The central theme of the investigation concerns the role of course objectives in relation to students' study strategies in problem-based learning (PBL). The results comprise data from three different PBL programmes at Link÷pings Universitet, a Bachelor's programme in physiotherapy, a Master's programme in psychology, and a Master's programme in Computer Engineering, respectively. In all three programmes, the faculty provides course objectives with the intention that these should function as a supportive structure and guide for the students' independent studies. The results show that the objectives were used differently in the different programmes, as an integrated tool in the learning process, as an administrative schedule or as a retroactive checklist, respectively. The students' use of the course objectives in the learning process varied according to how the objectives were formulated and conceived. The relationship between the format of objectives provided by the faculty and how students deal with them in the learning process could also denote fragments of the different educational cultures within the three programmes and how the meaning of problem-based learning is interpreted.
The present study is part of a comprehensive research project with the general aims of comparing how problem-based learning is realised in three different professional educational programmes. The specific aims of this study are to describe and analyse how students in the three different programmes conceive of the meaning of problem-based learning and how they experience their studies within a problem-based learning programme. The PBL programmes are a Bachelor's programme in Physiotherapy, a Master's programme in Psychology, and a Master's programme in Computer Engineering. Data were analysed qualitatively. The results reveal differences in how the students in the three programmes conceive of their autonomy as learners, co-operation with their counterparts and the authenticity of the learning task. The findings possibly also reflect the taken-for-granted perspectives of knowledge, embedded in the cultures of the professional practices and the scientific disciplines to which the programmes pertain.
According to variation theory, it is essential to enable students to focus on the object of learning and discern its critical features, but the features that it is possible to discern often depend on the equipment used. Thus, in labs, the experimental technologies used may shape students experience of focal phenomena, in a human-mediating tools-world manner, by placing some aspects of reality in the foreground, others in the background, and visualizing certain aspects that would otherwise be invisible. However, this mediating role is often neglected, and instruments and devices are often seen as having little cognitive value. Hence, the role of experimental technologies in labs as tools for learning is examined here through a case study, in which three sets of students investigated the same physical relationships (Newtonian motion in an inclined plane), but using different measurement technologies. The results demonstrate that what it is possible for students to experience in a laboratory is heavily influenced by the chosen technology. Some technologies do not afford the discernment of features regarded as crucial for students to learn. Furthermore, analysis of video recordings shows that the three sets of students discourses differed, although they studied the "same physics". Hence, the role of experimental technologies in students learning in labs should not be neglected, and their courses of action should be seen as material-discursive practice. Moreover, general conclusions about learning in labs should be drawn cautiously, specifying the conditions and technology used, and discussions about learning technologies should not be limited to the use of computers.
The study examined the effects of two different instructional interventions as support for scientific discovery learning using computer simulations. In two well-known categories of difficulty, data interpretation and self-regulation, instructional interventions for learning with computer simulations on the topic "ecosystem water" were developed and tested using a sample of 124 eighth graders in science classes. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of instructional support for domain-specific factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge acquisition. Students who received either only instructional support for data interpretation or only for self-regulation achieved the highest learning outcomes. However, a combination of instructional support for data interpretation and self-regulation seemed detrimental for knowledge acquisition. Students who received instructional interventions for both data interpretation and self-regulation also showed the highest values of perceived cognitive load. High cognitive load could be a reason for why a combination of particular instructional interventions does not lead to the expected positive learning outcomes.
En analys av lärarintervjuer, som beskriver olika varianter av paradoxala maktrelationer mellan lärare och studerande. Palo Alto-skolans kommunikationsteori utgör en teoretisk utgångspunkt.