Freedom of Choice as a Motivational factor in Active Learning

Freedom to choose what, when, and how to contribute in a learning process can motivate students to actively engage and achieve more in their studies. However, freedom of choice complicates course management and may deter instructors from allowing such freedom. Our approach is to utilize existing functionality of course management systems such as Moodle to automatically facilitate and coordinate free student choices and provide much needed relief for instructors at the same time. Using Moodle we have developed novel digital study packs that blend freedom of choice with guidance and control. Our survey shows that assisted freedom of choice is ranked highest in 51% of student responses -- in contrast to unlimited choice at 28% or no choice at all at 21%. Experience reported in this paper may be beneficial for instructors who would like to expand their courses with new motivational learning techniques

Analyzing Shakespeare’s Plays in a Network Perspective

Networks are popular models for representing interactions between entities in systems, such as in sociology, bioinformatics, and epidemiology. The entities in the networks are represented as vertices and their pair-wise interactions are represented as edges [1]. Many network metrics such as degree centrality (number of connections of an entity) and betweenness centrality (number of shortest paths passing through the entity) have been developed to rank the entities according to their importance [7] [10].Social networks are generally modeled on only one type of relation. Groups are open-ended, which means the number of participants and the time frame are not finite. Time frame may not cover significant events and their effect. How would the analysis change if we modeled the interactions and relationships of a closed group, over significant incidents? It is difficult to obtain real life data, because of the time commitment and privacy constraints. The next best option: Analyze fiction, which would give an indication of social relations [15].In this thesis, we study the effectiveness of these metrics in closed-form social interactions—particularly in the context of Shakespeare’s dramas [2] [18]. In plays the dialogues amongst characters are very precise to express the gist of their interactions in a short time frame. We are interested in understanding how this sort of interaction differs in a qualitative sense from the interactions seen in social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Our observations show that the popular network metrics are not always successful in correctly identifying the lead characters of the play and we propose a new method of creating two different types of networks from each play by using different criterion. Also the third type of network model, the Time Series Analysis considers the important characters of each play and filters edge lists based on them. Here the occurrence/influence of the important characters is examined from scene to scene and in turn from act to act from beginning to the end of each play we considered

A Qualitative Study on Engaging Students in Computing Through Computational Remixing with EarSketch

Computer Science fields have a difficult time engaging underrepresented populations such as African Americans and women. EarSketch is an approach to engage these student through authentic STEAM learning involving computational music remixing. EarSketch has been used in several pilot studies. In this study, students from one pilot study participated in a focus group to understand the effectiveness of EarSketch in engaging underrepresented minorities. Qualitative analysis shows a variety of contributing factors in engagement such as motivation, confidence, identity, conceptualization, and creativity.Undergraduat

Reasons Behind the Low Enrollment of Women in Computer Science

Over the past few decades, the ratio of women to men in many traditionally maledominated fields has become much more equal. However, in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields the ratio has not improved at the same rate. In computer science the ratio is still very uneven. Today women earn only 20% of the computer science degrees. Many recruitment programs try to attract more women to CS, but these efforts would be more successful if we had a better understanding of why many women are uninterested in CS. Our study uses a survey for high school students to reveal what females look for in a major and how they perceive computer science. Our results suggest that women are more influenced by the negative stereotypes of CS students and jobs as being lonely and boring, having a parent in a tech or engineering field increases interest in CS for women, and men are more influenced by a desire for financial security than women are

Methodology for the initial teaching of macroinstructions and mathematical logic processes to fifth grade children in official institutions of primary basic education

Esta tesis generó un modelo inicial de trabajo en el que logró enseñar a niños pertenecientes particularmente al grado 5° de educación básica primaria (con rangos estimados de edades entre 9 y 11 años) la elaboración de macroinstrucciones a partir del entendimiento de procesos lógicos y matemáticos utilizando para ello un conjunto de herramientas software de apoyo y complementándolo con la aplicación de técnicas adecuadas de enseñanza de estos temas en particular. Con ello se pretendió mejorar las competencias matemáticas en los estudiantes de primaria, pero también se podría a futuro ayudar a generar otras competencias que se planteen en nuevos modelos de formación tecnológica en el nivel básico de educación utilizando la comprensión y el desarrollo de sus primeros algoritmos1. PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA 11 1.1 INTRODUCCIÓN 11 1.2 CONTEXTO ACTUAL DEL PROBLEMA 12 1.3 ANTECEDENTES 14 1.4 PROBLEMA DE INVESTIGACIÓN 16 1.5 HIPÓTESIS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN 19 1.6 OBJETIVOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN 20 1.6.1 Objetivo General 20 1.6.2 Objetivos Específicos 20 1.7 JUSTIFICACIÓN DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN 21 1.8 LIMITACIONES 22 1.9 DEFINICIÓN DE TÉRMINOS 23 2. MARCO TEÓRICO 25 2.1 ESTADO DEL ARTE 25 2.2 EXPERIENCIAS DE ENSEÑANZA DE PROGRAMACIÓN PARA NIÑOS Y JÓVENES 26 2.2.1 Experiencias internacionales 26 2.2.2 Experiencias locales 32 2.2.3 Determinación y clasificación de técnicas 32 2.3 TEMÁTICAS Y CONTEXTOS PARA LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA PROGRAMACIÓN PARA NIÑOS 42 2.4 HERRAMIENTAS PARA LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA PROGRAMACIÓN EN NIÑOS 46 2.5 TÉCNICAS DE APLICACIÓN DE LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA PROGRAMACIÓN EN EL AULA 50 2.6 MODELOS DE EVALUACIÓN 53 3. MARCO METODOLÓGICO 55 3.1 DESCRIPCIÓN DEL MÉTODO 55 3.2 ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO DE TÉCNICAS PARA LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA PROGRAMACIÓN PARA NIÑOS 56 3.2.1 Uso de videojuegos para la enseñanza 57 3.2.2 Creación de proyectos con temática fija 59 3.2.3 Creación de entornos para generación de situaciones 60 3.2.4 Creación de videojuegos 61 3.2.5 Uso de herramientas computacionales como apoyo a la resolución de problemas 62 3.2.6 Generación de torneos o competencias 62 3.2.7 Comparativo de técnicas 63 3.3 ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO DE HERRAMIENTAS PARA LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA PROGRAMACIÓN PARA NIÑOS 66 3.3.1 Revisión de Piktomir 69 3.3.2 Revisión de Lightbot 69 3.3.3 Revisión de Manufactoria 70 3.3.4 Revisión de Blockly 70 3.3.5 Comparación de herramientas 71 3.4 GENERACIÓN DE PLAN CURRICULAR PARA EL ÁREA DE TECNOLOGÍA 73 3.4.1 Objetivos 73 3.4.2 Contenido 74 3.4.3 Actividades 75 3.4.4 Recursos a utilizar 76 3.4.5 Compilación de elementos del plan 76 3.4.6 Forma de evaluación 80 3.5 APLICACIÓN DEL CURSO Y DE LAS PRUEBAS 82 3.5.1 Diseño de los instrumentos de medición 83 3.5.2 Aplicación de prueba inicial y recopilación de datos 87 3.5.3 Circunstancias que rodearon la aplicación del curso 87 3.5.4 Aplicación de prueba final y recopilación de datos 88 4. RESULTADOS Y ANÁLISIS DE LAS PRUEBAS DE DESEMPEÑO 91 4.1 RESULTADOS DE LAS CALIFICACIONES OBTENIDAS EN LAS PRUEBAS 91 4.2 RESULTADOS POR VARIABLE 92 4.3 ANÁLISIS ESTADÍSTICO 96 4.3.1 Fiabilidad de las variables 96 4.3.2 Análisis de resultado de la calificación final 96 4.3.3 Análisis secundario por variable 100 4.4 RESULTADO DE LA REVISIÓN DE COMPETENCIAS 105 4.4.1 Propuesta de competencias a aplicar en un curso de tecnología referente al desarrollo del pensamiento algorítmico 107 5. DISCUSIÓN Y CONCLUSIONES 113 5.1 HALLAZGOS EN LOS RESULTADOS OBTENIDOS 113 5.2 DISCUSIONES GENERALES 115 5.2.1 Uso de videojuegos como técnica para enseñar programación a niños 115 5.2.2 Enseñanza de la programación como refuerzo en la habilidad de interpretación de operaciones matemáticas 117 5.2.3 No afectación en la habilidad de ejecución de operaciones matemáticas 119 5.3 CONCLUSIONES 119 5.4 LIMITANTES Y RECOMENDACIONES PARA TRABAJO FUTURO 121 6. BIBLIOGRAFÍA 123 ANEXOS 132MaestríaThis thesis generated an initial working model in which he managed to teach children belonging particularly to the 5th grade of primary basic education (with estimated ranges of ages between 9 and 11 years) the elaboration of macro-instructions from the understanding of logical and mathematical processes Using a set of support software tools and complementing it with the application of appropriate teaching techniques for these particular topics. This was intended to improve mathematical competencies in primary school students, but in the future it could also help to generate other competencies that arise in new models of technological training at the basic level of education using the understanding and development of their first algorithm