Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Modeling as a Tool for Instruction

As the standards movement continues to gain momentum in U.S. schools, preservice and in-service teachers need greater knowledge in mathematical modeling to engage PK-12 students in such practices. This case-based research study investigated the perceptions and understandings of modeling for 76 entry-level, preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a mathematics methods course at a mid-Atlantic university. Participants were prompted to define modeling and its application to classroom instruction through open-response questions administered in an online survey. A case-based, phenomenological method was used to code and analyze responses. Most preservice teachers expressed a very limited definition or understanding of modeling or how models are used to promote conceptual understanding of problems, systems, or phenomena in mathematics. The nature of the misconceptions and limits in understanding inform ways that higher education might approach the instruction of modeling in mathematics methods courses to develop such knowledge in future elementary teachers

Enhancing Instructor Credibility and Immediacy in the Design of Distance Learning Systems and Virtual Classroom Environments

What are the optimal techniques for applying the latest generation of telepresence, video conferencing, and communication technologies in distance education and virtual classroom designs? If human beings use more than voice to communicate, what implications does the ability to more effectively replicate eye-to-eye contact have in collaborative distance education? This research study explored the effects of perceived faculty credibility and immediacy during virtual classroom presentations. This quantitative experiment created four independent treatments that varied the video resolution and varied the ability of the instructor to maintain virtual eye-contact with students during each presentation. Participants were assigned into one of the four treatment groups, each listening to the same instructor narration and viewing the same instructor present the same subject matter, only the resolution and camera angle differed. A series of 2x2 Analysis of Variances were conducted on independent groups where an instructor was simultaneously recorded from two high-definition (1920x1080) cameras, one at eye-level and one located 15-degrees above eye-level, during the delivery of a 20-minute instructional module. These two camera angles were also replicated in a lower resolution (320x240). A total of 108 undergraduate and graduate participants completed the video and audio multimedia presentations and completed credibility and immediacy survey instruments. The results suggest that the position of the instructor\u27s camera is more important than the resolution of the recorded video

Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Reflections in Using Excelets as a Tool for Modeling

With widespread adoption of technology for all into schools across the U.S., teachers need to be prepared to integrate these tools into classroom instruction. For mathematics, modeling problems with technology provides a key opportunity for students to experience the active nature of such tools in making sense of mathematics concepts. In order to gain insight into incorporating these tools into modeling tasks, preservice teachers need exposure to them as along with reflection on their use. This case study of 12 preservice secondary mathematics teachers enrolled in a mathematics methods course focused on a modeling task that was presented in an Excelet. Participants went through the Excelet and then reflected on the experience they had in interacting with it. Data included a video-recording of participants thinking-aloud while working through the Excelet and a survey consisting of 10 Likert-type and 5 open-ended questions where they reflected on their experience. Findings indicate that by reflecting on the experience related to using this tool, preservice teachers gained insight into challenges in integrating technology within content instruction. Participants fell into categories of strong or weak reflective individuals crossed with strong or weak users of technology. Findings of this study provide more evidence that teacher preparation programs still have work to do in preparing mathematics teachers to integrate technological tools into classroom instruction

A Case Study of a STEM Teacher’s Development of TPACK in a Teacher Preparation Program

This case study involved researching pre-service secondary STEM teachers’ development of TPACK by use of modeling & simulation applications. The main research question focused on how do self-reported TPACK measures align with demonstrated TPACK knowledge and skills. The study design was qualitative and included five secondary STEM pre-service teachers who were completing their program of study and teaching lessons in the field with secondary students. This particular brief paper reports on one of the pre-service STEM teachers in this study. Coding and analysis were carried out to search for characteristics of tasks that support development of TPACK in future teachers. Findings from this one case identified somewhat high marks on the TPACK self-scores but weaker identification of features of modeling and simulation (M&S) applications integrated into instructional use. The challenge for teacher education programs is to search for ways to better measure and support TPACK development in future teachers

The VisPort Project: Visualization of Port Logistics

The article focuses on the introduction of Visualization in Port Logistics (VisPort) web-based tool project for the visualization of port careers and logistics in the U.S. It outlines the educational objectives of the project including the virtual reality experience associated with port operation, the multimedia environment for the learning of students, and the simulation of port logistics. It mentions that the scientific and technical visualization curriculum offered to students enhances the skills related to scientific and mathematical concepts as well as the experience on graphic techniques

Effects of a Pedagogical Agent's Emotional Expressiveness on Learner Perceptions

The use of animated pedagogical agents or avatars in instruction has lagged behind their use in entertainment. This is due in part to the cost and complexity of development and implementation of agents in educational settings, but also results from a lack of research to understand how emotions from animated agents influence instructional effectiveness. The phenomenological study presented here assesses the perceptions of eight learners interacting with low and high intensity emotionally expressive pedagogical agents in a computer-mediated environment. Research methods include maximum variation and snowball sampling with random assignment to treatment. The resulting themes incorporate perceptions of importance, agent humanness, enjoyment, implementation barriers, and suggested improvements. Design recommendations and implications for future research are presented

Comparison of Restricted and Traditional Discussion Boards on Student Critical Thinking

Interaction is a critical component of distance education and involves the transfer of information between the learner and content, learner and learner, or learner and instructor (Moore, 1989). Current distance education literature has examined the role of interaction, specifically learner-learner interaction, in learning and discussion design to enhance achievement. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of restricted and traditional discussion boards on critical thinking and learning in a graduate-level online distance education course. Findings indicated improved critical thinking in the quality and preparation strategies of initial discussion board postings when participants\u27 views of peer responses to discussion board questions were restricted until a predetermined date. Although the overall quality of subsequent postings was not affected, content analysis revealed a significant increase in discourse and revised opinions in the restricted format

Virtual World Problem-Centered Challenge Evaluation

This paper describes the two-year implementation evaluation of a problem-based engineering design challenge held in a virtual world. The team-based challenge was designed and facilitated by an aerospace research and education institute for middle and high school student competitors in both classrooms and afterschool programs across the U.S. An independent evaluation team examined participant experiences to consider the strengths of the challenge, as well as recommendations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of future challenges. Overall, the evaluation team found that the problem-centered design challenge offered the student competitors a unique and valuable opportunity to engage in real-life science and engineering problems with the support of advanced science, technology, and engineering resources and college-level and professional experts. Recommendations centered on needed adjustments to achieve and prepare for growth, support for teams, assessment refinement, and collaboration and other technology enhancement

Nursing Pain Assessment & Management: A 3D Interactive Simulation

In this design case, a team developed a 3D interactive simulation for nursing students and professional nurses to train and practice pain assessment and management procedures. In the simulation environment, the trainees interact with three emotionally expressive animated patients. The three patients vary in their ethnicity, age, and emotion intensity. Successful completion of the scenario requires that the trainee perform of a series of pain assessment and management tasks. The trainee is evaluated on the efficiency and appropriate sequencing of the tasks. The purpose of this paper is to describe the decisions made regarding the type of virtual patients used, the clickable objects, the pain assessment interview protocol, the visual representations in the simulation and the web portal. The paper also provides insight into the processes and steps taken during the design and development phases of this 3D interactive simulation including: the tasks analyses, motion capture, validation of the animations in the simulation, programming, and other tasks

A Call for Grounding Implicit Bias Training in Clinical and Translational Frameworks

Since the publication of Unequal Treatment in 2003,1 the number of studies investigating the implicit bias of health-care providers and its troubling consequences has increased exponentially. Bias can occur in all three psychological components: affects (ie, prejudice), cognition (ie, stereotypes), and behaviour (ie, discrimination). Implicit bias refers to prejudicial attitudes towards and stereotypical beliefs about a particular social group or members therein. These prejudicial attitudes and stereotypical beliefs are activated spontaneously and effortlessly, which often result in discriminatory behaviours.2 This definition is consistent with how implicit bias is defined in psychology3 and in literature on health disparities.4 Despite how the definition of implicit bias includes both affective and cognitive components, researchers, health-care providers, educators, and policy makers often use the term broadly and do not differentiate prejudice and stereotyping. Literature on health disparities focuses primarily on implicit prejudice and few studies have systematically investigated the role of implicit stereotyping in patient care.5 Consequently, implicit bias in previous research generally refers to implicit prejudice. Therefore, we specify whether we mean implicit prejudice or implicit stereotyping, particularly when we review findings from previous studies