Supporting Learning with Weblogs in Science Education: A Comparison of Blogging and Hand-Written Reflective Writing with and without Prompts

Autor/inn/en	Petko, Dominik; Egger, Nives; Graber, Marc
Titel	Supporting Learning with Weblogs in Science Education: A Comparison of Blogging and Hand-Written Reflective Writing with and without Prompts
Quelle	In: Themes in Science and Technology Education, 7 (2014) 1, S.3-17 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1792-8788
Schlagwörter	Secondary School Students; Secondary School Science; Science Education; Student Journals; Electronic Journals; Handwriting; Reflection; Prompting; Comparative Analysis; Metacognition; Learning Strategies; Achievement Gains; Quasiexperimental Design; Control Groups; Experimental Groups; Pretests Posttests; Scores; Writing (Composition); Writing Strategies; Scaffolding (Teaching Technique); Hypothesis Testing; Middle School Students; Grade 8; Foreign Countries; Correlation; Statistical Analysis; Climate; Switzerland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sekundarschüler; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Studentenzeitung; E-Journal; Handschrift; Benutzerführung; Meta cognitive ability; Meta-cognition; Metakognitive Fähigkeit; Metakognition; Learning methode; Learning techniques; Lernmethode; Lernstrategie; Achievement gain; Leistungssteigerung; Schreibübung; Schreibtechnik; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; School year 08; 8. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 08; Ausland; Korrelation; Statistische Analyse; Klima; Schweiz
Abstract	The goal of this study was to compare how weblogs and traditional handwritten reflective learning protocols compare regarding the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies for knowledge acquisition as well as learning gains in secondary school students. The study used a quasi-experimental control group design with repeated measurements comparing weblogs and text-based reflective journals both with and without prompts. During a learning unit on the subject of climate change, students were assigned one to four experimental groups with different writing assignments and one control group that did not keep a learning protocol of any kind. Comparisons of pretest and posttest scores indicate that students in the experimental groups collectively outperform the students in the control group. Looking closer however, only the groups writing with the guidance of prompts showed better learning gains, while groups writing without prompts did not show significant differences when compared to the control group. There were no differences with respect to learning gains between groups writing weblogs and those writing with paper and pencil when supported by prompts. Without prompts however, students in the paper-and-pencil writing condition performed better than students writing blogs. For blogging students, prompts seemed to be more important to achieve greater learning gains. In addition, students showed greater use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies when guided by prompts. Also here, there were no differences with regard to the medium of writing. Both cognitive and metacognitive strategies were predictors of learning gains. In conclusion, the use of prompts can be considered as important scaffold when writing weblogs or paper based learning protocols. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Themes in Science and Technology Education. The Educational Approaches to Virtual Reality Technologies Laboratory, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GR 45110, Greece. Tel: +30-2651005697; Fax: +30-2651005854; Web site: http://earthlab.uoi.gr/theste
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01