Problem Solving Strategies among Primary School Teachers

The purpose of this article was to examine problem solving strategies among primary school teachers. The researchers employed survey research design to examine their problem solving strategies. The participants of this study consisted of 120 primary school teachers from a public university in Peninsula Malaysia who enrolled in a 4-year Graduating Teachers Program (Program Pensiswazahan Guru) majored in mathematics. Purposive sampling technique was used to select these participants. This article presents the analysis of the responses of the participants related to a particular problem, namely fencing problem. Result of the study suggests that 79.2% of the participants have successfully solved the fencing problem. They employed various problem solving strategies: (i) trial-and-error (also known as guess-and-check), (ii) using algebra, (iii) making tables, charts or systematic list, (iv) drawing diagrams, (v) identifying pattern, and (vi) logical reasoning. Result of the study also suggests that 85% of the participants used same strategy to check their solutions for the fencing problem without being probed. The implications of the results were also discussed. Keywords: problem solving strategies, primary school teachers, survey research design

Maritime threat response

This report was prepared by Systems Engineering and Analysis Cohort Nine (SEA-9) Maritime Threat Response, (MTR) team members.Background: The 2006 Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Cross-Campus Integrated Study, titled “Maritime Threat Response” involved the combined effort of 7 NPS Systems Engineering students, 7 Singaporean Temasek Defense Systems Institute (TDSI) students, 12 students from the Total Ship Systems Engineering (TSSE) curriculum, and numerous NPS faculty members from different NPS departments. After receiving tasking provided by the Wayne E. Meyer Institute of Systems Engineering at NPS in support of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, the study examined ways to validate intelligence and respond to maritime terrorist attacks against United States coastal harbors and ports. Through assessment of likely harbors and waterways to base the study upon, the San Francisco Bay was selected as a representative test-bed for the integrated study. The NPS Systems Engineering and Analysis Cohort 9 (SEA-9) Maritime Threat Response (MTR) team, in conjunction with the TDSI students, used the Systems Engineering Lifecycle Process (SELP) [shown in Figure ES-1, p. xxiii ] as a systems engineering framework to conduct the multi-disciplinary study. While not actually fabricating any hardware, such a process was well-suited for tailoring to the team’s research efforts and project focus. The SELP was an iterative process used to bound and scope the MTR problem, determine needs, requirements, functions, and to design architecture alternatives to satisfy stakeholder needs and desires. The SoS approach taken [shown in Figure ES-2, p. xxiv ]enabled the team to apply a systematic approach to problem definition, needs analysis, requirements, analysis, functional analysis, and then architecture development and assessment.In the twenty-first century, the threat of asymmetric warfare in the form of terrorism is one of the most likely direct threats to the United States homeland. It has been recognized that perhaps the key element in protecting the continental United States from terrorist threats is obtaining intelligence of impending attacks in advance. Enormous amounts of resources are currently allocated to obtaining and parsing such intelligence. However, it remains a difficult problem to deal with such attacks once intelligence is obtained. In this context, the Maritime Threat Response Project has applied Systems Engineering processes to propose different cost-effective System of Systems (SoS) architecture solutions to surface-based terrorist threats emanating from the maritime domain. The project applied a five-year time horizon to provide near-term solutions to the prospective decision makers and take maximum advantage of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions and emphasize new Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) for existing systems. Results provided insight into requirements for interagency interactions in support of Maritime Security and demonstrated the criticality of timely and accurate intelligence in support of counterterror operations.This report was prepared for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland DefenseApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Enhancing Primary Pupils' Geometric Thinking Through Phase-Based Instruction Using The Geometer's Sketchpad

The purpose of this study was to enhance primary pupils' geometric thinking through phase-based instruction using The Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP) based on the van Hiele theory of geometric thinking. Specifically, it sought to examine Year Four pupils' van Hiele levels of geometric thinking about equilateral triangle, square, regular pentagon and regular hexagon before and after phase-based instruction using GSP, and whether there was any significant difference in the pupils' van Hiele levels of geometric thinking about the regular polygons after the intervention. The researchers employed an exploratory case study research design and purposeful sampling to select a class of 26 mixed-ability Year Four pupils from a primary school in Selangor. A van Hiele level test based on Mayberry's (1981) test and scoring criteria was devised and administered to the pupils before and after the intervention to assess their van Hiele levels of geometric thinking about the regular polygons. The results of the pre-test showed that the pupils' initial van Hiele levels were predominantly at Level 0 (Pre-recognition) for regular pentagon and regular hexagon but at Level 1 (Recognition) for equilateral triangle and square. However, the results of the post-test revealed that the pupils' van Hiele levels after the intervention were predominantly at Level 2 (Analysis) for all the regular polygons. In addition, the results of the Wilcoxon test showed that there was a significant difference in the pupils' van Hiele levels of geometric thinking for all the regular polygons after phasebased instruction using GSP. The median van Hiele level in the post-test was higher than the median van Hiele level in the pre-test for all the regular polygons, indicating that the intervention had significantly enhanced the pupils' geometric thinking about the regular polygons

Algebraic Adversarial Attacks on Integrated Gradients

Adversarial attacks on explainability models have drastic consequences when explanations are used to understand the reasoning of neural networks in safety critical systems. Path methods are one such class of attribution methods susceptible to adversarial attacks. Adversarial learning is typically phrased as a constrained optimisation problem. In this work, we propose algebraic adversarial examples and study the conditions under which one can generate adversarial examples for integrated gradients. Algebraic adversarial examples provide a mathematically tractable approach to adversarial examples

Primary School Mathematics And Science Teachers' Stages Of Concern About The Implementation Of Lesson Study

In this study, the Japanese model of Lesson Study was introduced as a teacher professional development programme to nine low-performing primary schools in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to examine to what extent Lesson Study can improve low-performing primary mathematics and science teachers' stages of concern about the implementation of Lesson Study in their schools and their teaching quality as well as student learning performance. The sample consisted of 97 primary mathematics and science teachers from three types of primary schools: the National School (SK); the National Type Chinese School (SJKC) and the National Type Tamil School (SJKT). Before the implementation of Lesson Study, a workshop was conducted in every school to introduce participating teachers to the concepts of Lesson Study and the research procedure. After the workshop, the participating teachers were asked to complete the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) in order to identify their initial stages of concern about the implementation of Lesson Study in their schools. The SoCQ was developed based on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). It consists of 35 items, categorising teachers' concerns into seven stages: Stage 0 (Awareness); Stage 1 (Informational); Stage 2 (Personal); Stage 3 (Management); Stage 4 (Consequence); Stage 5 (Collaboration) and Stage 6 (Refocusing) (George, Hall & Stiegelbauer, Measuring implementation in schools: The stages of concern questionnaire (2006)). The same SoCQ was also given to the participating teachers after every Lesson Study cycle to determine whether their stages of concern changed before and after the implementation of Lesson Study cycles. In this paper, only the data collected from the first SoCQ given were analysed. The results showed that the profiles of the SK, SJKC and SJKT teachers' initial stages of concern about the implementation of Lesson Study in their schools were quite similar. The SK, SJKC and SJKT teachers' concerns were the highest in Stage 0 and the lowest in Stage 4, indicating that these teachers had a high level of concern about a number of other initiatives, tasks, and activities besides Lesson Study and they had quite a low level of concern about the consequences of implementing Lesson Study for their students, respectivel

Preservice teachers’ assessment knowledge: Do teaching experiences make a difference?

This study aimed to statistically compare preservice teachers’ assessment knowledge in crafting assessment task and selecting assessment method in relation to their teaching experience. This study involved 397 preservice teachers’ who were final year undergraduate students in a local university. The instrument of data collection consisted of eight superitems test. Data collected was analysed by using statistical method (SPSS version 22.0). The result showed that preservice teachers for all categories of teaching experience performed better in the selecting assessment method than crafting assessment task. However, there was no significant differences existed between the three categories of teaching experience of preservice teachers for both standards of assessment knowledge assessed