Learners who are novice problem solvers often encounter difficulty when solving complex problems. One explanation for this difficulty is that the cognitive requirements of problem-solving are sufficiently high that learners easily become overwhelmed and frustrated, leading to a state known as cognitive overload in which learning is obstructed. Cognitive Load Theory is concerned with the design of instructional approaches intended to manage the cognitive load required for thinking and problem-solving tasks. Scaffolds are any kind of support that facilitates the accomplishment of a difficult task that a learner would not be able to accomplish on their own. They are potential mechanisms to support students in negotiating the potentially high cognitive load required by complex problem-solving. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of technology-based scaffolds within a problem-based learning environment known as Alien Rescue. The study investigated the impact of scaffolds on cognitive load, problem-solving behaviors, science knowledge, and student perceptions of the learning environment. Participants for this study included sixth grade students from a suburban middle school in the southwestern United States. Student classes were assigned to one of three treatment conditions: (a) a problem constraint condition in which students were guided through a problem-solving process similar to that of an expert, (b) a prompt condition in which students were provided with guiding messages during problem-solving, and (c) a control condition with no scaffolding. All conditions participated in the use of Alien Rescue for three weeks. Measures including a self-report measure of mental effort, calculated instructional efficiency scores, problem solution scores, student activity logs, and science knowledge test performance were used to evaluate students' cognitive load, problem-solving performance, problem-solving strategies, and learning gains. An open-ended questionnaire and student interviews were used to gather data on students' perceptions of the program. Results of the study indicate statistically significant differences between treatment conditions with respect to problem-solving efficiency, student problem-solving behaviors, and scientific knowledge gain. Additionally, qualitative findings highlight problematic aspects of the highly structured condition as implemented within the classroom context while also identifying components of the learning environment that were perceived as helpful and useful to participants. Teacher interviews also provided insight into classroom implementation of the program and opportunities to further enhance scaffolds to support student learning. Implications of the study from research, instructional design, and technology perspectives are discussed along with a treatment of study limitations and opportunities for further research in this area. / text

Ill-structured problems, problems that do not have simple structures and one finite correct solution, are the most common form of problems that engineers meet in everyday situations. However, because ill-structured problems and well-structured problems differ in many aspects, the curriculum of engineering education mostly focuses on well-structured problems, leading to the possibility that students might not apply the knowledge they have learned from school to the workplace after they graduate. Problem-based learning using ill-structured problems is more effective in teaching students to approach a solution for a task in a more expert-like way, by, for example, using analogical reasoning. In this study, novice participants who are majoring in Engineering and expert participants who are in the Civil or Mechanical Engineering fields are asked to solve ill-structured problems. The focus of analysis will be on the different types of analogies they use. Self-Efficacy will also be measured using a survey to observe if different levels of self-efficacy affect problem solving differently in the two groups, and if there is any relationship between types of analogies that each groups use and self-efficacy. The findings of this study would help to improve the curriculum of engineering education especially enhancing students’ cognitive strategy for engineering designs. / text

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

The demands of the new curriculum are such that problem solving is foregrounded as one of the core skills in the learning of the Natural Sciences. However teachers in general have difficulties in conceptualizing how this core skill should be incorporated into their everyday teaching of the Natural Sciences. Furthermore there seems to be some confusion in the literature on how the concept of problem solving should or ought to be understood. This is a qualitative case study to explore a grade 8 Natural Sciences educator who involves the learner's context when developing the curriculum, during teaching and learning and assessment. The educator allows the learners to use their context to negotiate during teaching and learning. The learners discuss the context-based activities in their groups and solve problems in their context, produce the portfolio boards by using the resources from their context and present their portfolio board to the class. The educator assesses the learners' activities in context and the portfolio boards. The educator and classroom activities are explored by using semi-structured interview as the main source of the data, unstructured interviews semi-structured obs~rvation schedule and classroom observation. The educator's understanding is explored by using a multifaceted methodology which targets the following key aspects namely, curriculum development, teaching and learning and assessment. In the activity theory the context is the unit of analysis. Activity theory is used as the lens and the conceptual framework in this study to understand how the educator develops the curriculum, teach learners Matter and Materials in their context and assess their context-based activities and the portfolio boards. The findings show that according to this educator he sees himself as the curriculum implementer rather than developer. The curriculum changes are at theoretical level rather than classroom level. Contextual teaching involves construction of knowledge from learners pre-knowledge and interests. Teaching within an Outcomes Based Education is transformative and educator as a mediator of learning. Problem solving needs more time but maximise non-routine thinking. Assessment is for learning, it is continuous and it contributes towards assessment for grading. / Thesis (M.Ed.)- University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of this study was to explore with fourth year nursing baccalaureate students, their perceptions of experiences of caring using ethnographic design, and examine the phenomenon of caring and whether the development of caring relationships occurs among students and faculty members. Furthermore, the study sought to understand how nursing students perceive these relationships as influential in their learning, and ability to cope with stress. The sample consisted of ten fourth year nursing students who volunteered to be interviewed as well as one focus group of seven faculty members. The major findings of the study illuminated five general constructs: (1) The caring art of nursing in large part is a way of being in the world, an attitude that is inherent in the personality; (2) the caring science of nurse doing can indeed be taught and learned; (3) non-caring behaviors, experiences and relationships negatively impact the learning environment and therefore the learning outcomes for students; (4) Problem Based Learning (PBL) method cultivates a safe and caring learning environment; (5) caring is valued by students and positively impacts their educational experience, including learning outcomes, clinical experiences and their ability to cope with stress. The findings of the study may be utilized as a component of faculty growth and development as well as internal curriculum review. / x, 131 leaves ; 29 cm

This research was initiated as a response to a request for assistance from a group of students at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine who had reported feeling unprepared to prescribe medicines. This led to an interest in the level of competence shown by students in making prescribing decisions and the extent to which they were confident of their prescribing judgments. Student prescribing competence and confidence were assessed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative assessment comprised a test where students were asked to rate their confidence in some of their responses. A stratified sample of 10 of these student interviewed, where they were asked to choose treatment for four paper cases. Prescribing skills were found to be lacking, with test results averaging 47%. appropriate treatment selected for only 4 of the total of 40 paper cases. Upon reviewing the literature, it became apparent that poor prescribing skills, leading to the problem of irrational prescribing was a worldwide phenomenon The study aimed to address areas of weak prescribing skill using a short intense intervention comprising of several different learning strategies. Student change in confidence following the course was assessed using an evaluation form where students rated their perceived changes in key competences. Students showed improved confidence for each of the prescribing abilities measured. These findings have been compiled into 3 research publications, the texts of which are bound together as they were submitted together to comply with the research requirement of an M.Ed. The findings are reported in a paper titled Building successful therapeutics into a problembased medical curriculum in Africa in the South African Journal of Higher Education (see Appendices). I was also interested in how prescribing ability builds as students develop new prescribing skills. The student interviews provided an opportunity to explore the variation shown between the students relating to the quality of the treatment they prescribed for a given paper case. A sample of two sets of paper cases were assessed using a phenomenographic method, yielding two different perspectives of student experience. The research outlined above is the focus of the dissertation, which also includes an exploration of the teaching and learning issues which guided the design of the intervention and which I believe led to the positive finding of improved student prescribing confidence. Also included in the dissertation is an analysis of the quantitative assessment according to the cognitive categories of Bloom's Taxonomy, as well as qualitative data gathered from student interviews which revealed an understanding about prescribing abilities which predominated at differing Bloom cognitive levels for different students. In the second paper titled Undergraduate medical students' reasoning with regard to the prescribing process which has been submitted to Medical Teacher, (see Appendices) the range of student cognition associated with prescribing is explored. Each question from the quantitative assessment of prescribing abilities were grouped according to the Bloom Category it had been assigned, student scores according to each Bloom category were calculated. Students scored highest for the lowest cognitive category ('knowledge') and lowest for the highest ranked cognitive categories( 'evaluation' and 'synthesis'). These findings along with the qualitative findings and the phenomenographic assessment were reported here. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

CONTEXT: The aim of the Emergency Care Practitioner (Basic), ECP (B), Course enables students to acquire knowledge and skills in basic life support, obtain a certificate and register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as an Emergency Care Practitioner. The ECP (B) Course became a compulsory component of the Curriculum in 1996. During 1996 to 1999, the Course was conducted by Ambulance and Emergency Services - College of Emergency Care. In January 1999, the researcher was appointed to the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine and integrated the Course into the Traditional Curriculum. The Course was run as a three-week stand-alone module in the traditional didactic format In 2001, a Problem-based learning Curriculum was introduced into which the ECP (B) Course was integrated. The Course was thus integrated into the entire first year of the Curriculum in the PBL format. OBJECTIVES: Since the Course was taught in both the Traditional and PBL Curricula, the study was aimed at exploring the impact of the ECP (B) Course on both categories of students' ability. In the Traditional Curriculum, the Course was taught in the first year of study, although the students were only exposed to clinical practice in their fourth year. With the PBL students, the ECP (B) Course runs through their first year, they are also taught clinical skills during their first and second year in the Skills Lab by the Labbased Clinical Tutors. During their third year, they undertake a Clinical Methods Course that exposed them to patient care in the Wards. This is supervised by Registrars and Consultants - Ward Tutors. The study also explored the perceptions of both the Skills Lab Tutors and the Ward Tutors regarding the impact of the ECP (B) Course on the students' clinical ability. DESIGN: The study involved students and staff presently working with the MBChB Curriculum at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine. The subjects were selected from a convenience sample as follows: • 30 3rd year students in the PBL Curriculum • 30 5th year students in the Traditional Curriculum • 5 Clinical Skills Tutors in the Skills Lab • 5 Clinical Tutors at King Edward Hospital. A questionnaire containing both a rating scale and open-ended questions was designed. The purpose of the questionnaire was to ascertain whether the students were able to perform the various emergency skills in the Lab (pre-clinical) setting and then to ascertain whether they were able to perform these emergency skills on real patients in the clinical situation. It was also used to determine the answer to the first key question of the study: What are the Traditional versus PBL students' perceptions on the role of the ECP (B) Course in the MBChB Curriculum and its effects on their clinical ability? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the Clinical Tutors. These interviews were conducted individually lasting 30 minutes. All the interviewees were posed the same questions according to an interview schedule. The purpose of the interviews was to answer the second key question of the study: What are the staffs' perceptions on the role of the ECP (B) Course in the MBChB Curriculum and its effects on the clinical abilities of the Traditional students versus that of the PBL students? MAIN OUTCOMES: Both groups of students felt that the ECP (B) Course was a rewarding learning experience. In general, most of the skills were learnt during the Course on models and/ or simulated patients by both the 3rd and 5th year students, except for the simulated foetal and placental delivery. The 3rd years have not been exposed sufficiently to real patients and were thus not given the opportunity of performing all the skills learnt during the ECP (B) Course on real patients in the clinical setting whereas all the skills except for CPR on an adult and infant patient have been performed by the 5th years on real patients. Both groups of students were satisfied with the Tutor's ability to teach the ECP (B) Course in both the PBL and Traditional formats. Both the Lab and Ward Tutors were familiar with the ECP (B) Course. They were of the opinion that the skills were relevant and extremely beneficial to all medical students. They said that the skills training had a positive impact on the students' clinical ability. It gave them confidence to deal with real patients and competence with the procedures and the relevant equipment. The Tutors were able to differentiate between the PBL students and the Traditional students' clinical ability to perform skills both in the simulated and real environments. The 5th years lacked the confidence and approach that the 3rd years had achieved with the models and patients. They expressed a concern that some basic sciences should be taught before clinical skills training and there should not be too long a delay between when the skills are taught in the Lab, to when the students are placed in the real situation. Finally, all interviewees felt that the ECP (B) Course should be a compulsory first year module. CONCLUSION: The evidence collected from the research tools was insufficient to conclusively find a marked difference in the learning of the Traditional versus PBL students. The Lab Tutors and the Ward Tutors were, however, able to differentiate between the two groups of students based on their clinical skills ability. The students in the Traditional Curriculum, although being able to perform the clinical skills on real patients, seemed less confident and did not have a structured approach to patient care, whereas the PBL students seemed very confident and had a systematic approach to patient care. These differences may be attributed to the teaching and learning styles of the students and Tutors involved. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

From 1950 to 2000 the former Faculty of Medicine, University of Natal, Durban, pursued the traditional, didactic curriculum. The implementation of problem-based learning, Curriculum 2001, introduced many changes in the curriculum where facilitators guide instead of teach students. Based on this it is important to understand the principles of problem-based learning (PBL) more extensively and the demands that may be made on the Library and the Librarians. It is assumed that a partnership exits between the librarians and the School of Undergraduate Medical Education (SUME). The object of this study is to determine whether the introduction of Curriculum 2001 impacted on the role and functions of the library and the librarians. The 5th year students from the Traditional Curriculum and 2nd year students from Curriculum 2001 were selected to participate in this study. The methods used in this study were the analysis of the minutes of the meetings that were held to discuss and plan Curriculum 2001 of the Curriculum Development Task Force, questionnaires for the undergraduate students and semi-structured interviews with the facilitators in Curriculum 2001 and medical librarians. The minutes of the CDTF were examined to ascertain if the librarians had any input in Curriculum 2001. The interviews would determine whether PBL had an impact on the role and functions of the library and the librarians. Four librarians and 15 facilitators were interviewed. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study with the assistance of the EPI Info and NVivo software to analyze the results. The results of this study indicated that there is room for greater and enhanced collaboration and faculty partnerships between SUME and the library to assist the students to improve and develop their information literacy skills that are integral part in problem solving in the PBL curriculum. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.