Designing Technology-Enriched Cognitive Tools to Support Young Learners’ Problem Solving

To explore the potential of using game technologies as cognitive tools for teaching and learning, in this paper we describe a game-like learning environment for sixth-grade space science that engages students in problem-based learning. We discuss the design of cognitive tools built in the environment, review four research studies that investigated how these tools supported problem solving, as well as outline the design implications. Our research shows cognitive tools play an important role in assisting learners’ problem solving and novices rely on using the cognitive tools in support of their knowledge generation. The purpose of this line of research is to examine the use of cognitive tools to facilitate learning and identify best practices for designing effective technologyenriched cognitive tools in learning environments.