Using model-based scaffolds to support students solving context-based chemistry problems

ABSTRACT

Context-based learning aims to make learning more meaningful by raising meaningful problems. However, these types of problems often require reflection and thinking processes that are more complex and thus more difficult for students, putting high demands on students’ problem-solving capabilities. In this paper, students’ approaches when solving context-based chemistry problems and effects of systematic scaffolds are analysed based on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity. Most answers were initially assigned to the lowest level of the model; higher levels were reached without scaffolds only by few students and by most students with scaffolds. The results are discussed with regard to practical implications in terms of how teachers could make use of context-based tasks and aligned scaffolds to help students in this activity.     

提高初中物理计算题解题能力策略

针对学生解析计算题的能力不足的现象,通过对计算题中的审题、解题、思维、归纳提高等各个环节的系统分析,提高学生解析计算题的能力.     

Designing technology to support reflection

Technology can play a powerful role in supporting student reflection. Sociocognitive theories provide a conceptual framework that we use to consider systems that afford reflective thinking. Reflective thinking involves actively monitoring, evaluating, and modifying one's thinking and comparing it to both expert models and peers. This requires a combination of both individual and collaborative reflection. These theoretical frameworks suggest four ways that technology can provide powerful scaffolding for reflection: (a) process displays, (b) process prompts, (c) process models, and (d) a forum for reflective social discourse. Each approach is presented with specific examples illustrating its design features. We argue that a systems approach that combines these different scaffolding techniques may be even more powerful. Modern technologies can provide students with rich resources for reflection and help students develop adaptive learning expertise through reflective practice. We conclude with a discussion of design issues that should be considered in the future.The preparation of this article was supported by a Vanderbilt University Research Council grant and a Spencer Fellowship to the first author. The ideas expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the granting agencies. We thank John Bransford, Allan Collins, Ben Loh and Susan Williams for their insightful suggestions on drafts of this article. We also thank Eliot Soloway, Shari Jackson Metcalf and the highly interactive computing group at the University of Michigan for their permission to use the graphics of the Model-It program. Finally, we thank the reviewers for their comments and suggestions.     

Assessing Proctors: solving problems in grading student performance in a peer support system

This article discusses the nature of the proctoring peer support system in use in the School of Philosophy at the University of Leeds and the problem of assessment that was faced when the School decided to offer participation in this scheme as a module that counted towards the degree classification of the students involved as proctors. In particular, the problem of whether a form of written work could be an appropriate assessment method is addressed and a solution is suggested.     

现代化中的农民问题

农民问题伴随现代化进程始终,只有在一个国家充分实现城市化后才能最后解决。西欧、拉美等地的农民转变受到其历史与环境上的特殊条件的影响,而东亚的“小农制”模式缓和了农民在现代化进程中所难免遭受的苦难,对我们具有重要的借鉴意义。解决我国目前的农民问题,需要新的思路:尤其是转向主要在城市解决农民问题而不只是在农村解决,转向主要依靠个人与社会来解决而不是像以往那样只依赖于政府与官员。     

Designing computer systems to support peer learning

This article begins with a review of the various roles which computers have played in supporting collaborative learning and argues that, whatever role it plays, technology is not neutral with respect to interactions with and between users. Interfaces to learning environments embody particular representational schemes which have the potential either for competing with representations of the learning domain or for giving access to it. In this respect, the learner-machine interface has ‘Epistemic significance’ and its design is as important as the design of the materials and activities to which it interfaces.     

向量在代数解题中的运用

作为数学工具的向量有着广泛的应用,本文就初等代数方面,给出了如何利用向量的线性运算、向量三角不等式、向量数量积、向量向量积和向量混合积等解决问题,方法简明规范,且有利于培养学生的创造性思维能力。     

试谈问题解决中的数学建模

数学建模在数学学习和应用中占据着重要的地位 ,它与数学模型法有些不一样。培养学生数学建模能力可从如下三方面着手 :1.对已建的数学模型进行“意义赋予”,让学生感受建模作用 ;2 .应用题要应用 ,在实际问题解决中训练学生建模 ;3.实行探究性学习 ,促进学生主动建模。     

构造思想在解题中的应用

用构造思想解决问题具有一定的创造性和启发性。一些数学问题用构造思想作为辅助手段来解决 ,使解题变得简单、快捷。本文第举一些实例对构造思想解题做一些探讨。一、构造函数解题构造函数法是运用函数思想 ,对问题进行观察、分析 ,构造也与问题有一定联系的函数 ,利用函数的知识来解决问题的一种方法。1、构造函数证明不等式构造二次函数模型Ｆ(ｘ) =(ａ1 ｘ -ｂ1 ) 2 +(ａ2 ｘ -ｂ2 ) 2 +… +(ａｎｘ -ｂｎ) 2 考虑到Ｆ(ｘ)≥ 0 ,有△≤ 0 ,即 (ａ1 ｂ1 +ａ2 ｂ2+… +ａｎｂｎ) 2 ≤ (ａ12 +ａ22 +… +ａｎ2 )·(ｂ12 +ｂ22 +… +ｂｎ2 )…     

把数学思想渗透到解题方法之中

从数学教育的目的出发 ,阐述了数学思想和解题方法以及它们之间的关系。指出了当前在数学思想和解题方法教学上的一些不足之处 ,并结合实例提出了在解题教学中如何运用数学思想和解题方法的一些观点和做法。     

An online support system to scaffold real-world problem solving

The article presents a reusable online support system, in which an open-ended learning environment is created to scaffold complex, real-world problem solving activities. The major learning components of the system are specifically described, and the internal interactions between different components within the system and the external interactions among the system, learners (who also interact with one another among themselves), instructors, and administrators are demonstrated. The learning theories and the assumptions underpinning the system design framework are discussed in terms of each of the system components: case library with real-world cases, question prompts, peer review, expert modelling, and self-reflection mechanisms. In conclusion, initial findings about the support system are shared, and issues regarding reusability, adaptivity, and generativity of the system are addressed focusing on developing novice learners' problem solving skills in various domains and contexts. The article proposes a cognitive model for contextualizing learning scenarios to support real-world problem solving, which has implications for designing e-learning.     

有机试题中的思维训练

由于有机物种类繁多、结构复杂、反应多变,所以在有机试题的考查中对学生思维品质的要求较高,具体可以概括为以下几个方面。     

由结构不良问题解决引发的对传统教学的反思

社会期待学校教育能够培养出具有创新素质和实践能力的人才,但在传统教学中呈现给学生的都是结构良好的问题,因而使学生获得了大量的“惰性知识”,导致他们在面对具体的实际问题时束手无策。结构不良问题教学考虑到了情境的复杂性,为学生的知识建构和能力培养提供了新的视角,引发了我们对传统教学中知识的建构与问题解决之间的关系,教师与学生的角色定位以及课堂教学开放性等问题的反思。     

逆向思维在数学解题中的应用

在数学解题中，通过家义的逆用、公式的变形逆用、逆向分析法、反证法、逆向排除法等不仅很多数学问题运算算化，而且还能培养学生思维的敏捷性，提高学生的数学能力。     

Make or break: the role and support needs of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses

ABSTRACT

The role of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses is crucial to student success, yet poorly understood. This research aimed to understand the role and support needs of academic advisors by conducting interviews, a survey, and a focus group within a service learning program in Queensland, Australia. Participants identified rewards in observing student transformation and supporting students to contribute to social justice causes. However, the role had high demands in terms of pastoral support. Although academic advisors reported strong support mechanisms, they identified gaps in supporting them to meet the needs of international students and students with mental health issues. Academic advisors need strong mentoring or supervisory support to deal with diverse student issues, clear processes for tracking and managing students, training and resources to deal with special needs students, and opportunities for team building and bonding. Supporting academic advisors could help to better support students to successfully complete internships.     

Designing and implementing a case-based learning environment for enhancing ill-structured problem solving: classroom management problems for prospective teachers

This design-based research study is aimed at two goals: (1) developing a feasible case-based instructional model that could enhance college students’ ill-structured problem solving abilities, while (2) implementing the model to improve teacher education students’ real-world problem solving abilities to deal with dilemmas faced by practicing teachers in elementary classrooms. To achieve these goals, an online case-based learning environment for classroom management problem solving (CBL-CMPS) was developed based on Jonassen’s (in: Reigeluth (ed.) Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, 1999) constructivist learning environment model and the general process of ill-structured problem solving (1997). Two successive studies, in which the effectiveness of the CBL-CMPS was tested while the CBL-CMPS was revised, showed that the individual components of the CBL-CMPS promoted ill-structured problem solving abilities respectively, and that the CBL-CMPS as a whole learning environment was effective to a degree for the transfer of learning in ill-structured problem solving. The potential, challenge, and implications of the CBL-CMPS are discussed.

Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving

With an increased emphasis on problem solving and problem-based learning in the instructional design field, new methods for task analysis and models for designing instruction are needed. An important methodology for both entails the elicitation, analysis, and inclusion of stories as a primary form of instructional support while learning to solve problems. Stories are the most natural and powerful formalism for storing and describing experiential knowledge that is essential to problem solving. The rationale and means for analyzing, organizing, and presenting stories to support problem solving are defined by case-based reasoning. Problems are solved by retrieving similar past experiences in the form of stories and applying the lessons learned from those stories to the new problems. In this paper, after justifying the use of stories as instructional supports, we describe methods for eliciting, indexing, and making stories available as instructional support for learning to solve problems.     

用静力学平衡方程解题时应注意的几个问题

用静力学平衡方程解题是静力学部分的重点内容,解题时应注意这样几个关键问题:首先研究对象要选对,受力分析要正确,受力图要画对;其次在受力图上建立适当的坐标系,从问题出发列出简便易解的平衡方程;最终求出未知量并检验其正确性。