Problem-centred Learning Using Computer Algebra Systems in the Engineering Curriculum

Engineering education at tertiary level is changing in order to reflect the need for an integrated approach to problem-based learning. Problem-solving techniques related to engineering applications have been used frequently to clarify difficult analytical concepts and theories. However, there is still a need to integrate various engineering disciplines by using different tools and approaches. The main objective of this paper is to present a problem-solving approach to analysis, synthesis and dynamics of mechanisms and machines using computer algebra systems. By using various analytical methods and the graphic capabilities of such mathematical software, it is possible to illustrate and implement, in a creative way, many areas including kinematic and dynamic analysis, vibration analysis and programming. Students generally considered these areas to be difficult.     

A methodology for integrating computer‐based learning tools in science curricula

This paper demonstrates a methodology for effectively integrating computer‐based learning tools in science teaching and learning. This methodology provides a means of systematic analysis to identify the capabilities of particular software tools and to formulate a series of competencies relevant to physical science that could be developed by means of these capabilities. This analysis could inform the transition to technology‐rich learning environments by helping to deflect reliance on computer‐based tools for objectives they cannot meet, while encouraging the design of activity sequences that make the most of the educationally useful capabilities of available computer‐based tools. This methodology is demonstrated by means of two software tools widely used in science learning, namely modelling and simulation tools.     

Designing computer software for problem-solving instruction

The purpose of this article is to identify factors that might influence the effectiveness of computer software designed to teach problem solving. Problem solving is defined and the research literature related to the acquisition of problem-solving abilities and the capabilities of computers for delivering problem-solving instruction are reviewed. The factors critical to the acquisition of problem-solving abilities and the attributes of computers that make them potential tools in problem-solving instruction are identified. These items are synthesized into a list of factors that are expected to influence the effectiveness of computer software designed to teach problem solving.     

Reframing research on learning with technology: in search of the meaning of cognitive tools

Previous research and development with cognitive tools has been limited by an inadequate conceptualization of the complexity underlying their nature and affordances for supporting learning and performance. This paper provides a new perspective on cognitive tools through the lens of the theories of distributed cognition and expertise. The learner, tool, and activity form a joint learning system, and the expertise in the world should be reflected not only in the tool but also in the learning activity within which learners make use of the tool. This enhanced perspective is used to clarify the nature of cognitive tools and distinguish them from other types of computer tools used in learning contexts. We have classified cognitive tools considering how expertise is classified: domain-independent (general) cognitive tools, domain-generic cognitive tools, and domain-specific cognitive tools. The implications are presented in reference to research, development, and practice of cognitive tools. The capabilities of cognitive tools should be differentiated from those of the human, but regarded as part of the system of expertise. Cognitive tools should be accompanied by appropriate learning activities, and relevant learner performance should then be assessed in the context of tool use.     

Physica: A Computer Environment for Physics Problem-Solving

Physica is an integrated software package designed as part of a course for distance learning students from non-traditional educational backgrounds. It gives students access to an extensive hyperlinked physics glossary, computer algebra and graph-plotting tools. The package aims to give students a framework for solving physics problems and to help them acquire some higher level skills of quantitative problem-solving. This paper outlines rationales underlying various protocols for solving physics problems, and discusses the extent to which frameworks may be useful in helping students develop appropriate strategies for representing problems in formal terms, selecting targets, planning solutions and checking answers. Pedagogical issues underlying the design and implementation of the software are discussed.     

From Object-oriented Design to Visual Programming

Object-oriented languages are now becoming widely accepted in the computer science community and are beginning to spread into industrial environments. New methodologies are emerging and powerful languages and environments are now available. However, these new techniques and environments are accessible only to experienced programmers, and lack interactive user-friendly interfaces. The democratization of object-oriented environments is made possible by reducing the level of knowledge required for programming, and raising the capabilities of computer-aided design systems. We show by means of a set of examples that Smalltalk lacks only a few graphical tools to make it accessible quickly and easily by novices and to transform it into a visual programming environment. This set of tools were experienced in industrial contexts, and proved successful both as design aids to engineers and as teaching supports to students.     

E-learning by design

Teachers in higher education throughout the world are making use of course-management systems (CMS) to support their courses. None of these teachers grew up with using a CMS; they must themselves learn how to use them effectively at the same time that they are using them with their students. While institutions commonly provide some sort of introductory workshop for CMS use, these workshops have limitations in terms of their transfer value into practice. In this paper we discuss an example of embedded justin-time support within the CMS itself to help teachers learn how to use a CMS efficiently but also so that both they and their students can take on new roles in the learning process. A new form of computer-based support for teaching and learning has emerged since the late 1990s. It is a system of integrated tools that makes use of both database and web functionalities in order to make a web environment available to support a course or learning event. One name for such a system is a course-management system (CMS). Course-management systems are new tools for teachers and thus teachers must learn how to use them in a technical sense as well as in a meaningful sense. By meaningful, we mean not only to increase the efficiency of participating in a course but also to enrich and extend learning processes.     

本科办高职计算机类数据库实验教学研究

数据库技术是计算机专业的基础课,是一门实践性很强的课程。针对本科办高职计算机类专业,学生基础薄弱,学习能力较差,学习年限短,但师资力量雄厚的特点,数据库课程实验教学给出一些新的方法,通过调整实验教学模式,如注重并简化设计过程、程序的调试,强调辅助工具的应用,帮助文件的使用,及本科教学平台的使用以充分发挥师资力量,并制定合理的评价考核体系,使学生克服厌学心理,从而使数据库实验教学在培养高职高素质的应用型人才中起到重要的作用。     

Stone代数的同余理想与Stone代数滤子

本文给出了 Stone代数 L的理想 I=(d]成为某个同余关系的核的充要条件 ,刻划了以 L的同余理想 I=(d]为核的最小同余关系 ;引入了 Stone代数滤子的概念 ,讨论了 Stone代数滤子 [d)与 Stone代数的同余理想 (d]之间的关系。     

Design Patterns for Learning and Assessment: Facilitating the Introduction of a Complex Simulation-Based Learning Environment into a Community of Instructors

Simulation environments make it possible for science and engineering students to learn to interact with complex systems. Putting these capabilities to effective use for learning, and assessing learning, requires more than a simulation environment alone. It requires a conceptual framework for the knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking that are meant to be developed, in order to design activities that target these capabilities. The challenges of using simulation environments effectively are especially daunting in dispersed social systems. This article describes how these challenges were addressed in the context of the Cisco Networking Academies with a simulation tool for computer networks called Packet Tracer. The focus is on a conceptual support framework for instructors in over 9,000 institutions around the world for using Packet Tracer in instruction and assessment, by learning to create problem-solving scenarios that are at once tuned to the local needs of their students and consistent with the epistemic frame of “thinking like a network engineer.” We describe a layered framework of tools and interfaces above the network simulator that supports the use of Packet Tracer in the distributed community of instructors and students.     

电脑教学中的“死机”现象分析

在计算机教学过程中,不同的学生常会产生五花八门的错误(“死机”现象)根据错误产生的原因和表现形式,可分为知识性错误、逻辑性错误、策略性错误和心理性错误,并通过实例提出了一些解决的方法     

用MATLAB编程实现动态电路仿真

利用Matlab强大的运算和绘图等功能,可以实现电路的动态过程实验的仿真。编写程序采用与手算一致的思维方式和步骤,理解掌握都较容易。结论表明,应用这种方法可以使复杂电路的仿真分析和计算变得非常快捷方便,从而为电路分析提供了一个有效的辅助工具。     

Identifying threshold concepts: case study of an open catchment hydraulics course

The Threshold Concept Framework is used to initiate a dialogue on an empirically supported pedagogy that focuses on students’ conceptual understanding required for solving application-based problems. The present paper uses a triangulation approach to identify the threshold concept in a third-year undergraduate civil engineering course on open channel hydraulics. Evidence from teachers, students, and assessment data point to ‘critical flow’ as the threshold concept – a concept that is transformative, integrative, and troublesome. Identifying the threshold concept by engaging various course stakeholders in a dialogue about conceptual understanding and capabilities makes learning visible for all participants in the process. Implementing this approach can result in an empirically driven rationale for adjusting pedagogies and assessments to foster enhanced student learning outcomes.     

“三三制”教学改革下水力学实验课程建设

为了贯彻学校“三三制”本科教学改革,对传统的水力学实验课程进行了改进和探索。在水力学教学实践中,引入数值模拟实验环节,弥补理论课程教学和实验课程之间脱节现象。通过计算流体力学软件,对水力学模型进行仿真,从而帮助学生形成清晰的物理图像,提高学习兴趣。另外,实施数值模拟实验与开放实验室相结合的管理方式,有助于培养学生提出问题的能力和设计实验的能力,从而引导学生进行更多的探索性实验。     

Affordances and constraints of computers in science education

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, computers in science teaching were seen as a panacea for many problems plaguing the domain. While considerable research has been done to determine cognitive achievements of students who interact with computers during their science learning, more basic questions have not yet been addressed. This study was designed to investigate how computers and a modeling software contributed to students' interactions and learning in a physics course. The interpretations focused on the microworld as a tool that supported but also limited students' sense-making activities. First, the computer microworld contributed in significant ways to the maintenance and coordination of students' physics conversations. Second, the computer environment (a) was sometimes “unready to hand” so that students spent more time learning the software rather than physics, and (b) limited the interactions within groups. It was concluded that while computer environments have some potential as learning tools, they also limit interactions in significant ways, rendering them less than ideal for everyday classroom use. With the use of software … students can be provided with the necessary tools and experiences to practice the investigative skills used by scientists and mathematicians… [Students] can pursue specific topics of their own interest and deal with this information in sufficient depth to construe personal meaning to various concepts. (Barman, 1993, p. viii) In educational applications, user interface design has received little attention, despite the fact that the interface is particularly important for educational software… This concern goes much deeper than the nebulous concept most often represented by the buzz phrase, ‘user friendliness.’ (Jackson, Edwards, & Berger, 1993b, p. 414) © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

FLUENT软件在水力学中的应用进展

随着计算机技术的迅速发展．水力学与计算机技术的有机结合增强了解决水力学疑难问题的能力。FLUENT软件是理论研究成果与实际工程相结合的计算水力学商业软件的杰出代表之一。本文首先介绍了n刖ENT软件的一些特点及应用领域,然后总结了它在水力学中的应用现状,指出了它具有计算快速、筒捷、方便等优点,最后对FLUENT软件的应用进行了展望。     

Focusing on informal strategies when linking arithmetic to early algebra

In early algebra students often struggle with equation solving. Modeled on Streefland's studies of students' own productions a prototype pre-algebra learning strand was designed which takes students' informal (arithmetical) strategies as a starting point for solving equations. In order to make available the skills and tools needed for manipulating equations, the students are stimulated and guided to develop suitable algebraic language, notations and reasoning. One of the results of the study is that reasoning and symbolizing appear to develop as independent capabilities. For instance,students in grades 6 and 7 can solve equations at both a formal and an informal level, but formal symbolizing has been found to be a major obstacle. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

论高校“思想道德修养与法律基础”课程教学美育化

“思想道德修养与法律基础”课程是高校思想政治教育的主要内容之一,对于该课程教学的研究和改革也从未间断过,可是教学效果一直都不大理想。探究该课程教学与美育的有效结合,促进其美育化发展,可以充分发挥美育的功能,让该课程教学更具趣味性和实效性,培养大学生认知美、判断美、构建美的能力,使其全面发展,成为社会主义事业的建设者和接班人。     

计算机网络与通信课程教学改革探讨

针对目前高校计算机网络与通信课程的教学现状,以及当今社会对高校人才的需求现状,本文对计算机网络与通信课程的教学内容、教学方法与手段和实践教学三个方面提出了一系列的改革措施,并通过课程教学和实验教学等环节加以实施,增强学生的计算机网络应用和设计能力,提高学生的工程实践能力。     

用Blog辅助网络教学平台实现在线学习的知识管理

网络教学平台与Blog一直是两个相对独立的系统,对于学习者的自主和协作学习有不同的促进作用。其中网络教学平台不利于实现个人的知识管理和知识共享,Blog在实现课程学习和交互作用方面也存在缺憾。如果能实现两者的良好结合及优势互补．就可让网络远程教学发挥出更好的教学效果。