Sonification of numerical data for education

ABSTRACT

Sonification is the use of non-speech audio to convey information. In this article, sonifications are representations of plots aimed at improving the accessibility of teaching materials. The electronic nature of sonifications means that they can be deployed to students via teaching interfaces such as virtual learning environments. We describe a two-phase study that explores sonifications of plots as a teaching tool in the context of distance learning in STEM. The overall objective of these two phases was to begin to assess the suitability of audio versions of graphs as a teaching tool for non-sighted and sighted students. In the first phase the effectiveness of sonifications within a small group of participants who took part in activities like those encountered in a distance learning setting was explored. We found that even though sonifications were new to them, participants were able to use them to gain impressions of the corresponding plots. The second phase deployed sonifications to all students on an Open University (OU) module. Although many of the students who chose to respond did so negatively, some found the sonifications an interesting augmentation of the plot. Overall, we demonstrate that for a subset of students, information in a plot can be communicated using sonifications.     

EDA技术课程教学研究

EDA技术是大学本科电子信息工程类相关专业的一门重要的专业课,是一门需要较强专业基础,以实践为主的课程,其教学质量的好坏不仅影响学生对该门课程的掌握,甚至会直接影响到学生对该专业的兴趣延伸与期待。针对该课程的理论教学和实践教学现状,对现有的教学方法进行研究改进,由此激发学生的学习兴趣,以提高EDA技术课程的理论实践教学效果。     

Promoting understanding of chemical representations: Students' use of a visualization tool in the classroom

Many students have difficulty learning symbolic and molecular representations of chemistry. This study investigated how students developed an understanding of chemical representations with the aid of a computer‐based visualizing tool, eChem, that allowed them to build molecular models and view multiple representations simultaneously. Multiple sources of data were collected with the participation of 71 eleventh graders at a small public high school over a 6‐week period. The results of pre‐ and posttests showed that students' understanding of chemical representations improved substantially (p < .001, effect size = 2.68‐. The analysis of video recordings revealed that several features in eChem helped students construct models and translate representations. Students who were highly engaged in discussions while using eChem made referential linkages between visual and conceptual aspects of representations. This in turn may have deepened their understanding of chemical representations and concepts. The findings also suggest that computerized models can serve as a vehicle for students to generate mental images. Finally, students demonstrated their preferences of certain types of representations and did not use all types of three‐dimensional models interchangeably. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 821–842, 2001     

基于PBL模式的EDA技术实验教学改革

针对EDA技术基础实验与综合设计缺少联系,学生在有限实验学时内只能完成一些简单数字系统等问题,引入问题驱动教学法(Problem-Based Learning,PBL)对EDA技术实验进行深化改革。以综合设计导入作为EDA实验教学起点,以综合设计作为核心问题反向设计基础实验的教学内容,以学生作为主体围绕问题寻求解决方案,实践效果表明,显著提升了学生学习的主动性,相同学时可以设计出更加复杂的系统,提高学生解决复杂工程问题的能力。     

Testing a student generated hypothesis using student data

We describe an activity that allows students to experience the full process of a statistical investigation, from generating the research question, to collecting data and testing a hypothesis. Implementation of the activity is described both with and without use of clickers, handheld remotes that allow instant data collection.     

Teaching the design and interpretation of graphs through computer-aided graphical data analysis

Graphs are one of the primary means of exploration and communication in the practice of science, but students in science laboratories are customarily taught only the low-level mechanics of constructing a single kind of graph when given a table of information. The use of a microcomputer can relieve the drudgery of plotting, allowing students to pursue higher-level issues in the design and interpretation of graphs through repeated “thought experiments.” We introduced computer-assisted graphical data analysis to inner-city high school students with weak math and science backgrounds, emphasizing the dynamic manipulation of various kinds of graphs to answer specific questions. Drawing on extensive recordings and classroom observations, we describe examples of the performance of these students on open-ended problem-solving tasks in which graphs can be used to arrive at meaningful answers to applied data analysis problems.     

Analyzing Whispers: college students’ representation and reproduction of sociocultural discourses about bodies,relationships, and (hetero)sexuality using a mobile application

Previous research about college students’ social media usage emphasizes social media practices, often ignoring the content that students’ post. Increasing knowledge about the language that college students use to describe their intimate relationships can inform student affairs practice. Using a digital ethnographic data collection approach and queer theoretical framework, this paper explores the dominant discourses about race, sexuality, and relationships circulated in a mobile social networking application. This paper used content analysis to describe the meaning of text and images produced by college-aged youth in the US. Through this analysis of social media content, I contend that college students engage in the complex representations and reproductions of sociocultural norms about bodies, sexuality, and relationships and that these representations and reproductions influence campus climate. I develop implications for student affairs administrators.     

Construction and interference in learning from multiple representation

This paper presents an integrated view of learning from verbal and pictorial representations. Learning from these representations is considered as a task oriented process of constructing multiple mental representations. Construction of these representations includes information selection and information organisation, parsing of symbol structures, mapping of analog structures as well as model construction and model inspection. Based on this theoretical view an experiment was conducted to analyse the effects of different kinds of multiple external representations on the structure of mental models. Sixty university students were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions. The text-only group learned the subject matter with a hypertext, whereas the other two groups learned the subject matter with a hypermedium including this hypertext and different kinds of graphics. The findings indicate that the structure of graphics affects the structure of the mental model. They also indicate that presenting graphics is not always beneficial for the acquisition of knowledge. Whereas task-appropriate graphics may support learning, task-inappropriate graphics may interfere with mental model construction.     

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE CONCEPTS INCLUDING MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATIONS: pH VALUES AND THE RELATIVE DIFFERENCES OF pH VALUES

In general, mathematical representations such as formulae, numbers, and graphs are the inseparable components in science used to better describe or explain scientific phenomena or knowledge. Regardless of their necessity and benefit, science seems to be difficult for some students, as a result of the mathematical representations and problem solving used in scientific inquiry. In this regard, several studies have attributed students’ decreasing interest in science to the presence of these mathematical representations. In order to better understand student learning difficulties caused by mathematical components, the current study investigates student understanding of a familiar science concept and its mathematical component (pH value and logarithms). Student responses to a questionnaire and a follow-up interview were examined in detail. “Measure” and “concentration” were key criteria for students’ understanding of pH values. In addition, only a few students understood logarithms on a meaningful level. According to students’ understanding of scientific phenomena and mathematical structures, five different student models and the critical features of each type were identified. Further analysis revealed the existence of three domains that characterize these five types: object, operation, and function. By suggesting the importance of understanding scientific phenomena as a “function,” the current study reveals what needs to be taught and emphasized in order to help students obtain a level of scientific meaning that is appropriate for their grade.     

Affordances of narrative and numerical data: A social-semiotic approach to data use

Data use in education is a sensemaking process in which practitioners and researchers interact with different systems of meaning such as anecdotes or spreadsheets. The representational qualities of data and their influence on practice are critical but less well-discussed aspects of data use. Drawing on social semiotics, this theoretical article proposes that data should be discussed in terms of narrative and numerical modes of representation. Narrative data typically consist of protagonists and actions organized in a temporal structure, while numerical data typically consist of mathematical notations and visual representations such as graphs and figures. We argue that the representational properties of these two modes affect how data are interpreted and acted upon. We then present two contrasting cases from New Zealand and Norway of how affordances affect teachers’ data use processes. Finally, we discuss five challenges arising from our theorization about the affordances of data.     

How learners produce data from text in classifying clickbait

Text provides a compelling example of unstructured data that can be used to motivate and explore classification problems. Challenges arise regarding the representation of features of text and student linkage between text representations as character strings and identification of features that embed connections with underlying phenomena. In order to observe how students reason with text data in scenarios designed to elicit certain aspects of the domain, we employed a task-based interview method using a structured protocol with six pairs of undergraduate students. Our goal was to shed light on students' understanding of text as data using a motivating task to classify headlines as “clickbait” or “news.” Three types of features (function, content, and form) surfaced, the majority from the first scenario. Our analysis of the interviews indicates that this sequence of activities engaged the participants in thinking at both the human-perception level and the computer-extraction level and conceptualizing connections between them.     

基于EDA技术的通信原理课程设计的改革与探索

在传统的通信原理课程设计方法的基础上提出一种采用EDA技术的课程设计方法,并加以实践,使学生能进一步理解通信系统的工作原理;同时可以提高学生EDA技术的应用能力;文中以"QDPSK调制系统"设计实例,详细阐述EDA技术在通信系统中的设计过程。     

Social representations as mediators of practice in mathematics classrooms with immigrant students

This article suggests that a critical perspective of the notion of social representations can offer useful insights into understanding practices of teaching and learning in mathematics classrooms with immigrant students. Drawing on literature using social representations, previous empirical studies are revisited to examine three specific questions: what are the dominant social representations that permeate the mathematics classroom with immigrant students? What impact do these social representations have on classroom practices? What are the spaces for changing these practices through becoming reflective and critically aware of these representations? These questions are addressed mostly in relation to teachers’ representations, though the article also draws on data from research with students and parents to illustrate the diversity of representations and to argue for a critical and reflective perspective.     

The Construction of Mathematical Meanings: Connecting the Visual with the Symbolic

In this paper, we explore the relationship between learners' actions, visualisations and the means by which these are articulated. We describe a microworld, Mathsticks, designed to help students construct mathematical meanings by forging links between the rhythms of their actions and the visual and corresponding symbolic representations they developed. Through a case study of two students interacting with Mathsticks, we illustrate a view of mathematics learning which places at its core the medium of expression, and the building of connections between different mathematisations rather than ascending to hierarchies of decontextualisation.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

‘University is a non-Muslim experience,you know? The experience is as good as it can be’: Satisfied settling in Muslim students’ experiences and implications for Muslim student voice

We report findings from a cross-institutional investigation testing the applicability of a new concept, ‘satisfied settling’, which describes the ways in which students are unconsciously ‘settling for less’ in terms of their university experiences. The context of exploration for this article was that of Muslim students’ experiences as a critical area which has received little previous focus. Our results describe a staged cognitive process undertaken by students to subconsciously excuse institutional failures to support their religious needs by settling for lower levels of satisfaction. The ‘counter stories’ told by 19 Muslim students (via semi-structured interviews) detail how their voices are heard or silenced around the deep importance of religious provisions in their university experiences. Satisfied settling was ultimately found to translate across institutional contexts, and the applicability of the concept is discussed in extending to other marginalised student groups.     

基于FPGA的EDA创新实验探讨

文章探讨了一个基于FPGA的EDA创新实验。由于传统的使用实验箱进行实验的方法在某些方面存在不足,因此本创新实验提倡完全由学生自己动手设计。详细讨论了EP1K30TC144-3的管脚功能以及该芯片最小系统的构成,还介绍了下载线的原理和电路连接方法。通过本实验不但使学生深刻地理解FPGA器件最小系统的构成和调试技巧还培养了学生的学习积极性和创新精神。     

Orientalism(s), world geography textbooks,and temporal paradox: questioning representations of Southwest Asia and North Africa

In this critical discourse analysis of six high-school world geography textbooks, we explore how constructions and representations of North Africa and Southwest Asia have served to reinforce Orientalist discourse in formal curriculum. Visual and written representations in these textbooks were overwhelmingly confounded by a traditional/modern dichotomy that constructed a paradoxical “Muslim world.” Gender and religion coding perpetuated the temporal paradox with women and Islam used as symbols of the traditional in need of western modernization. This paper begins with a contextualization of the study of textbooks and addresses investigations of media portrayals of Muslims, Arabs, and Islam. We then describe our theoretical grounding in criticalist perspectives and detail methods of analysis. Lastly, we present the three themes revealed through analysis and conclude with recommendations for enhancing geographic literacy in schools.     

Students’ meaning making in science: solving energy resource problems in virtual worlds combined with spreadsheets to develop graphs

The aim of this study is to scrutinize the characteristics of conceptual meaning making when students engage with virtual worlds in combination with a spreadsheet with the aim to develop graphs. We study how these tools and the representations they contain or enable students to construct serve to influence their understanding of energy resource consumption. The data were gathered in 1st grade upper-secondary science classes and they constitute the basis for the interaction analysis of students?? meaning making with representations. Our analyses demonstrate the difficulties involved in developing students?? orientation toward more conceptual orientations to representations of the knowledge domain. Virtual worlds do not in themselves represent a solution to this problem.