Abstract
Designing effective curricula for complex topics and incorporating technological tools is an evolving process. One important way to foster effective design is to synthesize successful practices. This paper describes a framework called scaffolded knowledge integration and illustrates how it guided the design of two successful course enhancements in the field of computer science and engineering. One course enhancement, the LISP Knowledge Integration Environment, improved learning and resulted in more gender-equitable outcomes. The second course enhancement, the spatial reasoning environment, addressed spatial reasoning in an introductory engineering course. This enhancement minimized the importance of prior knowledge of spatial reasoning and helped students develop a more comprehensive repertoire of spatial reasoning strategies. Taken together, the instructional research programs reinforce the value of the scaffolded knowledge integration framework and suggest directions for future curriculum reformers.
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Portions of this paper were presented at the American Psychological Association Meeting, Ontario, Canada, August 22, 1993. under the title of “Cognition and instruction in higher education: Applications of advanced technologies.” The title of the symposium was “New Fellows in Educational Psychology-The Implications of Their Work for University-Level Instruction.” This material is based upon research supported by the National Science Foundation under grant MDR-8954753. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Linn, M.C. Designing computer learning environments for engineering and computer science: The scaffolded knowledge integration framework. J Sci Educ Technol 4, 103–126 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02214052
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02214052