Outline of a Teaching‐Learning Package on Information Technology for use in Teacher Education

The article reports on a joint programme of study being developed by the North‐East London Polytechnic and the University of Groningen. The aim has been to produce a teaching/learning package to be used mainly by students following courses of professional training after completion of their subject studies. Two focuses for development have been identified: the Information area, dealing with some of the larger societal implications of IT, and the ‘IT in school’ area, concentrating more on the possible utilisation of the new technologies in the classroom and the school generally. Care is being taken to relate the materials produced to the real world and to allow for revision and updating.     

A computer-managed training in problem-solving

This article presents the design of a large scale computer-managed training in problem-solving on applied mathematics and basic physics run at the University of Leuven for 340 first year medical students. The training is based on a general expert strategy. Students work discontinuously on-line, i.e., they are corrected, helped and evaluated at a terminal but the calculation is done at separate tables. Some tentative results are given.     

A new technique for detecting patterns of term usage in text corpora

Term occurrence A is included in term occurrence B if A is a substring of B. By making a single pass through a slightly non-standard KWIC index, every recurring phrase can be detected, and its inclusion relationships with other phrases and/or single words can be computed. Results obtained by processing a corpus of 2675 medical titles indicate that several properties definable in terms of inclusion relationships among terms have significance for vocabulary control. Preliminary results from a corpus of more than 62,000 medical titles have confirmed this finding.     

Applied physiology of speed skating

Speed skating exercise can be better understood by taking account of physiological and biomechanical considerations. Comparison with other sports shows the unique and peculiar way of skating propulsion. The relatively long lasting isometric muscle contractions during the gliding phase, alternated with high power output push-offs, place unusual demands on the (local) energy delivering systems. The short and explosive push-off needs a specific pattern of motor unit recruitment. Some mixture of slow twitch (to sustain skating posture) and fast twitch fibres (to effect push off) in the hip and knee extensors seems necessary for optimal skating performance.     

Improper use of linear reasoning: An in-depth study of the nature and the irresistibility of secondary school students' errors

Several recent ascertaining studies revealed a deep-rooted and almost irresistible tendency among 12–16-year old students to improperly apply the linear or proportional model in word problems involving lengths, areas and volumes of similar plane figures and solids. While these previous studies showed to what extent students' improper use of linear reasoning is affected by different characteristics of the task, it remained largely unclear what aspects of their knowledge base are responsible for the occurrence and strength of this phenomenon and how these aspects relate to other more general misconceptions and buggy rules identified in the literature. This paper reports an in-depth investigation by means of individual semi-standardised interviews aimed at analysing the thinking process underlying students' improper linear reasoning and how this process is affected by their mathematical conceptions, beliefs and habits. During these interviews,students' solution processes were revealed through a number of well-specified questions by the interviewer with respect to one single non-linear application problem, as well as through their reactions to subsequent kinds of cognitive conflict. The interviews provided a lot of information about the actual process of problem solving from students falling into the ‘linearity trap’ and the mechanism behind it. Although some students seem to really ‘believe’ that quantities are always linked proportionally, their improper use of linearity often results from superficial and intuitive reasoning, influenced by specific mathematical conceptions, habits and beliefs leading to a deficient modelling process. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Exploiting Distance Technology to Foster Experimental Design as a Neglected Learning Objective in Labwork in Chemistry

This paper deals with the design process of a remote laboratory for labwork in chemistry. In particular, it focuses on the mutual dependency of theoretical conjectures about learning in the experimental sciences and technological opportunities in creating learning environments. The design process involves a detailed analysis of the expert task and knowledge, e.g., spectrophotometry as a method for the determination of the concentration of a compound in a solution. In so doing, modifications in transposing tasks and knowledge to the learning situation can be monitored. The remote laboratory is described, as well as the specific features that alter the degree of fidelity of the learning situation in comparison with the expert one. It is conjectured that these alterations might represent actual benefits for learning.