Thematic Analysis of Teacher Instructional Practices and Student Responses in Middle School Classrooms with Problem-Based Learning Environment

Problem-based learning (PBL) environment is a student-centered instructional method based on the use of ill-structured problems as a stimulus for collaborative learning. This study tried to gain an understanding of teachersΓÇÖ instructional practices and studentsΓÇÖ responses to such practices in middle school classrooms with PBL environment through qualitative analyses. A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive thematic analyses was employed and applied to field notes and transcripts of video observations of four PBL classrooms. To do so, a codebook was created based on the descriptions of roles of teachers and students in PBL classrooms in literature, and was then applied to inductive codes that emerged from the data. This study identified a number of specific instructional practices of teachers, as well as responses that students might engage in during PBL instructions. Being able to articulate these roles is an important step in helping new PBL teachers learn to facilitate student-centered classrooms

Professional development in integrating technology into teaching learning: knowns, unknowns, and ways to pursue better questions and answers.

The literature base on technology professional development for teachers reveals that there is a long way to go in understanding methods of effective practice with respect to the various impacts of these activities on teaching and learning. In the No Child Left Behind era, with programs like Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology, the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education, and E-rate (the schools and library portion of the Universal Service Fund) that have been targeted as No Demonstrated Results, we need to move to a more systematic study of how technology integration occurs within our schools, what increases its adoption by teachers, and the long-term impacts that these investments have on both teachers and students. In addition to the findings of a comprehensive literature review, this article also articulates a systematic evaluation plan that, if implemented, will likely yield the information needed to better understand these important educational issues

Multimedia learning environments: Issues of learner control and navigation.

Abstract. Using schema theory as a framework, we view learning as an active, constructive process. It is affected not only by learners' internal knowledge structures, but by the external constraints of the learning environment as wel

Assessing the use of multiple sources in student essays

Abstract The present study explored different approaches for automatically scoring student essays that were written on the basis of multiple texts. Specifically, these approaches were developed to classify whether or not important elements of the texts were present in the essays. The first was a simple pattern-matching approach called "multi-word" that allowed for flexible matching of words and phrases in the sentences. The second technique was latent semantic analysis (LSA), which was used to compare student sentences to original source sentences using its high-dimensional vectorbased representation. Finally, the third was a machinelearning technique, support vector machines, which learned a classification scheme from the corpus. The results of the study suggested that the LSA-based system was superior for detecting the presence of explicit content from the texts, but the multi-word pattern-matching approach was better for detecting inferences outside or across texts. These results suggest that the best approach for analyzing essays of this nature should draw upon multiple natural language processing approaches

SBML Level 3: an extensible format for the exchange and reuse of biological models

Systems biology has experienced dramatic growth in the number, size, and complexity of computational models. To reproduce simulation results and reuse models, researchers must exchange unambiguous model descriptions. We review the latest edition of the Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML), a format designed for this purpose. A community of modelers and software authors developed SBML Level 3 over the past decade. Its modular form consists of a core suited to representing reaction-based models and packages that extend the core with features suited to other model types including constraint-based models, reaction-diffusion models, logical network models, and rule-based models. The format leverages two decades of SBML and a rich software ecosystem that transformed how systems biologists build and interact with models. More recently, the rise of multiscale models of whole cells and organs, and new data sources such as single-cell measurements and live imaging, has precipitated new ways of integrating data with models. We provide our perspectives on the challenges presented by these developments and how SBML Level 3 provides the foundation needed to support this evolution

Specified learning goals and their effect on learners' representations of a hypertext reading environment

[[abstract]]A hypertext reading environment differs from a traditional printed text environment in that the hypertext learner has the ability to self-select the type and sequence of information to be acquired rather than following the path provided by the author of the text. Recent research has suggested that the navigational opportunity of a hypertext changes the nature of how individuals interact with the information. Further, it has been suggested that the implementation of a specific learning goal will enhance the structure a hypertext reader gives to the acquired information. This investigation examined the nature of a reader's representation of hypertext content in the presence or absence of a specified learning objective. Results indicated that although no differences were detected between the two learning conditions (specific versus general learning goal) with regard to the amount and type of information recalled, readers with a specific learning goal recalled a more unique and individually tailored representation of the text than did readers without a specific learning goal. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.[[journaltype]]國外[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]US

Collaborative Information Filtering: A Review and an Educational Application

This paper reviews the literature surrounding an information filtering technique, collaborative information filtering, which supports the discovery of resources in a way that is sensitive to the context of users. Moreover, via statistical clustering techniques, the system supports automated, personalized filtering and recommendation of relevant resources and like-minded users for particular user communities. The paper also describes an educational implementation of this approach, called Altered Vista, and presents results from a 3-month trial use of the system, aimed at evaluating the educational effectiveness and usefulness of the approach

Promoting Positive Academic Dispositions Using a Web-based PBL Environment: The GlobalEd 2 Project

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional design approach for promoting student learning, understanding and knowledge development in context rich settings. Previous PBL research has primarily focused on face-to-face learning environments, but current technologies afford PBL designers the opportunities to create online, virtual, PBL environments. The GlobalEd 2 Project is an example of a PBL environment that combines the positive characteristics of both face-to-face and online environments in a 14-week simulation of international negotiations of science advisors on global water resource issues. The GlobalEd 2 PBL environment is described examining the impact it has had on middle school students’ interest in future science education experiences, self-efficacy related to writing in science and self-efficacy related to technology use for academic purposes using a pre-test post-test design. Analyses using ANOVAs of gain scores and ANCOVAs of subgroup differences demonstrate a positive impact on the science interest and self-efficacy of 208 middle-grade students from urban and suburban schools

What Do You Recommend? Implementation and Analyses of Collaborative Information Filtering of Web Resources for Education

This article examines results from one pilotstudy and two empirical studies of acollaborative filtering (CF) system applied ineducational settings. CF is a populartechnology in electronic commerce, whichleverages the interests of entire communitiesto provide targeted, personalizedrecommendations of interesting products orresources to individuals. In electroniccommerce, entertainment, and related domains,CF has proven an accurate and reliable tool;yet educational applications remain limited.From analyses of data from these three studies,we believe that CF holds promise in educationnot only for the purposes of helping learnersand educators find useful resources forlearning, but as a means of bringing togetherpeople with similar interests and beliefs, andpossibly as an aid to the learning processitself