This Developmental Research study described the development of an interactive online graphing instructional application and the impact of the Analysis Design Development Implementation Evaluation (ADDIE) model on the development process. An optimal learning environment was produced by combining Programmed Instruction and Adaptive Instruction principles with a graphing simulator that implemented guided contingent practice. The development process entailed the creation and validation of three instruments measuring knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which were components of the instruction. The research questions were focused on the influence of the ADDIE model on the development process and the value of the LOGIS instructional application. The model had a significant effect on the development process and the effects were categorized by: Organization, Time, and Perspective. In terms of Organization, the model forced a high level of planning to occur and dictated the task sequence thereby reducing frustration. The model facilitated the definition of terminal states and made it easier to transition from completed tasks to new tasks. The model also forced the simultaneous consideration of global and local views of the development process. The model had a significant effect on Time and Perspective. With respect to Time, using the model resulted in increased development time. Perspectives were influenced because previously held assumptions about instructional design were exposed for critique. Also, the model facilitated post project reflection and problem diagnosis. LOGIS was more valuable in terms of the knowledge assessment than the skills and attitudes assessments. There was a statistically and educationally significant increase from the pretest to posttest on the knowledge assessment, but the overall posttest performance was below average. Overall performance on the skills assessment was also below average. Participants reported positive dispositions toward LOGIS and toward graphing, but no significant difference was found between the pre-instruction survey and the post-instruction survey. The value of LOGIS must be considered within the context that this study was the first iteration in the refinement of the LOGIS instructional application.

Το Moodle είναι ένα ελεύθερο σύστημα διαχείρισης και δημιουργίας δυναμικών, ευέλικτων και ευχάριστων online μαθημάτων. Περιγράφεται ως CMS (Course Management System) ή VLE (Virtual Learning Environment), ενώ η φιλοσοφία του στηρίζεται στη διαπίστωση ότι ο άνθρωπος κατακτά τη γνώση όταν αλληλεπιδρά με το περιβάλλον. Στην παρούσα έρευνα περιγράφεται μία μελέτη περίπτωσης για την οποία μελετώνται η σχεδίαση, η ανάπτυξη, η υλοποίηση και η αξιολόγηση ενός Δικτυακού Περιβάλλοντος Υποστήριξης της Θεματικής Ενότητας (ΘΕ) ΠΛΗ37 του ΕΑΠ, κατά το ακαδημαϊκό έτος 2010-2011. Το Δικτυακό Περιβάλλον της εν λόγω ΘΕ βασίστηκε στην πλατφόρμα Moodle και ο κύριος σκοπός της εργασίας είναι η μελέτη της σχεδίασης και ανάπτυξης καθώς και της εφαρμογής και αξιολόγησης ενός μαθήματος (ΘΕ ΠΛΗ37) σε προπτυχιακό επίπεδο με τη χρήση ενός υπολογιστικού περιβάλλοντος ασύγχρονης εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευσης (εξΑΕ), μέσω των αντιλήψεων, των στάσεων και των πρακτικών χρήσης των φοιτητών. Στα πλαίσια της έρευνας μελετήθηκε, επίσης, η συσχέτιση μεταξύ των πρακτικών χρήσης που ανέπτυξαν οι φοιτητές, και των επιδόσεων τους (τελική βαθμολογία) στην συγκεκριμένη ΘΕ. Για το σκοπό αυτό έγινε χρήση ερωτηματολογίου, πραγματοποιήθηκαν ατομικές συνεντεύξεις αλλά και αξιοποίηση των αρχείων καταγραφής που παρείχε το Moodle. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας έδειξαν ότι υπήρξε άμεση συσχέτιση των πρακτικών χρήσης που ανέπτυξαν οι φοιτητές με τις επιδόσεις τους και ότι οι φοιτητές απέκτησαν θετική στάση αναφορικά με τη χρήση της πλατφόρμας Moodle. / Moodle is a free Course Management System that allows the creation of dynamic, flexible and pleasant online courses. It is described as CMS (Course Management System) or VLE (Virtual Learning Environment), while it’s philosophy is supported in the ascertainment that the person conquers the knowledge when they interact with their environment. In the present research a case study is described, for which the designing, the development, the implementation and the evaluation of a network environment of EAP Thematic Unit PLI37 support is studied, during academic year 2010-2011. The network environment of the Thematic Unit was based on the Moodle platform and the main aim of this work is the study of the course (PLI37) designing and development, as well as its implementation and evaluation. This will be accomplished with the use of an environment of asynchronous remote education via the perceptions, the attitudes and the methods of the use of students. During the research the correlation between the methods of use that was developed by the students, and their records (final grades) in the particular Thematic Unit was studied thoroughly. For this reason, a questionnaire was used, individual interviews were conducted and there was exploitation of log files that were provided by “Moodle”. The results of this research showed not only that there was immediate relation between the (method of use) that the students developed with their records, but also that the students acquired positive attitude towards the use of Moodle.

This research study focused on learning lessons from the experience of designing a comprehensive case-based reasoning (CBR) tool for support of complex thinking skills. Theorists have historically identified, analyzed, and classified different thinking processes and skills. Thinking skills have been increasingly emphasized in national standards, state testing, curricula, teaching and learning resources, and research agendas. Complex thinking is the core of higher-order thinking. Complex thinking is engaged when different types of thinking and action converge to resolve a real-world, ill-structured issue such as solving a problem, designing an artifact, or making a decision. By integrating reasoning, memory, and learning in a model of cognition for learning from concrete problem-solving experience, CBR can be used to engage complex thinking. In similar and different ways, CBR theory and the related theories of constructivism and constructionism promote learning from concrete, ill-structured problem-solving experience. Seven factors or characteristics, and by extension, design requirements, that should be incorporated in a comprehensive CBR tool were extracted from theory. These requirements were consistent with five theory-, research-based facilitators of learning from concrete experience. Subsequent application of the Dick, Carey, and Carey model to these design requirements generated twenty-nine specifications for design of the tool. This research study was carried out using developmental research methodology and a standard development model. The design process included front-end analysis, creating a prototype of the tool, and evaluating the prototype. / Ph. D.

Explored and reported as three distinct but interrelated studies, this dissertation endeavored to develop a technology (i.e., process) to address the challenges faced by higher education faculty charged with updating or otherwise redesigning online courses. Considering the growing prevalence of online learning in higher education, calls on faculty with limited pedagogical training to design effective instruction are increasingly commonplace. Through a developmental research approach, these studies chronicled the Productivity in Online Course Redesign (POCR) model's construction via practical and theoretical means as well as its validation via expert review and field evaluation. The first of three contributing publications recorded the POCR model’s initial conceptualization and internal validation via review by an expert panel. Realized as a case study, the second contributing publication utilized field evaluation procedures to test the POCR model in a real-world setting, thus externally validating the model. The final contributing publication detailed a model refinement effort in which instructional design principles aligned with the Community of Inquiry framework were integrated to provide users with additional pedagogical support. The integration underwent internal validation via Delphi review. Deemed a valid model in both a conceptual and a practical sense, the POCR model shows promise as a tool for faculty who wish to engage with course design more efficiently and systematically.

This study used a design based-research (DBR) methodology to examine how an Instructional Systematic Design (ISD) process such as ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) can be employed to develop a web-based module to teach metacognitive learning strategies to students in higher education. The goal of the study was twofold: (a) to examine the use of a systematic ISD process, ADDIE, to develop a web-based module that would be considered valid and effective, and (b) to use the design-based research (DBR) methodology to create relevant outcomes for practitioners in the field of IT while adding to the body of IT research. As in other DBR studies, a large amount of qualitative data was collected. DBR studies usually call for a variety of data collection instrument. In this study, a total of two interviews and twelve questionnaires were used to gather data. The outcomes of the study suggested that using a systematic approach such as ADDIE to develop a valid and effective interactive web-based module was still viable. Additionally, although the outcomes from this study did not form a basis to propose a new ISD model, it highlighted five key activities that could be added to the ADDIE process to accommodate development of a quality interactive web-based product. The five activities are as follows: (1) to conduct a detailed front-end analysis, (2) to develop a prototype early in the process, (3) to integrate formative and summative evaluations, (4) to assimilate iterations of "design-evaluate-refine" cycles throughout the process, and (5) to accommodate flexibility within the process. Furthermore, using the DBR methodology yielded results that added to the body of IT research and it provided support of the use of this methodology within the instructional technology discipline.

What kind of and how much mathematics should a high school maths teacher know? The experience with a math camp, an innovative form of bringing together high school pupils, university math students and math teacher students as well as university professors in the common aim to teach mathematics sheds new light on this question. Different interests define different positions. The different actors have little common aims since they rarely form a joint community of practice. Over the seven years of its existence the math camp has evolved from a classical lecture-centred activity for gifted pupils to a much more encompassing experience illustrating the importance of a two way communication between advanced mathematics and elementary mathematics in schools.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The purpose of this study was therefore to address the following primary research question: ‘What effect would a specially designed, developed, implemented and evaluated Material Science (MS) course have on serving teachers in terms of their perceptions and knowledge/understanding regarding content in MS and instructional practice in D&T?’

What kind of and how much mathematics should a high school maths teacher know? The experience with a math camp, an innovative form of bringing together high school pupils, university math students and math teacher students as well as university professors in the common aim to teach mathematics sheds new light on this question. Different interests define different positions. The different actors have little common aims since they rarely form a joint community of practice. Over the seven years of its existence the math camp has evolved from a classical lecture-centred activity for gifted pupils to a much more encompassing experience illustrating the importance of a two way communication between advanced mathematics and elementary mathematics in schools.

Cette recherche s’intéresse à la question des représentations que les enfants construisent au sujet de l’alimentation dans une perspective épistémologique constructiviste, ancrée dans les traditions de la communication et de la psychologie sociale. Notre but a été de déterminer si les représentations de l’alimentation chez les enfants pouvaient être comprises en tant que représentations sociales, et si la construction de ces représentations variait selon l’âge et selon l’appartenance socioculturelle des enfants. Pour ce faire, nous avons analysé les discours sur l’alimentation des enfants de 7 à 12 ans issus de trois contextes culturels différents. Ainsi, nous avons comparé les représentations de l’alimentation construites par des enfants nés, élevés et éduqués en Roumanie et au Québec, ainsi que celles des enfants nés (ou élevés depuis un très bas âge) au Québec, mais provenant de familles d’immigrants roumains. La méthodologie de recherche a reflété une intégration instrumentale des perspectives issues de la psychologie sociale et de la communication, en étant dérivée de la logique naturelle et des théories sur les représentations sociales. Nos résultats suggèrent que les enfants construisent des représentations sociales de l'alimentation et que ces représentations progressent en complexité, tant du point de vue cognitif que moral, suivant l'âge, en subissant des processus de constructions similaires. De plus, il existerait des influences liées à l'appartenance socioculturelle sur le contenu et sur la complexité des représentations, dans ce sens que les différences et les ressemblances entre les groups socioculturels renvoient soit à des influences culturelles, soit à des influences en lien avec l'idéologie. En fonction des résultats obtenus, nous avons proposé des stratégies communicationnelles visant à accroître l’efficacité des programmes d’éducation à la nutrition. De point de vue théorique, notre recherche contribue au raffinement de la théorie des représentations sociales et du développement de l'enfant, ainsi qu'au développement d’un nouveau regard méthodologique sur cette problématique. / This research focuses on children’s representations of food and nutrition from a constructivist epistemological perspective based on an interdisciplinary approach integrating communication and social psychology. Our goal was to determine which representations of food and nutrition could be understood as social representations, and if children’s age and cultural background interfered with the development of those representations. The subjects were children aged 7 to 12 from three different cultural backgrounds - we compared representations of food and nutrition built by children born, raised and educated in Romania and Quebec, as well as children from families of Romanian immigrants born (or raised from a very young age) in Quebec. The research methodology integrated social psychology and communication perspectives, instrumentally derived from natural logic and theories on social representations. Results suggest that children build social representations of food and nutrition, and that these representations become progressively more complex, undergoing a similar developmental process, according to children’s age, both from a cognitive and moral viewpoint. Moreover, the research highlights that socio-cultural background influences on the representations content and complexity refer either to cultural or ideological influences with regards to the differences and similarities between socio-cultural groups. Furthermore, we proposed scenarios of communication strategies aiming to increase the effectiveness of nutritional education programs. Finally, the research provides contributions to theories of social representations and child development as well as to the development of new methods for the analysis of representations.

Notre recherche de développement en didactique s’est articulée autour de deux pôles : l’engagement actif des élèves dans les paradigmes constructivistes de l’apprentissage par compétences et l’amélioration technologique d’un environnement de laboratoire utilisant la nouvelle technologie des systèmes MicrolabExAO. Pour ce faire, nous nous sommes intéressés aux possibilités didactiques offertes par ce nouvel environnement MicrolabExAO qui permet aux apprenants de réaliser leurs propres instruments de mesure électroniques avec l’expérimentation assistée par ordinateur (ExAO). En développant une intervention didactique appropriée, nous voulions permettre à l’élève non seulement de construire ses instruments, mais aussi d’en comprendre le fonctionnement. Par la réalisation concrète de quatre instruments de mesure, l’élève s’est approprié progressivement une démarche de résolution de problèmes complexes mobilisant des savoirs et savoir-faire en sciences expérimentales, en mathématique et en technologie. Dans l’activité finale de l’intervention didactique, pour vérifier le niveau d’intégration de cette démarche technoscientifique, nous avons demandé aux apprenants de transférer leurs apprentissages en situation nouvelle en construisant un manomètre de manière autonome. Ce faisant, les apprenants ont déployé leurs savoirs et savoir-faire en sciences expérimentales, en mathématique et en technologie pour construire l’instrument de mesure et en expliciter le fonctionnement, effectuant ainsi un apprentissage interdisciplinaire. Comme ils n’ont obtenu aucune directive de la part de l’enseignant ni aucun protocole de manipulations, nous pouvons dire qu’ils étaient placés dans une situation adidactique qui leur a permis de manifester une expertise de traitement interdisciplinaire. / Our developmental research in didactics has focused on two distinct aspects : The students' active engagement under the constructivist paradigms of competency-based learning and the technological enhancement of laboratory settings using the new MicrolabExAO environment. Towards these ends, we have explored the teaching possibilities offered by MicrolabExAO which allows learners to design their own electronic measuring tools with the computer assisted experimentation. By developing an appropriated teaching intervention, we wanted to enable the student not only to build his/her tools, but also to understand how they work. Through the actual implementation of four measuring tools, the student has progressively developed his/her own approach to resolving complex problems which call upon knowledge and skills in experimental sciences, mathematics and technology. In the final activity of the teaching intervention, with the objective of assessing the level of integration of this technoscientific approach, we have asked the learners to apply their new knowledge within the framework of building a manometer on their own. In doing so, the learners have deployed their knowledge and skills in experimental sciences, mathematics and technology in order to build the measuring tool and to explain its functioning, thereby achieving interdisciplinary learning. Since they have been given neither instructions from the teacher, nor operating protocols, we can say that they have been put in an adidactical situation which allowed them to demonstrate interdisciplinary expertise in their approach.