New York, NY
Apr. 13 – 17, 2018
Conference Website
The theme of the AERA 2018 conference is “The dreams, possibilities, and necessity of public education.” This meeting offers a wide array of sessions that advance knowledge and connect to policy and practice.
Friday, April 13
Student Perceptions of Instant Feedback on Constructed Response Items in Classroom Formative Science Assessment
Vinetha Belur (Educational Testing Service), Hee-Sun Lee, Ou Lydia Liu (Educational Testing Service), Amy Pallant
12:00–1:30 PM, New York Marriott Marquis, Fourth Floor, Wilder
In a study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), instant scores and automated feedback on constructed response (CR) items were provided to students during their classroom formative science assessment via natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The use of NLP techniques to analyze real-time student constructed responses can facilitate and increase the use of CR items, especially when providing instant feedback would be beneficial to the assessment. Data was collected on students’ perceptions of the instant (automated) feedback and their attitudes towards additional activities with automated feedback. The primary objective of this study is to analyze students’ perceptions and attitudes in order to improve the design of the instant feedback for future implementations.
Measuring Collaboration in Complex Computerized Performance Assessments
Jessica Andrews Todd (Educational Testing Service), Carol McGregor Forsyth (Educational Testing Service), Andre A. Rupp (Educational Testing Service), Paul Horwitz, John Chamberlain (Center for Occupational Research and Development)
4:05–6:05 PM, New York Marriott Marquis, Fourth Floor, Odets
Collaborative problem solving (CPS) has gained increasing attention in the assessment community with particular interest aimed at conceptualizing the construct, determining appropriate methods for making inferences about individuals’ CPS skills, and designing environments that provide sufficient opportunities for individuals to display CPS skills. In the Measuring Collaboration in Complex Computerized Performance Assessments (MC3PA) NSF project, we have developed the in-task assessment framework to address these three key areas in assessment. The framework outlines principles for instantiating the task, student, and evidence models in evidence-centered design when assessment involves more complex constructs in digital environments. In this paper, we describe the components of each of these models in the MC3PA project.
Saturday, April 14
Exploring the Patterns of Socially Shared Metacognition in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
Okan Arisan (Texas Tech University), Wanli Xing (Texas Tech University), Tugba Kamali Arslantas (Aksaray University), Paul Horwitz
2:15–3:45 PM, Millennium Broadway New York Times Square, Fifth Floor, Room 5.02
The purpose of this study was to discover students’ socially shared metacognition (SSM) patterns in a holistic way in an electronics course supported by a CSCL environment and to understand how SSM patterns influenced the task performance. To investigate patterns of SSM behaviors, 126 collaborative electronics learning scenarios were manually coded. Then K-Means clustering was conducted. As a result, four clusters were discovered for collaborative problem solving. Interaction between the four identified patterns with the final performance, using Chi-squared test, was examined. There was a significant difference on the distribution of success and failure groups among the clusters. These results have both theoretical implications to advance our understanding of SSM and practical implications to promote better collaborative problem-solving skills.
Monday, April 16
Supporting Urban Science Teachers In Making Instructional Decisions to Facilitate Project-Based Learning for All Students
Angela Kolonich (Michigan State University), Dan Damelin, Joseph S. Krajcik (Michigan State University)
8:15–9:45 AM, Sheraton New York Times Square, Second Floor, Central Park East Room
The Next Generation Science Standards affirm an important vision for science education: Science for all students. In this vision, teachers engage students in three-dimensional (3D) learning by braiding scientific content with scientific and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts while fostering inclusive science classrooms. This approach aims to provide opportunities for all students to develop and use knowledge to make sense of phenomena experienced in their world and find solutions to problems. Supporting teachers in transforming their teaching to 3D instruction while meeting all students’ learning needs will require sustained support, and time to adapt. Teachers need access to rich curricular materials that support three-dimensional instruction, and knowledge of practices that support all students in science. In this study, we explore how use of an educative, project-based, 3D science curriculum paired with professional learning of inclusive 3D instruction impacts instructional decisions. Five high school teachers from the Los Angeles Unified School District implemented a 3D, project-based curriculum, Interactions, that focused on supporting student’s learning about the forces that hold matter together. Concurrently teachers participated in a blended, yearlong professional learning program.
Tuesday, April 17
In Commemoration of Robert Tinker: Deeply Digital Learning in STEM
Chairs: Chad Dorsey, Sherry Hsi
8:15–10:15 AM, Sheraton New York Times Square, Second Floor, Central Park East Room
Robert F. Tinker’s vision, leadership, mentoring, and brilliant designs of micro-based laboratories, probeware, modeling software, simulations, and instructional materials have transformed the field of technology-enhanced learning over the past 40 years. To celebrate his immeasurable impact and highlight his continued influence on the field, this structured poster session brings together researchers, instructional designers, professional developers, computer scientists, and science experts working at the forefront of STEM education and the learning sciences who collaborated with Tinker. Each poster will feature new directions for the field that reflect Tinker’s wisdom, foresight, and technological acumen.
Tinker, a physicist, physics educator, and innovator was a major force at TERC and the founder of the Concord Consortium. Innovations in learning technologies have been shaped and strengthened by Tinker’s creativity, enthusiasm, and guidance. Tinker continuously embraced innovations and incorporated them into effective instruction. He impacted use of the Internet of Things, digital video, mobile devices, collaborative learning technologies, learner analytics, and artificial intelligence. He improved the use of rich representational practices, scaffolds for reflection, learner control of simulated science phenomena, online communities of practice, automated scoring of open-ended student responses, and other supports for learning in STEM.
To celebrate Robert Tinker’s influence on the field, this structured poster session features contemporary advances in research across the STEM disciplines. After a short context setting introduction given by the session Chairs, each presentation will give a two-minute round robin introduction with the poster topic and how it relates to Tinker’s pioneering work. Attendees will visit each poster to discuss research findings, the impacts, and research implications. Posters will be grouped into four broad themes: Probeware, Data, Models, & Modeling, Integrated Technologies, and Online Learning and Collaboration. There are additional themes that connect across broad themes: simulation and modeling, pedagogical content models, innovative assessment, learner analytics, collaborative learning, and inquiry-based laboratories. Two discussants will provide a synthesis of emergent themes across the research. The session will conclude with a facilitated discussion.
Using Watershed Modeling to Teach Environmental Sustainability
Nanette I. Marcum-Dietrich (Millersville University of Pennsylvania), Carolyn Staudt, Steve Kerlin (Stroud Water Research Center), David Reider (Education Design)
12:25–1:55 PM, New York Marriott Marquis, Fifth Floor, Westside Ballroom Salon 2
Teaching Environmental Sustainability – Model My Watershed (MMW) curricula and toolset situates student learning in the exploration and evaluation of the conditions of their local watershed using a scientifically valid watershed modeling application and probeware. Students use an inquiry curriculum to collect data from their schoolyard using Bluetooth-enabled digital probes connected to a smartphone and create and model changes in land cover and conservation practices using an industry-grade online modeling application. The study indicates that a place-based watershed modeling curriculum is an effective tool for increasing students’ understanding of watersheds, encouraging personal environmental action, and serving as a critical incident for watershed engagement.
The Role of Knowledge Integration in Supporting CSTEM Practices in Biology Labs
2:15–3:35 PM, Millennium Broadway New York Times Square, Seventh Floor, Room 7.04
The Knowledge Integration (KI) framework has been applied successfully to the design of web-based, technology-enhanced science instruction and assessments that measure knowledge integration in practice. The Next Generation Science Standards call for teaching science concepts in the context of authentic science learning that resembles actual science and engineering practices. Authentic science refers to learning activities that address both the content and practice of science and whose epistemology resembles that used in science research. It is important because it engages students and teachers to act meaningfully and purposefully in a real-world context using real-world tools.
The InSPECT (Integrated Science Practices Enhanced by Computational Thinking) project is designing new curricula that create opportunities for authentic science activity. It aims to address NGSS, support computational thinking in STEM (CSTEM), and scaffold knowledge integration among high school biology students.