A year long learning strategy course was designed and embedded in a Year 8 science curriculum. The Science Learning Strategy (SLS) program aimed to improve student ability to apply learning strategies to science, increase student achievement in science and to augment students' feelings of control over their science learning, so that their perceived competence was maximised. Achievement of these aims was monitored by collecting perceptions from students, parents and the teacher/researcher via a range of devices including questionnaires, work samples and interviews. The program overall was regarded as successfully achieving all three aims by 22 of the 24 students. The other two students found that only some aspects of the course were helpful, and felt they had learned little from the program. Thirty three percent of parents attributed positive changes in their daughter's study and learning strategies to participation in the SLS program (the remainder were unsure, or did not know of any changes). In relation to perception of academic performance, 38% of the parents interviewed believed that the SLS had a positive effect on their daughter's achievement in science. Several of these parents reported very positive effects on performance. The remainder were not sure or did not know if there had been any positive effects. No parents mentioned that the SLS program had caused a drop in science performance. The proportion of parents believing their daughters blamed disappointing results on factors they couldn't control dropped from 45% at the start of the year, to 22% by the end of the SLS program. After the intervention, 33% of parents reported that their daughters had come to believe that their science performance was affected by many factors, most of which they could control. / The teacher/researcher observed strong improvement in student ability to apply learning strategies to science as a result of participation in the program. Students were also observed by the teacher/researcher, to have been assisted by the intervention to realise that their science performance was governed not only by their natural ability, but also by factors such as studying behaviour and affective influences. In particular, the program appeared to the teacher/researcher to have helped students realise that they had control over their use of learning strategies, and that this control could influence their science performance. However, the teacher/researcher found that no statistically significant changes in science achievement resulted from student participation in the SLS course. The other objective of the research was to investigate the extent to which learning strategy education was valued and implemented by Western Australian science teachers. The 218 returned surveys revealed that most respondents recognised the need to teach these skills during science lessons. Seventy six percent of respondents considered the delivery of learning strategy instruction in the lower school science classroom to be as important, or more important, than teaching subject processes and content. Sixty seven percent recognised that improving study strategies can improve confidence and/or motivation. / Many teachers, however, had not been able to convert these views into consistent classroom practice. A moderate proportion of teachers reported teaching a variety of learning strategies; 74% of the respondents agreed that learning strategy instruction could improve performance in science. Only one teacher specifically mentioned incorporating the teaching of learning strategies with instruction in science process and content. As a future outcome of this project, the teacher/researcher will encourage other teachers to embed learning strategy instruction within the science curriculum, so that their students come to feel more in control of their learning and can learn more effectively.

In the field of second language vocabulary learning, numerous studies had been done to investigate language learners’ use of vocabulary learning strategies, as well as relationships between the use of vocabulary learning strategies and other individual variables (e.g., personality, intelligence, major, learning style, etc.). To fill the gap in the literature reviewed, the present study examined the use of vocabulary learning strategies reported by 95 Chinese undergraduate engineering students, and relationships between the use of vocabulary learning strategies and three key variables, i.e., language proficiency, vocabulary size, and gender. Results of this study indicated: 1) With a reported frequency of overall vocabulary learning strategies use of medium, Chinese undergraduate engineering students use determination strategies most frequently, while social strategies the least. 2) There is a negative relationship between the use of overall vocabulary learning strategies reported by Chinese undergraduate engineering students and their language proficiency. In terms of the use of the five categories of vocabulary learning strategies, determination, cognitive, and metacognitive strategies are positively correlated to Chinese undergraduate engineering students’ language proficiency. While social and memory strategies are negatively correlated. On the level of individual vocabulary learning strategies, ten individual vocabulary learning strategies are significantly correlated with language proficiency. 3) Chinese undergraduate engineering students’ use of overall vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size are positively correlated. In terms of the use of the five categories of vocabulary learning strategies, social strategies is negatively correlated with vocabulary size while the remaining four categories are positively correlated. On the level of individual vocabulary learning strategies, significant correlations are identified between the use of three individual vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size. 4) No significant difference is found between male and female Chinese undergraduate engineering students on uses of overall vocabulary learning strategies, although male Chinese undergraduate engineering students employ overall vocabulary learning strategies more frequently than females. When analyzing the use of the five categories of vocabulary learning strategies, male students employ social, memory, and cognitive strategies more frequently than female students while female students employ determination and metacognitive strategies more frequently. In terms of the gender differences on the use of individual vocabulary learning strategies, female students employ two individual vocabulary learning strategies more frequently than male students at significant levels. Findings of the present study illustrate Chinese undergraduate engineering students’ reported use of vocabulary learning strategies, as well as correlations between the use of vocabulary learning strategies and language proficiency, vocabulary size, and gender. It is recommended that English language teachers in China spending more time on vocabulary learning strategies training and taking advantages of the individual vocabulary learning strategies that can contribute to students’ language learning. / Graduate / kellycai0913@gmail.com

This study explores the Malaysian understanding and definition of the concept and terminology of organisational learning (OL) as well as the learning strategies and practices Malaysian organisations use to implement learning. As part of Malaysia's Vision 2020, the government has made a substantial and public commitment to promoting organisational learning to assist industry move to a first world economy status. A number of authors have defined organisational learning as a process of knowledge acquisition that involves continuous change to create, acquire, and transfer knowledge (Garvin 1993; Miller 1996; Williams 2001). The objective is to explore if this conceptualisation has been accepted and implemented within Malaysia and if not, where opportunities exist to improve both the understanding and practice of Organisational Learning. The study explores the understanding of OL and the learning strategies practiced by Malaysian organisations. In-depth interviews were conducted among human resources managers, executives, professors and lecturers from the manufacturing, health, government and academic sectors in Malaysia. The information gathered was analysed using Nudist (v6) software to interrogate and explore similarities and differences in responses within and across the sectors. Trends emerging from the data were drawn together to present a picture of what happens in practice and to identify opportunities to improve and better manage the implementation of organisational learning and knowledge management strategies. The results suggest Malaysian industry representatives were, in general, able to define OL as a concept, however there was variable evidence that it is being implemented effectively in organisations. The manufacturing respondents had a higher level of understanding of OL than other industries. In practice, learning strategies also vary; health organisations emphasize seminars and conferences, the manufacturing sector emphasizes experiential learning, government departments focus more on attachment and exposure, whereas academic respondents were more reliant on self-learning. Overall, the most popular learning strategy is structured training and development programs, which suggests more needs to be done to inculcate learning strategies within the various industries. Those industries with stronger implementation patterns favoured a specialist department to provide a hub for handling knowledge and skills acquisition, for both internal and external learning sources. In contrast, the understanding of knowledge management was much lower, and indeed, the term was unfamiliar to some respondents. These findings may be limited due to the small size of the sample and the findings being from a management perspective. Nonetheless, given the government's strong commitment to organisational learning and the current lack of empirical industry studies within Malaysia, this study serves as a benchmark. It does identify that the uptake of OL is still relatively limited and more needs to be achieved to promote a greater understanding of OL if it is to be successfully implemented in Malaysia.

本研究旨在探討不同方式的複誦教學對台灣國中生聽力理解、 聽的字彙、了解自己說的英語和英語之間的差異及自發性的練習聽和說四方面之影響。本研究結果希望對英文老師在複誦教學上有所啟示和幫助。 台北市某國中二年級兩班共64位學生參與這項研究,他們被分為實驗組和控制組。學期初,受試者接受全民英檢初級聽力前測,依據該成績, 分成實驗組和控制組兩組群,該兩組群又細分為高中低三組群。受試者在接受全民英檢初級聽力前測後,施以不同之複誦教學。實驗組之教學方式為讓學生先聽一段文章或一段對話,第二次則聽完句子再跟著複誦所聽到的句子,第三次則看著聽力稿再複誦一次並從中了解自己所複誦的句子或片語和所聽到的有何不同。控制組之教學方式為傳統的複誦教學;方式為讓學生先看著聽力稿聽一段文章或一段對話,第二次則聽完再跟著聽力稿複誦,第三次則亦看著聽力稿再複誦一次, 並從中了解自己所複誦的句子或片語和所聽到的有何不同。16週之後,他們接受聽力後測。除接受後測外,實驗組還接受問卷調查和訪談。 實驗結果顯示實驗組的聽力方面之進步大於控制組。其中實驗組平均數差異檢定以達到顯著水準(t=2.666, p=.010);實驗組三組中,以中組群及低組群進步最多,平均數差異檢定以達到顯著水準(中組群t=3.318, p=.003; 低組群t=.283, p=.016)。此外從問卷調查和訪談得知:實驗組大部份的學生對此教學法皆持肯定的態度。且中組群及高組群對聽的字彙、了解自己說的英語和英語之間的差異及皆持正面的看法。低分組則較希望老師能適時的說明及指導。但在自發性的練習聽和說的能力只有高組群持正面的看法。本文根據研究結果,提出英語教學上之運用以及未來研究之建議。 / The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of different approaches to “listen and repeat” strategy teaching on listening comprehension of junior high school students in Taiwan. “Listen and repeat” activity is often practiced in English class; however, its skill and training are often neglected by most English teachers and thus less studied. In this study, an experiment is conducted to examine the effect that different procedures of repetition strategy instruction have on listening comprehension, on the awareness of the gap between students’ output and the aural input, on “sound-to-script” vocabulary, and on students’ automaticity in listening and speaking. Sixty-four students, taught by the researcher, from two classes of 8th grade at a junior high school in Taipei City, participate in this study. They are divided into the experimental group and the control group. At the beginning of the semester, the researcher gives the two classes an English listening comprehension test at the GEPT elementary level. According to their scores in the test, the subjects are further divided into high, middle, and low proficiency levels. Then, the experimental and the control groups are taught in different methods. The control group is taught to "listen and repeat" with the listening scripts; the experimental group is taught to “listen and repeat” after the aural stimuli only and later to check the listening scripts to see if there is any gap between the listening input and their oral output and if there is any gap between their listening vocabulary and the written vocabulary.After 16 weeks, all of the subjects take a listening comprehension posttest. In addition to the listening comprehension test, the experimental group is also asked to fill in a questionnaire. Later, some interviews are conducted. The results show that “listen and repeat” after the aural stimuli indeed enhances the subjects’ listening comprehension ability. The experimental group significantly outperforms the control group (t=2.666, p=.010). Besides, in terms of proficiency levels, the experimental middle and low subgroups significantly outperform those of the control group (experimental middle subgroup: t=3.318, p=.003; experimental low subgroup: t=.283, p=.016). Moreover, the questionnaire and interview results show that most of the students like this way of “listen and repeat” practice though it is cognitively demanding and challenging. Furthermore, experimental middle and high subgroups benefit more from the strategy. They can better notice the gap between their output and the aural input and have better correspondence between their listening vocabulary and the written vocabulary. But the strategy facilitates only high proficiency students’ automaticity in listening and speaking. The low subgroup, on the other hand, needs teachers’ instructions and feedback more. Based on the above results, some pedagogical implications for English teachers and suggestions for learning strategy instructions are provided at the end of the study

Protein structure prediction is one of the most important and difficult problems in computational molecular biology. Unlike sequence-only comparison, protein fold recognition based on machine learning algorithms attempts to detect similarities between protein structures which might not be accompanied with any significant sequence similarity. It takes advantage of the information from structural and physic properties beyond sequence information. In this thesis, we present a novel classifier on protein fold recognition, using AdaBoost algorithm that hybrids to k Nearest Neighbor classifier. The experiment framework consists of two tasks: (i) carry out cross validation within the training dataset, and (ii) test on unseen validation dataset, in which 90% of the proteins have less than 25% sequence identity in training samples. Our result yields 64.7% successful rate in classifying independent validation dataset into 27 types of protein folds. Our experiments on the task of protein folding recognition prove the merit of this approach, as it shows that AdaBoost strategy coupling with weak learning classifiers lead to improved and robust performance of 64.7% accuracy versus 61.2% accuracy in published literatures using identical sample sets, feature representation, and class labels.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Orientador: Mara Alice Fernandes de Abreu / Banca: Ana Maria Lombardi Daibem / Banca: Cássia Irene Spinelli Arantes / Resumo: A pesquisa tem como objetivo de investigação a prática pedagógica, construída pelas licenciandas em enfermagem em conjunto com a pesquisadora e, realizada de forma continuada, com alunos da sétima série do ensino público. O trabalho objetivou investigar se a realização de uma prática pedagógica, contextualizada ao ambiente escolar e às necessidades do aluno e elaborada, desde o seu planejamento até o exercício pedagógico, considerando-o como elemento ativo no processo ensino-aprendizagem, é capaz de promover ampliação na formação das licenciandas, estimulando-as para uma atuação transformadora. Essa prática pedagógica, ao considerar a transversalidade da saúde, abordou seus aspectos biológicos, sociológicos e psicológicos, a partir de estratégias de aprendizagem propostas pelas próprias licenciandas, com base nas concepções construtivistas que favoreceu a interatividade entre elas e os alunos da escola e também, o desenvolvimento e a socialização do conhecimento referentes à esse contexto. Entendendo a saúde, tema de extrema relevância para ser abordado com os adolescentes desta faixa etária, como um processo resultante da convergência de fatores integrados: condições de trabalho e consumo, meio-ambiente, liberdade, lazer, acesso à posse da terra, educação, habitação, alimentação, relacionamentos afetivos, convívio social, além da garantia de acesso aos serviços de saúde e, a prática pedagógica, um instrumento de reflexão-ação e transformação da realidade, a pesquisadora atuou, durante toda a pesquisa, como articuladora entre o saber teórico e o prático. Os resultados revelaram que a vivência dessa prática pedagógica possibilitou, maior aproximação das licenciandas com os alunos, professores e administração da escola, desenvolvimento dos conteúdos, com a utilização de propostas adequadas e em ambientes... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The objective of this research is the investigation of the pedagogic practice developed by the nursing graduate students in connection with the researcher and continued with the students of the seventh degree of the public high school. The goal of this work is to investigate the realization of the pedagogic practice connected to the scholar environment and to the students needs and was elaorated, since its planning all the way to its practice, considering it as an active element in the process of teaching-learning, capable to promote the improvement of the graduation students as well as to stimulate and active transformation. This pedagogic practice, considering the versatility of the health, studied biologic, sociologic and psychological aspects, starting from the learning strategies proposed by the graduating students based on the constructivist conceptions that helped the interaction among them and the high school students as well developed and socialized the knowledge of this study. However, the health, relevant theme to be considered with the teenagers students, as a resultant process of the convergence of integrated factors: job and consume conditions, environment, freedom, leisure, land owing access, education, dwelling, feeding, affection relationship, social living completed with the lack of public health services, the pedagogic practice is an instrument of reflection and action as well a change of the real life. The researcher worked all the time as a link between the theory and the practice knowledge. The results showed that living this pedagogical practice promoted a larger relationship between the graduate students and the high school students, teachers and school workers as well developed the subject of the research using it with proper utilization of the objectives in an ideal environment to the learning and valuing... (Complete abstract, click electronic access below) / Mestre

The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of English learning experience and metacognitive language learning strategy training on students¡¦ language learning beliefs and achievement. The sample of this study is 42 third grade students in primary school. The experimental group received metacognitive language learning strategy training while the control group didn¡¦t. The training program lasted for thirteen weeks. The study adopted a pretest-posttest non-equivalent-control-group design. The t-test, analysis of variance and analysis of covariance were adopted to examine the differences between participants¡¦ achievement. The percentage and mean were to describe participants¡¦ beliefs. This study revealed six general findings. First, participants in this study have more realistic expectation and high motivation about learning English. Second, students with English learning experience have better motivation beliefs, higher involvement and greater achievement. They also tend to believe that every individual has English learning abilities. However, students without English learning experience changed their attitude toward learning at the end of this study. Third, the strategy training can improve participants¡¦ beliefs and proved to be useful with other learning materials, but only in difficult test the trained participants get better scores. Fourth, to most beliefs, learning experience has better influence and strategy training affects greater on students with learning experience. Fifth, there is no significant interaction between English learning experience and strategy training on achievement. Finally, metacognitive language learning strategy training can improve participants¡¦ reading abilities, but speaking skill is influenced by learning experience. The conclusion provides suggestions for future development.

This report describes an action research project that was designed to determine the effect of using the multiple intelligences theory in the junior high school English class. Through a review of the multiple intelligences theory combined with analysis of its relation with English teaching, the researcher tried to design MI-based English teaching activities, construct the MI-based English instruction program and furthermore bring it into practice. The subjects consisted of thirty-three second-grade students selected from the researcher¡¦s junior high school in Kaohsiung. The MI-based English instruction program included twelve learning units in daily lessons and three cooperative learning projects. At the research period of twenty-three weeks, the data were collected through teacher observation records, students¡¦ learning reflections, teaching journals, MI-based worksheets, interviews, Multiple Intelligences Strategy Appraisal for English Learning, and English Learning Experience Questionnaire. The accumulations and analysis of the research results indicated a satisfaction of students¡¦ diversity and a significant improvement in several aspects including students¡¦ learning motivations, learning for understanding, memorizing learning materials, using English learning strategies, creating authentic learning environment, an improvement in English abilities, and understanding different cultures. The MI-based English instruction showed a positive learning atmosphere so students accepted the MI-based teaching model, and then hoped the researcher to keep the teaching model in the future. However, the research result also indicated that students learned the diverse English learning strategies, but they were unable to use the strategies very well. Besides, a few students with negative attitudes toward MI-based teaching hoped to be taught individually. The multiple intelligences theory is close to teachers¡¦ teaching experience that students learn in diverse ways. It provides a useful framework for teachers to organize all kinds of teaching methods. Moreover, the multiple intelligences theory is not just an idea. It is practicable for teachers to carry it out in daily lessons to solve the problems about students¡¦ diversity.

This study investigates ICT in Saudi HE as represented by the researcher’s own institution: King Saud University (KSU). Using a naturalistic approach in pursuing the inquiry and making use of mixed methods, the research questions were investigated using surveys and in-depth interviews. A convenient sample of the University’s stakeholders; namely the senior managers, the academic staff and the students were investigated and asked to explain the process of ICT adoption and deployment on the management level; their use and adoption of ICT in their personal and professional activities and elaborate on the ICT adoption process at KSU and compare it to that of other universities. They also related these experiences to the University’s plans and efforts in this regard. The findings indicated a boom in ICT adoption over the course of the recent years. However, this process did not follow a clear strategic plan. Rather, it was based on an administrative decision by the recently appointed KSU management. The rector’s positive attitude and belief in ICT played a role in this process. The study showed that KSU administration values ICT and views it as a means for the University to achieve its aims. The results also showed the increasing use of ICT among the three groups in the study both on personal and professional levels. While these professional purposes may differ between the three groups in this research, results indicate that there is an increasing implementation of ICT in the daily work of all the groups, both in and out of KSU. These uses are also supported by the positive attitudes all the stakeholders hold towards ICT, as the study indicated. The study also revealed the aspiration of both KSU and Higher Education System in the country in general, and the role that ICT is perceived to play in helping them to achieve these aspirations. Results indicated that the current state of ICT in Saudi HE is increasing when compared to that of other universities and countries, especially in terms of hardware implementation. Although it was not possible to achieve specific comparisons between Saudi universities due to lack of data and access, many different comparison points were pointed and elaborated on both nationally and internationally. Finally, the study revealed many ICT enablers in the Saudi HE system, such as the generous financial support provided by the government, the positive attitudes, and the changing role of the university, as well as the technical, administrative and sociocultural barriers facing more ICT integration in Saudi HE, and how KSU dealt with these opportunities and threats. Based on the results, implications for future research were elicited and recommendations for better practice were provided. The urgent need for a clear ICT strategic plan for KSU as well as the other Saudi universities seems inevitable. A need for clear benchmarks within this plan is an important indicator of the need for the institution to evaluate the process. Of importance concern is the fact that these plans need to include all the stakeholders in the planning phase so as to properly conduct the assessment, implementation and evaluation successfully.