• Educational Technology International
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-57
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• 2006

Supporting individual or group learners through designing effective learning environment has been major concern for instructional technologists. In CSCL environment, the effectiveness of learning depends not only on the design of the learning incidences but also on that of psychological environment because in CSCL the learners encounter virtually a new environment deviate from the ordinary physical world. CSCL is one of the most demanding environment for learners and thus it requires a highly refined learner support mechanisms. The purpose of the research was to devise conceptual tools for supporting learners in CSCL environment. Especially, the researchers tried to develop special kinds of scaffolding that directly support the collaborative practice in the social and psychological dimension of the learner. Body of literature on scaffolding has been reviewed and effective CSCL environments were observed and analyzed. As a result of the study, the research proposes a new type of scaffolding, named as "collaboration scaffolding" as a conceptual tool for supporting learners in CSCL environment. Also the research suggests three subtypes of scaffolds as the most typical collaboration scaffolding; emotional scaffolds, facilitative scaffolds, and exploratory scaffolds.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.52-63
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze how pre-service secondary chemistry teachers conduct open-ended, free style, exploratory chemistry experiments. The study examined common difficulties and tendencies that teachers showed in the chemistry labs. The study also investigated how these teachers deal with their difficulties and obstacles, such as unexpected results and device errors. Next, the study explored how students' epistemic goals and considerations have been shaped and changed as they interacted with one another and participated in their experiments over time. The study suggests that it could be more effective to gradually decrease guided-features of the experiment by providing appropriate scaffolding, than to start with completely open-ended inquiry labs. The study also suggests that the establishment of epistemic agency among group members influences the way they conduct experiments. Consequently, it is necessary to consider how instructional design for open-ended inquiry labs may provide students with scaffolds to encourage their active participation and to build responsibility in group discussions.