Introduction
Representational tools: Tools for constructing externalizations
Effects of format on learning and communication
Do representational tools always work?
Research questions
Method
Participants
Domain
Learning environment
Representational tools
Knowledge measures
Procedure
Data preparation
Results
Prior knowledge
Representational format | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33) collab. n = 44) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30) collab. n = 38) | Textual (indiv. n = 32) collab. n = 40) | Total (indiv. n = 95) collab. n = 122) | |||||
M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
MATHGRADE (max. 10) | ||||||||
Individual (Total) | 6.46 | 1.61 | 5.89 | 1.55 | 6.25 | 1.54 | 6.21 | 1.57 |
Tool-use | 7.12 | 1.52 | 6.62 | 1.63 | 6.73 | 1.37 | 6.89 | 1.46 |
No-tool-use | 5.75 | 1.41 | 5.71 | 1.51 | 5.82 | 1.58 | 5.75 | 1.48 |
Collaborative (Total) | 6.56 | 1.32 | 6.98 | 1.20 | 6.80 | 1.00 | 6.77 | 1.19 |
Tool-use | 6.75 | 1.33 | 6.75 | 1.49 | 6.82 | 1.10 | 6.75 | 1.09 |
No-tool-use | 6.40 | 1.32 | 7.04 | 1.14 | 6.79 | 0.93 | 6.84 | 0.94 |
PRE-TEST (max. 12) | ||||||||
Individual (Total) | 5.70 | 1.36 | 5.43 | 1.85 | 5.25 | 1.59 | 5.46 | 1.60 |
Tool-use | 5.94 | 1.39 | 5.67 | 1.75 | 5.40 | 1.60 | 5.68 | 1.51 |
No-tool-use | 5.44 | 1.32 | 5.38 | 1.91 | 5.12 | 1.62 | 5.32 | 1.65 |
Collaborative (Total) | 5.70 | 1.94 | 5.71 | 1.52 | 6.35 | 1.88 | 5.92 | 1.81 |
Tool-use | 5.90 | 1.89 | 6.00 | 1.51 | 5.67 | 1.65 | 5.83 | 1.70 |
No-tool-use | 5.54 | 2.00 | 5.63 | 1.54 | 6.91 | 1.90 | 5.97 | 1.88 |
Learning task
Use of representational tools
Quality of constructed representations
Representational format | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 17; coll. 10 pairs) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 6; coll. 4 pairs) | Textual (indiv. n = 15; coll. 9 pairs) | ||||||||||
M | SD | Min | Max | M | SD | Min | Max | M | SD | Min | Max | |
Individual | 2.38 | 0.99 | 1 | 5 | 2.67 | 1.97 | 1 | 6 | 2.67 | 0.98 | 1 | 4 |
Collaborative | 2.70 | 1.42 | 1 | 5 | 4.00 | 1.41 | 2 | 5 | 3.00 | 0.87 | 2 | 4 |
Time-on-task
Setting | Representational format | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33; coll. 22 pairs) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30; coll. 19 pairs) | Textual (indiv. n = 32; coll. 19 pairs) | Total (indiv. n = 95; coll. 60 pairs) | |||||
M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
Individual (Total) | 69.64 | 13.95 | 66.95 | 17.61 | 66.64 | 18.32 | 67.78 | 16.57 |
Tool-use | 70.84 | 14.17 | 70.62 | 15.98 | 70.50 | 16.85 | 70.67 | 15.13 |
No-tool-use | 68.38 | 14.05 | 66.04 | 18.19 | 63.23 | 19.38 | 65.86 | 17.33 |
Collaborative | 62.36 | 4.98 | 60.90 | 8.41 | 62.85 | 4.31 | 62.05 | 6.06 |
Tool-use | 64.88 | 3.98 | 65.68 | 2.16 | 63.13 | 5.08 | 64.34 | 4.19 |
No-tool-use | 60.25 | 4.88 | 59.63 | 9.04 | 62.59 | 3.75 | 60.63 | 6.64 |
Learning outcomes
Post-test overall scores
Representational format | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33) collab. n = 44) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30) collab. n = 38) | Textual (indiv. n = 32) collab. n = 38) | Total (indiv. n = 95) collab. n = 120) | ||||||
M | SE | M | SE | M | SE | M | SE | ||
Individual (Total) | 16.01 | 0.63 | 17.42 | 0.82 | 15.70 | 0.63 | 16.38 | 0.41 | |
Tool-use | 17.16 | 0.88 | 18.73 | 1.45 | 16.21 | 0.93 | 17.36 | 0.65 | |
No-tool-use | 14.86 | 0.90 | 16.11 | 0.74 | 15.20 | 0.87 | 15.39 | 0.50 | |
Collaborative (Total) | 19.43 | 0.54 | 18.40 | 0.71 | 18.18 | 0.58 | 18.67 | 0.36 | |
Tool-use | 19.60 | 0.79 | 17.13 | 1.26 | 18.19 | 0.84 | 18.31 | 0.57 | |
No-tool-use | 19.27 | 0.73 | 19.66 | 0.66 | 18.17 | 0.80 | 19.03 | 0.43 |
Conceptual and intuitive knowledge
Representational format | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33) collab. n = 44) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30) collab. n = 38) | Textual (indiv. n = 32) collab. n = 40) | Total (indiv. n = 95) collab. n = 122) | |||||
M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
Individual (Total) | 3.52 | 0.62 | 3.53 | 0.57 | 3.59 | 0.56 | 3.55 | 0.58 |
Tool-use | 3.65 | 0.61 | 3.50 | 0.55 | 3.93 | 0.26 | 3.74 | 0.50 |
No-tool-use | 3.37 | 0.62 | 3.54 | 0.59 | 3.29 | 0.59 | 3.42 | 0.60 |
Collaborative (Total) | 3.64 | 0.49 | 3.55 | 0.65 | 3.28 | 0.85 | 3.49 | 0.68 |
Tool-use | 3.60 | 0.50 | 3.25 | 0.89 | 3.22 | 0.88 | 3.39 | 0.75 |
No-tool-use | 3.67 | 0.48 | 3.63 | 0.56 | 3.32 | 0.84 | 3.55 | 0.64 |
Representational format | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33) collab. n = 44) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30) collab. n = 38) | Textual (indiv. n = 32) collab. n = 38) | Total (indiv. n = 95) collab. n = 120) | |||||
M | SE | M | SE | M | SE | M | SE | |
Individual (Total) | 5.62 | 0.21 | 6.46 | 0.28 | 5.70 | 0.22 | 5.92 | 0.14 |
Tool-use | 5.93 | 0.30 | 6.72 | 0.49 | 5.74 | 0.32 | 6.13 | 0.22 |
No-tool-use | 5.31 | 0.31 | 6.19 | 0.25 | 5.66 | 0.30 | 5.72 | 0.17 |
Collaborative (Total) | 7.72 | 0.18 | 7.39 | 0.24 | 7.38 | 0.20 | 7.50 | 0.12 |
Tool-use | 7.81 | 0.27 | 7.45 | 0.43 | 7.38 | 0.29 | 7.54 | 0.19 |
No-tool-use | 7.63 | 0.25 | 7.33 | 0.23 | 7.39 | 0.27 | 7.45 | 0.15 |
Procedural knowledge
Representational format | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33) collab. n = 44) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30) collab. n = 38) | Textual (indiv. n = 32) collab. n = 38) | Total (indiv. n = 95) collab. n = 120) | |||||
M | SE | M | SE | M | SE | M | SE | |
Individual (Total) | 3.97 | 0.38 | 4.28 | 0.50 | 3.71 | 0.38 | 3.99 | 0.24 |
Tool-use | 4.22 | 0.53 | 4.86 | 0.87 | 3.50 | 0.55 | 4.20 | 0.39 |
No-tool-use | 3.72 | 0.54 | 3.69 | 0.44 | 3.92 | 0.52 | 3.77 | 0.30 |
Collaborative (Total) | 4.57 | 0.32 | 3.87 | 0.43 | 4.50 | 0.35 | 4.32 | 0.21 |
Tool-use | 4.65 | 0.48 | 2.70 | 0.75 | 4.93 | 0.50 | 4.09 | 0.34 |
No-tool-use | 4.49 | 0.44 | 5.04 | 0.40 | 4.08 | 0.48 | 4.54 | 0.26 |
Situational knowledge
Representational format | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conceptual (indiv. n = 33) collab. n = 44) | Arithmetical (indiv. n = 30) collab. n = 38) | Textual (indiv. n = 32) collab. n = 40) | Total (indiv. n = 95) collab. n = 122) | |||||
M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
Individual (Total) | 2.93 | 0.20 | 3.17 | 0.26 | 3.01 | 0.18 | 2.93 | 0.13 |
Tool-use | 3.41 | 0.28 | 3.67 | 0.46 | 3.07 | 0.29 | 3.38 | 0.21 |
No-tool-use | 2.46 | 0.29 | 2.68 | 0.24 | 2.30 | 0.28 | 2.47 | 0.16 |
Collaborative (Total) | 3.50 | 0.17 | 3.71 | 0.23 | 3.01 | 0.18 | 3.41 | 0.11 |
Tool-use | 3.55 | 0.25 | 3.75 | 0.40 | 2.73 | 0.26 | 3.34 | 0.18 |
No-tool-use | 3.46 | 0.23 | 3.66 | 0.21 | 3.28 | 0.25 | 3.47 | 0.13 |