What Can Be Learned from Computer Modeling? Comparing Expository and Modeling Approaches to Teaching Dynamic Systems Behavior

Computer modeling has been widely promoted as a means to attain higher order learning outcomes. Substantiating these benefits, however, has been problematic due to a lack of proper assessment tools. In this study, we compared computer modeling with expository instruction, using a tailored assessment designed to reveal the benefits of either mode of instruction. The assessment addresses proficiency in declarative knowledge, application, construction, and evaluation. The subscales differentiate between simple and complex structure. The learning task concerns the dynamics of global warming. We found that, for complex tasks, the modeling group outperformed the expository group on declarative knowledge and on evaluating complex models and data. No differences were found with regard to the application of knowledge or the creation of models. These results confirmed that modeling and direct instruction lead to qualitatively different learning outcomes, and that these two modes of instruction cannot be compared on a single “effectiveness measure”.     

Evaluation and Opportunities in Overtraining Approaches

Overtraining (OT) as a sports phenomenon can be caused by stressors on various levels (physical, emotional, psychological, and social) and evokes responses on these levels. This study evaluated research and new opportunities in the field of OT by introducing an integrated multidisciplinary approach, based on the single and multistressors approach. The single stressor approach focuses on the training load-recovery imbalance, which results in a stagnating performance, excluding the etiology by nonsport-related factors. The multistressors approach includes all factors as relevant in the etiology of a stagnating performance. In future studies on OT, an integrative approach should not only highlight changes in training regimes and specific responses to training stressors but also focus on the role of training-related recovery, the impact of stressors, and personality factors influencing stress appraisal. This will provide a better insight into the etiology and consequences of OT, necessary for prevention and treatment in sport practice, and enhance the focus on adequate recovery (good sleep, sufficient rest periods) and athletes' stress-related responses.     

Impact of Overt and Subclinical Hypothyroidism on Exercise Tolerance: A Systematic Review

Purpose: This systematic review describes the state of the art of the impact of hypothyroidism on exercise tolerance and physical performance capacity in untreated and treated patients with hypothyroidism. Method: A systematic computer-aided search was conducted using biomedical databases. Relevant studies in English, German, and Dutch, published from the earliest date of each database up to December 2012, were identified. Results: Out of 116 studies, a total of 38 studies with 1,379 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. These studies emphasize the multifactorial causes of exercise intolerance in untreated patients by the impact of limitations in different functional systems, with cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, and cellular metabolic systems acting in concert. Moreover, the studies affirm that exercise intolerance in patients is not always reversible during adequate hormone replacement therapy. As a consequence, despite a defined euthyroid status, there remains a significant group of treated patients with persistent complaints related to exercise intolerance who are suffering from limitations in daily and sport activities, as well as an impaired quality of life. An explanation for this phenomenon is lacking. Only 2 studies investigated the effects of a physical training program, and they showed inconsistent effects on the performance capacity in untreated patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. Conclusions: A limited body of knowledge exists concerning exercise tolerance in treated patients with hypothyroidism, and there is an insufficient amount of quantitative studies on the effects of a physical training program. To enhance exercise and sports participation for this specific group, more research in this forgotten area is warranted.     

The Difficult Process of Scientific Modelling: An analysis of novices' reasoning during computer‐based modelling

Although computer modelling is widely advocated as a way to offer students a deeper understanding of complex phenomena, the process of modelling is rather complex itself and needs scaffolding. In order to offer adequate support, we need a thorough understanding of the reasoning processes students employ and of difficulties they encounter during a modelling task. Therefore, in this study 26 students, working in dyads, were observed while working on a modelling task in the domain of physics. A coding scheme was developed in order to capture the types of reasoning processes used by students. Results indicate that most students had a strong focus on adjusting model parameters to fit the empirical data with little reference to prior knowledge. The successful students differed from the less successful students in using more prior knowledge and in showing more inductive reasoning. These observations lead to suggestions for the design of appropriate scaffolds.     

Inquiry-Based Whole-Class Teaching with Computer Simulations in Physics

In this study we investigated the pedagogical context of whole-class teaching with computer simulations. We examined relations between the attitudes and learning goals of teachers and their students regarding the use of simulations in whole-class teaching, and how teachers implement these simulations in their teaching practices. We observed lessons presented by 24 physics teachers in which they used computer simulations. Students completed questionnaires about the lesson, and each teacher was interviewed afterwards. These three data sources captured implementation by the teacher, and the learning goals and attitudes of students and their teachers regarding teaching with computer simulations. For each teacher, we calculated an Inquiry-Cycle-Score (ICS) based on the occurrence and order of the inquiry activities of predicting, observing and explaining during teaching, and a Student-Response-Rate (SRR) reflecting the level of active student participation. Statistical analyses revealed positive correlations between the inquiry-based character of the teaching approach and students’ attitudes regarding its contribution to their motivation and insight, a negative correlation between the SRR and the ICS, and a positive correlation between teachers’ attitudes about inquiry-based teaching with computer simulations and learning goal congruence between the teacher and his/her students. This means that active student participation is likely to be lower when the instruction more closely resembles the inquiry cycle, and that teachers with a positive attitude about inquiry-based teaching with computer simulations realize the importance of learning goal congruence.     

Variability of inter-team distances associated with match events in elite-standard soccer

Abstract

In soccer, critical match events like goal attempts can be preceded by periods of instability in the balance between the two teams' behaviours. Therefore, we determined periods of high variability in the distance between the teams' centroid positions longitudinally and laterally in an international-standard soccer match and evaluated corresponding match events. Position data were collected with AMISCO Pro®. Inter-team distance variability was calculated over a 3-s moving window. Out of the 242 match periods that exceeded the variability criterion, 51 were dead-ball situations. Match events identified through longitudinal inter-team distance primarily related to defending players moving forward-backward after a longitudinal pass. Match events identified through lateral inter-team distance mainly corresponded with defending players moving laterally following sideways passing. One of two goals and two of fourteen goal-attempts were preceded by a period of high variability. Together, periods of highly variable inter-team distance were associated with collective defensive actions and team reorganisation in dead-ball moments rather than goals or goal attempts. Inter-team dynamics quantified (mutual) reorganisation of the teams and marked teams' collective defensive ability to respond to attacking explorations.     

Stimulating Scientific Reasoning with Drawing-Based Modeling

We investigate the way students’ reasoning about evolution can be supported by drawing-based modeling. We modified the drawing-based modeling tool SimSketch to allow for modeling evolutionary processes. In three iterations of development and testing, students in lower secondary education worked on creating an evolutionary model. After each iteration, the user interface and instructions were adjusted based on students’ remarks and the teacher’s observations. Students’ conversations were analyzed on reasoning complexity as a measurement of efficacy of the modeling tool and the instructions. These findings were also used to compose a set of recommendations for teachers and curriculum designers for using and constructing models in the classroom. Our findings suggest that to stimulate scientific reasoning in students working with a drawing-based modeling, tool instruction about the tool and the domain should be integrated. In creating models, a sufficient level of scaffolding is necessary. Without appropriate scaffolds, students are not able to create the model. With scaffolding that is too high, students may show reasoning that incorrectly assigns external causes to behavior in the model.     

Differences in game reading between selected and non-selected youth soccer players

Applying an established theory of cognitive development―Skill Theory―the current study compares the game-reading skills of youth players selected for a soccer school of a professional soccer club (n = 49) and their non-selected peers (n = 38). Participants described the actions taking place in videos of soccer game plays, and their verbalisations were coded using Skill Theory. Compared to the non-selected players, the selected players generally demonstrated higher levels of complexity in their game-reading, and structured the information of game elements―primarily the player, teammate and field―at higher complexity levels. These results demonstrate how Skill Theory can be used to assess, and distinguish game-reading of youth players with different expertise, a skill important for soccer, but also for other sports.     

The integration of computer simulation and learning support: An example from the physics domain of collisions

Discovery learning is generally seen as a promising but demanding mode of learning that, in most cases, can only be successful if students are guided in the discovery process. The present article discusses a study on discovery learning with a computer simulation environment in the physics domain of collisions. In the learning environment, which is called Collision, students learned about collisions where two particles move in the same direction and interact via a conservative force in such a way that the total mechanical energy is conserved. In the experiment we conducted with Collision, we evaluated the effects of adding two different ways to guide students: model progression, in which the model is presented in separate parts; and assignments, small exercises that the student can choose to do. The effect of providing assignments and model progression was evaluated by comparing the learning behavior and learning results over three experimental conditions in which different versions of the simulation environment were presented: pure simulation, simulation plus assignments, and simulation plus model progression and assignments. Students' use of the environment was logged, their subjectively experienced workload was measured on‐line, and their learning was assessed using a number of assessment procedures. Providing assignments with the simulation improved students' performance on one aspect of a so‐called intuitive knowledge test. Providing the students with model progression did not have an effect. A subjective workload measure indicated that expanding the simulation with assignments and model progression did not raise the workload experienced by the students. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 597–615, 1999