University of Twente Student Theses
Enhancing Genetics Understanding through Collaborative Learning using a Conversational Agent
Loffeld, Naomi (2025) Enhancing Genetics Understanding through Collaborative Learning using a Conversational Agent.
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| Abstract: | Attempts to enhance genetics understanding must be made, as it holds a crucial position in secondary education. Yet, Dutch secondary schools often fail to foster a deep understanding of abstract concepts. Research has shown that innovative strategies focusing on active knowledge construction and collaborative learning effectively aid students in understanding abstract concepts. Within these strategies students must be steered towards Academically Productive Talk (APT) and collaboration using adequately timed prompts which a teacher alone can not do. Hence, there is reason to believe that strategies such as Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) using a Conversational Agent (CA) instead should enhance genetics understanding. The between-subjects factor was the presence or absence of CA CLAIR, and the within-subjects factor was the time point during which the level of genetics understanding was tested: pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test. The expectation was that the total scores on the post-tests would be higher compared to the scores on the pre-test, and that the scores of the intervention group would be higher than the control group. Additionally, the expectation was that the attitude towards the learning environment and peer collaboration would be higher for the intervention group than the control group. The learning environment overall produced positive learning results for both groups. Despite this, CLAIR’s impact should be investigated by further analysing the results and based on that finetune CLAIR’s responses, as currently the intervention group did not score better on the knowledge tests nor attitude questionnaire than the control group. The research serves as a foundation for further research concerning CA implementation in Dutch secondary schools. Keywords: Genetics understanding, Academically Productive Talk (APT), Active knowledge construction, Conversational Agents (CA), Collaborative Learning Agent for Interactive Reasoning (CLAIR) |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/104980 |
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