Dejana Diziol
[Person] [Project]
Dejana Diziol, Dipl. Psych.
Short Vita
- 1981:
- Born in Baden-Baden (Germany)
- 2000-2006:
- Study of Psychology at the University of
- Freiburg (Germany), two stays abroad: half
- a year at the University of Bergen (Norway)
- with an Erasmus scholarship and half a year
- at the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
- (USA) as a research scholar with a DAAD
- scholarship
- 10/2006:
- Graduation in Psychology from the University
- of Freiburg (Germany). Thesis: "Development
- of a Collaboration Script to Improve Students'
- Algebra Learning When Solving Problems with
- the Algebra I Cognitive Tutor"
- Since November 2006:
- PhD student of the VGK
Contact
Phone: ++49 (0) 761 / 203-2497
FAX: ++49 (0) 761 / 203-2496
email: diziol@psychologie.uni-freiburg.de
Universität Freiburg
Institut für Psychologie, Abteilung Allgemeine Psychologie
Engelbergerstr. 41
D-79085 Freiburg (Germany)
Ph.D. Project
Topic: Analyzing and promoting computer supported collaborative learning in mathematics
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans Spada (Freiburg)
Start of the Ph.D. project: 11/2006
Summary
When learning mathematics, it is more and more often demanded that students do not merely learn how to solve specific types of problems, but also that they gain a general understanding of mathematical principles, that they learn how to apply these principles to solve new types of problems, and that they are able to communicate their knowledge verbally to others in order to make well-founded judgements that are grounded on basic mathematical knowledge (see e.g. PISA's definition of mathematical literacy, OECD). Thus, mathematics education has to contain both instruction that foster procedural skill acquisition and didactic elements that support the acquisition of conceptual understanding (Rittle-Johnson & Alibali, 1999).
This PhD projects aims at developing support measures that foster the acquisition of both procedural and conceptual knowledge in the domain of linear algebra. To reach this goal, the Cognitive Tutor Algebra, an intelligent tutoring system for mathematics instruction at the high school level that has already proven effective in fostering students' procedural skill acquisition (Koedinger, Corbett, Ritter, & Shapiro, 2000), is enhanced in a two step approach. In a first step, conceptual instruction is integrated in the Tutor environment. Students are asked to engage in self-explanation by applying mathematical concepts to the problems they solve. To reduce students' tendency to give descriptive rather than elaborative explanations (see Rittle-Johnson, 2006), short video clips that are shown prior to problem-solving give examples of fruitful self-explanations. In the second step, conceptual instruction will be combined with collaborative problem-solving on the Tutor. This combination promises to be particularly beneficial: In a collaborative setting, students are more actively engaged in self-explaining (e.g. Chi & Roy, submitted), and explanations given are more elaborative and less descriptive than in an individual learning setting (Teasley, 1995). One reason of this "collaborative benefit" discussed by Teasley (1995) is that giving explanations to a partner might feel more natural than giving explanations to oneself. Furthermore, the receiver of the explanations may point out inconsistencies and require further clarification, thus encourage his partner to improve the quality and consistency of his explanations.
A 2x2 design will evaluate the single effect of the conceptual Tutor extension and the single effect of collaborative learning on the Tutor as well as the combined effect of learning with the conceptually enhanced Tutor in a collaborative learning environment. Learning outcome on procedural and conceptual knowledge acquisition will be compared between conditions. In addition, the quality of the collaboration process will be analysed, and evaluation of student dialogues will give further insight in the development of mathematical understanding in algebra.
References
Chi, M.T.H., & Roy, M. (submitted). Learning from observing tutoring collaboratively: Insights about tutoring effectiveness from vicarious learning. Cognitive Science
Koedinger, K. R., Corbett, A. T., Ritter, S., & Shapiro, L. J. (2000). Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor™: Summary Research Results. Retrieved January 16, 2006, from http://www.carnegielearning.com/approach_research_reports.cfm
OECD. (n.d.). Programme for International Student Assessment. Retrieved May 25, 2005, from http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,2966,en_32252351_32235968_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
Rittle-Johnson, B. (2006). Promoting transfer: Effects of self-explanation and direct instruction. Child Development, 77 (1), 1-15.
Rittle-Johnson, B., & Alibali, M.W. (1999). Conceptual and procedural knowledge of mathematics: Does one lead to the other? Journal of Educational Psychology, 91 (1), 175-189.
Teasley, S. D. (1995). The role of talk in children's peer collaborations. Developmental Psychology, 31 (2), 207-220.
Publications & Conference contributions
Rummel, N., Diziol, D., Spada, H., McLaren, B., Walker, E., & Koedinger, K. (2006, June). Flexible support for collaborative learning in the context of the Algebra I Cognitive Tutor. Workshop paper presented at the 7th International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Bloomington, IN, USA.
Rummel, N., Spada, H., Diziol, D. (2007, April). Can collaborative extensions to the Algebra I Cognitive Tutor enhance robust learning? An in vivo experiment. Paper presented at the Conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2007. Chicago, IL, USA.
Diziol, D. (2007, July). The impact of collaboration on procedural and conceptual knowledge acquisition in algebra learning. Paper presented at the Doctoral Consortium at the International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2007. New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Diziol, D., Rummel, N., Spada, H., & McLaren, B. (2007, July). Promoting learning in mathematics: Script support for collaborative problem solving with the Cognitive Tutor Algebra. Paper presented at the International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2007. New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
Rummel, N., Diziol, D., Spada, H., & McLaren, B. (2007, August). Scripting collaborative problem solving with the Cognitive Tutor Algebra: A way to promote learning in mathematics. Paper presented at the 12th European Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) 2007. Budapest, Hungary.
Rummel, N., Spada, H., Diziol, D. (2007, August). Evaluating collaborative extensions to the Cognitive Tutor Algebra in an in vivo experiment. Lessons learned. Paper presented at the 12th European Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) 2007. Budapest, Hungary.
Rummel, N., Diziol, D., Spada, H. (2007, September). Förderung mathematischer Kompetenz durch kooperatives Lernen: Erweiterung eines intelligenten Tutorensystems. Paper presented at the 5th Fachtagung "Medienpsychologie" of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie (DFG). Dresden, Germany.
Diziol, D., Rummel, N., Spada, H. (2007, September). Unterstützung von computervermitteltem kooperativem Lernen in Mathematik durch Strukturierung des Problemlöseprozesses und adaptive Hilfestellung. Paper presented at the 11th Fachtagung "Pädagogische Psychologie" of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie (DFG). Berlin, Germany.
Rummel, N., Spada, H., Diziol, D., Hauser, S. (2007, September). Motivationale Auswirkungen von Kooperationsunterstützung in computerbasierten Settings: Ergebnisse aus drei Projekten. Paper presented at the 11th Fachtagung "Pädagogische Psychologie" of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie (DFG). Berlin, Germany.
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Last update 18th September 2007
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