Cooperative leaming capitalizes on the relational processes by which peers promote leaming, yet it remains unclear whether these processes operate similarly in face-to-face and online settings. This study addresses this issue by comparing face-to-face and computer-mediated versions of constructive controversy, a cooperative leaming procedure designed to create intellectual conflict among students. One hundred and one undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 1 (control: face-to-face) x 3 (medium: video, audio, text) X 2 (synchronicity: synchronous, asynchronous) experimental-control design. Cooperative perceptions declined and individualistic perceptions increased under asynchronous computermediated conditions, resulting in predicted declines in motivation (i.e., relatedness, interest, value) and academic achievement (i.e., completion rate). For practice, findings suggest that synchronicity but not medium plays an important role in computer-mediated constructive controversy. For theory, findings also suggest that social psychological theories based on face-to-face assumptions may need to be modified to indicate that predicted outcomes depend on synchronous social interaction.

Adapting face-to-face (FTF) pedagogies to online settings raises boundary questions about the contextual conditions in which the same instructional method stimulates different outcomes. We address this issue by examining FTF and computer-mediated communication (CMC) versions of constructive controversy, a cooperative learning procedure involving dialogic argumentation and the shared goal of reaching an integrative position. One hundred seventy-one undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 3 (synchron icity: FTF, synchronous CMC, asynchronous CMC) X 3 (belongingness: acceptance, mild rejection, control) quasi-experimental design. As predicted, FTF and synchronous CMC conditions increased cooperation, epistemic conflict regulation, motivation (interest-value), and achievement (completion rate, integrative statements), whereas asynchronous CMC increased competition and relational conflict reg ulation and decreased motivation and achievement. Also as predicted, satisfying belongingness needs (through acceptance) increased cooperation, epistemic conflict regulation, and motivation compared with control. Unexpectedly, there was no evidence that mild rejection diminished outcomes. Results inform theory by demonstrating that FTF and CMC synchronicity represent boundary conditions in which constructive controversy stimulates different social-psychological processes and, in turn, different outcomes. Results also inform practice by showing that synchronicity and belongingness have additive effects on constructive controversy and that satisfying belongingness needs buffers but does not offset the deleterious effects of asynchronous CMC.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and other national frameworks are calling for much more sophisticated approaches to STEM education, centered around the integration of complex experimentation (including real labs, not just simulations), data collection and analysis, modeling, and data-driven argumentation, i.e., students can behave like real scientists. How to implement such complex approaches in scalable ways is an unsolved challenge -both for presential and distance education. Here we report on the iterative design and large-scale deployment of an open online course with a "biology cloud experimentation lab" (using living cells) that engaged remote learners (> 300 students) in the scientific practices of experimentation, modeling and data analysis to investigate the phototaxis of a microorganism. We demonstrate (1) the robustness and scalability of the cloud lab technology (> 2, 300 experiments run), (2) the design principles and synergistic integration of multiple UI and learning activities and suitable data formats to facilitate NGSS-aligned science activities, and (3) design features that leverages the natural variability of real biology experiments to instigate authentic inquiry. This platform and course content are now suited for large-scale adaptation in formal K-16 education; and we provide recommendations for inquiry-based science learning in general.

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The last two decades have witnessed growing research on the experiences of children and youth after migration or resettlement. However, nearly all of this research focuses on children and youth who arrived in the country with their parents. We know little of the unique experiences of refugee youngsters who came to this country without parental company. How do they negotiate the different cultures in the absence of parents? In this article, we draw on in-depth interview data with 19 Sudanese emerging adults who came to the United States as unaccompanied refugee minors to examine issues of acculturation and adaptation. Our findings show that having a strong root in their native culture and identity helped them make good choices, maintain focus, and avoid distractions associated with negative aspects of the U.S. youth culture. Our participants also discussed the importance of learning the new ways. As a result, those who maintained their native culture