A practical tutorial programme for first-year university students: impact of its academic recognition / Un programa tutorial práctico en alumnos universitarios de nuevo ingreso: incidencia de su reconocimiento académico

The task of guiding and tutoring in higher education contributes to increasing the quality of teaching at university. Students who access university studies require specific guidance which is different from that required by more senior students. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive model of tutorial guidance. The model seeks to satisfy the specific needs of first-year university students, both in terms of personal support and formative and informative support, through a set of coordinated activities during the first year of their degree. The teaching experience carried out demonstrates the students’ interest in the tutoring programme offered, and measures the impact that its academic recognition has in terms of students enrolling on and following the programme. The methodology used shows the characteristics of the programme introduced and then shows the results obtained, which are discussed in relation to the research objectives.     

Influences on Students' Mathematical Reasoning and Patterns in its Development: Insights from a Longitudinal Study with Particular Reference to Geometry

We report some findings of the Longitudinal Proof Project, which investigated patterns in high-attaining students' mathematical reasoning in algebra and in geometry and development in their reasoning, by analyses of students' responses to three annual proof tests. The paper focuses on students' responses to one non-standard geometry item. It reports how the distribution of responses to this item changed over time with some moderate progress that suggests a cognitive shift from perceptual to geometrical reasoning. However, we also note that many students made little or no progress and some regressed. Extracts from student interviews indicate that the source of this variation from the overall trend stems from the shift over the three years of the study to a more formal approach in the school geometry curriculum for high-attaining students, and the effects of this shift on what students interpreted as the didactical demands of the item.     

Scaling a Mountain — A study of the use,discrimination and generalisation of some mathematical concepts in a LOGO environment

The paper will describe pupils’ engagement in mathematical activity, in collaboration with a partner, in an exploratory LOGO programming environment. It will focus on how initial pupil conceptions become progressively more differentiated and generalised. An attempt will be made to describe levels at which pupils, in this particular context, tend to operate with respect to a range of mathematical concepts and processes embedded within the activity, and situations which have provoked ‘changes in level’ that is, where pupils have modified or reorientated their initial conceptions, extended their range of applicability or made new links or syntheses. The general role of conflict, both cognitive and socio cognitive will be considered together with the particular roles of teacher intervention, pupil discussion and computer interaction in both promoting the conflict and aiding in its resolution. Illustrations will also highlight the specificity of cognitive structures constructed within the activity and the crucial importance of the nature of pupil representation of the activity and its relation to the practices from which it emerged.     

Beyond synthesis: augmenting systematic review procedures with practical principles to optimise impact and uptake in educational policy and practice

ABSTRACT

Whilst systematic reviews, meta-analyses and other forms of synthesis are considered amongst the most valuable forms of research evidence, their limited impact on educational policy and practice has been criticised. In this article, we analyse why systematic reviews do not benefit users of evidence more consistently and suggest how review teams can optimise the impact of their work. We introduce the Beyond Synthesis Impact Chain (BSIC), an integrated framework of practical strategies for enhancing the impact of systematic reviews. Using examples from health professions education, we propose that review teams can optimise the impact of their work by employing strategies that (1) focus on practical problems and mindful planning in collaboration with users; (2) ensure reviews are relevant and syntheses reflexively account for users’ needs; and (3) couch reports in terms that resonate with users’ needs and increase access through targeted and strategic dissemination. We argue that combining practical principles with robust and transparent procedures can purposefully account for impact, and foster the uptake of review evidence in educational policy and practice. For systematic review teams, this paper offers strategies for enhancing the practical utility and potential impact of systematic reviews and other forms of synthesis.     

Oddity of visual patterns conceptualized by pigeons

Pigeons were trained to learn an instrumental oddity-from-sample discrimination involving visual forms. One group, the “few examples” group, dealt with 5 patterns in 40 different combinations. Another group, the “many examples” group, dealt with 20 patterns in 160 different combinations. After both groups had reached asymptotic performance and had learned to operate under partial reinforcement conditions, they were tested for transfer under extinction conditions with two different groups of 5 novel patterns, each in 40 combinations. All animals showed significant above chance transfer to both of these novel stimulus sets. Transfer performance with test stimuli of similar geometric design to training stimuli was better than performance with stimuli of markedly different design. The transfer performance of the “many examples” group was marginally better than that of the “few examples” group, even though the latter’s performance on the training stimuli was better throughout. It is concluded that pigeons can learn to employ an oddity concept and that this may be promoted by the use of many training exemplars. Furthermore, it is inferred that pigeons may normally use a mixture of strategies to solve oddity and identity problems.     

Effects of metacognitive and elaborative activity on cooperative learning and transfer

The effects of instructing pairs of students to engage in metacognitive activities (error correcting and key idea detection), elaborative activities (use of imagery, analogies, etc.), or neither during cooperative learning were examined for both initial cooperative learning and transfer to an individual learning task. The results suggest that metacognitive activity facilitates cooperative learning and elaborative activity facilitates transfer to individual learning. These findings have strong implications for the tailoring of cooperative learning strategies to instructional goals.