Learning from experts : fostering extended thinking in the early phases of the design process

Empirical evidence on the way in which expert designers from different domains cognitively connect their internal processes with external resources is presented in the context of an extended cognition model. The article focuses briefly on the main trends in the extended design cognition theory and in particular on recent trends in information processing and embodiment theory. The aim of the paper is to reflect on the implications of an understanding of expert design cognition as an extended system, which can account for complexity and non-linearity in design thinking and problem-solving, for technology and design education. This is achieved by showing the relevance of the cross-correlations and the dynamics involved at the intersection of cognitive phases, intention-driven decision making and embodiment principles of experts for novice education in technology and design. It is argued that twentieth century one-sided approaches to design education no longer adequately serve the needs of the twenty first century. It is further argued that a combined information-processing ? embodiment approach may be the answer. The article presents salient results of a case study using think-aloud-protocol studies in a quasiexperimental format that was used as it has proven to be a central instrument yielding scientific data in the cognitive science paradigm. Results suggested extended design environments may be particularly well-suited to the mediation of design thinking. Finally, based on these results, the article examines how educators can exploit the combined approach to advance the making of connections between the inner and outer world in design education.http://www.springer.com/journal/107982016-11-30hb201

Hierarchical thinking : a cognitive tool for guiding coherent decision making in design problem solving

This paper builds on two concepts, the first of which is the extended information processing model of expert design cognition. This proposes twelve internal psychological characteristics interacting with the external world of expert designers during the early phases of the design process. Here, I explore one of the characteristics, hierarchical abstraction, and adapt it into an alternative ontological model of decision making. The model serves as an in-depth descriptor of how designers from different domains transform their mental states using judgment and decision making through hierarchical abstraction. The second concept entails an expansion of the idea of synergistic vertical transformation as a framework for mapping expert designers’ design process. Here, I focus on hierarchical decision making as multi-directional, and inter-relating the internal and external world of designers. In doing so, I provide a coding tool for researchers interested in exploring designers’ complex decision making processes. Concurrently, the model serves as decision making tool in design and technology education classrooms. As such, the paper focuses on the ontology of conceptual structures that support the early phases of the design process. This was based on empirical research.http://www.springer.com/journal/107982017-09-30hb2016Science, Mathematics and Technology Educatio

A Kirkpatrick evaluation of computer-integrated learning support material for technology education

The aim of this research is to establish which aspects influence students’ successful learning of design skills through contextually integrated learning support material for the design and technology education programme at the University of Pretoria. The purpose of the research is threefold: • The first aim is to investigate the extent to which the electronic tutorial, Design in Action (hereafter referred to as “the tutorial”) contributes to students’ (novice designers) design theory in a technological context i.e. to indicate whether the level of sophistication of the exemplary graphics and explanatory text is suited to the context. • The second aim is to establish the levels of learning achieved by learners as a result of the intervention using Design in Action in order to indicate the adequacy of the learning support material in achieving the learning outcomes of the unit. • The third aim is to establish possible improvements for the tutorial to increase its effectiveness in terms of curriculum, media&technology, learning&instruction and teacher education&didactics (Van den Akker, 1999). The findings of this preliminary study will be used in broader studies focused on the design and development of contextually integrated learning support material for design and technology education students. This research is a qualitative case study, including the evaluation of levels of learning of first year pre-service design and technology students, conducted in the interpretative paradigm, within the theoretical frame of socially responsible research (Reeves, 2000). The evaluation of the levels of learning was based on a model designed by Kirkpatrick (Kirkpatrick, 1994). The model delineates four levels of instruction (training) outcomes: reaction, learning, behaviour, and results.Dissertation (MEd (CIE))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Curriculum Studiesunrestricte

Treatment effects of once-weekly dulaglutide versus insulin glargine in patients with different baseline glycemic patterns (based on high/low fasting or high/low postprandial glucose): a post hoc analysis of the AWARD-2 clinical trial

The effects of DU 1.5 mg and Glar were compared in patients with T2D at 52 weeks from the AWARD-2 study with prevalent elevations in fasting glucose (FG), postprandial glucose (PPG), or both FG and PPG at baseline. Changes in glycated hemoglobin (A1c), FG, PPG, body weight, and hypoglycemia were investigated

Locomotor activity and body temperature patterns over a temperature gradient in the highveld mole-rat (Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae)

S1 Fig. Soil temperature. Ambient temperatures (ÊC) in full sun, shade and at different soil depths over five consecutive days.S2 Fig. Daily mean Tb and activity. Mean body temperature (±SE) and mean activity counts (±SE) for female and male highveld mole-rats over the 24h day at each of the three ambient temperatures tested. Black bars indicate the dark phase of the light cycle and white bars indicate the light phase.S3 Fig. Actograms. Complete actograms for the duration of the experimental procedure are presented for all animals. The black and white bars on top of the actograms shows the dark and light phases during the LD cycles, during DD cycles no light is present. The number of days are on the Y-axis.African mole-rats are strictly subterranean mammals that live in extensive burrow systems. High humidity levels in the burrows prevent mole-rats from thermoregulating using evaporative cooling. However, the relatively stable environment of the burrows promotes moderate temperatures and small daily temperature fluctuations. Mole-rats therefore display a relatively wide range of thermoregulation abilities. Some species cannot maintain their body temperatures at a constant level, whereas others employ behavioural thermoregulation. Here we test the effect of ambient temperature on locomotor activity and body temperature, and the relationship between the two parameters, in the highveld mole-rat. We exposed mole-rats to a 12L:12D and a DD light cycle at ambient temperatures of 30ÊC, 25ÊC and 20ÊC while locomotor activity and body temperature were measured simultaneously. In addition, we investigated the endogenous rhythms of locomotor activity and body temperature at different ambient temperatures. Mole-rats displayed nocturnal activity at all three ambient temperatures and were most active at 20ÊC, but least active at 30ÊC. Body temperature was highest at 30ÊC and lowest at 20ÊC, and the daily cycle was highly correlated with locomotor activity. We show that the mole-rats have endogenous rhythms for both locomotor activity and body temperature. However, the endogenous body temperature rhythm appears to be less robust compared to the locomotor activity rhythm. Female mole-rats appear to be more sensitive to temperature changes than males, increased heterothermy is evident at lower ambient temperatures, whilst males show smaller variation in their body temperatures with changing ambient temperatures. Mole-rats may rely more heavily on behavioural thermoregulation as it is more energy efficient in an already challenging environment.http://www.plosone.orgam2017Zoology and Entomolog

Engineering education : an integrated problem-solving framework for discipline-specific professional development in mining engineering

This article is based on the premise that the purpose of engineering education, in general, is to deliver engineering practitioners who are intellectually capable of identifying, structuring, and solving complex problems, and that solving engineering problems is systemic. The solutions to problems are viewed as objects, tools, processes, and systems. The purpose of this article is, however, to specifically explore some of the aspects of the intangible world of mining engineering from a generic problem-solving perspective, which would also be applicable to any other engineering discipline. This is done by focusing on higher order intellectual processes when processing information in the problem-structuring and problem-solving space. As such, this article builds on a previous study in which the intangible world of the mining engineer was identified as worth investing in. We begin by briefly reviewing the complexity of the mining engineering problem-solving space and the background and role of a generic cognitive approach to problem solving in the mining engineering curriculum at the University of Pretoria (UP). Several dimensions of extended cognitive processing are then detailed, explaining why the early phases of problem solving are difficult to learn, and more difficult still to teach. An outline is given of the classification of types of mining engineering problems, and its determinant role in the dynamics of information processing. Conceiving, designing, implementing, and operating (CDIO) as an overarching engineering methodology is discussed, together with the subsequent mapping of cognitive phases onto CDIO stages. Finally, we pose an open research question that seems important to answer in order to identify the best pedagogical practices for improving problem-solving capabilities not only in mining engineering but also in other engineering disciplines.http://www.saimm.co.za/journal-papersam2018Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineerin

Locomotor activity and body temperature patterns over a temperature gradient in the highveld mole-rat (Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae)

African mole-rats are strictly subterranean mammals that live in extensive burrow systems. High humidity levels in the burrows prevent mole-rats from thermoregulating using evaporative cooling. However, the relatively stable environment of the burrows promotes moderate temperatures and small daily temperature fluctuations. Mole-rats therefore display a relatively wide range of thermoregulation abilities. Some species cannot maintain their body temperatures at a constant level, whereas others employ behavioural thermoregulation. Here we test the effect of ambient temperature on locomotor activity and body temperature, and the relationship between the two parameters, in the highveld mole-rat. We exposed mole-rats to a 12L:12D and a DD light cycle at ambient temperatures of 30ÊC, 25ÊC and 20ÊC while locomotor activity and body temperature were measured simultaneously. In addition, we investigated the endogenous rhythms of locomotor activity and body temperature at different ambient temperatures. Mole-rats displayed nocturnal activity at all three ambient temperatures and were most active at 20ÊC, but least active at 30ÊC. Body temperature was highest at 30ÊC and lowest at 20ÊC, and the daily cycle was highly correlated with locomotor activity. We show that the mole-rats have endogenous rhythms for both locomotor activity and body temperature. However, the endogenous body temperature rhythm appears to be less robust compared to the locomotor activity rhythm. Female mole-rats appear to be more sensitive to temperature changes than males, increased heterothermy is evident at lower ambient temperatures, whilst males show smaller variation in their body temperatures with changing ambient temperatures. Mole-rats may rely more heavily on behavioural thermoregulation as it is more energy efficient in an already challenging environment.S1 Fig. Soil temperature. Ambient temperatures (ÊC) in full sun, shade and at different soil depths over five consecutive days.S2 Fig. Daily mean Tb and activity. Mean body temperature (±SE) and mean activity counts (±SE) for female and male highveld mole-rats over the 24h day at each of the three ambient temperatures tested. Black bars indicate the dark phase of the light cycle and white bars indicate the light phase.S3 Fig. Actograms. Complete actograms for the duration of the experimental procedure are presented for all animals. The black and white bars on top of the actograms shows the dark and light phases during the LD cycles, during DD cycles no light is present. The number of days are on the Y-axis.http://www.plosone.orgam2017Zoology and Entomolog

Os usos alternados das formas pronominais de segunda pessoa do singular cê, você e tu na comunidade linguística de Porto Nacional, Tocantins (The alternating uses of second person singular pronouns cê, você e tu in the speech community of Porto Nacional)

This article describes and analyzes, based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Variationist Sociolinguistics, the alternating uses of the Portuguese second person singular pronouns cê, você, tu in the urban community of Porto Nacional, Tocantins, Brazil. The result of the quantified data showed that the speakers alternate the forms cê and você more frequently, with priority for the use of cê. There were, however, contexts that favored the occurrence of the pronoun você and others in which the use of the reduced form cê has become more significant. Nevertheless, the pronoun tu was little recurrent among the individual participants in this research.En este artículo, describimos y analizamos, en base a los supuestos teórico-metodológicos de la Sociolingüística Variacionista, los usos alternativos de los pronombres en segunda persona del singular, cê, você, tu en el discurso de la comunidad urbana de Porto Nacional, Tocantins. El análisis de los datos cuantificados nos mostró que los hablantes de Porto alternan entre las formas cê y usted con mayor frecuencia, con prioridad en el uso de la variante cê. Sin embargo, hubo contextos que favorecieron la aparición del pronombre usted y otros en los que el uso de la forma reducida cê fue más significativo. Por otro lado, el pronombre tu no fue muy recurrente en el discurso de los usuarios que participaron en la investigación.Neste artigo, descrevemos e analisamos, com base nos pressupostos teórico-metodológicos da Sociolinguística Variacionista, os usos alternados dos pronomes de segunda pessoa do singular cê, você e tu na fala da comunidade urbana de Porto Nacional, Tocantins. A análise dos dados quantificados mostrou-nos que os falantes portuenses alternam as formas cê e você com maior frequência, com prioridade no uso da variante cê. Houve, no entanto, contextos que favoreceram a ocorrência do pronome você e outros em que o uso da forma reduzida cê mostrou-se mais significativo. Por outro lado, o pronone tu mostrou-se pouco recorrente na fala dos utentes participantes da pesquisa