Abstracts - Earli

conflict-orientation. Learning outcome in the form of the problem solutions was measured, too. Inthis respect, we analyzed conceptual and situative knowledge. Thirteen undergraduates wereenrolled and three groups formed. Learners had to solve the four problems consecutively over thewhole semester. Results show that in problems two and three learners concentrated more oncontent-specific activities, were more effective in integrating disseminated information in theirproblem solution, reduced conflict-orientation when discussing facts, and increased it whendiscussing the problem solution. Therefore, the quality of the problem solutions increased, too.Correlation analyses could prove these interrelations. Comparing the three groups, we found thatlearners of group 2 had more difficulties to adapt their learning activities to problem-based virtuallearning than learners in groups 1 and 3.Case-based learning in virtual groups - problem solving activities and learning outcomes in avirtual professional trainingMelanie Hasenbein, University of Munich, GermanyBirgitta Kopp, University of Munich, GermanyHeinz Mandl, University of Munich, GermanyThis paper deals with the analysis of the problem solving activities and learning outcomes in avirtual professional training. 18 participants took part in this training and were formed in fivegroups which had to solve two different cases. The first case "Metallina" was a predetermined caseof the metal industry where the problem and the information were given. The participants also gota detailed instruction how to handle this case. The second case was a real case chosen by the groupmembers themselves from their professional context. Here the groups didn’t get such a detailedinstruction as in the first case. To measure the effects of the problem solving activities thelearners’ contributions were analysed regarding to the four different problem solving activities:"gathering information", "developing a solution", "planning the common proceeding" and"steering the interaction process". To evaluate the learning outcomes two qualities of knowledge,the conceptual knowledge and the situative knowledge, were analysed. Results show that thelearning process of the different cases is dominated by the two central problem solving activities"developing a solution" and "steering the interaction process". Furthermore the results prove thatthe groups show more overall problem solving activities within the real-case than within the firstcase "Metallina". At last the collaborative learning outcomes of the more complex real-case differmore than the learning outcomes of the first case "Metallina".Authenticity of cases in context-based science educationAlbert Pilot, University of Utrecht, NetherlandsMarijn Meijer, University of Utrecht, NetherlandsAstrid Bulte, University of Utrecht, NetherlandsThe use of authentic cases and tasks is a promising idea for their effect to provoke higher orderlearning, but it is not easy to design and implement this idea with enough quality in regularteaching. Design of instruction with authentic cases involves the full design of the curriculum unit,especially the relation of the unit in the chain of learning goals and activities in the full curriculum.We aimed at a better understanding of an conceptual design for curriculum units that embodies acoherent framework based on authentic practices (Bulte et al., 2005). Using this framework westudied how a context-based (chemistry) curriculum can be constructed, based on authentic cases.We focused on pre-university chemistry education and the subject of micro-macro thinking usingstructure-property relations (Meijer et al., 2005). The research question was: to what extent did theelaboration of this framework lead to meaningful learning of micro-macro thinking using– 66 –