Project Proposals Development – Entrepreneurship and Reflection in Teaching Information Technology

This work presents a model for development of project proposals by students as an approach to teaching information technology while promoting entrepreneurship and reflection. In teams of 3 to 5 participants, students elaborate a project proposal on a topic they have negotiated with each other and with the teacher. The project domain is related to the practical application of state-of-theart information technology in areas of substantial public interest or of immediate interest to the participants. This gives them ample opportunities for reflection not only on technical but also on social, economic, environmental and other dimensions of information technology. This approach has long been used with students of different years and programs of study at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Plovdiv University “Paisiy Hilendarski”. It has been found to develop all eight key competences for lifelong learning set forth in the Reference Framework and procedural skills required in real life.

Online Education: What Works in Mathematics

Florida State University and University of Helsinki Information technology has the potential to deliver education to everybody by high quality online courses and associated services, and to enhance traditional face-to-face instruction by, e.g., web services offering virtually unlimited practice and step-bystep solutions to practice problems. Regardless of this, tools of information technology have not yet penetrated mathematics education in any meaningful way. This is mostly due to the inertia of academia: instructors are slow to change their working habits. This paper reports on an experiment where all the instructors (seven instructors and six teaching assistants) of a large calculus course were required to base their instruction on online content. The paper will analyze the effectiveness of various solutions used, and finishes with recommendations regarding best practices.

Teaching Materials Repository

The paper presents results from the development of a methodology and corresponding software tools for building an academic repository. The repository was filled up with gaming material. The repository architecture and key features of the search engine are discussed. The emphasis falls on solutions of the large set of problems concerning the development of proper mechanisms for semantics-based search in a digital repository.

A Software Platform for Teaching Programming with Grading Systems

Красимир Манев, Милослав Средков, Петър Армянов - Състезателните системи (СС) са незаменимо средство за организация на състезания по програмиране. Напоследък СС се използват и в обучението по програмиране. В статията е предложена платформа, която да интегрира възможностите на СС, създадени или използвани от авторите. Целта е изграждането на проста и ефективна среда за обучение по програмиране, подпомагаща учебния процес. Специфицирани са основните елементи на платформата, като резултат от предходно изследване, и една нейна възможна архитектура.

Approaches to Organization of Teaching for Creating Digital Learning Materials

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2013

Challenges of Teaching Written Communication in the Cloud

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2014

Graphical Approach to Teaching Compound Interest in High School Math Classes

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2015

Teaching Statistics to Engineers: Learning from Experiential Data

The purpose of the work is to claim that engineers can be motivated to study statistical concepts by using the applications in their experience connected with Statistical ideas. The main idea is to choose a data from the manufacturing factility (for example, output from CMM machine) and explain that even if the parts used do not meet exact specifications they are used in production. By graphing the data one can show that the error is random but follows a distribution, that is, there is regularily in the data in statistical sense. As the error distribution is continuous, we advocate that the concept of randomness be introducted starting with continuous random variables with probabilities connected with areas under the density. The discrete random variables are then introduced in terms of decision connected with size of the errors before generalizing to abstract concept of probability. Using software, they can then be motivated to study statistical analysis of the data they encounter and the use of this analysis to make engineering and management decisions.

A Didactic Model of Computer Supported Education in Higher Mathematics

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

Effects of using manipulative materials to teach remedial algebra to community college students on achievement and attitudes towards mathematics

This dissertation derived hypotheses from the theories of Piaget, Bruner and Dienes regarding the effects of using Algebra Tiles and other manipulative materials to teach remedial algebra to community college students. The dependent variables measured were achievement and attitude towards mathematics. The Piagetian cognitive level of the students in the study was measured and used as a concomitant factor in the study.^ The population for the study was comprised of remedial algebra students at a large urban community college. The sample for the study consisted of 253 students enrolled in 10 sections of remedial algebra at three of the six campuses of the college. Pretests included administration of an achievement pre-measure, Aiken's Mathematics Attitude Inventory (MAI), and the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT). Posttest measures included a course final exam and a second administration of the MAI.^ The results of the GALT test revealed that 161 students (63.6%) were concrete operational, 65 (25.7%) were transitional, and 27 (10.7%) were formal operational. For the purpose of analyzing the data, the transitional and formal operational students were grouped together.^ Univariate factorial analyses of covariance ($\alpha$ =.05) were performed on the posttest of achievement (covariate = achievement pretest) and the MAI posttest (covariate = MAI pretest). The factors used in the analysis were method of teaching (manipulative vs. traditional) and cognitive level (concrete operational vs. transitional/formal operational).^ The analyses for achievement revealed a significant difference in favor of the manipulatives groups in the computations by campus. Significant differences were not noted in the analysis by individual instructors.^ The results for attitude towards mathematics showed a significant difference in favor of the manipulatives groups for the college-wide analysis and for one campus. The analysis by individual instructor was not significant. In addition, the college-wide analysis was significant in favor of the transitional/formal operational stage of cognitive development. However, support for this conclusion was not obtained in the analyses by campus or individual instructor. ^

Effectiveness of the Teaching Enrichment Activities to Minorities (TEAM) program at increasing underrepresented students in gifted programs

This study examined the effectiveness of the TEAM (Teaching Enrichment Activities to Minorities) program in preparing and identifying underrepresented students for entrance into the gifted program. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) developed the TEAM program as an intervention program aimed at developing student's thinking skills and critical thinking skills in all subject areas and prepare students for possible placement into the gifted program. ^ A systematic sampling strategy was utilized to select three TEAM schools from each of the six regions in M-DCPS for the sample, for a total of 18 schools. A pool of the students that participated in the TEAM program in 2003-2004 in the 18 schools selected were identified as the TEAM Sample students. A matching sample was created from 18 public schools in Miami-Dade County that did not implement the TEAM program in 2003-2004. The Matching Sample created a match for 806 students in the TEAM sample, for a total of 1612 subjects for the study. ^ This study used a logistical regression design to analyze the relationships of multiple independent variables, including: ethnicity, limited English proficiency, gender, free/reduced lunch status, grade level, reading achievement, mathematics achievement, and participation TEAM on the dependent variables of referral for the gifted program and eligibility into the gifted program. The first analysis found the variables of grade level, participation in TEAM, reading achievement, and mathematics achievement were all significant variables in determining if a student was referred for the gifted program. The second analysis found the variables of grade level, gender, free/reduced lunch status, reading achievement, and mathematics achievement were all significant variables in determining if a student was eligible for the gifted program. ^ Recommendations based on the results of this study include the expansion of the TEAM program in M-DCPS to include additional grade levels and schools. Additionally, adopting a broadened definition of giftedness and reviewing the screening and placement policies for potentially gifted students is recommended. Adopting multicultural and broader definitions of giftedness and constructing better tools and programs, such as TEAM, for assessing and identifying potential gifted students, represent small steps towards creating equitable education for all students. ^

An innovative approach to teaching structural induction for computer science

Proofs by induction are central to many computer science areas such as data structures, theory of computation, programming languages, program efficiency-time complexity, and program correctness. Proofs by induction can also improve students’ understanding and performance of computer science concepts such as programming languages, algorithm design, and recursion, as well as serve as a medium for teaching them. Even though students are exposed to proofs by induction in many courses of their curricula, they still have difficulties understanding and performing them. This impacts the whole course of their studies, since proofs by induction are omnipresent in computer science. Specifically, students do not gain conceptual understanding of induction early in the curriculum and as a result, they have difficulties applying it to more advanced areas later on in their studies. The goal of my dissertation is twofold: (1) identifying sources of computer science students’ difficulties with proofs by induction, and (2) developing a new approach to teaching proofs by induction by way of an interactive and multimodal electronic book (e-book). For the first goal, I undertook a study to identify possible sources of computer science students’ difficulties with proofs by induction. Its results suggest that there is a close correlation between students’ understanding of inductive definitions and their understanding and performance of proofs by induction. For designing and developing my e-book, I took into consideration the results of my study, as well as the drawbacks of the current methodologies of teaching proofs by induction for computer science. I designed my e-book to be used as a standalone and complete educational environment. I also conducted a study on the effectiveness of my e-book in the classroom. The results of my study suggest that, unlike the current methodologies of teaching proofs by induction for computer science, my e-book helped students overcome many of their difficulties and gain conceptual understanding of proofs induction.