Feedback as an Element of Designed Environments: An Exploration of Structure and Context

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In this REESE/REAL project, the PIs have the goal of investigating the kinds of feedback that are most effective when students are solving complex problems requiring mathematics or other disciplinary knowledge. When learners are solving such problems in an immersive environment on the computer, technology can both provide feedback to learners and also be used to collect and present data that will allow teachers to know what learners understand and are capable of. This project examines the effects of different forms of feedback on students' learning and engagement in mathematics. Specifically, the PIs are exploring how different forms of feedback (tied to the problem solving narrative, tied to the disciplinary content, and a blend) and timing of feedback (frequency and relation to major assessment moments) contribute to how students engage in learning activities and what they come to understand. The work is being done in the context of two "quests" (complex challenges derived to promote understanding and skills) implemented on the Atlantis Remixed platform (formerly called Quest Atlantis), an immersive computing environment. The two quests are based on two well-researched and effective units from the pre-algebra mathematics curriculum Adventures of Jasper Woodbury. In that curriculum, 5th and 6th graders learn mathematics in the context of solving real-world problems. Refining these units for the Atlantis Remixed platform offers learners possibilities of getting advice and feedback as needed in the context of their mathematics work and more easily accessing resources and representations necessary for solving the problem and sharing insights with fellow learners. In addition to investigating effective ways of providing advice and feedback to learners, PIs are exploring the benefits and challenges of each form of feedback and its timing for providing teachers with frequent and reliable sources of information about their students? understanding and the activities they are engaging in online. A challenge to promoting learning in mathematics is giving learners the advice and feedback they need at the times they need it. If learners are solving problems in the context of a computer environment, the computer can be used to provide such feedback. To do that well, researchers need to determine which kinds of feedback should be provided in which kinds of situations and when are the most appropriate times to give feedback, during problem solving work or after problem solving is complete. In this project, the investigators are exploring those questions in the context of pre-algebra mathematics learning.