The challenges for chemistry education in Africa

The continent of Africa is made up by many country borderlines, but as we know, borders are only lines on a map. Nature and the environment don’t recognize these borders, and therefore, issues of climate change, air  pollution, water quality and diseases require collaborations among nations for their solutions. A new way of thinking, teaching and learning chemistry is also required. Chemistry will play a major role in solving the challenges that face our planet and the development of the continent of Africa. We must have chemists who will be able to solve these problems. In order to have these types of chemists, we must have, in the pipeline, students who will become the future chemists able to offer solutions to existing and new problems. This means developing a new curriculum and new methods of teaching chemistry so that chemistry can be accessible to all students in Africa. Sadly enough, many students shy away from chemistry. In order to attract students to chemistry, creative methods for teaching and learning were developed for all levels, from primary school to university, and from the formal to the informal settings. These methods utilize the students’ talents, hobbies, interests and cultural backgrounds. Equal access to  science education is a human right that belongs to all [1-2]. If we do not guarantee science education to all, we will form a two-class society divided not by royalty and status, but by knowledge of science. The centerpiece for this method is the development of student projects, which help them to remember and understand abstract scientific concepts. An old Chinese proverb says: “I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand.” These students’ projects take advantage of seeing and remembering, doing and understanding. Through this process, students are active learners, instead of being passive observers. To demonstrate their understanding of scientific concepts through their projects, the  students use a media of their choice, from drawing, dance and drama (no tech) to computer animation (high tech). Projects can also take the form of paintings, sculptures, songs, films, and scripts for theater. These projects are used as alternative assessment methods where the whole class is involved in the assessment process. In order for this method to be  successful, workshops for teachers as well as parents must be conducted. This way, the students will be taught in a creative way in school and  through the joint involvement of teachers and parents, students will be encouraged to pursue chemistry. After all, “it takes a village to raise a child,” as the African proverb states. [AJCE 4(2), Special Issue, May 2014

Practice makes perfect – gamification of a competitive learning experience

The ability to provide and implement software solutions is a fundamental component of a computer scientist curriculum. Commonly referred to as the ability to program, this task involves the development of programs to address everyday problems. Over the last decade teaching practices have evolved alongside programming languages to facilitate the learning process. While abstracting the level of understanding has helped students with the fundamentals of software development, issues related to students’ engagement and motivation are still not adequately addressed. With motivation being a vital component of the students’ life cycle and at the basis of their engagement, the concept of software engineering introduced in the class needs to be revised and become more engaging so as to be practised thoroughly by the students. To address these challenges, educators have devised numerous frameworks to allow students to hone their programming skills. The idea of embedding gaming aspects into the learning cycle has led to the development of techniques such as serious games and game-based learning, while more recent techniques have been unified under the term gamification. Several researchers have incorporated the gamification concept into computer science classes in order to improve students’ engagement with the teaching material, with early evaluations confirming the effectiveness of this approach. The present study focuses on the use of a gamification platform to create stimulating content and increase motivation. Students were presented with a new gamification system designed to attract and hold their attention through a number of programming challenges in the form of a contest. The results of the experiment demonstrate the students’ behavioural changes towards a deeper cognitive engagement. The paper then further discusses the challenges that have arisen in this new learning environment, such as demotivation of students with low contest rankings. Teaching how to write good software has been part of an ongoing debate for the last decade. With student motivation being a central component, this paper discusses the use of a gamification environment to engage students with the teaching material and reinforce the concepts of software engineering introduced in class

Developing computational thinking in the classroom: a framework

Computational thinking sits at the heart of the new statutory programme of study for Computing: “A high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world” (Department for Education, 2013, p. 188). This document aims to support teachers to teach computational thinking. It describes a framework that helps explain what computational thinking is, describes pedagogic approaches for teaching it and gives ways to assess it. Pupil progression with the previous ICT curriculum was often demonstrated through ‘how’ (for example, a software usage skill) or ‘what’ the pupil produced (for example, a poster). This was partly due to the needs of the business world for office skills. Such use of precious curriculum time however has several weaknesses. Firstly, the country’s economy depends on technological innovation not just on use of technology. Secondly, the pace of technology and organisational change is fast in that the ICT skills learnt are out of date before a pupil leaves school. Thirdly, technology invades all aspects of our life and the typically taught office practice is only a small part of technology use today

A review of Australasian investigations into problem solving and the novice programmer

This Australasian focused review compares a number of recent studies that have identified difficulties encountered by novices while learning programming and problem solving. These studies have shown that novices are not performing at expected levels and many novices have only a fragile knowledge of programming, which may prevent them from learning and applying problem solving strategies. The review goes on to explore proposals for explicitly incorporating problem solving strategy instruction into introductory programming curricula and assessment, in an attempt to produce improved learning outcomes for novices. Finally, directions suggested by the reviewed studies are gathered and some unanswered questions are raised

Four approaches to teaching programming

Based on a survey of literature, four different approaches to teaching introductory programming are identified and described. Examples of the practice of each approach are identified representing procedural, visual, and object-oriented programming language paradigms. Each approach is then further analysed, identifying advantages and disadvantages for the student and the teacher. The first approach, code analysis, is analogous to reading before writing, that is, recognising the parts and what they mean. It requires learners to analyse and understand existing code prior to producing their own. An alternative is the building blocks approach, analogous to learning vocabulary, nouns and verbs, before constructing sentences. A third approach is identified as simple units in which learners master solutions to small problems before applying the learned logic to more complex problems. The final approach, full systems, is analogous to learning a foreign language by immersion whereby learners design a solution to a non-trivial problem and the programming concepts and language constructs are introduced only when the solution to the problem requires their application. The conclusion asserts that competency in programming cannot be achieved without mastering each of the approaches, at least to some extent. Use of the approaches in combination could provide novice programmers with the opportunities to acquire a full range of knowledge, understanding, and skills. Several orders for presenting the approaches in the classroom are proposed and analysed reflecting the needs of the learners and teachers. Further research is needed to better understand these and other approaches to teaching programming, not in terms of learner outcomes, but in terms of teachers’ actions and techniques employed to facilitate the construction of new knowledge by the learners. Effective classroom teaching practices could be informed by further investigations into the effect on progression of different toolset choices and combinations of teaching approache

Developing Teaching Materials By Using Computer-Assisted Problem-Based Learning

Computer-Assisted Problem-Based Learning (CAPBL) as a learning approach requires good teaching materials to make the learning process works effectively according to the characteristics and objectives of problem-based learning approach. Similarly in mathematics, appropriate teaching materials are adjusted to the characteristics of the subjects of mathematics that need to be delivered through CAPBL support towards the achievement of learning objectives. CAPBL is a learning approach that concerned extremely to the emphasis ofcomplex and open-ended problem as the basis for learning that will be faced by students in small groups; the emphasis of the role of students as who are responsible for their own learning; and the emphasis of the role of teacher as a facilitator, assisted by computer as a media that is expected to facilitate the learning process. Defining a clear idea of the problems; group learning; student role; teacher role; and assessment in problem-based learning and the role of computer in CAPBL will make the development of teaching materials matches to the characteristics of PBL itself. When that happens, CAPBLwill work effectively to be used on the teaching materials as well as it supports the learning process. Key Words: Problem-Based Learning, Computer Assissted Problem-Based Learning, teaching materials

TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning