The relation between prior knowledge and students' collaborative discovery learning processes

In this study we investigate how prior knowledge influences knowledge development during collaborative discovery learning. Fifteen dyads of students (pre-university education, 15-16 years old) worked on a discovery learning task in the physics field of kinematics. The (face-to-face) communication between students was recorded and the interaction with the environment was logged. Based on students' individual judgments of the truth-value and testability of a series of domain-specific propositions, a detailed description of the knowledge configuration for each dyad was created before they entered the learning environment. Qualitative analyses of two dialogues illustrated that prior knowledge influences the discovery learning processes, and knowledge development in a pair of students. Assessments of student and dyad definitional (domain-specific) knowledge, generic (mathematical and graph) knowledge, and generic (discovery) skills were related to the students' dialogue in different discovery learning processes. Results show that a high level of definitional prior knowledge is positively related to the proportion of communication regarding the interpretation of results. Heterogeneity with respect to generic prior knowledge was positively related to the number of utterances made in the discovery process categories hypotheses generation and experimentation. Results of the qualitative analyses indicated that collaboration between extremely heterogeneous dyads is difficult when the high achiever is not willing to scaffold information and work in the low achiever's zone of proximal development

Towards an integrated discovery system

Previous research on machine discovery has focused on limited parts of the empirical discovery task. In this paper we describe IDS, an integrated system that addresses both qualitative and quantitative discovery. The program represents its knowledge in terms of qualitative schemas, which it discovers by interacting with a simulated physical environment. Once IDS has formulated a qualitative schema, it uses that schema to design experiments and to constrain the search for quantitative laws. We have carried out preliminary tests in the domain of heat phenomena. In this context the system has discovered both intrinsic properties, such as the melting point of substances, and numeric laws, such as the conservation of mass for objects going through a phase change

Mining geo-referenced databases: a way to improve decision-making

Knowledge discovery in databases is a process that aims at the discovery of associations within data sets. The analysis of geo-referenced data demands a particular approach in this process. This chapter presents a new approach to the process of knowledge discovery, in which qualitative geographic identifiers give the positional aspects of geographic data. Those identifiers are manipulated using qualitative reasoning principles, which allows for the inference of new spatial relations required for the data mining step of the knowledge discovery process. The efficacy and usefulness of the implemented system — PADRÃO — has been tested with a bank dataset. The results obtained support that traditional knowledge discovery systems, developed for relational databases and not having semantic knowledge linked to spatial data, can be used in the process of knowledge discovery in geo-referenced databases, since some of this semantic knowledge and the principles of qualitative spatial reasoning are available as spatial domain knowledge

Towards Best Practice Standards for Enhanced Knowledge Discovery Systems

Assessing enhanced knowledge discovery systems (eKDSs) constitutes an intricate issue that is understood merely to a certain extent by now. Based upon an analysis of why it is difficult to formally evaluate eKDSs, it is argued for a change of perspective: eKDSs should be understood as intelligent tools for qualitative analysis that support, rather than substitute, the user in the exploration of the data; a qualitative gap will be identified as the main reason why the evaluation of enhanced knowledge discovery systems is difficult. In order to deal with this problem, the construction of a best practice model for eKDSs is advocated. Based on a brief recapitulation of similar work on spoken language dialogue systems, first steps towards achieving this goal are performed, and directions of future research are outlined

Knowledge discovery in spatial databases: the PADRÃO’s qualitative approach

Knowledge discovery in databases is a complex process concerned with the discovery of relationships and other descriptions from data. Knowledge discovery in spatial databases represents a particular case of discovery, allowing the discovery of relationships that exist between spatial and non-spatial data, and other data characteristics that aren’t explicitly stored in spatial databases. This paper describes the conception and implementation of PADRÃO, a system for knowledge discovery in spatial databases. PADRÃO presents a new approach to this process, which is based on qualitative spatial reasoning. The spatial semantic knowledge and the principles of qualitative spatial reasoning needed for the spatial reasoning process are available in the PADRÃO’s geographic database and PADRÃO’s spatial knowledge base, allowing the integration of the geo-spatial component, associated with the analysed non-geographic data, in the process of knowledge discovery

Knowledge discovery in spatial databases through qualitative spatial reasoning

Human beings use qualitative identifiers extensively to simplify reality and to perform spatial reasoning more efficiently. Organisational databases usually store geographic identifiers, like addresses or postcodes, which spatial component is not incorporated in the knowledge discovery process. This paper addresses the process of Knowledge Discovery in Spatial Databases through a Qualitative Spatial Reasoning approach. The aim is the improvement of the referred process by the adoption of qualitative identifiers like North, South, close, far, etc. in the classification of spatial relations that exists between the geographic entities addressed. The proposed approach uses a spatial reasoning strategy that integrated direction and distance spatial relations in the reasoning process, allowing the inference of implicit spatial relations for the several levels of the considered geographic hierarchies. The integration of a geographic and a demographic database allowed the discovery of spatial patterns and general relationships that exist between the analysed spatial and non-spatial data.Programa de Desenvolvimento Educativo para Portugal (PRODEP) II - Acção 5.2, Concurso nº3/98 Doutoramentos

Knowledge construction: the role of data mining tools

This paper seeks to integrate the process of knowledge discovery in databases in the wider context of the creation and sharing of organisational knowledge. The focus on the process of knowledge discovery has been mainly technological. The paper attempts to enrich that perspective by stressing the insights gained by integrating the knowledge discovery process into the social process of knowledge construction that makes KDD meaningful. In order to achieve this goal, a test case is presented. A component of the database of the Portuguese Army was used to test the PADRÃO system. This system integrates a set of databases and principles of qualitative spatial reasoning, which are implemented in the Clementine Data Mining system. The process and the results obtained are then discussed in order to stress the insights that emerge when the focus changes from technology to the social construction of knowledge

The discovery of cumulative knowledge: Strategies for designing and communicating qualitative research.

Purpose: this paper provides guidance for designing and generating cumulative knowledge based on qualitative research. Design/methodology/approach: the paper draws on the philosophy of science and specific examples of qualitative studies in accounting that have claimed a cumulative contribution to knowledge to develop a taxonomy of theoretically-justified approaches to generating cumulative knowledge from qualitative research. Findings: the paper argues for a definition of cumulative knowledge that is inclusive of anti-realist research, i.e. knowledge is cumulative if it increases the extent and density of intertextual linkages in a field. It identifies the possibility of cumulative qualitative research based on extensions to the scope of our knowledge and the depth of our knowledge. Extensions to the scope of our knowledge may include expanding the time periods, context, and/or theoretical perspective used to explore a phenomenon. Extensions to the depth of our knowledge may include new empirical knowledge, methodological pluralism, theory elaboration or analytic generalization. Individual studies can demonstrate their contribution to cumulative knowledge by locating their research within a typology/taxonomy that makes explicit the relationship of current research to past, and potential, research. Research limitations/implications: the taxonomy may be useful to qualitative researchers designing and reporting research that will have impact on the literature. Social implications: the increased use of research impact as an evaluation metric has the potential to handicap the development of qualitative research which has been characterized as generating non-cumulative knowledge. The taxonomy and the strategies for establishing cumulative impact may provide a means for this approach to research to establish its importance as a contribution to knowledge. Originality/value: The concept of cumulative knowledge has not been systematically applied to research based on qualitative methods in accounting

Public Attitudes to Overseas Giving: Does Government Make a Difference?

To what extent does the UK government influence public attitudes to overseas giving? This question is addressed with qualitative research based on focus group discussions. Knowledge of government involvement in overseas aid was found to be low. The majority of donors and non-donors to overseas causes were cynical about government messages and policies on overseas aid. There were consistent doubts about the effectiveness of development assistance. Existing attitudes towards development are reasonably ‘hardened’ or engrained. Positive influences on overseas giving – all of which seemed more influential than that of the government – included travel, the interventions of well known non-political figures, and the discovery of more direct and concrete ways of giving (e.g. ‘virtual gifts’). Future steps for government involvement in promoting overseas giving more effectively are discussed