIES). Three instruments, an OISS, a SRL and an OIES were used to investigate the roles of SRL (including basic and advanced SRL) and OIES (including naive and advanced standards) in the OISS of 307 high school students in Taiwan. The results of a structural equation model confirmed that both students' SRL and OIES have positive predictions on their OISS. In addition, students' advanced OIES mediated the relationships between basic SRL and OISS. However, when the students took advantage of the advanced SRL in employing OISS, the significance of the OIES was not shown. This study contributes to the understanding of students' online academic information searching strategies.

Many teachers are reporting that they need to develop more subject-specific applications of educational technology. However, there seems to have been a lack of theoretical frameworks to guide educators in preparing and developing in-service preschool teacher education in the area of educational technology until the recent emergence of the notion of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). This study utilizes the TPACK survey to explore 366 Taiwanese in-service preschool teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge. Exploratory factor analyses of the TPACK survey used in this study yielded six scales: Content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technological knowledge (TK), a combined factor of technological pedagogical knowledge and technological content knowledge (TPTCK) and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK), respectively. The exploratory factor analyses indicated adequate reliability and validity of the TPACK survey. The correlation analyses revealed that more senior preschool teachers might show a certain degree of resistance toward technology-integrated teaching environments. Further analyses also showed that the preschool teachers with higher education qualifications tended to have more knowledge of technology use and ICT integration in their teaching environment.

Technology has been widely involved in science research. Researchers are now applying it to science education in an attempt to bring students’ science activities closer to authentic science activities. The present study synthesizes the research to discuss the development of technology-enhanced laboratories and how technology may contribute to fulfilling the instructional objectives of laboratories in physics. To be more specific, this paper discusses the engagement of technology to innovate physics laboratories and the potential of technology to promote inquiry, instructor and peer interaction, and learning outcomes. We then construct a framework for teachers, scientists, and programmers to guide and evaluate technology-integrated laboratories. The framework includes inquiry learning and openness supported by technology, ways of conducting laboratories, and the diverse learning objectives on which a technology-integrated laboratory may be focused.

This study investigates the role of search context played in university students' online information searching strategies. A total of 304 university students in Taiwan were surveyed with questionnaires in which two search contexts were defined as searching for learning, and searching for daily life information. Students' online search strategies were evaluated by the "Online Information Searching Strategy Inventory" (Tsai, 2009b). The results of paired t-tests indicated that university students' online search strategies utilised for searching daily life information were significantly better than those utilised for learning activities, especially in behavioural and metacognitive strategies. This study also drew a subsample of 20 students from the participants for in-depth interviews, to explore further the reasons for these findings. We suggest that educators need to pay more attention to helping students develop online search strategies for academic activities. In addition, only female students' metacognitive strategies were significantly different between search contexts. There may be an effect of the interaction between search context and gender on students' online searching strategies. Based on the above, suggestions are provided for future design and implementation of online information searching activities.

This study examined the relationships among Taiwanese high school students’ scientific epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning science, and self-efficacy of learning science. The questionnaire responses gathered from 377 high school students in Taiwan were utilized to elicit such relationships. The analysis of the structural equation model revealed that students’ absolutist scientific epistemic beliefs led to lower-level conceptions of learning science (i.e. learning science as memorizing, preparing for tests, calculating, and practicing) while sophisticated scientific epistemic beliefs might trigger higher-level conceptions of learning science (i.e. learning science as increase of knowledge, applying, and attaining understanding). The students’ lower-level conceptions of learning science were also found to negatively associate with their self-efficacy of learning science, while the higher-level conceptions of learning science fostered students’ self-efficacy. However, this study found that students who viewed scientific knowledge as uncertain (advanced epistemic belief) tended to possess lower self-efficacy toward learning science.