Abstracts - Earli

circuits, and to compare the effect of virtual manipulatives and physical manipulatives on students’understanding of concepts of electric circuits that were introduced in the parts of the study’scurriculum where physical manipulatives were substituted by virtual manipulatives. A pre-postcomparison study design was used that involved 119 undergraduate students that attended anintroductory course in physics. The participants were randomly assigned to two experimental andone control group. All groups used the same inquiry-based curriculum. Participants in the controlgroup used physical manipulatives to conduct the study’s experiments, whereas, participants in theexperimental groups used both physical and virtual manipulatives, but in a different combination.Conceptual tests were administered to assess students’ understanding before, during, and after thestudy. The data analysis involved both quantitative and qualitative procedures. Results indicatedthat the combinations of physical and virtual manipulatives enhanced students’ conceptualunderstanding more than the use of physical manipulatives alone. Additionally, the use of virtualmanipulatives alone enhanced students’ conceptual understanding, in the parts of the study’scurriculum where physical manipulatives were substituted by virtual manipulatives, more than theuse of physical manipulatives alone.Give them time to think it over: An effective computer-based learning environment for teachersTatjana S. Hilbert, University of Freiburg, Educational Psychology, GermanyAlexander Renkl, University of Freiburg, Educational Psychology, GermanyLearning from worked-out examples has been proved to be very effective in initial skillacquisition. In order to fully exploit the potential of example-based learning, teachers should knowhow to effectively employ such examples in classroom instruction. Therefore, we designed acomputer-based learning environment in which mathematics and science teachers learn how toeffectively use worked-out examples. The computer-based learning environment was deployed ina workshop on example-based classroom teaching. Participants (25 maths-teachers) first learnedabout example-based classroom instruction and afterwards received either the computer-basedlearning environment or the standard workshop materials (i.e., a printed version of the workshopfoils)for follow-up course-work. A comparison of the training with and without the computerbasedlearning environment showed that teachers who had the opportunity to deepen theirknowledge with the computer-based learning environment had significantly more knowledgeabout this topic. Furthermore, teachers who were given the computer-based learning environmentrated the intenseness of their follow-up course-work higher. However, they did not spend moretime with follow-up course-work. Thus, the differences in learning success are supposed to bebased in the more intensive follow-up course-work to which the participants were encouraged bythe computer-based learning environment.The qualities of human and tool mediators in net based learningRaija Latva-Karjanmaa, University of Helsinki, FinlandThe study analyses mediated learning in a net based learning environment and the researchquestion is: how the students experience a net based learning course from the point of improvingtheir study skills. Mediation in the learning process can be defined as an intervention methodintended to improve the adaptability and flexibility of learners in new learning situations(Feuerstein) and a pre-requisite of human development and learning (Vygotsky). Mediatedlearning is analyzed through its agents, the human and tool mediators. The assumption in thisstudy is that mediation of learning assists students by providing support and tools to help thestudents to improve self-awareness and learning skills when studying in technology-basedenvironments. The phenomenon of mediated learning is discussed in a philosophical– 195 –