Preparing students for future learning with Teachable Agents

One valuable goal of instructional technologies in K-12 education is to prepare students for future learning. Two classroom studies examined whether Teachable Agents (TA) achieves this goal. TA is an instructional technology that draws on the social metaphor of teaching a computer agent to help students learn. Students teach their agent by creating concept maps. Artificial intelligence enables TA to use the concept maps to answer questions, thereby providing interactivity, a model of thinking, and feedback. Elementary schoolchildren learning science with TA exhibited “added-value” learning that did not adversely affect the “basic-value” they gained from their regular curriculum, despite trade-offs in instructional time. Moreover, TA prepared students to learn new science content from their regular lessons, even when they were no longer using the software.     

Stressors, anxiety, acculturation and adjustment among international and North American students

The acculturation process generally contributes greatly to stress and anxiety levels among international students. The objectives of the present study were: (1) to see whether international students experience more anxiety, irritability, and stress from being apart from family and friends, pressure from school, difficulties with language, work and finances than students with permanent US residency, and (2) to investigate the same stressors in groups within the international student population. Surveys were distributed to 246 students aged 17–51 at an ethnically diverse community college in Southern California, US. Analysis of variance was conducted to investigate group differences between students: permanent US residents vs. international students, and, permanent US residents vs. European and Asian students, respectively. No significant differences were found between international students and students with permanent US residency. However, when the international student population was sub-grouped by above cultural regions a different pattern emerged. Difficulties of not being able to work and of socially related problems were perceived as more severe for the European and the Asian groups, while finance problems were hard for all three groups. The variable of language difficulties was harder for Asian students, while that of stress of being apart from family was harder for students from Europe. Findings are not only congruent with prior research results on international students but also demonstrate that international students with culturally diverse needs should not be considered as one homogenous group. It is suggested that educational systems need to properly adapt in order to accommodate international students’ unique cultural needs.     

我国竞技体育“树的生态理论”新体系构建的研究

通过对现行竞技体育体制现状的研究,提出竞技体育“树的生态理论”。采用文献法、问卷调查法、专家访谈等方法,得出我国竞技体育体系必须进行改革的结论,提出构建竞技体育“树的生态理论”新体系,并对新体系的具体实施及运行机制提出了积极的构想。     

基于IP核开发模式的高校集成电路设计发展策略研究

高校是我国IC产业链中不可缺少的一部分,针对当前集成电路领域企业缺少原始技术积累、高校成果转化困难的问题,提出一种以IP核合作方式促进高校集成电路设计加快发展、实现高校与企业双赢的创新机制.以西安交通大学SoC设计中心近十年来的发展历程为案例进行分析,提出基于IP核开发的高校集成电路设计发展的具体策略.     

Knowledge management process effectiveness: measurement of preliminary knowledge management implementation

While knowledge management (KM) has been widely discussed by many academics and practitioners, measurement is undoubtedly the least developed aspect of KM due to the intangibility of knowledge assets. It is of paramount importance to establish performance measures at different stages of KM implementation even from the beginning so that its effectiveness can be identified. This paper thus serves to explore KM performance measurement from the angle of KM process effectiveness. Through the data collected from 289 managers in the Malaysian telecommunication industry, where KM implementation is just beginning to take place, significant interactions were found between four of the five proposed KM preliminary success factors (i.e. business strategy, K audit, K map, KM team) and all four KM elements of strategies (i.e. technology, culture, leadership, measurement) with KM process effectiveness. The findings of this study serve as a guide for organizations in driving their KM journey and reaching their destinations even at the beginning stage of their KM implementation.     

Learning deeply in science: An analysis and reintegration of deep approaches in two case studies of grade 8 students

The purpose of this study was to articulate in fine detail, the kinds of learning strategies associated with a deep approach to learning science. The interactions of two groups of Grade 8 students were taped while they were engaged in hands-on science activities during instruction in a chemistry unit. The students were also interviewed both before and after instruction to find out more about their understanding of the science concepts in this unit. The focus in this paper is on case studies of two students who showed a deep approach to learning. Analysis of transcipts produced several categories which were used to classify the different strategies used by the students. Examples illustrating the use of these strategies are provided. A model illustrating how a learner's use of strategies is translated into regulatory control of the learning process is proposed.     

The effects of cultural and historical information and contribution threshold on public contributions: an experimental study on the conservation of heritage houses in Penang,Malaysia

Budget constraints at the local government level towards the provision of public goods have fuelled interest in the voluntary contribution and provision point mechanisms. However, due to their public nature, these mechanisms are not without problems. The literature shows the presence of free riding and socially inefficient contribution levels. This paper experimentally tests the effect of cultural and historical information pertaining to heritage houses in Penang, Malaysia, on public contributions for their conservation. This paper considers a standard linear one-shot four-person public good game and the decision of the subjects being to contribute either to a private or to a public account. We devise 4 treatments: a Control treatment, a treatment where subjects are provided with cultural and historical information pertaining to the heritage houses, a treatment that includes a contribution threshold, and finally a treatment that combines the use of cultural and historical information with the contribution threshold. The main finding shows that 60–75 % of the subjects contributed more than what they believed others in the same group would contribute when they were provided with the pertinent cultural and historical information. Most of the subjects contributed less than their belief, while 75–77 % cooperated ‘selfishly’ in treatments without the information. These findings are in agreement with the literature, namely that contributions are higher in treatments with a contribution threshold. Moreover, the combination of a contribution threshold and cultural information could encourage more pro-social behaviours.     

香港与内地中学体育教师对未来体育教师能力及学习课程模式认识的比较研究

对香港、广州、北京、上海、福州、苏州在职中学体育教师进行问卷调查,对未来体育教师应具备的能力,以及在校学习课程的模式进行分析比较结果显示,香港和内地在职中学体育教师对未来体育教师能力培养及知识结构认识上有很多相同之处,然而由于两地在教育体制等方面的差异,对能力及知识结构重要性的排序存在差异。     

Teachable Agents and the Protégé Effect: Increasing the Effort Towards Learning

Betty’s Brain is a computer-based learning environment that capitalizes on the social aspects of learning. In Betty’s Brain, students instruct a character called a Teachable Agent (TA) which can reason based on how it is taught. Two studies demonstrate the protégé effect: students make greater effort to learn for their TAs than they do for themselves. The first study involved 8th-grade students learning biology. Although all students worked with the same Betty’s Brain software, students in the TA condition believed they were teaching their TAs, while in another condition, they believed they were learning for themselves. TA students spent more time on learning activities (e.g., reading) and also learned more. These beneficial effects were most pronounced for lower achieving children. The second study used a verbal protocol with 5th-grade students to determine the possible causes of the protégé effect. As before, students learned either for their TAs or for themselves. Like study 1, students in the TA condition spent more time on learning activities. These children treated their TAs socially by attributing mental states and responsibility to them. They were also more likely to acknowledge errors by displaying negative affect and making attributions for the causes of failures. Perhaps having a TA invokes a sense of responsibility that motivates learning, provides an environment in which knowledge can be improved through revision, and protects students’ egos from the psychological ramifications of failure.