Importance/timeliness of topic

Description:
Your rating:

Is the topic important in todays educational setting

9

Comments: The topic which deals with the scaffolding process of

question prompts within the confines of web-based
education is extremely applicable both to my current
graduate studies and teaching pedagogy. With educational
mediums becoming increasingly digital, it is essential
studies like this one are conducted to determine the
proper procedures for prompting students so that the
knowledge they are obtaining can be utilized in a matter
that not only helps in real-world problem solving, but also
increases metacognition. The author of the article
discusses how procedural prompts throughout the
experiment created a significant difference with students
ability to appropriately tackle ill structured problem
solving.
General quality of writing
Description:
How easy was it to read? Was the proper level of
language being used?
Your rating:
3
Comments: The vast majority of this article was very difficult to
understand. The language, while advanced, was
interwoven almost to try and showcase the authors
vocabulary rather than actually trying to specifically state
something. In addition, terms such as scaffolding and
ill-structured problem solving were never defined within
the confines of the article, and while I knew the term
scaffolding, I actually had to look up what ill-structured
problem solving meant on Google. The author should not
have been so quick to assume that people would know
what those terms mean. The Results section which
elaborated on the quantitative findings from the study
utilizing tables in the addendum of the research paper
were not adequately explained or interpreted, making it
difficult to make any sense of the findings. On the other
hand, I did find value in the Discussion and
Implications sections where the author finally got to
elaborate on the significance of the study.

General quality of content

Description:
For original research, we normally expect to see an
explanation of the research questions, description of the
methods employed, analyses used, and recommendations
for implementation and further research.
Your rating:

10

Comments: This is an aspect of the article that the author did

impeccably. Starting on page 11 of the article, the author
clearly outlines the two research questions studied,
followed by the methodology. Within the methodology,
there are sub-groups for the subjects and design of the
experiment, subsequently providing information on the
materials and then the data analysis. The author
concluded his/her study by explaining both the
quantitative and qualitative results associated with it.
Finally, there is an acknowledgement that this study
urges further validation on the assessment of knowledge
integration, showing that author realizes that the
research questions havent been fully answered and
implores for further research to be conducted.
Literature review
Description:
How recent are the articles used? Do the article
relate to the subject matter?
Your rating:
8
Comments: Upon initial glance, it would seem that the author has
used a vast majority of outdated articles to support his/her
research. The vast majority of citations have publication
dates spanning the 1980s and 1990s with a few from the
early 2000s sprinkled into the mix. However, I am
apprehensive to dismiss the credibility of the authors
work based off not using recent articles considering the
subject matter has to deal with human psychology and
metacognition, fields which havent vastly changed in the
last 30 years. Perhaps the author hasnt found many
recent articles to reference in his/her field of study
because he/she might be one of the first to study it in
detail. Since the topic relates to scaffolding question
prompts in a digital classroom, online learning is a
relatively new phenomenon not being around long enough
for extensive research to have taken place.

Research methods/results
Description:
Could a reader follow the description of the methods
and create their own study using the same methods on the
same topic? Was the analysis proper to answer the
question? Was the results presented so the reader could
understand the answers to the research question?
Your rating:
7
Comments: As stated before, the author said more research should be
conducted on this topic to be able to refine question
prompting within a digital classroom. Id be interested to
conduct a similar study within the field of primary
education rather than the 51 undergraduate students
utilized by the author. It would be interesting to see
whether the same results of using procedural prompts
would assist grade school students with developing the
same problem solving skills as the author found in his/her
experiment. I would also encourage more use of
qualitative data rather than quantitative as it is easier to
understand for readers and more applicable when
attempting to analyze whether question prompts
influence students conceptual understanding and illstructured problem solving. Ill-structured problem
solving seems difficult to measure quantitatively, unless
measuring it through standardized testing. Other than
placing the confusing tables in the addendum of the paper,
the results were fairly easy to comprehend and
understand. The author found that conceptual knowledge
was not influenced by increased question prompting, but
meaningful learning of students was definitely enhanced
through it.
Conclusions/discussion
Description:
Did the conclusion demonstrate a connection with
the results and the literature? Did the results support or
conflict with the literature? Did the article and the So
What Question or in other words did the article
demonstrate that the study added to the information
previously known and does it help the discipline?
Your rating:
8
Comments: The conclusion provided a more clear interpretation of the
results both quantitative and qualitative. It listed the three

implications of the study, simply stating that: 1) a system

of scaffolding is need to facilitate meaningful learning, 2)
the meaningful learning takes places by providing
students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge to
real-world problems, and 3) feedback and dialogue
amongst peers and experts helps to facilitate meaningful
learning, particularly in a digital environment. The
authors plea for future research shows that the study of
the topic is still in a grassroots phase, but it does help to
bring notoriety to the particular discipline.