Improved Teaching of Database Schema Modeling by Visualizing Changes in Levels of Abstraction

Conceptual modeling of databases is a complex cognitive activity, particularly for novice database designers. The current research empirically tests a new pedagogy for this activity. It examines an instructional approach that stresses visualizing gradual transitions between levels of abstraction in different hierarchic levels of a relational database schema. The new approach builds on a four-level TSSL model from the field of human-computer interaction. TSSL, an acronym for the Task, Semantics, Syntax, and Lexical levels, is applied here to describe the levels of conceptual database modeling and to explain how improved instructional design can help minimize extraneous cognitive load during the design of database schemas. We tested the effectiveness of the proposed instructional approach via a controlled experiment carried out on IS students. We divided students into two groups, those exposed to a visual emphasis on the syntax of gradual transitions in a schema structure and those not exposed to it. We then measured performance in terms of errors in students’ solutions while also recording their perceptions and attitudes toward the instructional approach and the activity of database modeling. Our results show that the new approach is an effective tool for teaching database modeling

Applying TSSL in database schema modeling: visualizing the syntax of gradual transitions

Since database conceptual modeling is a complex cognitive activity, finding an appropriate pedagogy to deliver the topic to novice database designers is a challenge for Information Systems (IS) educators. The four-level TSSL model that is known in the area of human-computer interactions (HCI) is used to explain and demonstrate how instructional design can minimize extraneous cognitive load in the conceptual modeling task of designing a database schema. The instructional design approach puts focus on the syntactic level of TSSL, to explain how visualizing gradual transitions between hierarchic levels of the schema is effective in database modeling. The current work demonstrates the approach, and at the next phase we plan to experimentally test the effectiveness of the approach by comparing performance and attitudes of students who are exposed to emphasizing the syntax of the gradual transitions in schema structure to those who are not exposed to itPeer Reviewe

Following Darwin’s footsteps: Evaluating the impact of an activity designed for elementary school students to link historically important evolution key concepts on their understanding of natural selection

While several researchers have suggested that evolution should be explored from the initial years of schooling, little information is available on effective resources to enhance elementary school students’ level of understanding of evolution by natural selection (LUENS). For the present study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated an educational activity planned for fourth graders (9 to 10 years old) to explore concepts and conceptual fields that were historically important for the discovery of natural selection. Observation field notes and students’ productions were used to analyze how the students explored the proposed activity. Additionally, an evaluation framework consisting of a test, the evaluation criteria, and the scoring process was applied in two fourth-grade classes (N = 44) to estimate elementary school students’ LUENS before and after engaging in the activity. Our results show that our activity allowed students to link the key concepts, resulting in a significant increase of their understanding of natural selection. They also reveal that additional activities and minor fine-tuning of the present activity are required to further support students’ learning about the concept of differential reproduction.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Evaluating Clinical Educational Learning Outcomes for a Changing Field: Utilizing a 2:1 Collaborative Learning Model in an Acute Care Setting for First Semester Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students

Exploring clinical education models that may increase the number of clinical placements while improving learning outcomes is an important step in preparing competent entry-level speech-language pathologists. Placement shortages play an important role in the urgency of evaluating the efficacy of alternative clinical education models in SLP. The 2:1 collaborative learning model is a promising exemplar that has the potential to increase the number of clinical placements in practice settings twofold while simultaneously providing an excellent learning experience for students. A retrospective, qualitative, descriptive, embedded case study design methodology was used. Recruitment was directed at both the first year SLP graduate students who have completed their first semester clinical rotation in an adult acute care setting (n=40) and the adult acute care clinical instructors employed by the academic medical center who have supervised the aforementioned students in their clinical rotation as well as supervised first year, first semester SLP graduate students previously utilizing a 1:1 model (n=8). An open ended survey instrument, focus groups, and a follow-up member checking survey were used as data sources. The results of the study were overall positive, and the findings indicated that the 2:1 model is, at least, not inferior to the 1:1 model from the perspective of clinical instructors, that the 2:1 collaborative learning model has a positive influence on a student’s confidence, and that having a clinical partner has a positive influence on a student’s perception of their learning experiences and learning outcomes

A Blended Cognitive, Linguistic, and Vygotskian Approach for Teaching and Learning the Prepositions in, on, and of in the Advanced ESL Classroom

Despite a plethora of new approaches in ESL writing and grammar instruction that were introduced in the twentieth century, ESL students and instructors continue to struggle with the teaching and learning of English prepositions. The members of this small class of high-frequency words are noted for their polysemy and varied contexts of uses as well as their multiple syntactic functions. This research is based on O’Dowd’s (1993) argument that a semantic unity holds for English prepositions across their syntactic constraints—a factor that was developed in the instructional materials of this research. Cognitive linguistics (CL) and sociocultural theory (SCT, as developed by Gal’perin, 1969, 1992c) from his mentor, Vygotsky (1978, 1986), are two areas of research which apply full linguistic expression of word sense to their applications in ESL pedagogy. The combined principles of these two compatible theories were applied to the teaching and learning of three targeted prepositions, in, on, and of, in an experimental ESL advanced grammar class. Results were compared to the results of an additional ESL advanced grammar class, a control in the quasi-experimental study. This study is distinguished by its application of recent cognitive linguistic insights (Jang & Kim, 2010) in regard to the preposition of to ESL pedagogy and the inclusion of this highly frequent preposition in the targeted learning items. Statistical significance was found in the gains achieved in the accurate use of the targeted prepositions for both classes, the with-in subject factor; yet, while the experimental class clearly outperformed the control class during the short duration of the instruction (75 minutes), the study failed to find statistical significance for the curriculum, the between subject factor. The study is one of a very few which have attempted to apply CL and SCT insights to ESL teaching and learning of English prepositions, has pioneered classroom research with the preposition of—one of the three most frequent English words, and suggests the need for additional ESL classroom research with longer time frames and a more robust application of these encouraging results for longitudinal validation

The role of school leadership on student achievement: Evidence from TIMSS2003

Leadership, and especially head-teachers’ leadership, has been object of study since the late ‘60s, but the concept of leadership is neither unanimously defined, nor a consensus has been yet reached on its actual role and actual relevance within the school environment (Fullan, 2001; Sergiovanni, 2001; Harris, 2005). Good leadership can certainly contribute to school improvement by abetting the motivation, participation, and coordination of the teachers; recent studies have widened the range of action of school leadership research to the various organizational levels: school managers, department heads, coordinators, teachers (Goldhaber, 2002; Harris, 2004), and distributed leadership that could yield a higher impact on student achievement than what yet shown (Spillane et al., 2001, 2004). This dissertation takes its moves within the strand of research that identifies a significant role of leadership for student achievement (e.g. Edmonds, 1979; Cheng, 2002; Marzano, 2003) and tries to understand whether there are patterns of behavior of head-teachers that yield better results than others with respect to facilitating the student learning process and whether such patterns are consistent or replicable across countries. To address this question, the study uses the TIMSS2003 and investigates the relationship between head-teacher time allocation and school characteristics, student background, and student achievement in 18 countries. The model used in the empirical analysis is a three level Multilevel Model with random effects (evaluated using the R-Statistics software) that aims at evaluating the interaction effect between a particular school level variable (the time used by the head-teacher in managerial or leadership activities) and the explanatory variables describing school and student characteristics. What the study shows is that head-teacher specialization (either in management or in leadership) has negligible direct effect on student achievement. Most of all, however, head-teacher specialization is correlated to a lower impact of family SES on student achievement. Moreover, by investigating the impact of school management and school leadership on student achievement on students with different family background in terms of education, it is apparent that the high concentrations of school leadership are especially valuable for students of lower SES. On the other hand, the high concentrations of school management are most valuable for the students of higher SES. One possible explanation of these effects is that the attentiveness to the leadership process implies a deep involvement of the head-teacher in activities related to the modeling and tailoring of the educational process to the needs of the students. Such process has its highest payoffs on the students who come from disadvantaged situations and need special attentions in order to fully express their potential. On the other hand, the focus on the managerial side aims at rationalizing and making the best use of resources. This approach has high payoffs on students of all extractions, but is specifically relevant for the students of higher SES who are possibly already quite independent and whose performance can improve autonomously by making use of the extra resources that the management can provide. The analysis replication of the analysis on a country-by-country level confirms the existence of the afore-mentioned effects. More specifically, the results of the analysis suggest that, in the majority of cases, the head-teacher specialization appears to be correlated to a significant reduction in the dependence of student results from their family socioeconomic status. The same effect can be identified for both Math and Science in most countries. Nonetheless, the identification of a specialization-effect does not say much about the reasons for its existence. One possible explanation is that head-teachers are professionals that try to use at its best the opportunities provided by the institutional setup of the school system. In the more decentralized school systems that leave to the schools responsibilities in terms of monetary sanctions/incentives (hiring and firing, salary upgrades…), the head-teachers would tend to make use of these opportunities and focus most on management activities. Vice versa, in more centralized school systems, which leave to the schools only responsibilities that do not involve a monetary side, the head-teachers would stress their roles as role-models, educators, and motivators for their staff and collaborators. Hence, the final part of the research investigates whether the effect of the declared head-teacher specialization appears to go in the same direction as it could be predicted by looking at the macro-level institutional characteristics of the school system. These data suggest that school leadership and school management do have an impact on student results. However, the variables that enter in the process of determining the head-teacher time allocation are too many for indicating any specific policy direction based on average country behaviors. Still, the specialization of head-teachers in leadership or management is related to significant turnouts in terms of reduced needs of the students to rely only on the family resources (family SES) for improving their performance. In policy terms, such results suggest the need of allowing for different managerial strategies that could exploit local knowledge leads to foster the system’s equity and excellence. The dissertation is organized in 4 chapter plus 2 appendixes. The first introductory chapter looks at the economic nature of the educational good, the importance of its dissemination, and what are some of the possible interaction schemes among the system actors. The second chapter dives in the concepts of school leadership and management by looking at how it has evolved in the past 40 years. Subsequently, it addresses the limitations of the studies that have tried to establish a link between school leadership and student achievement, suggests how these limits can be overcome by means of a more comprehensive definition of the concept and of more advanced statistical techniques. The third chapter presents the research project on the TIMSS2003 dataset, the operationalization of the variables, the model for the statistical analysis, and the results of the study. The fourth chapter further discusses the results by contextualizing them within the legal and operational frameworks of the analyzed educational systems, and it concludes by addressing the limitation of the study, the indications for further research, and the possible suggestions in terms of policy making. The first appendix presents in detail the statistics for all the countries under investigation. The second and last appendix shows the detailed results for the analytic models at aggregate level and reports the dispersion of the residuals for each modelpeer-reviewe

Analyzing Interaction Patterns to Verify a Simulation/Game Model

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, School of Education, 2012In order for simulations and games to be effective for learning, instructional designers must verify that the underlying computational models being used have an appropriate degree of fidelity to the conceptual models of their real-world counterparts. A simulation/game that provides incorrect feedback is likely to promote misunderstanding and adversely affect learning and transfer. Numerous methods for verifying the accuracy of a computational model exist, but it is generally accepted that no single method is adequate and that multiple methods should be used. The purpose of this study was to propose and test a new method for collecting and analyzing users' interaction data (e.g., choices made, actions taken, results and feedback obtained) to provide quantified evidence that the underlying computational model of a simulation/game represents the conceptual model with sufficient accuracy. In this study, analysis of patterns in time (APT) was used to compare gameplay results from the Diffusion Simulation Game (DSG) with predictions based on diffusion of innovations theory (DOI). A program was written to automatically play the DSG by analyzing the game state during each turn, seeking patterns of game component attributes that matched optimal strategies based on DOI theory. When the use of optimal strategies did not result in the desired number of successful games, here defined as the threshold of confidence for model verification, further investigation revealed flaws in the computational model. These flaws were incrementally corrected and subsequent gameplay results were analyzed until the threshold of confidence was achieved. In addition to analysis of patterns in time for model verification (APTMV), other verification methods used included code walkthrough, execution tracing, desk checking, syntax checking, and statistical analysis. The APTMV method was found to be complementary to these other methods, providing quantified evidence of the computational model's degree of accuracy and pinpointing flaws that could be corrected to improve fidelity. The APTMV approach to verification and improvement of computational models is described and compared with other methods, and improvements to the process are proposed