As a way to gain greater insight into the operation of Library and Information Science (LIS) e-learning communities, the presented work applies automated text mining techniques to text-based communication to identify, describe and evaluate underlying social networks within such communities. The main thrust of the study is to find a way to use computers to automatically discover social ties that form between students just from their threaded discussions. Currently, one of the most common but time consuming methods for discovering social ties between people is to ask questions about their perceived social ties via a survey. However, such a survey is difficult to collect due to the high cost associated with data collection and the sensitive nature of the types of questions that must be asked. To overcome these limitations, the paper presents a new, content-based method for automated discovery of social networks from threaded discussions dubbed name networks. When fully developed, name networks can be used as a real time diagnostic tool for educators to evaluate and improve teaching models and to identify students who might need additional help or students who may provide such help to others.

In this paper, we develop a decision-theoretic framework for evaluating data mining systems, which employ classification methods, in terms of their utility in decision-making. The decision-theoretic model provides an economic perspective on the value of â extracted knowledge,â in terms of its payoff to the organization, and suggests a wide range of decision problems that arise from this point of view. The relation between the quality of a data mining system and the amount of investment that the decision maker is willing to make is formalized. We propose two ways by which independent data mining systems can be combined and show that the combined data mining system can be used in the decision-making process of the organization to increase payoff. Examples are provided to illustrate the various concepts, and several ways by which the proposed framework can be extended are discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-04-07Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:32:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 chirinea_g_me_bauru.pdf: 517463 bytes, checksum: df83153ec432854159e0aa3bd3ea803d (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O modelo de mudança conceitual,de reconhecida difusão na área do Ensino de Ciências,foi alvo de diversas críticas e revisões ao longo dos mais de vinte anos desde sua proposição inicial. oder-se-ia afirmar,no entanto,que tanto os proponentes do modelo quanto seus críticos apresentam um enfoque restritivo no tratamento das medidas comportamentais correspondentes à ocorrência ou não de mudança conceitual. Admite-se,como hipótese deste trabalho,que o Behaviorismo Radical propicia ferramentas capazes de uma avaliação da pertinência das críticas dirigidas ao modelo e da própria proposta de avaliação dos resultados obtidos através de sua utilização,tal como apresentada por seus proponentes . Para tanto, o presente trabalho concentrou ênfase na tentativa de,considerando estudos que ilustram a difusão posterior do modelo em trabalhos empíricos,descrever as medidas comportamentais que parecem fundamentar inferências sobre a ocorrência ou não da mudança conceitual,analisando se e como o tratamento de tais medidas foi considerado em alguns dos artigos que expressam uma revisão crítica do modelo Argumenta-se que tais artigos falham em descrever semelhanças e diferenças dos instrumentos e das interações que definem a obtenção das medidas comportamentais de conhecimentos prévios e posteriores à intervenção,bem como as intervenções intencionalmente planejadas e as condições de avaliação que sucedem a tais intervenções. / The conceptual change model, well-known spread in Science Teaching, has been reviewed and criticized, since its initial proposal, for over twenty years. It could be argued, however, that either authors or critics present a restrictive view concerning the behavioral measures related to the absence or occurrence of conceptual change. The hypothesis within this paper is that Radical Behaviorism provides tools that can assess the pertinence of criticisms toward the model as well as the result evaluation proposal obtained from their application, as referred to by their proponents. Thus, the emphasis of this paper, taking into account studies that illustrate the posterior spreading of the model in empirical applications, is the attempt to describe the behavioral measures that seem to support inferences about the occurrence or absence of conceptual change, analyzing whereas and how the treatment of such measures were considered in some articles expressing a critical revision of the model. We understand that such articles have failed to describe similarities and differences concerning the instruments and interactions that define the achievement of behavioral measures from the knowledge (and not about responses) before and after the intervention, as well as intentionally planned interventions and the assessment conditions subsequent to the interventions.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-08-02T15:39:36Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Lorena Nunes da Cruz - 2016.pdf: 2315105 bytes, checksum: cfe4b647d8b5a466bb7a81f9690920d9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-08-02T15:44:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Lorena Nunes da Cruz - 2016.pdf: 2315105 bytes, checksum: cfe4b647d8b5a466bb7a81f9690920d9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T15:44:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Lorena Nunes da Cruz - 2016.pdf: 2315105 bytes, checksum: cfe4b647d8b5a466bb7a81f9690920d9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-30 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / The non-formal spaces in which seeks to teach science content , by present ing a great scient ific potent ial , educat ional , cul tural and mul t iple communicat ion opt ions, can assist in this process, st imulat ing interest in discussions on th e topic discussed. This work was proposed to understand how a universi ty museum space, in this case the courtyard of the Science of the Federal Universi ty of Goiás, can cont ribute to the learning of elementary school students in science content . For i ts re al izat ion was used as target students in 9th grade at a school belonging to the Municipal Network of Educat ion Goiânia. As data col lect ion inst ruments, ini t ial and final reports were used, quest ionnaires, field diary and interviews. Thus, wi th the data ana lysis, we defined three stages, namely: data from ini t ial reports, data from quest ionnaires/ interviews and data of the final repor ts. It was possible to see the emergence of four categories based on the analysis of the ini t ial repor ts, namely: faci l i tat ing content , interdiscipl inary, mot ivat ion and relat ionship school -museum space. In the second phase (quest ionnaires and interviews), i t was observed that f rom the conceptual content , students were able to establ ish a relat ionship between procedural and at t i tudinal content in non- formal space, appear ing two subcategories: art iculat ion teacher /moni tor and care for the environment /Cheers. In the third stage ( final reports), the data only reinforced the categories that emerged f rom the ini t ial reports, quest ionnai res and interviews, but i t was observed that these met bet ter prepared when randomly compared wi th the fi rst report produced by the students. It can be observed that the classes obtained are not in isolat ion but inter related. So when the teacher engages in the act ivi t ies proposed in the planning together wi th the moni tors and staf f responsible for the space, the learning opportuni t ies increase. Thus, i t is intensified interact ion between the Universi ty and the Basic Educat ion wi thout occur dominat ion by ei ther party but a harmony between both, so that an inst i tut ion can complement the other, respect ing their part iculari t ies, assist ing students in thei r process teaching and learning. / Os espaços não formais, nos quais se procura ensinar conteúdos de ciências, por apresentar um grande potencial ci ent í fico, educacional , cul tural e múl t iplas possibi l idades de comunicação, podem auxi l iar neste processo, est imulando o interesse em discussões sobre o tema abordado . O presente trabalho teve como proposta entender de que forma um espaço museológico universi tário, neste caso o Pát io da Ciência da Universidade Federal de Goiás , pode contr ibui r com a aprendizagem de conteúdos de Ciências de alunos do Ensino Fundamental . Para a sua real ização ut i l izou -se como públ ico alvo alunos do 9º ano de uma escola pertencente à Rede Municipal de Educação de Goiânia. Como instrumentos de coleta de dado s, foram ut i l izados relatórios iniciais e finais, quest ionários, di ário de campo e ent revistas. Desta forma, com a anál ise de dados, foram definidos três momentos, sendo eles: dados dos relatórios iniciais, dados dos quest ionários/ent revistas e dados dos relatórios finais. Foi possível perceber a emergência de quat ro categorias a part i r da anál ise dos relatór ios iniciais , sendo elas: faci l i tadora de conteúdos, interdiscipl inaridade, mot ivação e relação escola -espaço museológico. No segundo momento (quest ionários e ent revistas) , observou-se que a part ir dos conteúdos concei tuais, os alunos conseguiram estabelecer uma relação ent re os conteúdos procedimentais e at i tudinais no espaço não formal , surgindo duas subcategorias: art iculação professor/moni tor e cuidados com o meio ambiente/saúde. No tercei ro momento (relatórios finais), os dados obt idos apenas reforçaram as categorias que emergiram dos relatórios iniciais , quest ionários e ent revistas , porém observou-se que estes se encontraram melhor elaborados, quando comparados aleatoriamente com o primei ro relatório produzido pelos alunos. Pode-se observar que as categorias obt idas não se encontram de manei ra isolad a e sim inter - relacionadas. Portanto, quando o professor se envolve nas at ividades propostas, no plane jamento em conjunto com os moni tores e equipe responsável pelo espaço, as possibi l idades de aprendizagem aumentam. Assim, é intensificada a interação ent re a Universidade e a Educação Básica, sem ocorrer a dominação por alguma das partes e sim uma sintonia entre ambas, de forma que uma inst i tuição consiga complementar a out ra, respei tando as suas part icular idades, auxi l iando os alunos no seu processo de ensino e

Alternative educational tools have been investigated, in form of a meta-game structure, a computer-based educational software (Quest Atlantis) which was used in an after-school environment within the frame of Fifth Dimension site in Ronneby. The study is based on field material from five sessions, each of two hours. A first focus in this thesis is on the extent to which such a virtual environment can be used for educational purposes, to which extent it can supplement the traditional educational system. A second focus is on how appropriate the software is to its educational purpose and how it can be improved by means of participatory design. The analysis of the data shows that computer games are a rich setting for human learning, in a more dynamic, active and involving manner than traditional education. In this particular case, we came to the conclusion how the software has to be improved in order to suite children’s computer skills and we came up with an original method for involving users in participatory design. / Alternativa utbildningsverktyg har studerats, i form av en meta-spel struktyr, en databaserad utbildning software (Quest Atlantis), som har varit använt i en efterskola miljö, inom Fifth Dimension ramar, i Ronneby. Studiet baseras på fältmaterialet från fem sessioner, varje session på två timmar. En först fokuspunkt i det här arbetet koncentrerar sig på: till vilken mån en sådan virtuel miljö kan användas för utbildnigssyfte och kan supplimentera det traditionella utbildningssystemet. En andra fokupunkt koncentrerar sig på hur lämpligt mjukvara är för dess utbildningssyften och hur den kan förbättras med hjälp av participatory design. Analysen av data visar att dataspel är rika miljöer för mänsklig lärande, på ett mer dynamiskt, aktivt och involverande sätt än traditionell utbildning. I det här studiet har vi kommit fram till att hur man kan förbättra mjukvaran för att passa barnens datavana och vi har uppfunnit en original metod för att involvera användare i participatory design. / This thesis has been conducted at the Department of Human Work Science, Media Technology and Humanities at Blekinge Institute of Technology in the fields of work science and computer science.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:39:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4825.pdf: 2194802 bytes, checksum: 202005fb4d13872e3b726efdc9099bdf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-18 / The study characterizes the written record of a group of students from the 5th grade of primary classes in Brazil, in investigative science and its contribution to the development of writing. We analyze the interactions occurring during classes as well as students' written production. We examine how this process was linked with acquisition of writing and identify the resources used by students to communicate their observations, hypotheses and conclusions. The methodological design takes as a parameter an ethnographic approach, with systematic monitoring of science classes for a semester in addition to recording audio and video lessons planned with an investigative strategy. Was performed microanalysis of events occurring during the classes and analyzed the texts of students based on content analysis. The results indicate that change in the dynamics used in science classes, favored the use of writing structures that had not been explored by the participant group. In investigative classes analyzed in this study, the students could express their ideas, from what they had experienced with the experiments, with opportunities to use advanced cognitive abilities, being necessary to reorganize thought to express the new knowledge. / O estudo caracteriza o processo de registro escrito de uma turma de alunos do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, em aulas investigativas de ciências e sua contribuição no desenvolvimento da escrita. Analisamos as interações ocorridas durante as aulas bem como a produção escrita dos alunos. Examinamos como esse processo se articulava com aquisição da escrita e identificamos os recursos utilizados pelos alunos para comunicar suas observações, hipóteses e conclusões. O delineamento metodológico tomou como parâmetro a abordagem etnográfica, com acompanhamento sistemático das aulas de ciências por um semestre além da gravação em áudio e vídeo de aulas planejadas com estratégia investigativa. Realizou-se a microanálise de eventos ocorridos durante as aulas e analisaram-se os textos dos alunos com base na análise de conteúdo. Os resultados indicam que, a mudança nas dinâmicas utilizadas nas aulas de ciências, favoreceu o uso de estruturas de escrita que não haviam sido exploradas pelo grupo participante. Nas aulas investigativas analisadas neste estudo, os estudantes puderam expressar suas ideias, a partir do que haviam vivenciado com os experimentos, com oportunidades de utilizar habilidades cognitivas avançadas, sendo necessário reorganizar o pensamento para expressar o novo conhecimento.

Over the last few years, the use of the web and simulation technologies in school education has become widespread. The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of a web-based Virtual Lab (WVL) environment with that of traditional educational experience in relation to conceptual understanding and science process skills in natural science for fourth grade primary school students. Using an instructional design model, the author developed a WVL; the design consisted of 3D animations and interactive experimental activities. The research instruments for the study were also developed; two online pre/post tests on conceptual understanding and science process skills were used to collect data. The sample used in the study consisted of 70 students from two primary language schools in Mansoura city, Dakahlyia Governorate, Egypt. The sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group. The author used an experimental design wherein the experimental group was exposed to the WVL, while the control group studied in a traditional setting and performed related activities. The pre-test results indicated that the entry-level for conceptual understanding in science and science process skills of both groups of students were equal, which guaranteed the reliability of the research. The findings of the post-test highlighted the following points: (a) Students in the experimental group had significantly higher mean scores in conceptual understanding especially in two of cognitive levels. (b) The experimental group performed better in science process skills, especially in five of these skills. (c) There was no significant difference in the performance of boys and girls within the experimental group for science process skills. (d) The estimation of the effect sizes (indication of the level of difference between the post-test scores of the experimental and control group) revealed that, the effect size was large for two skills, medium for three skills, and small for only one skill. In conclusions, the WVL provided considerable support for fourth grade students and helped them to improve their conceptual understanding in science and science process skills. These results go beyond previous research results, which did not focus on very young learners. The use of WVL contributed considerably in elevating learning outcomes; the results provided an empirical evidence of the advantages of web-based learning (WBL) for education policy makers. / In den letzten Jahren hat sich die Verwendung der Web-und Simulations-Technologien in der Schulbildung weit verbreitet. Der Zweck dieser Studie ist es, die Auswirkungen einer web-basierten Virtual Lab (WVL) Umgebung mit der traditionellen Lehr-Erfahrung in Bezug auf das konzeptuelle Verständnis und wissenschaftliche Prozessfähigkeiten in den Naturwissenschaften der vierten Klasse der Grundschulstudenten zu vergleichen. Mit einem didaktischen Design-Modell entwickelt der Autor ein WVL, gestaltet 3D Animationen und interaktive experimentelle Aktivitäten. Die Forschungsinstrumente für die Untersuchungen wurden auch entwickelt, zwei Online-Pre/Post-Tests zum konzeptionellen Verständnis und wissenschaftlichen Prozessfähigkeiten wurden verwendet um Daten zu sammeln. Die Uuntersuchungs besteht aus 70 Studenten aus zwei primären Sprachschulen in Mansoura Stadt, Dakahlyia Governorate, Ägypten. Diese wurden in eine experimentelle Gruppe und eine Kontrollgruppe aufgeteilt. Der Autor verwendet ein experimentelles Untersuchungsdesign, wobei bei der experimentellen Gruppe die WVL eingesetzt wurde, während die Kontrollgruppe in einem traditionellen Rahmen studierte. Die Pre-Test Ergebnisse zeigten, dass des Anfangsstadium des konzeptuelles Verständnisses von Wissenschaft und wissenschaftlichen Prozessfähigkeiten beider Gruppen von Studenten gleich sind. Die Ergebnisse nach dem WVL-Einsatz haben folgende Punkte hervorgehoben: (A) Studierende in der experimentellen Gruppe haben signifikant höhere Mittelwerte im konzeptionellen Verständnis vor allem in zwei der kognitiven Ebenen erreicht. (B) Die experimentelle Gruppe hat in den wissenschaftlichen Prozessfähigkeiten besser abgeschnitten, vor allem in fünf von diesen Fähigkeiten. (C) Es gab keinen signifikanten Unterschiede in den wissenschaftlichen Prozessfähigkeiten von Männern und Frauen innerhalb der experimentellen Gruppe. (D) Die Abschätzung der Wirkung des WVL-Einsatzes durch die Höhe der Differenz zwischen dem Pre- und Post-Test-Noten hat ergeben, dass die Wirkung für drei der Fähigkeiten mittelmäßig ist, für zwei Fähigkeiten sehr groß und nur für eine Fähigkeit klein ist. Die Schlussfolgerung ist, dass die WVL beträchtliche Unterstützung gewährt und hilft den Studenten der Klasse vier, ihr Verständnis für die Begriffe der Wissenschaft und der Prozessfähigkeiten zu entwickeln. Dieses Ergebnis geht weit über die bekannten Veröffentlichungen auf diesem Gebiet hinaus. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie vertiefen das Verständnis über Lernergebnisse des Virtual Lab und sind eine Evidenz für die Vorteile von Web-Basiertem Lernens (WBL) mit Relevanz für politische Entscheidungsträger, auf diesen Ausbildungsgebiet.

Libraries have traditionally facilitated each of the following elements of research: production of new knowledge, its preservation and its organization to make it accessible for use over the generations. In modern times, the library is constantly required to meet the challenges of information explosion. Assimilating resources and restructuring practices to process the large data volumes both in the print and digital form held across the globe, therefore, becomes very important. A recourse by the libraries to application of successive forms of what can be called as Digital Library Technologies (DLT) has been the imperative. The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) is one recent development that is expected to assist the libraries to partner in setting up virtual learning environment and integrating research on a near universal scale. Future extension of this concept is envisaged to be that of Grid Computing. The technologies driving the â Gridâ would let people share computing power, databases, and other on-line tools securely across institutional and geographic boundaries without sacrificing the local autonomy. Ushering an era of the ubiquitous library helping the e-research is thus on the card. This paper reviews the emerging technological changes and charts the future role for the libraries with special reference to India.