Undergraduate student response strategies to test questions of varying format

This paper reports an analysis of response strategies employed by 300 first year undergraduate students on a chemistry test to answer questions posed in multiple choice and constructed response formats. Test answers were categorized and analyzed for format-related differences in solution strategies and error patterns. A subgroup of 21 students who had written the test were interviewed following the test with the intent of further exploring the response strategies which they had used. The verbal reports from the interviews were scored for the presence of typical problem-solving behaviours. Analysis of the test data indicated no significant differences in the types of solution strategies employed, nor in the types of errors committed, across test format. Most students used algorithmic production strategies and worked out the answers without regard to question format. However, the verbal data revealed evidence of subtler differences in the types and frequencies of problem-solving behaviours, particularly with respect to problem representation and answer evaluation.     

A Practical Introduction to Authoring for Computer-Assisted Instruction Part 8: multi-media CAL

Until recently the majority of applications of the computer within conversational computer-assisted learning and computer-based training have utilized a keyboard/ cathode ray tube model of human/computer interaction. However, because of its greater scope, instructional designers are turning increasingly to the use of a workstation model of student interaction with computers. Such a model can lead to the implementation of didactic dialogue that is more natural, more exciting and far more flexible. In this paper we show how such a model forms the basic foundations for multi- media CAL. We then outline some case studies involving the use of this approach and summarize some author languages that have been designed for use in this area.     

Oral History and Teachers’ Professional Practice: a wartime turning point?

This exploratory article has a two‐fold aim. In the first place, it seeks to investigate changing patterns of teacher‐pupil relationships in the twentieth century through the lens of the professional lives and pedagogical practices of classroom teachers themselves. Such an investigation is engaged through the application of oral history methods. An unexpected result of a succession of oral history interviews has been the identification, by former teachers themselves, of wartime evacuation as a significant turning point in the development of teacher‐pupil relationships. The second aim of the article is to relate the findings of oral history interviews to those which emerge from documentary and secondary sources. In this way, the particular strengths of oral history methods for the investigation of past pedagogical practice are assessed.     

Accelerating the development of formal thinking in middle and high school students III: Testing the permanency of effects

Two years after the end of a two-year intervention program intended to promote formal operational thinking, the achievement of students initially 12 years of age was tested by their results in British National examinations, taken at age 16. The intervention methodology was set within the context of science learning, so the difference between experimental and control classes was examined first in terms of their science results. The boys achieved an average of 40% more grades of C or above than the controls. This grade is the minimum criterion for higher education in Britain. The achievement was not found equally in all students: About 40% of the boys and 25% of the girls showed effect sizes of two standard deviations in relation to comparable controls, whereas the others did not differ from the controls. Both boys and girls showed significantly higher achievement in English than comparable controls, with an effect size about half that for science. The boys—but not the girls—also showed higher achievement in mathematics. It is argued that this evidence supports the interpretation that the students' increased science achievement was caused by increased general intellectual capacity, and not just by improved domain-specific skills.     

Teaching Plan‐Do‐Study‐Act (PDSA) in a Supply Chain Context: A Paper Football In‐Class Activity

We develop a single‐class period learning game for the Plan‐Do‐Study‐Act (PDSA) improvement cycle. The experiential activity walks teams through the PDSA problem‐solving process as they create paper American footballs and improve their performance using each step of the cycle. The game is one of the first to focus on PDSA. Key benefits include increased student attention, engagement, and learning. Empirical tests show that participant pre‐ and post‐test scores regarding their understanding of each phase of PDSA improved 21.2% after completing the game. Additionally, the treatment group performed 16.6% higher than the control group. In participant perception questions, 85% of participants felt the game was more effective than lecture or reading, 93% felt the game was fun, 95% felt the game improved their understanding of PDSA, and 98% felt the game was engaging.     

The use of reverse engineering to analyse student computer programs

In this paper, an explanatory program understander that can analyse student solutions for programming assignments is described. The approach uses a number of reverse engineering techniques and is grounded on a cognitive model of procedural programming knowledge. It will be shown that, through the use of reverse engineering techniques, a lot of feedback (e.g. on errors) can be generated without having to use any prior knowledge on what the program is supposed to do. When such information is available, problem-specific feedback can also be generated. Furthermore, the use of the cognitive programming concepts allows one to specify the errors in an understandable way using exactly the same words and concepts as human programmers. This opens interesting possibilities for other uses of the proposed program understanding technique described in this article.