Reflecting on institutional support for SoTL engagement: developing a conceptual framework

This paper considers the support required to develop Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) capability across institutions. Rather than developing a checklist or a standardised audit approach, this paper describes the reflective journey taken by a group of academic developers who used strategies and structures previously identified in the literature to develop a conceptual framework for academic professional development. The framework was refined through an iterative process, including reflection on its use within diverse institutional contexts, combined with evaluative feedback from recognised experts in the field. The resulting framework is designed to facilitate and guide conversations to support institutional decision-making related to SoTL capacity building.     

Visual Chunking Skills of Hong Kong Children

This study investigated the development of visual chunking skills in the processing of Chinese characters among Hong Kong pupils. One-hundred-seventy-nine primary school students from first, second and fourth grades were administered a character copying task. Children as young as 6 years of age were aware of character units and were able to apply visual chunking strategies when processing characters. Children in higher grades performed better than those in lower grades on every character type, and the types of errors they made revealed that their chunking level was higher than that of younger children. Differences between ability groups emerged in second grade and vanished in fourth grade, suggesting that children with a lower reading ability are slower to develop advanced chunking skills.     

CONSTRUCTING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE NOTION OF LIMIT IN THE DEFINITION OF THE HORIZONTAL ASYMPTOTE

Processes of knowledge construction are investigated. A learner is constructing knowledge about the notion of limit in the definition of the horizontal asymptote. The analysis is based on the dynamically nested epistemic action model for abstraction in context. Different tasks are offered to the learner. In her effort to perform the different tasks, the learner encounters a situation of conflict between her concept image of the horizontal asymptote and the concept definition. The model of abstraction in context is used to analyze two new constructions of knowledge for the learner, which permit her to reconsider her concept image and to conceptually understand the definition of the horizontal asymptote.     

Change in Self‐esteem Between Year 2 and Year 6: a longitudinal study

All Year 2 children in six randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample to which the Lawseq self‐esteem questionnaire was administered. Four years later, when they were Year 6, they completed the Lawseq again. A two‐way analysis of variance with Sex and Occasions was carried out on the 12 individual items of the instrument and the total. There were no significant differences between occasions or sexes on the overall score, but there were significant differences between occasions on seven of the 12 items and between sexes on two items. On only one item was there a significant interaction between sexes and occasions. The mean for the total fell over the 4 years. The means for both occasions were considerably below the mean of 19.00 obtained when Lawrence standardised the test in 1981. Discussion centred on possible reasons for this, such as appropriacy of the instrument for the age‐groups under study, stability of administration and changes within society and school.     

The development of a robot-based learning companion: a user-centered design approach

A computer-vision-based method is widely employed to support the development of a variety of applications. In this vein, this study uses a computer-vision-based method to develop a playful learning system, which is a robot-based learning companion named RobotTell. Unlike existing playful learning systems, a user-centered design (UCD) approach is applied to assess the interface design of the RobotTell System so that the human–robot interaction can be enhanced during the design process. More specifically, the interface of the RobotTell system is assessed based on Nielsen's heuristics. Based on the results of Nielsen's heuristic evaluation, three versions of the RobotTell system were produced. The implications for the design of these three versions of the RobotTell system are discussed.     

A Unified Latent Growth Curve Model

Applying item response theory models to repeated observations has demonstrated great promise in developmental research. By allowing the researcher to take account of the characteristics of both item response and measurement error in longitudinal trajectory analysis, it improves the reliability and validity of latent growth curve analysis. This has enabled the study, to differentially weigh individual items and examine developmental stability and change over time, to propose a comprehensive modeling framework, combining a measurement model with a structural model. Despite a large number of components requiring attention, this study focuses on model formulation, evaluates the performance of the estimators of model parameters, incorporates prior knowledge from Bayesian analysis, and applies the model using an illustrative example. It is hoped that this fundamental study can demonstrate the breadth of this unified latent growth curve model.     

ARE TAIWANESE AND SINGAPOREAN FUTURE TEACHERS SIMILAR IN THEIR MATHEMATICS-RELATED TEACHING COMPETENCIES?

This study investigates the similarities and differences of mathematics-related teaching competencies between the future secondary school teachers of Taiwan and Singapore by using data from the international Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M), organized by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Taiwan and Singapore are identified as the only two Asian countries integrating the Chinese/Confucian tradition in their education regarding TEDS-M. The relative strengths and weaknesses of these two countries, as compared to other TEDS-M higher-achieving Western countries, such as Germany, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and the USA, are examined after reselecting and reclassifying the achievement items based on Niss’ (2003) mathematics competence and Hsieh’s (Secondary Education, 63(3), 2012) mathematics teaching competence structures. This study shows that Singaporean future teachers are weaker in the competence of devising formal mathematical arguments and transforming heuristic ideas into valid proofs than Taiwanese future teachers. Taiwan and Singapore demonstrate relative strengths at primary, lower-, and upper-secondary levels in mathematics competencies but show relative weaknesses at the tertiary level than do other higher-achieving Western countries. Comparing these two countries, Taiwan shows relative strengths at upper-secondary and tertiary levels, and Singaporean strengths are at primary and lower-secondary levels. This distinction is primarily because of the thought-oriented category of mathematics competencies. This study also finds that Taiwan and Singapore belong to different clusters compared with the higher-achieving Western countries regarding their future teachers’ relative strengths and weaknesses in either mathematics or mathematics teaching competence.     

Gender differences in high-school learning experiences,motivation, self-efficacy,and career aspirations among Taiwanese STEM college students

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to answer the following two questions: (1) Do significant differences exist in high-school learning experience, interests, self-efficacy, and career aspirations between male and female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students? (2) Can high-school learning experiences, interests, and self-efficacy significantly predict career aspirations, and do differences exist between male and female STEM students? This study highlighted the gender gap between male and female university students who had already chosen STEM majors with similar academic ability. A total of 407 first-year students were surveyed at a 4-year research university in Taiwan. For the data analysis, a t-test and multiple regression analysis were used, and the findings indicated that male STEM students had greater family support than their female counterparts. The variable of task value could significantly predict STEM career aspirations for both male and female students, whereas the variable of STEM course self-efficacy could only significantly predict that of male students. In conclusion, the findings highlighted that the motivation of task value was a vital factor for predicting STEM career aspirations, whereas the factor of family support was the main gap between male and female STEM students in terms of their high-school learning experiences.