Code Puzzle Completion Problems in Support of Learning Programming Independently

Middle school children often lack access to formal educational opportunities to learn computer programming. One way to help these children may be to provide tools that enable them to learn programming on their own independently. However, in order for these tools to be effective they must help learners acquire programming knowledge and also be motivating in independent contexts. I explore the design space of using motivating code puzzles with a method known to support independent learning: completion problems. Through this exploration, I developed code puzzle completion problems and an introductory curriculum introducing novice programmers to basic programming constructs. Through several evaluations, I demonstrate that code puzzle completion problems can motivate learners to acquire new programming knowledge independently. Specifically, I found that code puzzle completion problems are more effective and efficient for learning programming constructs independently compared to tutorials. Puzzle users performed 33% better on transfer tasks compared to tutorial users, while taking 21% less time to complete the learning materials. Additionally, I present evidence that children are motivated to choose to use the code puzzles because they find the experience enjoyable, challenging, and valuable towards developing their programming skills. Given the choice between using tutorials and puzzles, only 10% of participants opted to use more tutorials than puzzles. Further, 80% of participants also stated a preference towards the puzzles because they simply enjoyed the experience of using puzzles more than the tutorials. The results suggest that code puzzle completion problems are a promising approach for motivating and supporting independent learning of programming

Enabling 'growth mindsets' in engineering students

Student failure is often attributed to a lack of work by students. While this view has some merit, it implies that only students need to change and reduces the incentive for lecturers, curricula, assessment practices to be interrogated. In this thesis, I take a comprehensive look into why students do not work. Firstly, I place social psychology factors in context with other factors that impact student success and show how beliefs about academic ability underpin the academic behaviour that leads to success. By placing a learning theory lens on six characteristics of fixed mindsets (beliefs that ability can only be developed to an individually pre-determined level) and growth mindsets (beliefs that that effective effort will lead to unlimited self-improvement), I develop a theoretical framework that explains how both fixed and growth mindsets can be encouraged by teaching practices. As students with fixed mindsets may be more vulnerable to dropping out of university, lecturers should be aware of the mindset messages they are sending to students through their words, actions and choice of activities and assessment practices. To address the question of how growth mindsets can be developed, I present results from a systematic literature review of growth mindset interventions aimed at engineering students, drawing on databases in education, engineering, and psychology. The findings show that most interventions involved informing students about mindsets and asking students to reflect on or teach others about mindsets, using personal examples. An intervention was devised to develop growth mindsets in engineering students through tutoring groups on the social media platform WhatsApp. Poor group functioning was addressed using a design-based research approach for the establishment of effective groups. Unexpectedly, assessments of engineering students' mindsets through surveys and interviews showed very low numbers of students with fixed mindset views. Reasons for this result are explained by categorizing growth mindset enablers identified from literature and comparing the literature findings with interview data from engineering students. The thesis culminates by contributing a critique on mindset assessment and a framework for creating learning environments conducive to student success

Social Addictive Gameful Engineering (SAGE): A Game-based Learning and Assessment System for Computational Thinking

At an unrivaled and enduring pace, computing has transformed the world, resulting in demand for a universal fourth foundation beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic: computational thinking (CT). Despite increasingly widespread acceptance of CT as a crucial competency for all, transforming education systems accordingly has proven complex. The principal hypothesis of this thesis is that we can improve the efficiency and efficacy of teaching and learning CT by building gameful learning and assessment systems on top of block-based programming environments. Additionally, we believe this can be accomplished at scale and cost conducive to accelerating CT dissemination for all. After introducing the requirements, approach, and architecture, we present a solution named Gameful Direct Instruction. This involves embedding Parsons Programming Puzzles (PPPs) in Scratch, which is a block-based programming environment currently used prevalently in grades 6-8. PPPs encourage students to practice CT by assembling into correct order sets of mixed-up blocks that comprise samples of well-written code which focus on individual concepts. The structure provided by PPPs enable instructors to design games that steer learner attention toward targeted learning goals through puzzle-solving play. Learners receive continuous automated feedback as they attempt to arrange programming constructs in correct order, leading to more efficient comprehension of core CT concepts than they might otherwise attain through less structured Scratch assignments. We measure this efficiency first via a pilot study conducted after the initial integration of PPPs with Scratch, and second after the addition of scaffolding enhancements in a study involving a larger adult general population. We complement Gameful Direct Instruction with a solution named Gameful Constructionism. This involves integrating with Scratch implicit assessment functionality that facilitates constructionist video game (CVG) design and play. CVGs enable learner to explore CT using construction tools sufficiently expressive for personally meaningful gameplay. Instructors are enabled to guide learning by defining game objectives useful for implicit assessment, while affording learners the opportunity to take ownership of the experience and progress through the sequence of interest and motivation toward sustained engagement. When strategically arranged within a learning progression after PPP gameplay produces evidence of efficient comprehension, CVGs amplify the impact of direct instruction by providing the sculpted context in which learners can apply CT concepts more freely, thereby broadening and deepening understanding, and improving learning efficacy. We measure this efficacy in a study of the general adult population. Since these approaches leverage low fidelity yet motivating gameful techniques, they facilitate the development of learning content at scale and cost supportive of widespread CT uptake. We conclude this thesis with a glance at future work that anticipates further progress in scalability via a solution named Gameful Intelligent Tutoring. This involves augmenting Scratch with Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) functionality that offers across-activity next-game recommendations, and within-activity just-in-time and on-demand hints. Since these data-driven methods operate without requiring knowledge engineering for each game designed, the instructor can evolve her role from one focused on knowledge transfer to one centered on supporting learning through the design of educational experiences, and we can accelerate the dissemination of CT at scale and reasonable cost while also advancing toward continuously differentiated instruction for each learner

Leadership Development Programs and Participant Behavioral Change

The goal of any leadership development program is to produce more effective leaders. Leadership development training programs are successful only to the extent that participants change their behavior. How much of that success is dependent on the styles of leadership, the participating individual, or the design of the training program? This paper describes the relationship between leadership development programs and participant behavioral change. Relevant empirical research for training transfer, individual behavioral change, and program return on investment is integrated into the paper

Carinus Nursing College : an historical study of nursing education and management using the general systems approach, 1947-1987

The purpose of this dissertation is to research aspects of the historical development of Nursing Education and Nursing Management at the Carinus Nursing College from 1949 to 1987; to determine and explain how the College has adapted and coped with historical change and to determine whether proposals for the future can be made. Research has been done by applying the general systems theory and by using the standard methods of historical analysis. Data has been collected by means of oral history, literature search and documentation. The variables isolated are the College as a system; the government or influential super systems; resources such as financial, personnel and students and material inputs; and throughput or processing the work in the output, which leads to the professional nurse. The models used are Bucheles' organizational system, Sharma's flow chart pattern, Mintzberg's parts of organizational systems, and power flows and as shown in Emery, Feibleman and Friends relations and rules of interaction in systems thinking. Parsons' "imperatives of maintenance of a system" as well as Alvin Toffler's "second and third wave phenomena as responses to change" were two further models that were used. By using Robert Buchele's model, the work is divided into four parts: - i) the College as a system ii) the super systems iii) the resources iv) the throughput or processing. A further design that emerged was that two eras could be distinguished, within which three historical phases: - Early, Middle and Late are developed

An evaluation of the integration of m-learning in Total Reading Approach for Children Plus (TRAC+): Enhancing literacy of early grade students in Cambodia.

The Total Reading Approach for Children (TRAC) project was first implemented in Cambodia from 2013 to 2014 by World Education, Inc. (WEI) to improve early grade reading outcomes among Grade 1 and Grade 2 students. This was made possible through a grant from All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD). ACR GCD, which was launched in 2011 by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, and the Australian Government, is an ongoing series of competitions that leverages science and technology to source, test, and disseminate scalable solutions to improve the literacy skills of early grade learners in developing countries. End-of-project assessments of TRAC were encouraging: over 90% of performance indicators were successfully achieved. As a result, WEI was awarded follow-on funding by World Vision International – Cambodia to scale up TRAC. Called TRAC Plus (TRAC+), the scale up rolled out in 13 World Vision area development programs in five provinces in Cambodia in December 2014. In Year 1, TRAC+ ran in 170 schools, and continued to work in 138 of the 170 original target schools in Year 2. By the end of the project in September 2017, TRAC+ had directly reached about 20,000 students. This report presents the findings of an independent evaluation of TRAC+ conducted from February to September 2017 by Dr. Grace Oakley, Dr. Mark Pegrum, and Dr. Thida Kheang—all from the Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia—assisted by Cambodian researcher Mr. Krisna Seng. The primary focus of the evaluation was the m-learning component of TRAC+—the use of Aan Khmer, a game-based app developed with funding from ACR GCD to teach Khmer alphabetical principles, vocabulary, and fluency in low resource environments. The evaluation set out to answer the question, “How and to what extent does the integration of m-learning in TRAC+ enhance the literacy of early grade students?” The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge on the effectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of m-learning integrated into TRAC+ in the Cambodian primary school context. Equity and efficiency issues were also addressed. This evaluation was conducted under the Digital Learning for Development (DL4D) project of the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) of the Philippines. As part of the Information Networks in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (INASSA) program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, DL4D aims to improve educational systems in developing countries in Asia through testing digital learning innovations and scaling proven ones. Funding for the evaluation was provided jointly by DL4D and ACR GCD.This research was conducted under the Digital Learning for Development (DL4D) project of the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) of the Philippines, jointly funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, and All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD)—a partnership of United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, and the Australian Government

AN EXAMINATION OF ATTITUDES TOWARD MATHEMATICS IN STUDENT AND PARENT SELF-PERCEPTIONS

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes toward mathematics of students in upper elementary school and middle school. Their perceptions were analyzed by grade level, gender, and in comparison to the attitudes of their parents (or primary care givers). What teachers, administrators, and support staff do in the classroom is a vital element in the development of attitudes and achievement in the area of mathematics for all students. When the child leaves the school environs, he or she is exposed to a myriad of behaviors, attitudes, and opportunities with respect to mathematics, both positive and negative. Since the earliest and most influential model of attitudes comes from a child’s parents, that will be one focus of this study. As children grow older, other factors influence attitudes, leading to the focal points of age and gender. For this research, children in grades 5 and 8, along with their parents, participated in a study to acquire information about their attitudes toward mathematics. The results of these surveys were compared to determine the proportional similarities of the number of responses made by parents and their children regarding their attitudes toward mathematics. A comparison of proportional relationships in responses was also examined comparing elementary and middle school children, and male and female students