Yi-Fan Sun’s research while affiliated with Beijing Normal University and other places

Collaborative problem-solving (CPS) learning is increasingly valued for its role in promoting higher-order thinking of learners. Despite the widespread application of role scripts in CPS, little is known about the mechanisms by which roles influence learners' cognition and the impact of goal orientation on roles. In this study, we designed role scripts and goal-orientation scripts to facilitate CPS. Then, a total of 32 postgraduate students participated in CPS and they were divided into 8 groups, among which two roles of analyst and commenter were assigned respectively. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study explored the differences between the two roles in terms of discourse space rotation, types of cognitive activities and epistemic network structure, and the function played by goal orientation. Results showed that there was a general structure in CPS, that analysts and commenters have different functional biases, and that goal orientation influences the function of the roles. This study clarified the cognitive contribution of different roles, and the respective strength of different goal orientation. The findings may provide instructors with implications for designing scripts and organizing CPS in the classroom context.

Online peer assessment has been widely applied in online teacher training. However, not all learners participate equally, detailed characterization and impact analysis of peer assessment is required. This study draws on a sociological term, social network prestige, to evaluate the participation gap of learners in online peer assessment. A teacher training course was offered to in-service primary and secondary school teachers, and 457 participants were ranked according to their prestige. Then, the top 30% of learners were considered the high-prestige group (142 participants) and the bottom 30% as the low-prestige group (128 participants). Social network analysis and behavioral sequence analysis were used to explore the differences in the learning outcomes of these two groups. The results showed significant differences in learning performance, social network structure and learning behaviors among learners with different prestige. High-prestige learners have better learning performance and are affected by their prior knowledge. Learners with different levels of prestige differ in social network structure and learning behavior. Based on these findings, this study suggests improvements to reduce the participation gap.