SCHEMA- BROADENING INSTRUCTION IN GRADE 9 MATHEMATICS

This pre-experimental study is aimed to present the effects of using the Schema- Broadening Instruction (SBI) to the Mathematics performance of one Grade 9 class at a barangay high school in the Philippines. The study used a modified approach of SBI that adopted the use of the following visual and procedural schemes: (a) The Frayer Model; (b) Visual representations of variation equations; and (c) Polya’s Four Steps in Problem Solving. The modified approach of SBI has also incorporated the use of structured (for concept formation) and open inquiry-based (for problem solving) activities. The approach aimed to reduce the students’ cognitive load in learning Mathematics by introducing visual and procedural schemas. Schemas can be handled with very little conscious effort once acquired and automated. Hence, can reduce students’ working memory load (Ericson, 2005). Results from the study showed that the students gained a wonderful experience of learning through the modified approach of Schema-Broadening Instruction. The students also showed capabilities of learning through structured forms of activities were guide questions and steps were provided for them in generalizing the concepts of the topic. But the Grade 9 students showed unreadiness for open inquiry-based activities and were not yet capable of constructing their own procedure in problem solving. The students preferred to be guided towards the step by step solution instead. Data gathered also showed that the approach has improved the students’ conceptual understanding that lead all the students to mastery. The students’ performance under problem solving also showed improvements but was not enough for all the students to gain mastery. Future scope for the study would be to develop validated visual and procedural schemas that can further reduce cognitive overload in learning Mathematics

Introduction to media computation: a new CS1 approach aimed at non-majors and under-represented populations

Issued as final reportNational Science Foundation (U.S.

Merlin-Know, Profesor Virtual para el guiado del aprendizaje en Moodle en TIC en la Educación

El aprendizaje digital es una de las innovaciones más importantes desde la imprenta. Sabemos que los elementos de una verdadera educación se transmiten mejor cara a cara, sin embargo las nuevas tecnologías de la información han potenciado el desarrollo de un modelo mixto que utiliza herramientas online estratégicamente y que hacen la educación más efectiva y atractiva para los estudiantes, en formas desconocidas hasta ahora. Una de esas herramientas son los tutores virtuales cuya práctica está cada vez más extendida y los cuales potencian la motivación y el entusiasmo, necesarios para un mejor aprendizaje tanto en blended-learning como en e-learning, donde la interacción cara a cara con un profesor o con los compañeros es más limitada. Con esta idea en mente, un grupo de profesoras de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid, decidió introducir un nuevo módulo para Moodle denominado “Merlin-Know” con el fin de utilizarlo con estudiantes de los Grados de Educación Infantil y Primaria. Esto debido principalmente a las dificultades que plantea la asignatura Las TIC en la Educación para dichos alumnos, ya que su perfil no es técnico. De esta forma, Merlin-Know permitió guiar y motivar a los estudiantes, actuando como un profesor virtual y realizando el seguimiento de su progreso individual y respecto al de sus compañeros de clase. El sistema ha sido utilizado durante el curso 2012-13 con grupos online, presencial y bilingüe en inglés para abarcar todas las modalidades educativas existentes en nuestra Universidad.Digital Learning is one of the most important innovations since printing. We know that true elements of education are better transmitted face to face, however the new information technologies have strengthen the development of a mixed model that uses online tools strategically and that make education more effective and attractive to students, in ways we did not know of. One of these tools are virtual tutors, which use is more and more spread since they strengthen motivation and enthusiasm, qualities needed for a better learning either in blended-learning or in e-learning, where face to face interaction with the teacher or the classmates are limited. With this idea on mind, a group of teachers of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid, decided to introduce a new module for Moodle, called “Merlin-Know”, to use it with students from Pre-Primary and Primary Education. This idea mainly aroused from the difficulties the course ICT in Education had for these students, since they do not have a technical profile. Therefore, Merlin-Know allowed guiding and motivating students, acting like a virtual teacher and doing a tracking of their performance, both, individually and compared with their classmates. The system has been used during the course 2012-13 with courses online, face to face and bilingual in English to cover all educational modalities that existed in our University.Facultad de Informátic

INVESTIGATING FACTORS PREDICTING EFFECTIVE LEARNING IN A CS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR K-12 TEACHERS

The demand for K-12 Computer Science (CS) education is growing and there is not an adequate number of educators to match the demand. Comprehensive research was carried out to investigate and understand the influence of a summer two-week professional development (PD) program on teachers’ CS content and pedagogical knowledge, their confidence in such knowledge, their interest in and perceived value of CS, and the factors influencing such impacts. Two courses designed to train K-12 teachers to teach CS, focusing on both concepts and pedagogy skills were taught over two separate summers to two separate cohorts of teachers. Statistical and SWOT analyses were then performed using measures such as attitudinal surveys and knowledge assessments. Findings showed the PD program had a significant impact on the teachers, there was a positive correlation between teachers’ pre-program confidence and knowledge, and additional insights on how to deliver such PD programs more effectively. Results will help inform K-12 CS PD program design. Advisor: Leen-Kiat So

Programação para Jovens: Conteúdos, Atividades Estratégias e Ferramentas

A programação de computadores é uma competência com uma crescente importância na formação de uma pessoa, em particular nos jovens. Mais do que habilitar para uma melhor utilização da enorme capacidade e funcionalidades computacionais hoje disponíveis, permite por si só desenvolver o raciocínio lógico agregado à capacidade de resolução de problemas.Como tal, o ensino da programação tem vindo a ser realizado a jovens e crianças cada vez mais novas, de todo o globo, com várias iniciativas como o code.org, Kodu Game Lab, Hour of Code, Khan Academy e novas ferramentas para o ensino da programação como o Scratch, Alice ou ToonTalk. Estas ferramentas e tecnologias são usadas em contexto curricular e extracurricular, na escola e em casa, com as devidas adaptações em termos de conteúdos, atividades, estratégias de ensino/aprendizagem e ferramentas de programação.Alguns países têm-se claramente destacado neste tema, tanto por avanços no ensino da tecnologia como por implementação, no seu plano curricular oficial, do ensino da programação. O Reino Unido, por exemplo, implementou o programa de ensino de programação no ano letivo de 2014. A realidade em Portugal embora semelhante, existem ainda necessidades específicas. A oferta educativa consiste em Tecnologia de Informação e Computação (ensino básico) e Aplicações Informáticas B (ensino secundário), cujos currículos podem ser melhorados, e a existência destas disciplinas tipicamente difere de acordo com a oferta educativa de cada escola, motivando, ou não, os alunos que ambicionam seguir áreas tecnológicas no ensino superior.Neste contexto, nacional e internacional, pretendeu-se começar por desenvolver um conjunto de unidades didáticas (conteúdos e atividades) para alunos e docentes, assim como um conjunto de estratégias, metas, objetivos educativos e pedagógicos para o ensino da programação a crianças e jovens.Estudos da Universidade de Minnesota referem que o tempo voa quando os alunos se divertem, num estudo que relaciona o uso de tecnologia com a absorção cognitiva, como tal moldou-se a construção deste trabalho tendo em atenção a preferência dos alunos. De modo a evitar condicionantes extra à aprendizagem por parte dos alunos, contribui-se com conteúdos em língua portuguesa, são ainda selecionadas, configuradas e integradas um conjunto de ferramentas de programação, recorrendo ao estado da arte da área.Esta dissertação visa o desenvolvimento de conteúdos e atividades, estratégias e ferramentas, para o ensino da programação a jovens entre os 12 e 18 anos de idade, em língua portuguesa.Computer programming is an increasingly important competence in the training of a person, particularly young people.More than enabling for a better use of the enormous capacity and computational functionalities available today, it allows itself to develop the logical reasoning added to the capacity of problem solving.As such, programming education has been delivered to increasingly young people and young people from all over the globe, with various initiatives such as code.org, Kodu Game Lab, Hour of Code, Khan Academy and new tools for Teaching programming like Scratch, Alice or ToonTalk. These tools and technologies are used in curricular and extracurricular contexts, at school and at home, with appropriate adaptations in terms of content, activities, teaching / learning strategies and programming tools.Some countries have clearly distinguished themselves in this theme, both by advances in the teaching of technology and by the implementation, in their official curricular plan, of programming teaching. The UK, for example, has implemented the programming teaching program in the 2014 school year.The reality in Portugal although similar, there are still specific needs.The educational offer consists of Information Technology and Computing (basic education) and Computer Applications B (secondary education),Whose curricula can be improved, and the existence of these disciplines typically differs according to the educational offer of each school,Motivating or not, the students who ambition to follow technological areas in higher education.In this context, national and international, it was intended to begin by developing a set of didactic units (contents and activities) for students and teachers, as well as a set of strategies, goals, educational and pedagogical objectives for the teaching of programming to children and young people .Studies of the University of Minnesota report that time flies when students have fun in a study that relates the use of technology to cognitive absorption, as such the construction of this work was shaped by the preference of students.In order to avoid extra conditioning to students' learning, it contributes with content in Portuguese,Are still selected, configured and integrated a set of programming tools, using the state of the art of the area.This dissertation aims at the development of contents and activities, strategies and tools, for the teaching of programming to young people between 12 and 18 years of age, in Portuguese language

A model for the alignment of ICT education with business ICT skills requirements

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills shortage is of national and international concern. Modern business practices require the implementation of new technologies supported by a workforce with current and diversified ICT skill-sets. Acquiring suitable ICT skills has become a difficult task and employers are seeing government intervention at all levels. The school system in South Africa is under increased pressure and is faced with continuously declining matriculation pass rates, specifically in subjects such as science and mathematics. Schools are experiencing a decline in the number of scholars (learners) enrolling for the Information Technology (IT) school curriculum. The IT curriculum at school level is being criticised; under-prepared teachers are blamed and lack of suitable facilities highlighted. Surveys conducted amongst grade 9 and grade 12 scholars in the Eastern Cape have shown that scholars are not considering careers in ICT. Teachers, career/guidance counsellors and parents contribute to scholars' career decisions and are not encouraging scholars to pursue careers in ICT. Tertiary institutions in South Africa and internationally, are experiencing a decline in student enrolments and in pass and throughput rates. Industry is holding tertiary institutions responsible for not providing the “correct” ICT graduate skill-sets and passing an insufficient number of quality ICT graduates desperately required by industry. The accreditation of computing degree programs, such as Computer Science (CS), Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT), collectively referred to as CIT, offered by tertiary institutions is becoming an international requirement. The ICT industry is constantly changing and new job requirements and new career opportunities are frequently introduced. Graduates entering the ICT industry should have acquired knowledge about ICT career tracks in order to specialise and choose a suitable career path. Tertiary CIT degree programs should further be linked to specific career tracks and provide a multi-disciplined education to graduates. ii ICT graduates working in industry utilise skills obtained in under-graduate and post-graduate CIT degree programs. The ICT graduates have also obtained valuable skills working in industry, including business skills and soft skills. ICT skill surveys have identified the graduate skills gap, indicating ICT skills industry requires from graduates completing tertiary level qualifications. ICT graduates working in industry, for example indicated that programming in some cases is over-emphasised at school and tertiary level and that soft skills are ignored by tertiary institutions. An ICT Graduate Skills Classifications Framework is developed to address the graduate ICT skills gap and highlight important business skills, soft skills, technical skills and programming skills required by industry. In this thesis, an Industry ICT Value Chain Model is further developed that suggests a holistic approach to the problems experienced at all levels of ICT skills development, including government, industry, tertiary education institutions and at school level. Results from a number of research surveys conducted along the proposed Industry ICT Skills Value Chain Model indicated that problems exist at all stages in the value chain and that the problems can only be addressed involving government, industry and tertiary institutions collectively. A number of interventions is required and the support from industry is essential in achieving overall success in addressing the ICT skills shortage in South Africa. A proposed Industry ICT Skills Value Chain Model that can be utilised to address the ICT skills shortage in South Africa is presented