Knowledge bases require a considerable investment of time and money to construct. For many applications the dual use of a knowledge base in an expert system and in a teaching system would be cost effective. This research addresses the issue of whether a single knowledge base that can be used effectively in an expert system can form the basis of a functionally effective teaching system. To understand what is meant by a "functionally effective" teaching system a review of computer-aided instruction and intelligent computer-aided instruction systems has been carried out. From this, a list of twelve functional requirements were identified that should be met by the subject knowledge contained in a teaching system, and therefore by a dual-purpose knowledge base. A review of expert systems was also undertaken, and this resulted in the generation of the hypothesis that the deep knowledge approach to the construction of expert systems could be used for the construction of a dual-purpose knowledge base. A test system, DR MECHO, was constructed from the MECHO program, which solves problems in the domain of statics. This new system included: a deep knowledge base; a meta-interpreter, to provide explanations of the reasoning process of DR MECHO; and a set of actions, referred to as teaching actions, which could replace some of DR MECHO's usual problem solving operations with student input. The performance of DR MECHO as an expert system, and its ability to meet the functional teaching requirements, were evaluated. DR MECHO performed well as an expert system. It also met most of the teaching requirements. The main underlying reasons for the latter were: its performance as an expert system, the explicit structuring of the knowledge base, and the observance of the "no function in structure" principle (the latter two being characteristics of deep knowledge systems

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There has been a great deal of research, both locally and abroad, conducted on the learning practices of students at school and at tertiary levels. In an attempt at improving the status of education, some educators have looked towards the use of computer-aided learning tools as a possible panacea for the discrepancy between what is being learnt and what is being taught in traditional educational environments. The Physics Undergraduate Learning Programme (PULP), is a research-based instructional software package that tests the effectiveness of computers in physics education. The program was specifically designed to identify and address the difficulties experienced by first year introductory physics students enrolled at the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg). The research is based on an iterative process of assessment through tests and interviews, and subsequent modifications to the program. The results obtained from these methods of investigation are reported and this dissertation concludes with a discussion on the usefulness and limitations ofcomputers in physics education. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, June 1997. / Thesis advisors, Gail Fann Thomas, Alice Crawford. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84). Also available online.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:49:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

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"CellSong" is a computer aided instructional (CAI) science module designed to help students recall information about cellular physiology. The program is designed to teach middle school learners the music mnemonic "Cell's Organelles" (© 1995 Karl Kimmel) in order to facilitate the recall of the targeted biological information. In addition to music, a computer animation is synched to the five minute music file to provide visual reinforcement for the song's lyrics. Two male teachers, from two different rural southern schools (mTeacher and sTeacher) implemented the "CellSong" module in their classes. Students in mTeacher's class consisted of 12 fifth grade biology students. The other group was initially composed of all of sTeacher's sixth grade science classes (n=38). This group was divided into the regular three classes on its second exposure to the program. The students filled out attitude surveys after five exposures to the program. All the sixth grade students took an aided recall tests immediately after the fifth exposure to the program. Thirteen of the sixth graders took the same test (retest) after seven days. Although the test scores were generally low, students who took the retest tended to be able recall the same items that they had recalled the week before. The fifth grade class took one recall test four days after their last exposure to the program and scored higher than the sixth grade from the other school. These students were more favorable in their responses on the attitudinal survey. Students in the fifth grade class (and female students in the sixth grade classes) tended to enjoy the module and music mnemonic strategy. The sixth grade boys reported not enjoying it. / Ph. D.

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