266,305 research outputs found
The role of pedagogical tools in active learning: a case for sense-making
Evidence from the research literature indicates that both audience response
systems (ARS) and guided inquiry worksheets (GIW) can lead to greater student
engagement, learning, and equity in the STEM classroom. We compare the use of
these two tools in large enrollment STEM courses delivered in different
contexts, one in biology and one in engineering. The instructors studied
utilized each of the active learning tools differently. In the biology course,
ARS questions were used mainly to check in with students and assess if they
were correctly interpreting and understanding worksheet questions. The
engineering course presented ARS questions that afforded students the
opportunity to apply learned concepts to new scenarios towards improving
students conceptual understanding. In the biology course, the GIWs were
primarily used in stand-alone activities, and most of the information necessary
for students to answer the questions was contained within the worksheet in a
context that aligned with a disciplinary model. In the engineering course, the
instructor intended for students to reference their lecture notes and rely on
their conceptual knowledge of fundamental principles from the previous ARS
class session in order to successfully answer the GIW questions. However, while
their specific implementation structures and practices differed, both
instructors used these tools to build towards the same basic disciplinary
thinking and sense-making processes of conceptual reasoning, quantitative
reasoning, and metacognitive thinking.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Analysis of the “make or buy” decision process in a research and development sme
Start-up SMEs face various challenges and difficulties during their existence and due to their nature they often lack knowledge and resources to fully address these challenges. Unlike large companies which have access to various resources, those resources are a significant gap for SMEs and the business owners have to rely on their own limited knowledge. The “Make or buy” decision is a critical decision in an organisation. This decision can affect current and future costs, capability and competences in the company and by taking best practice approaches and measures towards the decision making, extensive costs can be potentially saved. In this study, literature best practices have been reviewed. In addition a small company has been studied and the current practices of the company have been compared to academic best practices. The result of the study will be used to improve the “Make or buy” decision process in the company
Design as communication in micro-strategy — strategic sensemaking and sensegiving mediated through designed artefacts.
This paper relates key concepts of strategic cognition in microstrategy to design practice. It considers the potential roles of designers' output in strategic sensemaking and sensegiving. Designed artifacts play well-known roles as communication media; sketches, renderings, models, and prototypes are created to explore and test possibilities and to communicate these options within and outside the design team. This article draws on design and strategy literature to propose that designed artifacts can and do play a role as symbolic communication resources in sensemaking and sensegiving activities that impact strategic decision making and change. Extracts from interviews with three designers serve as illustrative examples. This article is a call for further empirical exploration of such a complex subject
Beyond deficit-based models of learners' cognition: Interpreting engineering students' difficulties with sense-making in terms of fine-grained epistemological and conceptual dynamics
Researchers have argued against deficit-based explanations of students'
troubles with mathematical sense-making, pointing instead to factors such as
epistemology: students' beliefs about knowledge and learning can hinder them
from activating and integrating productive knowledge they have. In this case
study of an engineering major solving problems (about content from his
introductory physics course) during a clinical interview, we show that "Jim"
has all the mathematical and conceptual knowledge he would need to solve a
hydrostatic pressure problem that we posed to him. But he reaches and sticks
with an incorrect answer that violates common sense. We argue that his lack of
mathematical sense-making-specifically, translating and reconciling between
mathematical and everyday/common-sense reasoning-stems in part from his
epistemological views, i.e., his views about the nature of knowledge and
learning. He regards mathematical equations as much more trustworthy than
everyday reasoning, and he does not view mathematical equations as expressing
meaning that tractably connects to common sense. For these reasons, he does not
view reconciling between common sense and mathematical formalism as either
necessary or plausible to accomplish. We, however, avoid a potential "deficit
trap"-substituting an epistemological deficit for a concepts/skills deficit-by
incorporating multiple, context-dependent epistemological stances into Jim's
cognitive dynamics. We argue that Jim's epistemological stance contains
productive seeds that instructors could build upon to support Jim's
mathematical sense-making: He does see common-sense as connected to formalism
(though not always tractably so) and in some circumstances this connection is
both salient and valued.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of Engineering Educatio
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