Embedding Metadata and Other Semantics In Word-Processing Documents

This paper was presented at the International Digital Curation Conference in Edinburgh in Dec 2008.This paper describes a technique for embedding document metadata, and potentially other semantic references inline in word processing documents, which the authors have implemented with the help of a software development team. Several assumptions underly the approach; It must be available across computing platforms and work with both Microsoft Word (because of its user base) and OpenOffice.org (because of its free availability). Further the application needs to be acceptable to and usable by users, so the initial implementation covers only small number of features, which will only be extended after user-testing. Within these constraints the system provides a mechanism for encoding not only simple metadata, but for inferring hierarchical relationships between metadata elements from a "flat" word processing file. The paper includes links to open source code implementing the techniques as part of a broader suite of tools for academic writing. This addresses tools and software, semantic web and data curation, integrating curation into research workflows and will provide a platform for integrating work on ontologies, vocabularies and folksonomies into word processing tools

Evolution of an assessment project

We describe the evolution of a continuing project that started life as a study of students’ conceptions and reasoning patterns in elementary physics and morphed into a study of exam marking. The narrative structure of the paper reflects the evolutionary character of the project: aims and methods were not predetermined but developed as they interacted with each other. Our investigation began several years ago (Sharma, Millar, Smith and Sefton 2004) as a study of the way that students answer qualitative examination questions in physics and of what those answers tell us about patterns of conceptual understanding and reasoning. Specifically, we analysed answers to the following question: In a spaceship orbiting the earth, an astronaut tries to weigh himself on bathroom scales and finds that the scale indicates a zero reading. However, he is also aware that his mass hasn’t changed since he left the earth. Using physics principles, explain this apparent contradiction. The question was included in the final examination in 1998 for two alternative first-year first semester courses: a Fundamentals course for beginners and a Regular course for students who had done physics for the Higher School Certificate. We analysed a sample of 100 answers from each of the two courses

A qualitative study on teacher perspectives: Special Relativity in high school physics

The literature suggests that developing an understanding of abstract concepts proves to be difficult for many students. These difficulties subsequently pose challenges to teachers as they work to convey abstract subject matter. Piaget proposed that learners proceed from a concrete understanding of phenomena through to an ability think in an abstract, formal and logical manner in a series of cognitive developmental stages. Building on Piagetian ideas, constructivist approaches to learning incorporate considerations of prior knowledge and experiential learning. In the teaching of high school Physics there is much abstract subject matter presented that is not related directly to experiential learning. The teaching of Special Relativity in New South Wales high schools is the focus of this study. Special Relativity is regarded as one of the most important and fundamental theories in modern Physics and yet there is not much research into student understandings of Special Relativity. The concept involves unique features such as the use of thought experiments and the difficulties in providing supporting empirical evidence. There are inconsistencies in how the topic is presented in differing educational contexts. Hence there is a need investigate how Special Relativity is taught in the high school classroom. The aim of our research is to explore the perspectives that NSW teachers have on their teaching of Special Relativity. The paper presents preliminary results of the research which consisted of a written qualitative survey and video interviews. The survey was completed by seven teachers and in-depth interviews were conducted with a further three teachers. They responded to questions that endeavoured to explore what skills, characteristics and attitudes they were seeking to instill in their students, what pedagogical methods they used to promote those attributes in the students, to what extent do they sought to relate the theory to real phenomena, what manner of questions do they used in teaching and assessing and whether they anchored the questions in reality

Differences in two evaluations of answers to a conceptual physics question: a preliminary analysis

In their exploration of student understanding of gravity, Sharma et al. (2004 and 2005) discovered a discrepancy between phenomenographic analysis of student answers to one short examination question and the distribution of marks for the same question between two first-year university physics classes. We report on a preliminary investigation of factors which, we hypothesised, may have contributed to that discrepancy. Additional analysis and evaluation of the original set of answers included a detailed study of the use of physics terminology (PhysicsSpeak) and diagrams in the answers, with the aim of discovering how those features may have affected the marks. A selection of the answers was reviewed for evidence of other characteristics which may have influenced the marker. The views and recollections of the original marker were also recorded. There is no single explanation for the discrepancy, but we found that the use of diagrams has a significant effect on marks, whereas the influence of PhysicsSpeak was weaker than expected

University students’ conceptions about familiar thermodynamic processes and the implications for instruction

A large proportion of research in science education is either centred on or influenced by studies concerning conceptual change - in particular, the topic of students’ misconceptions. This is justified by the observation that studies involving conceptual change or troublesome knowledge capture an aspect of science education that seems to be extremely significant for successful learning and vital for developments in instructional methods. This paper is an examination of conceptions about fundamental thermodynamic concepts held by university students. A ‘pre-test’ was developed and administered to 858 first year and 80 second year university students to probe conceptions and inform a subsequent study. Questions included both multiple choice and free response types. The results indicate that the first year students experienced varied and considerable difficulties with the thermodynamic concepts presented in the pre-test, particularly with respect to heat transfer and thermal equilibrium. It is significant to note that these particular concepts appear as part of formal instruction in science in NSW, and that they are embedded in familiar everyday situations. The results and analysis of this quiz are presented