Improving Mathematics Instruction and Learning in the Junior High School: An Israeli Example

Abstract

A 4‐year project is described which was designed to improve mathematics instruction and achievements in two Israeli junior high schools. Project activities focused on the individual teachers, the mathematics staff, and the organization of instruction at the school level, under the assumption that more efficient teaching would lead to greater pupil learning.

Evaluation data gathered from classroom observation, questionnaires and tests indicated a general positive impact: many teachers improved their teaching strategies, more curricular material was being covered in class, a school‐wide program for mathematics instruction was established, teamwork among teachers was formalized, and pupil achievements improved.     

Reaching for the “cloud”: How SMEs can manage

Cloud computing is an emerging new computing paradigm for delivering computing services. The approach relies on a number of existing technologies e.g., the Internet, virtualization and grid computing. However, the provision of this service in a pay-as-you-go way through the popular medium of the Internet renders this computing service approach unique compared with currently available computing service modalities. This article highlights some aspects of this uniqueness and also explores some of the concerns that might be preventing some companies from adopting it. Notwithstanding these concerns, it is argued in this article that cloud computing is likely to prove commercially viable for many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to its flexibility and pay-as-you-go cost structure, particularly in the current climate of economic difficulties. A case study of a cloud experience by a British SME is also presented in this study in order to further highlight the perceived values of cloud computing in terms of cost and efficiency for real small enterprises.     

Software Engineering Design Principles Applied to Instructional Design: What can we Learn from our Sister Discipline?

The failure of many instructional design initiatives is often attributed to poor instructional design. Current instructional design models do not provide much insight into design processes for creating e-learning instructional solutions. Given the similarities between the fields of instructional design and software engineering, instructional designers could employ the ideas and techniques employed in software engineering to improve their design solutions. Software engineering development and project management methodologies can be employed to develop effective e-learning solutions. Furthermore, software engineering design principles used to develop high-quality software can be applied to planning and enhancing instruction. Fundamental software design concepts, such as abstraction, modularity, reusability, compatibility, extensibility, scalability, and maintainability are all important factors that can potentially lead to the development of high quality instructional solutions. This paper explores the possibility to integrate software engineering design principles into instructional design for e-learning solutions, which not only augment the generic instructional design approach with the best practices from the field of software engineering, but also make the development process more productive and efficient. Finally, this paper illustrates how all of the software engineering design principles are interrelated and can be realized in practice to enhance the quality of instruction.     

Pre-university Chemistry Students in a Mimicked Scholarly Peer Review

Peer review is a significant component in scientific research. Introducing peer review into inquiry processes may be regarded as an aim to develop student understanding regarding quality in inquiries. This study examines student understanding in inquiry peer reviews among pre-university chemistry students, aged 16–17, when they enact a design of a mimicked scholarly peer review. This design is based on a model of a human activity system. Twenty-five different schools in Brazil, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands participated. The students (n?=?880) conducted in small groups (n?=?428) open inquiries on fermentation. All groups prepared an inquiry report for peer review. These reports were published on a website. Groups were randomly paired in an internet symposium, where they posted review comments to their peers. These responses were qualitatively analyzed on small groups’ level of understanding regarding seven categories: inquiry question, hypothesis, management of control variables, accurate measurement, presenting results, reliability of results, discussion and conclusion. The mimicked scholarly review prompted a collective practice. Student understanding was significantly well on presenting results, discussion and conclusion, and significantly less on inquiry question and reliability of results. An enacted design, based on a model of a human activity system, created student understanding of quality in inquiries as well as an insight in a peer-reviewing practice. To what extent this model can be applied in a broader context of design research in science education needs further study.     

Selection of Authentic Modelling Practices as Contexts for Chemistry Education

In science education, students should come to understand the nature and significance of models. In the case of chemistry education it is argued that the present use of models is often not meaningful from the students' perspective. A strategy to overcome this problem is to use an authentic chemical modelling practice as a context for a curriculum unit. The theoretical framework for this strategy is activity theory rooted in socio‐cultural theories on learning. An authentic chemical modelling practice is characterized by a set of motives for model development through a well‐defined modelling procedure using only relevant issue knowledge. The aim of this study was to explore, analyse, and select authentic chemical modelling practices for use in chemistry education. The suitability of the practices was reviewed by applying a stepwise procedure focused on criteria such as students' interest and ownership, modelling procedure, issue knowledge, and feasibility of the laboratory work in the classroom. It was concluded that modelling drinking‐water treatment and human exposure assessment are both suitable to serve as contexts, because both practices exhibit clear motives for model construction and the applied modelling procedures are in line with students' pre‐existing procedural modelling knowledge. The issue knowledge involved is consistent with present Dutch science curriculum, and it is possible to carry out experimental work in the classroom for model calibration and validation. The method described here to select and evaluate practices for use as contexts in chemistry education can also be used in other science domains.     

Collaborative filtering using orthogonal nonnegative matrix tri-factorization

Collaborative filtering aims at predicting a test user’s ratings for new items by integrating other like-minded users’ rating information. The key assumption is that users sharing the same ratings on past items tend to agree on new items. Traditional collaborative filtering methods can mainly be divided into two classes: memory-based and model-based. The memory-based approaches generally suffer from two fundamental problems: sparsity and scalability, and the model-based approaches usually cost too much on establishing a model and have many parameters to be tuned.     

A new design method based on artificial bee colony algorithm for digital IIR filters

Digital filters can be broadly classified into two groups: recursive (infinite impulse response (IIR)) and non-recursive (finite impulse response (FIR)). An IIR filter can provide a much better performance than the FIR filter having the same number of coefficients. However, IIR filters might have a multi-modal error surface. Therefore, a reliable design method proposed for IIR filters must be based on a global search procedure. Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm has been recently introduced for global optimization. The ABC algorithm simulating the intelligent foraging behaviour of honey bee swarm is a simple, robust, and very flexible algorithm. In this work, a new method based on ABC algorithm for designing digital IIR filters is described and its performance is compared with that of a conventional optimization algorithm (LSQ-nonlin) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm.