Realizing the full potential of individualizing learning |
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| Institution: | Teachers College Columbia University, United States |
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| Abstract: | The potential of individualization to transform learning that new technology makes possible has generated wide interest. We ask here whether individualization has been exploited to its maximum advantage. We explore its potential to provide individualized scaffolding at the meta-level of students’ reflection on their own thinking as they engaged in inquiry activity to support their reasoning about a multivariable causal system – a capability central to scientific thinking and higher-order thinking more broadly. In Study 1, middle-school pairs’ self-paced inquiry was individually guided by an adult who prompted them to question their assertions and strategies. Study 2 investigated how such scaffolding might be automated to provide individualization at scale. Delayed posttests for both studies involving new scenarios showed that gains in both inquiry and multivariable causal inference skills transferred to new content. Delayed far-transfer assessments showed that the intervention achieved its learning goals most effectively when an adult worked with a pair of students, compared to students working as a whole class (Study 1); students also learned effectively with an automated agent, but only when a human adult was also involved (Study 2). Implications are considered for developing and deploying technology that individualizes and supports self-directed, reflective meta-level thinking and learning, while remaining mindful of human social context. |
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| Keywords: | Educational technology Individualization Multivariable reasoning Argumentation Metacognition Scaffolding Science education Underserved populations |
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