Investigating problem-based learning in Saudi Arabian mathematics education: a TIMSS-related study

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) on students’ mathematical performance. This includes mathematics achievement and students’ attitudes towards mathematics for third and eighth grade students in Saudi Arabia. Mathematics achievement includes, knowing, applying, and reasoning domains, while students’ attitudes towards mathematics covers, ‘Like learning mathematics’, ‘value mathematics’, and ‘a confidence to learn mathematics’. This study goes deeper to examine the interaction of a PBL teaching strategy, with trained face-to-face and self-directed learning teachers, on students’ performance (mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics). It also examines the interaction between different ability levels of students (high and low levels) with a PBL teaching strategy (with trained face-to-face or self-directed learning teachers) on students’ performance. It draws upon findings and techniques of the TIMSS international benchmarking studies. Mixed methods are used to analyse the quasi-experimental study data. One -way ANOVA, Mixed ANOVA, and paired t-tests models are used to analyse quantitative data, while a semi-structured interview with teachers, and author’s observations are used to enrich understanding of PBL and mathematical performance. The findings show that the PBL teaching strategy significantly improves students’ knowledge application, and is better than the traditional teaching methods among third grade students. This improvement, however, occurred only with the trained face-to-face teacher’s group. Furthermore, there is robust evidence that using a PBL teaching strategy could raise significantly students’ liking of learning mathematics, and confidence to learn mathematics, more than traditional teaching methods among third grade students. Howe ver, there was no evidence that PBL could improve students’ performance (mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics), more than traditional teaching methods, among eighth grade students. In 8th grade, the findings for low achieving students show significant improvement compared to high achieving students, whether PBL is applied or not. However, for 3th grade students, no significant difference in mathematical achievement between high and low achieving students was found. The results were not expected for high achieving students and this is also discussed. The implications of these findings for mathematics education in Saudi Arabia are considered.

Estrategia task-based learning para la producción oral en inglés por medio de second life® en la Universidad de La Salle

Bogotá (Colombia) : Universidad de La Salle. Facultad de Ciencias de La Educación. Licenciatura en Lengua Castellana, Inglés y Francés

Interdisciplinary project-based learning: technology for improving student cognition

The article studies a way of enhancing student cognition by using interdisciplinary project-based learning (IPBL) in a higher education institution. IPBL is a creative pedagogic approach allowing students of one area of specialisation to develop projects for students with different academic profiles. The application of this approach in the Ural State University of Economics resulted in a computer-assisted learning system (CALS) designed by IT students. The CALS was used in an analytical chemistry course with students majoring in Commodities Management and Expertise (‘expert’ students). To test how effective the technology was, the control and experimental groups were formed. In the control group, learning was done with traditional methods. In the experimental group, it was reinforced by IPBL. A statistical analysis of the results, with an application of Pearson χ 2 test, showed that the cognitive levels in both IT and ‘expert’ experimental groups improved as compared with the control groups. The findings demonstrated that IPBL can significantly enhance learning. It can be implemented in any institution of higher or secondary education that promotes learning, including the CALS development and its use for solving problems in different subject areas.

Learning Environments in Design Studio Culture

The paper reports on a study of design studio culture from a student perspective. Learning in design studio culture has been theorised variously as a signature pedagogy emulating professional practice models, as a community of practice and as a form of problem-based learning, all largely based on the study of teaching events in studio. The focus of this research has extended beyond formally recognized activities to encompass the student’s experience of their social and community networks, working places and study set-ups, to examine how these have contributed to studio culture and how there have been supported by studio teaching. Semi-structured interviews with final year undergraduate students of architecture formed the basis of the study using an interpretivist approach informed by Actor-network theory, with studio culture featured as the focal actor, enrolling students and engaging with other actors, together constituting an actor-network of studio culture. The other actors included social community patterns and activities; the numerous working spaces (including but not limited to the studio space itself); the equipment, tools of trade and material pre-requisites for working; the portfolio enrolling the other actors to produce work for it; and the various formal and informal events associated with the course itself. Studio culture is a highly charged social arena: The question is how, and in particular, which aspects of it support learning? Theoretical models of situated learning and communities of practice models have informed the analysis, with Bourdieu’s theory of practice, and his interrelated concepts of habitus, field and capital providing a means of relating individually acquired habits and modes of working to social contexts. Bourdieu’s model of habitus involves the externalisation through the social realm of habits and knowledge previously internalised. It is therefore a useful model for considering whole individual learning activities; shared repertoires and practices located in the social realm. The social milieu of the studio provides a scene for the exercise and display of ‘practicing’ and the accumulation of a form of ‘practicing-capital’. This capital is a property of the social milieu rather than the space, so working or practicing in the company of others (in space and through social media) becomes a more valued aspect of studio than space or facilities alone. This practicing-capital involves the acquisition of a habitus of studio culture, with the transformation of physical practices or habits into social dispositions, acquiring social capital (driving the social milieu) and cultural capital (practicing-knowledge) in the process. The research drew on students’ experiences, and their practicing ‘getting a feel for the game’ by exploring the limits or boundaries of the field of studio culture. The research demonstrated that a notional studio community was in effect a social context for supporting learning; a range of settings to explore and test out newly internalised knowledge, demonstrate or display ideas, modes of thinking and practicing. The study presents a nuanced interpretation of how students relate to a studio culture that involves a notional community, and a developing habitus within a field of practicing that extends beyond teaching scenarios.

A biophysical model for valence-based navigational learning: the role of D-Serine

Recent experiments have revealed the fundamental importance of neuromodulatory action on activity-dependent synaptic plasticity underlying behavioral learning and spatial memory formation. Neuromodulators affect synaptic plasticity through the modification of the dynamics of receptors on the synaptic membrane. However, chemical substances other than neuromodulators, such as receptors co-agonists, can influence the receptors' dynamics and thus participate in determining plasticity. Here we focus on D-serine, which has been observed to affect the activity thresholds of synaptic plasticity by co-activating NMDA receptors. We use a computational model for spatial value learning with plasticity between two place cell layers. The D-serine release is CB1R mediated and the model reproduces the impairment of spatial memory due to the astrocytic CB1R knockout for a mouse navigating in the Morris water maze. The addition of path-constraining obstacles shows how performance impairment depends on the environment's topology. The model can explain the experimental evidence and produce useful testable predictions to increase our understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying learning.

Use of web-based formative assessment to support student learning in metabolism/nutrition unit

In 2002, an integrated basic science course was introduced into the Bachelor of Dental Sciences programme at the University of Queensland, Australia. Learning activities for the Metabolism and Nutrition unit within this integrated course included lectures, problem-based learning tutorials, computer-based self-directed learning exercises and practicals. To support student learning and assist students to develop the skills necessary to become lifelong learners, an extensive bank of formative assessment questions was set up using the commercially available package, WebCT®. Questions included short-answer, multiple-choice and extended matching questions. As significant staff time was involved in setting up the question database, the extent to which students used the formative assessment and their perceptions of its usefulness to their learning were evaluated to determine whether formative assessment should be extended to other units within the course. More than 90% of the class completed formative assessment tasks associated with learning activities scheduled in the first two weeks of the block, but this declined to less than 50% by the fourth and final week of the block. Patterns of usage of the formative assessment were also compared in students who scored in the top 10% for all assessment for the semester with those who scored in the lowest 10%. High-performing students accessed the Web-based formative assessment about twice as often as those who scored in the lowest band. However, marks for the formative assessment tests did not differ significantly between the two groups. In a questionnaire that was administered at the completion of the block, students rated the formative assessment highly, with 80% regarding it as being helpful for their learning. In conclusion, although substantial staff time was required to set up the question database, this appeared to be justified by the positive responses of the students.

A mobile robot platform for open learning based on serious games and remote laboratories

Within the pedagogical community, Serious Games have arisen as a viable alternative to traditional course-based learning materials. Until now, they have been based strictly on software solutions. Meanwhile, research into Remote Laboratories has shown that they are a viable, low-cost solution for experimentation in an engineering context, providing uninterrupted access, low-maintenance requirements, and a heightened sense of reality when compared to simulations. This paper will propose a solution where both approaches are combined to deliver a Remote Laboratory-based Serious Game for use in engineering and school education. The platform for this system is the WebLab-Deusto Framework, already well-tested within the remote laboratory context, and based on open standards. The laboratory allows users to control a mobile robot in a labyrinth environment and take part in an interactive game where they must locate and correctly answer several questions, the subject of which can be adapted to educators' needs. It also integrates the Google Blockly graphical programming language, allowing students to learn basic programming and logic principles without needing to understand complex syntax.

Ontology-based metadata for e-learning content

Nowadays, the popularity of the Web encourages the development of Hypermedia Systems dedicated to e-learning. Nevertheless, most of the available Web teaching systems apply the traditional paper-based learning resources presented as HTML pages making no use of the new capabilities provided by the Web. There is a challenge to develop educative systems that adapt the educative content to the style of learning, context and background of each student. Another research issue is the capacity to interoperate on the Web reusing learning objects. This work presents an approach to address these two issues by using the technologies of the Semantic Web. The approach presented here models the knowledge of the educative content and the learner’s profile with ontologies whose vocabularies are a refinement of those defined on standards situated on the Web as reference points to provide semantics. Ontologies enable the representation of metadata concerning simple learning objects and the rules that define the way that they can feasibly be assembled to configure more complex ones. These complex learning objects could be created dynamically according to the learners’ profile by intelligent agents that use the ontologies as the source of their beliefs. Interoperability issues were addressed by using an application profile of the IEEE LOM- Learning Object Metadata standard.

Computer game-based and traditional learning method: a comparison regarding students’ knowledge retention

Abstract Background Educational computer games are examples of computer-assisted learning objects, representing an educational strategy of growing interest. Given the changes in the digital world over the last decades, students of the current generation expect technology to be used in advancing their learning requiring a need to change traditional passive learning methodologies to an active multisensory experimental learning methodology. The objective of this study was to compare a computer game-based learning method with a traditional learning method, regarding learning gains and knowledge retention, as means of teaching head and neck Anatomy and Physiology to Speech-Language and Hearing pathology undergraduate students. Methods Students were randomized to participate to one of the learning methods and the data analyst was blinded to which method of learning the students had received. Students’ prior knowledge (i.e. before undergoing the learning method), short-term knowledge retention and long-term knowledge retention (i.e. six months after undergoing the learning method) were assessed with a multiple choice questionnaire. Students’ performance was compared considering the three moments of assessment for both for the mean total score and for separated mean scores for Anatomy questions and for Physiology questions. Results Students that received the game-based method performed better in the pos-test assessment only when considering the Anatomy questions section. Students that received the traditional lecture performed better in both post-test and long-term post-test when considering the Anatomy and Physiology questions. Conclusions The game-based learning method is comparable to the traditional learning method in general and in short-term gains, while the traditional lecture still seems to be more effective to improve students’ short and long-term knowledge retention.

Comparison of the effects of inquiry-based cooperative learning and demonstrations in science education

The reported research project involved studying how teaching science using demonstrations, inquiry-based cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two methods affected sixth grade students’ understanding of air pressure and density. Three different groups of students were each taught the two units using different teaching methods. Group one learned about the topics through both demonstrations and inquirybased cooperative learning, whereas group two only viewed demonstrations, and group three only participated in inquiry-based learning in cooperative learning groups. The study was designed to answer the following two questions: 1. Which teaching strategy works best for supporting student understanding of air pressure and density: demonstrations, inquirybased labs in cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two? 2. And what effect does the time spent engaging in a particular learning experience (demonstrations or labs) have on student learning? Overall, the data did not provide sufficient evidence that one method of learning was more effective than the others. The results also suggested that spending more time on a unit does not necessarily equate to a better understanding of the concepts by the students. Implications for science instruction are discussed.

Graph-based Semi-Supervised Learning in Acoustic Modeling for Automatic Speech Recognition

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

An assessment of web-based textbook supplementary material to support student learning

There is an increasing trend by publishers to provide supplementary learning materials with text books in order to improve the learning experience and thus ultimately improve text book sales. This study will aim to establish the use of these materials and their relevance to students in terms of supporting student learning. The materials include multiple choice test banks, animated demonstrations, simulations, quizzes and electronic versions of the text. The study will focus on the extensive library of web-based learning materials available on the ‘WileyPlus’ web platform which accompanies the textbook ‘Operations Management’, 2nd edition authored by A. Greasley and published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

A quiz-based game for addressing growing population issues:linking learning mechanics to the GROWTH serious game

This paper discusses the integration of quiz mechanism into digital game-based learning platform addressing environmental and social issues caused by population growth. 50 participants' learning outcomes were compared before and after the session. Semi-structured interview was used to gather participants' viewpoints regarding of issues presented in the game. Phenomenography was used as a methodology for data collection and analysis. Preliminary outcomes have shown that the current game implementation and quiz mechanism can be used to: (1) promote learning and awareness on environmental and social issues and (2) sustain players' attention and engagements.

Game-based Approach in e-Learning

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2016