Chen, Wenli

This paper analyses the role of different communication modes in students’ collaborative learning in a Primary Grade 5 blended learning environment in Singapore. Small groups of students interacted face-to-face over a CMC technology called Group Scribbles (GS) to jointly complete a learning task. We analyzed the construction and evolution of the interactions through analyzing the artifacts that are produced by a group of students - in the verbal talk, gestures, and sketches drawn and text inscribed in GS. F2F and GS interactions intertwined to support collaborative learning. The findings from this study could inform the design of integrating and reinforcing the strengths of both communication modes when introducing CSCL in a F2F classroom.

This study sought to understand how leadership in the use of ICT for teaching and learning is distributed among school leaders. The results confirm that the leadership of school ICT reforms is distributed, which suggests the importance of nurturing and supporting various school leaders, and highlights the importance of the leadership role played by heads of departments in school ICT reform. The findings also suggest that teachers in primary schools are using ICT more frequently than teachers in secondary schools.

How should and how do primary students learn about environmental issues and be actually involved in actions to participate in Reduce, Reuse or Recycle (3Rs) things that people usually throw away? This study uses an inquiry-based experiential learning approach to involve students in investigating how wastes are produced and what impact 3Rs can have on protecting the environment. By taking advantage of mobile learning technologies, i.e. PDAs and their inter-connectivity with the Internet, this study tries to answer the following questions: (a) How to design inquiry-based learning activities that make use of mobile learning technologies? (b) What are the student learning outcomes when using mobile technology integrated curricula? (c) How do teachers integrate mobile learning technologies for student-centered learning? Primary four teachers, Heads of Department of Science and IT, and students from six Singapore schools participated in the pilot study involving the National Environmental Agency (NEA) and a local supermarket chain store. We selected two classes each from two of the schools, and tracked student activities and learning trajectories. Field notes, surveys of student and teacher technology competence and attitude, pre- and post-tests of student understanding of 3Rs, target student and teacher interviews, audios of target group conversation, classroom videos and student artifacts, are collected and analyzed. Our preliminary results showed that students’ understanding of 3Rs was improved; they held positive attitude towards using PDAs in learning, and their skills in using PDAs was improved significantly.

This study explores students’ interaction patterns and how monitoring influenced students’ interactions when they were engaged in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) activities. A comparison analysis was conducted between two groups of students (one high-performing group and one low-performing group) from a secondary school in Singapore. Content analysis was performed to compare the quality of student- generated artifacts between the two groups. Social network analysis (SNA) and lag-sequential analysis (LSA) were employed to analyze the interactive processes of the students. The results identified three differences in the ways the two groups engaged in collaborative argumentation: (1) quantity of social interaction, (2) diversity of interactive patterns (3) sequence of contributing to group work and seeking input. The findings reveal the possible interaction patterns which promote or constrain the development of collaboration argumentation. The implications on how teachers design and implement small group computer-supported collaborative learning is discussed.

In this paper, we articulate a framework (called AppleTree) for assessing collaborative argumentation with the purpose of evaluating and empowering the development of argumentation skills, collaboration skills and content knowledge in school learning. The framework is motivated by the need to achieve “learning to argue” and “arguing to learn” and the necessity to embed on-going and automated formative assessments for collaborative learning as reflected in existing literature. It builds on existing systems for collaborative argumentation and automated assessment of collaborative learning to achieve assessment for learning and to realize it in authentic classroom environments. We illustrate the framework by instantiating it in the conceptual design of one such system for use in schools.

This study examines two classes of pre-service teachers on their experiences in the use of a rapid CSCL tool called GroupScribbles (GS) to design a lesson plan that supports student knowledge building. Before GS activities, the pre-service teachers used Paper Scribbles to do problem-solving – this was to enculturate them into knowledge building practices. The GS activities adopted the jigsaw design so that each pre-service teacher took responsibility of one part of the task. Our study indicates that GS can be used in the way it is designed for - as an effective rapid CSCL tool that makes the students' work visible and persistent so that everyone in the networked classroom can easily see what has been accomplished by all members. The GS activities encouraged active participation from pre-service teachers, promoted negotiation of meaning among the learners, and facilitated small-group and whole class collaborative learning.

Little research has examined second language (L2) learning from a Knowledge Building (KB) perspective. Most KB research is conducted in the context of science or mathematics learning which focuses on idea development and refinement. This paper proposes to investigate students' L2 learning using a KB approach, drawing upon our school-based research work which examines how L2 students learn and practice language skills through a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) tool called GroupScribbles. We hope to develop a theoretical framework with empirical evidence from a real classroom context to explore how KB unfolds in L2 learning.

同侪互评作为过程写作的一个重要过程，一直受到关注。然而，探讨第二语言学生的同侪互评中对写作成果影响的研究为数不多。因此，本研究以第二语言学习理论与建构主义理论为理论依据，以“五益模型”为教学指导原则，探讨小学生在电脑支持的协作学习（CSCL）环境下，通过同侪互评的方式来进行知识建构的过程与学习成果之间的关系。本研究采用定性与定量的混合研究方法，以新加坡小学五年级的32位学生为研究对象，对其前后测作文进行对比，以及对不同阶段的互评帖子与作文之间的关系进行分析。结果显示同侪互评对于学生的写作成绩的提高具有积极的促进作用，同时也发现不同的小组文化对于学生的知识建构质量与作文成绩具有一定的影响力。