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1. Student Strategies Playing Vector Unknown Echelon Seas, a 3D IOLA Videogame

   Plaxco, David ; Mauntel, Matthew ; Zandieh, Michelle ( January 2023 , Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Cook, Samuel ; Katz, Brian ; Moore-Russo, Deborah (Ed.)

   We present preliminary results of students’ strategies playing Vector Unknown: Echelon Seas [VUES], a 3D videogame intended to support student reasoning about vectors. Our team designed VUES by drawing on theories from Inquiry-Oriented Instruction (IOI), Game-Based Learning [GBL] and Realistic Mathematics Education [RME]. VUES builds from a prior 2D game by giving players vectors with 1, 2, or 3 components, depending on the level. We use codes from our team’s prior analysis (Mauntel et al, 2020) to analyze strategies in the 3D game. Early results show that students develop similar strategies during 3D gameplay as other students developed while playing the 2D game. However, we have also found new strategies that we did not witness with 2D gameplay, requiring us to extend our coding scheme. Further, early results emphasized the need for design changes to the 3D game to better support players’ progress. 

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2. Tensions and synergies in arts‐integrated data literacy instruction: Reflections on four classroom implementations

   https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13257  

   Matuk, Camillia ; DesPortes, Kayla ; Amato, Anna ; Vacca, Ralph ; Silander, Megan ; Woods, Peter J. ; Tes, Marian ( July 2022 , British Journal of Educational Technology)

   Data‐art inquiry is an arts‐integrated approach to data literacy learning that reflects the multidisciplinary nature of data literacy not often taught in school contexts. By layering critical reflection over conventional data inquiry processes, and by supporting creative expression about data, data‐art inquiry can support students' informal inference‐making by revealing the role of context in shaping the meaning of data, and encouraging consideration of the personal and social relevance of data. Data‐art inquiry additionally creates alternative entry points into data literacy by building on learners' non‐STEM interests. Supported by technology, it can provide accessible tools for students to reflect on and communicate about data in ways that can impact broader audiences. However, data‐art inquiry instruction faces many barriers to classroom implementation, particularly given the tendency for schools to structure learning with disciplinary silos, and to unequally prioritize mathematics and the arts. To explore the potential of data‐art inquiry in classroom contexts, we partnered with arts and mathematics teachers to co‐design and implement data‐art inquiry units. We implemented the units in four school contexts that differed in terms of the student population served, their curriculum priorities, and their technology infrastructure. We reflect on participant interviews, written reflections, and classroom data, to identify synergies and tensions between data literacy, technology, and the arts. Our findings highlight how contexts of implementation shape the possibilities and limitations for data‐art inquiry learning. To take full advantage of the potential for data‐art inquiry, curriculum design should account for and build on the opportunities and constraints of classroom contexts.

   What is already known about this topic

   Arts‐integrated instruction has underexplored potential for promoting students' data literacy, including their appreciation for the role of context and real‐world implications of data and for the personal and social relevance of data.

   Arts‐integrated instruction is difficult to implement in school contexts that are constrained by disciplinary silos.

   What this paper adds

   Descriptions of four data‐art inquiry units, which take an arts‐integrated approach to data literacy.

   Examples of the synergies and tensions observed between data literacy, technology, and the arts during classroom implementation in four different schools.

   Reflections on the role of school contexts in shaping disciplinary synergies and tensions.

   Implications for practice and/or policy

   Arts‐integration offers opportunities for data literacy learning.

   Consideration of the unique resources and constraints of classroom contexts is critical for fulfilling the promises of data‐art inquiry learning.

   There is a need to develop school support specific to arts‐integrated data literacy instruction.

    

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3. Impact of the Design of an Asynchronous Video-Based Learning Environment on Teacher Noticing and Mathematical Knowledge

   Seago, N. ; Knotts, A. ( January 2021 , Journal of higher education theory and practice)

   In this paper, we share the design and impact of a set of two-hour online mathematics professional development modules adapted from face-to-face vide-based materials. The “Video in the Middle” (VIM) modules are aligned with principles of authentic e-learning and can be combined in a variety of ways to form professional development pathways that meet the unique needs of a wide range of professional learning settings and contexts. VIM modules aim to support teacher noticing of student thinking and increase their mathematical knowledge for teaching. The VIM materials are designed to be used in any of three flexible asynchronous formats: independent, locally facilitated, or developer facilitated. Preliminary research results indicate that teachers appreciated the variety of formats, found the modules useful and engaging, and learned to appreciate and use visual methods for solving problems, including using color to distinguish and highlight the relationship between numeric, algebraic, and geometric models. 

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4. Combining Game-Based and Inquiry-Oriented Learning for Teaching Linear Algebra

   Amresh, Ashish ; Verma, Vipin ; Zandieh, Michelle ( June 2023 , ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings)

   Linear algebra instruction is an essential competency that is necessary for success in multiple engineering disciplines. Research in realistic mathematics education and the development of an empirically tested curriculum in inquiry-oriented practices for teaching linear algebra helps improve the ability of instructors to teach the content via multiple lenses and modes. While there have been good instructional materials and strategies developed to apply inquiry-oriented instruction for linear algebra, students struggle to apply and connect the different modes. Game-based learning provides a platform to creatively include multiple modes and strategies in a fun and engaging manner. In this paper, we present we discuss the addition of game-based learning elements into an existing curriculum that teaches undergraduate linear algebra via an inquiry-oriented pedagogy. The aim of this paper is to discuss the game design strategies used in connecting game based learning to inquiry oriented methods. 

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5. A learning analytics approach towards understanding collaborative inquiry in a problem‐based learning environment

   https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13198  

   Saleh, Asmalina ; Phillips, Tanner M. ; Hmelo‐Silver, Cindy E. ; Glazewski, Krista D. ; Mott, Bradford W. ; Lester, James C. ( February 2022 , British Journal of Educational Technology)

   This exploratory paper highlights how problem‐based learning (PBL) provided the pedagogical framework used to design and interpret learning analytics from Crystal Island: EcoJourneys, a collaborative game‐based learning environment centred on supporting science inquiry. In Crystal Island: EcoJourneys, students work in teams of four, investigate the problem individually and then utilize a brainstorming board, an in‐game PBL whiteboard that structured the collaborative inquiry process. The paper addresses a central question: how can PBL support the interpretation of the observed patterns in individual actions and collaborative interactions in the collaborative game‐based learning environment? Drawing on a mixed method approach, we first analyzed students' pre‐ and post‐test results to determine if there were learning gains. We then used principal component analysis (PCA) to describe the patterns in game interaction data and clustered students based on the PCA. Based on the pre‐ and post‐test results and PCA clusters, we used interaction analysis to understand how collaborative interactions unfolded across selected groups. Results showed that students learned the targeted content after engaging with the game‐based learning environment. Clusters based on the PCA revealed four main ways of engaging in the game‐based learning environment: students engaged in low to moderate self‐directed actions with (1) high and (2) moderate collaborative sense‐making actions, (3) low self‐directed with low collaborative sense‐making actions and (4) high self‐directed actions with low collaborative sense‐making actions. Qualitative interaction analysis revealed that a key difference among four groups in each cluster was the nature of verbal student discourse: students in the low to moderate self‐directed and high collaborative sense‐making cluster actively initiated discussions and integrated information they learned to the problem, whereas students in the other clusters required more support. These findings have implications for designing adaptive support that responds to students' interactions with in‐game activities.

   What is already known about this topic

   Learning analytic methods have been effective for understanding student learning interactions for the purposes of assessment, profiling student behaviour and the effectiveness of interventions.

   However, the interpretation of analytics from these diverse data sets are not always grounded in theory and challenges of interpreting student data are further compounded in collaborative inquiry settings, where students work in groups to solve a problem.

   What this paper adds

   Problem‐based learning as a pedagogical framework allowed for the design to focus on individual and collaborative actions in a game‐based learning environment and, in turn, informed the interpretation of game‐based analytics as it relates to student's self‐directed learning in their individual investigations and collaborative inquiry discussions.

   The combination of principal component analysis and qualitative interaction analysis was critical in understanding the nuances of student collaborative inquiry.

   Implications for practice and/or policy

   Self‐directed actions in individual investigations are critical steps to collaborative inquiry. However, students may need to be encouraged to engage in these actions.

   Clustering student data can inform which scaffolds can be delivered to support both self‐directed learning and collaborative inquiry interactions.

   All students can engage in knowledge‐integration discourse, but some students may need more direct support from teachers to achieve this.

    

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