The application of scientific principles in diverse science domains is widely regarded as a hallmark of expertise. However, the role of basic science knowledge and principles in clinical medicine is the subject of considerable controversy. The study examined the understanding of complex biomedical concepts related to cardiovascular physiology. Subjects at various levels of expertise were presented with questions and problems pertaining to the concepts of cardiac output and venous return. The experiment employed the combined methods of a cognitive science approach to problem-solving with a focused clinical interview approach common in science education research. / The results indicated a progression of conceptual models of the circulatory system as a function of expertise. This was evident in subjects' explanations and applications of these concepts. The study also characterized the etiology of significant misconceptions and biases, evident in subjects' reasoning at each level of expertise. / This research has implications for a theoretical model of conceptual understanding in complex science domains, as well as, implications for medical instruction. It is proposed that the development of a clinically-relevant epistemology of basic science knowledge could contribute substantially to a revised medical curriculum that could impart a more robust conceptual understanding of biomedical concepts to medical students.

Problems of understanding fundamental calculus concepts by students in tertiary education colleges and universities are evidenced by a body of research studies conducted in different parts of the world. The researchers have identified, classified and analysed these problems from historical, epistemological, and learning theory perspectives. History is important because mathematical concepts are a result of the developments of the past. The way knowledge is acquired is an epistemological issue and the major purpose of learning is to acquire knowledge. Hence, these three perspectives qualify to be used as lenses in understanding problems that students encounter in a learning situation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epistemological obstacles that mathematics students at undergraduate level encounter in coming to understand the limit concept. The role played by language and symbolism in understanding the limit concept was also investigated, because communication in the mathematics classroom takes place by using language and symbols. / Philosophiae Doctor - PhD

The United States are facing a critical workforce challenge, even though current unemployment is around 6.7%, employers find it difficult to find applicants that can satisfy all job requirements. This problem is especially pronounced in the manufacturing sector where a critical skills gap has developed, a problem that is exasperated by workforce demographics. A large number of employees across the various manufacturing sub-disciplines are eligible to retire now or in the near future. This gray tsunami requires swift action as well as long lasting change resulting in a workforce pipeline that can provide Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors in sufficient quantity and quality to satisfy not only the needs of STEM industries, but also of those companies outside of the STEM sector that hire STEM graduates. The research shown here will identify overt symptoms describing the capability gap, will identify specific skills describing the gap, educational causes why the gaps has not yet been addressed or is difficult to address, and lastly educational remedies that can contribute to closing the capability gap. A significant body of literature focusing on engineering in higher education has been evaluated and findings will be presented here. A multidisciplinary, collaborative capstone program will be described which implements some of the findings from this study in an active learning environment for students working on distributed teams across the US. Preliminary findings regarding the impact of these measures on the quantity of engineers to the US economy will be evaluated.

Modern science education reform includes the development of standards and recommendations for content as well as the development and evaluation of pedagogy, but demonstrates limited assessment of student knowledge. Student knowledge assessment is an important factor in measuring the scientific literacy of current students. Concept inventories have been developed and used for the past fourteen years to assess non-science major student conceptual understanding of a content area. Inventories have been developed in the fields of physics, astronomy, chemistry and biology. The development and evaluation of a Genetics Concept Inventory (GCI) is presented here. The reliability estimate of 0.62 is supported by a respected panel of genetics educators' revisions, no significant gender bias, and the ability of junior and senior biology majors to outperform the non-science majors. Pretest/Posttest comparisons show a significant increase in five of six genetics content areas as well as a 9% increase on the overall percent score for the instrument. Although the Genetics Concept Inventory presented here needs further modification and testing, it is the first step in the development of a quality assessment tool for genetics content. / Department of Biology

Nursing schools today are bound by accreditation agencies to produce graduate nurses who can think critically. Clinical instructors play the dominant role in transitioning students from the didactic experience to the clinical experience. The clinical experience is where students practice higher levels of thinking under the supervision and guidance of a clinical instructor in order to arrive at safe patient care decisions. Regardless of the teaching method used to develop critical thinking skills, it is the underlying questioning skill of the instructor that facilitates the growth of critical thinking (Giddings, Dyson, Entwistle, Macdiarmid, Marshall, & Simpson, 2000; Hermiz, 2001, p. 183; Myrick & Yonge, 2002).The purpose of the descriptive study was fourfold: (a) to examine the cognitive characteristics of questions asked by clinical nurse faculty of baccalaureate nursing students, (b) to examine faculty perceptions of the questions being asked in the clinical setting, (c) to examine the questions asked under the categories posed by Myrick and Yonge (2002) of theoretical knowledge, clinical decision-making and action in an effort to determine if systematic questioning is occurring that moves students from theoretical knowledge through to nursing action, and (d) to compare faculty perceptions of the questions asked. Questions were examined for level and type as defined by Craig and Paige (1981); and context in which the question was posed utilizing the guidelines posed by Myrick and Yonge (2002) as theoretical knowledge, clinical decision-making and action. The academic and professional characteristics of clinical faculty were captured utilizing a demographic survey.Findings mirror that of previous research. Clinical faculty continue to ask low cognitive level questions of baccalaureate nursing students. Approximately 71.8% of the questions represented the categories of knowledge, comprehension and application. In addition, over 21% of the questions posed fell into the category of "other" representing questions that were primarily yes/no, and information seeking type questions When looking at sequencing of questions, again, primarily the questions fell into the theoretical knowledge category, and did not move the student through to the evaluation of nursing care. / Department of Educational Studies

This study investigated interaction effects between the type and amount of teacher-written feedback, the sex of the subjects, and the degree of focus, organization, and development in two revised drafts of a 400-word description essay written by 43 college students in two sections of a freshman composition course taught by one instructor.Subjects in each section were randomly assigned to four different treatment groups to receive teacher-written comments or questions on their initial drafts and on their two revisions, each written in two 50-minute periods. Treatments were as follows: (1) Selective Comments were a terminal paragraph of specific suggestions for improving focus, organization, and development in the next draft. (2) Extensive Comments were a terminal paragraph of specific suggestions; specified errors in spelling, punctuation, agreement, and usage were noted in the margins. (3) Selective Questions about focus, organization, and development were written in the margins. (4) Extensive Questions about focus, organization, and development were written in the margins, and specified errors in spelling, punctuation, agreement, and usage were noted in the margins.Three dependent variables (focus, organization, and development) were measured on separate five-point scales by two raters. A 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 multivariate analysis of variance revealed two significant two-way interactions at the .05 level.The interaction between revision and sex showed that in response to teacher-written feedback on initial drafts, the males significantly improved their focus, organization, and development scores on the first revision, but the females improved only their focus and development scores. The interaction between revision and comment type showed that the Comment Groups improved their focus, organization, and development scores on the first revision, but the Question Groups improved only their focus and organization scores.A second revision (in response to teacher-written comments and questions and four 50-minute periods of practice in improving focus, organization, and development in sample student essays) showed no significant improvement over the first revision. There were also no significant differences between Selective Groups (no mechanical errors marked) and Extensive Groups (specified errors in spelling, punctuation, agreement, and usage noted).

Low student success rates in introductory computer programming classes result in low student retention rates in computer science programs. For some sections of the course a traditional approach began using C# in the .Net development environment immediately. An experimental course redesign for one section was prepared that began with a study of HTML and JavaScript and focused on having students build web pages for several weeks; after that the experimental course used C# and the .Net development environment, covering all the material that was covered in the traditional sections. Students were more successful in the experimental section, with a higher percentage of the students passing the course and a higher percentage of the students continuing on to take at least one additional computer science course. / Department of Computer Science

This study explores ideas of inclusion and exclusion - in/exclusion - within art and education contexts, more specifically how they shift and alter within the processes of selection to one Scottish institution of Higher Education in Art and Design. The empirical focus of selection is told through detailed narratives that follow the thinking and responses of a diversity of selectors to the visual and written submissions of wide ranging applicants. These discussions make visible the ways in which candidates are deliberated into and out of the institution and are layered further by a broader quantitative look, exploring how this detail plays out more widely in the chances of in/exclusion across all applicants. This research has implications for a number of areas, including policy and practice on social in/exclusion, particularly as it relates to the arts and Higher Education. However, it is not solely an access or admissions study; it tries to extend understanding and approaches to in/exclusion by questioning what people are being included into as well as the ways of in/excluding. It gets inside and lays open a process of decision-making that has not previously been explored in this kind of depth and is made visible here through an often troubling, personal, methodological and theoretical assemblage of stories and crossings. My own shifts as a learner, artist and educator en/unfold with selection narratives and rich visual images that confront and question issues of representation, difference and risk as they surface within the research. It is this very detail of insight, getting inside those areas that are often unspoken and unseen that makes this investigation so unusual, adding new layers of questioning and understanding to the many approaches that exist in thinking and acting on in/exclusion. If there was any sense that in/exclusion to Higher Education in the Arts and Design might be determined or resolved simply by altering indicators and numbers in terms of social class, education or the spatiality of where an individual lives, then this study offers a different kind of view. It reveals a more complex process of looking and decision-making, in which selectors often try to see beyond the surface of the visual and written in search of the individual. It shows the shifting balance in what is looked for in a process that is fraught with chance, ethics, trust and emotional dilemmas. In doing so, it makes the case for a more reflexive and ontological engagement in approaches to in/exclusion. Nothing is certain. In/exclusion becomes an assemblage of elements that displace across selectors, taking new forms and combinations that are rooted in qualities that applicants bring with them as well as what selectors bring into the process. How these fold together can lead to very different outcomes.

This study examined traditional instruction and problem-based learning (PBL) approaches to teaching and the extent to which they foster the development of desirable cognitive processes, including metacognition, critical thinking, physical intuition, and problem solving among undergraduate physics students. The study also examined students' approaches to learning and their perceived role as physics students. The research took place in the context of advanced courses of electromagnetism at a Canadian research university. The cognitive science, expertise, physics and science education, instructional psychology, and discourse processes literature provided the framework and background to conceptualize and structure this study. A within-stage mixed-model design was used and a number of instruments, including a survey, observation grids, and problem sets were developed specifically for this study. A special one-week long problem-based learning (PBL) intervention was also designed. Interviews with the instructors participating in the study provided complementary data. / Findings include evidence that students in general engage in metacognitive processes in the organization of their personal study time. However, this potential, including the development of other cognitive processes, might not be stimulated as much as it could in the traditional lecture instructional context. The PBL approach was deemed as more empowering for the students. An unexpected finding came from the realisation that a simple exposure to a structured exercise of problem-solving (pre-test) was sufficient to produce superior planning and solving strategies on a second exposure (post-test) even for the students who had not been exposed to any special treatment. Maturation was ruled out as a potential threat to the validity of this finding. Another promising finding appears to be that the problem-based learning (PBL) intervention tends to foster the development of cognitive competencies, particularly physical intuition, even if it was only implemented for a short period of time. Other findings relate to the nature of the cognitive actions and activities that the students engage in when learning to solve electromagnetism problems in a PBL environment for the first time and the tutoring actions that guide students in this context.

<p>This research provided insights into the mathematical achievement of a cohort of tertiary mathematics students. The context for the study was an entry level mathematics course, set in an engineering programme at a tertiary institution, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). This study investigated the possibilities of providing a bridge between the assessment of students by means of tests scores and a taxonomy of mathematical objectives, on the one hand, and the critical analysis of student produced texts, on the other hand. This research revealed that even in cases of wrong solutions, participant members' responses were reasonable, meaningful, clear and logical.</p>