System Modeling: An Exploratory Study Of Engineering Students’ Conceptual Knowledge And Problem-Solving Skills

System modeling (SM) instructional strategy, an application of system thinking (ST), canbe used as an instructional approach to help students develop SM skills and deepen their understanding of subject matter (Hung, 2009). Mechanical engineering students have difficulty applying gained knowledge in real-world contexts and are reportedly underprepared for workplace challenges (Kirkpatrick et al., 2011; Warsame, 2017). This study explored the efficacy of system modeling (SM) instructional strategy in a mechanical engineering course. Specifically, the study sought to understand students’ perceptions and experiences with the use of system modeling in enhancing their conceptual knowledge and problem-solving skills. This study employed a qualitative inquiry approach to understand engineering students’ experience and perceptions of the use of system modeling. A purposeful sampling technique was utilized to recruit mechanical engineering students to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews and students’ artifacts including problem solving survey and causal modeling diagrams, were used to explore and gain an in-depth understanding of students’ experiences with the use of system modeling (SM) instructional approach. The findings indicated promising effects of the SM approach on students’ learning outcomes. Seven major themes emerged from the in-depth interviews conducted to gain insights into students’ experiences. These themes included: problem diagnosis, interconnection and interdependency, linearity, external representation of causal relationship, wholeness and decision making, organize problem-solving approach, and systematic and forward-thinking process. Students’ artifacts and data presented in this study supported their positive experiences using the SM approach. The problem solving inventory PSI survey responses indicated that most of the participants believed the SM approach affected their perceived problem-solving skills, especially their approach-avoidance style. Furthermore, the model diagram analysis suggested that all participants showed moderate system thinking skills after the SM instructional strategy. This current study provides insight and understanding about SM instructional strategy effectiveness and how it can help enhance student learning outcomes. Exploring the impact of SM on student learning experiences is important not only because it could provide alternative instruction to the traditional methods, but also to inform instructors of its potential benefit of undergraduate education instruction. Furthermore, the current study could serve as a guide for instructors on how to implement the SM instructional strategy in a mechanical engineering curriculum

Supporting Student’s Thinking In Addition Of Fraction From Informal To More Formal Using Measuring Context

One of reasons why fractions are a topic which many students find difficult to learn is that there exist many rules calculating with fractions. In addition, students have been trained for the skills and should have mastered such procedures even they do not ‘understand’. Some previous researcher confirmed that the problem which students encounter in learning fraction operations is not firmly connected to concrete experiences. For this reason, a set of measuring context was designed to provide concrete experiences in supporting students’ reasoning in addition of fractions, because the concept of fractional number was derived from measuring. In the present study we used design research as a reference research to investigate students’ mathematical progress in addition of fractions. In particular, using retrospective analysis to analyze data of fourth graders’ performance on addition of fractions, we implemented some instructional activities by using measuring activities and contexts to provide opportunities students use students’ own strategies and models. The emergent modeling (i.e. a bar model) played an important role in the shift of students reasoning from concrete experiences (informal) in the situational level towards more formal mathematical concept of addition of fractions. We discuss these findings taking into consideration the context in which the study was conducted and we provide implications for the teaching of fractions and suggestions for further research. Key word: measuring context, addition of fractions, design research, emergent modelin

Field Experiences in Instructional Design and Technology:Legitimate Participation and Stolen Knowledge

This paper focuses on preparing effective instructional design and technology professionals through field experiences. A graduate-level internship seminar combining academic learning and onsite experience of working as an instructional technologist was analyzed through the lens of situated learning theory. Using a convergent mixed-methods analysis, this study examined the nature of learning that takes place in authentic practice and how learning is shaped by immersing in real-world instructional technology settings. The findings of this study suggest that legitimate participation in lived practice is conducive to active learning and engagement; moving from peripheral to central poses a special challenge for students in their role as an intern; apprentice-like learning situations may not be productive without requisite modeling and coaching; and learning from complex enculturating environments requires a good balance between experiential and reflective learning. Finally, the negative aspects of learning in a community of practice are discussed along with suggestions for future research

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

SOCR: Statistics Online Computational Resource

The need for hands-on computer laboratory experience in undergraduate and graduate statistics education has been firmly established in the past decade. As a result a number of attempts have been undertaken to develop novel approaches for problem-driven statistical thinking, data analysis and result interpretation. In this paper we describe an integrated educational web-based framework for: interactive distribution modeling, virtual online probability experimentation, statistical data analysis, visualization and integration. Following years of experience in statistical teaching at all college levels using established licensed statistical software packages, like STATA, S-PLUS, R, SPSS, SAS, Systat, etc., we have attempted to engineer a new statistics education environment, the Statistics Online Computational Resource (SOCR). This resource performs many of the standard types of statistical analysis, much like other classical tools. In addition, it is designed in a plug-in object-oriented architecture and is completely platform independent, web-based, interactive, extensible and secure. Over the past 4 years we have tested, fine-tuned and reanalyzed the SOCR framework in many of our undergraduate and graduate probability and statistics courses and have evidence that SOCR resources build student's intuition and enhance their learning.

Community Framework for Geoscience Education Research

In order to guide future investments of time and resources in geoscience education research (GER), the community has developed a framework of grand challenges across ten major themes in GER. These grand challenges can provide direction to current and future researchers about where the community thinks effort should be made to answer some fundamental questions about undergraduate geoscience teaching and learning. This Community Framework for GER is comprised of ten theme chapters, as well as chapters on the development of the framework project, a synthesis of the findings and potential synergies, and on communication strategies for the transformation of geoscience teaching practice

Modeling Instructional Best Practices: Pedagogy of College of Education Professors

In light of increased accountability for K-12 student achievement, critics have questioned the quality of teachers and school principals as well as the university programs that prepare them for these roles (Lambert, 1996; Levine, 2005; Murphy, 1992). Regarding the preparation of teachers, critics have stated that education courses are vapid, impractical, segmented, and directionless (Glenn, 2000). Two national reports that have made recommendations for teacher redesign are noteworthy. The report of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, What matters most: Teaching for America’s future (Lambert, 1996), found that teacher preparation education is thin and fragmented and recommended that universities reinvent teacher preparation. The Glenn Commission\u27s report, Before It\u27s Too Late (2000), called for the identification of exemplary teacher preparation programs to be held up as models for other programs to emulate

Security, Privacy and Safety Risk Assessment for Virtual Reality Learning Environment Applications

Social Virtual Reality based Learning Environments (VRLEs) such as vSocial render instructional content in a three-dimensional immersive computer experience for training youth with learning impediments. There are limited prior works that explored attack vulnerability in VR technology, and hence there is a need for systematic frameworks to quantify risks corresponding to security, privacy, and safety (SPS) threats. The SPS threats can adversely impact the educational user experience and hinder delivery of VRLE content. In this paper, we propose a novel risk assessment framework that utilizes attack trees to calculate a risk score for varied VRLE threats with rate and duration of threats as inputs. We compare the impact of a well-constructed attack tree with an adhoc attack tree to study the trade-offs between overheads in managing attack trees, and the cost of risk mitigation when vulnerabilities are identified. We use a vSocial VRLE testbed in a case study to showcase the effectiveness of our framework and demonstrate how a suitable attack tree formalism can result in a more safer, privacy-preserving and secure VRLE system.Comment: Tp appear in the CCNC 2019 Conferenc