Strategies for Programming Instruction in High School:Program Completion vs. Program Generation

In an introductory programming course, the differential effects on learning outcomes were studied for an experimental instructional strategy that emphasized the modification and extension of existing programs (completion strategy) and a traditional strategy that emphasized the design and coding of new programs (generation strategy). Two matched groups of twenty-eight and twenty-nine high school students from grades ten through twelve volunteered for participation in a ten-lesson programming course using a small subset of the structured programming language COMAL-80. After the course, the completion group was superior to the generation group in measures concerning the construction of programs; furthermore, it was characterized by a lower mortality. The data indicated that the completion strategy facilitated the use of templates; however, this does not necessarily seem to imply that the students actually understood the working of those templates, because no differences occurred in the ability to interpret programs. In the conclusion, the completion strategy is considered to be a good alternative to more traditional strategies and recommendations are made for further improvements

Three educational models for positioning the Maastricht research-based learning programme

This chapter introduces three models describing approaches of research-based learning for the further refinement of undergraduate research at maastricht university. The first model by healey and jenkins (developing undergraduate research and inquiry. Higher education academy, york, 2009) focuses on the role of the student (active participant or audience) and the scope of the research programme (research content or research processes and problems). The second model by beckman and hensel (cur q 29(4):40–44, 2009) distinguishes eight continua for further refining the concept of undergraduate research. The third model by van merriënboer (training complex cognitive skills: a four-component instructional design model for technical training. Educational technology publications, englewood cliffs, 1997) focuses on the level of maturity of the students and the level of independence provided to them during their research project. In the early days of the maastricht research-based learning (marble) project, there was little room to draw up a more structured approach for research-based learning. Introducing these models to the marble coordinators resulted in – to say the least – very interesting discussions among the coordinators, as the application of the models provided more in-depth insights into how research-based learning could be designed and what it means to staff and students. Therefore, the models presented in this chapter will serve as analytical tools in order to capture the different forms of research-based learning as presented in this volume’s case study chapters.keywordseducational modelsinstructional designresearch-based learningundergraduate research

Reflection and lessons learned

In this final chapter, we will take a more reflective look at the case studies and the overall maastricht research-based learning (marble) programme from two different perspectives. First, the case studies will be positioned in the models of healey and jenkins (developing undergraduate research and inquiry. Higher education academy, york, 2009), beckman and hensel (cur q 29(4):40–44, 2009), and van merriënboer (training complex cognitive skills: a four-component instructional design model for technical training. Educational technology publications, englewood cliffs, 1997). Second, general themes will be distilled from the different case studies. Finally, the chapter concludes with a description of general lessons learned and a final thought on the implementation of research-based learning projects.keywordscourse evaluationeducational modelsproblem-based learningresearch-based learningundergraduate research

The road to Maastricht research-based learning

The dutch ministry of education, culture, and science established the sirius programme in 2008 as an official initiative designed to strengthen the innovative capacity of the netherlands by enhancing the public knowledge infrastructure. The ministry invited all higher education institutions (research universities as well as universities of applied sciences) to submit a plan for the promotion of excellence, either independently or in collaboration with other institutions. The largest portion of the sirius budget, €48.8 million, was allocated to bachelor’s programmes and was launched in 2008. Maastricht university applied for funding from the sirius programme to develop bachelor’s research opportunities as a new form of problem-based learning, which is the characteristic educational format of the university. Maastricht university named this bachelor’s excellence programme maastricht research-based learning for excellence or marble. With the introduction of marble, maastricht university was given the opportunity to introduce new forms of problem-based learning to extend the research experience of students. This chapter explores a number of educational concepts within the content of the marble programme.keywordsexcellenceproblem-based learningresearch-based learningundergraduate research

The effects of performance-based assessment criteria on student performance and self-assessment skills

This study investigated the effect of performance-based versus competence-based assessment criteria on task performance and self-assessment skills among 39 novice secondary vocational education students in the domain of nursing and care. In a performance-based assessment group students are provided with a preset list of performance-based assessment criteria, describing what students should do, for the task at hand. The performance-based group is compared to a competence-based assessment group in which students receive a preset list of competence-based assessment criteria, describing what students should be able to do. The test phase revealed that the performance-based group outperformed the competence-based group on test task performance. In addition, higher performance of the performance-based group was reached with lower reported mental effort during training, indicating a higher instructional efficiency for novice students

Designing on-demand education for simultaneous development of domain-specific and self-directed learning skills

On-demand education enables individual learners to choose their learning pathways according to their own learning needs. They must use self-directed learning (SDL) skills involving self-assessment and task selection to determine appropriate pathways for learning. Learners who lack these skills must develop them because SDL skills are prerequisite to developing domain-specific skills. This article describes the design of an on-demand learning environment developed to enable novices to simultaneously develop their SDL and domain-specific skills. Learners received advice on their self-assessments and their selections of subsequent learning tasks. In the domain of system dynamics – a way to model a dynamic system and draw graphs depicting the system’s behaviour over time – advice on self-assessment is provided in a scoring rubric containing relevant performance standards. Advice on task selection indicates all relevant task aspects to be taken into account, including recommendations for suitable learning tasks which meet the individual learner’s needs. This article discusses the design of the environment and the learners’ perceptions of its usefulness. Most of the times, the learners found the advice appropriate and they followed it in 78% of their task selections

A portable mnemonic to facilitate checking for cognitive errors

Background Although a clinician may have the intention of carrying out strategies to reduce cognitive errors, this intention may not be realized especially under heavy workload situations or following a period of interruptions. Implementing strategies to reduce cognitive errors in clinical setting may be facilitated by a portable mnemonic in the form of a checklist. Methods A 2-stage approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the development and evaluation of a mnemonic checklist. In the development stage, a focus-driven literature search and a face-to-face discussion with a content expert in cognitive errors were carried out. Categories of cognitive errors addressed and represented in the checklist were identified. In the judgment stage, the face and content validity of the categories of cognitive errors represented in the checklist were determined. This was accomplished through coding responses of a panel of experts in cognitive errors. Results From the development stage, a preliminary version of the checklist in the form of four questions represented by four specific letters was developed. The letter ‘T’ in the TWED checklist stands for ‘Threat’ (i.e., ‘is there any life or limb threat that I need to rule out in this patient?’), ‘W’ for ‘Wrong/What else’ (i.e., ‘What if I am wrong? What else could it be?’), ‘E’ for ‘evidences’ (i.e., ‘Do I have sufficient evidences to support or exclude this diagnosis?’), and ‘D’ for ‘dispositional factors’ (i.e., ‘is there any dispositional factor that influence my decision’). In the judgment stage, the content validity of most categories of cognitive errors addressed in the checklist was rated highly in terms of their relevance and representativeness (with modified kappa values ranging from 0.65 to 1.0). Based on the coding of responses from seven experts, this checklist was shown to be sufficiently comprehensive to activate the implementation intention of checking cognitive errors. Conclusion The TWED checklist is a portable mnemonic checklist that can be used to activate implementation intentions for checking cognitive errors in clinical settings. While its mnemonic structure eases recall, its brevity makes it portable for quick application in every clinical case until it becomes habitual in daily clinical practice. Electronic supplementary materia