It takes a village: supporting inquiry- and equity-oriented computer science pedagogy through a professional learning community

This article describes the importance that high school computer science teachers place on a teachers’ professional learning community designed around an inquiry- and equity-oriented approach for broadening participation in computing. Using grounded theory to analyze four years of teacher surveys and interviews from the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program in the Los Angeles Unified School District, this article describes how participating in professional development activities purposefully aimed at fostering a teachers’ professional learning community helps ECS teachers make the transition to an inquiry-based classroom culture and break professional isolation. This professional learning community also provides experiences that challenge prevalent deficit notions and stereotypes about which students can or cannot excel in computer science.     

Take space,make space: how students use computer science to disrupt and resist marginalization in schools

ABSTRACT

Background and Context

Overlaying Computer Science (CS) courses on top of inequitable schooling systems will not move us toward “CS for All.” This paper prioritizes the perspectives of minoritized students enrolled in high school CS classrooms across a large, urban school district in the Western United States, to help inform how CS can truly be for all.     

More than experiential learning or volunteering: a case study of community service learning within the Australian context

Community service learning is the integration of experiential learning and community service into coursework such that community needs are met and students gain both professional skills and a sense of civic responsibility. A critical component is student reflection. This paper provides an example of the application of community service learning within an undergraduate health unit at the Queensland University of Technology. Based on survey data from 36 program participants, it demonstrates the impact of CSL on student outcomes. Results show that students benefited by developing autonomy through real world experiences, through increased self‐assurance and achievement of personal growth, through gaining new insights into the operations of community service organisations and through moving towards becoming responsible citizens. Students expect their CSL experience to have long‐lasting impact on their lives, with two‐thirds of participants noting that they would like to continue volunteering as part of their future development.     

The impact of cooperative learning on self-directed learning abilities in the computer applications technology class

ABSTRACT

This article reports on an explorative study into the relationship between the implementation of cooperative learning strategies and students’ self-directedness in learning. Participants in this study were first-year Computer Applications Technology student teachers. Students completed a self-directed learning questionnaire at the beginning of the module and again after completion of the module. We used cooperative learning strategies during contact sessions over 12 weeks. After completion of the module, interviews were also conducted with randomly selected students. We concluded that the cooperative learning experiences in the Computer Applications Technology class appear to have an effect on students’ perceived readiness for self-directed learning only in cases where students do not have perceived high self-directed learning skills.     

The multidimensionality of multicultural service learning: The variable effects of social identity, context and pedagogy on pre-service teachers’ learning

Multicultural service learning (MSL) seeks to develop pre-service teachers’ capacities and commitment to teach diverse student populations. We use multiple regression analyses of survey data collected from 212 pre-service teachers engaged in 22 MSL sites to assess the effects of pre-service teachers’ social identities, MSL contexts, and university pedagogy on pre-service teachers’ awareness of cultural bias, understanding of social inequality, and commitment to teaching diverse students. We find that pedagogical engagement positively contributes to all three outcomes. Pre-service teacher’s social identities and MSL contextual factors, however, have variable effects. We explore the pedagogical and research implications of this multidimensionality.     

Inequality in adult learning and education participation: the effects of social origins and social inequality

ABSTRACT

This comparative study examines patterns of inequality in participation in two different types of adult learning and education (ALE) – job-related formal ALE (JFALE) and job-related non-formal ALE (JNFALE) – as related to social origins at the micro-level and three categories of social inequality at the macro-level at the macro level (economic, education, and skill inequality). Using data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), two methods are used to analyse 19 selected OECD countries: multivariate binary logistic regressions to explore the extent to which individuals’ social origins are associated with ALE participation and two-stage multilevel analysis to examine the relationship between social origins’ advantages in ALE participation and social inequality. Statistically significant advantages in ALE participation of social origins were observed in some countries. Additionally, statistically significant positive relationships between social inequality and social origins’ advantages in JNFALE participation are found, which implies that increases in social inequality strengthen advantages associated with social origins.     

关于高校后勤社会化应建立规范服务承诺制的思考

高校后勤社会化改革是一项复杂的系统工程。制定和实施高校后勤服务工作规范,是适应高校后勤社会化改革向组建法人实体深化,促进高校后勤员工自身完善和发展的需要。文章从揭示当前各级各类高校后勤服务领域仍然存在着一些与改革和发展新形势不相适应的办事效率不高。服务工作难到位的共性问题入手,着重阐述了制定和实施高校后勤服务工作规范的意义、原则和实施规范过程中应把握的几个关键性工作环节,旨在推进当前高校后勤社会化改革的健康发展。     

Attracting mature students into higher education: The impact of approaches to learning and social identity

This paper reports on data collected during an evaluation of two higher education courses designed to attract mature entrants aged between 21 and 60 to undergraduate degree programmes. Employing an evaluation design informed by a critical realist approach, the study utilised a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the outcomes of the two courses through the participants' constructed experiences. Two factors were inferred as being important in determining whether participants on these courses proceeded to higher education: whether participants adopted a deep or surface approach to learning, and the extent to which the experience of being on the courses had generated a shared social identity. Our analysis draws attention to interactions between (psychological) explanations of variation in learning and (social) explanations of participation.     

Effects of implementing an integrative drama-inquiry learning model in a science classroom

Abstract

This paper introduces ‘Integrative Drama-Inquiry Learning’ (IDI), merging drama-based learning with inquiry-based learning in order to exemplify teaching science through drama. The study also reports on the findings of a sequential mixed-methods procedure embedded in a quasi-experimental research design aimed to understand the effects of IDI on middle school students’ achievement in a biological unit. The initial quantitative phase revealed that IDI instruction had a significant effect on the experimental group’s achievement compared with traditional teaching. A follow-up qualitative phase showed that their achievement was affected by the enhancement of intrinsic motivation through IDI. Analysis suggested that students’ satisfaction of psychological needs of competency, relatedness, and autonomy positively affected learners’ motivation, as advocated by the self-determination theory.     

Evaluating the effects of analogy enriched text on the learning of science: The importance of learning indexes

Research has shown that differences in the prior knowledge of the participants and in the learning indexes adopted can explain why some studies show positive learning effects of analogy enriched text while others do not. In the present studies, these two factors were combined into one through the construction of a learning index that measured incremental positive changes in the participants' prior knowledge after reading an analogy enriched or no analogy text. A second learning index was also used to evaluate whether the participants created well-formed conceptual models after reading the science text. These learning indexes were used in two studies in which the effects of analogy enriched versus no analogy text were compared on the learning of the scientific explanations of the day/night cycle and of the seasons. The participants were 3rd and 5th graders in the first study and 6th graders and college students in the other. Although only few of the participants learned the correct scientific explanation, those who read the analogy enriched text produced more incremental positive changes in their pretest explanations at posttest and delayed test and created more well-formed conceptual models close to the scientific one than those who read the no analogy text. They also recalled more information and created fewer invalid inferences in their recalls. The results indicate that analogies can be used without reservation to facilitate the learning of science and have broader implications about how to evaluate the learning of science in general.     

Adaptive service configuration approach for quality of service management in ubiquitous computing environments

Mobility and resource-limitedness pose challenging issues to service configuration for quality of service （QoS） management in ubiquitous computing environments. Previous configuration approaches, such as static resource reservation, dynamic resource allocation and single service composition are not valid in the environments. In this study, we present an adaptive service configuration approach. Firstly, we reduce the dynamic configuration process to a control model which aims to achieve the variation of critical QoS on minimal level with less resource cost. Secondly, to deal with different QoS variations, we design two configuration strategies--service chain reconfiguration and QoS parameter adjustment--and implement them based on fuzzy logic control theory. Finally, a configuration algorithm is developed to flexibly employ the two configuration strategies in tune with the error of critical QoS in configuration process. The results of simulation experiments suggest that our approach outperforms existing configuration approaches in both QoS improvement and resource utilization.     

Open educational resources in support of science learning: tools for inquiry and observation

This article focuses on the potential of free tools, particularly inquiry tools for influencing participation in twenty-first-century learning in science, as well as influencing the development of communities around tools. Two examples are presented: one on the development of an open source tool for structured inquiry learning that can bridge the formal/informal spaces for inquiry learning. This is contrasted with an example of the use of free tools and community development for observation of scientific phenomena supported by open educational resources (OER) with a citizen science perspective. The article provides an assessment of how the availability of the resources has a potential for shaping the communities using OER for science learning and a discussion of the means of supporting inquiry.     

高校后勤创建学习型组织之管见

在当下全社会创建学习型组织的热潮下,高校以及其重要组成部分后勤也都在开展相关创建活动。本文对高校后勤建立学习型组织的难点和障碍进行具体分析,并提出相应的对策。     

Teacher facilitating of group learning in science with digital technology and insights into students’ agency in learning to learn

ABSTRACT

The study provides an insight into how teachers may facilitate students’ group learning in science with digital technology, which was examined when Norwegian lower secondary school students engaged in learning concepts of mitosis and meiosis. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the teacher’s assistance draw on Galperin’s conceptualisation of learning.

Findings reveal patterns in the teacher’s guidance: the teacher fulfilled the orienting, executive and controlling functions while assisting students in identifying the key features of mitosis and meiosis and solving the compare and contrast task. The teacher relied on and interplayed with the available mediational resources: compare and contrast task, digital animations, and collaborating peers. However, it was the compare and contrast task that demonstrated an approach to study scientific concepts which may have contributed to the development of learners’ understanding about to engage in learning in science. By adopting such an approach, learning activity has the potential to not only help students to achieve learning outcomes but it acquires a functional significance, becoming a tool in the learning process aimed at the development of students’ as learners. The digital animations, in turn, demonstrated scientific processes that were otherwise invisible for students and triggered group discussions. The study, therefore, raises questions about the need for practitioners’ awareness of the type of support the technology and other resources provide to assist both conceptual learning and enhancing students’ agency in learning to learn.     

Moments of becoming: experiences of embodied connection to place in arts-based service learning in Australia

The experience of place in arts-based service learning (ABSL) is personal. It can be difficult to define and challenging to share and build upon. This paper, reporting from a national ABSL project involving three Australian universities, is concerned with experiences of place in forming professional teacher identity. Using a narrative methodology in presenting the stories of six people, pre-service teachers and Indigenous community members, the paper draws on a number of different theoretical frameworks to explore each participant’s experience and its longer-term impact on their thinking. The participant stories revealed the value of spaces between art-making, teaching, and research. The learning experiences led pre-service teachers to reflect deeply in relation to self and to consider the impact of their experiences on both current and future professional interactions. As anticipated, participants found it difficult to communicate these elemental experiences in the written word. The findings have implications for the value of flexible and critical service-learning approaches, particularly in diverse cultural contexts.     

The difficult bridge between university and industry: a case study in computer science teaching

Recently, there has been increasing criticism concerning academic computer science education. This paper presents a new approach based on the principles of constructivist learning design as well as the ideas of knowledge transfer in communities of practice. The course ‘High‐tech Entrepreneurship and New Media’ was introduced as an interdisciplinary project management lab in which students collaborate in groups to develop software solutions for authentic problems. Main goals were the tighter integration of university and local start‐up companies, an intense knowledge transfer on software engineering methods, as well as the implementation of constructivist learning principles in academic teaching. This paper presents the background and structure of the course as well as the results of a formative evaluation. While being successful in introducing a course based on digital‐media assisted, constructivist learning arrangements, establishing lasting communities of practice between university and industry is still an open issue. After discussing several reasons, the paper concludes with a list of general recommendations on how to improve the approach and its implementation.     

'Being in the World': The event of learning

This paper employs an eclectic mix of paradigms in order to discuss constituting characteristics of young children's learning experiences. Drawing upon a phenomenological perspective it examines learning as a form of 'Being' and as the result of learners' engagement with the world in their own, unique, intentional manners. The learners' intentions towards their world are expressed in everyday activity and participation. A social constructivist perspective is thus employed to present learning as situated in meaningful socio-cultural contexts of the everyday, lived world and as a form of participation in those settings. These characteristics of learning are brought together into a holistic, synthesised model, a Gestalt of learning. The proposed synthesis has relevance for and is applicable to educational contexts as a means of making sense of children's learning experiences and of promoting and facilitating them.     

“服务性学习”在高职文秘实践教学中的应用

"服务性学习"强调让学生在实践和反思中进行经验性的学习,是一种行之有效的实践教学模式。本文以浙江育英职业技术学院文秘专业为例,结合"全国经济普查调研"实训项目,分析了"服务性学习"在实践教学中的具体应用及其实施效果。     

基层电大学习支持服务系统的构建与实践

功能完善的学习支持服务系统是远程开放教育成功的基础,直接影响远程开放教育的质量。本文重点分析了中山电大学习过程支持服务系统的现状,提出了进一步完善的对策及建议。     

Design of learning objects for concept learning: effects of multimedia learning principles and an instructional approach

Literature suggests using multimedia learning principles in the design of instructional material. However, these principles may not be sufficient for the design of learning objects for concept learning in mathematics. This paper reports on an experimental study that investigated the effects of an instructional approach, which includes two teaching techniques – (a) variation theory and (b) representations of subject matter – on the design of learning objects for secondary school algebra concept learning. The results of this study showed that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group on algebra learning achievement. The results also showed that only the experimental design with the addition of the instructional approach resulted in higher-order mathematical thinking skills and improved procedural skills of the students. Further analysis reveals that concept learning was simplified when multimedia learning principles were applied and the information was presented by the instructional approach.