This study investigated the effects of grade level and gender on elementary school students&rsquo / motivation towards science learning. This study was carried out during 2007-2008 fall semester at 12 public elementary schools in Yenimahalle districts of Ankara. A total of 2231 students (1121 boys, 1093 girls, 17 did not report their gender) participated in the study. In terms of grade level, 1164 were enrolled in 6th grade level and 1055 in 8th grade (12 did not report their grade level). Data were collected through Students&rsquo / Motivation Towards Science Learning Questionnaire (SMTSL). Two-way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted in order to identify the effects of grade level and gender on six dimensions of motivation (i.e. self efficacy, active learning strategies, learning environment stimulation, science learning value, achievement goal and performance goal) towards science learning. Two-way MANOVA results showed that grade level and gender had a significant effect on the collective dependent variables. Follow-up univariate analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between 6th and 8th grade students&rsquo / motivation towards science learning regarding mean scores on each motivational variable. In addition, mean scores on each motivational variable, except leaning environment stimulation, were significantly different for boys and girls, in favors of girls. Result demonstrated that students&rsquo / motivation towards science learning declined as the grade level increased and girls had a higher motivation towards science learning than boys.

Cette thèse traite de stratégies d'évaluation séquentielle et batch-séquentielle de fonctions à valeurs réelles sous un budget d'évaluation limité, à l'aide de modèles à processus Gaussiens. Des stratégies optimales de réduction séquentielle d'incertitude (SUR) sont étudiées pour deux problèmes différents, motivés par des cas d'application en sûreté nucléaire. Tout d'abord, nous traitons le problème d'identification d'un ensemble d'excursion au dessus d'un seuil T d'une fonction f à valeurs réelles. Ensuite, nous étudions le problème d'identification de l'ensemble des configurations "robustes, contrôlées", c'est à dire l'ensemble des inputs contrôlés où la fonction demeure sous T quelle que soit la valeur des différents inputs non-contrôlés. De nouvelles stratégies SUR sont présentés. Nous donnons aussi des procédures efficientes et des formules permettant d'utiliser ces stratégies sur des applications concrètes. L'utilisation de formules rapides pour recalculer rapidement le posterior de la moyenne ou de la fonction de covariance d'un processus Gaussien (les "formules d'update de krigeage") ne fournit pas uniquement une économie computationnelle importante. Elles sont aussi l'un des ingrédient clé pour obtenir des formules fermées permettant l'utilisation en pratique de stratégies d'évaluation coûteuses en temps de calcul. Une contribution en optimisation batch-séquentielle utilisant le Multi-points Expected Improvement est également présentée.

This dissertation arose from a need to derive an inclusive model for describing the historical meanings of progressive education. It considers reform rhetoric published in two widely distributed and accessible journals in Ontario, The School and The Canadian School Journal, between 1919 and 1942. These sources brought together a wide variety of educationists in the province, including teachers, school board representatives, members of the Department of Education, inspectors, and the staff of teacher training institutions, and were forums for the exploration of new and progressive educational ideas. Various conceptions and interpretations of what progressive education would entail were published side by side, in parallel. This dissertation describes the rhetoric of progressive education, which concerned three domains—active learning, individualized instruction, and the linking of schools to contemporary society—and considers the distinctions within this language. Further, this dissertation argues that progressivist ideas were interpreted and represented in different ways according to conceptual orientation and context. Three distinct interpretations of progressive education are described in this thesis. The first progressivist orientation was primarily concerned with child study and developmental psychology; the second concerned social efficiency and industrial order; the third concerned social meliorism and cooperation. Hence, I draw not only on three different domains of progressivist rhetoric, but also on three distinct orientations to reform. What emerges is a description of how different progressivists understood and represented Ontario’s transforming schools, in a context affected by the forces of modernity, world war, and economic depression. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-06-14 19:00:04.184

The mission of the research presented in this thesis is to give computers the power to sense and react to human activities. Without the ability to sense the surroundings and understand what humans are doing, computers will not be able to provide active, timely, appropriate, and considerate services to the humans. To accomplish this mission, the work stands on the shoulders of two giants: Machine learning and ubiquitous computing. Because of the ubiquity of sensor-enabled mobile and wearable devices, there has been an emerging opportunity to sense, learn, and infer human activities from the sensor data by leveraging state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms. While having shown promising results in human activity recognition, most existing approaches using supervised or semi-supervised learning have two fundamental problems. Firstly, most existing approaches require a large set of labeled sensor data for every target class, which requires a costly effort from human annotators. Secondly, an unseen new activity cannot be recognized if no training samples of that activity are available in the dataset. In light of these problems, a new approach in this area is proposed in our research. This thesis presents our novel approach to address the problem of human activity recognition when few or no training samples of the target activities are available. The main hypothesis is that the problem can be solved by the proposed NuActiv activity recognition framework, which consists of modeling the hierarchical and sequential structure of human activities, as well as bringing humans in the loop of model training. By injecting human knowledge about the hierarchical nature of human activities, a semantic attribute representation and a two-layer attribute-based learning approach are designed. To model the sequential structure, a probabilistic graphical model is further proposed to take into account the temporal dependency of activities and attributes. Finally, an active learning algorithm is developed to reinforce the recognition accuracy using minimal user feedback. The hypothesis and approaches presented in this thesis are validated by two case studies and real-world experiments on exercise activities and daily life activities. Experimental results show that the NuActiv framework can effectively recognize unseen new activities even without any training data, with up to 70-80% precision and recall rate. It also outperforms supervised learning with limited labeled data for the new classes. The results significantly advance the state of the art in human activity recognition, and represent a promising step towards bridging the gap between computers and humans.

本研究以台灣北區的社區大學、國立空中大學、大學推廣教育三類學習者為研究對象，旨在探討三者於學術性課程上的「心流經驗」與「主動學習」是否有所差異，若有差異則可能的影響因素又為何？並分析心流經驗與主動學習兩變項間的關係。 本研究的樣本總數為729人，採用立意取樣，研究工具係參考前人改編之心流經驗與主動學習問卷一份，問卷中一併蒐集了關於三類學習者在機構中的學習經驗（包含：學習歷程的頻率、學習歷程的品質等），以期能夠在探討差異的同時，找出影響的可能原因。 資料分析方法採用了結構方程模型（SEM）以作為問卷之驗證性因素分析的方法，在確認了信效度後，以t考驗、單因子變異數分析、單因子多變量分析、共變數分析、積差相關、典型相關等統計方法輔助，以回答上述問題。主要結果發現： 一、「師生討論」、「同儕討論」、「做中學」、「田野調查」與「指導同儕」等學習歷程的頻率與心流經驗、主動學習皆有顯著正相關。 二、「互動品質」、「課程公共化」、「經驗學習」等學習歷程品質與心流和主動學習有顯著相關。 三、不同的「學習動機」會造成心流與主動學習的差異，當中以「取得學位」為動機的學習者之心流與主動學習較其他就讀動機者為弱。 四、三類機構在心流經驗與主動學習的差異依序是：社區大學 > 空中大學 >推廣教育。 五、主動學習中的「內在動機與熱情」是目前研究者發現三機構在心流經驗中差異的因素之一。 六、心流經驗中的「自發自足經驗」是目前研究者發現三機構在主動學習上有差異的因素之一。 七、心流經驗與主動學習兩者具有高度正相關。 / The purpose of this study is to compare community university, national open university and university extension education in northern Taiwan, which each refers to flow experience and active learning. This study is also attempted to investigate the possible factors among these organizations which may cause the differences. Another issue in this study is concerned with the relationship between flow experience and active learning. The data was collected from 729 adult learners by judgmental sampling, and the questionnaire was based upon a revised questionnaire concerning their flow experience, active learning, and learning experience (including the frequency of learning process and quality of learning process) in academic courses. The results of this study are as followings: 1. Flow experience and active learning were positive correlation with the frequency of learning process, which includs “teachers and students discussion ”, “peer-discussion”, “learning by doing”, “field work” and “peer-tutoring”. 2. Flow experience and active learning were positive correlation with the quality of learning process, which includs “quality of interaction”, “curriculum publication”, and “experiential learning”. 3. The different learning motivation affect the flow experience and active learning among learners in these three organizations, especially the learners who chose “learning for the academic degree” were averaged lower than others. 4. Comparing with three organizations about the flow experience and active learning performance: community university is better than national open university and university extension education. Moreover, the national open university is better than university extension education. 5. The“intrinsic motivation and passion” is one of the factors which affect flow experience. 6. The “autotelic experience” is one of the factors which affect active learning. 7. The flow experience is positive correlation with active learning.

本研究的主要目的在探究以想法為中心的教學設計對大學生學習歷程與知識信念的影響。本研究透過知識論壇 (Knowledge Forum，KF) —一個以知識翻新（knowledge-building）教育理念為核心所建立的數位學習平台—來記錄學生的學習歷程。研究設計採個案研究法，以一個班級為研究單位，藉由多元資料的蒐集，以深入瞭解知識翻新教學對大學生在學習歷程上的影響。研究對象為某大學修習「生活科技概論」課程之22位學生。 資料來源包括：(1) 知識論壇上的學習筆記(note)—即學生整學期在知識論壇平台上的貼文與對話記錄；(2) 期末科技成品與影音記錄—即課程中學生所設計科技產品的期末發表; (3) 期末反思—即學生的期末學習心得; (4) 知識信念問卷(Chan & Elliott, 2004)的前後測資料。 本研究依據資料分析結果提出以下三點主要結論: (1)協作式的知識共構活動可以幫助學生跳脫傳統以個人為中心的學習方式，並進而以集體想法交流的形式來共構知識；(2) 從學生在科技產品上的創意表現可知，學生已逐漸能體認到知識是可以被創造的，人人都有能力創造知識；(3) 學生經過一學期的知識建構過程後，在知識信念上也有部分轉變，特別是在「天賦能力」的面向上，傾向學習能力並非天賦且不可改變的觀點。 根據上述結論，本研究在教育實務上提出以下三點建議：(1) 教師應多運用想法中心的教學設計，以培養有自主想法的學生，並藉此激勵學生積極參與學習社群中的知識共構活動；(2) 教師應將知識創造的能力視為學生學習的關鍵能力，以培養學生面對未來職場所需的競爭力；(3) 師資培育機構應注重師資培育生在知識信念上的發展，並協助其養成更具建構取向與學生中心的教學信念。 關鍵詞：想法中心、電腦支援協作學習、知識翻新、知識信念、主動學習 / The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of idea-centered education on college students’ learning progress and change in epistemological beliefs. An online collaborative knowledge-building environment—Knowledge Forum (KF)—was employed in this study to document the process of students’ idea generation and development, as well as their belief change. This study employed a case-study design, using a college class as a unit for investigation, with multiple datasets collected to understand how knowledge building might affect students’ learning process and outcome. Participants were 22 students (16 females and 6 males) who took a course titled “Introduction to Living Technology” in a university, Taiwan. Major data sources include: (1) Students’ online discourse recorded in a KF database; (2) Students’ final presentations about the technology products they designed (the presentations were videotaped); (3) An open-ended survey employed to elicit students’ reflection on what they did and learned from this course; (4) A belief questionnaire, adopted from Chan & Elliott (2004), which was administered in the beginning and at the end of the course. There were three main findings: (1) An idea-centered approach was found helpful for students to move away from individual-based learning to taking more collective responsibility in their knowledge advancement. It was found that with support of KF, students were able to engage in continuous idea exchange and improvement; (2) As evidenced in students’ performance on the design of creative technology products, it was suggested that students have gradually realized that knowledge can be created and that all humans has potential to create knowledge; (3) After doing knowledge-building for a whole semester, the participating students also shifted their’ beliefs to become less inclined to believe in inborn ability as a fixed quality. Building on the findings, this study made the following suggestions: (1) To foster student capacity for more autonomous learning and collaborative knowledge building, teachers should try to encourage students to work with ideas and to engage them in sustained idea improvement; (2) Teachers should regard knowledge creation as a key ability that students need to acquire in order to face the competitive workplace in the future; (3) Teacher education programs should pay attention to the development of students’ epistemological beliefs, and to help student develop a more constructivist-oriented and student-centered teaching beliefs. Keywords: idea-centered, CSCL, knowledge building, epistemological beliefs, active learning

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Information and Communication Sciences, Computing Department, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 503-514. / This study investigated learning design in a web-conferencing environment based on three semesters of lessons conducted as part of an introductory programming subject. As well as characterizing the nature of discourse and interaction, the study focused on how the design of the interface, activity and task type affected collaboration and learning. Engeström's (1987) Activity Theory based upon a socio-constructivist view of learning was used to frame the analysis. --Interface designs incorporated theory relating to graphical user interface design, multimedia learning, and findings from the cognitive sciences. Activity designs were differentiated based on the degree of student ownership, from teacher-centred (transmissive) approaches, to teacher-led (guided interaction) approaches, to student-centred (collaborative group-work) designs. Types of tasks were considered on the basis of their level of knowledge (declarative, procedural and conceptual), their character (authenticity, situatedness) and their domain specific nature (in the field of computer science education). The effects of the different interface, activity and task designs on collaboration and mental model formation were explored. --A mixed method approach to analysis was adopted, incorporating a design-based research study and a multimodal discourse analysis. The design-based research allowed a broader, more interpretivistic and process focused analysis to be conducted, based on the strategic redesigns that occurred between iterations of the subject. The multimodal discourse analysis enabled more detailed, objective and outcomes based measurements of the subject of discourse, the nature of interactions and the types of modalities used to mediate learning. Triangulating data from the design-based research study and the multimodal discourse analysis provided a more complete description of phenomena and promoted greater reliability. --Results include the way in which different modalities afforded different possibilities for representing, and how combinations of those modalities could be effectively integrated by applying multimedia learning principles. Student-centred learning designs increased student involvement, allowing them to take greater ownership over the content and to more fully share their mental models. Authentic, meaningful problem solving tasks promoted greater student engagement. The capacity to dynamically redesign the interface based on the collaborative and cognitive requirements of the learning episode supported more effective implementation of conversational (Laurillard, 2002) approaches to learning. --More effective interaction and collaboration resulted from prescribing patterns of engagement, managing activity and technology so that student discourse could focus on content, and providing guidance regarding semiotic representational forms so that students could concentrate on applying those representations rather than inventing them. Teacher and student virtual classroom competencies critically influenced collaboration and learning. --Based on the findings in this study, a framework of nine pedagogical patterns for teaching and learning in web-conferencing environments is proposed. The framework provides an integrated approach to learning design that relates the interface design with the activity design and the level of knowledge (task type). / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / vii, 514 p. ill. (some col.)

This study considers a Grade 9 Integrated Environmental Research Project which was implemented as a vehicle to induce knowledge-based change in learners. It was noted that change did not occur as hoped, and this study was undertaken to review the Grade 9 Project in order to improve it and to probe the apparent gap between knowledge and action. The study generated evidence on the learning processes within the project. This revealed a number of contradictions and tensions which limit change initiatives within the local environment. Notable here was a contradictory mandate between undertaking a research-based change project and responding to the rubric of assessment which was not linked to the research done. It was found that faced with this dual mandate, learners chose to focus on the assessment-laden mandate as this was the ultimate agenda that would reap the reward within the traditional school environment. The study examines the gap between knowledge and practice to probe ways in which to close this gap in the context of an environmental research assignment. The outcome is a recommendation that we as the project designers review the evidence of tensions and contradictions revealed in the study to reflect on the underlying purpose of the project and reshape it in light of recent literature on the challenges of social learning and change.

The goal of the study was twofold: firstly to investigate and describe how senior secondary school geography teachers were implementing enquiry-based learning through fieldwork. Secondly, to investigate and document how enquiry-based learning through fieldwork facilitated the development of action competence amongst learners in a geography classroom. In order to address the first goal, a survey questionnaire was utilised to generate descriptive data from a sample of seven geography teachers in the Hardap region of Namibia. Although teachers engaged learners with enquiry-based fieldwork learning activities it is suggested, based on the findings of data of this goal, that teachers face severe limitations in terms of integrating environmental learning into the geography curriculum. The main limitations of the teachers include: limited practical knowledge of and training in how to teach fieldwork skills; a lack of teaching resource materials; time constraints; heavy personal loads; and lack of school support for environmental education. In addressing the second goal an enquiry-based fieldwork learning unit was planned and implemented in the researcher’s classroom. Observation, focus group interviews, and audio records of learning interactions, were used as data generation methods for this cycle of the study. An indicator framework for identifying action competence in learners was constructed as a data analysis tool. In terms of the findings of goal two it is evident that enquiry-based learning through fieldwork facilitated the development of action competence amongst learners. Six overarching benefits of this type of learning were identified in this study, namely: - It empowered learners to develop contextual knowledge and understanding of issues that they investigated. - It facilitated commitment thus motivated learners to take indirect action. - It promoted social interaction and group cohesion amongst learners thus enhanced their decision-making ability for problem-solving and action taking. - It elicited emotional responses and a greater understanding of learners’ own and others’ attitudes and values towards issues. - It fostered critical thinking thus permitted learners to envisage a future based on their learning experiences. - It enabled learners to plan and take indirect action during the learning process. Based on the research findings, some lessons learned are presented in an attempt to contribute to the effective implementation of enquiry-based fieldwork at the classroom level.

Museums and schools evolved as the definition of the concept of education to describe a lifelong process of developing knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that take place not only in the classroom, but also in a variety of formal and informal contexts and settings. In order to fulfil and extend the potential of the partnership, museum educators and school teachers should be assisted to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the museum-school collaboration. They should learn the difference between museums and classrooms. When the Botswana National Museum was established in 1968, the Botswana government aspired to avail information relating to Botswana customs, indigenous knowledge system and values to Botswana‘s future citizens, with the hope that the information and artefacts collected at the time would retell the story of Botswana to learners and the public alike. The Botswana National Museum, through its educational programmes, has the capability to help educate learners; make teaching and learning an exciting undertaking; and provide the opportunities for hands-on activities and interaction with real objects. In order to address the research question posed for this study, the researcher conducted open-ended interviews with a sample comprising 40 participants: 10 teachers, 10 learners, 10 museum employees and 10 curriculum developers. The data collected from the interviews were decoded and presented in narrative form. The responses were presented using three identified categories: the curriculum development process in Botswana; the typical learner activities in the classroom and in the Botswana National Museum; and collaboration between the Botswana National Museum and schools. The data analysis revealed that the curriculum development process in Botswana was exclusively done by curriculum developers. Learners, teachers and museum employees were not involved. The Botswana National Museum‘s education programmes are not familiar to all role-players. All role-players were positive regarding a possible collaboration with the Botswana National Museum. Generic and specific recommendations were put forward to this end. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)