Computational Thinking Integration into Middle Grades Science Classrooms: Strategies for Meeting the Challenges

This paper reports findings from the efforts of a university-based research team as they worked with middle school educators within formal school structures to infuse computer science principles and computational thinking practices. Despite the need to integrate these skills within regular classroom practices to allow all students the opportunity to learn these essential 21st Century skills, prior practice has been to offer these learning experiences outside of mainstream curricula where only a subset of students have access. We have sought to leverage elements of the research-practice partnership framework to achieve our project objectives of integrating computer science and computational thinking within middle science classrooms. Utilizing a qualitative approach to inquiry, we present narratives from three case schools, report on themes across work sites, and share recommendations to guide other practitioners and researchers who are looking to engage in technology-related initiatives to impact the lives of middle grades students

A survey of machine learning techniques applied to self organizing cellular networks

In this paper, a survey of the literature of the past fifteen years involving Machine Learning (ML) algorithms applied to self organizing cellular networks is performed. In order for future networks to overcome the current limitations and address the issues of current cellular systems, it is clear that more intelligence needs to be deployed, so that a fully autonomous and flexible network can be enabled. This paper focuses on the learning perspective of Self Organizing Networks (SON) solutions and provides, not only an overview of the most common ML techniques encountered in cellular networks, but also manages to classify each paper in terms of its learning solution, while also giving some examples. The authors also classify each paper in terms of its self-organizing use-case and discuss how each proposed solution performed. In addition, a comparison between the most commonly found ML algorithms in terms of certain SON metrics is performed and general guidelines on when to choose each ML algorithm for each SON function are proposed. Lastly, this work also provides future research directions and new paradigms that the use of more robust and intelligent algorithms, together with data gathered by operators, can bring to the cellular networks domain and fully enable the concept of SON in the near future

Threshold Learning Outcome 3: Inquiry and problem-solving

The Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLO) 3 Inquiry learning and problem-solving closely references TLO 3 for science (Jones et al. 2011). TLO 3.1, identifying contemporary issues and opportunities in agriculture is unique to agriculture TLO3. The Good Practice Guide for TLO 3 for science (Kirkup & Johnson 2013) provides a comprehensive review of the literature supporting inquiry learning and problem-solving, its development, successful delivery and implementation within higher education. This chapter highlights the main similarities and identifies the key differences between TLO 3 for science and TLO 3 for agriculture by: 1. providing background information on the role of inquiry learning and problem solving in professional agricultural practice. 2. a discussion of learning strategies and activities that could be used to develop TLO3 3. providing case studies that are working examples of the development and implementation of learning strategies and assessment across year levels of undergraduate programs in agriculture and agribusiness 4. highlighting the challenges and opportunities that exist for the implementation ofinquiry learning and problem-solving in an undergraduate program

Making justice culturally sensitive: Project implementation report

The Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training (as it was then called) funded Edith Cowan University from the 1995 National Priority (Reserve) Fund to direct a project to identify courses for educating and training personnel employed by justice agencies on multicultural issues; identify course content for a program to educate NESB and Aboriginal peoples on various aspects of the Australian justice system; and develop training packages for the justice agencies and NESB and Aboriginal communities. The Project was conceived against the background of an increasing concern about the well-being of minority groups within the justice system. The University, through its Department of Justice Studies and Centre for Police Studies, in conjunction with other tertiary providers, justice agencies and NESB and Aboriginal community organisations, executed the project in accordance with the conditions of the agreement. The implementation was guided by the goal of enhancing a greater understanding of the Australian justice system by NESB and Aboriginal people, and a greater understanding of cultural issues by the justice personnel. The Project found that while some organisations were moving into a well advanced stage of policy development and implementation of cultural awareness programs, most were at a stage of either \u27no action\u27 or preliminary discussions about cross-cultural training programs. It also found that very few courses or programs on cultural awareness for the justice agencies have been subjected to systematic and comprehensive evaluation..

Remote Teaching of Chemistry Laboratory Courses during COVID-19

This paper describes the transfer from face-to-face education toemergency remote teaching of chemistry laboratory courses in a bachelor's degree inPharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtualization was carried out usingvideos of each experimental practice and questionnaires containing the experimentaldata needed. The contents were integrated into the virtual platform BlackboardCollaborate, where tutorials and remote support from the teachers were provided tosolve the issues raised. The didactic strategy was very positive: it turned the studentsinto active learners, fostering knowledge sharing and promoting the self-management of their learning process. The teachers acted as guides, raisingquestions, and provided continuous feedback to the students that contributed toknowledge assimilation and competence acquisition. The teaching-learning processwas evaluated through a rubric that graded the reports delivered by the students andafinal online test. The impact of this teaching methodology was assessed bycomparing the students'marks with those obtained in the conventional on-site education before the pandemic and feedback fromthe students via surveys. This study provides a unique experience on how a traditional instruction can be adapted to remote teachingin analytical chemistry laboratories, providing new tools that can be used in future pandemics or in other setting

Using multimedia microworlds to motivate and engage adult learners

As educational institutions come under increasing pressure from outside forces to restructure the way students learn, efforts are being made by researchers to find ways to assist students to learn through independent thought and to solve problems in a resource-based, self-paced environment. Such an environment needs to be sufficiently interesting and novel to motivate students who begin to use it, and to continue to engage them as they progress through it. This study has sought to identify what such a learning environment needs to encompass in order to motivate and engage adult learners so that they will not only want to use it, but use it extensively. Eight attributes of motivation and engagement were identified from the literature, these being: immersion; reflection; flow; collaboration; learner control; curiosity; fantasy; and challenge. A module in a finance unit traditionally viewed by the students as boring and unengaging was selected, and a review of student and content needs was conducted. An interactive learning environment in the form of a microworld with gaming elements was designed and developed to incorporate the eight learner effects, and this was then trialed with a small group of finance students. The trial forms the basis for this thesis. The study was conducted using a combination of ethnographic action research and grounded theory as these allowed the researcher to focus on a specific problem relevant to the actual situation and allowed patterns in observations to be detected. The study used descriptive methodology to report what actually happened whilst looking for relationships between design elements, with cross-sequential sampling overcoming the problems of mono-operation bias. The results from these data gathering exercises suggested that the eight learner effects did, in fact, contribute to motivation and engagement in varying degrees. The program represented the unit content in a multiplicity of ways, ensuring that the individual learning styles of the students were accommodated. The study showed that students adapted differing navigational methods to progress through the program, but having settled on a path tended not to deviate from that path throughout each phase of the program. The study also highlighted the fact that such an environment is probably more effective in promoting incidences of reflection and higher order thinking among collaborating students, although, with sufficient scaffolding elements built into the program, students working in isolation may achieve some of the same effects from collaboration with the program itself. Another effect of using the microworld was that students could relate their learning back to their everyday lives, as well as place themselves into the environment. These factors, combined with the gaming elements, created an environment that caused an increase in positive attitudes among both the male and the female students. The results of this research have many implications for the future design of interactive learning environments for adults. It is already well documented that adult learners like resource-based, self-paced learning that is available at their convenience, but this research has identified some of the elements necessary to motivate adult learners to use such a program, to maintain their interest in the content during the whole time they are using the program, and to create a desire to continue learning about the topic long after they have completed the program. There are several imperatives driving the development of interactive instructional multimedia in the university environment. Among them are increased numbers of students, a reduction in the available face-to-face teaching time, and a growing. number of students who are demanding a more flexible way of learning. The results of this study show that interactive multimedia is a viable option for this style of teaching and learning, but the design should incorporate certain elements and principles in order for the students to be motivated sufficiently to use it. These design elements are generalisable to the design of multimedia for a wide variety of courses and topics