This exploratory case study aimed to investigate patterns in student reasoning in statistical mechanics, in order to identify difficulties and develop ideas for future research. Upper-division undergraduate students, taking a course in statistical mechanics, were interviewed in groups. Here we present our findings regarding student difficulties in distinguishing microstates and macrostates, as well as distinguishable versus indistinguishable particles. We also present observed patterns of student reasoning about a simple, discrete system in contact with a heat bath. Our findings reveal problematic student intuitions of the high temperature limit. Several students were, however, able to transfer knowledge from a similar problem involving spin to improve their reasoning. / Denna explorativa fallstudie ämnade att undersöka mönster i studenters resonemang i statistisk mekanik, för att identifiera svårigheter och utveckla idéer för framtida forskning. Studenter i sista året på kandidatprogrammet i fysik, som läste en kurs i statistisk mekanik, intervjuades i grupper. Här presenterar vi våra fynd gällande studenters svårigheter med att skilja på mikrotillstånd och makrotillstånd, såväl som urskiljbara och ourskiljbara partiklar. Vi presenterar också observerade mönster i studenters resonemang kring ett simpelt, diskret system i kontakt med en värmereservoar. Våra fynd avslöjar problematiska intuitioner för gränsvärdet vid hög temperatur. Flera studenter kunde dock överföra kunskap från ett liknande problem, som handlade om spin, för att förbättra deras resonemang.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Media Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This study focuses on the use of the internet for students’ academic performance at institutions of higher learning. Various internet applications including search engines, online library resources and social media are evaluated to explore how best they can be used to enhance students’ performance at institutions of higher learning. This is critical to ensure that students maximise the use of technology specifically for academic purposes. Generally, students are constant users of the internet at institutions of higher learning, hence it is cardinal to examine their internet use patterns for academic purposes. Institutions of higher learning have invested in advanced technology through the internet to enhance student academic purposes. Therefore, one would expect students to use various internet applications effectively for the betterment of their studies. In this study, the researcher used both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The researcher also employed exploratory and descriptive designs. These methodologies and designs are appropriate for this study because they allow data to be collected through focus group interviews and questionnaires. Focus group interviews were employed to collect qualitative data and questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. The researcher conducted six focus groups from three institutions of higher learning, namely the University of Limpopo, University of Venda and Tshwane University of Technology, Polokwane campus. Three hundred and forty-three (343) questionnaires were analysed for this study. These data collection tools were pertinent for this study since they assist to determine factors that influence the attitudes, opinions and behavior of the participants. Online library resources play a cardinal role in enhancing the learning process for students by providing online content which could have been difficult to access without the internet. Social media improve and enhance students’ academic performance, but students do not know how best to use it for academic purposes. Proper integration of social media into education is needed. In contrast, students prefer to use social media purely for socialising and entertainment. Despite their ability to assist students in enhancing and improving learning process, social media are, mostly not used for academic purposes. xiv Additionally, students’ use of internet search engines exposes them to an array of information which require critical online information literacy in order to choose the best information. Lastly, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by creating a model which will enhance and assist students to easily access academic information through the use of a mobile application. The study also provides significant information which could be used to amend and draft new ICT policies within institutions of higher learning, taking into consideration the adoption of online learning through the use various technologies including social media. / The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS)

<p>Cognitive load theory (CLT) lays out a tripartite scheme concerned with how learners cognitively interact with instructional materials during learning and problem solving. Cognitive load refers to the utilization of working memory resources, and CLT designates three types of cognitive load as intrinsic cognitive load, extraneous cognitive load, and germane cognitive load. Intrinsic cognitive load is related to the intrinsic complexity of the material. Extraneous cognitive load is concerned with unnecessary utilization of cognitive resources due to suboptimal instructional design. Germane cognitive load results from processing the intrinsic load and schema acquisition. The expertise reversal effect follows as a consequence of CLT.  </p> <p>The expertise reversal effect (ERE) states that instructional materials that are beneficial to low prior knowledge (LPK) learners may be detrimental to high prior knowledge (HPK) learners. Less guided materials have been shown to reduce extraneous cognitive load for these learners and therefore produce a greater benefit.  </p> <p>In this work we present the development of online instructional modules that deliver content in two distinct styles, differentiated by their use of guiding features. the high level guidance version (HLG) uses guiding features, such as animations and voice narration, which have been shown to benefit LPK learners. Alternatively, guiding features have been shown to be destructive to the learning of HPK students. The low level guidance (LLG) version uses text in place of voice narration and pop-up content in place of continuous animations. Both versions led to a statistically significant improvement from pre-test to post-test. However, both HPK and LPK students showed a preference for the HLG version of the module, contrary to the ERE. Future work will focus on improving the ability to indentify HPK and LPK students, and refining methods for providing optimal instructional materials for these cohorts.  </p> <p>Meanwhile, the use of machine learning is an emerging trend in education. Machine learning has been used in roles such as automatic scoring of essays in scientific argumentation tasks and providing feedback to students in real time. In this work we report our results on two projects using machine learning in education. In one project we used machine learning to predict students’ correctness on a physics problem given an essay outlining their approach to solving the problem. Our overall accuracy in predicting problem correctness given a student’s strategy essay was 80%. We were able to detect students whose approach would lead to an incorrect solution at a rate of 87%. However, deploying this model to provide real-time feedback would necessitate performance improvement. Planned future work on this problem includes hand grading essays to produce a label that reflects the scientific merit of each essay, using more sophisticated models (like Google’s B.E.R.T.), and generalizing to a larger set of problems. </p> <p>In another study, we used data about students’ prior academic behavior to predict academic risk in a first-year algebra based physics course. Their final course grade was used to define their risk category as; B- and above is designated low risk, and C+ and below is designated as high-risk. Using a mix of numerical and category features such as high school gpa, ACT/SAT scores, gender, and ethnicity we were able to predict student academic risk with 75% overall accuracy. Students with a very high grade (A) or students with a very low grade (D,F,W) were identified at a rate 92% and 88% (respectively).</p> <p>Prior work has shown that performance can be greatly increased by including in-class features into the model. Future work will focus on obtaining raw data, rather than using curved scores reported to the university registrar. Also, obtaining more batches of data to improve predictive power with existing models developed in this study.<br> </p>

Bibliography: pages 48-50. / Through the analysis of an 18-school research project that was conducted in the Western Cape in 1994, the aim of this report is to emphasize the need for and importance of effectively researching the educational setting in order to obtain quality data. This task will take the form of a general discussion concerning "what information..." should be collected and "how..." it should be "collected, analyzed, and interpreted" from the perspective that it is "critical to remember that decision-makers require information to be provided promptly... in order to make informed policy decisions" (Ross & Postlethwaite, 1992:1-2).

Thesis (M. Arch. A.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1975. / Also issued by Urban Settlement Design in Developing Countries, M.I.T., 1975. / Bibliography: p. 45. / M.Arch.A.S.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Background: Gross anatomy is a foundational medical school course upon which other courses and patient care is grounded; however, variability in student performance suggests potential in studying underlying non-academic factors to explain some of these inconsistencies. Thus, this study examined medical students’ implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) and grit in order to better understand student learning outcomes in gross anatomy. Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted using 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year medical students who successfully completed gross anatomy. Students (n=382) completed the ITI Scale and Short Grit Scale in order to identify individual’s ITI and grit scores. Subsequent interviews (n=25) were conducted to explore how medical students set goals, operated while reaching those goals, and monitored their progress in achieving those goals. Results: Entity and incremental theorists with high grit performed significantly better in gross anatomy when compared to those with low grit. Further, highly gritty incremental and entity theorists were hard workers and showed resilience in the face of challenges. Specifically, those with an entity ITI had the central goal of getting an honors grade, while those with an incremental ITI desired to understand and apply their anatomical knowledge. Conversely, low grit individuals became overwhelmed by challenges, were more likely to show an inconsistent work ethic, and questioned their ability to master the material. An individual’s ITI, more so than grit, drove the presence of negative emotions in a medical student, with entity theorists feeling anxious and vulnerable, and incremental theorists feeling fewer negative emotions. Finally, grit level moderated how a medical student would respond to negative emotions, with highly gritty individuals exhibiting more constructive coping mechanisms. Conclusions: These findings suggest that medical students who possess high grit and an incremental theory of intelligence have the most effective learning strategies, set achievable goals, and enlist effective coping mechanisms while learning gross anatomy. The findings and tools used in this study could be incorporated into the medical school admissions process. Finally, findings reinforce the value of examining the ITI and grit of medical students, as they can provide educators with insight regarding important non-academic factors driving learning in gross anatomy.

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This study has a twofold purpose. The first is to develop a systems approach to education that is based on the seven levels of existence which were identified by Clare W. Graves. The second is to project and forecast the development of the eighth level of existence and to develop an approach to education for this eighth level. In order to establish an understanding of Graves' theory of the levels of psychological existence, an extensive study was made of Graves' papers, both published and private. Based on Graves' theory and the research of others in the field, an approach to education was designed for each of eight levels of existence—reactive, tribalistic, egocentric, absolutistic, achievist, sociocentric, existential, and experientialistic—that complements and utilizes the unique characteristics of each level. The design of each educational approach includes learning system, motivational strategy, evaluation procedure, classroom management, and facility design. The issues of student grouping by level of existence, assessment of the individual levels of existence, and matching of instructor and students by level of existence are also addressed.

<p>The process of scientific inquiry is critical for students to understand how knowledge is developed and validated. Representations of the process of inquiry have varied over time, from simple to complex, but some concepts are persistent – such as the concept of a scientific hypothesis. Current guidelines for undergraduate biology education prioritize developing student competence in generating and evaluating hypotheses but fail to define the concept and role of hypotheses. The nature of science literature points to the hypothetico-deductive method of inquiry originated by Karl Popper as a widely accepted conception of scientific hypotheses. Popper characterized a hypothesis as a falsifiable explanation of observed phenomena deduced from previously established knowledge. Alongside hypotheses, Popper also emphasizes the role of predictions, which are logically derived from hypotheses and characterized as testable expectations regarding the outcomes of an experiment or study. Together, hypotheses and predictions are thought to provide a framework for establishing rigorous conclusions in scientific studies. However, the absence of explicit definitions of hypotheses, or predictions, in guidelines and assessment for biology higher education makes it difficult to determine the current relevance of this perspective on hypotheses and predictions in teaching and learning. This leaves us with an unanswered question – what do biology undergraduate students need to know about scientific hypotheses? We addressed this question over three studies each investigating conceptions of scientific hypotheses, and the related concept of predictions, in a different context – (a) contemporary biology research communications, (b) a case study of biology faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and undergraduate students at a single institution, and (c) a national survey of biology faculty members. We found that the terms “hypothesis” and “prediction” used in varied ways in biology research communication and, most notably, often not connected with each other. We also found variation in conceptions of both hypothesis and prediction among faculty members, both in our case study and in the national survey. Our results indicate that faculty members did not always distinguish between the terms hypothesis and prediction in research or teaching or approach them the same way in research contexts. However, they had largely consistent ideas of the underlying reasoning connecting these concepts to each other and to scientific inquiry. Among graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate students in the case study, we found variation in conceptions of both hypotheses and predictions that was different from conceptions held by faculty members. Both graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate students often did not connect the two concepts in terms of underlying reasoning. Overall, our results indicate that there are some misalignments between students’ and instructors’ conceptions of hypotheses and predictions and their role in inquiry. We further discuss these findings in the context of teaching implications for undergraduate biology.</p>