Using argumentation as a learning strategy to improve student performance in engineering Statics

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that a significant reason that a large number of students earn low grades in the fundamental engineering science course Statics is that they may be entering the course with incorrect conceptual knowledge of mathematics and physics. The self-explanation learning approach called collective argumentation helps k-12 students to understand their misconceptions of mathematical principles that often appear abstract to them. This study investigated collective argumentation as an instructional approach that helps engineering students identify and correct their misconceptions of topics taught in Statics. Results suggest that argumentation improves student performance as measured by grades earned on semester exams. Survey and focus group results suggest that students did not understand the argumentation process. Therefore, the students did not like using it as a learning approach.     

Developing academics’ assessment practices in open,distance and e-learning: an institutional change agenda

Abstract

Universities across the globe are attempting to change assessment practice to address challenges in student engagement and achievement. Integral to this objective are strategies to develop academics’ assessment practice. These frequently focus on attendance at formal Continuous Professional Development events and/or implementation of institutional blueprints. This editorial article uses a case study from the Open University (UK) to explore an alternative ‘communities of practice’ approach to the improvement of assessment arguing that academics’ professional expertise is best deepened through participation in authentic activities of teaching and scholarship. The discussion identifies what is involved in such an approach including the role of an enabling principles-based framework, the constraints on implementation and the implications for HE leaders.     

Using Early Learning Standards to Provide High-Quality Education for All Children: The Early Learning Guidelines Toolkit

Today with the rise in the number of 3- to 6-year-old children enrolled in center-based early childhood programs, and a focus on program quality, it becomes imperative for educators to have a better understanding of the role research plays in establishing high-quality programs as these programs provide much of the foundation that supports early learning and development (Child Trends, 2014). Although psychology, and the role of child development research in particular, has always been integral to the field of early childhood education beginning with the seminal works of Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, Bruner, and others (Lickona,1971), the field had never fully embraced the use of research to inform practice, until the 1990s. This had been, in part, because the field of early childhood education originally viewed itself as a field of practitioners that provided for the everyday care and needs of young children, whereas it viewed child development researchers as scientists who paid little attention to the practical needs of classroom teaching (Takanishi, 1981 Takanishi, R. (1981). Early childhood education and research: The changing relationship. Theory into Practice, 20, 86–92.[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Although, today, there is no longer this ideological divide between the two areas, with the child development research being used to inform educational practice and policy (Center for the Developing Child, 2007), nevertheless there still remains a gap in the ability of educators to effectively implement evidence-based practices. Given the increased focus on providing young children with access to high-quality education, and the need for teachers to implement evidence-based practices the present paper attempts to bridge the gap by providing a brief overview of the science of early childhood development, its importance for development of early learning standards, and an overview of the Early Learning Toolkit which was developed to provide early learning educators guidance and resources to support the implementation of early learning standards within their own states as well as well across the nation. The goal of this article is to bridge theory and practice in early childhood education.     

Using student norms to create positive learning environments

Ever since brash young students goaded one another to race chariots through the streets of the ancient world, elders have tried to understand and harness the energy of late adolescent normative group behavior. John Braxton and Timothy Caboni introduce a perspective and survey instrument that may help today's educators do just that.     

Der Mathematikunterricht der PISA-Schülerinnen und -Schüler

Der Beitrag besch?ftigt sich mit dem Mathematikunterricht der PISA-Schülerinnen und -Schüler in Deutschland und berichtet über Ergebnisse aus einer Zusatzstudie zu PISA 2003. Aufbauend auf der mathematik-didaktischen Rahmenkonzeption von PISA, die Unterricht als Gelegenheitsstruktur für verst?ndnisvolle Lernprozesse versteht, wurden Schülerinnen und Schüler und ihre Mathematiklehrkr?fte zu Merkmalen der Unterrichtsqualit?t befragt. Es zeigen sich schulformspezifische Unterrichtskulturen: Ein kognitiv aktivierender Umgang mit mathematischen Inhalten ist eher in Gymnasien zu beobachten, w?hrend vor allem in Hauptschulen die Unterrichtsform mit geringem kognitiven Gehalt und ausgepr?gter Unterstützung überwiegt. Dennoch wird die Angebotsstruktur des Mathematikunterrichts von Jugendlichen an Hauptschulen positiv beurteilt, w?hrend Gymnasiasten ihren Unterricht eher kritisch bewerten. Diese Differenzen sind vor allem durch Unterschiede in der individuellen Lernunterstützung durch die Lehrkr?fte zu erkl?ren, welche von Schülerinnen und Schülern an Hauptschulen als besonders ausgepr?gt, an Gymnasien eher als gering beschrieben wird.     

Online or Face-to-Face: Do Mission-Related Student Learning Outcomes Differ?

This study investigated how an authentic assessment program was used to examine student learning outcomes within the context of a Christian university’s institutional mission, core values, and distinctive qualities. For the purposes of this study, an authentic assessment program is defined as assessing student-produced work within the context of the institutional mission. A sample of 1,814 undergraduate students taking one or more general education courses at the university during the 2007–2009 academic years was examined for any significant differences in student learning outcomes. A univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated the Student Assessment System (SAS) scores for the online students were not significantly different from the SAS scores for the face-to-face (F2F) students after controlling for course grade. These results suggest that online students achieved the same critical mission-related educational outcomes that the university required of its F2F students. An implication of this finding is that the university just as effectively articulated its faith-based mission and vision to the online students as it did to its students taking classes F2F.     

Concurrent and Longitudinal Contributions of a Brief Assessment of Reading‐Specific Executive Function to Reading Comprehension in First and Second Grade Students

Executive function (EF) contributes significantly to reading comprehension across the lifespan. Emerging research indicates domain‐specific assessments of EF are better suited for assessment and intervention in academic contexts. For example, graphophonological‐semantic cognitive flexibility (GSF), the ability to flexibly switch between the graphophonological and semantic components of printed words, contributes uniquely to reading comprehension across the lifespan, and GSF training improves children's reading comprehension. This study compared the original GSF measure, which is problematic for use in schools due to its subjectively interpreted explicit explanation component, to an abbreviated implicit task that is better suited for assessment of GSF in practical contexts in 68 first and second grade students. Implicit and explicit GSF contributed uniquely to reading comprehension concurrently and longitudinally when children (n = 31) were in third and fourth grades, beyond verbal ability, decoding ability, and matrix reasoning.