ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...

Effects of Question-Based Learning in a Hypermedia
Intelligent-Assisted Learning Environment
Ching Hui Alice Chen
Department of Information Management
Ming Chuan University
Taipei, R. O. C.
Achen@mcu.edu.tw
Feng-Hsu Wang
Department of Information Management
Ming Chuan University
Taipei, R. O. C.
Fhwang@mcu.edu.tw
The Problems
Due to the entry-examination system, almost all the schools in Taiwan emphasize more on memorization and
test-taking skills. Although students have high scores in mathematics examinations, their problem solving skills
are still in the low-level of thinking stage. Students spent hundreds of hours in the crane schools for test-taking
skill in order to get high test scores. Students do not have the ability and have no attention to enhance their highorder
thinking skill. In this manner, teachers have no liberty and time to design meaningful learning
environment. The purpose of this study is to find a solution for both the students and teachers, to provide
students the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills, to provide teachers an alternative way to enrich
classroom learning activities.
Theoretical Framework
For most feedback studies, the information contained in the feedback session is presented to the learner.
Most posttests and retention tests require learners to recall what they have learned from the instruction, and the
level of learning rarely extends beyond rote memorization. In this manner, learners have no opportunity to
engage in what Salomon and Globerson (1987) described as "mindful behavior". In order to engage in mindful
behavior, the learning situation should be introduced in a way that learners will be able to examine and elaborate
situational cues, to generate alternative learning strategies, to gather information, and to draw connections
between old and new information. Some feedback studies have reported significant results on immediate tests,
but not on retention tests. During most feedback instruction, learners received feedback information passively
without actively organizing and applying their knowledge. In most feedback research, information is stored as
facts rather than as tools. Therefore, information is not spontaneously used to solve problems. A few studies
suggested that when information is introduced in a problem-solving context, it is more likely to be used in new
contexts than remain inert (Lockhart, Lamon, & Gick, 1988; Perkins & Salomon, 1989).
In the learning process, the learner is more easily to understand and acquire factual knowledge, while it is
more difficult for them to generate critical thinking and to obtain higher-order thinking skills. A number of
theorists have emphasized the importance of helping students to engage in generative rather than passive
learning activities (Chi, et. al., 1989; Minstrell, 1989). It is assumed that learning is an active, constructive
process whereby learners generate meaning for information by accessing and applying existing knowledge
(Jonassen, 1991). Relating knowledge and personal experience in learning is one of the major components in
situated cognition (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). In situated learning, learners should be able to see how
knowledge may be applied in new situations through analogies and similarities to the situations they learned in
(Collins, 1991). Therefore, knowledge is more likely to be stored in a way that is usable in novel contexts.
The notion of situated learning is parallel to constructivistic learning. Constructivists tend to favor problemsolving
activities that are linked to student interests, that have some attributes of real-world problem, and that are
meaningful and satisfying for students to solve. From the constructivitics perspective, interest is the fuel of the
constructive process. Without interest, the learners will never make the constructive effort to make sense out of
experience (DeVries, 1993). Therefore, it is very important to design instruction in which learners are motivated
to be mentally active in the context of instructional activities.