A flexible, open, and interactive digital platform to support online and blended experiential learning environments: Thinglink and thin sections

This study investigates the potential value of, and provides a method for, the creation of flexible, digital, and asynchronous platforms to create student-centred materials for use in an online and/or blended learning environment. We made use of Thinglink to create a “virtual microscope” resource for geology and associated courses in higher education. This is achieved through the dissemination of a simple learning resource comprising interactive imagery and audio. The visual analysis of rocks under the microscope, termed thin-section petrography, is a fundamental component in geology programmes in higher education, with key skills which are transferable with other fields such as material science, biology, and forensic science. However, learning environments and activities in this field are often dictated by the requirement for access to microscope facilities and supplementary resources which are highly variable in their academic level, availability, design, and scale, ranging from traditional textbooks to online resources. A resource was created which allows individuals to experience some of the aspects of petrographic microscopy in a digital manner. In particular, specific features of the materials observed and how microscopes work were included. The resource was disseminated to a population of learners and educators, who provided responses to a questionnaire. Responses were overwhelmingly positive and indicate considerable interest from learner and teacher alike. Critical areas for improvement include the need for clarity in the user interface and the inclusion of a recorded human voice rather than automated text narration. This study highlights the need for, and benefits of, interactive online learning resources in petrology and associated fields. This type of resource has positive implications for the flexibility, inclusivity, and accessibility of teaching materials. Such resources may prove particularly valuable when distance learning is unavoidable (e.g. the COVID-19 crisis) and/or hybrid, blended learning environments are being deployed. The method and platform used in this study are highly transferable to other subject areas (or other areas of the geosciences).

Evaluating the Contribution of Emotional Valence to Associative Memory: Retrieval Practice Matters

Research has indicated that emotional valence can influence associative memory, but it is less clear whether it still works when the retrieval practice is controlled. The current study combined an associative recognition task with a paradigm of retrieval practice, with negative, neutral, and positive word pairs serving as stimuli. Results revealed that intact pairs possessed higher correct response proportions than rearranged, old+new, and new pairs; the rearranged pairs were more likely to be classified as intact; a negative impairment effect was observed in both learning conditions; the retrieval practice effect was sensitive to the interaction of emotional valence by pair type. We shows that the involvement of the recollection-driven process varies with pair type, providing telling evidence for the dual-process models; the occurrence of negative impairment effect conforms to the account of spontaneous interactive imagery; the contribution of desirable difficulty framework is modulated by the interaction of emotional valence by pair type.

Reduced association-memory for negative information: impact of confidence and interactive imagery during study

Although item-memory for emotional information is enhanced, memory for associations between items is impaired for negative, emotionally arousing compared to neutral information. We tested two possible mechanisms underlying this impairment, using picture pairs: 1) higher confidence in one’s own ability to memorise negative information may cause participants to under-study negative pairs; 2) better interactive imagery for neutral pairs could facilitate association-memory for neutral more than for negative pairs. Tested with associative recognition, we replicated the impairment of association-memory for negative relative to neutral pairs. We also replicated the result that confidence in future memory (judgments of learning) was higher for negative than neutral pairs. Inflated confidence could not explain the impairment of associative recognition memory: Judgements of learning were positively correlated with association-memory success for both, negative and neutral pairs. However, neutral pairs were rated higher in their conduciveness to interactive imagery than negative pairs, and this difference in interactive imagery showed a robust relationship to the association-memory difference. Thus, association-memory reductions for negative information are not due to differences in encoding effort. Instead, interactive imagery may be less effective for encoding of negative than neutral pairs.

The “How” of Animacy Effects in Episodic Memory

Animates are better remembered than inanimates. According to the adaptive view of human memory ( Nairne, 2010 ; Nairne & Pandeirada, 2010a , 2010b ), this observation results from the fact that animates are more important for survival than inanimates. This ultimate explanation of animacy effects has to be complemented by proximate explanations. Moreover, animacy currently represents an uncontrolled word characteristic in most cognitive research ( VanArsdall, Nairne, Pandeirada, & Cogdill, 2015 ). In four studies, we therefore investigated the “how” of animacy effects. Study 1 revealed that words denoting animates were recalled better than those referring to inanimates in an intentional memory task. Study 2 revealed that adding a concurrent memory load when processing words for the animacy dimension did not impede the animacy effect on recall rates. Study 3A was an exact replication of Study 2 and Study 3B used a higher concurrent memory load. In these two follow-up studies, animacy effects on recall performance were again not altered by a concurrent memory load. Finally, Study 4 showed that using interactive imagery to encode animate and inanimate words did not alter the recall rate of animate words but did increase the recall of inanimate words. Taken together, the findings suggest that imagery processes contribute to these effects.

Puzzles Invite You to Explore Earth with Interactive Imagery

The EarthQuiz challenge can take you to virtual field locations with just the click of a button. Where in the world is this, and can you guess the significance of the geological features shown?