This research was initiated to examine instructional technologies and educational cultures in relation to identified cognitive and metacognitive strategies used in school tasks. The project involved activities from the social studies curricula that were presented through two new software programs intended to support the development of problem-solving and reasoning strategies—IDEA [Interactive Decision Envisioning Aid, Pea (76)] and Notecards (34)—and through instructional approaches based upon “cognitive apprenticeship” views of learning [Collins, Brown, and Duguid (36)]. After piloting the project, ten high school juniors participated in instruction with these technologies and redesigned methods, composing essays about their selection of arguments about a candidate for U.S. President and about a “most important social issue.” Essays about these topics written prior, during and after the project were collected and analyzed for their reasoning, using the work of Toulmin (40) and Hillocks (46). In addition, the ongoing interactions of the students with the instructional technologies were recorded and analyzed to assess their cognitive and metacognitive strategies as they occurred. Quantitative analyses revealed significant (p < .05) increases in the “breadth” and “depth” of students' reasoning in the “presidential candidate” essays as a result of the project (independently of the presented knowledge base), but little or no improvement in their reasoning in the “issue” essays (intended as transfer tasks). Data collected from students' ongoing use of the technologies is also analyzed and reported, including positive correlations (Rho = .68, Rho = .78) between written reasoning and interactions with the “executive control” functions of the software programs. These results, as well as qualitative findings, are discussed in relation to recent literature about cognition and learning with instructional technologies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BatesonG., Information and Codification, in Communication, RueschJ.BatesonG. (eds.), Norton Books, New York, 1968.
2.
TuringA. M., Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Mind, 59:236, 1950.
3.
WeizenbaumJ., Computer Power and Human Reason, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, California, 1976.
4.
ScrivenM., The Mechanical Concept of Mind, Mind, 62:246, 1953.
5.
PeaR. D.SheingoldK., Mirrors of Minds: Patterns of Experience in Educational Computing, Ablex Publishing, Norwood, New Jersey, 1988.
6.
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, Culture and Cognitive Development, in Handbook of Child Psychology, KessenW. (ed.), Volume 1, Wiley Publishing, New York, 1983.
7.
NewmanD.GriffinP.ColeM., The Construction Zone: Working for Cognitive Change in School, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989.
8.
ScribnerS.ColeM., The Psychology of Literacy, Harvard Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981.
9.
PeaR. D., Beyond Amplification: Using the Computer to Reorganize Mental Functioning, Educational Psychologist, 20, pp. 167–182, 1985.
10.
EnnisR. H., Critical Thinking and Subject Specificity: Clarification and Needed Research, Educational Researcher, 18, pp. 4–10, 1989.
11.
GalottiK. M., Approaches to Studying Formal and Everyday Reasoning, Psychological Bulletin, 105, pp. 331–351, 1989.
12.
PerkinsD. N.SalomanG., Are Cognitive Skills Context Bound?, Educational Researcher, 18, pp. 16–25, 1989.
13.
McCormickS.ZutellJ. (eds.), Cognitive and Social Perspectives for Literacy Research and Instruction, National Reading Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 1989.
14.
ResnickL.KlopferL. (eds.), Toward the Thinking Curriculum: Current Cognitive Research, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Baltimore, Maryland, 1989.
15.
BransfordJ. D.GoinL. I.HasselbringT. S.KinzerC. Z.SherwoodR. D.WilliamsS. M., Learning with Technology: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives, Peabody Journal of Education, 64, pp. 5–26, 1988.
16.
Cochran-SmithM.KahnJ.ParisC. L., Teachers, Children, and Word Processing: Working with a Felicitous Tool, Paper presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1989.
17.
BjorklundD. F., Children's Thinking: Developmental Function and Individual Differences, Brookes/Cole, Pacific Grove, California, 1989.
18.
CampioneJ. C.BrownA. L.ConnellM. L., Metacognition: On the Importance of Understanding What You Are Doing, in The Teaching and Assessing of Mathematical Problem-Solving, CharlesR.SilverE. A. (eds.), L. Erlbaum, and National Council of Teacher of Mathematics, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988.
19.
ThornburgD., “Task Proficiency” Rather than “Student Proficiency”: Convergences in the Research on Learning and the Implications for the Social Reorganization of Schooling, Paper presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1990.
20.
ButterfieldE. C.NelsonG. D., Instruction of Knowledge, Strategies, and Metacognition as Ways to Promote Positive Transfer of Different Types, Cognition and Instruction, 6, pp. 41–68, 1989.
21.
ColeN., Conceptions of Educational Achievement, Educational Researcher, 19, pp. 2–7, 1990.
22.
VanLeuvanP. A.WangM. C.McGillA.PoremboL., The Use of Monitoring and Checking Processes in the First and Second Grade, Paper presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1989.
23.
BeuhringT.KeeD. W., Developmental Relationships among Metamemory, Elaborative Strategy Use, and Associative Memory, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 44:3, pp. 377–400, 1987.
24.
ButterfieldE. C.PeckT. O.PeckV., Developmental Aspects of the Feeling of Knowing, Developmental Psychology, 24, pp. 654–663, 1988.
25.
ButterfieldE. C., On Solving the Problem of Transfer, in Practical Aspects of Memory (Volume 2), GrunebergM. M.MorrisP. E.SykesR. N. (eds.), Academic Press, London, 1988.
26.
CohenS. A.HymanJ.AshcroftL.LovelessD., Mastery Learning vs. Learning Styles vs. Metacognition: What Do We Tell the Practitioners?, Paper presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 1989.
27.
BransfordJ. D.SherwoodR. D.HasselbringT. S.KinzerC. K.WilliamsS. M., Anchored Instruction: Why We Need It and How Technology Can Help, in Advances in Computer-Video Technology, NixD.SpiroR. (eds.), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, in press.
28.
BruceB.RubinA., Writing Quills: A Situated Evaluation of Using Computers for Writing in Classrooms, L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1990.
29.
LittlefieldJ.DelclosV.LeverS.ClaytonK.BransfordJ.FranksJ., Learning Logo: Method of Teaching, Transfer of General Skills and Attitudes Towards School and Computers, in Teaching and Learning Computer Programming, MayerR. E. (ed.), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988.
30.
The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, Anchored Instruction and Its Relationship to Situated Cognition, Educational Researcher, 19, pp. 2–10, 1990.
31.
CollinsA., Toward a Design Science of Education, in New Directions for Educational Technology, ScanlonE.O'SheaT. (eds.), Springer-Verlag, New York, 1989.
32.
VygotskyL. S., Mind in Society: The Development of the Higher Psychological Processes, Harvard Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1978.
33.
VygotskyL. S., The Collected Works: Volume 1. Problems of General Psychology, Plenum Press, New York, 1987.
34.
BrownJ. S., Process versus Product: A Perspective on Tools for Communal and Informal Electronic Learning, in Report from the Learning Lab: Education in the Electronic Age, NewmanS.PoorE. (eds.), Educational Broadcasting System, WNET: New York, 184.
35.
ForemanG.PufallP. (eds.), Constructivism in the Computer Age, L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988.
36.
CollinsA.BrownJ. S.DuguidP., Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning, Educational Researcher, 18, pp. 5–17, 1989.
37.
BrownJ. S.CollinsA.NewmanS. E., The New Apprenticeship: Teaching Students the Craft of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, in Cognition and Instruction: Issues and Agendas, ResnickL. B. (ed.), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988.
38.
GagneR., The Conditions of Learning (3rd Edition), Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston, New York, 1977.
39.
SimonH. A., Reason in Human Affairs, Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, California, 1983.
40.
ToulminS., The Uses of Argument, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1958.
41.
PerkinsD. N., Knowledge as Design, Harvard Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1986.
42.
PolyaG., How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1945.
43.
SchoenfeldA., Metacognitive and Epistemological Issues in Mathematical Understanding, in Teaching and Learning Mathematical Problem Solving, SilverE. (ed.), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1985.
44.
VedungL., Political Reasoning, Basic Books, New York, 1982.
45.
WillardC. A., Argumentation and the Social Grounds of Knowledge, University of Alabama Press, University, Alabama, 1983.
46.
HillocksG., Analyzing the Structure of Written Argument, Paper presentation, Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association, 1987.
47.
PeaR. D., Socializing the Knowledge Transfer Problem, International Journal of Educational Research, 11, pp. 639–663, 1987.
48.
SalomanG.PerkinsD. N., Rocky Road to Transfer: Rethinking Mechanisms of a Neglected Phenomenon, Educational Psychologies, 24, pp. 113–142, 1989.
49.
ButterfieldE. C.NelsonG. D., Theory and Practice of Teaching for Transfer, Educational Technology Research and Development, 37, pp. 5–38, 1989.
50.
PalumboD. B., Programming Language/Problem-Solving Research: A Review of Relevant Issues, Review of Educational Research, 60, pp. 65–89, 1990.
51.
KierasD.PoisonP. G., An Approach to the Formal Analysis of User Complexity, International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 22, pp. 365–394, 1985.
52.
PoisonP. G.BouvairS.KierasD., Transfer between Text Editors, in Conference Proceedings of Human Factors in Computing Systems and Graphics Interface, CarrollJ. M.TannerP. P. (eds.), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, 1987.
53.
PoisonP. G.MuncherE.EngelbeckG., A Test of a Common Elements Theory of Transfer, in Human Factors in Computing Systems: CHI '86, ManteiM.ObertonP. (eds.), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, 1986.
54.
ChiM. T. H., Interactive Roles of Knowledge and Strategies in the Development of Organized Sorting and Recall, in Thinking and Learning Skills, Volume 2, ChipmanS. F.SegalJ. W.GlaserR. (eds.), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1985.
55.
GentnerD., The Mechanisms of Analogical Learning, in Similarity and Analogical Reasoning, VosniadouS.OrtonyA. (eds.), Cambridge University Press, New York, 1989.
56.
AlvermanD., Strategic Teaching in the Social Studies, in Strategic Teaching and Learning: Cognitive Instructions in the Content Areas, JonesB. F.PalincsarM.OgleL.CarrS. (eds.), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Washington, D.C., 1987.
57.
BeckI. L.McKeounM. G.GromollE. W., Learning from Social Studies Texts, Cognition and Instruction, 6:2, pp. 99–158, 1989.
58.
MassialasB. G.PapagiannisG. J., Toward a Critical Review of Computers in Education: Implications for Social Studies, The Social Studies, 78, pp. 47–53, 1987.
59.
VossJ. F.GreeneT.PostT. A.PennerB. A., Problem-Solving Skill in the Social Sciences, in The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Volume 17), BowerG. H. (ed.), Academic Press, New York, 1983.
60.
KitchenerK. S., Cognition, Metacognition, and Epistemic Cognition: A 3-Level Model of Cognitive Processing, Human Development, 26, pp. 222–232, 1983.
61.
HertzbergH., Social Studies Reform, 1880–1980, Social Science Education Consortium, Boulder, Colorado, 1981.
62.
LuskC. M.JuddC. M., Political Expertise and the Structural Mediators of Candidate Evaluations, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 24:2, pp. 333–352, 1988.
63.
WilcoxC., Risk Taking and Presidential Voting, Journal of Social Psychology, 129, pp. 99–158, 1989.
64.
LarsenS. F., Remembering Reported Events: Memory for News in Ecological Perspectives, Paper presentation, Conference on Practical Aspects of Memory and Cognition, 1986.
65.
ColeM.GayJ.GlickJ.SharpD. W., The Cultural Context of Learning and Thinking, Basic Books, New York, 1971.
66.
JanisI. L.MannL., Decision Making: A Psychological Analysis of Conflict, Choice, and Commitment, Free Press, New York, 1977.
67.
MarquetteJ. F.HinkleyK. A., Voter Turnout and Candidate Choice: A Merged Theory, Political Behavior, 10:1, pp. 52–76, 1988.
68.
SmithA., Promoting Reasoning Skills: An Interdisciplinary Approach, The Social Studies, 77, pp. 260–263, 1985.
69.
TierneyR. J.SoterA.O'FlahavanJ.McGinleyW., The Effects of Reading and Writing upon Thinking Critically, Reading Research Quarterly, 24:2, pp. 134–173, 1989.
70.
WoodD., How Children Think and Learn: The Social Contexts of Cognitive Development, Basil Blackwell, Limited, Oxford, England, 1989.
71.
ChafeW.NicholsJ., Evidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology, Ablex Publishing, Norwood, New Jersey, 1986.
72.
PeaR. D.KurlandD. M., Cognitive Technologies for Writing, in Review of Research in Education, RothkopfE. (ed.), American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C., 1987.
73.
WongB. L.WongR.BlenkinsopJ., Cognitive and Metacognitive Aspects of Learning Disabled Adolescents' Composing Problems, LD Quarterly, 12:4, pp. 300–322, 1989.
74.
FlowerL.HayesJ. R., A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing, College Composition and Communication, 32, pp. 365–387, 1981.
75.
HillocksG., The Writer's Knowledge: Theory, Research, and Implications for Practice, in The Teaching of Writing: 85th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II, PetroskyA. R.BartholomaeD. (eds.), University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1985.
76.
PeaR. D., Learning General Thinking Skills with Computers, Proposal to the Spencer Foundation, 1986.
77.
EdwardsW.NewmanJ. R., Multiattribute Evaluation, in Judgement and Decision Making: An Interdisciplinary Reader, ArkesH. R.HammondK. R. (eds.), Cambridge University Press, New York, 1986.
78.
EinhornH. J.HogarthR. M., Judgement and Decision: Theory and Application, Annual Review of Psychology, 32, pp. 53–88, 1981.
SlovicP.FischhoffB.LichtensteinS., Behavioral Decision Theory, Annual Review of Psychology, 28, pp. 1–39, 1977.
81.
RussoJ. E.DosherB. A., Strategies for Multiattribute Binary Choice, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 9, pp. 676–696, 1983.
82.
PeaR. D.CohenJ.BrunnerC.MellenN.WebsterK., IDEA: Tools for Learning Systematic Decision Analysis, Paper presentation, American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C., 1987.
83.
CohenJ.PeaR. D., IDEA: A Support Environment for Interactive Decision Envisioning, Video presentation, Computer-Human Interaction SIG of the Association for Computing Machinery, 1988.
84.
HalaszF. G.MoranT. P.TriggR. H., Notecards in a Nutshell, in Proceedings of the 1987 ACM Conference of Human Factors in Computer Systems, Toronto, Canada, CHI+ GI '87, pp. 45–52, 1987.
85.
HalaszF. G., Reflections on Notecards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation of Hypermedia Systems, Communications of the ACM, 31:7, 1988.
86.
LarkinJ.ReifF.CarbonnellJ.GugliottaA., FERMI: A Flexible Expert Reasoner with Multi-Domain Inferencing, Cognitive Science, 12, pp. 101–138, 1988.
87.
SalomanG.GlobersonT.GutermanE., The Computer as a Zone of Proximal Development: Internalizing Reading-Related Cognitions from a Reading Partner, Journal of Educational Psychology, 81:7, pp. 620–627, 1989.
88.
ScardamaliaM.BereiterC., Cognitive Coping Strategies and the Problem of “Inert Knowledge,” in Thinking and Learning Skills (Volume 2), ChipmanS. F.SegalJ. W.GlaserR. (eds.), L. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1985.
89.
CaseR., Intellectual Development: From Birth to Adulthood, Academic Press, New York, 1985.
90.
SieglerR. S., Children's Thinking, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1986.
91.
HessN.TorneyL., Children's Political Thinking, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1971.
92.
LinnM. C., Gender Equity in Computer Learning Environments, Computers and the Social Sciences, 1, pp. 19–27, 1985.
93.
NewmanB. I.ShethJ. N., The “Gender Gap” in Voter Attitudes and Behavior, Journal of Advertising, 13, pp. 4–16, 1984.
94.
ShanoskiL. A., An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Using Microcomputer Assisted Mathematics Instruction with Primary and Intermediate Level Students, Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, pp. 3653A, 1987.
95.
HausmannJ. W., Teaching a Systematic Approach to Prudent Voting, The Social Studies, 77, pp. 176–178, 1985.
96.
DrewC. J.HardimanM. L., Designing and Conducting Behavioral Research, Pergamon Press, New York, 1985.
97.
GuilfordJ. P.FruchterB., Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education, (5th Edition), McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973.
98.
SiegelS., Nonparametric Statistics for Behavioral Sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1956.
99.
LynchM. D.HuntsbergerD. V., Elements of Statistical Inference for Education and Psychology, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, Massachusetts, 1976.
100.
KlahrD.CarverS. M., Cognitive Objectives in a LOGO Debugging Curriculum: Instruction, Learning, and Transfer, Cognitive Psychology, 20, pp. 362–404, 1988.
101.
LehrerR.GuckenbergT.LeeO., Comparative Study of the Cognitive Consequences of Inquiry-Based Logo Instruction, Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, pp. 543–553, 1988.
102.
CarlsonR. A.DulanyD. E., Diagnostic Reasoning with Circumstantial Evidence, Cognitive Psychology, 20, pp. 463–492, 1988.
103.
SieglerR. S., How Domain-General and Domain-Specific Knowledge Interact to Produce Strategy Choices, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 35, pp. 1–26, 1989.
104.
KuhnD.AmselE.O'LoughlinM., The Development of Scientific Thinking Skills, Academic Press, New York, 1987.
105.
InhelderB.PiagetJ., The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence, Basic Books, New York, 1958.
106.
EnglertC. S.RaphaelT. E.FearK. L.AndersonL. M., Students' Metacognitive Knowledge about How to Write Informational Texts, LD Quarterly, 11, pp. 18–46, 1988.
107.
GickM. L.HolyoakK. J., The Cognitive Basis of Transfer, in Transfer of Learning: Contemporary Research and Applications, CormierS. M.HagmanJ. D. (eds.), Academic Press, New York, 1987.
108.
JonesB. F., Strategic Teaching and Learning: Cognitive Instruction in the Content Areas, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987.
109.
BerryD. C.BroadbentD. E., Problem Solving and the Search for Crucial Evidence, Psychological Research, 50, pp. 229–236, 1989.
110.
WilcoxC., Risk Taking and Presidential Voting, Journal of Social Psychology, 129, pp. 161–168, 1989.
GuilfordJ. P., The Nature of Human Intelligence, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1967.
113.
HawkinsJ.SheingoldK., The Beginning of a Story: Computers and the Organization of Learning in Classrooms, in Uses of Microcomputers and Other Technology in Education, CulbertsonJ.CunninghamL. L. (eds.), University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1986.
114.
PattersonJ. H.SmithM. S., The Role of Computers in Higher Order Thinking, in Microcomputers and Education, CulbertsonJ. A.CunninghamL. L. (eds.), National Society for the Study of Education, Chicago, Illinois, 1986.
115.
SnowmanJ., Learning Tactics and Strategies, in Cognitive Classroom Learning, PhyeG.AndreT. (eds.), Academic Press, New York, 1986.
