Detlef Urhahne

Collaborative Inquiry Learning: Models, tools, and challenges

Collaborative inquiry learning is one of the most challenging and exciting ventures for today’s schools. It aims at bringing a new and promising culture of teaching and learning into the classroom where students in groups engage in self‐regulated learning activities supported by the teacher. It is expected that this way of learning fosters students’ motivation and interest in science, that they learn to perform steps of inquiry similar to scientists and that they gain knowledge on scientific processes. Starting from general pedagogical reflections and science standards, the article reviews some prominent models of inquiry learning. This comparison results in a set of inquiry processes being the basis for cooperation in the scientific network NetCoIL. Inquiry learning is conceived in several ways with emphasis on different processes. For an illustration of the spectrum, some main conceptions of inquiry and their focuses are described. In the next step, the article describes exemplary computer tools and environments from within and outside the NetCoIL network that were designed to support processes of collaborative inquiry learning. These tools are analysed by describing their functionalities as well as effects on student learning known from the literature. The article closes with challenges for further developments elaborated by the NetCoIL network.

Role of the Teacher in Computer‐supported Collaborative Inquiry Learning

The article presents an analysis of practices in teaching with computer‐supported collaborative inquiry learning environments. We describe the role of the teacher in computer‐supported collaborative inquiry learning by five principles that span the whole instructional process, from the preparation of the lesson up to the assessment of learning achievement. For successful implementation of computer‐supported projects, the teacher has to (1) envision the lesson, (2) enable collaboration, (3) encourage students, (4) ensure learning, and (5) evaluate achievement. We analyse classroom scenarios provided by eight teachers or mentors who implemented one of four different approaches developed by multimedia researchers: Web‐based Inquiry Science Environment, Modeling Across the Curriculum, Collaborative Laboratories across Europe, or Resources for Collaborative Inquiry Learning. Teachers or mentors responded to a semi‐structured questionnaire about their experiences in implementing the inquiry lesson. A comparison of different classroom scenarios according to the mentioned five principles informed our analysis of teacher activities that contribute to the success of student inquiry while using such technology‐enhanced approaches. We conclude with a discussion of the often neglected role of the teacher in computer‐supported learning.

Modification of a School Programme in the Deutsches Museum to Enhance Students’ Attitudes and Understanding

The study examines the nature, conditions, and outcomes of student learning from an organised guided tour in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The instructional methods that best support students’ cognitive and affective learning as well as how students’ motivational and emotional states influence their achievement were investigated. A sample of 96 secondary school students took part in two different versions of a guided tour on an energy topic. The tours varied in the degree of support of students’ active involvement, group work, and the variety of general activities offered during the tour. The data collected indicate that both tour versions led to an increase in student understanding of the visit topic to nearly the same extent. However, the version stimulating students’ active participation, group work, and including a larger variety of activities aroused more positive attitudes. Students of the modified school programme showed higher interest and intrinsic motivation, felt more competent, and were less bored after the guided tour. In addition, the results suggest that students’ visit‐related emotional states predict the degree of their post‐visit topic understanding, even when demographics and prior knowledge are taken into consideration.

The relationship in biology between the nature of science and scientific inquiry

Informed understandings of nature of science and scientific inquiry are generally accepted goals of biology education. This article points out central features of scientific inquiry with relation to biology and the nature of science in general terms and focuses on the relationship of students’ inquiry skills in biology and their beliefs on the nature of science. The study took place as a part of the German national curriculum project biology in context. IRT modelling of students’ inquiry skills was performed with a sample of 1553 secondary school students. Final analyses on the relation to NOS beliefs were conducted with 218 participants who were in seventh (n = 50), eighth (n = 58) and ninth (n = 110) grades. Students in higher grades showed more advanced inquiry skills in biology and more sophisticated NOS beliefs. Different dimensions of inquiry skills and NOS beliefs correlated positively on a moderate level. Besides science experience and prior achievement, NOS beliefs contributed to the formation of biological inquiry skills. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for teaching and student assessment.

Museum learning: a study of motivation and learning achievement

According to Reinmann-Rothmeier and Mandl (2001), learning environments should provide an ideal balance between constructivist and instructive elements. Most interesting for constructivist learning processes is the combination of the cognitive and the motivational domain. In an empirical study with 207 fifth-graders of the highest stratification level, we evaluated three different approaches to the learning process based on a visit to the Natural History Museum in Berlin: the three approaches were principally characterised by closed, open and mixed tasks. One objective of our study was to as-sess learning achieved through the visit and the effect of different treatments. Another goal was to evaluate the motivation of the three treatment groups. We conducted a pre/post-test study with follow-up measurement. The test instruments consisted of 26 open and closed questions in the cognitive domain and a further 12 items (subdivided into four subsections) for measuring motivation according to self-determination theory. In contrast to our hypotheses based on constructivist theories, open tasks were less successful for gaining knowledge and less intrinsically motivating.

Die Bedeutung domänenspezifischer epistemologischer Überzeugungen für Motivation, Selbstkonzept und Lernstrategien von Studierenden

Epistemologische Uberzeugungen sind Vorstellungen uber die Struktur des Wissens und des Wissenserwerbs. Von einem domanenspezifischen Ansatz ausgehend wurden die Verbindungen epistemologischer Uberzeugungen in den Naturwissenschaften zu Motivation, Selbstkonzept und Lernstrategien analysiert. An der Fragebogenuntersuchung nahmen einhundertundzwanzig Studierende des Grundstudiums fur das Lehramt Biologie teil. Die Studienergebnisse zeigen, dass reifere epistemologische Uberzeugungen mit einer hoheren Leistungsmotivation und einem hoheren fachspezifischen Selbstkonzept einhergehen. Lernende mit hoher entwickelten epistemologischen Uberzeugungen vermeiden oberflachliche und bevorzugen tiefer gehende Lernstrategien. Aus einer Clusteranalyse geht hervor, dass Personen mit einer relativistischen Weltsicht uber ein hoheres Selbstkonzept und bessere Lernstrategien verfugen als Personen mit einer konservativen Weltsicht. Eine Verbesserung des epistemologischen Verstandnisses konnte zu gunstigeren Lerndispositionen...

Sieben Arten der Lernmotivation

Zusammenfassung. Der Artikel vermittelt einen Uberblick uber zentrale theoretische Ansatze der Lernmotivationsforschung. Als integrativer Rahmen zur Darstellung dient dabei ein Handlungsmodell, das in Anlehnung an Heckhausen und Heckhausen (2006) entstanden ist. Es werden sieben Arten von Lernmotivationstheorien vorgestellt und in das Handlungsmodell eingeordnet: klassische Leistungsmotivationstheorie, erweiterte Erwartungs-Wert-Theorien, Attributionstheorien, Zielorientierungskonzepte, Theorien intrinsischer Motivation, Volitionsmodelle und Theorien sozialer Motivation. Fur jede Theorieart wird aufgezeigt, an welche Prozesse im Handlungsverlauf die Motivation gebunden ist. Dadurch treten Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen den Motivationstheorien deutlich hervor. Zur Veranschaulichung des Zusammenhangs zwischen Motivation und Lernleistung auf empirischer Ebene werden die Befunde aus Metaanalysen prasentiert.

Attempting to predict success in the qualifying round of the International Chemistry Olympiad

The aim of this study was trying to predict success in the qualifying round for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) on the basis of the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation by Eccles et al. The investigation with 52 participants, including 14 females, was conducted during the third of four qualifying rounds of the IChO in Germany. The subjects filled in a questionnaire, took an intelligence test, and participated in two theoretical chemistry exams. Male and female Olympians showed large differences in parental support, motivation, and emotion as well as test performance. Ultimately, only one female participant qualified for the fourth round of the IChO. The model of Eccles et al. was well suited for predicting test performance in the competition. The strongest predictor was found to be the participation in a previous IChO. The implications for reducing gender differences and promoting scientifically talented students are discussed.

Die Validierung von Fragebogenerhebungen zum Interesse an Tieren und Pflanzen durch computergestützte Messdaten

Zusammenfassung: Die Untersuchung geht der Frage nach, ob ein mittels Fragebogen gemessenes subjektives Interesse an Tieren und Pflanzen sich mithilfe von objektiven Messdaten bei der Benutzung eines Informationssystems zur Biodiversitat validieren lasst. Ubereinstimmungen zwischen den beiden Messverfahren sind ein wichtiger Beleg fur die externe Validitat des haufig angewandten Verfahrens der Fragebogenmessung von Interesse. N = 312 Schuler zwischen 10 und 18 Jahren bearbeiteten in einem Naturkundemuseum einen Interessefragebogen und erkundeten selbstgesteuert einen computergestutzten Informationsteil zu verschiedenen Organismengruppen. Die Interaktionen der Probanden mit dem Informationssystem wurden uber Logfiles festgehalten. Die Fragebogenangaben bestatigen den aus der Forschungsliteratur bekannten Befund eines sinkenden Interesses an Organismen mit dem Erreichen hoherer Jahrgangsstufen. Beim Vergleich der Fragebogendaten mit den Messdaten aus dem Informationssystem ergeben sich Ubereinstimmungen, di...

Self-regulated learning in the museum: understanding the relationship of visitor's goals, learning strategies, and appraisals

ABSTRACT Self-regulated learning (SRL) in the museum was explored by 2 investigations. The first one investigated 233 visitors on their goals and intended learning strategies by questionnaire before they visited the science museum. Results indicated visitors’ learning goals can predict their intended deep-learning strategy. Moreover, visitors can be clustered into 4 groups and their cluster identity can also predict the intended learning strategies. The second investigation asked 244 visitors about their actual learning strategies and motivational appraisals (self-efficacy and control beliefs) after visiting. In all, 5 kinds of learning strategies were found: elaborating, help-seeking, effort-making, reorganizing, and surface-learning. These strategies can further predict their motivational appraisals. The characteristics of SRL in the informal learning context were discussed.