The effects of jigsaw cooperative learning on motivation to learn English at Chung -Hwa Institute of Technology, Taiwan

The Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Republic of China in Taiwan considers English to be one of the keys to raising Taiwan's international competitiveness and requires students attending institutes of technology to receive instruction in English as a foreign language (EFL). This study focused on impacts of the use of cooperative learning as a teaching method on EFL learners. The setting was the English classes of Chung-Hwa Institute of Technology (CHIT). The subjects were 77 students from two classes, majoring in Business Administration. ^ The purpose of this study was to determine the differential effects (i.e., achievement in learning English, motivation orientation and intensity, and attitude concerning English language and culture) on students between the traditional Chinese teaching method and the Jigsaw cooperative learning method at CHIT. ^ The research design for the study was quasi-experimental and descriptive. This study utilized three survey instruments and final exam grades to investigate the effect of Jigsaw on the EFL students' competency in English, and on their attitudes about, and level of motivation toward learning English. The independent variable was the instructional method: one class utilized the Jigsaw approach to cooperative learning while the other utilized the traditional Chinese approach. The dependent variables were academic performance, motivation orientation toward English, motivation intensity toward learning English, and attitude toward learning of English and English culture as determined by final exam and questionnaire scores. The questionnaires and exam were administrated at the beginning and end of the semester. ^ Data analysis indicated that students learning cooperatively had higher final course grades and made more integrative statements on the measure of orientation toward learning English than students who learned using the traditional Chinese methods. Participants who learned using cooperative strategies had more positive attitudes about learning English connected with their desire to associate with English speakers and had more positive attitudes about the learning mechanism they experienced than those instructed though traditional Chinese learning strategies. There were no differences between the groups on the measure of motivation intensity. Recommendations were made to improve the use of the Jigsaw method of cooperative learning through both pedagogical and policy modifications. ^

Research: ways to look and learn in professional practice

Peer reviewed

Phonic skills mediate improved literacy outcomes in at-risk primary school children: results from the Ready-to-Learn Programme

Background
Learning to read is a key goal during primary school: reading difficulties may curtail children’s learning trajectories. Controversy remains regarding what types of interventions are effective for children at risk for academic failure, such as children in disadvantaged areas. We present data from a complex intervention to test the hypothesis that phonic skills and word recognition abilities are a pivotal and specific causal mechanism for the development of reading skills in children at risk for poorer literacy outcomes.
Method
Over 500 pupils across 16 primary schools took part in a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial from school year 1 to year 3. Schools were randomly allocated to the intervention or the control arm. The intervention involved a literacy-rich after-school programme. Children attending schools in the control arm of the study received the curriculum normally provided. Children in both arms completed batteries of language, phonic skills, and reading tests every year. We used multilevel mediation models to investigate mediating processes between intervention and outcomes.
Findings
Children who took part in the intervention displayed improvements in reading skills compared to those in the control arm. Results indicated a significant indirect effect of the intervention via phonics encoding.
Discussion
The results suggest that the intervention was effective in improving reading abilities of children at risk, and this effect was mediated by improving children’s phonic skills. This has relevance for designing interventions aimed at improving literacy skills of children exposed to socio-economic disadvantage. Results also highlight the importance of methods to investigate causal pathways from intervention to outcomes.

"The X in balance", a serious game to learn how to solve mathematical equations

(Prefácio) This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Masters (Engenharia Informática) at University of Évora. Under the supervision of Professor Francisco Manuel Gonçalves Coelho, i have selected to work on game design. With the specific period of time and resources, an attempt has been made to make a serious educational game. While writing this thesis, the objective was to describe a math game for solving mathematical equations. Injecting learning factor in a game, is a main concern of this project. The document is about the description of ‘X in Balance’ game. This game provides a platform for school aged students to solve the equations by playing game. It also gives a unique dimension of putting fun and math in a same platform. The document describes full detail on the project. The first chapter gives an introduction about the problem faced by students in doing maths and the learning behavior of a game. It also points out the opportunities that this game might brings and the motivation behind doing this work. It describes the game concept and its genre too. Besides, the second chapter tells state of an art of serous educational game. It defines the concept of serious game and its types. Furthermore, it justifies the flexibility of serious games to adapt all learning styles. The impact of serious games on learning is also mentioned. It also includes the related work of other researchers.

Educated to Learn : How to enhance the education of computer science and informatics

The very nature of computer science with its constant changes forces those who wish to follow to adapt and react quickly. Large companies invest in being up to date in order to generate revenue and stay active on the market. Universities, on the other hand, need to imply same practices of staying up to date with industry needs in order to produce industry ready engineers. By interviewing former students, now engineers in the industry, and current university staff this thesis aims to learn if there is space for enhancing the education through different lecturing approaches and/or curriculum adaptation and development. In order to address these concerns a qualitative research has been conducted, focusing on data collection obtained through semi-structured live world interviews. The method used follows the seven stages of research interviewing introduced by Kvale and focuses on collecting and preparing relevant data for analysis. The collected data is transcribed, refined, and further on analyzed in the “Findings and analysis” chapter. The focus of analyzing was answering the three research questions; learning how higher education impacts a Computer Science and Informatics Engineers’ job, how to better undergo the transition from studies to working in the industry and how to develop a curriculum that helps support the previous two. Unaltered quoted extracts are presented and individually analyzed. To paint a better picture a theme-wise analysis is presented summing valuable themes that were repeated throughout the interviewing phase. The findings obtained imply that there are several factors directly influencing the quality of education. From the student side, it mostly concerns expectation and dedication involving studies, and from the university side it is commitment to the curriculum development process. Due to the time and resource limitations this research provides findings conducted on a narrowed scope, although it can serve as a great foundation for further development; possibly as a PhD research.

Leptogenesis, CP violation and neutrino data: what can we learn?

A detailed analytic and numerical study of baryogenesis through leptogenesis is performed in the framework of the standard model of electroweak interactions extended by the addition of three right-handed neutrinos, leading to the seesaw mechanism. We analyze the connection between GUT-motivated relations for the quark and lepton mass matrices and the possibility of obtaining a viable leptogenesis scenario. In particular, we analyze whether the constraints imposed by SO(10) GUTs can be compatible with all the available solar, atmospheric and reactor neutrino data and, simultaneously, be capable of producing the required baryon asymmetry via the leptogenesis mechanism. It is found that the Just-So(2) and SMA solar solutions lead to a viable leptogenesis even for the simplest SO(10) GUT, while the LMA, LOW and VO solar solutions would require a different hierarchy for the Dirac neutrino masses in order to generate the observed baryon asymmetry. Some implications on CP violation at low energies and on neutrinoless double beta decay are also considered. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Ontologies learn by searching

Dissertation to obtain the Master degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Agglomeration and inequality across space: what can we learn from the European experience?

The purpose of this contribution is to draw a picture of the (uneven) distribution of economic activities across the states of the European Union (EU) and the consequences entailed by it. We will briefly summarize the most salient and recent contributions. Then, in the light of the economic geography theory, we will discuss the economic and social advantages and disadvantages associated with a core- periphery structure. In this sense, particular attention will be addressed to the EU financial system of Structural Funds and the effects they produced. Finally, we will formulate some suggestions, relying on the EU experience, that could be of interest to the current Brazilian regional policy.

Effects of anxiety on visuospatial pattern discrimination and decision-making processes: what can we learn from brain dynamics ?

Detection and discrimination of visuospatial input involve at least extracting, selecting and encoding relevant information and decision-making processes allowing selecting a response. These two operations are altered, respectively, by attentional mechanisms that change discrimination capacities, and by beliefs concerning the likelihood of uncertain events. Information processing is tuned by the attentional level that acts like a filter on perception, while decision-making processes are weighed by subjective probability of risk. In addition, it has been shown that anxiety could affect the detection of unexpected events through the modification of the level of arousal. Consequently, purpose of this study concerns whether and how decision-making and brain dynamics are affected by anxiety. To investigate these questions, the performance of women with either a high (12) or a low (12) STAI-T (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Spielberger, 1983) was examined in a decision-making visuospatial task where subjects have to recognize a target visual pattern from non-target patterns. The target pattern was a schematic image of furniture arranged in such a way as to give the impression of a living room. Non-target patterns were created by either the compression or the dilatation of the distances between objects. Target and non-target patterns were always presented in the same configuration. Preliminary behavioral results show no group difference in reaction time. In addition, visuo-spatial abilities were analyzed trough the signal detection theory for quantifying perceptual decisions in the presence of uncertainty (Green and Swets, 1966). This theory treats detection of a stimulus as a decision-making process determined by the nature of the stimulus and cognitive factors. Astonishingly, no difference in d' (corresponding to the distance between means of the distributions) and c (corresponds to the likelihood ratio) indexes was observed. Comparison of Event-related potentials (ERP) reveals that brain dynamics differ according to anxiety. It shows differences in component latencies, particularly a delay in anxious subjects over posterior electrode sites. However, these differences are compensated during later components by shorter latencies in anxious subjects compared to non-anxious one. These inverted effects seem indicate that the absence of difference in reaction time rely on a compensation of attentional level that tunes cortical activation in anxious subjects, but they have to hammer away to maintain performance.

Brain dysfunction in sepsis: what can we learn from cerebral perfusion studies?

Investigations on the relationship between sepsis, brain dysfunction, and cerebral perfusion are methodologically very difficult to perform. It is important to interpret the results of such studies in view of our limited ability to diagnose and quantify brain dysfunction and to consider our limited understanding of the mechanisms that lead to or are associated with brain dysfunction in sepsis.

Bosentan and oral anticoagulants in HIV patients: what we can learn of cases reported so far.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is an infrequent but nevertheless serious life-threatening severe complication of HIV infection. It can be treated with bosentan and oral anticoagulants. Bosentan could induce the acenocoumarol metabolism and it increases the INR values. Until now, no study of interaction between bosentan and oral anticoagulants in HIV patients has reported. So we present a case of this interaction between these drugs and we reviewed MEDLINE to identify all the papers published so far. In our case, several weeks after increasing dose of bosentan acenocoumarol dose had to be progressively increased to 70 mg/week (+33%) without obtaining an adequate INR level (2.0-3.0). Forty-nine days later, we achieved a therapeutic INR with 90 mg/week of warfarin. The use of bosentan and oral anticoagulants together in these patients require a closer monitoring during first weeks of treatment, after increasing the bosentan dose and even during longer periods of time.

What can the United States learn from Spain's Pork Sector? Implications from a Comparative Economic Analysis, September 2005

This study provides a comparative economic analysis of the primary production of pork and its marketing channel in Spain and the United States. The focus on Spain is due to the profound growth and transformation of its pork sector over the last 20 years, compared with other major players in the world market for pig meat. The analysis reveals a number of similar characteristics but also important differences between the two countries. The significant expansion of Spain’s pork production sector stemmed from a number of factors that apply, to a relatively large extent, to some U.S. states (in particular, North Carolina) but do not apply to the U.S. pork production sector as a whole. This implies that it is unlikely that the U.S. pork production sector as a whole will mimic an expansion driven by the same type of factors in the future. Likewise, it seems highly unlikely that the U.S. consumption of pig meat will expand in the future based on the same driving forces behind the sharp increase in Spain’s domestic demand for pig meat over the last 20 years. The analysis also indicates that Spanish pig producers are currently being subjected to more stringent environmental and animal welfare regulations than their U.S. counterparts and that these regulations are becoming increasingly more restrictive. It would not be surprising to see similar trends emerging in the United States, leading to a substantially more restrictive regulatory environment for U.S. hog producers.

Nocturnal hypoglycaemias in type 1 diabetic patients: what can we learn with continuous glucose monitoring?

AIM: In type 1 diabetic patients (T1DM), nocturnal hypoglycaemias (NH) are a serious complication of T1DM treatment; self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is recommended to detect them. However, the majority of NH remains undetected on an occasional SMBG done during the night. An alternative strategy is the Continuous glucose monitoring (CGMS), which retrospectively shows the glycaemic profile. The aims of this retrospective study were to evaluate the true incidence of NH in T1DM, the best SMBG time to predict NH, the relationship between morning hyperglycaemia and NH (Somogyi phenomenon) and the utility of CGMS to reduce NH. METHODS: Eighty-eight T1DM who underwent a CGMS exam were included. Indications for CGMS evaluation, hypoglycaemias and correlation with morning hyperglycaemias were recorded. The efficiency of CGMS to reduce the suspected NH was evaluated after 6-9 months. RESULTS: The prevalence of NH was 67% (32% of them unsuspected). A measured hypoglycaemia at bedtime (22-24 h) had a sensitivity of 37% to detect NH (OR=2.37, P=0.001), while a single measure < or =4 mmol/l at 3-hour had a sensitivity of 43% (OR=4.60, P<0.001). NH were not associated with morning hyperglycaemias but with morning hypoglycaemias (OR=3.95, P<0.001). After 6-9 months, suspicions of NH decreased from 60 to 14% (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: NH were highly prevalent and often undetected. SMBG at bedtime, which detected hypoglycaemia had sensitivity almost equal to that of 3-hour and should be preferred because it is easier to perform. Somogyi phenomenon was not observed. CGMS is useful to reduce the risk of NH in 75% of patients.

RAGBRAI Learn about the Land; Day 1, July 2008

Want to know what conditions to expect over the next stage of RAGBRAI? How hilly will it be, what towns and parks are between here and there, or what services are coming up in the next town?