The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the professional preparation of students in online classes at a Christian theological seminary. Concerns of theological education involve the capacity or incapacity of community development and somatic or embodied learning in online education. Using a theoretical framework drawn from…

This research report examines how two groups of bilingual algebra students made connections among representations while solving a non-routine generalization problem. Using a socio-cultural orientation to mathematics learning, together with a semiotic lens on students' joint mathematical activity, this report details the type of connections among…

Situative and sociocognitive analyses were combined to examine engagement in high-level collaborative learning and its relationship with individuals' cognitions. Video footage of 53 science university students' (nine groups) collaborative learning interactions as they worked through a case-based project was analysed in combination with students'…

Teaching students to use and interpret representations in science is critically important if they are to become scientifically literate and learn how to communicate their understandings and learning in science. This study involved 248 students (119 boys and 129 girls) from 26 grade 6 teachers' classes in nine primary schools in Brisbane,…

Students learn best when they are focused and thinking about the subject at hand. To teach physiology, we must offer opportunities for students to actively participate in class. This approach aids in focusing their attention on the topic and thus generating genuine interest in the mechanisms involved. This study was conducted to determine if…

This paper argues for a need to develop methods for examining temporal patterns in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) groups. It advances one such quantitative method--Lag-sequential Analysis (LsA)--and instantiates it in a study of problem-solving interactions of collaborative groups in an online, synchronous environment. LsA…

Preparing early childhood educators to support effective instruction of English language learners (ELLs) is an important dimension of teacher preparation programs, yet often difficult to enact. This article reports on a collaboration between early childhood education (ECE) faculty and teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL)…

This paper describes a work-in-progress action research project to investigate how technology-enabled learning networks may achieve practical organisational improvement outcomes in the author's own institution, a UK distance learning higher education (HE) context. Collaborative learning technology, typically used for academic learning or…

Collaborative inquiry learning environments, such as "The Tutorials in Physics Sensemaking," are designed to provide students with opportunities to partake in the authentic disciplinary practices of argumentation and sensemaking. Through these practices, groups of students in tutorial can build shared conceptual understandings of the…

Even though discourse-intensive mathematics instruction is a widely endorsed pedagogy for preservice elementary teachers, much still remains unknown about how this type of instruction affects student learning. This study investigated the relationship between talk moves that prompted preservice teachers to respond to each other's contributions…

This study examines whether foreign language acquisition occurs through sharing information when students participate in an online writing task using English as the lingua franca. It also explores whether the students with higher levels of linguistic knowledge relating to the foreign language share this information with their peers throughout the…

Learning Management Systems (LSM) have been adopted to provide interaction between instructors and students in online learning courses. In these environments, large volumes of messages are exchanged, making it difficult for the participants to follow all the discussions. When messages are ignored, students' opportunities to effectively construct…

In this article, the author describes an activity that involves classroom seating arrangements and allows students to talk about some of the implications of classroom furniture arrangements. The purpose of the activity is to provide students with an opportunity to think about ordinary things in their lives and push them to find connections between…

Although collaboration is considered a key 21st-century skill, oftentimes it is only assessed through the outcome measures of individual learners. In this paper, we draw upon collaborative cognitive load theory (CCLT) to explain the process of collaboration in learning from the point of view of the collective, rather than an individual learner.…

Meaningful discussion helps students develop new knowledge about the world around them. "Progressive discourse" is talk that encourages people to develop a new understanding together. In this article, the author discusses how she used student collaboration to foster progressive discourse and describes assignments that engage her students in group…