Handbook of Design in Educational Technology

40 Seeing to Understand

Using Visualizations to Understand Learning in Technology-Rich Learning Environments

Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, Rebecca Jordan, and Suparna Sinha

Sociocultural and social constructivist theories of learning argue that learning is inherently social and is often situated in complex technologically mediated learning environments (Cole, 1999; Palincsar, 1998; Pea, 1993). In such environments, learning is fostered through technology related tools but also through the joint discussion of conceptions and meaning-making. Because learning results from this participation, understanding and designing technology to support the development of ideas requires analyzing data simultaneously across various sources through time. More specifically, ...