Metacognitive Scaffolding Effects on Conceptual Learning in a Whole-Body Interactive Simulation Environment

• In Event: Scaffolding Self-Directed Learning in Technology-Enhanced Environments

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of metacognitive scaffolding—structuring learners’ reflections and prompting them to verbally articulate their understanding—while interacting with an immersive simulation of planetary astronomy. Participants were 61 middle school students who used a full-body simulation of how objects move in space (e.g., the effects of gravity, the nature of orbits, etc.). There is increasing evidence that body-based interactions with computer simulations can have positive effects on learning (Abrahamson et al., 2012; Birchfield & Johnson-Glenberg, 2010), but the degree to which explicit scaffolding is needed to solidify and strengthen these effects has been largely unexplored.

Authors

• Emily Kuzneski Johnson, University of Central Florida

• Robb Lindgren, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Michael Tscholl, Northern Illinois University