The Optimality of Decision Making During Motor Learning

In our daily lives, we often must predict how well we are going to perform in the future based on an evaluation of our current performance and an assessment of how much we will improve with practice. Such predictions can be used to decide whether to invest our time and energy in learning and, if we opt to invest, what rewards we may gain. This thesis investigated whether people are capable of tracking their own learning (i.e. current and future motor ability) and exploiting that information to make decisions related to task reward. In experiment one, participants performed a target aiming task under a visuomotor rotation such that they initially missed the target but gradually improved. After briefly practicing the task, they were asked to select rewards for hits and misses applied to subsequent performance in the task, where selecting a higher reward for hits came at a cost of receiving a lower reward for misses. We found that participants made decisions that were in the direction of optimal and therefore demonstrated knowledge of future task performance. In experiment two, participants learned a novel target aiming task in which they were rewarded for target hits. Every five trials, they could choose a target size which varied inversely with reward value. Although participants’ decisions deviated from optimal, a model suggested that they took into account both past performance, and predicted future performance, when making their decisions. Together, these experiments suggest that people are capable of tracking their own learning and using that information to make sensible decisions related to reward maximization.

O sistema PBL, problem-based learning, no ensino de medicina no Brasil : análise bibliográfica sobre a sua execução

Introdução: Entre as estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem utilizadas nas práticas pedagógicas, a Problem Based Learning (PBL) (Aprendizagem Baseada em Problemas) é utilizada desde 1960, em especial nos cursos de Medicina. Mesmo sendo uma estratégia valiosa, um dos seus obstáculos é a pouca prática dos alunos em atividades autodirigidas, pesquisa e construção coletiva do conhecimento. Objetivo: Rastrear elementos constitutivos da PBL através de dados colhidos em artigos pesquisados em sítios de divulgação científica; Avaliar, nos estudos selecionados, os aspectos positivos e negativos que estejam relacionados com a metodologia do Sistema PBL aplicada ao ensino médico no Brasil. Metodologia: Estudo bibliográfico de 13 textos utilizando um modelo de desconstrução, denominada Análise Textual Discursiva (ATD) que consiste em: transformação dos artigos em pedaços menores; análise textual; identificação de padrões convergentes e divergentes em relação a PBL; organização e síntese dos dados, culminando com a elaboração de estratégia adaptativa da PBL para o curso de Medicina. Resultados: Foram encontradas 116 citações que convergiam para referências positivos acerca da metodologia PBL e 40 citações que divergiam acerca dos pontos positivos. Os aspectos positivos como o desenvolvimento de atitudes e habilidades; desenvolvimento de competências anteriores ao curso; efeitos positivos depois de terminada a graduação, como autonomia de estudo e a articulação entre currículo e realidade profissional, representam pontos a serem reforçados na aula. Em contraponto, foi observado que dentre os negativos a não compreensão do papel do professor como tutor; necessidade de conteúdo formal tradicional pelos alunos e a expectativa que o professor retire as suas dúvidas são pontos a serem evitados. Conclusões: A metodologia PBL deverá servir como metodologia ativa para aproveitar ao máximo as habilidades que os alunos já apresentam, potencializando o aprendizado na educação médica em sala de aula. Palavras-Chave: PBL; curso de medicina; metodologia ativa; educação médica.

Getting the most from a site visit : a guide to assist schools visiting a Leadership and Learning Site for Reading Best Practices /

Includes a list of the Reading Best Practice Sites in Illinois and a list of the possible teaching strategies that are appropriate with each of the fourteen Best Practices.

Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards: How Instructional Coaches Mediate Standards-Based Educational Reforms to Teacher Practice

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

Socio-Historical Factors Mediating Collaborative Teaching and Learning: A Design-Based Investigation and Intervention

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

The Development of Novice Teachers' Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Practice

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

Reflective practice at the intersection of the arts, science, and engineering: Ethnographic beginnings of a youth program in transition

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Simulating Nursing: Rhetoric, Materiality, and Disciplinary Learning

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

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum: Electronic discussion and foreign language learning

Amongst the opportunities for cross-cultural contact created by the burgeoning use of the Internet are those provided by electronic discussion lists. This study looks at what happens when language students venture out of the classroom (virtual or otherwise) to participate in on-line discussion groups with native speakers. Responses to messages and commentary by moderators and other participants on the (in) appropriateness of contributions allow us to determine what constitutes successful participation and to make suggestions regarding effective teaching strategies for this medium. A case study examines the threads started by four anglophone students of French when they post messages to a forum on the Web site of the French newspaper Le Monde. Investigation of these examples points to the ways in which electronic discussion inflects and is inflected by cultural and generic expectations. We suggest that successful participation on Internet fora depends on awareness of such cultural and generic mores and an ability to work within and/or with them. Teachers therefore need to find ways in which students can be sensitized to such issues so that their participation in such electronic discussion is no longer seen as linguistic training, but as engagement with a cultural practice.

Learning mathematics in a classroom community of inquiry

This article considers the question of what specific actions a teacher might take to create a culture of inquiry in a secondary school mathematics classroom. Sociocultural theories of learning provide the framework for examining teaching and learning practices in a single classroom over a two-year period. The notion of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is invoked as a fundamental framework for explaining learning as increasing participation in a community of practice characterized by mathematical inquiry. The analysis draws on classroom observation and interviews with students and the teacher to show how the teacher established norms and practices that emphasized mathematical sense-making and justification of ideas and arguments and to illustrate the learning practices that students developed in response to these expectations.

A conceptual model of personalized virtual learning environments

The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is one of the fastest growing areas in educational technology research and development. In order to achieve learning effectiveness, ideal VLEs should be able to identify learning needs and customize solutions, with or without an instructor to supplement instruction. They are called Personalized VLEs (PVLEs). In order to achieve PVLEs success, comprehensive conceptual models corresponding to PVLEs are essential. Such conceptual modeling development is important because it facilitates early detection and correction of system development errors. Therefore, in order to capture the PVLEs knowledge explicitly, this paper focuses on the development of conceptual models for PVLEs, including models of knowledge primitives in terms of learner, curriculum, and situational models, models of VLEs in general pedagogical bases, and particularly, the definition of the ontology of PVLEs on the constructivist pedagogical principle. Based on those comprehensive conceptual models, a prototyped multiagent-based PVLE has been implemented. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the learning achievements by comparing personalized and non-personalized systems. The result indicates that the PVLE we developed under our comprehensive ontology successfully provides significant learning achievements. These comprehensive models also provide a solid knowledge representation framework for PVLEs development practice, guiding the analysis, design, and development of PVLEs. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Profile of paediatric occupational therapy practice in Australia

Background: The purpose of the present study was to describe a profile of Australian paediatric occupational therapy practice in terms of theories, assessments and interventions used with the most frequently seen client groups. Methods: An ex post facto survey design was utilised. A purpose-designed survey was mailed to 600 occupational therapists identified by OT Australia as working in paediatrics. Results: The response rate was 55% (n = 330). Respondents in the sample worked chiefly with children with developmental delays, learning disabilities, neurological impairments, and infants/toddlers. Theoretical models used by paediatric clinicians that were common to the most frequently seen client groups focused on sensory integration/multisensory approaches, occupational performance, and client-centred practice. Assessment tools most frequently used were the Test of Visual Motor Integration, Sensory Profile, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Handwriting Speed Test, and Motor-Free Visual Perception Test. The most often used treatment methods across the four most frequently seen client groups were parent/caregiver education, sensory integration/stimulation techniques, and managing activities of daily living. Conclusions: Paediatric occupational therapists appeared to draw on a range of theoretical models. With the exception of the Sensory Profile, the assessment and treatment methods most frequently used are not congruent with the most commonly used theoretical models. It is critical that the assessment and treatment methods used are conceptually consistent with the theoretical models that guide practice. Occupational therapists need to examine the evidence and determine whether their clinical practice is grounded in the best contemporary theoretical models, assessments and interventions.

Mentoring for population health in general practice divisions

This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of a three-way model of service development mentoring. This population health mentoring program was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing to enable staff from eight Divisions of General Practice in South Australia to gain a sound understanding of population health concepts relevant to their workplace. The distinguishing features of service development mentoring were that the learning was grounded within an individual's work setting and experience; there was an identified population health problem or issue confronting the Division of General Practice; and there was an expectation of enhanced organisational performance. A formal evaluation found a consensus among all learners that mentoring was a positive and worthwhile experience, where they had achieved what they had set out to do. Mentors found the model of learning agreeable and effective. Division executive officers recognised enhanced skills among their "learner" colleagues, and commented positively on the benefits to their organisations through the development of well researched and relevant projects, with the potential to improve the efficiency of their population health activities.

Shadowing experiences and the extension of communities of practice: A case study of women education managers

Recent developments in workplace learning have focused on relational and social network views of learning that introduce practitioners to the norms, values and assumptions of the workplace as well as the learning processes through which knowledge is acquired. This article reports on a qualitative study of a mentoring programme designed to assist women education managers gain promotion by broadening their networks and stimulating insights into the senior management positions for which they were being prepared. The findings are that members reflexively assess and reassess goals and values to demystify knowledge and resolved cognitive dissonance in these processes. Moreover, this article shows that women participants learn from the networks, and that the networks learn from the participant in a reciprocal and informal way. The article concludes that organizational learning programmes must focus on enabling such networks to flourish.