supervisors: hannie gijlers and lily chen
Topic
Education is globally recognized as a key means of addressing climate change, aiming to equip individuals with the necessary knowledge and skills to take action. However, research as well as EU surveys indicates that current educational systems have yet to fully achieve this goal (European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, 2019). Many young people feel that their school education has not adequately prepared them to understand climate change or how to take sustainable actions. This highlights the urgent need for educational reform, particularly in terms of the quality and scope of Climate Change Education (CCE). In the current project, we explore the potential of simulation-based inquiry learning for Climate Change Education. More specifically evaluate the effects of a simulation-based inquiry learning unit under two distinct collaborative learning conditions on student's conceptual knowledge and attitudes regarding climate change:
- Collaborative Learning without Clair Intervention: Students will engage in traditional collaborative learning methods.
- Collaborative Learning with Clair: Students will interact with Clair, a conversational agent, to facilitate their discussions.
Method
This is an experimental study. In this study, you will adapt and implement an existing inquiry learning environment (which can be accessed here) in a school setting. You will collect log data from the learning environment and complement this data with surveys/questionnaire responses.
references
de Araujo, A., Papadopoulos, P. M., McKenney, S., & de Jong, T. (2023). Automated coding of student chats, a trans-topic and language approach. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 4, 100123.
de Jong, T. (2019). Moving towards engaged learning in STEM domains; there is no simple answer, but clearly a road ahead. Journal of computer assisted learning, 35(2), 153-167.
European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. (2019). How do we build a stronger, more united Europe? – The views of young people – Report. Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/53982
Wang, C. Y. (2022). Exploring the Relationships Among Prior Knowledge, Perceptions of Climate Change, Conceptual Understanding, and Scientific Explanation of Global Warming. In Innovative Approaches to Socioscientific Issues and Sustainability Education: Linking Research to Practice (pp. 291-311). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.