Girlie C. Delacruz

Hybrid Reality Games Reframed Potential Uses in Educational Contexts

Hybrid reality games (HRGs) employ mobile technologies and GPS devices as tools for transforming physical spaces into interactive game boards. Rather than situating participants in simulated environments, which mimic the physical world, HRGs make use of physical world immersion by merging physical and digital spaces. Online multiuser environments already connect users who do not share contiguous spaces. With mobile devices, players may additionally incorporate interactions with the surrounding physical space. This article is a speculative study about the potential uses of HRGs in education, as activities responsible for taking learning practices outside the closed classroom environment into open, public spaces. Adopting the framework of sociocultural learning theory, the authors analyze design elements of existing HRGs, such as mobility and location awareness, collaboration/sociability, and the configuration of the game space, with the aim of reframing these games into an educational context to foresee how future games might contribute to discovery and learning.

New Directions in Rifle Marksmanship Research

We propose that future rifle marksmanship research be framed within a phases-of-skill-development model (Ackerman, 1987, 1992; Anderson, 1982; Fitts & Posner, 1967). Prior research on predicting shooting performance suggests a deceptively complex task sensitive to variations in the individual, equipment, and environment. We argue that rifle marksmanship research should be framed around perceptual-motor, cognitive, affective, equipment, and environmental variables. Although it is unlikely that equipment and environment can be controlled, much can be learned—with training implications—about how perceptual-motor, cognitive, and affective variables relate to shooting performance. The phases-of-skill-development model is silent on affective variables but suggests that cognitive factors will be most sensitive to individuals learning how to shoot, and perceptual-motor variables most sensitive to individuals who already know how to shoot. Identification of where trainees are in their skill development could lead to more efficient and targeted training and decreased training costs.

Validating Measures of Algebra Teacher Subject Matter Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge

The purpose of this study was to validate inferences about scores of one task designed to measure subject matter knowledge and three tasks designed to measure aspects of pedagogical content knowledge. Evidence for the validity of inferences was based on two expectations. First, if tasks were sensitive to expertise, we would find group differences. Second, tasks that measured similar types of knowledge would correlate strongly, and tasks that measured different types of knowledge would correlate weakly. We recruited and assessed 4 groups of participants including 46 experienced algebra teachers (2+ years experience), 17 novice algebra teachers (0–2 years experience), 10 teaching experts, and 13 subject matter experts. Results indicate that one task differentiated among levels of expertise and measured several aspects of knowledge needed to teach algebra. Results also highlight that future studies should use a combination of tasks to accurately measure different aspects of teacher knowledge.

Cognitive Readiness for Solving Equations

In this chapter we examine cognitive readiness for solving equations in the domain of pre-algebra. We describe the knowledge required to solve a multistep equation, and present a novel technique for developing assessment items and a novel assessment item format, designed to measure both the prerequisites of cognitive readiness for solving equations and the skills themselves. Assessment items were drawn from the solution path of a complex multistep equation. The items used a “next step” format, which asked students to write only the first step of their solution. Using a sample of 42 middle school students, data were gathered on item performance and how performance on the next step item compared to performance on the more traditional “solve for x” format. Unsurprisingly, students performed higher the simpler the equation was but large drops in performance occurred at steps that were essential to isolating a variable (i.e., applying the equality properties of addition and multiplication). Students performed higher on the traditional items compared to next step items and there was some evidence that performance on the next step item predicted performance on the traditional items. Assessment and instructional implications of this work include diagnosing precisely where in the solution path students have difficulty, which is tantamount to identifying students’ cognitive readiness for solving equations.