Advisor

• Dr. Min Liu

Degree

• Doctoral

Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an innovative instructional approach that has been shown to have many benefits, including improved motivation, self-directed learning, and transfer of problem-solving skills. However, research on this approach has largely been restricted to advanced and/or gifted learners. Yet, the benefits of PBL represent valuable educational goals for all learners, not just for the gifted or mature learner. This study examined the potential of a hypermedia based expert tool to scaffold regular education learners engaged in a PBL unit. This tool offered students interactive video of an expert modeling his cognitive processes as he performed tasks relevant to the development of a solution to the central problem of the PBL unit. The purpose of this tool was to help learners apply effective problem-solving skills and strategies to their work during the PBL unit and use periods of self-directed study effectively. Participants in this study were sixth grade students enrolled in regular education science classes taught by the same teacher, for a total of 66 students in three science classes. Students completed Alien Rescue , a hypermedia PBL environment on astronomy and space science. Three versions of the expert tool were used in order to isolate the effects of the cognitive modeling. The help condition provided students information about the functionality of the program tools, while the direct instruction condition provided suggestions and examples of the same strategies modeled by the expert, but did not offer a demonstration of the expert's application of them to the problem. Results suggest that the cognitive modeling condition was more effective than either of the other two conditions. It brought the way students worked during periods of self-directed study into line with expert actions, resulted in students writing better rationales for their solutions to the PBL unit, and impacted students' work on problem-solving tasks in an unrelated context. The findings of this study also suggest that students demonstrate more intrinsically motivated behavior during PBL than during their regular class activities.