Objective: To determine if the frequency of self-testing of course material prior to actual examination improves examination scores, regardless of the actual scores on the self-testing. Methods: Practice quizzes were randomly generated from a total of 1342 multiple-choice questions in pathophysiology and made available online for student self-testing. Intercorrelations, 2-way repeated measures ANOVA with post hoc tests, and 2-group comparisons following rank ordering, were conducted. Results: During each of 4 testing blocks, more than 85% of students took advantage of the self-testing process for a total of 7042 attempts. A consistent significant correlation (p≤0.05) existed between the number of practice quiz attempts and the subsequent examination scores. No difference in the number of quiz attempts was demonstrated compared to the first testing block. Exam scores for the first and second testing blocks were both higher than those for third and fourth blocks. Conclusion: Although self-testing strategies increase retrieval and retention, they are uncommon in pharmacy education. The results suggested that the number of self-testing attempts alone improved subsequent examination scores, regardless of the score for self-tests.

Objective. To determine if a flipped classroom improved student examination performance in a pharmacotherapy oncology module. Design. Third-year pharmacy students in 2012 experienced the oncology module as interactive lectures with optional case studies as supplemental homework. In 2013, students experienced the same content in a primarily flipped classroom. Students were instructed to watch vodcasts (video podcasts) before in-class case studies but were not held accountable (ie, quizzed) for preclass preparation. Examination questions were identical in both cohorts. Performance on examination questions was compared between the two cohorts using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), with prior academic performance variables (grade point average [GPA]) as covariates. Assessment. The students who experienced the flipped classroom approach performed poorer on examination questions than the cohort who experienced interactive lecture, with previous GPA used as a covariate. Conclusion. A flipped classroom does not necessarily improve student performance. Further research is needed to determine optimal classroom flipping techniques.

This research encompasses many aspects of chemical education research including curriculum and pedagogical changes to the freshman and sophomore courses. Curriculum changes included the addition of recitations to the general chemistry and organic chemistry lectures and the creation of four new classes, CHEM 1001, 1002, 3091, and 3092. The addition of recitations was not limited to but was focused on improving DFW rates for these courses. CHEM 3091 and 3092 are chemistry internship and undergraduate teaching assistant classes. These courses were necessary to offer outside internship opportunities and training for undergraduate teaching assistants, respectively. CHEM 1001 and 1002 are chemistry classes for nonscience majors. These courses were created to attempt to increase the number of nonscience major students choosing chemistry to complete their science requirement. CHEM 1001 and 1002 were courses not offered at any other university and required that the course materials and textbooks for these classes to be created from scratch without any foundation from other courses. An unforeseen consequence of the creation of these courses was the need to improve scientific communication between scientists and non-scientists and even scientist and scientist. Pedagogical work included a video intensive lecture style (VILS) for disseminating the material in the newly created CHEM 1001 and 1002 courses. For general chemistry and organic chemistry lecture, the major change was the addition of required recitation sessions for these courses. Further pedagogical changes to the organic lecture included introduction of video lectures, implementation of active learning in the lecture and graded, online homework.

<p>This thesis examines learner-centered animal science education and its relationships with emotion, motivation and performance. Part I focuses on active learning strategies implemented in an introductory animal sciences course. This large-enrollment course had traditionally been taught through traditional, passive learning methods. Instructors added learning activities such as case studies and hands-on laboratory stations to supplement lecture-based instruction. Chapter Two summarizes the impacts of different active learning techniques implemented in the course and characterizes students enrolled in the course based on their interests, past experiences, and demographic information. Building on these findings, Chapter Three describes an experiment quantitatively comparing the effects of three learning strategies (lecture, case study, and laboratory station) on students’ experience of interest and motivation. In both studies, students rated themselves highly interested in animal sciences throughout the semester. More collaborative, problem-based instructional methods (i.e. laboratory stations and case studies) were favored by students and resulted in higher student interest and internalized motivation. Results presented in Part I may inform the creation of instructional techniques to support student motivation, retention, and performance. Part II describes an online learning program contextualizing STEM learning within poultry science and implemented in high school classrooms during the fall 2018 semester. The program was designed to increase students’ knowledge and interest in both poultry and STEM fields to support the development of poultry- and STEM-literacy and meet workforce needs. Chapter Four describes program effects on students’ knowledge, awareness, and interest in the poultry industry. In contrast, Chapter Five focuses on the program’s effects on students’ STEM learning and STEM motivation. In addition, Chapter Five provides background on teacher and contextual factors influencing the program’s implementation. Results from these studies indicate that the program effectively increased students’ STEM and poultry knowledge, and increased motivation for some students. However, other qualitative and quantitative data indicated that some students experienced difficulties relating content to their lives. In addition, the program’s effects on students differed substantially based on teachers and classroom implementation. Both students and teachers also mentioned a need for more hands-on, collaborative elements in the program. Although results from Part II show promise that contextualizing STEM learning within agriculture may effectively increase knowledge and motivation, more research is needed to understand how to select and personalize contexts to maximize their relevance to students, and how to support teachers in effectively implementing these approaches. In conclusion, learner-centered instructional strategies such as problem-based and hands-on learning can be designed to enhance students’ interest, motivation, and performance. However, more research is needed to understand the complex personal and contextual factors moderating the effectiveness of these approaches when implemented in authentic classroom settings. Future studies clarifying these effects can advance the development of theory-based educational resources.</p>

Utilizing a continuous silhouette image of marine plankton produced by a device called SIPPER, developed by the Marine Sciences Department, individual plankton images were extracted, features were derived, and classification was performed. There were plankton recognition experiments performed in Support Vector Machine parameter tuning, Fourier descriptors, and feature selection. Several groups of features were implemented, moments, gramulometric, Fourier transform for texture, intensity histograms, Fourier descriptors for contour, convex hull, and Eigen ratio. The Fourier descriptors were implemented in three different flavors sampling, averaging and hybrid (mix of sampling and averaging). The feature selection experiments utilized a modified WRAPPER approach of which several flavors were explored including Best Case Next, Forward and Backward, and Beam Search. Feature selection significantly reduced the number of features required for processing, while at the same time maintaining the same level of classification accuracy. This resulted in reduced processing time for training and classification.

This study investigates how an active language learner is constructed in the context of teacher education for teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in Vietnam, as well as the supportive factors and challenges in developing learner activeness in language learning.

Twenty years after the first pilot projects began to develop Student Active Learning (SAL) in Indonesia, and four years since it was adopted for use in the last provinces, this research investigates the implementation of Student Active Learning in Indonesian primary mathematics classrooms. A study of the relevant literature indicates that teaching based on constructivist principles is unlikely to be implemented well in mathematics classrooms unless there are high quality teachers, readily available manipulative materials, and a supportive learning environment. As Indonesian schools often lack one or more of these aspects, it seemed likely that Student Active Learning principles might not be ‘fully’ implemented in Indonesian primary mathematics classrooms. Thus a smaller scale, parallel study was carried out in Australian schools where there is no policy of Student Active Learning, but where its underlying principles are compatible with the stated views about learning and teaching mathematics. The study employed a qualitative interpretive methodology. Sixteen primary teachers from four urban and four rural Indonesian schools and four teachers from two Victorian schools were observed for four mathematics lessons each. The twenty teachers, as well as fourteen Indonesian headteachers and other education professionals, were interviewed in order to establish links between the background and beliefs of participants, and their implementation of Student Active Learning. Information on perceived constraints on the implementation of SAL was also sought. The results of this study suggest that Student Active learning has been implemented at four levels in Indonesian primary mathematics classrooms, ranging from essentially no implementation to a relatively high level of implementation, with an even higher level of implementation in three of the four Australian classrooms observed. Indonesian teachers, headteachers and supervisors hold a range of views of SAL and also of mathematics learning and teaching. These views largely depended on their in-service training in SAL and, more particularly, on their participation in the PEQIP project Typically, participants’ expressed views of SAL were at the same or higher level as their views of mathematics learning and teaching, with a similar pattern being observed in the relationship between these latter views and their implementation of SAL principles. Three factors were identified as influencing teacher change in terms of implementation of SAL: policy, curricular and organisational, and attitudes. Recommendations arising from this study include the adoption of reflection as an underlying principle in the theory of SAL, the continuation and extension of PEQIP type projects, changes in government policy on curriculum coverage and pre-service teacher training, and more support for teachers at the school and local authority levels.

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it aimed to present an argument for the inclusion of primary-age children's views in the decision-making process in primary schools. Second, it aimed to explore the potential of primary-age children to contribute to better decisions about their own schooling. The hypothesis is that primary-age children have worthwhile views of schooling that should be introduced into both classroom and school decision-making processes. Authoritarianism, moral development, childrenqs rights and active learning were explored in relation to child participation in decision-making. This study attempted to explore children's views of schooling from the viewpoints of the children themselves. Children kept diaries of school for one week and from these diaries an interview schedule was constructed to allow the exploration of their views. The study shows that primary-age children have views that can contribute legitimately and valuably to decision-making at both the classroom and school levels.

Some disciplines are inherently complex and challenging to learn. This research attempts to design an instructional strategy for CBL systems to simplify learning certain complex domains. Firstly, problem transformation, a constructionist instructional technique, is used to promote active learning by encouraging students to construct more complex artefacts based on less complex ones. Scaffolding is used at the initial learning stages to alleviate the difficulty associated with complex transformation processes. The proposed instructional strategy brings various techniques together to enhance the learning experience. A functional prototype is implemented with Object-Z as the exemplar subject. Both objective and subjective evaluations using the prototype indicate that the proposed CBL system has a statistically significant impact on learning a complex domain. CBL systems include Learner models to provide adaptable support tailored to individual learners. Bayesian theory is used in general to manage uncertainty in Learner models. In this research, a fuzzy logic based locally intelligent Learner model is utilized. The fuzzy model is simple to design and implement, and easy to understand and explain, as well as efficient. Bayesian theory is used to complement the fuzzy model. Evaluation shows that the accuracy of the proposed Learner model is statistically significant. Further, opening Learner model reduces uncertainty, and the fuzzy rules are simple and resemble human reasoning processes. Therefore, it is argued that opening a fuzzy Learner model is both easy and effective. Scaffolding requires formative assessments. In this research, a confidence based multiple test marking scheme is proposed as traditional schemes are not suitable for measuring partial knowledge. Subjective evaluation confirms that the proposed schema is effective. Finally, a step-by-step methodology to transform simple UML class diagrams to Object-Z schemas is designed in order to implement problem transformation. This methodology could be extended to implement a semi-automated translation system for UML to Object Models.

<p><p>I dagens grundskola ställs en mängd olika krav på elever och på de kunskaper som bör besittas. Det beror på att skolan har till uppgift att förbereda eleverna inför det föränderliga samhälle vi lever i. För att kunna göra detta krävs att de är aktiva och delaktiga i den undervisning som rör dem och för att öka denna delaktighet finns en mängd olika arbetsmodeller som alla handlar om att förbättra elevers aktivitet. Bland dessa finns en modell som kallas problembaserat lärande och förkortas PBL.</p><p>Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att undersöka om, och i så fall hur ett problembaserat lärande kan användas i grundskolans tidigare år som en elevaktiv undervisningsmodell. Anledningen till att detta ämne och syfte valts är för att merparten av den forskning som finns som rör PBL fokuserar på högre studier medan de lägre undervisningsnivåerna har undersökts relativt lite. I ett försök att minska kunskapsglappet har denna undersökning syftat till att påvisa hur lärare arbetar och tidigare har arbetat med problembaserat lärande i grundskolans tidigare år.</p><p>Denna undersökning har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativt inriktade interjuver vilka resulterade i slutsatserna att det är möjligt att arbeta med PBL som en elevaktiv undervisningsmodell i grundskolan och dess tidigare år samt att eleverna tycks bli mer aktiva och delaktiga. Det är grundat på resultatet av undersökningen där några av personerna som deltog ansåg sig arbeta eller tidigare ha arbetat med problembaserat lärande och gjort detta på ett tillfredsställande sätt. Dessutom tycktes eleverna, enligt undersökningspersonerna, bli mer aktiva och delaktiga än i traditionell undervisning.</p><p> </p></p>