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This study compared middle school (i.e., fifth, sixth and seventh grade) students’ mental models of the day/night cycle before and after implementation of three inquiry-based treatments. The three treatments were classified as 1) structured inquiry, 2) guided inquiry, and 3) student-directed inquiry. All three treatments used Starry Night Middle School interactive simulation software to investigate the phenomenon of the day/night cycle. Additionally, all three treatments were based on two researcher-developed lessons using Starry Night Middle School. The participants were 145 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade students who were purposively selected from a public school in a U.S. state. For the purpose of this study, the students remained in their classrooms. There were three classrooms per grade level. Those classrooms were randomly assigned to one of the three treatments. Students’ scores on a pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest were analyzed. Students from a purposive sample were interviewed after the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest to clarify student mental models of the day/night cycle. The students were chosen based upon their score on the multiple-choice test. Seven of the selected students were in the Structured Inquiry group. Eleven of the selected students were in the Guided Inquiry group. Five of the selected students were in the Student-directed Inquiry group. First, the comparative effects of Structured Inquiry, Guided Inquiry, and Student-directed Inquiry on middle school students’ mental models of the day/night cycle immediately and three months following the intervention revealed no statistical difference among the three treatments. Time, however, appeared to have a significant negative effect on students’ mental models of the day/night cycle. Second, inquiry groups did not differ significantly in their mental models. Third, there was no interaction between starting mental model and the type of inquiry. The major findings demonstrate that all three treatments promote learning, but that no one treatment is more effective than another.

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The business environment of today is characterised by great risks for organisations as well as for individuals. New principles and ways of working that differ significantly from what was done even as little as a decade ago are required. To keep to traditional stances in the corporate environment may mean that existing competitive advantages may not be enough anymore to ensure success. This also applies to the financial services sector where there is currently a clear shift from a product focus to a client focus. In the light of changes taking place in the financial services sector, it is also necessary to think differently about the mediators (brokers) delivering related services since the delivery channels have also changed due to technological development. Competitive advantages lie in a client and market focus rather than a product focus, and a process focus rather than a functional focus. The client’s voice must be heard and it is possible that a successful person in this focus is different from a successful person in the old focus. For the sake of quality in service delivery and alignment in the same direction, it is necessary for management to have a shared mental model when looking at staff decisions concerning brokers. They must also be aware of their own thoughts about staff within the changing focus and they must realise the impact this can have on their decisions. The main objective of this study is to determine whether the managers under investigation have a shared mental model in terms of success criteria for brokers. In order to do this, it is necessary to first investigate the concepts mental model and shared mental model and the impact they may have in an organisational environment. The Repertory Grid technique was used for data collection. As a result of the wide variety of Repertory Grid techniques, together with the various ways of application, it is essential to be familiar with the techniques and modes of application in order to choose the most suitable technique and application method for a specific study. Kelly’s Personal Construct theory contains the assumptions underlying this technique and it is important for a researcher to be aware of these regardless of whether this is the theory s/he will be using since the underlying assumptions will definitely have an influence on the interpretation of the results. The data was presented as a qualitative description of each manager’s mental model in terms of the successful broker as well as a short description of the person’s construction system regarding success in their business environment. Conclusions were made from a synthesis of the results regarding the extent to which there could be referred to a shared mental model and its possible impact on decisions and efficiency in the work and business environment. The results confirmed that the objectives of this research project were met. It emerged that this management team does not effectively share a mental model and that this may impact negatively on their business decisions. Recommendations were made regarding the change or establishment of a client-focused mental model. Suggestions for future research regarding broker efficiency were also made. / Thesis (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Psychology / unrestricted

Multicultural teams are capable of producing creative and high quality solutions, but are also prone to conflict (Stahl, Maznevski, Voigt, & Johnson, 2010). Thus, it is important to understand the conditions which encourage the development of strong identity in multicultural teams. Third culture, a team’s shared schema of task knowledge, team knowledge, and team motivational values (Adair, Tinsley, & Taylor, 2006), is a construct which may help fill this gap in knowledge. Two field studies were conducted (1) to examine whether participant expectations of productivity, satisfaction, and psychological safety differed among four types of third culture, and (2) to examine how individual differences in cognitive-motivation, ideology, national culture, and multicultural team experience are related to expectations of productivity, satisfaction, and psychological safety among four types of third culture. In general, results suggest that people expect more creativity and satisfaction in teams with Fusion and Mosaic third cultures, as well as less psychological safety. Future research directions are discussed.

Multicultural teams are capable of producing creative and high quality solutions, but are also prone to conflict (Stahl, Maznevski, Voigt, & Johnson, 2010). Thus, it is important to understand the conditions which encourage the development of strong identity in multicultural teams. Third culture, a team’s shared schema of task knowledge, team knowledge, and team motivational values (Adair, Tinsley, & Taylor, 2006), is a construct which may help fill this gap in knowledge. Two field studies were conducted (1) to examine whether participant expectations of productivity, satisfaction, and psychological safety differed among four types of third culture, and (2) to examine how individual differences in cognitive-motivation, ideology, national culture, and multicultural team experience are related to expectations of productivity, satisfaction, and psychological safety among four types of third culture. In general, results suggest that people expect more creativity and satisfaction in teams with Fusion and Mosaic third cultures, as well as less psychological safety. Future research directions are discussed.

The research reported in this thesis comprised a cross-age inquiry of learners' mental models for chemical bonding. Learners were chosen purposefully from three academic levels-senior secondary school (Year-13, age range 17-18 years old), undergraduate (age range 19-21 years), and postgraduate (comprising MSc and PhD; age range 22- 27 years). The principal research goal was to establish learners' preferred mental models for the concept of chemical bonding. Other research goals were to establish if and how learners made use of analogy to understand chemical bonding and to establish the prevalence of learners' alternative conceptions for chemical bonding. The research inquiry was conducted from within a constructivist paradigm; specifically the researcher ascribed to a social and contextual constructivist belief system.Based on a review of the science education literature a decision was made to classify mental models into four classes according to the typology of Norman (1983), namely, the target system, a conceptual model, the users' or learners' mental model and the scientists' conceptualisation. A conceptual theme for the inquiry was developed based on this typology resulting in the identification of target systems-metallic, ionic and covalent bonding. Subsequently, target models for each of the three target systems were identified, namely, the sea of electrons model and the band theory for metallic bonding; the electrostatic model, and the theoretical electrostatic model for ionic bonding; and the octet rule, the valence bond approach, the molecular orbital theory and the ligand field theory for covalent bonding. A conceptual model, consisting of a summary of the salient points of the target models, was developed by the researcher. Once validated by four of the instructors involved in the inquiry, this formed the scientists' conceptualisation for the target ++ / models.Learners' mental models were elicited by the use of a three phase semi-structured interview protocol for each of the three target systems based on the translation interface developed by Johnson and Gott (1996). The protocol consisted of showing participants samples of common substances and asking them to describe the bonding in these materials. In addition, participants were shown Interviews About Events (IAE), focus cards which depicted events involving chemical bonding or contained depicted models of bonding for the three target systems. Transcriptions of audio-tapes combined with diagrams produced by the participants formed the data corpus for the inquiry. Learners' mental models were compiled into inventories for each of the target systems. Examination of inventories enabled identification of commonality of views which were validated by four instructors-two instructors from the teaching institutions involved in the inquiry, and two instructors independent of the inquiry.The research reported in this thesis revealed that learners across all three academic levels preferred simple or realist mental models for chemical bonding, such as the sea of electrons model and the octet rule. Learners frequently used concepts from other more sophisticated models to aid their explanations when their preferred mental models were found to be inadequate. Senior level learners were more critical of mental models, particularly depicted models provided on IAE focus cards. Furthermore, senior level learners were able to describe their mental models in greater detail than their younger counterparts. However, the inquiry found considerable commonality across all three levels of learner, suggesting mental models are relatively stable.Learners' use of analogy was classified according to Dagher's (1995a) typology, namely, simple, narrative, peripheral and compound. Learners' use of ++ / analogy for the understanding of chemical bonding was found to be idiosyncratic. When they struggled to explain aspects of their mental models for chemical bonding, learners made extensive use of simple analogy, that typically involved the mapping of a single attribute between the target and source domains. There did not appear to be any correlation between academic ability or academic level and use of analogy. However, learners made greater use of compound analogy for the target systems of metallic and ionic bonding, mostly as a result of the use of analogical models during instruction.This inquiry revealed prevalent alternative conceptions for chemical bonding across all three academic levels of learner. This is a somewhat surprising result considering that the mental models preferred by learners were typically simple, realist models they had encountered during instruction. Learners' alternative conceptions often concerned simple conceptions such as ionic size, the presence of charged species in non- polar molecular compounds, and misunderstandings about the strength of bonding in metals and ionic substances. The inquiry also revealed widespread confusion about intermolecular and intramolecular bonding, and the nature of lattices structures for ionic and metallic substances.The inquiry resulted in a number of recommendations. It is proposed that it may be more beneficial to teach less content at the introductory level, that is, delivering a curriculum that is more appropriate for non-specialist chemistry majors. Hence, one recommendation is for instructors to examine the intended curriculum carefully and be more critical regarding the value of inclusion of some course content. A second recommendation is that sophisticated models of chemical bonding are better taught only at advanced stages of the degree program, and that teaching from a contructivist view of ++ / learning may be beneficial. The third recommendation relates to the fact that learners spontaneously generated analogies to aid their explanations and conceptual understanding, consequently, learners may benefit from greater use of analogy during instruction.

Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, School of Electrical & Infomation Engineering, MSC Dissertation / The South African electrical utility,ESKOM, is one of the largest in the world with 40 GW capacity, worth R 965 billion, and an annual income of R 33 billion. The people responsible for the voltage control of the ESKOM transmission grid are highly skilled voltage controllers. An investigation was conducted to identify what constitutes their expertise. This is a ultidisciplinary research project that incorporates the fields of Power System Engineering, Industrial and Cognitive Psychology and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Observations of the voltage controllers at work were carried out followed by in-depth interviews in order to identify, their Mental Control Strategies, Power System Visualization techniques, and Mental Models. Expert and novice voltage controllers were included in the research as well as one in-house Man Machine Interface (MMI) developer. Some of the main findings are: ·The sophisticated mental strategies that allow controllers to simplify the overabundance of data presented to them. ·The subconsciously created vivid mental imagery that they use to make fast intuitive decisions. Having obtained the above information, MMI design and human controller training can be optimised.

This study will provide an overview of mental models in teams and the significance of this particular concept for design teams. Researchers have applied the concept of mental models to understand how people perform tasks on the basis of their knowledge, assumptions, predictions and expectation. An overview is also provided on the relation between performance and mental models and their effect on stakeholders. The implications for design field are discussed. Through the study of two organizations in the same industry, the teams are studied in detail for each of these companies and hence leading to the study of mental models of stakeholders. Through the use of interviews, a detailed analysis is done on the team mental models. The mental models of stack holders and their influence on different aspects of company and team performance are discussed in detail. The methodology for the study of mental models is also proposed in the study. The findings are based on the data collected through interviews in both the organizations. The empirical study is designed in such a way that it investigates further the validity of theoretical concepts. Warid is a major telecommunication brand in Pakistan that provides services in all the regions of the country. Ufone is also a well-known telecommunication brand, known for its innovative and creative TVCs (TV commercial). Interviews with the marketing and sales officials of both these organizations provided an insight into the teams behind their advertising/marketing campaigns and the affect of stakeholders’ mental models on the performance and sales of the companies. The comparative analysis between the theoretical and empirical studies suggests that the quality of mental models is affected by diversity in the team, education and experience of the team members. This may be brought in for future research to further verify the effectiveness of mental models for design teams and eventually the whole organization. Finally the implications of our findings are discussed. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik