Can students collaboratively use hypermedia to lean about science? The dynamics of self- and other-regulatory processes in an ecology classroom

This classroom study examined the role of low-achieving students ’ self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors and their teacher’s scaffolding of SRL while using a Web-based water quality simulation environment to learn about ecological systems. Forty-nine 11th and 12th grade students learned about ecology and the effects of land use on water quality by collaboratively using the RiverWebSM water quality simulation (WQS) during a two-week curriculum on environmental science. The students ’ emerging understanding was assessed using pretest and posttest scores. Students ’ self-regulatory behaviors and teacher’s scaffolding of SRL were assessed through an analysis of their discourse during several collaborative problem-solving episodes. Findings indicate that students learned significantly more about ecology after working collaboratively with the WQS. However, these learning gains were quite small and were related to the self-regulatory behaviors observed in the dyads and their teacher’s scaffolding and instruction. Analyses of video data indicate that a large amount of time was spent by the dyads and teacher in using only a few strategies, while very little time was spent on planning, monitoring, and handling task difficulties and demands. Further analysis revealed that both the dyads and teacher were using low-leve