227,296 research outputs found
Improving university life science instruction with analogies: insights from a course for graduate teaching assistants
Abstract concepts dominate university science teaching, and much of this content is taught without sufficient connection to studentsâ prior knowledge or everyday experienc- es. As this can be problematic for students, the aim of this research was to determine the utility and effectiveness of a professional development module on using analogies to make these important connections for learning. We conducted qualitative content analysis of analogies in teaching plans designed by 75 graduate teaching assistants who participated in the module between 2018 and 2021. The module is part of a course on Teaching Science at University (TSU) and pairs cognitive science with a structured analogy design tool, orig- inally developed for Kâ12 education. Most course participants used the tool systematically and developed analogies linking abstract science target concepts with studentsâ everyday experiences; however, some analogies contained a high cognitive load or unaddressed anthropomorphic logic that might negatively impact learning. Participantsâ reflections on their learning in the module suggested a new awareness of the need for planning and for active student discussion of analogies, particularly where they break down. This research has shown that TSUâs stepwise guidance using a structured pedagogical tool for planning and teaching with analogies is highly suitable for higher education
"Boring formal methods" or "Sherlock Holmes deduction methods"?
This paper provides an overview of common challenges in teaching of logic and
formal methods to Computer Science and IT students. We discuss our experiences
from the course IN3050: Applied Logic in Engineering, introduced as a "logic
for everybody" elective course at at TU Munich, Germany, to engage pupils
studying Computer Science, IT and engineering subjects on Bachelor and Master
levels. Our goal was to overcome the bias that logic and formal methods are not
only very complicated but also very boring to study and to apply. In this
paper, we present the core structure of the course, provide examples of
exercises and evaluate the course based on the students' surveys.Comment: Preprint. Accepted to the Software Technologies: Applications and
Foundations (STAF 2016). Final version published by Springer International
Publishing AG. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1602.0517
A teaching and support tool for building formal models of graphical user-interfaces
In this paper we propose the design of a tool that will allow the construction of a formal, textual description of a software system even if it has a graphical user-interface as a component. An important aspect of this design is that it can be used for two purposes-the teaching of first-order logic and the formal specification of graphical user-interfaces. The design has been suggested by considering a system that has already been very successful for teaching first-order logic, namely Tarski's World
TAPAs: A Tool for the Analysis of Process Algebras
Process algebras are formalisms for modelling concurrent systems that permit mathematical reasoning with respect to a set of desired properties. TAPAs is a tool that can be used to support the use of process algebras to specify and analyze concurrent systems. It does not aim at guaranteeing high performances, but has been developed as a support to teaching. Systems are described as process algebras terms that are then mapped to labelled transition systems (LTSs). Properties are verified either by checking equivalence of concrete and abstract systems descriptions, or by model checking temporal formulae over the obtained LTS. A key feature of TAPAs, that makes it particularly suitable for teaching, is that it maintains a consistent double representation of each system both as a term and as a graph. Another useful didactical feature is the exhibition of counterexamples in case equivalences are not verified or the proposed formulae are not satisfied
NaDeA: A Natural Deduction Assistant with a Formalization in Isabelle
We present a new software tool for teaching logic based on natural deduction.
Its proof system is formalized in the proof assistant Isabelle such that its
definition is very precise. Soundness of the formalization has been proved in
Isabelle. The tool is open source software developed in TypeScript / JavaScript
and can thus be used directly in a browser without any further installation.
Although developed for undergraduate computer science students who are used to
study and program concrete computer code in a programming language we consider
the approach relevant for a broader audience and for other proof systems as
well.Comment: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Tools for
Teaching Logic (TTL2015), Rennes, France, June 9-12, 2015. Editors: M.
Antonia Huertas, Jo\~ao Marcos, Mar\'ia Manzano, Sophie Pinchinat,
Fran\c{c}ois Schwarzentrube
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