Journal: npj Science of Learning

Abbreviation

npj Sci. Learn.

Publisher

Nature

Journal Volumes

ISSN

2056-7936

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2019 - 201912020 - 20255
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Publications 1 - 6 of 6
  • Prior math achievement and inventive production predict learning from productive failure
    Item type: Journal Article
    Kapur, Manu; Saba, Janan; Roll, Ido (2023)
    npj Science of Learning
    A frequent concern about constructivist instruction is that it works well, mainly for students with higher domain knowledge. We present findings from a set of two quasi-experimental pretest-intervention-posttest studies investigating the relationship between prior math achievement and learning in the context of a specific type of constructivist instruction, Productive Failure. Students from two Singapore public schools with significantly different prior math achievement profiles were asked to design solutions to complex problems prior to receiving instruction on the targeted concepts. Process results revealed that students who were significantly dissimilar in prior math achievement seemed to be strikingly similar in terms of their inventive production, that is, the variety of solutions they were able to design. Interestingly, it was inventive production that had a stronger association with learning from PF than pre-existing differences in math achievement. These findings, consistent across both topics, demonstrate the value of engaging students in opportunities for inventive production while learning math, regardless of prior math achievement.
  • What students do when encountering failure in collaborative tasks
    Item type: Journal Article
    Lam, Rachel (2019)
    npj Science of Learning
    Experiences of failure can provide valuable opportunities to learn, however, the typical classroom does not tend to function from an orientation of learning from failure. Rather, educators aim to teach accurate information as efficiently as possible, with the main goal for students to be able to produce correct knowledge when called for, in the classroom and beyond. Alternatively, teaching for failure requires instructional designs that function out of a different paradigm altogether. Failures can occur during activities like problem solving, problem posing, idea generation, comparing/contrasting cases, or inventing formalisms or pattern-based rules. We present findings from a study done in fourth-grade classes on environmental sustainability that used a design allowing for failures to occur during collaboration. These center on dialogs that included “micro-failures,” where we could address how students deal with failure during the process of learning. Our design drew from “productive failure,” where students are given opportunities to fail at producing canonical concepts before receiving explicit instruction, and unscripted collaborative learning, where students engage in collaboration without being directed in specific dialogic moves. By focusing on failures during an unscripted collaborative process, our work achieved two goals: (1) We singled out occurrences of failure by analyzing students’ dialogs when they encountered impasses and identified several behaviors that differentially related to learning; (2) We explored how the form of task design influences the collaborative learning process around failure occurrences, showing the potential benefits of more structured tasks.
  • Questioning central assumptions of the ICAP framework
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Thurn, Christian Maximilian; Edelsbrunner, Peter; Berkowitz, Michal; et al. (2023)
    npj Science of Learning
    Closing the research-practice gap in education is an important aim. The ICAP framework (for interactive, constructive, active, and passive engagement modes) explicitly targets this aim and has gained broad attention. The ICAP framework is supposed to support practitioners in translating research findings into practice by distinguishing between four modes of student engagement. In this comment, we consider two central assumptions of the ICAP framework. First, the four modes of engagement are assumed to be “reflected in the overt behavior the student exhibits while undertaking an activity”1, and thus observable for teachers. Second, the ICAP framework assumes that the interactive mode of engagement is most effective for learning, followed by constructive, then active, and lastly passive modes (i.e. I > C > A > P, the so-called ‘ICAP-hypothesis’1,2). We argue that both assumptions are inconsistent with central tenets of empirical educational research. First, it is not sufficient to rely on overt behaviors as indicators of learning, because they are ambiguous with respect to the underlying learning process and do not reliably indicate them. Second, there is no “one size fits all”-order of engagement modes. Supposedly inferior engagement modes excel when used in the right way, on the right learners, and with the right timing regarding the learning process. We elucidate the use of formative assessment to gain insight into covert learning processes. Whereas the ICAP framework provides a seemingly plausible and easily actionable guide for practice, practitioners should not be advised to rely on ICAP for selecting effective interventions and assessing learning processes in the classroom.
  • Personalized and gamified auditory-cognitive training improves naturalistic speech-in-noise comprehension in older adults with hearing loss
    Item type: Journal Article
    Ockelmann , Julian; Scherpiet , Sigrid; Stropahl , Maren; et al. (2025)
    npj Science of Learning
    This study examined whether a gamified and personalized auditory-cognitive training (ACT) program could improve naturalistic speech-in-noise (SIN) comprehension in older adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. In a randomized controlled trial, 54 older participants with hearing loss were assigned to four weeks of ACT or an active control condition. SIN comprehension was assessed using conversational sentences embedded in cafeteria noise. Complementary measures assessed working memory, selective attention, phonological short-term memory, divided attention, speech intelligibility, subjective hearing ratings, and subjective listening effort. Participants completing ACT demonstrated significant improvements in SIN comprehension, with partial cognitive gains, which remained at follow-up. Active controls showed no improvements. SIN intelligibility did not change in either group, indicating a dissociation between low-level fidelity and higher-order comprehension. No changes emerged in subjective hearing reports. These findings underline ACT’s potential for supporting SIN comprehension in older adults with hearing loss, offering a promising complement to traditional auditory rehabilitation.
  • Immersive auditory-cognitive training improves speech-in-noise perception in older adults with varying hearing and working memory
    Item type: Journal Article
    Frei, Vanessa; Giroud, Nathalie (2025)
    npj Science of Learning
    Ageing is associated with elevated pure-tone thresholds, accompanied by increased difficulties in understanding speech-in-noise. While amplification provides important, but insufficient support, auditory-cognitive training (ACT) might propose a solution. However, generalized effects have been scarce, highlighting the necessity of training designs targeting naturalistic listening situations. We addressed this issue by designing a short-term ACT in a purely auditory- and a virtual multisensory environment, targeting both, sensory and cognitive processing of natural speech. 40 healthy older participants with varying hearing- and cognitive capacities were exposed to both trainings (cross-over design), while speech-in-noise perception was measured before and after each session. Immersive ACT exposure resulted in increased speech-in-noise perception, particularly for individuals with more pronounced hearing loss or reduced auditory working memory capacity. These results demonstrate that combining sensory and cognitive training elements, particularly in a multisensory environment, has the potential to improve speech in noise perception.
  • Improvements in naturalistic speech-in-noise comprehension in middle-aged and older adults after 3 weeks of computer-based speechreading training
    Item type: Journal Article
    Schmitt, Raffael; Meyer, Martin; Giroud, Nathalie (2023)
    npj Science of Learning
    Problems in understanding speech in noisy environments are characteristic for age-related hearing loss. Since hearing aids do not mitigate these communication problems in every case, potential alternatives in a clinical rehabilitation plan need to be explored. This study investigates whether a computer-based speechreading training improves audiovisual speech perception in noise in a sample of middle-aged and older adults (N = 62, 47–83 years) with 32 participants completing a speechreading training and 30 participants of an active control group completing a foreign language training. Before and after training participants performed a speech-in-noise task mimicking real-life communication settings with participants being required to answer a speaker’s questions. Using generalized linear mixed-effects models we found a significant improvement in audiovisual speech perception in noise in the speechreading training group. This is of great relevance as these results highlight the potential of a low-cost and easy-to-implement intervention for a profound and widespread problem as speech-in-noise comprehension impairment.
Publications 1 - 6 of 6