Specific Learning Materials Research Articles

Pengembangan Perangkat Pembelajaran Pembuktian Menggunakan Model Pembelajaran Guided Inquiry untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Geometri Siswa Sekolah Menengah Atas

Mathematical proof is one aspect that must be considered in learning mathematics in school. One of the obstacles that students experience on geometry is the difficulty of constructing proof. The specific learning materials are not available yet. To achieve that goal required a learning materials for teaching mathematical proof using Guided Inquiry model. This research is a developmental research using ADDIE model consisting of five stages, namely Analyze, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation stage. The experimental subjects in this study were one class of students at year 12 at one of senior high school at Banda Aceh. Based on the results obtained that the learning materials consisting of lesson plan, students’ worksheet, handout, and test are categorized as valid, practical, and effective. The recommandation of this study is learning materials can be implemented for teaching mathematical proof in senior high school.

A Personalized Group-Based Recommendation Approach for Web Search in E-Learning

The unprecedented growth of the Internet, its pervasive accessibility, and ease of use have increased students’ dependencies on the Web for quick search and retrieval of learning resources. However, current search engines tend to rely on the correct keywords. This excludes other characteristics, such as the individual’s learning capability and readiness for specific learning materials. As a result, the same set of search-keywords delivers the same search results. This situation hinders the optimization of the Web search engines in supporting the heterogeneity of its users in their learning endeavors. This paper aims to address the issue. It attempts to augment Web search engines with personalized recommendations of search results which match students’ learning competencies and behaviors. The results drawn from our experiments suggest that our novel approach can provide a notable improvement in terms of performance and satisfaction for the students.

Investigating Optimal Memory Enhancement Procedures in Foreign Language Learning

SummaryWe investigated the effects of learning schedule and multi‐modality stimulus presentation on foreign language vocabulary learning. In Experiment 1, participants learned German vocabulary words utilizing three learning methods that were organized either in a blocked or interleaved fashion. We found interleaving with the keyword mnemonic and rote study advantageous over blocking, but retrieval practice was better served in a blocked schedule. It is likely that the excessively delayed feedback for the retrieval practice in the interleaved practice schedule impeded learning while the spacing involved in the interleaved schedule enhanced learning in the keyword mnemonic and rote study. In Experiment 2, we examined whether a multi‐modality stimulus presentation from visual and auditory channels is better suited for aiding learning over a visual presentation condition. We found benefits of multi‐modality presentation only for the keyword mnemonic condition, presumably because the nature of the keyword mnemonic involving sound and visualization was particularly relevant with the multi‐modality presentation. The present study suggests that optimal foreign language learning environments should incorporate learning schedules and multimedia presentations based on specific learning methods and materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Disability-aware adaptive and personalised learning for students with multiple disabilities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address how virtual learning environments (VLEs) can be designed to include the needs of learners with multiple disabilities. Specifically, it employs AI to show how specific learning materials from a huge repository of learning materials can be recommended to learners with various disabilities. This is made possible through employing semantic web technology to model the learner and their needs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews personalised learning for students with disabilities, revealing the shortcomings of existing e-learning environments with respect to students with multiple disabilities. It then proceeds to show how the needs of a student with multiple disabilities can be analysed and then simple logical operators and knowledge-based rules used to personalise learning materials in order to meet the needs of such students.FindingsIt has been acknowledged in literature that designing for cases of multiple disabilities is difficult. This paper shows that existing learning environments do not consider the needs of students with multiple disabilities. As they are not flexibly designed and hence not adaptable, they cannot meet the needs of such students. Nevertheless, it is possible to anticipate that students with multiple disabilities would use learning environments, and then design learning environments to meet their needs.Practical implicationsThis paper, by presenting various combination rules to present specific learning materials to students with multiple disabilities, lays the foundation for the design and development of learning environments that are inclusive of all learners, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. This could potentially stimulate designers of such systems to produce such inclusive environments. Hopefully, future learning environments will be adaptive enough to meet the needs of learners with multiple disabilities.Social implicationsThis paper, by proposing a solution towards developing inclusive learning environments, is a step towards inclusion of students with multiple disabilities in VLEs. When these students are able to access these environments with little or no barrier, they will be included in the learning community and also make valuable contributions.Originality/valueSo far, no study has proposed a solution to the difficulties faced by students with multiple disabilities in existing learning environments. This study is the first to raise this issue and propose a solution to designing for multiple disabilities. This will hopefully encourage other researchers to delve into researching the educational needs of students with multiple disabilities.

Qualitative investigation into students’ use of divergence and curl in electromagnetism

Many students struggle with the use of mathematics in physics courses. Although typically well trained in rote mathematical calculation, they often lack the ability to apply their acquired skills to physical contexts. Such student difficulties are particularly apparent in undergraduate electrodynamics, which relies heavily on the use of vector calculus. To gain insight into student reasoning when solving problems involving divergence and curl, we conducted eight semistructured individual student interviews. During these interviews, students discussed the divergence and curl of electromagnetic fields using graphical representations, mathematical calculations, and the differential form of Maxwell’s equations. We observed that while many students attempt to clarify the problem by making a sketch of the electromagnetic field, they struggle to interpret graphical representations of vector fields in terms of divergence and curl. In addition, some students confuse the characteristics of field line diagrams and field vector plots. By interpreting our results within the conceptual blending framework, we show how a lack of conceptual understanding of the vector operators and difficulties with graphical representations can account for an improper understanding of Maxwell’s equations in differential form. Consequently, specific learning materials based on a multiple representation approach are required to clarify Maxwell’s equations.Received 8 June 2016DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020134Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasConcepts & principlesInstructional materials developmentInstructional strategiesLearning theoryResearch methodologyScientific reasoning & problem solvingPhysics Education Research

Facilitating Learning Resource Retrieval for Students with Disabilities through an Ontology-Driven and Disability-Aware Virtual Learning Environment

Existing virtual learning environments (VLEs) in educational institutions are not designed with the expectation that students with disabilities will use them. Consequently, retrieving relevant information by some students with disabilities is a challenging task. The focus of this study was to propose the design of VLEs to incorporate ontologies that facilitate information retrieval by students with disabilities in their learning, thus serving as a semantic web-based assistive technology in education. An Ontology-Driven Disability-Aware Personalised E-Learning System (ONTODAPS) was designed and then used to recommend specific learning materials to learners based on their learning goal and disability type. Preliminary results of the evaluation of ONTODAPS, by 30 students with disabilities, indicate that 70% of the participants found ONTODAPS to offer a better personalisation, better access to learning materials (68%) and is easier to use (63%) in retrieving learning materials than Sakai. Thus ONTODAPS serves as an assistive tool in their education through retrieval of relevant learning materials in a suitable format which is compatible with their disability.

Occupational orientation in chemistry-based learning environments

The research presented in this paper describes the German project “Career and Science Navigator (CSN)”. This project ties in with previous studies, which indicate that it is necessary to include occupational orientation more strongly into science education. For this purpose, the CSN project developed some specific learning materials and learning environments. These learning environments were implemented into practice and then evaluated with the help of a questionnaire based on a career choice model, which has proven useful in earlier research. The CSN intervention was able to bridge the gap between chemistry education and the area of occupational orientation. It thus contributes to supporting young people in finding a meaningful perspective for their lives. Additionally the CSN conception offers a way to make science lessons more attractive to young people by directly referring to the students’ everyday and future life.

Learning clinical skills in the simulation suite: the lived experiences of student nurses involved in peer teaching and peer assessment

The benefits of peer teaching and assessment are well documented within nurse education literature. However, research to date has predominantly focused on the advantages and disadvantages for the inexperienced learner, with a dearth of knowledge relating to the perceptions of senior nursing students involved in teaching their peers. This study sought to investigate the student experience of taking part in a peer teaching and assessment initiative to include the perceptions of both first year nursing students and second/third year participants. Data were collected via open-ended questionnaires and analysed with qualitative 'Framework' analysis. This initiative received a generally positive response both from students being taught and also from those acting as facilitators. Perceived benefits included the social learning experience, development of teaching skills, self-awareness and the opportunity to communicate both good and bad news. Suggestions for improvement included additional time working in small groups, specific supplementary learning materials and the introduction of peer teaching and assessment into other areas of the Adult Nursing Programme. Peer teaching and assessment principles represent valuable strategies which can be utilised in nurse education to develop clinical skills and prepare nurses for real-life scenarios. Further research needs to investigate how to enhance the student learning experience and to fully exploit the potential for simulated experience to prepare students for their future role as registered nurses in clinical practice.

An Integrated Course Design Model for Beginning Faculty

It is rare that faculty members begin their first full-time teaching position with an integrated and consciously constructed practical model for course design, teaching, and learning. The purpose of this article is to offer new faculty members a starting point for constructing an integrated model of the course design and teaching and learning processes. The model begins with the instructor’s choice of course learning goals, objectives, and outcomes and progresses through the translation of those learning goals and objectives into articulated evaluation and feedback rubrics, the choice of specific learning activities and materials reflected in a learner-centered syllabus, the conduct of the in-class activities, and the choices of learning assessments. These elements are highly interactive and iterative, as well as contextualized with respect to such issues as course location in a program, class size, student learning development and diversity, and individual faculty differences. We provide resources and us...

Training Self-Regulated Learning in the Classroom: Development and Evaluation of Learning Materials to Train Self-Regulated Learning during Regular Mathematics Lessons at Primary School

The aim of the intervention based on the self-regulation theory by Zimmerman (2000) was to promote a powerful learning environment for supporting self-regulated learning by using learning materials. In the study, primary school teachers were asked to implement specific learning materials into their regular mathematics lessons in grade four. These learning materials focused on particular (meta)cognitive and motivational components of self-regulated learning and were subdivided into six units, with which the students of the experimental group were asked to deal with on a weekly basis. The evaluation was based on a quasiexperimental pre-/postcontrol-group design combined with a time series design. Altogether, 135 fourth graders participated in the study. The intervention was evaluated by a self-regulated learning questionnaire, mathematics test, and process data gathered through structured learning diaries for a period of six weeks. The results revealed that students with the self-regulated learning training maintained their level of self-reported self-regulated learning activities from pre- to posttest, whereas a significant decline was observed for the control students. Regarding students’ mathematical achievement, a slightly greater improvement was found for the students with self-regulated learning training.

A Comparative Analysis of Online Learning Materials Aimed Toward Integrating Great Lakes Science Into the K-8 Classroom

We surveyed the use of Great Lakes online learning materials by a sample of K-8 teachers. Analyses tested for correlation of use with 1) whether teachers learned about the resources in pre- or in-service education, 2) geographical significance, and 3) whether teachers taught about the topics emphasized in the online learning materials. We compared findings for the Great Lakes to an ocean resource (BRIDGE) and more general Earth System Science online learning materials. Teachers reported using the Internet for teaching and planning. However, very few teachers reported using Great Lakes materials, BRIDGE, and most of the generalized online learning materials. The exception was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service webpage, used by >50% of respondents. Teachers who learned how to use online learning materials in pre-service or in-service education were more likely to use them in-service. There was no significant effect of geographic proximity to the Great Lakes or ocean on the likelihood that a teacher used particular materials. Teaching about the Great Lakes was a necessary, but not sufficient condition for using Great Lakes online learning materials. The results indicate that teacher education is a key to inclusion of specific online learning materials in K-8 education.

A mining-based approach on discovering courses pattern for constructing suitable learning path

In recent years, browser has become one of the most popular tools for searching information on the Internet. Although a person can conveniently find and download specific learning materials to gain fragmented knowledge, most of the materials are imperfect and have no particular order in the content. Therefore, most of the self-directed learners spend most of time in surveying and choosing the right learning materials collected from the Internet. This paper develops a web-based learning support system that harnesses two approaches, the learning path constructing approach and the learning object recommending approach. With collected documents and a learning subject from a learner, the system first discovers some candidate courses by using a data mining approach based on the Apriori algorithm. Next, the leaning path constructing approach, based on the Formal Concept Analysis, builds a Concept Lattice, using keywords extracted from some selected documents, to form a relationship hierarchy of all the concepts represented by the keywords. It then uses FCA to further compute mutual relationships among documents to decide a suitable learning path. For a chosen learning path, the support system uses both the preference-based and the correlation-based algorithms for recommending the most suitable learning objects or documents for each unit of the courses in order to facilitate more efficient learning for the learner. This e-learning support system can be embedded in any information retrieval system for surfers to do more efficient learning on the Internet.

An evaluation of the learning of structural engineering concepts during the first two years of a project-based engineering degree

In the modern working environment it is essential for a structural engineer to have an understanding of abstract concepts in structural behaviour and an ability to use them qualitatively. This paper presents the findings of a study on how effectively students acquire such conceptual understanding within a new project/design focused degree course. The new degree programme is described. The first-year students experience a mixture of learning opportunities, including model building/testing, laboratories, workshops/tutorials, and lectures. In the second year there are two design exercises but no formal structural theory course. Specific concepts-based learning material was introduced into the first-year course at mid-semester and the effectiveness of this examined by tests and interviews. The performance of the first-year students is compared to that of the second-year students. The findings show that there is good student engagement and satisfaction with the course and that basic skills are successfully being acquired throughout both years. However, the study highlights areas where concepts are not being adequately developed in the first year and subsequently show little enhancement in the second year.

Results of an interview study as basis for the development of stepped supporting tools for stoichiometric problems

In recent years many research studies investigated students’ misconceptions in stoichiometry, and problem solving strategies on stoichiometric problems. Additionally, alternative approaches for teaching this issue of chemistry were developed. However, among students and teachers this topic is still regarded as being difficult and unmotivating. Our approach is to combine (qualitative) investigations with the development and evaluation of specific teaching and learning material. To help students working on stoichiometric problems, we developed a set of stepped supporting tools (SST), based on the results of an interview study investigating the phases of the solution processes of German secondary school students (grade 9) on these problems. Resulting from students’ difficulties detected in the interviews, which were in good agreement to those described in the literature, four different types of SST were developed, (1) giving general instructions on how to tackle (these) problems, (2) showing the steps of the solution process, (3) advising students how to carry these steps out and finally (4) providing them with a glossary of important terms. The method seems also to be applicable to other topics in chemistry, raising the prospect of a catalogue of SST for other problems, too. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2007, 8 (1), 13-31]

Xgrain – a case study

Purpose – The paper looks at X‐grain, a tool developed for cross‐searching abstract and indexing (A&I) services in the JISC Information Environment.Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes X‐grain and its development and uses. Findings – X‐grain utilises Athens authentication and allows the user to search resources available to them without needing to know what those resources are in advance. Web, Z39.50 and XML‐based interfaces are available. The project also developed reusable, non‐Xgrain specific learning and teaching materials on cross‐searching and other information research skills.Originality/value – The paper is useful to those thinking about using Xgrain.

The Effect of Dynamic and Static Visuals on the Recall and Comprehension of Information Using Computer-Based Instruction

This study refutes the large body of research which provides strong evidence that static illustrations do facilitate learning for computer-based instruction. It further specifies that the conditions where animated visuals appear to facilitate learning are when the visual animated graphics are properly designed to be congruent to the context of the text content being presented, the visual animated graphics use motion as a critical attribute or for drawing the learners’ attention to specific learning material, and the material is sufficiently complex that a verbal description alone is not adequate to cause the learner to form internal visual images to help structure the information. However, the case for animated graphics was not supported based on the results of this study.

Motivacija pri izobraževanju na daljavo

Motivacija je ena najpomembnejših psihičnih funkcij, ki omogoča ljudem, da se učijo tudi v manj ugodnih razmerah. Pri izobraževanju na da­ljavo, ki je oblika samostojnega učenja, je moti­vacija izredno pomembna. Pri učenju po tej meto­di namreč odpadejo skoraj vse socialne spodbude, posameznik se mora spodbujati sam in sam spre­jemati študijske odločitve. Te posebnosti je pri organizaciji izobraževanja na daljavo treba upoštevati in vključevati vse dejavnike, ki spodbujajo motiviranost udeležencev. Motiviranost pri izobraževanju na daljavo lahko spodbujamo pred­ vsem s posebej za to izdelanimi učnimi gradivi, nazornimi navodili in priporočili, učinkovito povratno informacijo, osebnim stikom med men­torjem in udeležencem, spodbudnimi pismi, tele­fonskimi pogovori in z vzdrževanjem pozitivnega razmerja med mentorjem in udeležencem izobraževanja.