Dynamic Scaffolding to Improve Learning and Transfer of Hidden Skills

未能学习隐藏的技能是学生在科学、数学和工程领域的一个长期障碍。隐藏的技能，包括问题分类、特征检测和规划，对于解决领域中的问题至关重要，但没有任何直接的外部产品供学生查看。不幸的是，目前还不清楚如何最好地识别和教授这些难以学习的技能。支架式教学是一种流行而有效的技术，用于在学生学习解决一个新领域的问题时提供有针对性的支持和指导。脚手架在改进隐性技能学习方面有着巨大的潜力。然而，它起作用的原因和如何最好地实施它在很大程度上是未知的。拟议的研究将从隐性技能学习的角度解释教学支架的有效性。关于脚手架和隐藏技能之间的关系的几个假设将被测试，新的脚手架设计将被评估。这将导致一种系统的方法来教授隐藏的技能，从而改善学生的学习和迁移。这个项目的四个具体目标是：(1)开发一种系统、有效的方法来识别隐藏的技能。虽然目前存在分析特定领域知识的方法，但这些方法对于识别隐藏的技能并不健壮，而且往往困难和缓慢。该项目将开发和测试一种自动化方法，该方法结合逻辑回归模型和启发式搜索算法来推断隐藏技能的位置。(2)为脚手架工作的原因开发理论解释。尽管教学脚手架往往能带来更好的学习，但在解释脚手架何时以及如何工作方面，理论上进展甚微。将进行一系列实验来测试三个假说，这三个假说为脚手架如何有利于学习和迁移提供了越来越具体的解释。(3)为设计有效的教学脚手架制定实用指南。脚手架设计的三个关键问题将被研究：什么水平的脚手架支撑足以实现其主要好处？脚手架支撑应该在什么时候以及如何建造和褪色？人类教师(即助教)如何才能最好地补充计算机化的脚手架学习环境？(4)开发我们关于脚手架隐藏技能的结果的新应用。这项工作至少有两个新的应用，超出了学习理论和教学设计的范围。首先，来自特定目标3的脚手架设计将用于开发新的在线评估学生的理解。其次，来自特定目标1的结果将用于开发工具，培训教师“发现”复杂问题中隐藏的技能，从而更好地预测学生的学习困难。

Failure to learn hidden skills is a persistent obstacle to students in science, math, and engineering domains. Hidden skills, which include problem categorization, feature detection, and planning, are critical to solving problems in a domain but do not have any immediate, external product for students to see. Unfortunately, it is unclear how best to identify and teach these difficult-to-learn skills. Instructional scaffolding is a popular and effective technique for providing targeted support and guidance while students learn to solve problems in a new domain. Scaffolding has great potential for improving hidden-skill learning. However, the reasons it works and how best to implement it are largely unknown.The proposed research will explain the effectiveness of instructional scaffolding in terms of hidden skill learning. Several hypotheses about the relationship between scaffolding and hidden skills will be tested, and new scaffolding designs will be evaluated. This will lead to a systematic approach to teaching hidden skills that improves students' learning and transfer. The four specific aims of this project are:(1) Develop a systematic, efficient method for identifying hidden skills. While methods currently exist for analyzing domain-specific knowledge, these methods are not robust for identifying hidden skills, and they tend to be difficult and slow. This project will develop and test an automated method that combines logistic regression models and heuristic search algorithms to infer where hidden skills lie.(2) Develop a theoretical explanation for why scaffolding works. Although instructional scaffolds often lead to better learning, there has been little theoretical progress in explaining when and how scaffolding works. A sequence of experiments will be conducted to test three hypotheses that offer increasingly concrete levels of explanation for how scaffolding benefits learning and transfer. (3) Develop practical guidelines for the design of effective instructional scaffolding. Three critical questions for scaffolding design will be examined: What level of scaffolding support is sufficient to achieve its main benefit? When and how should scaffolding support be built and faded? And how can human instructors (i.e., TA's) best complement a computerized scaffolded learning environment? (4) Develop novel applications of our results on scaffolding hidden skills. There are at least two novel applications of this work, beyond the scope of learning theory and instructional design. First, the scaffolding designs from Specific Aim 3 will be used to develop new on-line assessments of students' understanding. Second, the results from Specific Aim 1 will be used to develop tools that train instructors to "see" the hidden skills in complex problems and thus better anticipate students' learning difficulties.