Pedagogic transformation,student-directed design and computational thinking

In a world where technology has become pervasive in our lives, the notion of IT integration in education practice is losing its significance. It is now more appropriate to discuss transforming pedagogy where technology is not considered a tool anymore but part of what we are. To advance this hypothesis, an enterprising, student-directed approach is proposed which embraces problem-solving as activity and computational thinking as knowledge development. In order to test its efficacy, a case study of students developing a 3D virtual space for international collaboration is used to exemplify the transformational pedagogy. From observations of the enactment of heutagogical characteristics and computational thinking, it is argued that we can now teach and learn “in” technology. This modality will come to dominate how technology operates “as” our lives, and become central to what it means to know and learn.     

Context matters: Secondary science teachers' integration of process-based,unplugged computational thinking into science curriculum

There is growing recognition in the education community that the problem-solving practices that comprise computational thinking (CT) are a fundamental component of both life and work in the twenty-first century. Historically, opportunities to learn CT have been confined to computer science (CS) and elective courses that lack racial, ethnic, and gender diversity. To combat this inequity, a number of scholars have proposed integrating CT practices into core curriculum——especially science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum. Successfully achieving the goal of integrated CT, however, depends on frameworks to guide integration, professional development for teachers, exemplars of successful integrations, and identifications of the barriers teachers encounter. Research pertaining to each of these areas is in its infancy. This study addresses these needs through a collective case study of 10 secondary science teachers' implementations of a novel, process-based, unplugged approach to CT/science integration and the factors that supported or hindered their CT/science integration efforts. The results of this work reveal that: (1) an unplugged and process-based approach to CT/science integration shows promise as a vehicle for infusing CT into diverse science classrooms; (2) educators' teaching context exerts a strong influence on their CT-integration efforts and persistence; and (3) special attention is needed to support teachers in their CT/science integrations including algorithm creation. This study also demonstrates the utility of the Fraillon et al.'s CT framework as a guide for CT/science integration efforts and sheds light on the unique affordances of unplugged strategies for implementing CT-integrated science curricula.     

以培养计算思维为核心的程序设计实验教学

计算思维的教育价值体现在3个方面:问题求解思路、创新思维和形式化描述。强化计算思维训练的2种途径是改革实验教学模式和倡导算法多样化。     

Programming video games and simulations in science education: exploring computational thinking through code analysis

Various aspects of computational thinking (CT) could be supported by educational contexts such as simulations and video-games construction. In this field study, potential differences in student motivation and learning were empirically examined through students’ code. For this purpose, we performed a teaching intervention that took place over five weeks, with two-hour sessions per week, plus two more weeks for the pretest and post-test projects. Students were taught programming concepts through a science project; one group represented the function of a basic electric circuit by creating a simulation, while the other group represented the same function by creating a video game in which a player should achieve a score in order to win. Video game construction resulted in projects with higher CT skills and more primitives, as measured through projects’ code analysis. Moreover, the video-game context seems to better motivate students for future engagement with computing activities.     

首要教学原理在计算思维能力培养中的应用

计算机基础教学的核心任务是计算思维能力的培养,以计算思维能力培养为目标对计算机基础课程进行教学设计具有重要的意义.首要教学原理是指导教学设计的一种有效的方法,对首要教学原理在计算思维能力培养中的应用进行了探索,指出了非计算机专业计算思维能力培养的教学设计的相关要点.教学效果证明了教学设计的方法是有效的,能够提高学习者的计算思维能力和学习积极性.     

中国某传统民居选址对自然通风的影响(英文)

利用计算流体动力学模拟了传统民居当大门建筑群丘陵地形下选址与自然通风的关系.该模拟包括不同气候与地形下的4个案例及其建筑周边风压与风速分布.模拟结果显示:山体能够降低建筑迎风面和背风面的风压绝对值;在有山体的地形中天井对自然通风的促进效果大于没有山体的地形,对比冬季与夏季天井效果时也可得到同样结论;作为障碍物,山体还能降低建筑周边的风速,且由于冬夏季风向不同,山体的影响程度呈现出较大区别.分析结果表明,丘陵位于建筑北向的选址方式可以解决亚热带气候条件下住宅冬夏2季不同的自然通风需求而造成的矛盾,尤其在含天井的住宅中最为显著.     

A computational model of student cognitive processes while solving a critical thinking problem in science

Critical thinking when engaged in science problem solving around even simple tasks such as the Piagetian volume conservation task is a complex endeavor. Tasks such as the conservation task often require the interaction of multiple cognitive systems. Parity judgment, retrieval, and lateral thinking are three examples of such systems interacting with critical thinking during a student’s attempt to solve the Piagetian task. The purpose of this computational ablation study is to establish the role of critical thinking as a necessary component of a system of cognition used for the completion of the Piagetian volume conservation task. This ablation study consists of three phases. The confidence interval between the ablation model and the elementary students do not overlap, indicating they are not statistically significantly different. This provides evidence that the model successfully emulates aspects of human cognition and the model can provide a robust picture of science student cognitive processes.     

高职毕业生择业问题与思考

高职学生择业难的问题已摆在了我们各项工作的首位，教育引导学生正确认识在择业观念上的一些问题，树立起正确的择业观念，走出一条适合我院发展的成功之路。     

“We do not know what is the real story anymore”: Curricular contextualization principles that support indigenous students in understanding natural selection

We propose a process of contextualization based on seven empirically derived contextualization principles, aiming to provide opportunities for Indigenous Mexican adolescents to learn science in a way that supports them in fulfilling their right to an education aligned with their own culture and values. The contextualization principles we empirically derived account for Nahua students' cultural cognition, socialization, and cultural narratives, thus supporting Indigenous students in navigating the differences between their culture and the culture and language of school while learning complex science concepts such as natural selection. The process of curricular contextualization we propose is empirically driven, taking culture and socialization into account by using multiples sources (cognitive tasks to explore teleology, ethnographic observation of students' community and classroom, and interviews with students and community members) and builds on the scholarship in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Indigenous Education. We used these principles to redesign a middle school biology unit on natural selection to make it more culturally relevant for Nahua students. The enactment of this unit resulted in students being engaged in science learning and achieving significant learning gains. The significance of this study lies in presenting evidence that learning science in culturally relevant ways supports the learning of challenging biology concepts. We provide evidence that Western science can be learned in ways that are more aligned with Indigenous students' Traditional Indigenous Knowledge, thus informing the implementation of educational policies aiming to improve the quality of secondary education for Indigenous adolescents. Our proposed contextualization principles can benefit students of all cultural identities who feel that their religion, language, or traditional knowledge are not aligned with school science, facilitating their access to culturally relevant science education.     

The complexities in fostering critical thinking through school-based curriculum innovation: research evidence from Singapore

Abstract

Singapore’s strong performance in international benchmarking studies – Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – poses a conundrum to researchers who view Singapore’s pedagogy as characterized by the teaching of facts and procedures, and lacking in constructivist learning principles. In this paper, we examine the impact of different curriculum innovations on critical thinking as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Assessment – UK (WGCTA-UK). This includes two innovations that are subject-specific and short-term, one that strongly infuses the arts into the curriculum throughout the whole course of study, and the innovation of the Integrated Programme (IP) which allows academically stronger students to skip the GCE “O” Levels and enter directly into the next level of education, with the time previously allocated to exam preparation now spent on greater breadth in the academic and non-academic curriculum. This paper takes the sociocultural approach to investigate the contexts, process, and outcomes, reports the state of critical thinking, and sheds light on how critical thinking is being promoted. Through our analysis, we find support for the claim that only curriculum that is rigorously designed to foster critical thinking competencies will reap the intended student outcome.     

论学生创造性思维及其培养

创新能力对于一个民族的影响是巨大的，影响创新能力的因素有很多，其中创造性思维的培养是关键，是创新能力形成的基础。学校安排教学活动时应注重学生创造性思维的培养。     

人工智能时代需要关注的新素养:计算思维

计算思维作为智能时代的产物不仅影响计算机科学的转型,也正逐步渗透到教育的方方面面。计算思维经历了萌芽、探索、发展三个阶段,通过对近十年国内外关于计算思维研究的梳理,借助CiteSpace软件进行聚类分析,结合内容分析等方法,发现计算思维的研究热点聚焦在理论研究、教学应用和教育评估三大维度,重心随发展阶段不断演变并且深化。结合国内外的经验,讨论了计算思维在内容设置、实施策略以及评价等方面对中小学教育的意义。对未来研究提出四点可能的发展方向:明晰计算思维的目标定位,聚焦问题解决;完善计算思维的内容组织,关注跨学科整合;明确计算思维的实施路径,培养创新型教师;厘清计算思维的评价导向,关注外显型测评。     

Feature selection for face recognition: a memetic algorithmic approach

The eigenface method that uses principal component analysis （PCA） has been the standard and popular method used in face recognition. This paper presents a PCA - memetic algorithm （PCA-MA） approach for feature selection. PCA has been extended by MAs where the former was used for feature extraction/dimensionality reduction and the latter exploited for feature selection. Simulations were performed over ORL and YaleB face databases using Euclidean norm as the classifier. It was found that as far as the recognition rate is concerned, PCA-MA completely outperforms the eigenface method. We compared the performance of PCA extended with genetic algorithm （PCA-GA） with our proposed PCA-MA method. The results also clearly established the supremacy of the PCA-MA method over the PCA-GA method. We further extended linear discriminant analysis （LDA） and kernel principal component analysis （KPCA） approaches with the MA and observed significant improvement in recognition rate with fewer features. This paper also compares the performance of PCA-MA, LDA-MA and KPCA-MA approaches.     

The logic of data-sense: thinking through Learning Personalisation

Big Data and Learning Analytics’ promise to revolutionise educational institutions, endeavours, and actions through more and better data is now compelling. Multiple, and continually updating, data sets produce a new sense of ‘personalised learning’. A crucial attribute of the datafication, and subsequent profiling, of learner behaviour and engagement is the continual modification of the learning environment to induce greater levels of investment on the parts of each learner. The assumption is that more and better data, gathered faster and fed into ever-updating algorithms, provide more complete tools to understand, and therefore improve, learning experiences through adaptive personalisation. The argument in this paper is that Learning Personalisation names a new logistics of investment as the common ‘sense’ of the school, in which disciplinary education is ‘both disappearing and giving way to frightful continual training, to continual monitoring'.     

Measuring knowledge of natural selection: A comparison of the CINS,an open‐response instrument,and an oral interview

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in‐depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified version of Bishop and Anderson's (Bishop and Anderson [1990] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 27: 415–427) open‐response test that we call the Open Response Instrument (ORI), and an oral interview derived from both instruments, to measure biology majors' understanding of and alternative conceptions about natural selection. We explored how these instruments differentially inform science educators about the knowledge and alternative conceptions their students harbor. Overall, both the CINS and ORI provided excellent replacements for the time‐consuming process of oral interviews and produced comparable measures of key concept diversity and, to a lesser extent, key concept frequency. In contrast, the ORI and CINS produced significantly different measures of both alternative conception diversity and frequency, with the ORI results completely concordant with oral interview results. Our study indicated that revisions of both the CINS and ORI are necessary because of numerous instrument items characterized by low discriminability, high and/or overlapping difficulty, and mismatches with the sample. While our results revealed that both instruments are valid and generally reliable measures of knowledge and alternative conceptions about natural selection, a test combining particular components of both instruments—a modified version of the CINS to test for key concepts, and a modified version of the ORI to assess student alternative conceptions—should be used until a more approprite instrument is developed and rigorously evaluated. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 1131–1160, 2008     

艺术语言产生时思维的心象性和意象性

本文从心理学角度 ,探讨了艺术语言产生时的心理过程 ,认为 :艺术语言的思维是心象性思维 ,心象思维明晰化 ,就成为意象思维。艺术语言思维的根本目的是在“意”而不在“言” ,即“言” ,只是表现“意”的形式材料和手段而已。艺术语言的思维过程 ,首先是一种特殊的形象思维 ,即心象思维 ,“心象”是一种“心灵化的表象” ,它是渗透了主体认知、情感、心绪、审美体验等的表象。潜意识中的心象思维明晰化、语词化 ,就成为意象思维。