Technology-enhanced Personalised Learning: Untangling the Evidence

Technology-enhanced personalised learning is not yet common in Germany, which is why we have tasked scientists with summarising the current status of international research on the matter. This study demonstrates the great potential of technology in implementing effective personalised learning. Nevertheless, it has not been assessed yet whether the practical implementation actually works: Even in countries such as the U.S., which lead the way in using techology in classroom settings, hardly any evaluation studies have been done to prove the effectiveness of technology-enhanced personalised learning. In the light of the above, the authors make recommendations for actions to be taken in Germany to make best use of the potential of technology in providing individual support and guidance to students

From design to narrative: the development of inquiry-based learning models

The University of Nottingham and the Open University are partners in a ca. £1.2m project to help school students learn the skills of modern science. The three-year project, Personal Inquiry (PI) (funded by the UK ESRC and EPSRC research councils), is developing a new approach of 'scripted inquiry learning', where children investigate a science topic with classmates by carrying out explorations between their classroom, homes and discovery centres, guided by a personal computer. This paper describes our progress to date on the development of four models for inquiry-based learning, as part of the PI project. These are being used as the basis for the development of educational scenarios and associated scripts to explore the use of mobile technologies in supporting an inquiry-based approach to teaching Scientific thinking across formal and informal learning

Personal Inquiry: lessons learned

The paper describes a school trial carried out to support inquiry learning between formal and informal settings supported by personal mobile technology. The aim of the school trial was to explore how a first version of the PI Toolkit facilitates secondary school students in performing a personally relevant scientific inquiry both in a science classroom as well as at home. An analysis of classroom video and interviews has resulted in a set of incidents from which we have derived design guidelines and challenges for implementing technology-supported inquiry learning where personal technology is used and within which personally relevant investigations are conducted by students

Μοντέλα Αξιοπιστίας σε Λογισμικά Συστήματα

Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Μαθηματική Προτυποποίηση σε Σύγχρονες Τεχνολογίες στην Οικονομία

Inconclusive evidence to support the use of minimally-invasive radiofrequency denervation against chronic low back pain

Low back pain (LBP), defined as the localized pain or discomfort between the costal margins and superior gluteal line, with or without associated lower limb pain, is one of the most commonly encountered pain syndromes in adults. It is considered chronic LBP (CLBP), when pain persists for more than three months (1). CLBP might be disabling with increased missing hours of productive work or of personal activities and it can also be associated with significant excess of healthcare costs (2). Commonly, CLBP also gives rise to the genesis or exacerbation of various psychiatric disorders, such as depression and/or anxiety (3)

Learning 21st century science in context with mobile technologies

The paper describes a project to support personal inquiry learning with handheld and desktop technology between formal and informal settings. It presents a trial of the technology and learning across a school classroom, sports hall, and library. The main aim of the study was to incorporate inquiry learning activities within an extended school science environment in order to investigate opportunities for technological mediations and to extract initial recommendations for the design of mobile technology to link inquiry learning across different contexts. A critical incident analysis was carried out to identify learning breakdowns and breakthroughs that led to design implications. The main findings are the opportunities that a combination of mobile and fixed technology bring to: manage the formation of groups, display live visualisations of student and teacher data on a shared screen to facilitate motivation and personal relevance, incorporate broader technical support, provide context-specific guidance on the sequence, reasons and aims of learning activities, offer opportunities to micro-sites for reflection and learning in the field, to explicitly support appropriation of data within inquiry and show the relation between specific activities and the general inquiry process

Bioeconomic simulation analysis of hake and red mullet fishery in the Gulf of Saronikos (Greece)

[EN] Hake (Merluccius merluccius) and red mullet (Mullus barbatus) are two of the most important species in Greek fisheries due to their high commercial interest. Both have been reported to be overexploited and in need of management to preserve the continuity of their exploitation. Hake is exploited by trawlers and red mullet by both trawlers and beach seiners in Saronikos Gulf (Greece). The MEFISTO bioeconomic simulation model is applied in order to test the interaction between trawlers and beach seiners through the age-specific fishing mortality applied by each fleet to the red mullet stock. The effects of the withdrawal of some beach seiners in 2002 and the increase in trawl mesh size that has already been implemented (from 28 mm to 40 mm stretched mesh) are tested jointly with alternative management scenarios such as the complete withdrawal of beach seiners and effort reduction in trawler activity. The analysis of the simulation results is based on the evolution of biological and economic indicators through 15-year stochastic projections. It is shown that limiting fishing effort and improving selectivity patterns of the trawl fleet would be beneficial for the recovery of the populations and for the profitability of the fishery. In addition to the increase in trawl mesh size, a further fishing effort reduction of 12% is recommended for the trawling fleet. Conversely, limiting or completely removing the beach seiner fleet would protect red mullet juveniles but would not significantly increase the profitability of the trawling fleet, and it would cause unemployment[ES] La merluza (Merluccius merluccius) y el salmonete (Mullus barbatus), debido a su gran interés comercial, son las dos especies más importantes de las pesquerías griegas. Ambas especies se encuentran en situación de sobreexplotación y necesitadas de una gestión adecuada que proteja la continuidad de su explotación. En el Golfo de Saronikos (Grecia), la merluza es explotada por la flota de arrastre mientras que el salmonete lo pescan las flotas de arrastre y la de cerco de playa. Se utiliza el modelo de simulación MEFISTO para el análisis de la interacción de ambas flotas a través de las mortalidades pesqueras aplicadas sobre las clases de edad del salmonete. En el presente trabajo se evalúan los efectos de la retirada de algunos cerqueros que tuvo lugar en 2002 y del incremento del ancho de malla (desde 28 mm a 40 mm) que tuvo lugar en 2000, así como algunos escenarios de gestión alternativos como la completa retirada de la flota de cerco o la reducción del esfuerzo pesquero de la flota de arrastre. El análisis de las simulaciones estocásticas se presenta a través de la evolución de los indicadores bioeconómicos durante 15 años. Se muestra que la limitación del esfuerzo pesquero y la mejora en los parámetros de selectividad de la flota de arrastre serían beneficiosos tanto desde un punto de vista económico como conservacionista. Por otro lado, se recomienda una reducción de esfuerzo del 12%. Por el contrario, la limitación o retirada de la flota de cerco de playa causaría un problema de desempleo y no permitiría aumentar los beneficios de la flota de arrastre, sin llegar a ser beneficioso para las poblaciones explotadasWe thank Triantafyllos Kountouris and Argyris Argyrokastritis for their help and advice in the in situ approach to the hake and red mullet fishery in the Gulf of Saronikos and all the staff in the Fisheries Laboratory of the Ministry of Rural Development and FoodPeer reviewe

Bioeconomic simulation analysis of hake and red mullet fishery in the Gulf of Saronikos (Greece)

Hake (Merluccius merluccius) and red mullet (Mullus barbatus) are two of the most important species in Greek fisheries due to their high commercial interest. Both have been reported to be overexploited and in need of management to preserve the continuity of their exploitation. Hake is exploited by trawlers and red mullet by both trawlers and beach seiners in Saronikos Gulf (Greece). The MEFISTO bioeconomic simulation model is applied in order to test the interaction between trawlers and beach seiners through the age-specific fishing mortality applied by each fleet to the red mullet stock. The effects of the withdrawal of some beach seiners in 2002 and the increase in trawl mesh size that has already been implemented (from 28 mm to 40 mm stretched mesh) are tested jointly with alternative management scenarios such as the complete withdrawal of beach seiners and effort reduction in trawler activity. The analysis of the simulation results is based on the evolution of biological and economic indicators through 15-year stochastic projections. It is shown that limiting fishing effort and improving selectivity patterns of the trawl fleet would be beneficial for the recovery of the populations and for the profitability of the fishery. In addition to the increase in trawl mesh size, a further fishing effort reduction of 12% is recommended for the trawling fleet. Conversely, limiting or completely removing the beach seiner fleet would protect red mullet juveniles but would not significantly increase the profitability of the trawling fleet, and it would cause unemployment.La merluza (Merluccius merluccius) y el salmonete (Mullus barbatus), debido a su gran interés comercial, son las dos especies más importantes de las pesquerías griegas. Ambas especies se encuentran en situación de sobreexplotación y necesitadas de una gestión adecuada que proteja la continuidad de su explotación. En el Golfo de Saronikos (Grecia), la merluza es explotada por la flota de arrastre mientras que el salmonete lo pescan las flotas de arrastre y la de cerco de playa. Se utiliza el modelo de simulación MEFISTO para el análisis de la interacción de ambas flotas a través de las mortalidades pesqueras aplicadas sobre las clases de edad del salmonete. En el presente trabajo se evalúan los efectos de la retirada de algunos cerqueros que tuvo lugar en 2002 y del incremento del ancho de malla (desde 28 mm a 40 mm) que tuvo lugar en 2000, así como algunos escenarios de gestión alternativos como la completa retirada de la flota de cerco o la reducción del esfuerzo pesquero de la flota de arrastre. El análisis de las simulaciones estocásticas se presenta a través de la evolución de los indicadores bioeconómicos durante 15 años. Se muestra que la limitación del esfuerzo pesquero y la mejora en los parámetros de selectividad de la flota de arrastre serían beneficiosos tanto desde un punto de vista económico como conservacionista. Por otro lado, se recomienda una reducción de esfuerzo del 12%. Por el contrario, la limitación o retirada de la flota de cerco de playa causaría un problema de desempleo y no permitiría aumentar los beneficios de la flota de arrastre, sin llegar a ser beneficioso para las poblaciones explotadas

Sense-it: A Smartphone Toolkit for Citizen Inquiry Learning

We describe a toolkit for Android smartphones and tablets that enables a user to access all the sensors available on the device. Data from individual sensors can be viewed as dynamic graphs. Output from one or more sensors can be recorded to a spreadsheet, with the sampling rate set by the learner. As a tool for inquiry learning, the sensors can be linked to ‘missions’ on the nQuire-it website, allowing learners to sample and share data for collaborative crowd-sourced investigations. Four nQuire-it missions have employed the sensor toolkit for investigating environmental noise, sunlight levels, air pressure and rainfall, and the speed of lifts (elevators). These four investigations represent a variety of methods to initiate, orchestrate and conclude inquiry science learning. Two of the missions are in the context of a study to develop a community of inquiry around weather and meteorology. The others are intended to engage members of the public in practical science activities. Analysis of the missions and the associated online discussions reveals that the Sense-it toolkit can be adopted for practical and engaging science investigations, though the issue of calibrating sensors on personal devices needs to be addressed

A “laboratory of knowledge-making” for personal inquiry learning

We describe nQuire, a constraint-based learning toolkit to support a continuity of inquiry based learning between classroom and non-formal settings. The paper proposes design requirements for personal inquiry learning environments that support learning of personally meaningful science topics with development of metacognitive understanding and self-regulation of the scientific process through situated practice. It introduces a generic implementable model of the inquiry process, and describes an instantiation in the nQuire learning environment. An example of the use of the toolkit for a Healthy Eating inquiry with 28 Year 9 students concludes with results of the trial, design issues and recommendations