This study explored students and teachers of Higher Educational Institutions perspectives on the potential of Blended Learning post-Covid-19. Using Shea’s 2007 Four-Model of Blended Learning and the framework of Complex Adaptive Blended Learning (BL) Systems, this paper investigated the correlation between Blended Learning (BL) and students learning outcomes in constructivists learning. The findings provided convincing support that Online Blended Learning offers some potential for teaching in higher institutions more than the stand-alone traditional face-to-face classroom. This is especially the case when teaching intends to enhance students reciprocal learning, students’ inquiry-based learning, learners posing questions and seeking answers on their own, as well as promoting cooperative/collaborative learning among students. Even though, the findings did not entirely dismiss the traditional face-to-face teaching, nevertheless, the results strongly suggest that blending face-to-face teaching with online teaching offers tremendous potential for inquiry-based and constructivist learning more than the traditional classroom face-to-face teaching alone. Additionally, BL creates both cohesive and effective learning environment overcoming geographical and physical barriers of traditional classroom teaching to promote self-paced critical learning among students, especially in institutions of higher learning.
CitationNtim S. Epistemic curiosity, conceptual ambiguity and cognitive conflict: Do these implicate students explor-
Observational StudyPage 131
ABSTRACTBackground: Contemporary demands in the labour market continue to be more scientifictechnological. Onus is on institutions of higher learning to develop in students' flexibility of thinking, as well as an inquiring and inquisitive mindset, that would stimulate in them the culture for curiosity and scientific research. Consequently, this paper establishes a link of cognitive/educational psychology research to epistemic curiosity and human exploratory behavior in postgraduate students attending educational psychology classes, to assess how epistemic curiosity implicates their inquiry and affects critical thinking for classroom practice. Method: A total of two hundred (200) random sampling size of students' in a university, located in the middle belt of Ghana, aged between 24-30 years, participated in this study. They were tested to assess the discrepancy between their feel-of-knowing on three variables: general fluid reasoning, memory test recognition and curiosity-trait questionnaire.Results: Participants with high intensity level to knowledge demonstrated lower knowledge gap, compared to those with low-level of intensity. Similarly, the lower the knowledge gap between curiosity and cognition, the higher the arousal indicating that the 'I know' experienced acute stimulation relative to the 'I don't know' participants. In the experiments performed, scores of the 'I know' group correlated more positively with epistemic curiosity, feelings of knowing and exploratory behavior than the 'I don't know' individuals. Conclusion: Human cognitive architecture seems to be structured to avoid cognitive ambiguity. Interest and deprivation-type curiosity in humans appears to be the leading predicting factor inducing humans to search for answers to bridge the gap between cognition and cognitive dissonance, triggering exploratory behavior to find answers.
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