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PurposeChallenges in teaching the engineering design process (EDP) at the high-school level, such as promoting good documentation practices, are well-documented. While developments in educational artificial intelligence (AI) systems have the potential to assist in addressing these challenges, the open-ended nature of the EDP leads to challenges that often lack the specificity required for actionable AI development. In addition, conventional educational AI systems (e.g. intelligent tutoring systems) primarily target procedural domain tasks with well-defined outcomes and problem-solving strategies, while the EDP involves open-ended problems and multiple correct solutions, making AI intervention timing and appropriateness complex. Design/methodology/approachAuthors conducted a six-week-long Research through Co-Design (RtCD) process (i.e. a co-design process rooted in Research through Design) with two experienced high-school engineering teachers to co-construct actionable insight in the form of AI intervention points (AI-IPs) in engineering education where an AI system can effectively intervene to support them while highlighting their pedagogical practices. FindingsThis paper leveraged the design of task models to iteratively refine our prior understanding of teachers’ experiences with teaching the EDP into three AI-IPs related to documentation, ephemeral interactions between teachers and students and disruptive failures that can serve as a focus for intelligent educational system designs. Originality/valueThis paper discusses the implications of these AI-IPs for designing educational AI systems to support engineering education as well as the importance of leveraging RtCD methodologies to engage teachers in developing intelligent educational systems that align with their needs and afford them control over computational interventions in their classrooms.
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Snailed It! Inside the Shell: Using Augmented Reality as a Window Into Biodiversity
Snails have occupied an important role in the ideology and religion of the ancient American peoples, who considered them to be magical and used them in ritual ceremonies as ornaments, musical instruments, and architectural elements. Today, they are a valuable study system for understanding biodiversity and evolution due to their remarkable ecological and morphological diversity. Given that many endemic snails are of conservation concern, and that most South American species are poorly studied, there is a need to engage the public through understandable and scientifically based language, conveying the importance of biodiversity. However, not all biodiversity can be seen with the naked eye. Herein, we describe how we utilize snails and their shells to engage citizens and train teachers to promote the many different facets of biodiversity. Through design-based research oriented toward educational innovation, we created a teaching–learning sequence with immersive technology through the following stages of work: (1) produce a teaching–learning sequence and accompanying mobile device application (for Android on GooglePlay), (2) evaluate the impact of the educational resource, and (3) conduct research through a pre- and posttest design on the learning outcomes of participants. In this work, we first present the field experience where scientists, teachers, and pre-service teachers worked together to find snails from northern Chile to Chiloé Island. Some results from this research stage are: criteria for designing a teaching–learning sequence (e.g., how to utilize place as an opportunity for learning science with developmentally appropriate technologies identified for every phase of the sequence), modeling relevant phenomena about biodiversity and ecosystems through snails, scaffolding for teachers implementing the sequence, and activities that enhance STEM education. A teaching–learning sequence that addresses snails as study objects for 4th grade is presented and validated, allowing us to continue the next phase of our research with schools. A second article will propose results from implementation, iterations, and their implications.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1751157
- PAR ID:
- 10421141
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Education
- Volume:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 2504-284X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract BackgroundTo increase teachers’ capacity to implement high-quality instructional materials with fidelity in their classrooms through a video-based professional learning cycle, the Analyzing Instruction in Mathematics Using the Teaching for Robust Understanding framework (AIM–TRU) research–practice partnership was formed. Drawing upon the design-based research paradigm, AIM–TRU created the initial design for the professional learning cycle and wanted to engage in continued iterative redesign as the year progressed. This necessitated a method, common among those who adjust their designs when applying them in context, by which to document and justify changes made over time to our model. The research contained in this article used qualitative methods to articulate and test the design underlying our professional learning cycle by advancing conjecture mapping, a device by which the embodiments of the design are made transparent to be analyzed in practice. ResultsThe initial design conjectures and activity structures teachers engaged in through our model of professional learning were refined to address three themes that emerged. Firstly, it was found that the ways participants engaged with the mathematics of the lesson were underwhelming, in large part, because our own definition of what rich talk around mathematics should entail was lacking in details such as the mathematical objects in the lesson, the presence of multiple solution pathways, or the various representations that students could use. Second, talk structures did not always allow for equitable exchanges among all teachers. Finally, activity structures did not encourage teachers to delve deeply into the mathematics so they could perceive the lesson as a coherent piece of their own classroom curriculum. Our design conjectures and activity structures were revised over the course of the year. ConclusionsOur use of conjecture mapping allowed us to address the concern with research–practice partnerships that they should develop and utilize tools that make the systemic inquiry they engage in transparent, allowing for other researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders to see the complete design process and make use of the findings for their local context. Implications for this process as a tool for those who pilot and scale professional development are raised and addressed.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.933436
