Workshop on web information seeking and interaction

The World Wide Web has provided access to a diverse range of information sources and systems. People engaging with this rich network of information may need to interact with different technologies, interfaces, and information providers in the course of a single search task. These systems may offer different interaction affordances and require users to adapt their informationseeking strategies. Not only is this challenging for users, but it also presents challenges for the designers of interactive systems, who need to make their own system useful and usable to broad user groups. The popularity of Web browsing and Web search engines has given rise to distinct forms of information-seeking behaviour, and new interaction styles, but we do not yet fully understand these or their implications for the development of new systems

Classroom-based professional expertise: a mathematics teacher’s practice with technology

This study examines the classroom practice and craft knowledge underpinning one teacher’s integration of the use of GeoGebra software into mathematics teaching. The chosen teacher worked in an English secondary school and was professionally well regarded as an accomplished user of digital technology in mathematics teaching. Designed in accordance with the Structuring Features of Classroom Practice framework (Ruthven, 2009), the study triangulates evidence from lesson observations and post-lesson interviews to analyse how this teacher’s classroom practice and professional knowledge support the integration of technology. This analysis shows how the teacher managed a number of aspects of classroom teaching related to using GeoGebra such as including technology-mediated tasks aligned with his pedagogical goals, preparing his students to use the technology efficiently, adapting formats for classroom activity and extending his curriculum scripts for the topics studied.The first author thanks the Ministry of National Education of Turkey for supporting her doctoral studies during which this research was undertaken

Digital curriculum resources in mathematics education: foundations for change

In this conceptual review paper we draw on recent literature with respect to digital curriculum resources (DCR); we briefly outline and explain selected theoretical frames; and we discuss issues related to the design, and the use (by teachers and students) of digital curricula and e-textbooks in mathematics education. The results of our review show the following. Firstly, whilst there are some contrasting tendencies between research on instructional technology and research on DCR, these studies are at the same time predominantly framed by socio-cultural theories. Secondly, whilst there seems to be a continuing demarcation between the design(er) and the use(r), there is at the same time an emerging/increasing understanding that design continues in use, due to the different nature and affordances of DCR (as compared to traditional text curriculum resources). Thirdly, there is an apparent weakening of traditional demarcations between pedagogy and assessment, and between summative and formative assessment techniques, due to the nature and design of the automated learning systems. Fourthly, there is an increasing need for understanding the expanded space of interaction associated with the shift from static print to dynamic/interactive DCR, a shift that has the potential to support different forms of personalised learning and interaction with resources. Hence, we claim that DCR offer opportunities for change: of understandings concerning the design and use of DCR; of their quality; and of the processes related to teacher/student interactions with DCR—they provide indeed the foundations for change

Digital curriculum resources in mathematics education: foundations for change

In this conceptual review paper we draw on recent literature with respect to digital curriculum resources (DCR); we briefly outline and explain selected theoretical frames; and we discuss issues related to the design, and the use (by teachers and students) of digital curricula and e-textbooks in mathematics education. The results of our review show the following. Firstly, whilst there are some contrasting tendencies between research on instructional technology and research on DCR, these studies are at the same time predominantly framed by socio-cultural theories. Secondly, whilst there seems to be a continuing demarcation between the design(er) and the use(r), there is at the same time an emerging/increasing understanding that design continues in use, due to the different nature and affordances of DCR (as compared to traditional text curriculum resources). Thirdly, there is an apparent weakening of traditional demarcations between pedagogy and assessment, and between summative and formative assessment techniques, due to the nature and design of the automated learning systems. Fourthly, there is an increasing need for understanding the expanded space of interaction associated with the shift from static print to dynamic/interactive DCR, a shift that has the potential to support different forms of personalised learning and interaction with resources. Hence, we claim that DCR offer opportunities for change: of understandings concerning the design and use of DCR; of their quality; and of the processes related to teacher/student interactions with DCR—they provide indeed the foundations for change

Operational, interpersonal, discussional and ideational dimensions of classroom norms for dialogic practice in school mathematics

While research suggests that interactive pedagogy drawing on students’ ideas can improve learning outcomes, it has been found difficult to change mathematics classroom practice in this direction. The reasons for this difficulty remain poorly understood, hindering change at scale. This paper focuses on the under-researched normative aspect of such practice which shapes participants’ actions and expectations. Drawing on theories of social practice and interaction, we define norms as recurrent and socially obligating patterns of, and rationales for, behaviour in a particular social practice. We then examine empirically what and how (new) norms associated with this type of pedagogy are manifested in classroom discursive activity by examining talk across 21 school mathematics lessons by 12 teachers implementing a dialogic intervention. While there is a clear distinction between surface norms and underlying rationales, and a consistent set of surface norms relating to classroom talk can be identified, deeper analysis finds norms to be multi-dimensional. We illustrate how a surface norm, such as ‘Respect others’ ideas’, can be enunciated in terms of multiple underlying rationales which we term operational, interpersonal, discussional and ideational. Our findings shed new light on why the dialogic intentions of such interventions are often realised in a superficial way. We further examine the ways in which teachers hold students and themselves accountable to the ideational dimension – the dimension that relates to taking students’ ideas seriously in classroom dialogue.Economic and Social Research Council grant (RES-179-25-0003

Teacher interventions in small group work in secondary mathematics and science lessons

Collaborative problem solving, when students work in pairs or small groups on a curriculum-related task, has become an increasingly common feature of classroom education. This paper reports a study of a topic which has received relatively little attention: how teachers can most usefully intervene when students are working in a group, but have encountered some sort of problem. The data used comes from a large scale interventional study of mathematics and science teaching in secondary schools in south east England, in which interactions between teachers and students were recorded in their usual classrooms. We identify the typical problem situations which lead to teachers’ interventions, and describe the different ways teachers were observed to intervene. We examine the different types of intervention, and consider how effective they are in helping group work proceed in a productive manner. Finally, we offer some conclusions about the practical implications of these findings.This is the final version of the article. It was first available from Taylor & Francis via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2015.112536

An information foraging theory based user study of an adaptive user interaction framework for content-based image retrieval

This paper presents the design and results of a task-based user study, based on Information Foraging Theory, on a novel user interaction framework - uInteract - for content-based image retrieval (CBIR). The framework includes a four-factor user interaction model and an interactive interface. The user study involves three focused evaluations, 12 simulated real life search tasks with different complexity levels, 12 comparative systems and 50 subjects. Information Foraging Theory is applied to the user study design and the quantitative data analysis. The systematic findings have not only shown how effective and easy to use the uInteract framework is, but also illustrate the value of Information Foraging Theory for interpreting user interaction with CBIR

A research-informed dialogic-teaching approach to early secondary school mathematics and science: the pedagogical design and field trial of the epiSTEMe intervention

The $\textit{Effecting Principled Improvement in STEM Education [epiSTEMe]}$ project undertook pedagogical research aimed at improving pupil engagement and learning in early secondary school physical science and mathematics. Using principles identified as effective in the research literature and drawing on a range of existing pedagogical resources, the project designed and trialled a classroom intervention, with associated professional development, in a form intended to be suited to implementation at scale. The most distinctive feature of the $\textit{epiSTEMe}$ pedagogical approach is its inclusion of a component of dialogic teaching. Aimed at the first year of secondary education in English schools (covering ages 11–12), the $\textit{epiSTEMe}$ intervention consists of a short introductory module designed to prepare classes for this dialogic teaching component, and topic modules which employ the $\textit{epiSTEMe}$ pedagogical approach to cover two curricular topics in each of science and mathematics. A field trial was conducted over the 2010/2011 school year in 25 volunteer schools, randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Within the intervention group, observation of lessons indicated that the level of dialogic teaching was higher for one of the topic modules than others. Evaluation focused on the effectiveness of the topic modules, each trialled in more than 10 classes containing a total of over 300 pupils, and compared with a group of similar composition. Overall, at this first implementation, learning gains under the $\textit{epiSTEMe}$ intervention were no greater, although for individual topic modules the effects ranged from small negative to small positive. No difference was found between intervention and control groups either in the opinion of pupils about their classroom experience or in changes in their attitude towards subjects.Thanks are due to the Economic and Social Research Council which provided funding for the epiSTEMe project (RES-179-25-0003), to the teachers who generously volunteered to review, pilot and trial versions of the modules, to Christine Howe for her contribution to design and analysis, and to Andy Tolmie and Anna Vignoles for statistical advice.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Taylor & Francis via https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2015.112964

On the miscibility of cardiolipin with 1,2-diacyl phosphoglycerides: Binary mixtures of dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine and tetramyristoylcardiolipin

The thermotropic phase behavior and organization of model membranes composed of binary mixtures of the quadruple-chained, anionic phospholipid tetramyristoylcardiolipin (TMCL) with the double-chained zwitterionic phospholipid dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE) were examined by a combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. After equilibration at low temperature, DSC thermograms exhibited by binary mixtures of TMCL and DMPE containing < 80 mol DMPE exhibit a fairly energetic lower temperature endotherm and a highly energetic higher temperature endotherm. As the relative amount of TMCL in the mixture decreases, the temperature, enthalpy and cooperativity of the lower temperature endotherm also decreases and is not calorimetrically detectable when the TMCL content falls below 20 mol%. In contrast, the temperature of the higher temperature endotherm increases as the proportion of TMCL decreases, but the enthalpy and cooperativity both decrease and the transition endotherms become multimodal. The FTIR spectroscopic results indicate that the lower temperature endotherm corresponds to a lamellar crystalline (Lc) to lamellar gel (Lβ) phase transition and that the higher temperature transition involves the conversion of the Lβ phase to the lamellar liquid-crystalline (Lα) phase. Moreover, the FTIR spectroscopic signatures observed at temperatures below the onset of the Lc/Lβ phase transitions are consistent with the coexistence of structures akin to a TMCL-like Lc phase and the L β phase, and with the relative amount of the TMCL-like L c phase increasing progressively as the TMCL content of the mixture increases. These latter observations suggest that the TMCL and DMPE components of these mixtures are poorly miscible at temperatures below the L β/Lα phase transition temperature. Poor miscibility of these two components is also suggested by the complexity of the DSC thermograms observed at the Lβ/Lα phase transitions of these mixtures and with the complex relationship between their Lβ/Lα phase transition temperatures and the composition of the mixture. Overall, our data suggests that TMCL and DMPE may be intrinsically poorly miscible across a broad composition range, notwithstanding the homogeneity of the fatty acid chains of the two components and the modest (~ 10 °C) difference between their Lβ/Lα phase transition temperatures.Fil: Frías, María de los Ángeles. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Benesch, Matthew G. K.. University of Alberta; CanadáFil: Lewis, Ruthven N. A. H.. University of Alberta; CanadáFil: McElhaney, Ronald N.. University of Alberta; Canad