Learning & Interaction Lab

We study the social and cognitive aspects of learning through human interaction, combining experimental and descriptive research methods. We ask questions such as: What characterizes interactions that are associated with individual learning gains? What are the specific social and cognitive processes that produce these gains? How can these processes be facilitated (or inhibited) by different types of instructional support and design? How do learners interact in different communication media and do those differences affect the potential for learning? Following are some of the projects, with selected references: 

Social, affective and motivational dimensions of argumentation

Argumentation is in essence a social activity, often paired with emotional engagement. Yet, existing research has predominantly focused on the cognitive and rational dimensions of argumentation in learning contexts. Students often feel uncomfortable expressing disagreement or subjecting their own ideas to critique and inspection. In this line of research (funded a/o by PSLC and ISF grants), we aim to uncover and describe social, motivational and affective antecedents and processes of argumention in learning settings. We also distinguish between different argumentive dialogue styles (such as deliberation and dispute/debate) and predict that they have different learning potential.

Academically productive dialogue in Israeli classrooms

Notwithstanding the growing consensus about its importance and a convincing evidence base demonstrating its benefits, academically productive classroom talk is rarely encountered in mainstream classrooms. In 2017, we received a 5-year ISF Center of Excellence grant to develop a program for, implement and study academically productive classroom talk in upper elementary teaching. Together with co-PI Adam Lefstein and a group of 3 scholars and 12 (post-)graduate students, we have worked in close partnership with practitioners in the Central District (teachers, coaches, administrators) to develop a comprehensive program (including expert professional development, instructional materials, institutional support, lesson plans and professional teacher learning communities in schools). In total, we partnered with 21 schools throughout the project, even though implementation and research efforts were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In our team at the Hebrew U, we focus on measurement of classroom dialogue, individual participation differences in classroom dialogue, motivation, teacher talk moves and teacher judgements in clasroom discussion facilitation.  

Teacher Professional Learning and Dialogue

In a series of past and ongoing research projects, we focus on the role of professional , pedagogical dialogue in teacher learning and professionalization processes. One of the professional learning settings we focused on are teacher-led, school-based professional learning communities. As a part of a large-scale intervention program in two Israeli school districts (funded by a philantropic organisation, led by the Laboratory for the Study of Pedagogy), we developed ways to code and quantify aspects of productive pedagogical discourse in team meetings and tried to uncover conditions and processes that shape this discourse. We also study collaborative peer talk around videorecordings of classroom practice and the factors that shape teachers' understanding of innovative pedagogical notions. Collaborators: a/o Adam Lefstein, Aliza Segal, Miriam Babichenko, Avi Merzel, Merav Levin and Roni Jutkowitz.

Detection of psychological distress from social network activity

In this project (funded by separate grants from the Israel Innovation Authority Kamin scheme and GIF), we identified overt and covert indicators of psychological distress (e.g., depression, social rejection, social anxiety, suicide risk) from a person's social media activities. We did this by crossvalidating an individual's Facebook activity features with external, offline measures of psychological states and traits, using human coding as well as computational methods (Natural Language Processing methods). Some of these studies focused on teenagers specifically, others were conducted on adults. With: Prof. Ro'i Reichart (Technion), lab members Yaakov Ophir, Itay Sisso, and Refael Tikochinski, and with Prof. Baruch Schwarz.

 

Social Network Technologies in Education 

In this project (funded by separate grants from GIF and Mofet), we map the ways in which ubiquitous Social Network Site (SNS) technologies are adopted for school-related purposes, by both teachers and students, in secondary schools and higher education settings. We combine different methodologies, such as survey data, focus groups and personal interviews. Collaborators: Prof. Armin Weinberger, Dr. Dimitra Tsovaltsi, Prof. Baruch Schwarz, and lab members Hananel Rosenberg, Edith Bouton and Dr. Smadar Bar-Tal.

Instructional approaches to conceptual change

In this ongoing line of studies (funded a/o by ISF), we test the effectiveness of different instructional approaches for conceptual change, such as peer argumentation, refutation text, learning from erroneous examples and corrective, contrasting feedback. Each of these is based on current models of the cognitive and non-cognitive processes involved in conceptual change types of learning. We also test how (some of) these can be combined to improve instructional effectiveness.

E-moderation of online dialogue

In this line of research, we studied how teachers and tutors moderate online discussions in educational settings. We asked questions such as, which moderation styles are more (or less) effective? How does e-moderation differ from facilitating student discussions in face-to-face settings? What do students expect from moderators and how do their behavior (as an intrusion? as facilitative?). Finally, in the EC-funded, multi-party ARGUNAUT project, a flexible, online e-moderator support tool was developed to provide e-moderators with learning analytics about the dialogue (continuously updated in real time), selected alerts and intervention tools (with a/o, Bruce McLaren, Matthias Krauss, Rupert Wegerif, Astrid Wichman, Ulrich Hoppe, Rakheli Hever, Baruch Schwarz, Reuma de Groot, Raul Drachman).

Classroom dialogue goes digital

In comparison with face-to-face formats, computer-mediated communication has several distinctive characteristics, such as persistence of communication content, disruptions of synchronicity, parallel communication, decrease in non-verbal cues, etc. In this line of studies, we have explored how these characeristics can facilitate (or inhibit) reasoned, collaborative discourse in classroom settings. It is closely related to our studies on e-moderation.