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Abstract BackgroundIn college science laboratory and discussion sections, student-centered active learning strategies have been implemented to improve student learning outcomes and experiences. Research has shown that active learning activities can increase student anxiety if students fear that they could be negatively evaluated by their peers. Error framing (i.e., to frame errors as natural and beneficial to learning) is proposed in the literature as a pedagogical tool to reduce student anxiety. However, little research empirically explores how an instructor can operationalize error framing and how error framing is perceived by undergraduate students. To bridge the gap in the literature, we conducted a two-stage study that involved science graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and undergraduate students. In stage one, we introduced cold calling (i.e., calling on non-volunteering students) and error framing to 12 chemistry and 11 physics GTAs. Cold calling can increase student participation but may increase student anxiety. Error framing has the potential to mitigate student anxiety when paired with cold calling. GTAs were then tasked to rehearse cold calling paired with error framing in a mixed-reality classroom simulator. We identified GTA statements that aligned with the definition of error framing. In stage two, we selected a few example GTA error framing statements and interviewed 13 undergraduate students about their perception of those statements. ResultsIn the simulator, all the GTAs rehearsed cold calling multiple times while only a few GTAs made error framing statements. A thematic analysis of GTAs’ error framing statements identified ways of error indication (i.e., explicit and implicit) and framing (i.e., natural, beneficial, and positive acknowledgement). Undergraduate student interviews revealed specific framing and tone that are perceived as increasing or decreasing student comfort in participating in classroom discourse. Both undergraduate students and some GTAs expressed negative opinions toward responses that explicitly indicate student mistakes. Undergraduate students’ perspectives also suggest that error framing should be implemented differently depending on whether errors have already occurred. ConclusionError framing is challenging for science GTAs to implement. GTAs’ operationalizations of error framing in the simulator and undergraduate students’ perceptions contribute to defining and operationalizing error framing for instructional practice. To increase undergraduate student comfort in science classroom discourse, GTAs can use implicit error indication. In response to students’ incorrect answers, GTAs can positively frame students’ specific ideas rather than discussing broadly how errors are natural or beneficial. 

Despite the positive gains towards student learning outcomes and engagement, active learning has been shown to potentially increase student anxiety due to a fear of negative evaluation. A pedagogical strategy proposed to mediate this issue is known as error framing; it asks instructors to encourage a perception of errors as being a natural part of the learning process. Previous work on this project investigated how graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) operationalized error framing during their training in a mixed-reality simulator but did not investigate their usage of it in their classrooms. This analysis characterizes the error framing statements made by GTAs during a set of classroom observations. We find that GTAs who employ error framing effectively avoid statements that might decrease student comfort and instead tend towards implicit, indirect strategies. 

The authors present the design and implementation of an exploratory virtual learning environment that assists children with autism (ASD) in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills along with improving social-emotional and communication skills. The primary contribution of this exploratory research is how educational research informs technological advances in triggering a virtual AI companion (AIC) for children in need of social-emotional and communication skills development. The AIC adapts to students’ varying levels of needed support. This project began by using puppetry control (human-in-the-loop) of the AIC, assisting students with ASD in learning basic coding, practicing their social skills with the AIC, and attaining emotional recognition and regulation skills for effective communication and learning. The student is given the challenge to program a robot, Dash™, to move in a square. Based on observed behaviors, the puppeteer controls the virtual agent’s actions to support the student in coding the robot. The virtual agent’s actions that inform the development of the AIC include speech, facial expressions, gestures, respiration, and heart color changes coded to indicate emotional state. The paper provides exploratory findings of the first 2 years of this 5-year scaling-up research study. The outcomes discussed align with a common approach of research design used for students with disabilities, called single case study research. This type of design does not involve random control trial research; instead, the student acts as her or his own control subject. Students with ASD have substantial individual differences in their social skill deficits, behaviors, communications, and learning needs, which vary greatly from the norm and from other individuals identified with this disability. Therefore, findings are reported as changes within subjects instead of across subjects. While these exploratory observations serve as a basis for longer term research on a larger population, this paper focuses less on student learning and more on evolving technology in AIC and supporting students with ASD in STEM environments. 

Law enforcement professionals require up to date training for interacting with individuals on the autism spectrum in a manner that facilitates positive citizen response. Although these officers interact with the public regularly, they may only have sporadic interactions with citizens who are not neurotypical. The timing of these interactions is not easy to predict; therefore, it is important to provide regular opportunities to practice contacts with special needs communities. However, in much the same way that it can be difficult to provide regular sessions with other protected groups of people, it is not practical to pull individuals on the autism spectrum to participate in law enforcement training. Role play with neurotypical individuals and classroom training presenting facts about autism do little to prepare these officers for their real-world encounters. Virtual interactions with people on the autism spectrum allow officers to practice techniques without compromising the health and safety of the communities they serve. This paper presents results of a study comparing police training through experiences in virtual reality (VR) with video training regarding police interactions with individuals on the autism spectrum. Police officers in a municipal police department who participated in the study were divided into three groups for continuing training purposes. One group received video training, one group received practice in VR, and one group received training through both video and VR. The differences in training method did not result in significant differences in training effectiveness. However, subjective data did support the efficacy of practice in a virtual setting. This project addressed three important challenges with training in VR. First, the team needed to define the specifics of behavior and language that the simulated individuals would exhibit. Second, the VR had to be tailored to be relevant to the officers participating. Third and finally, the schedule for training delivery had to minimize the time that officers were away from their assigned duties. Officer feedback on their training experiences indicated the approach to these challenges was well-received. The primary research question is whether training in VR is any more effective that watching a training video. 

We investigated student perceptions of cold calling on their feelings of anxiousness and how graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) alleviated these feelings when students shared their ideas publicly in the context of tutorial and laboratory sessions. Physics and chemistry GTAs who led active-learning tutorials and labs practiced cold calling paired with error framing with avatar-students in a mixed-reality simulator at the beginning of the semester. Then, we observed the GTAs teaching real students in their actual classroom. We recruited eleven students from sections led by GTAs who were observed to use cold calling in their classroom to participate in semi-structured interviews. Several students reported that cold calling increased their feelings of anxiousness. However, students also reported that GTAs used strategies paired with cold calling that reduced their feelings of anxiousness, such as acknowledging student responses as valuable and remembering student names. We discuss implications for professional development on active learning strategies. 

In this study, we characterized GTAs’ teaching practices in algebra-based introductory physics “mini-studios,” which combine student-centered recitation and inquiry-based labs. We documented both GTA and student actions using an observation protocol adapted from the Laboratory Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (LOPUS). We observed 72 mini-studio sessions led by 11 GTAs over two semesters. We used an agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and identified three clusters that described the similarities and differences between individual sessions. Two clusters contained sessions characterized by more interactive GTAs but they varied in the amount of feedback, lecture and whole class questioning the GTA provided. In the third cluster, GTAs tended to wait for students to call on them before engaging. Student behaviors also varied between the clusters, suggesting correlations between student behaviors and GTA instructional styles, in contrast to previous findings with LOPUS in other contexts. We discuss implications of these findings for future research.