Cognitive structures, strategies and instruction

This thesis is organised into three parts. In Part 1 relevant literature is reviewed and three critical components in the development of a cognitive approach to instruction are identified. These three components are considered to be the structure of the subject-matter, the learner's cognitive structures, and the learner's cognitive strategies which act as control and transfer devices between the instructional materials and the learner's cognitive structures. Six experiments are described in Part 2 which is divided into two methodologically distinct units. The three experiments of Unit 1 examined how learning from materials constructed from concept name by concept attribute matrices is influenced by learner or experimenter controlled sequence and organisation. The results suggested that the relationships between input organisation, output organisation and recall are complex and highlighted the importance of investigating organisational strategies at both acquisition and recall. The role of subjects previously acquired knowledge and skills in relation to the instructional material was considered to be an important factor. The three experiments of Unit 2 utilised a "diagramming relationships methodology" which was devised as one means of investigating the processes by which new information is assimilated into an individual's cognitive structure. The methodology was found to be useful in identifying cognitive strategies related to successful task performance. The results suggested that errors could be minimised and comprehension improved on the diagramming relationships task by instructing subjects in ways which induced successful processing operations. Part 3 of this thesis highlights salient issues raised by the experimental work within the framework outlined in Part 1 and discusses potential implications for future theoretical developments and research.

Engineering the future:CDIO as a tool for combating retention difficulties

With the demand for engineering graduates at what may be defined as an unprecedented high, many universities find themselves facing significant levels of student attrition-with high "drop-out levels" being a major issue in engineering education. In order to address this, Aston University in the UK has radically changed its undergraduate engineering education curriculum, introducing capstone CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) modules for all first year students studying Mechanical Engineering and Design. The introduction of CDIO is aimed at making project / problem based learning the norm. Utilising this approach, the learning and teaching in engineering purposefully aims to promote innovative thinking, thus equipping students with high-level problem-solving skills in a way that builds on theory whilst enhancing practical competencies and abilities. This chapter provides an overview of an Action Research study undertaken contemporaneously with the development, introduction, and administration of the first two semesters of CDIO. It identifies the challenges and benefits of the approach and concludes by arguing that whilst CDIO is hard work for staff, it can make a real difference to students' learning experiences, thereby positively impacting retention. © 2012, IGI Global.

Teaching speaking:a holistic approach

Teaching Speaking A Holistic Approach brings together theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on teaching speaking within a coherent methodological framework. The framework combines understandings derived from several areas of speaking research and instruction including cognitive and affective processes, oracy for thinking and learning communicative competence, discourse theories, task-based language learning, and self-regulated learning. By explaining, interpreting, evaluating, and synthesizing these diverse perspectives from linguistics and language learning, the text offers a comprehensive and versatile approach for teaching speaking. Samples of authentic classroom data are used for illustrating important concepts to help readers see how theoretical perspectives can be applied in practice. It also includes a pedagogical model for sequencing learning activities with concrete guidelines on planning and conducting speaking lessons. Different types of learning tasks are explained and illustrated with examples, and each chapter includes short tasks and ends with a number of tasks that enable readers to extend their ideas.

Information and behavioural instruction along the health-care pathway:the perspective of people undergoing hernia repair surgery and the role of formal and informal information sources

Provision of information and behavioural instruction has been demonstrated to improve recovery after surgery. However, patients draw on a range of information sources and it is important to establish which sources patients use and how this influences perceptions and behaviour as they progress along the surgical pathway. In this qualitative, exploratory and longitudinal study, the use of information and instruction were explored from the perspective of people undergoing inguinal hernia repair surgery. Seven participants undergoing inguinal hernia repair surgery were interviewed using semi-structured interviews 2 weeks before surgery and 2 weeks and 4 months post-surgery. Nineteen interviews were conducted in total. Topic guides included sources of knowledge, reasons for help-seeking and opting for surgery and factors influencing return to activity. Data were analysed thematically according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Participants sought information from a range of sources, focusing on informal information sources before surgery and using information and instruction from health-care professionals post-surgery. This information influenced behaviours including deciding to undergo surgery, use of pain medication and returning to usual activity. Anxiety and help-seeking resulted when unexpected post-surgical events occurred such as extensive bruising. Findings were consistent with psychological and sociological theories. Overall, participants were positive about the information and instruction they received but expressed a desire for more timely information on post-operative adverse events.

May the contact lens force be with you

FULL TEXT: Like many people one of my favourite pastimes over the holiday season is to watch the great movies that are offered on the television channels and new releases in the movie theatres or catching up on those DVDs that you have been wanting to watch all year. Recently we had the new ‘Star Wars’ movie, ‘The Force Awakens’, which is reckoned to become the highest grossing movie of all time, and the latest offering from James Bond, ‘Spectre’ (which included, for the car aficionados amongst you, the gorgeous new Aston Martin DB10). It is always amusing to see how vision correction or eye injury is dealt with by movie makers. Spy movies and science fiction movies have a freehand to design aliens with multiples eyes on stalks or retina scanning door locks or goggles that can see through walls. Eye surgery is usually shown in some kind of day case simplified laser treatment that gives instant results, apart from the great scene in the original ‘Terminator’ movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger's android character encounters an injury to one eye and then proceeds to remove the humanoid covering to this mechanical eye over a bathroom sink. I suppose it is much more difficult to try and include contact lenses in such movies. Although you may recall the film ‘Charlie's Angels’, which did have a scene where one of the Angels wore a contact lens that had a retinal image imprinted on it so she could by-pass a retinal scan door lock and an Eddy Murphy spy movie ‘I-Spy’, where he wore contact lenses that had electronic gadgetry that allowed whatever he was looking at to be beamed back to someone else, a kind of remote video camera device. Maybe we aren’t quite there in terms of devices available but these things are probably not the behest of science fiction anymore as the technology does exist to put these things together. The technology to incorporate electronics into contact lenses is being developed and I am sure we will be reporting on it in the near future. In the meantime we can continue to enjoy the unrealistic scenes of eye swapping as in the film ‘Minority Report’ (with Tom Cruise). Much more closely to home, than in a galaxy far far away, in this issue you can find articles on topics much nearer to the closer future. More and more optometrists in the UK are becoming registered for therapeutic work as independent prescribers and the number is likely to rise in the near future. These practitioners will be interested in the review paper by Michael Doughty, who is a member of the CLAE editorial panel (soon to be renamed the Jedi Council!), on prescribing drugs as part of the management of chronic meibomian gland dysfunction. Contact lenses play an active role in myopia control and orthokeratology has been used not only to help provide refractive correction but also in the retardation of myopia. In this issue there are three articles related to this topic. Firstly, an excellent paper looking at the link between higher spherical equivalent refractive errors and the association with slower axial elongation. Secondly, a paper that discusses the effectiveness and safety of overnight orthokeratology with high-permeability lens material. Finally, a paper that looks at the stabilisation of early adult-onset myopia. Whilst we are always eager for new and exciting developments in contact lenses and related instrumentation in this issue of CLAE there is a demonstration of a novel and practical use of a smartphone to assisted anterior segment imaging and suggestions of this may be used in telemedicine. It is not hard to imagine someone taking an image remotely and transmitting that back to a central diagnostic centre with the relevant expertise housed in one place where the information can be interpreted and instruction given back to the remote site. Back to ‘Star Wars’ and you will recall in the film ‘The Phantom Menace’ when Qui-Gon Jinn first meets Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine he takes a sample of his blood and sends a scan of it back to Obi-Wan Kenobi to send for analysis and they find that the boy has the highest midichlorian count ever seen. On behalf of the CLAE Editorial board (or Jedi Council) and the BCLA Council (the Senate of the Republic) we wish for you a great 2016 and ‘may the contact lens force be with you’. Or let me put that another way ‘the CLAE Editorial Board and BCLA Council, on behalf of, a great 2016, we wish for you!’

What can practitioner perceptions tell us about our subject?

Part of the challenge of fostering learning is to open up learner minds to new possibilities or ways of thinking but is what we are encouraging learners to think really that different from the current practitioner conceptions? Having been uncomfortable with the focus of textbooks for the teaching of the core concept, the nature of a program, in the teaching of object-­oriented programming, we sought to discover how practitioner’s conceived the concept. Our findings provide a framework for understanding the different ways of conceiving the concept and the features that distinguish these conceptions. How could these conceptions and their critical features influence the focus in teaching especially in relation to computational thinking?

Time for action? Elementary engineering education - Challenging teachers, policy makers and parents

Grounded in the findings of a three year exploratory student whereby teachers' and policy makers' perceptions of elementary level engineering education were analysed, this paper focuses upon three strands of engineering education activity: Pedagogy: Practice, and: Policy. Taking into account the challenges associated with introducing engineering education at an elementary level across the UK, the paper critiques the role played by the 'competition model' in promoting engineering to children and 4 to 11 years. In considering the 'added value' that appropriately developed engineering education activities can offer in the classroom the discussion argues that elementary level engineering has the potential to reach across the curriculum, offering context and depth in many different areas. The paper concludes by arguing that by introducing the discipline to children at a foundational level, switching on their 'Engineering Imaginations' and getting them to experience the value and excitement of engineering, maths and applied science a new "Educational Frontier" will be forged. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2014.