• Effectiveness of Pedagogical Agents in Regulating Students' Understanding of Science

This 3-year grant focuses on examining the effectiveness of using animated pedagogical agents (APAs) as external regulatory agents designed to foster middle school and college students' understanding of complex and challenging science topics (e.g., the circulatory system). Contemporary cognitive and educational research provides evidence that the potential of computer-based learning environments for facilitating learning may be severely undermined by students' inability to regulate several aspects of the learning. For example, students should regulate key cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, social, and affective processes in order to learn about complex and challenging science topics. This research will be conducted in the context of a mixed-initiative intelligent tutoring system called AutoTutor that simulates the discourse patterns and pedagogical strategies of human tutors. The focus of our grant is on conducting interdisciplinary research examining: (1) the role of embedded animated pedagogical agents in collecting data of the complex interactions between cognitive and metacognitive processes during learning about complex science topics with AutoTutor; (2) the effectiveness of animated pedagogical agents as external regulating agents used to detect, trace, model, and foster students' self-regulatory processes during learning about complex science topics with AutoTutor; and (3) the effectiveness of scaffolding methods delivered by animated pedagogical agents in facilitating middle school and college students' self-regulated learning about complex science topics with AutoTutor.

• Self-Regulated and Co-Regulated Learning in Students' Understanding of Complex Science Topics with CircSysWeb and RiverWeb

This research examines students' self-regulated learning (SRL) of two complex science topics (the circulatory system and ecological systems) with web-based hypermedia environments (CircSysWeb and RiverWeb). The research goals are: (1) To scale-up our research on self-regulated learning across developmental levels (middle school, high school, and undergraduate students) and contexts (laboratory and learner-centered classroom); (2) To examine the role of self- and co-regulation during individual and collaborative learning with hypermedia environments; (3) To examine the effectiveness of co-construction of goals (between teacher and students) during learning of science with hypermedia environments; (4) To examine the effectiveness of strategy instruction training in fostering students' self- and co-regulated learning with hypermedia; (5) To use web-based hypermedia environments to study the phases (e.g., planning, monitoring, controlling, and reflection) and areas (cognition, motivation/affect, behavior, and context) related to SRL; and, (6) To examine the effectiveness of adaptive web-based hypermedia environments in detecting, modeling, and fostering students' self- and co-regulated learning of science.

• The Learning Kit

Learning is a skill. Learners who command this skill learn faster and better. Skilled learners are more motivated to learn and can apply new knowledge usefully. Research shows, however, that many learners, across the age spectrum and throughout the disciplines, lack skills for learning. Learners can be taught these skills. Unfortunately, too few educators know which skills to teach or how to teach them. Curriculum materials that learners study rarely compensate. Regrettably, some features that sell curriculum materials and that appeal to learners online interfere with applying learning skills. Other features undermine learners' efforts to improve learning skills they have. In those cases where learners are taught learning skills or acquire basic proficiency on their own, they often neglect opportunities to practice learning skills. Thus, learners fail to reap the benefits of learning skills they have, and they do not develop expertise with them. To redress these problems, we are expanding a theory called self-regulated learning. In brief, the theory describes how learners strive to develop learning skills as best they can. It stresses two other key points: (1) Learners rather than instructional designers choose goals for learning. (2) Learners, not teachers or curriculum developers, choose which learning skills they use to reach for goals. Why are these points important? Research shows: (1) Learners often set unsuitable goals. (2) Learners need support to develop and then effectively manage learning skills. Our research will develop knowledge and tools to overcome these problems. We are studying how patterns of cognitive processes, ingredients that make up learning skills and strategies, transform information into knowledge. Our findings will sort more effective learning skills from less effective ones, and inform our designs for software called cognitive tools. Cognitive tools help learners develop learning skills every day as they study solo and collaborate. Cognitive tools guide learners to strengthen their learning skills. Notably, cognitive tools help learners innovate new learning skills and transfer those skills to new settings in school and at work by:

    1) supporting learners in framing goals that are better guides to learning.

    2) helping learners develop learning skills as they learn.

    3) freeing learners to explore information, and to develop higher-order and critical thinking skills by offloading low-level cognitive work into the     software.

    4) involving learners in testing personal theories about the information they study and the learning skills they are using to acquire and extend     knowledge.

    5) supplying feedback learners need to improve learning skills for real learning tasks.