Remedial classroom teaching and computer-assisted learning with science students in Botswana

The mathematical background of new science students in Botswana and the effectiveness of teaching is investigated through a series of test instruments. It is found that many mathematical concepts and techniques, theoretically covered in the school curriculum, are not well established. Further research shows that teaching remedial mathematics in class improves student results, but also that several misconceptions remain. Material for computer-assisted learning, specifically developed to promote conceptual change is shown to have a positive effect. Research data are analysed for different student ability groups.     

An approach to developing independent learning and non-technical skills amongst final year mining engineering students

There is mounting evidence to show that engineers need more than technical skills to succeed in industry. This paper describes a curriculum innovation in which so-called ‘soft’ skills, specifically inter-personal and intra-personal skills, were integrated into a final year mining engineering course. The instructional approach was designed to promote independent learning and to develop non-technical skills, essential for students on the threshold of becoming practising engineers. Three psychometric tests were administered at the beginning of the course to make students aware of their own and their classmates’ characteristics. Substantial prescribed reading assignments preceded weekly group discussions. Several projects during the course required team work skills and application of content knowledge to real-world contexts. Results obtained from students’ reflection papers, assignments related to ‘soft’ skills and end of course evaluations suggest that students’ appreciation of the need for these skills, as well as their own perceived competence, increased during the course. Their ability to function as independent learners also increased.     

菲律宾华裔中学生中文学习态度调查分析

本研究采用自编问卷,按比例选取菲律宾22所华校的2050位华裔中学生,从对其中文学习态度的认知、情感与行为倾向三成分进行广泛的调查分析后得知:当代菲华中学生中文学习态度总体不佳。华语教学应积极挖掘学生尚存的"母语基因",注重培养融入性学习动机,以充分调动起华裔学生中文学习的积极性。     

Attitudes of Serbian and Slovenian student teachers towards causes of learning underachievement amongst Roma pupils

The task of initial teacher education is to prepare student teachers (ST) to accept responsibility for improving the education of all pupils, including Roma pupils. Thus, knowledge of ST's attitudes regarding such pupils at the onset of initial teacher education is a key for the creation of teacher education programmes that challenge implicit beliefs and biases. The main focus of this paper, therefore, is ST's perceptions concerning the causes of learning underachievement amongst Roma pupils and who is primarily responsible for these pupils' learning achievement. Research was conducted at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the Teacher Training Faculty at the University of Belgrade in Serbia. The results suggest that ST do not consider themselves likely contributors to Roma pupils' learning achievement, which leads to an attitude of minimal responsibility. The majority of ST attribute Roma pupils' learning underachievement to their parents' disinterest in schooling, Roma pupils' lack of motivation, and their non-acceptance by peers. The implications of these findings for teacher education programmes are subsequently discussed.     

Relationships between learning approach,procrastination and academic achievement amongst first-year university students

Individual differences in student learning influence academic performance, and two aspects influencing the learning process are the particular learning approach the students use and procrastination behaviour. We examined the relationships between learning approaches, procrastination and academic achievement (measured 1 year later as the grade point average (GPA)) amongst 428 first-year university students. Deep and strategic learning approaches positively predicted GPA, and a mediation analysis showed that the strategic learning approach also partly mediated the effect between deep learning approach and GPA. Less procrastination was associated with a strategic learning approach, but procrastination tendencies did not predict GPA. Recommendations are made for educating new students in cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, helping reduce their procrastination and facilitating the use of deep and strategic learning approaches.     

The effects of calibration amongst management students in higher education

This study contributes to the on-going discourse on calibration among University students. The study examines the understanding of student self-reflectivity in relation to class written tests and assignments, and of the fact that students’ expected results rarely match the actual results. A quantitative research approach was adopted to collect data from third-year and honours management students at a university in South Africa. The sample population for the class test was 105 out of 205 students, while the sample population for the assignment was 71 out of 205 students. The method applied involved asking students to forecast their result before and after the class test or the assignment. The evaluation process involved a comparison of students’ expected results and the actual performance in both cases. The findings reveal that students’ perception and understanding of the questions in the class test and the assignment contribute immensely to their individual performance. A limitation on this study is that data were collected from students within the management discipline only. Insights from this study can be used to develop assessment methods that are in sync with changes in the present-day education environment. The study contributes to an understanding of curriculum development within the context of challenges facing the educational system in South Africa.     

Exploring business students’ and liberal arts students’ beliefs about physics and physics learning

The study describes the extent of change in students’ cognitive expectations after going through an Introductory Physics course. Cognitive expectations are beliefs about the learning process and the structure of knowledge. Using the Maryland Physics Expectations (MPEX) survey, the students’ responses reflected the highest level of agreement with the ‘experts response’ in the following clusters: independence, math link, reality link, and effort link. The study has shown that students could move from a novice-like view of Physics and learning Physics to a more expert-like view.     

Attitudes of school role groups toward learning needs of gifted students

The cognitive approach to creativity emphasizes the processes involved in producing effective novelty, as well as the control mechanisms that regulate novelty production, and the structures that result. Merely novel structures display surprisingness and incongruity, to be sure, but they must also be meaningful and practicable to be effective. There are no special processes or control mechanisms unique to the production of effective novelty, but metasystematic operations are particularly favorable for it. Effective novelty can be produced at lower levels of cognitive development, but children's creativity is likely to differ qualitatively from that of adults. Although the cognitive approach takes little account of motivation, personality, or the social environment, it provides an operationizable definition of some aspects of creativity, and offers insights into what needs to be fostered to promote it.     

The motivations to study and expectations of studying of undergraduate students in business and management

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between motivations to learn and expectations of learning and to see if there are any differences across student groups based on their choice of degree programme and level of study. Six scales were used from Pintrich et al.’s Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, of which two were adapted for this study, to measure motivations to learn and expectations of learning amongst undergraduate students. Across different levels of study and programmes, 564 responses were collected. The study suggests that there is a correlation between the degree of importance and interest that students attach to their studies, their beliefs about how well they will do and their overall levels of motivation to learn. These relationships vary across different student groups. The study also found that the degree of anxiety about assessment experienced by students was independent of their motivations and expectations and did not differ significantly between any student groups.     

Factors affecting perceived learning of engineering students in problem based learning supported by business simulation

Although literature about problem based learning (PBL) is not scarce, there is little research on experiences about learning methodologies that combine PBL and the use of simulation tools. This lack of studies is even more notable in the case of engineering courses. The motivation for this study is to show how such a combination of PBL and simulation has been designed in a group work course for engineers and to analyze how the underlying factors of this methodology are related to perceived learning. This exploratory study focuses on how perceived enjoyment, interaction, collaborative learning, perceived satisfaction, and time dedicated to the course affect the learning perceived by the students in an engineer's degree course. The outcomes of this pilot study show that only three of these factors (satisfaction, time dedication, and collaborative learning) affect the students' perceived learning. Despite the high ratings obtained for interaction and perceived enjoyment, no significant relation between these factors and perceived learning was found. The reasons behind these findings are discussed.     

Applying enterprise: active learning environments for business Higher National Diploma students

This article details an approach to teaching entrepreneurship to Higher National Diploma (HND) students that combines lecture-based and experiential learning processes to increase student learning, comprehension, and entrepreneurial skills. A UK university redesigned an entrepreneurship course to have students design and implement business plans for a pop-up shop and an event in the local community, while working closely with instructors and outside stakeholders. The lectures used in the lessons were designed to complement the enterprise activities and be immediately applied in group work settings. Data were collected from student reflections and analysed against instructor reflections to highlight both the success and challenges of this approach, as well as any areas of dissonance between student and instructor observations. While the benefits of active and experiential learning processes are highlighted in the literature, this article examines these teaching methods specifically in a HND context, an area in which research on the benefits of these teaching methods for developing entrepreneurial students and for developing students prepared for undergraduate education has been limited.     

计算机辅助语言教学在少数民族学生英语教学中的应用研究

计算机辅助语言教学已成为英语教学手段中必不可少的一部分,本文从计算机辅助语言教学的本身出发,旨在为如何在少数民族班英语教学中运用计算机辅助语言教学模式提出建议,以此更好地指导教师英语教学,提高少数民族学生英语水平。     

Credit transfer amongst students in contrasting disciplines: examining assumptions about wastage,mobility and lifelong learning

While arrangements for credit transfer exist across the UK higher education sector, little is known about credit-transfer students or why they re-engage with study. Policy makers have cited credit transfer as a mechanism for reducing wastage and drop-out, but this paper challenges this assumption and instead examines how credit transfer serves different constituencies of students. Findings are presented from a survey of 256 students transferring credit to the Open University and a review of their Credit Transfer Applications. Half the students were enrolled on arts modules; the remainder of students were studying modules in maths, computing and technology. The findings of this research reveal differences between these groups of students in terms of the origins of their past credit, the quantity of past credit they transfer and the ways in which their current studies are connected to future plans and aspirations.     

Conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in Portuguese students

The article describes a study that attempted to characterise Portuguese students’ conceptions of learning and approaches to learning. A sample of university students answered open questions on the meaning, process and context of learning. Results, derived from content analysis, replicate most conceptions of learning described by phenomenographical research (i.e. distinction between learning as memorisation and learning as comprehension). Moreover, new variants of known conceptions of learning emerged (e.g. learning occurs through: exploratory practice; learning to learn; motivation) and an apparently new conception (i.e. learning as understanding and application). The same sample answered a questionnaire which attempted to measure motivation and learning strategies. Through factorial analysis of results it was possible to confirm the presence of three well-known approaches to learning: surface, deep and achieving.