Prerequisite Knowledge Research Articles

A preliminary genetic decomposition for conceptual understanding of the indefinite integral

This paper reports on the use of APOS theory to investigate conceptual understanding of the indefinite integral amongst undergraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We present a Preliminary Genetic Decomposition (PGD) for the indefinite integral, which predicts the mental constructions and mechanisms that may facilitate conceptual understanding. In this pilot study, the analysis of students’ written responses to the research instrument suggested that more than half of the participants lacked the prerequisite knowledge of the concepts of function, derivative of functions and the chain rule. The findings confirmed that students experience greater difficulty dealing with transcendental functions than with algebraic functions. The analysis indicated that the cognitive mechanism of reversal, to recognise the inverse nature of differentiation and integration, was inconsistent or absent in many students. Interview data from a subset of participants was employed for triangulation with the document analysis. The empirical data suggested refinement of the PGD and modification of the research instrument, and further fine-grained interviews with study participants to investigate their conceptual understanding more deeply, and for the purposes of data triangulation.

Polymers, plastics, & more – educating post-secondary students from different disciplines with polymer science

Abstract Polymers are excellent materials that provide concrete examples of concepts and learning objectives covered in different post-secondary level courses. Modules focused on polymer science can be used for teaching general, organic, material and green chemistry. These modules can be tailored to build on the students' prerequisite knowledge. Science 300 is a course offered at Simon Fraser University (SFU) to non-science, post-secondary students focused on the impact of science in society. Prosthetics and Orthotics (PROR) is a diploma program offered at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Both programs have incorporated polymer science as part of the curriculum. Design of the modules illustrates polymers as an important class of materials that possess both beneficial and environmental unfriendly properties. A variety of learning strategies are incorporated within the courses to aid students with understanding polymer science.

Development of a multinational, multidisciplinary competency framework for physiotherapy training in pessary management: an E-Delphi study.

Vaginal support pessaries are intravaginal devices designed to relieve symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse, but they can cause serious medical complications if not managed well. Physiotherapists are well placed to manage pessaries, but there are no guidelines on the training required for competency in pessary management (PM). A scoping review of current literature on PM training was conducted to develop draft competency standards, which were reviewed by a multidisciplinary focus group. Using e-Delphi methodology, a multidisciplinary and multinational expert panel then refined the standards. Three rounds of e-Delphi online surveys were conducted, with individual participant feedback and one videoconference to discuss items that did not reach consensus. Consensus was set at 80% agreement and stability measured using kappa coefficient. Pessary training competency standards, developed by 29 experts, covered three key domains including: (1) prerequisite knowledge and understanding; (2) entrustable professional activities; (3) pessary-specific standards under ten key roles. Consensus was reached on all 73 (100%) competency standards and stability demonstrated for 95.9% of standards. There was no attrition of expert panel participants through the e-Delphi rounds. This e-Delphi study provides the first, robust recommendations on training standards for physiotherapists in PM. These competency standards will provide clinicians with a self-assessment tool, and educators and training institutions with a benchmark in training for PM, which should improve options and reduce risk for women with prolapse being managed with a pessary.

Effects of Example-Problem Pairs on Students’ Mathematics Achievements: A Mixed-Method Study

The aim of this research is to investigate how the utilisation of example-problem pairs affects the outcomes of mathematics students when compared to conventional teaching methods. Thus, a mixed method embedded design, with a main emphasis on a quasi-experiment with supplemental field notes, was conducted with 64 second intermediate grade school students (eighth grade). Participants were divided into two groups comprising 33 students in the experimental group, and 31 students in the control group. An ACNOVA test revealed that the average scores of achievement of the students taught using the example-problem pairs were higher than the average scores of the students who were taught using conventional teaching methods, with a very large effect size. Moreover, the qualitative findings revealed that the students taught using example-problem pairs were more engaged and took more responsibility for their learning than the students who were taught using conventional teaching methods. In addition, the students who lacked the necessary prerequisite knowledge needed more support than the higher achieving students. The implications of the study were discussed.

Senior High School Students’ Mathematical Problem Solving Of Three-Variable Linear Equation System

The aim of this research is to find the difficulties of students in solving word problems in the three-variable linear equation systems subject. Before they took a mathematical problem-solving exam, the learners were given reinforcement of prerequisite knowledge of the intended subject. The problem-solving test indicators used in this study were taken from Polya's problem-solving steps consisting of (1) recognizing the question, (2) making a plan for problem-solving (developing a plan), (3) implementing the plan for problem-solving, and (4) looking back. The research method used in this study was a qualitative descriptive. The subject in this study was 15 students who were 10 th graders of senior high school. The data were obtained from a student performance who took mathematical problems solving test. The result obtained from this study can be seen from the number of students whose achievement indicators formulate a plan of 49.6%, achievement in completing plans 14.1%, and achievement in checking solutions 2.2%. However, the indicators of understanding the problem area in the good category, namely 80%. The result of this study showed that the students were only able to solve the word problems for understanding the problem (good category) and devising the plan steps (mediocre category), whereas they got difficulties in solving the word problems in carrying out the plan and looking back (low category).

Exploring readiness of learners to transfer training: an interactionist approach

PurposePurpose of this study is to investigate the role of learner readiness in enhancing transfer of training by empirically testing a moderated mediation mechanism in which learner readiness influences transfer through motivation to transfer, and this indirect impact is moderated by supervisor support.Design/methodology/approachThe perception of trainees about the constructs considered has been captured through a survey of 250 employees of a unit of a manufacturing organization in India. For hypotheses testing, PROCESS macro developed by Hayes (2013) has been used.FindingsResults have confirmed the significant role played by learner readiness in predicting transfer. This apart, supervisor support has been proved to moderate the indirect impact of learner readiness on transfer.Practical implicationsTrainees need to have pre-requisite knowledge to learn the content of a training programme, which would enable them to grasp such content and transfer the same subsequently to work. It is also essential that trainees are willing to attend any training voluntarily. Specific interventions may be designed for supervisors to bolster their catalytic role in training transfer.Originality/valueAn interactionist approach has been adopted by focussing on learner readiness as a less-studied trainee characteristic and supervisor support as a situational factor of transfer. This is construed as a significant contribution of this study to training literature. The potential overlap between learner readiness and motivation to transfer as trainee characteristics is seen to be neutralized by the presence of supervisor support as a moderator. Findings help in understanding how a trainee’s readiness and motivation, together with supervisor’s positive attitude, can enhance transfer.

Teachers’ Perceptions of First-Year Implementation of Computer Science Curriculum in Middle School: How We Can Support CS Initiatives

Incorporating computer science (CS) into K–12 education has been highlighted in recent years as an important way to promote computational thinking skills. The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ experiences with a new CS curriculum and address challenges to teachers during implementation. This study was designed to evaluate CS curriculum implementation in order to inform CS practices. Interview and survey data were collected and analyzed. Findings showed that teachers had high confidence in teaching CS; however, they sought professional development to acquire content knowledge and instructional strategies to effectively engage students in learning. As for the curriculum and students, the scope of the curriculum needed to be adjusted along with students’ prerequisite skills and knowledge. As for the context, some schools did not have appropriate facilities. Recommendations for implementing CS curricula and implications are discussed.

A Step-by-Step Process on Sample Size Determination for Medical Research.

Determination of a minimum sample size required for a study is a major consideration which all researchers are confronted with at the early stage of developing a research protocol. This is because the researcher will need to have a sound prerequisite knowledge of inferential statistics in order to enable him/her to acquire a thorough understanding of the overall concept of a minimum sample size requirement and its estimation. Besides type I error and power of the study, some estimates for effect sizes will also need to be determined in the process to calculate or estimate the sample size. The appropriateness in calculating or estimating the sample size will enable the researchers to better plan their study especially pertaining to recruitment of subjects. To facilitate a researcher in estimating the appropriate sample size for their study, this article provides some recommendations for researchers on how to determine the appropriate sample size for their studies. In addition, several issues related to sample size determination were also discussed.

ROLE OF ENTREPRENEUR’S COMPETENCE ON GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

The study endeavored to determine the role of entrepreneur’s competence on growth of small and medium enterprises. The specific objectives of the study were to; establish entrepreneur’s competence small and medium enterprises in Bungoma County, examine the growth of small and medium enterprises in Bungoma county and to determine the relationship between entrepreneur’s competence and growth of small and medium enterprises. The study used a combination of descriptive, cross-sectional and correlation research designs and data was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire on 201 SMEs. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The resource-based theory was used to guide this research. The study findings indicated that the grand mean for entrepreneur’s competence was low with a mean of 2.23 with a SD of 0.50. The implications of the findings is that SMEs operators in Bungoma county lack the prerequisite entrepreneurial skills and knowledge affecting their growth save for resource mobilization. It was also found that the grand mean for growth of SMEs was low with a mean of 1.96 and SD of 0.58. The implication of the findings was that SMEs were performing dismally affecting their graduation/transition to the next higher level. The study results also found that there was a significant relationship between entrepreneur’s competence and growth of SMEs with p. value 0.000. The study concluded that SMEs should embrace relevant competence skills to enable them operated growth oriented enterprises which can graduate to higher levels thereby contributing to improved social and economic life of the operators and the nation at large. The study recommended that owner managers of SMEs to attend trainings on resource mobilization and innovation so as to acquire adequate resource mobilization and innovation skills and differentiate themselves in the market place to grow their enterprises. The study further recommended that government to put in place entrepreneurship policy to nurture business startups through mentorship, motivation and attitude change as they walk through entrepreneurship journey.
 Keywords: Entrepreneur’s Competence, Growth, Small and Medium Enterprises

Prerequisite knowledge and time of testing in learning with animations and static pictures: Evidence for the expertise reversal effect

An animation can have an informational advantage over a static picture by depicting dynamic features. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the provision of prerequisite knowledge can help learners infer dynamic features from a static picture. It was assumed that this supposedly more active processing with a static picture would result in longer lasting knowledge representations. A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design with visualization format (static picture vs. animation), prerequisite knowledge (provided vs. not provided), and time of testing (immediate vs. one week later) was used (N = 260). The results of a transfer test showed that learners with low prerequisite knowledge benefited from the animation, but this was not the case for learners with high prerequisite knowledge. Time of testing had no influence. In line with the expertise reversal effect, prerequisite knowledge not only fostered learning with the static picture but also hindered learning with the animation.

Cross-sectional approach for diagnosing student’s learning progression in relation to pre-requisite knowledge of buffer solution

Buffer Solution is one of the complex concepts in chemistry since it involves many prerequisite concepts such as acid and base, chemical equilibrium, and stoichiometry. These concepts also need sequent students’ understanding of the chemical equation, chemical nomenclature, and atomic symbol. Their difficulty in comprehending prerequisite knowledge will affect the learning progression. This research aims to diagnose learning progression and the causes of the learning progression block of senior high school students on the buffer solution. Learning progression of 82 X grade, 80 XI grade, and 80 XII grade students were identified by a structured diagnostic test of chemistry using a cross-sectional approach. This research figure out that the learning progression of the student was not as expected since they cannot mastering buffer solution well particularly in buffer solution component, pH of buffer solution, and pH maintaining mechanism because of their difficulty in understanding chemical equilibrium and ionization reaction.

A pilot study to understand faculty and student needs for undergraduate medical education simulation sequencing in the United Arab Emirates.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Introduction: The use of simulation-based education in undergraduate medical education has many advantages. Purposeful planning of the sequence of simulation sessions within the curriculum is necessary for complex simulation exercises. This requires pre-session completion of prerequisite knowledge. Methods: Two surveys were conducted. An electronic survey was sent to faculty involved in simulation at UAE medical schools (n=29). The faculty survey addressed the simulation sessions planning process, sequencing of simulation topics, and institutional simulation team structure. The second survey was administered via paper to final year medical students from Dubai Medical College (DMC) who received simulation sessions (n=22). The survey addressed completion of prerequisite knowledge, receipt of the session objectives, and psychological safety and overall session ratings. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively. Responses to open ended questions were analyzed thematically. Results: The faculty response rate was (21/29: 72.4%). Only (7/21: 33.3%) faculty members indicated there was prior planning to ensure proper sequencing within the curriculum. Only (3/21: 14.2%) indicated that simulation topics were chosen based on curriculum gaps. A small percentage (3/21: 14.2%) reported working with other faculty and an instructional designer. Qualitative themes included barriers to planning, structural considerations, and factors for successful simulation integration. The student response rate was 100%. Only (4/22:18.2%) of students completed the required pre-session prerequisite knowledge. Most students (18/22: 81.8%) received the session objectives prior to the simulation session. Qualitative themes included lack of completion of pre-requisite knowledge prior to the session, absence of learning objectives, and technical issues. Conclusion: This study highlights the gap in adequate sequencing of complex simulation scenarios within the curriculum. This is mainly due to the lack of completion of the required prerequisite knowledge prior to the session. Such complex integration requires adequate planning and collaboration of the simulation team with key stakeholders including faculty, the curriculum committee, and instructional designers.

Design of Compact Planar Lowpass Filters by Using Fragment-Type Structure With Multi-Bit Scheme

A novel design method for compact planar lowpass filter (LPF) with prominent roll-off rate and wide stopband suppression is proposed by using fragment-type structures (FTS) with multi-bit scheme. The proposed multi-bit FTS design has the potential to achieve higher LPF performance at higher optimization efficiency, without any prerequisite knowledge about the pivotal LPF structures needed in conventional LPF designs. The definition of multi-bit FTS and the implementation of LPF design with multi-bit FTS scheme are presented in detail. Compared to the LPF design with 1-bit FTS, the 2-bit FTS design may use smaller decision space, take fewer iterations in multi-objective optimization searching, and yet achieve sharper roll-off rate, higher stopband suppression and a wider stopband. For demonstration, planar LPFs on PCB using the 1-bit FTS and 2-bit FTS are designed and tested. The 2-bit FTS design yields a sharp roll-off rate of 123.3 dB/GHz, a relative stopband bandwidth of 165% referred to stopband suppression of 20 dB, and a high figure-of-merit of 21060. Effects of the geometry parameters of the 2-bit elements are further discussed to give some guide rule on using the 2-bit FTS design.

STRATEGIES USED TO TEACH GRADE 11 FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN ONE DISTRICT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Accounting curriculum is constantly changing because of the persistent shifts in the discipline emanating from the developments in the profession. This paper explores teaching strategies used by accounting teachers to teach Grade 11 Financial Accounting in one district in South Africa. A qualitative case study was used to allow for an in-depth understanding of the strategies used to teach Financial Accounting by talking to and observing four Accounting teachers directly. The Grade 11 Accounting teachers were conveniently and purposively sampled from four schools. Semi-structured individual interviews and lesson observations were used as data generation methods. The data were then analyzed by identifying various themes that respond to the research question. The findings of the study revealed that teachers understand that Accounting is a unique practical subject with its own language. As a result, they used a variety of teaching strategies to enhance teaching and learning of the subject. What emerged from the findings is that, because of sequencing of knowledge, some topics build on each other and cannot be taught without first teaching other topics. Teachers insisted on determining learners understanding of foundational or prerequisite knowledge that was crucial in reinforcing learning of new concepts. Because teachers regarded Accounting is a practical subject that necessitates regular practice, teachers used frequent and different assessment tasks to consolidate learning of new knowledge.

Pediatric Cardiothoracic CT Guideline Provided by the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging Congenital Heart Disease Study Group: Part 2. Contemporary Clinical Applications.

The use of pediatric cardiothoracic CT for congenital heart disease (CHD) was traditionally limited to the morphologic evaluation of the extracardiac thoracic vessels, lungs, and airways. Currently, the applications of CT have increased, owing to technological advancements in hardware and software as well as several dose-reduction measures. In the previously published part 1 of the guideline by the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging Congenital Heart Disease Study Group, we reviewed the prerequisite technical knowledge for clinical applications in a user-friendly and vendor-specific manner. Herein, we present the second part of our guideline on contemporary clinical applications of pediatric cardiothoracic CT for CHD based on the consensus of experts from the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging CHD Study Group. This guideline describes up-to-date clinical applications effectively in a systematic fashion.

Neuronal Quantification of Subthalamic Nucleus in Adult Human Cadaveric Brain- A Histological Study

Introduction: The Subthalamic Nucleus (STN) has emerged as a preferred target site for deep brain stimulation for various neurological disorders. There is scarcity of literature on the internal structure of subthalamic nucleus. Aim: To study its microanatomy and quantification of its various cells in different age groups. Materials and Methods: The study design of the current study is of cross-sectional type which was done on 30 cadaveric brains in Anatomy department of Lady Hardinge medical college, New Delhi which were divided into three age groups ranging from 20 to >50 years. The subthalamic nucleus was fixed and subjected to standard tissue processing procedure. The sections were stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E), Nissl and Haggqvist staining. The neurons and neuroglia were studied in 25 representative areas, measuring 75166 μm2 in each age group, using the upright binocular optical microscope and image analysis software. The number of neurons and neuroglia with their ratio was calculated and results were statistically analysed using Microsoft Excel software (2010 version). Results: Three types of neurons were identified as multipolar, fusiform and pear-shaped neurons. The ratio of neuroglia to neurons in the three age groups was calculated as: Group A-9.197, Group B-9.274 and Group C-10.478. A p-value of 0.04 was observed on comparing the neuronal and neuroglial density in Group A and C, demonstrating a significant increase in the density of neuroglia with age. Conclusion: The results obtained in the present study can provide prerequisite knowledge to anatomists, pathologists, and neurosurgeons for detection of various pathologies and interventional procedures, respectively.

Preservice Science Teachers’ Perceptions towards Scientists

The aim of the research is to determine the perceptions of preservice science teachers, participated course named History and Nature of Science taught with explicit-reflective approach, towards scientists. It is also to reveal the expectations of participants from the scientists in the context of social contribution. For this aim the study is planned in a phenomenological design. Participants of the study consisted of 32 science teachers who were studying in the 3rd grade. In the research process, video demonstrations, lecturing by questioning and answering methods, article review studies, activities related to the nature of science and sharing reflections about the activities were done. In this way, participants were provided with the necessary prerequisite knowledge within the scope of the study. Drawing, “A New Society” activity questions and structured interview form were used as data collection tools. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data obtained in the study. As a result of the analysis of the data, preservice teachers' perceptions about scientists were found to be compatible with the literature in the categories of physical and personal characteristics, study areas, working environments and social contribution of scientists. However, differently the literature, scientists' perceptions regarding their gender are perceived equally rates for women and men.

Review of continuum mechanics and its history. Part I: Deformation and stress. Conservation laws. Constitutive equations

This is a review of continuum mechanics and its history, citing its original sources. It "bridges"' the contributions of Bernoulli, Euler, Lagrange, Cauchy, Helmholtz, St. Venant, Stokes, Fresnel, Cesaro, and others, written in a period of two centuries in 5 languages, in a coherent and historically accurate presentation in the contemporary notation. The only prerequisite knowledge to understand the paper is advanced calculus and elementary differential equations. Some valuable, but little known, results are reviewed in detail, like the exact solution of Cesaro to the system of differential equations which every continuous medium obeys, as well as his derivation of the conditions of St. Venant for compatibility of the deformations. The last section presents the contemporary applications of continuum mechanics. The review continues with Part~II. The Mechanics of Thermoelastic Media. Perfect Fluids, reference [45]. It discusses the consequences of Navier's system of linear elasticity and approaches for its solution. It also gives a perspective of how waves propagate in continuous media. Reviewed are perfect fluids and linearly viscous fluids. At the end, Part II discusses the conditions for compatibility of the stresses.

Multiple Source Direction of Arrival Estimations Using Relative Sound Pressure Based MUSIC

Subspace approach of MUSIC (multiple signal classication) has become one of the most popular multi-source direction of arrival (DOA) estimations due to its easy implementation in practice. However, its localization accuracy is vulnerable to noise. This paper develops a novel MUSIC algorithm, more suitable in noisy environments, using the relative sound pressure measurements of a higher order microphone array. This proposed MUSIC approach is also decomposed into the spherical harmonics domain where a frequency smoothing technique is allowed to de-correlate the coherent source signals for improved localization accuracy. The proposed algorithm is also capable of estimating the number of active sound sources, which is pre-requisite knowledge for the traditional MUSIC approach. Extensive experimental results in diverse environments using both simulated and real recordings show advantages of the proposed algorithm over the traditional MUSIC method as well as another recently proposed multi-source localization approach.

STUDENTS’ REFLECTIVE ABSTRACTION ABILITY ON LINEAR ALGEBRA PROBLEM SOLVING AND RELATIONSHIP WITH PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE

This study aims to describe the achievement of the ability of students' reflective abstraction in solving Linear Algebra problems and the relationship with prerequisite knowledge. The important of this research because the characteristic of Linear Algebra requiring reflectif abstraction skill that must be support by the prerequisite knowledge. The reflective abstraction abilities studied in this study are level, i.e.1) recognition,2) representation, 3) structural abstraction, and 4) structural awareness. These stages are adjusted to Polya's problem solving stages, namely: understanding the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and looking back. This type of research is descriptive-quantitative. The subjects of this study were students of the Mathematics Education Study Program, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung Indonesia. Collecting data through tests and interviews, data were analyzed with percentage and the pearson product-moment correlation.The results showed that the achievement level consisiting of ) recognition,2) representation, 3) structural abstraction, and 4) structural awareness of the students’ reflective abstraction abilities on linear algebra problem solving are very good, this can be seen from the percentage achieved at stages of the recognition,the representation,the structural abstraction, and the structural awareness which is associated with Polya problem solving measures above an average of 73,31% (moderat category); there are relationship between students' reflective abstraction abilities and their prerequisite knowledge; and prerequisite knowledge influences the students’reflective abstraction abilities