Real-time programming and the big ideas of computational literacy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-121).Though notoriously difficult, real-time programming offers children a rich new set of applications, and the opportunity to engage bodily knowledge and experience more centrally in intellectual enterprises. Moreover, the seemingly specialized problems of real-time programming can be seen as keys to longstanding difficulties of programming in general. I report on a critical design inquiry into the nature and potential of real-time programming by children. A cyclical process of design, prototyping and testing of computational environments has led to two design innovations: a language in which declarative and procedural descriptions of computation are given equal status, and can subsume each other to arbitrary levels of nesting [and] a "live text" environment, in which real-time display of, and intervention in, program execution are accomplished within the program text itself. Based on children's use of these tools, as well as comparative evidence from other media and domains, I argue that the coordination of discrete and continuous process should be considered a central Big Idea in programming and beyond. In addition, I offer the theoretical notion of the "steady frame" as a way to clarify the user interface requirements of real-time programming, and also to understand the role of programming in learning to construct dynamic models, theories, and representations. Implications for the role of programming in education and for the future of computational literacy are discussed.by Christopher Michael Hancock.Ph.D

Scottish television comedy audiences

This study explores how Scottish people feel about representations of Scottishness in contemporary television comedy. The thesis is in two related parts, articulating an exploration of genre, comedy and Scottish television texts with the theory, methodology and analysis of empirical audience research. The thesis begins by exploring how current television comedy is poorly served by critical literature beyond notions of genre although this field of study too fails to indicate significant contemporary permeabilities between comedy sub-genres, and between comedy and other kinds of leisure shows. The second chapter explores historical approaches to Scottish cultural criticism and literary myths (Tartanry, Kailyardism, Caledonian anti-syzygy, Clydesidism) and sets these against contemporary mythologising by individual Scottish comedy practitioners. The second half of the thesis marks a shift from textual studies toward audience research, and in particular develops a discussion about the problematics of researching comedy and audiences qualitatively. The first part of the second half is a literature survey of selected examples of audience research which is translated from theory and epistemology, to methodology and technique in the next section which comprises a discussion of the model for the empirical data collection. The next section presents data from a quantitative survey and qualitative focus-group discussions. The last part of the second section interprets the data through triangulation although this is limited by lack of comparable critical materials. The whole attempts to explore concepts of national identity in Scottish television comedy with audiences, but also develops the additional problematic of empirical quantitative research and comedy themes

Implications of an integrated curriculum in a polytechnic or competence based environment

This is a comparative case study of an innovative approach to teaching computer programming to novices. The focus of this study is to evaluate the integrated curriculum which blends face-to-face interaction with computing practice and online learning to first-year polytechnic students in an engineering informatics diploma course. To examine the efficacy of the blended learning approach, the integrated curriculum is compared to its predecessor which has applied the traditional structured curriculum. This thesis gains relevance from its study of different dimensions of the curriculum comprising the curriculum aims and objectives, the teaching-learning activities and the different forms of assessment. The research design is mainly qualitative employing analytic induction methods to arrive at its inferences and findings. Content analysis and observation have been performed to evaluate the curriculum of each of the cases. A quantitative analysis is performed on students' performance in the computer programming module to add validity to the qualitative findings. Data were collected for students taking the Principles of Computing module in the first semester of the first year in 2005 and 2006 respectively; a total of 232 students came from the 2005 cohort and 247 students came from the 2006 cohort. The dependent variables are the module score and its sub-components, the project score and the individual test score. The independent variable significant to this study is the student's entry level GCE 'O' levels aggregate; gender is not a significant variable unlike in other studies involving mathematics or science. The findings highlight the differences that exist between a traditional structured learning environment to the blended learning environment and how students perform under the different learning environments. A major contribution of this study is the constructive alignment framework incorporating the integrated curriculum characteristics to support the blended learning approach. By reviewing the curriculum, the teaching methods, the assessment procedures and the learning environment with regard to the integrated curriculum characteristics, this study has made significant discoveries on the strengths and limitations of the blended learning approach. The results of this study show how the roles of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are inter-related and have to be integrated into the curriculum to foster better learning for students. Finally, the findings reveal the importance of the influence of the tutor in the blended learning delivery and the students' preference for tutor interaction. Through these findings, the study is able to recommend future improvements to the Principles of Computing module

How youth learn through creating physical computer interfaces

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-130).The Hook-ups project introduces a new set of tools, materials, and activities intended to support children in creating physical computer input devices for computer programs they write. This project introduces a new approach to learning-through-design by providing opportunities for children to engage in both physical and computational design concurrently. This thesis describes the design of Hook-ups tools and materials, including the development of Scratch Patches - a new puzzle-piece-like set of technological building blocks used to build computer input devices. Also presented are classifications of the types of Hook-ups developed by youth, an analysis of what and how youth learned through Hook-ups design activities, and a roadmap for future work in the area of interaction design for children.by Amon Daran Millner.S.M

Beyond rules: development and evaluation of knowledge acquisition systems for educational knowledge-based modelling

The technology of knowledge-based systems undoubtedly offers potential for educational modelling, yet its practical impact on today's school classrooms is very limited. To an extent this is because the tools presently used in schools are EMYCIN -type expert system shells. The main argument of this thesis is that these shells make knowledge-based modelling unnecessarily difficult and that tools which exploit knowledge acquisition technologies empower learners to build better models. We describe how such tools can be designed. To evaluate their usability a model-building course was conducted in five secondary schools. During the course pupils built hundreds of models in a common range of domains. Some of the models were built with an EMYCIN -type shell whilst others were built with a variety of knowledge acquisition systems. The knowledge acquisition systems emerged as superior in important respects. We offer some explanations for these results and argue that although problems remain, such as in teacher education, design of classroom practice, and assessment of learning outcomes, it is clear that knowledge acquisition systems offer considerable potential to develop improved forms of educational knowledge-based modelling

Self-Directed Learning Development in PBL

Lifelong learning is an emphasized graduate outcome for engineering professionals at the international level by the Washington Accord and at the United States national level by ABET. When a new engineer enters the profession, she will be expected to acquire new technical knowledge in order to solve a problem or create a design. Unlike her experience in college, there will not be a professor to guide this learning. The planning, execution, monitoring, and control of this learning will now fall to the new engineer. The level of the ability to succeed in this self-directed learning modality will be a function of the extent to which the lifelong learning outcome has been met. This paper studies the importance of this graduate outcome and the development of self-directed learning as the way in which the outcome is achieved. Quantitative measures are taken using the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale. Quantitative results show a statistically significant difference between the developments of self-regulated abilities by students in a two-year PBL curriculum as compared to students who did not undergo the PBL treatment