Investigating learning in secondary science students engaged in project-based learning

This thesis explores the nature of learning in students engaged in project-based learning (PBL) projects based in secondary science subjects. The literature review first establishes a working definition of learning, and then goes on the characterise project-based learning both in terms of its aims and associated methods. This gives rise to two research questions- how do students learn while engaged in project-based learning, and what effects to different aspects of project learning have on the learning taking place. The methodology then provides a rationale and description of the case study method selected to answer these questions. The cases themselves are three students, pseudonymed Hamish, Hannah, and Jane, who were at the time of their participation Year 12 students at the local University Technical College (UTC), a school specialising in STEM subjects. The students were observed during weekly sessions of their Challenge projects, which represent PBL projects in a STEM subject completed with the collaboration of a local employer. Hamish’s project focussed on the management and preservation of a local waterway, while Hannah and Jane worked on a Computer Science project featuring data visualisation and marketing. Each of the participants also completed a series of interviews about their experiences within the project, both in terms of the content knowledge and skills and in terms of their attitudes towards their projects. What was revealed through these interviews was that even within the same projects, student learning and experience was variable. While all three participants met the objectives of their projects, they did so in different capacities, and appreciated the chance to do so. They also each had different responses to the delivery of their projects, based primarily on their own (reported) learning style. This was due primarily to the nature of the projects, and the autonomy students were encouraged to show throughout the project.N/

Modeling Elementary Students\u27 Computer Science Outcomes With In-School and Out-of-School Factors

This two-paper dissertation explores factors influencing the attitudes of Grade 5 students who are learning computer science (CS) in schools. It statistically examines the effects of out and in-school factors on students’ attitudes toward computing. The first paper of this dissertation examines the influence of parental support as perceived by the students on their interest and their self-assessed ability to engage in computer programming, thus underscoring the crucial role of parental support on learners’ attitudes. It also investigates how involving families in CS activities by sending a CS-themed board game influences students’ interest. The study finds that perceptions of parental support positively influence students’ interest and their self-assessed ability to engage in computer programming. It also finds that sending CS artifacts home can significantly mediate the influence of parental support on students’ interest in programming. The second paper focuses on developing reliable measurements of students’ perceptions of mathematics and CS-integrated instructional activities. These measures are called exit tickets and are used to collect immediate student responses relating to their experiences after instructional activities. Building on prior research, this paper statistically examines whether students’ exit ticket responses predict self-assessed ability, interest, and identification with CS. Results show that perceived enjoyment reported on exit tickets significantly predicts self-assessed ability, interest, and identification with CS. Perceived ease also significantly predicts self-assessed ability. The remaining correlations between exit ticket measures and post-survey measures are not significant. The findings suggest that student exit tickets are effective tools to gauge engagement and correlate with student attitudes toward computing. Specifically, students who report finding the lesson enjoyable and easy are more likely to express a positive attitude toward programming. This suggests that brief exit ticket surveys could serve as effective indicators of student engagement, potentially replacing longer surveys. Identifying the factors that shape students’ attitudes toward CS provides valuable insights into the design of instructional methods, curricula, and family engagement strategies. Such initiatives can foster a positive attitude among young learners towards CS, significantly contributing to shaping their beliefs and challenging stereotypes associated with computing

Gender differences in the ICT profile of University students : a quantitative analysis

This study responds to a call for research on how gender differences emerge in young generations of computer users. A large-scale survey involving 1138 university students in Flanders (Belgium) was conducted to examine the relationship between gender, computer access, attitudes, and uses in both learning and everyday activities of university students. The results show that women have a less positive attitude towards computers in general. However, their attitude towards computers for educational purposes does not differ from men’s. In the same way, being female is negatively related to computer use for leisure activities, but no relationship was found between gender and study-related computer use. Based on the results, it could be argued that computer attitudes are context-dependent constructs and that when dealing with gender differences, it is essential to take into account the context-specific nature of computer attitudes and uses

The Practices of Play and Informal Learning in the miniGEMS STEAM Camp

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) play an important role in the educational reform and global economy. However, STEM education lacks the hands-on laboratory in the formal middle school and high school curricula. The widespread gender gap in multiple STEM disciplines causes middle-school aged girls have lower positive attitudes and interests towards STEM fields than male students. In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education has been viewed as other approaches to increase students’ interests and improve study accesses to STEM fields in the United States. The addition of the arts in STAEM education provides more learning opportunities and real-world contexts which meet more students’ interests. miniGEMS 2017 was a free two-week summer STEAM and programming camp for middle school girls in grades six to eight hosted by the Autonomous Vehicle Systems (AVS) Research and Education Laboratory at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW). miniGEMS was the first free camp with a special focus on engineering and programming in San Antonio. The camp utilized project-based learning curriculum and provided multiple hands-on experiments, field trips, and significant interactions with guest speakers, all of which were designed to increase the middle school girls’ interests in STEM-related fields. This paper provides an overview of miniGEMS STEAM camp, motivation for miniGEMS camp, and details on practicing project-based play activities in an informal learning environment.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Fourth Issue of the Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education

We are pleased to introduce the fourth issue of the Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education. Current issue is composed of five research papers and two PBL cases. These address different aspects of PBL in higher education as and represent an international experiences and knowledge with contributions from Brazil, Denmark, Germany and Morocco. The first three papers and the two cases touch upon the role of the teacher in facilitating problem based learning processes. These papers address the complex questions of how teachers can actually implement and teach PBL to students. The fourth paper reports on students‟ attitudes towards different types of exams (e.g. individual exams and group exams) in two engineering programs at Aalborg University. The fifth paper compares three different learning designs in an introductory computer science course on programming. The current issue explores a diverse set of aspects related to research in Problem Based Learning: teachers and supervisors roles, implementation of PBL curricular, assessment formats supporting PBL and new advances in combining technology and PBL

Fourth Issue of the Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education

We are pleased to introduce the fourth issue of the Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education. Current issue is composed of five research papers and two PBL cases. These address different aspects of PBL in higher education as and represent an international experiences and knowledge with contributions from Brazil, Denmark, Germany and Morocco. The first three papers and the two cases touch upon the role of the teacher in facilitating problem based learning processes. These papers address the complex questions of how teachers can actually implement and teach PBL to students. The fourth paper reports on students‟ attitudes towards different types of exams (e.g. individual exams and group exams) in two engineering programs at Aalborg University. The fifth paper compares three different learning designs in an introductory computer science course on programming. The current issue explores a diverse set of aspects related to research in Problem Based Learning: teachers and supervisors roles, implementation of PBL curricular, assessment formats supporting PBL and new advances in combining technology and PBL

A review of the research literature relating to ICT and attainment

Summary of the main report, which examined current research and evidence for the impact of ICT on pupil attainment and learning in school settings and the strengths and limitations of the methodologies used in the research literature

Assessment of co-creativity in the process of game design

We consider game design as a sociocultural and knowledge modelling activity, engaging participants in the design of a scenario and a game universe based on a real or imaginary socio-historical context, where characters can introduce life narratives and interaction that display either known social realities or entirely new ones. In this research, participants of the co-creation activity are Malaysian students who were working in groups to design game-based learning resources for rural school children. After the co-creativity activity, the students were invited to answer the co-creativity scale, an adapted version of the Assessment Scale of Creative Collaboration (ASCC), combining both the co-creativity factors and learners’ experiences on their interests, and difficulties they faced during the co-creativity process. The preliminary results showed a high diversity on the participants’ attitudes towards collaboration, especially related to their preferences towards individual or collaborative work

Embedding sustainability through systems thinking in practice: some experiences from the Open University

One initiative that has emerged during the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the work of the Open University Systems group has been its postgraduate programme in Systems Thinking and Practice (STiP). Built on some forty years’ experience of systems teaching and research at the Open University (OU), this open learning, distance taught programme is designed to develop students’ abilities to tackle complex messy situations, to provide skills to think more holistically and to work more collaboratively to avoid systemic failures. This paper critically reviews the trajectory of this programme –its past, present and future. It discusses the STiP programme’s many boundaries with other programmes and across sectors. Challenges of epistemology, ethics and purpose are explored, in relation to education for sustainability. The programme’s many and varied teaching and learning processes are explicated. The pedagogy of the STiP programme is grounded in a diverse range of students’ experiences and needs that by no means all focus explicitly, or primarily, on sustainability or sustainable development. Many OU students study part-time alongside their other commitments, both work and community-based. STiP students are all interested in systems and learning. But what STiP is a part of for them varies considerably. Students come mainly from the UK and rest of Europe. Many of their interactions are online through several different fora. A diverse, active and critical OU STiP alumni community has developed, initiated by the early graduates of the programme. Academics responsible for the programme also participate in this community’s deliberations, at the invitation of student alumni. In this paper, the authors build on their various experiences of the STiP programme and re-explore its contexts and boundaries from an ESD point of view. They use some of the systems heuristics that they teach, to critically reflect on both what is being achieved through this programme in relation to education for sustainability and what they and some of their past students and associate lecturers think ought to be occurring in this respect as they go forward