Faculty of Humanities School of Education 0215438v lkotta@chemistry.uct.ac.za / The focus of this study was a case-based approach used in the first year course Introduction to Process and Materials Engineering, PRME1002, at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005. This approach attempted to promote epistemic access to Process and Materials Engineering by moving away from the more traditional decontextualised and contrived engineering problems and introducing context-rich cases entailing more authentic engineering problems. The study investigated the extent to which the context rich problem-solving environment afforded the students epistemic access to Process and Materials Engineering. This was done through an analysis of the form and content of students’ knowledge and problem-solving skills as evidenced in their written responses to case-based problems. A modified form of the Structure of Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy was used as the instrument of analysis. The research showed that students tended to work in fragmented ways despite the context. They tended not to fully explore the context and as such could not successfully identify the salient aspects. They frequently ignored evidence in the context and invented their own in order to be able to use strategies that they were most familiar with. These findings suggest that that while the case-based approach introduced in the course, theoretically has the hallmarks of an ideal approach with which to create a favourable environment for learning, if students treat knowledge as fragmented and aren’t persuaded by the context to change their ways of working, the case-based approach does not afford students optimal epistemological access.

Abstract Research into memory processes has progressed in recent years through the combined efforts of neuroscientists and cognitive scientists. This is especially aided by modern scientific research methods of the brain such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. The learner, through interaction with his environment, must actively create individual cognition; the brain is a dynamic adaptable organ. This research will limit the discussion of authentic learning and e-learning to an introductory chemistry laboratory course. The most popular, and yet the most heavily criticized style of laboratory instruction is the traditional (also termed verification or expository) style with a "cookbook" nature. On the basis of pilot action research, the goal of this study has been the use of e-learning for the purpose of placing more emphasis on the contemplation of chemistry's theoretical topics for effecting the quality of conceptual understanding. With systems thinking as a background, the qualitative research method was primarily used, but statistics of the external influences in the e-learning process were also improved. In an e-learning environment, the individually supported development of a learner's conceptual understanding was analyzed by SOLO-taxonomy by comparing the learner's own outcomes. The results show that e-learning with traditional laboratory activities has the effect of forming chemistry concepts, and results in meaningful learning. The SOLO-taxonomy would be a powerful tool for faculty for analyzing points of difficulty or confusion in students' understanding of chemistry concepts. To better understand the effectiveness of e-learning, studies have to be directed toward higher-order cognition by collaborative learning in addition to conceptual understanding of individuals.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka elevers inställningar till matematik samt deras tillvägagångssätt när de löser matematikuppgifter av olika svårighetsgrad. Undersökningen vi genomfört består av två delar; en enkätundersökning utformad som ett prov och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultaten ledde oss till följande slutsatser: motivationen är central för elevernas prestationer i matematik och att problemlösningsorienterad matematikundervisning bör vara kärnan i matematiken då den ger möjligheten till att få en djupare förståelse för matematiken i stort. Denna problemlösning bör vara utan specifika ramar och metoder för att skapa en frimodig och kreativ problemlösare. / The purpose of the essay was to study students´ approaches to mathematics and the ways they go about when they solve mathematical problems of shifting difficulty. Our research consists of two parts; one part enquiries in the form of a mathematics test, and also semi structured interviews. The results led us to the following conclusions: motivation is central to students´ accomplishments in mathematics, and problem solving oriented mathematics education ought to be the key content of mathematics since it provides the opportunity to obtain a deeper and more thorough understanding of mathematics in general. This problem solving process should be without specific frames and methods in order to create a free and creative problem solver.

This thesis describes what happens when a group of high-school students practice their ability to reflect upon their learning (metacognitive training) and then solve tasks with information collected on the Internet. The overall aim of the thesis is to make an explorative investigation to find out if exercises of metacognitive type can support the use of information for high-school students in their work with the Internet. The dissertation also aims at making clear what significance certain pre-requisites have for metacognitive training, ie if the students attend vocationally or theoretically oriented programmes and the attitude of the teacher towards metacognitive exercises. There are a number of reasons why I have chosen to investigate the field of learning and information and communication technology (ICT). The use of the Internet to search for information in school work has increased. An important reason to investigate these issues is that the use of ICT in itself doesn´t seem to mean improved learning, according to existing research. A central question to study is where the pedagogical surplus value lies in the use of the Internet in school work? In the thesis it is argued that it is not enough to provide schools with computers and Internet connections, but that something more is needed in order to achieve a development in teaching with ICT. During one year 40 students in theoretically and vocationally oriented programmes are being monitored together with their English teachers, in four different actions. The collection of data was done exploratively by interviews, logbook notes, observations and the SOLO-taxonomy. The result is accounted for in four case studies. During the action the professionalism of the teacher in creating beneficial teaching environments, by contextualizing the metacognitive exercises to things that challenge the students' internal motivation, turned out to be central. Furthermore it was shown that the students in the vocationally oriented programmes had most use of developing their reflective ability.

Bedömning av kvaliteten är en av de viktigaste processerna som en lärare utför varje arbetsdag för att kunna relatera elevernas prestationer mot ett kulturellt och individuellt anpassat betygssystem. Med ambitionen att främja jämställdhet och reliabilitet av bedömningar tillhandahåller Skolverket bedömningskrav och kriterier för att skilja olika grader av kvalitet (Selghed 2011). Dessa kriterier förefaller emellertid ibland otydliga och inte lämpliga för att särskilja mellan kvalitativa nivåer, särskilt på högre nivåer, vilka därför kan uppfattas som delvis överlappande. Som följd finns det mycket utrymme för tolkning av den enskilda läraren när det slutliga bedömningssystemet konstrueras (Schreiber et al., 2012, Selghed 2011). En alternativ bedömningsmetod som är rekommenderad av t.ex. Hattie (2012), är den mindre komplexa SOLO-taxonomin vilken idag används i de högre utbildnings miljöer.För att uppskatta överlappningen mellan resultat som härrör från olika bedömningsmetoder analyserar denna studie kvalitetsnivåer av en skrivuppgift av andraårs-gymnasieelever med hjälp av det läroplanbaserade betygssystemet och SOLO-taxonomin. Med hjälp av principiell komponentanalys (PCA) och korrelationsanalys kunde man dra slutsatsen att de olika bedömningsmetoderna är lämpliga för att skilja högre från lägre komplexitet eller kvalitetsnivåer. Men SOLO-taxonomin kunde inte tydligt skilja de mer sofistikerade skillnaderna mellan högre betygsnivå A och B.Dessutom undersökte denna studie om en noggrant genomförd konstruktivistisk undervisningsdesign oundvikligen resulterar i högkvalitativa skriftliga arbeten. Detta analyserades med hjälp av PCA och korrelationsanalys av relationen mellan deltagarnas kunskapssyn och bedömningsresultatet. Inom detta sammanhang kunde det dras slutsatsen att (I) en mer sofistikerad syn på naturen av kunskap och kunskap och (II) heterogeniteten hos en studentgrupp med avseende på kunskapssynen verkar vara kopplad till högre kvalitativa prestationer. Bevis för en korrelation mellan elevernas individuella kunskapssyn och de valda inlärningsmetoderna diskuteras inom ramen för en generell lämplighet av konstruktivistiska undervisningsmetoder.

Idag bearbetas, hanteras och lagras mer information än någonsin tidigare digitalt via IT. Detta medför ökade krav på IT-säkerhet. Ett vanligt problem inom IT-säkerhet är den mänskliga faktorn. För ett företag är det därför av stor vikt att utbilda sina anställda inom IT-säkerhet. Tidigare forskning visar att gamification (att använda spel-element i system eller applikationer som inte är spel) inom utbildning kan visa på goda resultat inom utbildning om det används på rätt sätt. Denna studie intresserar sig för att undersöka om gamification kan underlätta upplärning av IT-säkerhet jämfört med traditionell upplärning. Studiens fokus är att undersöka hur djup kunskap upplärningen ger via ett gamifierat verktyg kontra ett textdokument som innehåller samma information. Detta undersöks med hjälp av ett kvasiexperiment, där hälften av deltagarna får upplärning via gamification och hälften via text, som följs upp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. / Today, more information is processed, handled and stored digitally via IT than ever before. This, in turn, leads to increased requirements for IT security. A common problem in IT security is the human factor. For a company, it is therefore of great importance to train its employees in IT security. Previous research shows that gamification (using game elements in systems or applications that are not games) in education can yield good results in education if used correctly. The interest of this study is to examine and compare if gamification can facilitate the training of IT security compared to traditional training. The focus of the study is to investigate what depth of knowledge the learning provides using a gamified tool against a text document containing the same information. This is investigated with the help of a quasi-experiment, where half of the participants receive training via gamification and half via text, which is followed up by semi-structured interviews.