Improving a playcentre science programme through action research

Attitudes to science develop early in life. In early childhood, the almost exclusively female staff members lack confidence in the area of science, and are therefore unable to develop an adequate science program for their children. In an action research project involving one third of the adults staffing a playcentre, during one term, the science programme in the centre was considerably improved, on measures of dialogues with the children, and of planning activities specifically for science. The staff members, mothers in the playcentre, reported increased confidence in talking with children about science topics, and a significant change in their interaction patterns both with their own families and with other children in the playcentre science programme. The action research method was found to be particularly helpful in supporting the group of parents in improving their centre's science program. Specializations: mathematics and science curricula and teacher education in early childhood.     

Improving learning environments through whole-school collaborative action research

Learning Environments Research - The focus of professional learning on activities has changed to internal growth or change among teachers. Our 3-year whole-school collaborative action research was...     

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.     

集群式计算机系统在生物信息学中的应用

1　Introduction　SMP (symmetricmulti processing)andMPP (mas sivelyparallelprocessing)arethetwotypesofstruc tureofparallelcomputing .　Symmetricmulti processingsystemshavemultipleCPUsattachedtothesamebusandsharingRAM .Massivelyparallelprocessingisthecooperated pro cessingofaprogrambymultipleprocessorsthatworkondifferentpartsoftheprogram ,witheachprocessorusingitsownoperatingsystemandmemory .ThechoicebetweenSMPandMPPdependsonthenatureoftheproblembeingsolved .Iftheproblemcanbeeasilypartit…     

Stand-alone computers supporting learning dialogues in primary classrooms

This paper focuses on three distinctive ways in which educational software can support learning dialogues in primary classrooms. After a re-capitulation of published research on Initiation, Discussion, Response, Feedback (IDRF) exchanges, where the computer is used to stimulate discussion and then direct it through using feedback, we ask if there are other ways in which educational software and pedagogy can combine to support learning dialogues. We describe the effect of combining preparation for exploratory talk at the computer with group strategy games played against the computer and then we discuss, with examples, the role of software (in this case Bubble Dialogue) that allows groups to externalise their thoughts in order to reflect upon them. We argue that these three types of educational activity exemplify distinctive ways in which the computer enters into and supports educational dialogues.     

Are computers an important learning resource?

Sue Haugland is Professor at Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO.     

Creative learning in science education

Conclusion Making sense of the world-including the world of school learning-involves making connections between new and existing experiences. Whether this process is called the construction (Piaget, 1929), the generation (Osborne & Wittrock, 1985) or the creation of meaning, the relation of new experiences to existing understandings, images, experiences, and feelings are essential to the process of learning with understanding. For many years cognitive psychology has focused on the making of logical, sequential, highly structured connections. However, the computer metaphor for human information processing and storage is now being questioned and cognitive psychologists are beginning to explore the new ‘unexplorable’-parallel, holistic, divergent, creative mental processes. In addition, this paper proposes a model of the learning process in terms of reciprocally interactive cognitive, affective, and social variables.