Representing addition and subtraction : learning the formal conventions

The study was designed to test the effects of a structured intervention in teaching children to represent addition and subtraction. In a post-test only control group design, 90 five-year-olds experienced the intervention entitled Bi-directional Translation whilst 90 control subjects experienced typical teaching. Post-intervention testing showed some significant differences between the two groups both in terms of being able to effect the addition and subtraction operations and in being able to determine which operation was appropriate. The results suggest that, contrary to historical practices, children's exploration of real world situations should precede practice in arithmetical symbol manipulation

The Unexpected Rhetoric of Professional & Technical Writing

Professional Writing & Rhetoric: A compilation of work on research about website usability, ethics, and an editing portfolio and new teacher manua

Digital libraries and information literacy issues within virtual learning environments : an e-learning impasse?

The DIDET digital library and VLE approach places much of the responsibility for managing the digital library work flow into the hands of students, as well as academics and librarians. Student responsibilities include the application of metadata, as well as conventional information literacy competencies such as ascertaining information resource provenance, investigating intellectual property rights and/or digital rights management implications, before depositing digital resources within the library. This has obviously laid bare numerous research issues relating to future digital library and VLE design, student information literacy, the use of ICT in education and design, and related pedagogical issues, all of which are worthy of further investigation within the UK HE community and will be elucidated in this paper. More importantly, this paper will argue that such a model signifies a definite impasse in the evolution of e-learning models and questions the degree to which current information literacy models are effective in specific e-learning contexts. The paper will conclude by further recognising that greater student information literacy skills are necessary to unlock the potential of such radical approaches to e-learning and digital library creation

A survey of epistemology and its implications on an organisational information and knowledge management model

This is a theoretical paper which aims to integrate various epistemologies from the philosophical, knowledge management, cognitive science, and educational perspectives. From a survey of knowledge-related literature, we have collated diverse views of knowledge. This is followed by categorising as well as ascribing attributes to the different types of knowledge. We have developed a novel Organisational Information and Knowledge Management Model which seeks to clarify the distinctions between information and knowledge by introducing a novel information and knowledge conversions; followed by providing mechanisms for individual knowledge creation and information sharing within an organisation

Teacher Candidate Dispositions Identified by NCATE-Accredited Colleges of Education: How Professional Educators are Disposed Toward the Students, Curriculum, and Reasons They Teach

The education profession has a great deal of information on potential teachers\u27 knowledge and technical skills, but the study of affective attributes that are the human interface between teaching and student learning is still evolving. The central phenomenon exmined in this study is the affective and attitudinal attributes, or dispositions of teachers as defined by colleges of education. The researcher analyzed conceptual frameworks and affective attributes in Institutional Reports from colleges reviewed by the National Council on the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), whose standards require reporting on dispositions. The dispositional factors that these colleges surmise predict successful practice were coded and categorized, then compared with the prior literature regarding this phenomenon and student learning factor\u27s. Student learning factors were drawn from existing cognitive science research with potential parallels to the dispositions identified in the qualitative study. Dispositional codes were analyzed and categorized using a developmental model, resulting in four primary categories and nine subcategories: Cognitive Knowledge Thinking Skills Emotional/Values Personal Interpersonal Community Social Character Leadership Contextual Structure for Learning Philosophy Frequencies and rank orders of the specific dispositions identified are provided. Graphs comparing dispositional characteristics in the Institutional Report analysis to the Interstate New Teacher Support and Assessment Consortium (INTASC) Ten Core Principles are included within the discussion of findings. Subcategories of valued teacher dispositions were found to have marked similarity across the diverse colleges and universities. However, little consensus occurred in regard to the research literature-bases used by the colleges and almost no information regarding specific assessments was available at this level of analysis. Recommendations are included that encourage greater collaboration within the profession and across other professional domains to better articulate the research base and determine appropriate hierarchical measurement scales for evaluation. Recommendations for college of teacher education self-examination of dispositional research and assessments within the developmental model, with an emphasis on incorporation of cognitive science research are also provided. The self-examination includes probe questions for mapping where dispositions arc addressed in the program structure, validating the research base, and mapping evaluations across the program

Teaching Strategies to Accommodate Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Online Nursing Courses

The purpose of this paper is to explore ways of adapting teaching strategies to accommodate culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nursing students in online nursing courses to make web based learning more experiential, engaging, and community oriented. With the need to recruit more CALD nursing students and with strong general interest in the nursing profession, it is increasingly difficult for nursing programs to accommodate, expand, and improve in traditional learning environments alone. For that reason, online learning has become not only a component of, but the entire way of teaching in many associate and baccalaureate nursing programs. With this increasing enrollment and push to further develop online learning, schools of nursing need to guide faculty in understanding, developing awareness of and identifying strategies to manage online learning, specifically for a more diverse population of students. This paper specifically focuses on the challenges faced by Somali nursing students in online learning environments. Recommendations are provided for nurse educators in adapting teaching strategies for Somali nursing students enrolled in online courses to make learning a positive experience and nursing an achievable goal

Differences in learning styles and satisfaction between traditional face-to-face and online web-based sport management studies students

Each student has a unique learning style or individual way of perceiving, interacting, and responding to a learning environment. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the prevalence of learning styles among undergraduate Sport Management Studies (SMS) students at California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U). Learning style prevalence was determined for traditional face-to-face students and online web-based students and differences in learning style prevalence between these two groups were explored. Finally, differences in student satisfaction between program delivery methods were examined by using an online questionnaire designed by the researcher.;The population for this study included 247 Cal U undergraduate SMS students enrolled in the fall 2009 semester. Through an online survey 101 face-to-face students and 146 on-line students were identified into one of four learning style groups (Accommodators, Divergers, Assimilators, and Convergers) utilizing Kolb\u27s Learning Style Inventory 3.1 (2005).;The data from the study were analyzed and yielded a trend toward significance for learning style preference by delivery method. The comparison of the four learning styles for the face-to-face participants indicated a statistically significant difference. The comparison of the four learning styles for the on-line participants indicated a statistically significant difference. The follow-up analysis consisted of comparison of each of the four learning styles separately by delivery method (face-to-face and on-line) yielded no statistical significant difference.;Four satisfaction questions were found to have statistical significance in ratings between face-to-face and on-line students. On-line respondents were significantly more satisfied with the challenge and demand of Sport Management Studies courses, significantly more satisfied with the Sport Management Studies major setting high expectations for student performance, significantly more satisfied with the program finding connections between what students are learning in the classroom, relating it to their past experiences, and applying it to their daily lives, and significantly more satisfied with the quality of their academic experience within the program when compared to the face-to-face respondents.;The results of this study can help educators and academic administrators better understand the needs of their students and better develop or structure teaching methods in both on-campus and web-based instruction. Colleges and universities will need to implement changes to meet the advancement of the technological revolution at hand. As educators (virtual and live) are faced with an increasingly diverse population of learners with a wide range of expectations, there is a need to continually seek to understand what factors constitute excellent delivery to promote effective learning. By recognizing different learning styles, educators may better engage students, work in conjunction with their universities to meet demands of the growing distance education and on-line learning populations, increase levels of student satisfaction, ensure a greater program fit with students, individualize and capitalize learning opportunities in the classroom, and seek to employ different pedagogical approaches to better facilitate learning