Abstracts - Earli

Enhancing educational argumentation – effects of a problem-oriented e-learning environmentRobin Stark, Saarland University, GermanyUlrike-Marie Krause, Saarland University, GermanyConstructing valid and convincing arguments in educational discourses is a complex key abilitythat cannot be expected to emerge automatically from traditional university training. Evenadvanced students have difficulties constructing scientific arguments. In order to foster cognitiveand motivational prerequisites for scientific argumentation as well as informed beliefs concerningresearch methods, a problem-oriented e-learning environment (WALe) was conceptualised. A fieldstudy was carried out with 43 advanced students of education. Working with WALe resulted insignificant learning gains. However, more than half of the students still had problems applyingsimple statistical concepts and procedures. Most students were entirely overtaxed by dealing withcomplex statistical procedures and with argumentation tasks. Qualitative analyses of pre- and posttestanswers showed that knowledge gaps and misconceptions concerning statistical concepts andprocedures and the status and meaning of theories still existed after the intervention. Focussing onvarious learning prerequisites, three different clusters were identified. Students in cluster 1 hadlow means in all prerequisites, especially in prior knowledge and intrinsic motivation("uninformed and unmotivated"). Cluster-2 students showed a reversed pattern with especiallyhigh means in prior knowledge and motivation ("knowledgeable and motivated"). The third clusterwas characterised by high means in nañve beliefs and motivation ("uncritical and motivated"). Inthe post-test, the cluster characterised as "knowledgeable and motivated" outperformed the othertwo clusters which differed only marginally. This cluster also displayed the highest learning gains.Our results give new insights into the complex phenomenon of skill acquisition in a rather illstructuredarea under field conditions. Furthermore, the relevance of cognitive and motivationalprerequisites in this process is highlighted. In order to compensate for deficits in prior knowledgeand motivation, broader reforms of university training in research methods and argumentation arenecessary.Towards better learning – Supporting university physics students in seeing a wholeAke Ingerman, Chalmers University of Technology, SwedenKarin Carling, Karlstad Univeristy, SwedenShirley Booth, Lund University, SwedenIn response to a phenomenographic investigation into how physics students experienced the wholeof their first year in a physics Master of science-program (Booth and Ingerman, 2002), the course‘Towards better learning’ was developed. The core aim of the course is to support students inseeing a whole related to physics. The investigation suggested that a substantial number of theinterviewees were restricted to seeing a whole of their educational experience in terms of theprogramme’s organisation and the structure of their studying, while the content of physics did notplay any role in that whole (or fragmented) experience. The starting point for the course was theconjecture that students through articulation and reflection around their learning can become moreaware of their own learning, and make more conscious choices about their study situation. Thecourse is offered during the students’ first semester based on regular small-group meetings, wherestudents move from analysing their study situation in different ways, over other students’ studysituations, to lectures (and other forms of teaching) and teachers’ perspective on teaching and theimpact of that on the students’ situation. We will outline the course, examine its grounding on theresults of the original investigation, and discuss the value of the course in relation to its centralaims. The results, in the form of an evaluation of the course, are the next steps in the researchdevelopment-researchcycle we have been following. The evaluation consists mainly of two parts:– 99 –