Joseph Krajcik

Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning

Project-based learning is a comprehensive approach to classroom teaching and learning that is designed to engage students in investigation of authentic problems. In this article, we present an argument for why projects have the potential to help people learn; indicate factors in project design that affect motivation and thought; examine difficulties that students and teachers may encounter with projects; and describe how technology can support students and teachers as they work on projects, so that motivation and thought are sustained.

A Scaffolding Design Framework for Software to Support Science Inquiry.

The notion of scaffolding learners to help them succeed in solving problems otherwise too difficult for them is an important idea that has extended into the design of scaffolded software tools for learners. However, although there is a growing body of work on scaffolded tools, scaffold design, and the impact of scaffolding, the field has not yet converged on a common theoretical framework that defines rationales and approaches to guide the design of scaffolded tools. In this article, we present a scaffolding design framework addressing scaffolded software tools for science inquiry. Developed through iterative cycles of inductive and theory-based analysis, the framework synthesizes the work of prior design efforts, theoretical arguments, and empirical work in a set of guidelines that are organized around science inquiry practices and the challenges learners face in those practices. The framework can provide a basis for developing a theory of pedagogical support and a mechanism to describe successful scaffolding approaches. It can also guide design, not in a prescriptive manner but by providing designers with heuristics and examples of possible ways to address the challenges learners face.

Designing Educative Curriculum Materials to Promote Teacher Learning

Curriculum materials for Grades K–12 that are intended to promote teacher learning in addition to student learning have come to be called educative curriculum materials. How can K–12 curriculum materials be designed to best promote teacher learning? What might teacher learning with educative curriculum materials look like? The authors present a set of design heuristics for educative curriculum materials to further the principled design of these materials. They build from ideas about teacher learning and organize the heuristics around important parts of a teacher’s knowledge base: subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge for topics, and pedagogical content knowledge for disciplinary practices. These heuristics provide a context for a theoretically oriented discussion of how features of educative curriculum materials may promote teacher learning, by serving as cognitive tools that are situated in teachers’ practice. The authors explore challenges in the design of educative curriculum materials, such as the tension between providing guidance and choice.

Handheld Devices are Ready-At-Hand

Given the significant costs involved in putting technology into schools and given the potential to harm young children, one prominent report calls for “An immediate moratorium on the further introduction of computers in ... elementary education” [3]. Rather than getting defensive, gesticulating wildly, and dragging out that favorite story about how one child we personally know accomplished an amazing thing with a computer, it’s time to come out of the closet: children simply aren’t using computers in K–12 schools and that’s why there isn’t substantial data on the impact of computers in K–12 education. Let’s look at some basic statistics about availability and use of computers in K–12:

Constructing Extended Inquiry Projects: Curriculum Materials for Science Education Reform

We describe a set of design principles that, when used to create standards-based curriculum materials, could engage students in inquiry, make use of new learning technologies, and promote student learning. These design principles are derived from 4 salient features fundamental to social constructivism: active construction, situated cognition, community, and discourse. Expanding on this foundation, examples are provided for how the design principles are evinced in an actual project. We conclude with a description of challenges associated with the enactment of our curriculum materials.

Creating a Framework for Research on Systemic Technology Innovations

This article examines why cognitively oriented technology innovations, designed to foster deep thinking and learning, have not become widespread in K−12 schools. We argue a key reason is that most design-based research does not explicitly address systemic issues of usability, scalability and sustainability. This limitation must be overcome if research is to create usable knowledge that addresses the challenges confronting technology innovations when implemented in real-world school contexts. This is especially important in an era when political forces push schools away from the cognitively rich, inquiry-oriented approaches espoused by the Learning Sciences. We suggest expanding our conception of design-based research to include research on innovations in the context of systemic reform as a potential solution to the problem. To that end, we introduce research questions and issues arising from our own experiences with a technology-rich innovation in the context of a systemic reform initiative as a starting point in the creation of an expanded design-based research agenda. These questions and issues have important implications for both the continued viability of research on technologies for learning and on the future of technology use in schools that stems from such research.

Supporting Science Teacher Learning: The Role of Educative Curriculum Materials

Science education is the focus of many reform efforts. Specifically, reformers are suggesting teachers utilized inquiry based, student centered instructional practices that will facilitate students’ construction of knowledge. Embedded technology use to support students in a deeper understanding of fewer topics is encouraged. In addition, reforms based on these recommendations are being attempted on a large scale. Many states and school districts have made science education a part of their overall effort to improve instruction for students in their schools. However, reform-based curriculum designed to support students’ construction of knowledge in science through inquiry relies on teachers to fulfill this vision for our students. For many teachers this will mean substantial changes in instructional practices. Since what teachers do in their classrooms depends largely on their knowledge, teachers will need to learn a great deal to be able to enact reform-based curriculum (Borko & Putnam, 1996; Wallace & Louden, 1998). Teachers, like other learners, will need supports. Educative curriculum materials, curriculum materials designed to address teacher learning as well as student learning, is one potential vehicle to support teacher learning on a large scale (Ball & Cohen, 1996). Our work is embedded in an ongoing urban systemic initiative of a large public school district to reform science and mathematics education. As part of this effort, science curriculum materials were developed that were consistent with social constructivist ideas, addressed national and local goals for student learning and educative for teachers.

A Framework for Supporting Metacognitive Aspects of Online Inquiry Through Software-Based Scaffolding

Major educational policy groups call on learners to engage in inquiry-based activities. With a growing amount of information now available online, there is an increased focus on online inquiry where learners ask research questions; search digital libraries and other information sources; and read, assess, and synthesize that information. Metacognitive skills are important for engaging in complex practices like online inquiry, but those skills are weak in novice learners. In this article, we propose a framework that describes the types of metacognitive problems that learners exhibit during online inquiry and the ways that software can serve a scaffolding function to address those problems and support learners through those metacognitive issues. Specifically, we consider how three categories of metacognition relate to online inquiry—task understanding and planning, monitoring and regulation, and reflection—and the issues learners face within each. Our framework describes different types of scaffolding features from a range of software tools that can support learners with the identified metacognitive issues in different ways, such as by describing online inquiry task structures for better task understanding, making planning an explicit activity, helping learners see online inquiry task spaces and strategies to monitor and regulate work, and describing to learners the important aspects of online inquiry that they should reflect on during their work. A common thread with these scaffolding features is the fact that they make different aspects of metacognition, which tends to be implicit to learners, more explicit so learners can engage in the metacognitive activity that they otherwise tend to bypass.

New technologies for teacher professional development

Abstract This article describes the potential of new technologies for teacher professional development. The article examines literature on teacher knowledge and professional development and discusses how this literature can inform the design of three types of technology to support teacher learning: multimedia, productivity tools, and telecommunication information systems. We consider how these technologies can contribute to innovation, identify questions to address, and speculate on possibilities for technology that are likely to arise in the near future.

Supporting Students in Developing Literacy in Science

Reading, writing, and oral communication are critical literacy practices for participation in a global society. In the context of science inquiry, literacy practices support learners by enabling them to grapple with ideas, share their thoughts, enrich understanding, and solve problems. Here we suggest five instructional and curricular features that can support students in developing literacy in the context of science: (i) linking new ideas to prior knowledge and experiences, (ii) anchoring learning in questions that are meaningful in the lives of students, (iii) connecting multiple representations, (iv) providing opportunities for students to use science ideas, and (v) supporting students’ engagement with the discourses of science. These five features will promote students’ ability to read, write, and communicate about science so that they can engage in inquiry throughout their lives.