The PTSOT instrument measures the spatial perspective-taking (SPT) ability by recording the angular errors as one calculates the distance between an object’s actual and expected spatial position. We use an Augmented Reality Enhanced Learning Environment (ARELE), GeoSolvAR, which has been shown to improve middle grader’s SPT ability. Here, we report the problem-solving process of students who had worked with both the inquiry and AR components of GeoSolvAR (experimental group, n=25) and showed significant improvement in their SPT, and students who worked only with the AR component of the ARELE (control group) and did not show improvement in their SPT (n=22). We conduct an item-wise analysis of students’ performance with the PTSOT instrument in both these groups. We find a slight negative, insignificant correlation between the reduction in average angular errors and the angular distance of target objects for the control group r (10) = -.36, p =.254, but a significant positive correlation between the reduction of angular errors and the angular distance for the experimental group, r (10) =.67, p =.017, suggesting that GeoSolvAR is effective for complex SPT questions based on larger angular-distances.

Eliciting participants' reasoning for their decisions taken inside a VR environment is challenging. This research explores the use of an embodied conversational agent with a wizard-of-Oz method to elicit participants' reasoning while driving a car in complex public scenarios on Indian roads, simulated using VR. Participants were made to drive a car in a VR city environment, with a complex public scenario unfolding in front of them. The co-passenger inside the car, acting as the embodied conversational agent, assumed a peer role, with conversations triggered by the researcher based on the response given or dialogue said by the participant. Each participant's actions, gaze, and dialogues were recorded along with timestamp data. The method's effectiveness was evaluated by analyzing the frequency of appropriate elicitations from four participants by coding their conversations based on the noticing framework and mapping the action/gaze data with conversation triggers. Results suggest that the embodied conversational agent contributed to elicitations as much the same as the usual stimulated recall method conducted after the intervention, with the added advantage of not hindering the virtual presence of the participants.

In today's face-to-face classrooms, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students are one of the major types of students with disabilities who face various challenges in the classroom. Given the current technological advancements, DHH students still face the challenge of inclusivity in the classroom. DHH students form their perceptions about their inclusion in the classroom based on their prior and ongoing experiences in the classroom. We have created a prototype by integrating real-time captioning and live transcription for DHH students to help them follow the proceedings of the class. We focus on existing machine-based captioning systems that leverage automated speech recognition (ASR) and artificial intelligence-based web applications for live transcription. We used in-class observations to collect information regarding students' perceptions of the prototype and evaluate its usability. We found that the prototype has the potential to help DHH students follow lectures and class discussions, enabling them to keep up with their peers and participate in the learning process. Overall observations show that DHH students used transcript and captioning data to participate in class discussions and peer activities and appeared to be satisfied while keeping pace with classroom instructions.

Out of 121 crore population in India, 2.68 crore were found with disabilities whereas 19% constitutes hearing impairment. This impairment hampers their physical, social, and mental development. Their linguistic isolation leads to social isolation and educational needs remain unaddressed. The adoption of tech among DHH learners is increasing as smartphone apps are catering to their needs, yet they may not address issues effectively. A deaf learner requires an interpreter to communicate who translate the complex spoken language into signs for their understanding. Some speech-to-text apps allow communication between deaf and non-deaf person but many of them are not geared toward deaf people especially prelingually deaf. Therefore, the need for an interpreter service has been identified that connects interpreters to the DHH and non-DHH; where one can hire an interpreter to get communication support in any educational or non-educational event. The study goal is to assess the usability of an app-based solution titled “Be a Buddy” that connects DHH, non-DHH, and interpreter so that communication becomes barrier free. DHH learners found the solution helpful and ease to use when tested with a paper prototype.

Car drivers learning to make decisions in Indian on-road scenarios is challenging. We designed and simulated a complex on-road scenario using virtual reality technology to help learners experience alternate perspectives of their driving actions. Our research focused on the cognitive influences on decision-making and adapted the noticing framework as the analytical lens. Four participants drove a car on virtual Indian city roads accompanied by a virtual conversational agent to elicit their reasoning while making decisions, followed by a stimulated recall protocol. We recorded each participant's actions and timestamped conversations with the agent and researcher. We inductively coded the noticing episodes and interpreted six types of conceptual relationships between the designed elements in the VR scenario. These interpreted codes could help us analyze the changes in a learner’s noticing patterns after taking alternate perspectives. This paper highlights the usefulness of the adapted noticing framework for future studies with multiple complex VR scenarios.

Students' preconceptions significantly influence learning as they bring prior experiences and ideas alongside formal knowledge. Considering only explicit or conscious conceptual models can misinform teachers' efforts. Framing the problem using both conscious (verbal-symbolic knowledge, conscious models) and unconscious (implicit models, core-intuitions) conceptual resources offer a powerful framework. This study interprets the ideas of heat transfer of two grade 11 students in depth (from a total N=9), through this framework. We look at how Nash and Payal use different conceptual resources to build an explanatory model of heat transfer in a cup through the model revision activities. We found different ideas of heat (heat as a substance, steam as unique property of heat) to be unconsciously influencing how students understand the concept. Harnessing core-intuitions into conscious models enabled Nash to build better explanatory models, whereas Payal extensively relied on her verbal-symbolic knowledge. In the macroscopic activities, both students tended to use their judgments from their sensory perceptions, going against their verbal-symbolic knowledge. Using the metacognitive prompts on Knowledge Forum also supported student’s critical analysis about their ideas before uploading them on the forum.

Feedback is known to play a powerful role in the process of learning and problem-solving. In a problem-solving context where feedback is expected to positively influence the process of achieving the target goal, feedback information can be elicited through feedback-seeking questions. In this study, we analyze different purposes for which feedback is both sought and given by chemistry undergraduate students (n=3) as they solved representational problems concerning a medicinal drug. The students were left unsupervised and, with their consent, were video-recorded to capture their problem-solving process. We used the transcript of the video data and coded students’ interactions to identify feedback events concerning ‘the task’, ‘process’, and ‘regulation’ of the problem-solving activity. These events were then used to generate process models of feedback behavior of students, individually and collaboratively, through ProM- a process mining tool. Our models suggest that feedback questions on tasks and processes dominate the beginning of the problem-solving activity, while feedback responses on processes and regulation dominate the end phase. Our work has implications for designing activity problems. We suggest designing well-thought-out focus questions at the beginning of problem-solving exercises to both scaffold and facilitate students’ learning because it aligns with the natural unsupervised flow of problem-solving, as is observed in this study.

Making opens up dialogic learning spaces where makers engage with the material world via embodied enactments. The article aims to contribute to the understanding of embodied sociomaterial entanglements where makers and materials encounter to form collaborative networks. In this study, we follow the encounters between makers and materials in design problem solving scenarios to uncover embodied material experiences leading to creative movements. We specifically look at a making context where novice makers collaboratively work on design problem solving, through the combined theoretical aspects of constructionism and posthumanism. Our findings suggest that the makers’ embodied experiences were entangled with material elements of the situated making contexts and shaped the opportunities for learning. Makers and materials composed the embodied actions through which domain related concepts manifested.

With this article, we attempt to shift the conceptualization of creativity from a human centered perspective to a wider perspective of posthumanism. We use the scenario of collaborative making context, and illustrate how material history evolved rooting on the posthumanist standpoint. We see that the humans and nonhuman entities are enmeshed in creative acts where agency is spread across the various actors leading to learning opportunities and innovative outcomes.

Online libraries provide access to a wide range of information, with an almost limitless amount of resources and options that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time. However, most of the online libraries do not cater to the needs of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students. It has been observed that DHH pupils were mostly excluded from education during COVID-19. Curriculum resources for K-12 DHH students’ education are the same as regular school students’ materials. Most of the DHH students prefer gestures and learn through visual representations. Therefore, a picture book was developed for the photosynthesis concept. Similarly, a home sign language video was recorded. These were included as an integral part of the developed online library prototype. This study focused on validating the usability of the online library application. Students acknowledged the usefulness of the online library prototype.

Critical-thinking (CT) is a higher order cognitive activity which is consequential for human decision-making. We propose a ‘solenoid’ model that demonstrates how technological tools can be used as scaffolds to advance the development of CT dispositions and abilities of learners in an online-classroom. 15 graduate students enrolled in a course on Human-Computer Interaction, were systematically engaged in an alternating series of individual and collaborative tasks, employing tools that enabled elicitation of learners’ ability to analyze, evaluate and reason, and, further, to enable synchronous collaboration. The collaborative tasks involved ‘interactive’ and ‘constructive’ engagement by letting learners build and reline concept-maps respectively. The individual tasks involved ‘critical’ and ‘reflective’ engagement by letting learners evaluate and reflect on the mapping task respectively. For the latter task, online semi-structured clinical interviews were conducted with all the students. Here, we present a detailed case-study to demonstrate how the solenoid model can be used to elicit CT skills in a completely online class and how it can be mapped on to learners’ reasoning process.

Sources of knowledge about environmental education are bounded to textbooks, documentaries, animated videos, and a few games for school children. However, it was observed that children’s knowledge about Carbon Footprint (CF) and its implications was very limited. To address the gap in the connection of the users with the outcomes of their actions, another mode of awareness through digital games has been used for some time. These games have a simpler means of conveying complex topics in an interactive way which has been employed to teach topics such as sustainability to the users. Existing games help justify most addressed issues in the conventional methods but are still a step behind in making adequate personalized and usable connections with the users which are mainly adults. Carbon Warrior is an interactive application for school children to help users learn about CF and its impact on sustainability. This study has focused on validating the usability of game elements of Carbon Warrior. The users appreciated the elements of the game encouraging the further extension of the work.

Logical thinking is an essential skill needed to gain expertise in programming. Typically logical thinking is learned using a flowchart, which is a step by step process to reach a particular solution. Because of the visual constraint, teaching logical thinking to visually impaired (VI) students becomes challenging. For VI students` concrete experience with real objects is necessary for creating memory. For VI students haptic learning can be facilitated by designing flowchart blocks with appropriate feedback. All the design considerations are made considering the interaction style or challenges for VI students. We focus on developing tangible flowchart blocks to foster logical thinking in VI students. Learning activities were designed using contextual problems where VI students interact with the blocks to form a step-by-step solution. In this paper, we present findings from a pilot study and interviews conducted with three participants for early validation and feedback for the scope of improvement of our product.

Mathematics is a challenging subject for middle school students due to the introduction of concepts that are abstract and unrelatable in a real-world context. Emerging Augmented Reality (AR) technologies afford to visualize those abstract concepts integrated with the physical environment. Hence, we developed an AR app, MathReality, to teach the mathematics concept of exponents in more concrete ways and help them move from concrete to more abstract understanding of the concept. Preliminary results suggest the app was useful to the users and helped them learn the concept easily. The paper concludes with the next steps for the project, in terms of its design, implementation, and evaluation.

One of the primary goals of research in engineering design education is to help students develop design thinking skills and adopt expert design practices in order to improve their design process. Research shows reflection as an effective cognitive strategy to help the progression of novice designers towards expertise. However, facilitating reflection on one's actions while performing a collaborative action has not been a prominent scholarly area of research in engineering education. In this paper, we identify various elements in the learning environment that most likely trigger reflection during the design process. Based on these triggers, we present guidelines for designing scaffolds to support such reflection. We also propose a technology-enhanced prototype as an example of realizing these guidelines and promoting computer supported structured reflective practices during the design process.

Engineering design is an iterative process that supports the solution of problems by applying scientific knowledge to make informed decisions. Assessing different levels of expertise in experimentation is a difficult task since these are not usually visible as part of a student's final design solution. The purpose of this research is to investigate and characterize students' experimentation strategies while working on a design challenge. We conducted a concurrent think-aloud to capture students' thinking while they were working on a design challenge using an educational computer-aided design (CAD) software. We showed how the design replays generated from the log files collected from the CAD software can be used to represent students' experimentation strategies and how these representations can be validated by the data collected from the think-aloud. Our preliminary results show that technology-based assessment by the educational CAD tool allows us to identify the differences between different experimentation strategies and that the result of this assessment is supported by the result obtained from the concurrent think-aloud. Implications of this work would be relevant to engineering educators and researchers who are interested in understanding and assessing students' experimentation strategies in engineering design.

Research on teaching engineering design skills at the K -12 level is in its early stages and there is a need to understand how to design technology enabled learning environments that support students' productive engagement with the engineering design disciplinary practices in formal classrooms. This paper presents a simulation model that was part of one such learning environment and was designed to identify students' tacit understanding of the system rules and scaffold engineering design thinking skills. Results indicate that sixth graders evidenced good understanding of the relationship between two and three system parameters. Students used their understanding of system rules while solving their design challenge. The simulation model helped elicit students' tacit understanding of system rules and primed them for future learning of engineering design practices.

The propagation of Inquiry Based Learning has lead to many more elementary students interacting with authentic scientific tools and practices. However, the more problematic realities of scientific data collection, such as noise and large data sets, are often deliberately hidden from students. Students will need to confront these realities and be able to make skillful data scoping decisions in order to make sense of ever more prevalent large datasets. We dub software designed to support these activities Information-Building Applications (IBAs). This paper presents the design considerations that went into building an exemplar IBA, PhotoMAT (Photo Management and Analysis Tool), a brief user study to show how the solutions enacted by following these principles are taken up by actual students, and a discussion of how the design considerations identified by our work might be applied to another IBA.

This paper presents a handheld mobile game, Grocery Hunter that encourages children to take on healthy eating habits. Children can use a pocket PC to play the Grocery Hunter game to learn about food nutrition and healthy food choices. Childhood obesity in the United States has already reached epidemic proportions. The best way to help children attain and maintain healthy weight is through physical activity and nutritious eating. Our design addresses nutrition directly by teaching children healthy eating habits using an interactive game in the grocery store.

Youngsters engaging in designing meaningful artifacts while browsing a case library produced creative artifacts. Our pilot study highlighted three factors that seem to promote creative designs: (1) making the design ideas and struggles of others available as designers are attempting to achieve personal design goals, (2) promoting exploration of these ideas, and (3) attaching to the case library resources to promote understanding of the scientific and technological concepts behind these ideas.

The process of pattern retrieval in a Hopfield model in which a random antisymmetric component is added to the otherwise symmetric synaptic matrix is studied by computer simulations. The introduction of the anti-symmetric component is found to increase the fraction of random inputs that converge to the memory states. However, the size of the basin of attraction of a memory state does not show any significant change when asymmetry is introduced in the synaptic matrix. We show that this is due to the fact that the spurious fixed points, which are destabilized by the introduction of asymmetry, have very small basins of attraction. The convergence time to spurious fixed-point attractors increases faster than that for the memory states as the asymmetry parameter is increased. The possibility of convergence to spurious fixed points is greatly reduced if a suitable upper limit is set for the convergence time. This prescription works better if the synaptic matrix has an antisymmetric component.

The problem of spurious patterns in neural associative memory models is discussed. Some suggestions to solve this problem from the literature are reviewed and their inadequacies are pointed out. A solution based on the notion of neural self-interaction with a suitably chosen magnitude is presented for the Hebbian learning rule. For an optimal learning rule based on linear programming, asymmetric dilution of synaptic connections is presented as another solution to the problem of spurious patterns. With varying percentages of asymmetric dilution it is demonstrated numerically that this optimal learning rule leads to near total suppression of spurious patterns. For practical usage of neural associative memory networks a combination of the two solutions with the optimal learning rule is recommended to be the best proposition.