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Say, we had one classroom with teamwork at the computers and another without. Still, we could not assume that the two classrooms were identical save for the presence or absence of teamwork. Everything would be different....The underlying assumption here is that classroom events are tied to each other in a systemic way. That is, that each component, event, or action has the potential of affecting the unit as a whole; the whole is assumed to be more than the sum of its components and is characterized by the patterns and forms of the relations among them ....Clearly, one could not answer the question of how much did the computer, or any other event, contribute to the outcomes. It would be like asking how much did the flute, in a 120-piece orchestra, contribute to the quality of the music.... Alternatively, one would want to use a methodology that respects the systemic nature of the classroom, the way this system differs from its controls, and the way it changes over time. The emphasis ought not to be on single events or variables but on the way they relate to each other. (pp. 13-14)
This approach to studying the effects of technology-based innovations focuses on understanding the relationships among various elements in the project, and the variables that contribute to specific outcomes, rather than to declare the innovation as more or less effective than some other approach.
Ann Brown (1992) describes the way in which her involvement with complex classroom-based innovations has led to a widening of the methodologies she uses in her research. She and her colleagues have been studying sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade science classes in inner-city schools. In the experimental classes, teachers and researchers have attempted to create a "community of learners", in which students are involved in inquiry-based learning, supported by multimedia technology (Brown, Ash, Rutherford, Nakagawa, Gordon & Campione, in press). Students create part of their own curriculum. Given a specific subtopic, a small group prepares hypermedia study materials on that topic. Students are then regrouped for learning in such a way that each of the new groups contains one student who worked on the curriculum materials for each topic. Each student functions as a discussion leader when the study group moves to the topic of his or her expertise. Assessment of the effects of the innovation includes administering standard pretest and posttest measures to all students.
The significant improvement of the experimental classes on these measures (in absolute terms and relative to control classes) suggests that there are gains worthy of understanding (Brown 1992). Such analyses are only a small part of the research, however; Brown and her colleagues perform detailed case studies on the conceptual growth of individual students in order to understand and to illustrate the nature of the phenomena that appear to be responsible for the observed gains (e.g., the acquisition of specific biological principles contrasted with memorization of specific facts).
Another example of contextualized research is provided by Riel (1989), who described what happened in four classes of San Diego fourth graders who participated with students in Hawaii, Mexico, and Alaska in an on-line "newswire" service and production of a student newspaper. Students in all four classes showed an improvement of more than one grade level in their reading and writing skills. Those students who served as volunteer editors showed striking gains in language mechanics. Riel's observations led her to conclude that the experience of editing others writing produces more improvement than practice correcting one's own mistakes and that students are reluctant to edit the work of their classmates but much freer to criticize and correct the work of a distant peer.
A second study, examining the quality of writing of Israeli seventh graders participating in a similar intercultural student network, provides further evidence of the educational value of these activities. Half of the students were instructed to write an article for their teacher to determine their semester grade; the other half were told to compose an article for their distant peers on the network. Judges who were blind to each student author's condition rated the resulting articles. Writing produced for peers was judged as significantly better than that produced for a grade: the content was more substantive, there were more supporting details, less slang, more complex constructions, and fewer mechanical errors.
Another example of contextualized research on technology in the classroom is provided by researchers at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) who have developed a networked hypermedia system called Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE). CSILE uses a central database and provides capabilities for students to write, illustrate, read, and comment on the information in the system (Scardamalia, Bereiter, McLean, Swallow & Woodruff 1989). It is being used with elementary school classes as they study science, history, and social studies. The system is designed to be used collaboratively, with students accessing each other's work and making their own notations, supplying critiques, additional information, and other types of help. The author of the material being commented on is notified, setting the stage for students to engage in interchange concerning the material they are studying.
One of the research issues being addressed is the extent to which students of different ability levels participate in this kind of instructional activity. OISE is finding that students at all ability levels participate equally and interact effectively with CSILE (Bryson & Scardamalia 1991). In fact, in classrooms that implement the model in the most collaborative fashion, the advantages of CSILE use are particularly strong among the lower- and middle-ability groups.
A final noteworthy example of contextualized research on student learning outcomes is provided by the evaluation under way for the Jasper videodisc series described earlier. Jasper adventures are being used on an experimental basis in 52 classes in 9 states (Pellegrino et al. 1992). Each class is supported by a representative from a corporation that is contributing to the project. Participating teachers receive 2 weeks of training in a summer workshop. In the first years of implementation, teachers have varied in the degree to which they are comfortable turning control of the problem-solving activities over to groups of students.
Nevertheless, as a whole, classrooms using Jasper videodiscs show significant advantages--over control group classrooms matched in demographic characteristics--in terms of student attitudes toward mathematics, mathematical concepts, and ability to plan their problem solving (Pellegrino et al. 1992). Embedded research studies are examining the effects of factors such as working in two-person teams versus individually (Barron & Rieser 1992).
It should be noted that these contextualized studies, which provide much more detail than is summarized here, seek to understand the complex interplay between an innovation, which is itself an amalgamation of many instructional features, and the particular culture of a classroom or characteristics of individual students. Although the discussion above focuses on effects on measures of student learning of achievement, one of the hallmarks of contextualized studies is their investigation of the variables that may mediate between the introduction of technology and student learning. Considered as a whole, there are now enough studies of technology within an instructional framework emphasizing work on challenging tasks to suggest that this approach can bring about a transformation of the classroom. Researchers report a shift from teacher-led activities to student- centered learning, including an increase of collaborative learning (Collins 1990). Students are typically described as more engaged and highly motivated (Dwyer, Ringstaff & Sandholtz 1990). Teacher behavior is described as less didactic and more coach-like (Collins 1990). Many teachers report being able to explore more complex topics with the aid of computers than they could with their earlier approaches (Sheingold & Hadley 1990).
Thus, it seems clear that, when used as part of an instructional approach involving students in complex, authentic tasks, technology can support the kind of transformation of student learning that is at the heart of education reform.
Contextualized studies are not designed to be summarized in terms of quantitative measures of effect size and are not conducive to the meta-analytic techniques used with the comparative "horse race" studies. Nevertheless, it may encourage policymakers to note that positive effects relative to control classrooms have been reported by Brown (1992), the Jasper project (Pellegrino et al. 1992), and the CSILE project (Bryson & Scardamalia 1991).
The studies summarized above provide examples of the kind of encouraging results that are being observed in individual projects. There is a need for many more such projects, however, to provide the data needed for the kind of theory-based research synthesis the field needs (Herman 1992). In addition, many of the projects described above have benefited from the active, intense involvement of researchers; the extent to which these successes can be replicated within the existing educational system remains to be demonstrated.
[Experimental Studies]
This page was last updated December 27, 2001 (jca)