Neil H. Schwartz

The Experience of Constructivism: Transforming Teacher Epistemology

Abstract The NASA Classroom of the FutureTM sponsored a residential training course to help teachers learn to use computer-based educational tools and explore constructivist instructional approaches. We hypothesized that creating a living-and-learning environment for the training would foster rapid changes in teachers’ epistemological beliefs. Pretest—posttest differences on an epistemology inventory indicated that teachers changed significantly on three of four factors related to constructivist teaching philosophies (Simple Knowledge, Quick Learning, and Certain Knowledge). The fourth factor (Fixed Ability) did not reveal significant changes. These findings have two implications: (1) constructivist approaches to training teachers may promote epistemological change, and (2) epistemology may be a less stable trait than was previously supposed.

Map features and the recall of discourse

Abstract College undergraduates heard a 1760-word narrative which described events occurring on an imaginary island. As they listened, learners studied either a map of the island with features located spatially, a map—outline with features listed next to it, or just an outline without feature information. People who saw the map recalled more idea units and feature-related information on both free- and cued-recall tests. There was also a significant relation between correct recall and the ability of a subject to reconstruct the spatial relations on the map. The data were interpreted in terms of a feature-location model of map—discourse memory.

The Influence of Metacognitive Skills on Learners' Memory of Information in a Hypermedia Environment

Twenty-eight students (aged 9 to 17) freely explored a science Web site structured either in an outline (linear) format or “puzzle” (non-linear) format for 2.5 hours. Subjects then engaged in tasks involving locational memory and informational recall. The results indicate that presence of metacognitive skills was a necessary but not sufficient condition for learning in hypermedia environments; the navigational structure of the Web site also was important. Metacognitive skill (as measured by the Junior Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Jr. MAI) (Sperling, Howard, Miller, & Murphy, 2002) and the How I Study Questionnaire (HISP) (Fortunato, Hecht, Tittle, & Alvarez, 1991) was not a significant predictor of measures of retention within an outline structure (where the conventional structure did not stimulate meta-cognitive knowledge), while metacognition was a significant predictor of informational recall within the puzzle structure (which required active meta-cognitive knowledge to make meaning within the unfamiliar structure). The results point to the need for instructional designers to consider the structure of Web sites, with particular emphasis on the use of recognizable conventions, in order to reduce the metacognitive demands upon working memory involved in deciphering the structure.

Spatial representation of maps

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the cognitive representation of spatial relations on a map is primarily a visually keyed process. In Experiment 1, undergraduates studied a labeled map where features were presented either as words alone, as mimetic drawings of the referent, or as geometric symbols. Cued recall data showed that discrete features are best located when they are semantically congruent with the label referent, a fact providing considerable support for the image position. Recognition testing required a set of introspective judgements ordinally related to the interfeature metric on the map. The judgment X distance estimates were highly correlated for all groups, intimating that a high correspondence exists between image distances and the original stimulus metric. Experiment 2 had undergraduates view either a full-scale or a three-quarter reduction of a reference map. Subjects in the reduced version were able to recognize significantly more interfeature comparisons, suggesting a predictable relation between visual and imaginal acuity. The judgement X distance results were essentially the same as in Experiment 1, and the two groups failed to differ in terms of cued recall. Data from both experiments imply that spatial relations are cognitively represented in at least a partially isomorphic fashion, which seems to possess quasi-pictorial qualities.

Individual differences in the retention of maps

Abstract Individual differences effecting the way in which general reference maps are retained and organized in memory were assessed in 173 university undergraduate students. Learners were instructed to encode map features in memory by clustering them together, either by their semantic or spatial relationship. The degree to which either directive influenced map processing, in conjunction with the individuals cognitive style and gender, was examined in learners. The encoding tactic that learners used while processing the map significantly predicted performance on both organization and retention in memory. Interaction effects were also observed with cognitive style and gender significantly influencing some, but not all, indices of map processing. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical, as well as instructional, implications in explaining the ways in which maps are processed in learners.

Encoding tactics in the retention of maps

Abstract Two experiments were designed to determine which of two encoding tactics learners use to remember maps and whether one or the other differentially preserves locational memory for mapped features. Experiment 1 subjects were presented a map with either low or high spatial distinction, with half of the subjects receiving general instruction to cluster the maps features. Results showed that the subjects have an apparent propensity to encode mapped features using a semantically based encoding tactic; yet the visuospatial properties of a map influence the employment of this tactic. In Experiment 2, the encoding instructions were made more specific by informing subjects to encode mapped features either conceptually or spatially or simply to study the map. Half the subjects in each group recalled mapped features either by listing them or by reconstructing the entire map. Results showed that a well-defined set to employ specific mechanisms of encoding differentially affects retention, but memory for location is preserved by an encoding tactic that is spatially based. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and instructional implications.

Collaborative Virtual Environments as Means to Increase the Level of Intersubjectivity in a Distributed Cognition System

Abstract Virtual environments are able to extend the space of interaction beyond the classroom. In order to analyze how distributed cognition functions in such an extended space, we suggest focusing on the architecture of intersubjectivity. The Euroland project—a virtual land created and populated by seven classrooms supported by a team of researchers—was analyzed with the aim of tracking down the process and the structure of intersubjectivity. Participants were located in different cities in two countries—Italy and the Netherlands. At the end of the project, the initial empty virtual world was filled with virtual artifacts borne from the intersubjective process. A group often 13-year-old students was observed throughout the project. Seven videotapes were collected in the classroom. By analyzing the videotapes, a set of episodes revealing intersubjectivity was captured and discussed. Intersubjectivity first concerned only participants and tools located in the classroom. Later, partners at a distance and the various communication tools available entered the architecture of intersubjectivity. Finally, intersubjectivity revealed not only information, but the reciprocal perception of the roles and awareness of a joint project. From the episode analysis, recommendations for teachers’ use of virtual technology were drawn.

Interpretative Framework and Memory for Map Features

In two experiments, college students studied a reference map that was varied in both grid structure and the conceptual similarity of its features. In Experiment I, subjects who studied the map with a grid remembered fewer features than did their no-grid counterparts, but were able accurately to locate more of the features that they did recall. In Experiment II, subjects who saw features in a conceptual sequence were more likely to use the same sequence to organize their recall, but the sequence of feature presentation had no significant effect on the spatial accuracy with which map elements were remembered. The results support an encoding priority model in which the interpretative framework of a map is used as a structural schema for storing locational information about features.

Summoning Prior Knowledge Through Metaphorical Graphics: An Example in Chemistry Instruction

ABSTRACT The present investigation was designed to determine if the learning benefits of metaphors and graphics could be combined into one instructional device—a metaphorical graphic—to aid in the acquisition of difficult concepts of chemistry. The authors further sought to determine if metaphorical graphics could foster greater retention of the basic properties of chemical elements when compared to verbal descriptions of those properties or traditional graphical representations of elements commonly seen as orbital diagrams in chemistry textbooks. The findings revealed that metaphorical graphics helped learners to develop a deeper understanding of the behavior and reactivity, but not physical properties, of the features of fifteen selected chemical elements.

Mimeticism and the spatial context of a map

College students studied a labeled map for either 2.4 or 4.8 min, either with or without the presence of mimetic drawings of the features. Availability of drawings made no difference in either the amount or categorization of free recall. On map-cued recall, subjects in the shorter exposure group who saw drawings remembered significantly more correctly located features and produced more feature representations than subjects in the longer exposure condition. The data support a mediator discovery explanation that treats time as the primary determiner of effective locational mediation.