Learning what matters - Sampling interesting patterns

In the field of exploratory data mining, local structure in data can be described by patterns and discovered by mining algorithms. Although many solutions have been proposed to address the redundancy problems in pattern mining, most of them either provide succinct pattern sets or take the interests of the user into account-but not both. Consequently, the analyst has to invest substantial effort in identifying those patterns that are relevant to her specific interests and goals. To address this problem, we propose a novel approach that combines pattern sampling with interactive data mining. In particular, we introduce the LetSIP algorithm, which builds upon recent advances in 1) weighted sampling in SAT and 2) learning to rank in interactive pattern mining. Specifically, it exploits user feedback to directly learn the parameters of the sampling distribution that represents the user's interests. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm to the state-of-the-art in interactive pattern mining by emulating the interests of a user. The resulting system allows efficient and interleaved learning and sampling, thus user-specific anytime data exploration. Finally, LetSIP demonstrates favourable trade-offs concerning both quality-diversity and exploitation-exploration when compared to existing methods.Comment: PAKDD 2017, extended versio

Social media in collaborative learning in higher education : a qualitative case study of teachers’ and students’ views

In this study, it was investigated how social media are used in collaborative learning in higher education and also how it can be better used in teaching and learning according to the students and teachers. The research questions of this study were: 1) How social media are used in collaborative learning by the teachers and students in higher education for educational purposes? 2) How could social media be used in collaborative learning process in higher education, according to the students and teachers? Qualitative interviews were conducted to collect the data from ten students and five teachers from the different faculties of University of Lapland and Lapland University of Applied Sciences. In conclusion it was found that, social media were not much used in collaboration with teachers by the students of both institutions. In case of teachers, it was found that all of them were using social media in their collaborative ways of teaching design and they have found social media as useful tool to deliver their teaching. Most of the students and all the teachers found social media to be useful in their teaching and learning. But there were also some challenges faced and areas of improvements identified by them. Thus the higher educational institutions should understand the importance of using social media in teaching and learning and take initiatives to overcome the current challenges identified by the students and teachers

Exploring the effectiveness of using big books in teaching primary English in Malaysian classrooms

There are many benefits of using stories for language and literacy development particularly in the areas of vocabulary(Cameron, 2001; Elley, 1989; Penno, Wilkinson & Moore 2002;Hargrave & Senechal, 2000) and reading comprehension. Yet, much is still unknown in second language (L2) contexts. This paper investigates the use of Big Books in primary English in Malaysia where English is taught as an official second language. It draws on transcript data from one teacher from one primary school to illustrate how students’ active participation and interest in language learning emerged as the teacher introduced Big Books instead of the textbook. Our data shows that practice with Big Books changes the interaction patterns and learning opportunities. Students were actively involved and they contributed to the discussions and made spontaneous comments about the stories. Most importantly,the teacher’s elicitation skill is essential in enhancing students’ learning. The Ministry of Education’s hopes to provide more active engagement and to increase students’ interests and motivation through stories were achieved

Using Food to Demonstrate Earth Science Concepts: a Review

Researchers categorized over one hundred print and web resources that use food to demonstrate earth science concepts. This article describes their findings: food-based activities are found in print and web-based resources with nearly equal frequency; most feature geologic themes; most are designed for primary and middle school audiences, but can be adapted for older students; and most of these activities meet the National Science Standard "Structure of the Earth" for middle school students. The authors suggest that food-based activities are a way to make subject matter more exciting and understandable, particularly for those with little or no background in science, and that food, which students consume daily, can serve as a reality based analogy to better understand many of the unfamiliar, abstract concepts taught in earth science classes. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Is multilingualism linked to a higher tolerance of ambiguity?

The present study investigates the link between multilingualism and the personality trait Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA) among 2158 mono-, bi- and multilinguals. Monolinguals and bilinguals scored significantly lower on TA compared to multilinguals. A high level of global proficiency of various languages was linked to higher TA scores. A stay abroad of more than three months was also linked to higher TA although the effect levelled off after one year. Growing up in a multilingual family had no effect on TA. These findings show that a high level of multilingualism makes individuals more at ease in dealing with ambiguity, but we acknowledge that a higher level of TA can also strengthen an individual’s inclination to become multilingual

The age of imagination: imagining play and invention: implications for creative development

This paper presents findings from The Irish Neighbourhood Play Study; a national, cross-border research project which recorded children’s play patterns in Ireland during 2012. The study incorporated 1688 families across 240 communities. Data was established on the play choices of children aged from birth to 14 years. Multiple differentials were explored including socio-economic and geographical environments. This paper focuses on the findings within imaginary play patterns for the full cohort. As such, it presents the play patterns for imaginary play in children aged birth-14 years. The findings are discussed in the context of developmental patterns with particular emphasis on the relationship between imaginary play and the development of creativity. Creativity is a key concept within contemporary education. Its central nexus is problem solving in the face of uncertainty. Within a rapidly changing world, it is a key skill requirement for today’s children as they grow towards efficacy within instability. The relationship between the development of creativity and children’s engagement with imaginary play practices are explored in this paper. ©IATED (2017). Reproduced in Research Online with permission

JamBot: Music Theory Aware Chord Based Generation of Polyphonic Music with LSTMs

We propose a novel approach for the generation of polyphonic music based on LSTMs. We generate music in two steps. First, a chord LSTM predicts a chord progression based on a chord embedding. A second LSTM then generates polyphonic music from the predicted chord progression. The generated music sounds pleasing and harmonic, with only few dissonant notes. It has clear long-term structure that is similar to what a musician would play during a jam session. We show that our approach is sensible from a music theory perspective by evaluating the learned chord embeddings. Surprisingly, our simple model managed to extract the circle of fifths, an important tool in music theory, from the dataset.Comment: Paper presented at the 29th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, ICTAI 2017, Boston, MA, US