Dynamic Visualizations in Instruction

Dynamic Visualizations in Instruction Contract Title Resource-Adaptive Design of Visualizations for Supporting the Comprehension of Complex Dynamics in the Natural Sciences Funding Period Jan 2007 - Dec 2009 Funding Agency Leibniz Association Total Cost ca. €782,200 (ca €30,000 to CNTI for organization of Cyprus workshop and travel) Partners CNTI: Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute OTEC: Onderwijstechnologisch Expertise-centrum der Open University of the Netherlands LSRI: Learning Sciences Research Institute TECFA: Technologies de Formation et Appre-ntissage LEAD (CNRS): Laboratoire D’etude del’ apprentissage et du developpement FWC coordinator(s) Yiannis Laouris Website Project page at KMRC

The Dynamic Visualizations in Instruction was a project implemented in collaboration with the Knowledge Media Research Center under the leadership of Peter Gerjets and funded by the German Leibniz Association. The Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute participated in all workshops and contributed both to the research and some logistics of the project. Yiannis Laouris, Loredana Mihalka, Lawrence Kalogreades and Tatjana Taraszow participated in various phases and experiments of the project. The Cyprus team has also organised a week-long workshop in Cyprus.

Mission and Objectives

The basic idea of the project was that a successful knowledge acquisition with dynamic visualizations is a resource intensive process which requires simultaneous and optimized availability of different learning resources. This particularly comprises different processing capabilities of the cognitive system, functionalities of the applied computer technology and didactically substantiated contents and representations. Accordingly, the instructional potential of dynamic visualizations can only effectively evolve if these different learning resources are available in a coordinated way for a concrete knowledge acquisition scenario. This hypothesis was investigated in formal learning settings (e.g. school, university) as well as in informal learning settings (e.g. aquarium, diving excursion) for a natural sciences domain, the locomotion of fish.

Cyprus contributions

The Cypriot team contributed in three aspects to the project:

1. Providing scenarios for contextual and situated mobile learning;
2. Development and testing of MAPS;
3. Use of Structured Dialogic Design Process to explore the characteristics of a new science of education.

Participation in workshops

• Tuebingen, Germany Workshop Yiannis Laouris, Tatjana Taraszow, Loredana Mihalka
• Protaras, Cyprus workshop Yiannis Laouris, Tatjana Taraszow, Lawrence Kalogreades
• Playa de Aro, Spain Workshop (14-23 May 2008) Yiannis Laouris, Tatjana Taraszow, Lawrence Kalogreades

External Links

http://www.iwm-kmrc.de/www/en/projekte/projekt.html?dispname=Resource-Adaptive+Design+of+Visualizations+in+the+Natural%0ASciences&name=NaturwissenschaftlicheVisualisierung

Participants in the Cyprys Workshop

• Birgit Imhof
• Bjorn de Koning
• Cyril Rebetez
• Emmanuel Schneider
• Fred Paas
• Halszka Jarodzka
• Jean-Michel Boucheix
• Jorg Edelmann
• Katharina Scheiter
• Lawrence Kalogreades
• Markus Armbruster
• Mireille Betrancourt
• Peter Gerjets
• Richard Lowe
• Shaaron Ainsworth
• Sven Gemballa
• Tatjana Taraszow
• Tamara van Gog
• Tim Kuhl
• Vanessa Pfeiffer
• Yiannis Laouris

Related Publications

Aristodemou, E., Taraszow, T., Laouris, Y., Papadopoulos, T., & Makris, P. (2008, November). Prediction of Reading Performance Using the MAPS (Mental Attributes Profiling System) Multimodal Interactive ICT Application. Paper presented at the 7th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL), Ayia Napa, Cyprus.

Taraszow, T., Aristodemou, E., & Laouris, Y. (2008, May). E-Learning adapted to the learning profiles of young learners. Paper presented at the Conference Child and Youth Research in the 21st Century: A Critical Appraisal, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Taraszow, T., Laouris,Y., Wahl, J., Scheiter, K., & Gerjets, P. (2008, November). A Matter of Modality: Do Multimedia Learning Environments really Support Students with Reading Difficulties? Paper presented at the 7th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL), Ayia Napa, Cyprus.

Taraszow, T. & Laouris, Y. (2007, August). The development of the categorization ability in children age 8 to 12. Paper presented at the 12th Biennial Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Budapest, Hungary.

Taraszow, T., Wahl, J., Laouris, Y., Scheiter, K., & Gerjets, P. (2007, August). Using dynamic visualization with written explanation to by-pass information processing deficits in children with reading difficulties. Poster presented at the 12th Biennial Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Budapest, Hungary.