This paper explores the development of students’ knowledge of mathematical procedures. Students’ tendency to develop rote knowledge of procedures has been widely commented on. An alternative, more flexible endpoint for the development of procedural knowledge is explored here, where students choose to deviate from established solving patterns on particular problems for greater efficiency. Students with no prior knowledge of formal linear equation solving techniques were taught the basic transformations of this domain. After instruction, students engaged in problem-solving sessions in two conditions. Treatment students completed the “alternative ordering task,” where they were asked to re-solve a previously completed problem but using a different ordering of transformations. Those completing alternative ordering tasks demonstrated greater flexibility. 相似文献
For years, a popular explanation for women choosing to abandon studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been their lack of aptitude. This study challenged that notion by integrating theories of cognitive style, academic emotion, self-efficacy, and motivation to explain students’ academic achievement and perseverance in STEM when transitioning to college. A sample of 1597 high school and junior college students participated. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were first conducted to validate a reduced version of the cognitive style questionnaire. Structural equation modeling revealed that the cognitive style known as systemizing indirectly predicted STEM achievement and persistence by way of intrinsic motivation, learning anxiety, and self-efficacy, providing a new perspective for re-examining the gender gap in STEM.
This study focused on the use of the Artemis web-based interface http://artemis.goknow.com/artemis/index.adp). This program provides a digital library for students to search, organise, and evaluation science information related to project-based investigations. The primary feature of the Artemis interface is a focused search tool. Key scaffolding features in Artemis include the collections of web sites, driving question folders, a persistent workspace for notes, cataloging of past search results, and the viewing of sites shared by other students. The primary goal of this study was to describe high school science students' use of the scaffolding features embedded in the Artemis interface. The researchers were interested in identifying the scaffolding features students use and describing how they use them in the context of finding science information related to investigations. In addition, to look at scaffolding interaction, relationships between feature use and student learning were examined. The context of this study was a four-week science investigation conducted by 43 high school biology students. Students worked in dyads to answer driving questions related to their topics of study (e.g., What do the conditions need to be in order for green algae to survive?). It was found that students relied heavily upon Organisational Feature scaffolds (persistent workspace) to help them organise information that was ultimately used by the students to produce domain specific artifacts. In addition, students spent much of their time conducting searches and saving results. However, classroom performance success was only significantly correlated with the use of Organizational Feature scaffolds – scaffolding features that students use to create driving questions, write notes about the information they found as a result of their searches, and keep track of their investigations. No other search tool used by the students possessed this important scaffolding feature. The students did not automatically use Collaborative Features – scaffolding features hypothesised to be powerful cognitive tools. 相似文献
Standardised and other multiple-choice examinations often require the use of an answer sheet with fill-in bubbles (i.e. ‘bubble’ or Scantron sheet). Students with disabilities causing impairments in attention, learning and/or visual-motor skill may have difficulties with multiple-choice examinations that employ such a response style. Such students may request and receive testing accommodations that intend to mitigate these impairments, such as circling responses in a test booklet, which contains both the questions and corresponding multiple-choice answers. The current study evaluated this test accommodation as compared to using a bubble sheet or Scantron on a multiple-choice vocabulary test. College students with (n = 25) and without (n = 76) disabilities completed a vocabulary test under both booklet (accommodated) and bubble sheet (standard) conditions. Results demonstrated that answering in a test booklet, a much preferred response mode, allowed students to attempt significantly more items than using a bubble sheet, improving their overall test scores. Booklet responding tends to improve overall performance, even for students without disabilities, calling into question the specificity and validity of this accommodation. 相似文献