Use of Study Guide as Intervention Tool in Enhancing Students' Motivation in Grade 8 Genetics Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balan, Hazel R.

2018-01-01

Genetics is considered as one of the topics in science that students have difficulty and trouble in understanding. This study used study guide as an intervention tool to address the difficulties of students in learning genetics concepts. The main purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of students on the effectiveness of study guide…

Views of Classroom Teachers Concerning Students with Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kayabasi, Zehra Esra Ketenoglu

2017-01-01

This study aimed to try to understand the views and attitudes of classroom teachers concerning students with reading difficulties. Data was collected using the semi-structured interview technique, which is among the qualitative data collection techniques. The researcher prepared a semi-structured interview with 5 questions to be addressed to…

Getting to Evo-Devo: Concepts and Challenges for Students Learning Evolutionary Developmental Biology

PubMed Central

Hiatt, Anna; Davis, Gregory K.; Trujillo, Caleb; Terry, Mark; French, Donald P.; Price, Rebecca M.; Perez, Kathryn E.

2013-01-01

To examine how well biology majors have achieved the necessary foundation in evolution, numerous studies have examined how students learn natural selection. However, no studies to date have examined how students learn developmental aspects of evolution (evo-devo). Although evo-devo plays an increasing role in undergraduate biology curricula, we find that instruction often addresses development cursorily, with most of the treatment embedded within instruction on evolution. Based on results of surveys and interviews with students, we suggest that teaching core concepts (CCs) within a framework that integrates supporting concepts (SCs) from both evolutionary and developmental biology can improve evo-devo instruction. We articulate CCs, SCs, and foundational concepts (FCs) that provide an integrative framework to help students master evo-devo concepts and to help educators address specific conceptual difficulties their students have with evo-devo. We then identify the difficulties that undergraduates have with these concepts. Most of these difficulties are of two types: those that are ubiquitous among students in all areas of biology and those that stem from an inadequate understanding of FCs from developmental, cell, and molecular biology. PMID:24006397

Teaching about Mechanical Waves and Sound with a Tuning Fork and the Sun

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leccia, Silvio; Colantonio, Arturo; Puddu, Emanuella; Galano, Silvia; Testa, Italo

2015-01-01

Literature in "Physics Education" has shown that students encounter many difficulties in understanding wave propagation. Such difficulties lead to misconceptions also in understanding sound, often used as context to teach wave propagation. To address these issues, we present in this paper a module in which the students are engaged in…

Considerations of Numbers Used in Tasks for Promoting Multiplicative Reasoning in Students with Learning Difficulties in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Risley, Rachael Ann

2016-01-01

This study explored the impact of numbers used in instructional tasks on the construction and generalization of multiplicative reasoning by fourth grade students designated as having learning difficulties or disabilities in mathematics (SLDs). In particular, this study addressed the following research questions: (1) In what ways do SLDs'…

Addressing Individual Difficulties in Reading: Issues Relating to Reading Recovery and Pause, Prompt, Praise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wearmouth, Janice

2004-01-01

Recently the DfES has issued guidance on ways to address the needs of students who experience difficulties in literacy through Wave Three provision in the National Literacy Strategy (DfES, 2002). This guidance raises the issue of what kind of programmes might be initiated in mainstream schools that will improve what is available generally for…

Educator perspectives on the postsecondary transition difficulties of students with autism.

PubMed

Elias, Rebecca; Muskett, Ashley E; White, Susan W

2017-10-01

Addressing the challenges of adolescents and emerging adults with autism spectrum disorder is crucial to improving the outcomes of these students in the postsecondary setting. Although secondary and postsecondary educators and staff are critical to helping these students access services, there has been little investigation into the perspectives of this stakeholder group, with respect to the needs of postsecondary students with autism spectrum disorder. A series of focus groups was conducted with secondary and postsecondary educators to understand educator perspectives related to the challenges faced by postsecondary students with autism spectrum disorder. Competence, autonomy and independence, and the development and sustainment of interpersonal relationships emerged as primary areas of difficulty and corresponding need. Results suggest that targeted interventions addressing these areas should be implemented, prior to and during enrollment in a postsecondary setting, to facilitate transition in a comprehensive manner.

Reconsidering Learning Difficulties and Misconceptions in Chemistry: Emergence in Chemistry and Its Implications for Chemical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tümay, Halil

2016-01-01

Identifying students' misconceptions and learning difficulties and finding effective ways of addressing them has been one of the major concerns in chemistry education. However, the chemistry education community has paid little attention to determining discipline-specific aspects of chemistry that can lead to learning difficulties and…

Investigations of student understanding of entropy and of mixed second-order partial derivatives in upper-level thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bucy, Brandon R.

While much of physics education research (PER) has traditionally been conducted in introductory undergraduate courses, researchers have begun to study student understanding of physics concepts at the upper-level. In this dissertation, we describe investigations conducted in advanced undergraduate thermodynamics courses. We present and discuss results pertaining to student understanding of two topics: entropy and the role of mixed second-order partial derivatives in thermodynamics. Our investigations into student understanding of entropy consisted of an analysis of written student responses to researcher-designed diagnostic questions. Data gathered in clinical interviews is employed to illustrate and extend results gathered from written responses. The question sets provided students with several ideal gas processes, and asked students to determine and compare the entropy changes of these processes. We administered the question sets to students from six distinct populations, including students enrolled in classical thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, thermal physics, physical chemistry, and chemical engineering courses, as well as a sample of physics graduate students. Data was gathered both before and after instruction in several samples. Several noteworthy features of student reasoning are identified and discussed. These features include student ideas about entropy prior to instruction, as well as specific difficulties and other aspects of student reasoning evident after instruction. As an example, students from various populations tended to emphasize either the thermodynamic or the statistical definition of entropy. Both approaches present students with a unique set of benefits as well as challenges. We additionally studied student understanding of partial derivatives in a thermodynamics context. We identified specific difficulties related to the mixed second partial derivatives of a thermodynamic state function, based on an analysis of student responses to homework and exam problems. Students tended to set these partial derivatives identically equal to zero. Students also displayed difficulties in relating the physical description of a material property to a corresponding mathematical statement involving partial derivatives. We describe the development of a guided-inquiry tutorial activity designed to address these specific difficulties. This tutorial focused on the graphical interpretation of partial derivatives. Preliminary results suggest that the tutorial was effective in addressing several student difficulties related to partial derivatives.

Case Studies on Using Strengths and Interests to Address the Needs of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lanou, Aaron; Hough, Lauren; Powell, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

Students on the autism spectrum present with difficulties in a variety of areas, including social understanding, emotional regulation, academics, and behavior. Professionals working in the field of autism must identify and address these areas of need given each individual child's specific cognitive profiles. In this article the authors highlight…

Investigation Of Student Learning In Thermodynamics And Implications For Instruction In Chemistry And Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meltzer, David E.

2007-01-01

As part of an investigation into student learning of thermodynamics, we have probed the reasoning of students enrolled in introductory and advanced courses in both physics and chemistry. A particular focus of this work has been put on the learning difficulties encountered by physics, chemistry, and engineering students enrolled in an upper-level thermal physics course that included many topics also covered in physical chemistry courses. We have explored the evolution of students' understanding as they progressed from the introductory course through more advanced courses. Through this investigation we have gained insights into students' learning difficulties in thermodynamics at various levels. Our experience in addressing these learning difficulties may provide insights into analogous pedagogical issues in upper-level courses in both engineering and chemistry which focus on the theory and applications of thermodynamics.

An instructional design process based on expert knowledge for teaching students how mechanisms are explained.

PubMed

Trujillo, Caleb M; Anderson, Trevor R; Pelaez, Nancy J

2016-06-01

In biology and physiology courses, students face many difficulties when learning to explain mechanisms, a topic that is demanding due to the immense complexity and abstract nature of molecular and cellular mechanisms. To overcome these difficulties, we asked the following question: how does an instructor transform their understanding of biological mechanisms and other difficult-to-learn topics so that students can comprehend them? To address this question, we first reviewed a model of the components used by biologists to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms: the MACH model, with the components of methods (M), analogies (A), context (C), and how (H). Next, instructional materials were developed and the teaching activities were piloted with a physical MACH model. Students who used the MACH model to guide their explanations of mechanisms exhibited both improvements and some new difficulties. Third, a series of design-based research cycles was applied to bring the activities with an improved physical MACH model into biology and biochemistry courses. Finally, a useful rubric was developed to address prevalent student difficulties. Here, we present, for physiology and biology instructors, the knowledge and resources for explaining molecular and cellular mechanisms in undergraduate courses with an instructional design process aimed at realizing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching. Our four-stage process could be adapted to advance instruction with a range of models in the life sciences. Copyright © 2016 The American Physiological Society.

An instructional design process based on expert knowledge for teaching students how mechanisms are explained

PubMed Central

Anderson, Trevor R.; Pelaez, Nancy J.

2016-01-01

In biology and physiology courses, students face many difficulties when learning to explain mechanisms, a topic that is demanding due to the immense complexity and abstract nature of molecular and cellular mechanisms. To overcome these difficulties, we asked the following question: how does an instructor transform their understanding of biological mechanisms and other difficult-to-learn topics so that students can comprehend them? To address this question, we first reviewed a model of the components used by biologists to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms: the MACH model, with the components of methods (M), analogies (A), context (C), and how (H). Next, instructional materials were developed and the teaching activities were piloted with a physical MACH model. Students who used the MACH model to guide their explanations of mechanisms exhibited both improvements and some new difficulties. Third, a series of design-based research cycles was applied to bring the activities with an improved physical MACH model into biology and biochemistry courses. Finally, a useful rubric was developed to address prevalent student difficulties. Here, we present, for physiology and biology instructors, the knowledge and resources for explaining molecular and cellular mechanisms in undergraduate courses with an instructional design process aimed at realizing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching. Our four-stage process could be adapted to advance instruction with a range of models in the life sciences. PMID:27231262

The Effects of Cover, Copy, and Compare, Performance Feedback and Rewards on the Mathematical Calculation Skills of Students Identified with Math Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benson, Geetal

2013-01-01

This study examined the isolated effects of Cover, Copy and Compare (CCC) and the effects of CCC paired with performance feedback (CCC + PF) and rewards (CCC + RW) on the mathematical calculation skills of first grade students identified with math difficulty. Four research questions were addressed in this study. 1. Does Cover, Copy, and Compare…

A Critical Study of Language Minority Students' Participation in Language Communities in the Korean Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Miso; Kim, Tae-Young

2015-01-01

In South Korea, "Damunwha" students (students from multicultural family backgrounds) have difficulties at school because of others' derogatory perception of them and the different linguistic and cultural settings. In light of this issue, this paper addresses the "Damunwha" students' identities and participation within the…

Mentors also need support: a study on their difficulties and resources in medical schools.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Marina de Castro Nascimento; Bellodi, Patricia Lacerda

2012-01-01

Mentors have been recognized as important elements in the personal and professional development of medical students. However, few investigations have sought to understand their development, needs and difficulties. Our objective was to investigate the perceptions of a group of mentors regarding difficulties experienced over time and the resources used to face up to them. Qualitative exploratory study on mentors at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP). In the FMUSP Mentoring Program, mentors follow and guide students throughout the course, and are responsible for heterogeneous group of students, in relation to the academic year. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 FMUSP mentors. For many of the mentors, the difficulties related to initial doubts about the role, frustration with the students' attendance and overloading of daily tasks. To address such difficulties, these mentors used external resources and their own life experience and personal way of dealing with situations. Some mentors did not perceive difficulties for themselves or for students. Like in other mentoring programs, many difficulties perceived by mentors seem to be derived from the context of medical education itself. However, unlike in other experiences, FMUSP mentors do not feel that there is lack of support for their role, since this is regularly provided in the structure and dynamics of the program. The "difficulty in perceiving difficulties", presented by some mentors, demands further investigation for better and greater understanding.

Using research to enhance student learning in intermediate mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambrose, Bradley

2011-03-01

For many undergraduate physics majors the sophomore/junior level course in intermediate mechanics represents their first step beyond the introductory sequence. Over the past several years research has shown that intermediate mechanics students often encounter conceptual and reasoning difficulties similar to those that arise at the introductory level. Many difficulties suggest deeply-seated alternate conceptions, while others suggest loosely or spontaneously connected intuitions. Furthermore, students often do not connect the physics to the more sophisticated mathematics they are expected to use. This presentation will highlight results from research conducted at Grand Valley State University, the University of Maine (by co-PI Michael Wittmann) and pilot sites in the Intermediate Mechanics Tutorials project. These results, taken from the analysis of pretests (ungraded quizzes), written exams, and classroom observations, will illustrate specific student difficulties as well as examples of guided-inquiry teaching strategies that appear to address these difficulties. (Supported by NSF grants DUE-0441426 and DUE-0442388.)

Identifying and addressing specific student difficulties in advanced thermal physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Trevor I.

As part of an ongoing multi-university research study on student understanding of concepts in thermal physics at the upper division, I identified several student difficulties with topics related to heat engines (especially the Carnot cycle), as well as difficulties related to the Boltzmann factor. In an effort to address these difficulties, I developed two guided-inquiry worksheet activities (a.k.a. tutorials) for use in advanced undergraduate thermal physics courses. Both tutorials seek to improve student understanding of the utility and physical background of a particular mathematical expression. One tutorial focuses on a derivation of Carnot's theorem regarding the limit on thermodynamic efficiency, starting from the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The other tutorial helps students gain an appreciation for the origin of the Boltzmann factor and when it is applicable; focusing on the physical justification of its mathematical derivation, with emphasis on the connections between probability, multiplicity, entropy, and energy. Student understanding of the use and physical implications of Carnot's theorem and the Boltzmann factor was assessed using written surveys both before and after tutorial instruction within the advanced thermal physics courses at the University of Maine and at other institutions. Classroom tutorial sessions at the University of Maine were videotaped to allow in-depth scrutiny of student successes and failures following tutorial prompts. I also interviewed students on various topics related to the Boltzmann factor to gain a more complete picture of their understanding and inform tutorial revisions. Results from several implementations of my tutorials at the University of Maine indicate that students did not have a robust understanding of these physical principles after lectures alone, and that they gain a better understanding of relevant topics after tutorial instruction; Fisher's exact tests yield statistically significant improvement at the alpha = 0.05 level. Results from other schools indicate that difficulties observed before tutorial instruction in our classes (for both tutorials) are not unique, and that the Boltzmann factor tutorial can be an effective replacement for lecture instruction. Additional research is suggested that would further examine these difficulties and inform instructional strategies to help students overcome them.

A Model of Students' Combinatorial Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockwood, Elise

2013-01-01

Combinatorial topics have become increasingly prevalent in K-12 and undergraduate curricula, yet research on combinatorics education indicates that students face difficulties when solving counting problems. The research community has not yet addressed students' ways of thinking at a level that facilitates deeper understanding of how students…

J. E. W. Wallin's Diagnostic Theory for Classifying the Feeble-Minded and Backward in Early Twentieth-Century Public Schools in America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoshii, Ryo

2016-01-01

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American psychologists began addressing problems related to the intellectual capacity of students enrolled in public schools. This paper focuses on the role and influence of psychologists in addressing these problems, specifically the difficulty of classifying students deemed feeble-minded and…

The Relationship between Proficiency in French and Academic Achievement for Students in Saint Martin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Martin Ezikiel

2013-01-01

School administrators and educational policy makers have made a substantial effort to address the learning needs of students in Saint Martin, yet the achievement gap between students in Saint Martin and students in metropolitan France still persists. Risk factors such as family structure, socioeconomic status, immigration, and difficulty of…

Experiences of International Female Students in U.S. Graduate Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Contreras-Aguirre, Hilda Cecilia; Gonzalez Y Gonzalez, Elsa

2017-01-01

International students enrolled in American institutions of higher education have been increasing during the past decades. The current study addresses the experiences of international female graduate students in the United States, in terms of difficulties as students at a southern American university and temporal residents of the United States.…

Students and Faculty--Administrators Together.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frazier, Peter; Keller, Robert

1992-01-01

A course taught at Western Washington University's Fairhaven College brings together all 13 faculty and a third of the student population in an interdisciplinary effort to address the theme of conflict. The course is administered by a student and a faculty member and exemplifies the difficulties of collaborative administration. (MSE)

Designing Strategies That Meet the Variety of Learning Styles of Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez, Doreen M.; Schroeder, Linda

2008-01-01

This action research project was designed to maximize learning for all students by addressing different learning styles and implementing various strategies. The students in the targeted school exhibited difficulty in experiencing academic success while exposed to conventional teaching strategies. The two target schools consisted of an intermediate…

Changes in Teacher Stress through Participation in Pre-Referral Intervention Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lhospital, Ann Shargo; Gregory, Anne

2009-01-01

Teachers today face high stress that can compromise their well-being, longevity in the profession, and the quality of their interactions with students. Pre-referral interventions, which address individual student difficulties before consideration for special education, may help buffer teacher stress through student interventions and team support.…

Reading Strategy Guides to Assist Middle School Educators of Students with Dyslexia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nichols-Yehling, M.; Strohl, C.

2014-07-01

According to the 2010 International Dyslexia Association publication, “Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading,” effective instruction is the key to addressing students' reading difficulties associated with dyslexia, a language-based disorder of learning to read and write. “Informed and effective classroom instruction. . . can prevent or at least effectively address and limit the severity of reading and writing problems.” The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission Education and Public Outreach program recently funded the development of six strategy guides for teachers of middle school students with reading difficulties, especially dyslexia. These guides utilize space science-themed reading materials developed by the Great Exploration in Math and Science (GEMS), including the IBEX-funded GEMS Space Science Sequence (Grades 6-8). The aforementioned reading strategy guides are now available on the IBEX mission website.

Deeper Look at Student Learning of Quantum Mechanics: The Case of Tunneling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKagan, S. B.; Perkins, K. K.; Wieman, C. E.

2008-01-01

We report on a large-scale study of student learning of quantum tunneling in four traditional and four transformed modern physics courses. In the transformed courses, which were designed to address student difficulties found in previous research, students still struggle with many of the same issues found in other courses. However, the reasons for…

Autonomy in Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gathercole, Ian, Ed.

Ten papers from a January 1990 conference in Britain on the meaning and implications of autonomy for school learners of second languages address theoretical and practical issues in independent study, learner-controlled instruction, cooperative learning, teacher-student relationship, learner responsibility, students with learning difficulties, and…

Using Two Models in Optics: Students' Difficulties and Suggestions for Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colin, P.; Viennot, L.

2001-01-01

Focuses on difficulties linked to situations in physics involving two models--geometrical optics and wave optics. Presents content analysis underlining two important features required for addressing such situations: (1) awareness of the status of the drawings; and (2) the 'backward selection' of paths of light. (Contains 24 references.)…

The Effects of Leveled Literacy Intervention for Students in the RtI Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Lisa

2017-01-01

Low reading skills constitute a serious achievement problem. Although there are remedial support in schools, between 2% and 6% of the student population continues to show persistent reading difficulties despite intensive intervention. The research problem in this study addressed the lack of effective reading interventions for students who were in…

Addressing Students' Misconceptions about Eclipses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slater, Timothy F.; Gelderman, Richard

2017-01-01

The upcoming Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse, with its 70-mile wide path of totality stretching across much of North America, provides us with a unique opportunity to teach students about eclipses. One might naturally assume that students have little difficulty understanding the nature of eclipses. After all, the notion that eclipses occur when…

Crossing the Communication Barrier: Facilitating Communication in Mixed Groups of Deaf and Hearing Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchetti, Carol; Foster, Susan; Long, Gary; Stinson, Michael

2012-01-01

Teachers of introductory technical courses such as statistics face numerous challenges in the classroom, including student motivation and mathematical background, and difficulties in interpreting numerical results in context. Cooperative learning through small groups addresses many such challenges, but students for whom spoken English is not their…

Response to Intervention: Providing Reading Intervention to Low Income and Minority Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graves, Emily; McConnell, Tess

2014-01-01

With a renewed focus on early intervention, teachers must address the difficulties students are having as early as possible to promote their progress. Culturally and linguistically diverse students may not respond to universal interventions that have shown efficiency for mainstream populations. In order for Response to Intervention to be…

Advisors' Perceptions of a Rural High School Student Advisory Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welsh, Jody Lynn

2012-01-01

The problem addressed in this study was the transition from middle school to high school, a source of difficulty for many students. Student advisory programs have been implemented in many secondary schools as one solution to this problem. While research supports the use of advisory programs, little research exists regarding the effectiveness of…

Moving Beyond Misconceptions: A New Model for Learning Challenges in Cognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, T. F.; Slater, S. J.

2011-12-01

For over 40 years, the science education community has given its attention to cataloging the substantial body of "misconceptions" in individual's thinking about science, and to addressing the consequences of those misconceptions in the science classroom. Despite the tremendous amount of effort given to researching and disseminating information related to misconceptions, and the development of a theory of conceptual change to mitigate misconceptions, progress continues to be less than satisfying. An analysis of the literature and our own research has persuaded the CAPER Center for Astronomy and Physics Education Research to put forth model that will allow us to operate on students' learning difficulties in a more fruitful manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast this model suggests that "misconceptions" are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g. spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties. Each of these types of barriers should be addressed with an appropriately designed instructional strategy. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in the Earth & Space Sciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in the geosciences beyond the level of "misconceptions" may allow our community to craft tailored and more effective learning experiences for our students and the general public.

Refocusing International Astronomy Education Research Using a Cognitive Focus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, Stephanie J.

2015-08-01

For over 40 years, the international astronomy education community has given its attention to cataloging the substantial body of "misconceptions" in individual's thinking about astronomy, and to addressing the consequences of those misconceptions in the science classroom. Despite the tremendous amount of effort given to researching and disseminating information related to misconceptions, and the development of a theory of conceptual change to mitigate misconceptions, progress continues to be less than satisfying. An analysis of the literature and our own research has motivated the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research to advance a new model that allowing us to operate on students' astronomical learning difficulties in a more fruitful manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast this model suggests that "misconceptions" are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (e.g., phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g., spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties. Each of these types of barriers should be addressed with an appropriately designed instructional strategy. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in astronomy and the space sciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in astronomy beyond the level of "misconceptions" may allow our community to craft tailored and more effective learning experiences for our students and the general public.

Developing learning community model with soft skill integration for the building engineering apprenticeship programme in vocational high school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutrisno, Dardiri, Ahmad; Sugandi, R. Machmud

2017-09-01

This study aimed to address the procedure, effectiveness, and problems in the implementation of learning model for Building Engineering Apprenticeship Training Programme. This study was carried out through survey method and experiment. The data were collected using questionnaire, test, and assessment sheet. The collected data were examined through description, t-test, and covariance analysis. The results of the study showed that (1) the model's procedure covered preparation course, readiness assessment, assignment distribution, handing over students to apprenticeship instructors, task completion, assisting, field assessment, report writing, and follow-up examination, (2) the Learning Community model could significantly improve students' active learning, but not improve students' hard skills and soft skills, and (3) the problems emerging in the implementation of the model were (1) students' difficulties in finding apprenticeship places and qualified instructors, and asking for relevant tasks, (2) teachers' difficulties in determining relevant tasks and monitoring students, and (3) apprenticeship instructors' difficulties in assigning, monitoring, and assessing students.

College 411: Get the Scoop. A Small Group Plan to Promote College Success for First-Generation College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Land, Christy W.; Ziomek-Daigle, Jolie

2013-01-01

First generation college students have more difficulty preparing for and succeeding in post-secondary institutions. Informed by the literature review and relevant research the school counselor presents a small group design for high school students in their junior year. This small group plan for first generation college students addresses issues of…

Introductory Geological Mapwork--An Active Learning Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drennan, Gillian R.; Evans, Mary Y.

2011-01-01

First year Geology students at the University of the Witwatersrand experience problems with both three-dimensional and "four-dimensional" (or time) visualization when attempting to interpret geological maps. These difficulties have been addressed by the introduction of hands-on modeling exercises, which allow students to construct…

The Conjugate Acid-Base Chart.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treptow, Richard S.

1986-01-01

Discusses the difficulties that beginning chemistry students have in understanding acid-base chemistry. Describes the use of conjugate acid-base charts in helping students visualize the conjugate relationship. Addresses chart construction, metal ions, buffers and pH titrations, and the organic functional groups and nonaqueous solvents. (TW)

Outcomes of a service teaching module on ODEs for physics students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyland, Diarmaid; van Kampen, Paul; Nolan, Brien C.

2018-07-01

This paper reports on the first part of a multiphase research project that seeks to identify and address the difficulties encountered by physics students when studying differential equations. Differential equations are used extensively by undergraduate physics students, particularly in the advanced modules of their degree. It is, therefore, necessary that students develop conceptual understanding of differential equations in addition to procedural skills. We have investigated the difficulties encountered by third-year students at Dublin City University in an introductory differential equations module. We developed a survey to identify these difficulties and administered it to students who had recently completed the module. We found that students' mathematical ability in relation to procedural competence is an issue in their study of differential equations, but not as severe an issue as their conceptual understanding. Mathematical competence alone is insufficient if we expect our students to be able to recognize the need for differential equations in a physical context and to be able to set up, solve and interpret the solutions of such equations. We discuss the implications of these results for the next stages of the research project.

Hands-On Tabletop Units for Addressing Persistent Conceptual Difficulties in Continuity and Frictional Loss in Fluid Mechanics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Xuesong; Van Wie, Bernard J.

2016-01-01

The difficulty in covering chemical engineering concepts using traditional lectures and whiteboard teaching approaches means today's students' learning demands are unfulfilled, so alternate methods are needed. Desktop learning modules (DLMs) are designed to show industrial fluid flow and heat transfer concepts in a standard classroom so students…

Emergence, Learning Difficulties, and Misconceptions in Chemistry Undergraduate Students' Conceptualizations of Acid Strength

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tümay, Halil

2016-01-01

Philosophical debates about chemistry have clarified that the issue of emergence plays a critical role in the epistemology and ontology of chemistry. In this article, it is argued that the issue of emergence has also significant implications for understanding learning difficulties and finding ways of addressing them in chemistry. Particularly, it…

Utilizing a Web-Based Career Development Workshop to Address Career Decision-Making Difficulty among Community College Distance Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Johanna Michele

2011-01-01

Career decision making difficulty, as it relates to undecided college students and career indecision, has been a concern for counselors and academic advisors for decades (Gordon, 2006; Mau, 2004). Individuals struggling with career indecision often seek assistance via career counseling, self-help tools, and/or computer-assisted career guidance…

Research and Teaching: Integrating Lecture and Laboratory in Health Sciences Courses Improves Student Satisfaction and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finn, Kevin; FitzPatrick, Kathleen; Yan, Zi

2017-01-01

Students often struggle in introductory health sciences courses; some students have difficulty in upper level classes. To address this, we converted three lecture/lab courses, traditional first-year Anatomy and Physiology (A&P I), upper level Biomechanics, and upper level Microbiology to an integrated studio model. We used the Student…

Torn between Study and Leisure: How Motivational Conflicts Relate to Students' Academic and Social Adaptation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grund, Axel; Brassler, Nina K.; Fries, Stefan

2014-01-01

Research on motivational conflicts indicates that students' difficulties during studying may result from tempting alternatives in the leisure domain. In the present set of studies, we addressed the question of whether academic motivation inversely has negative spillover effects on students' leisure-related functioning, too. In the first 2 studies…

Risk factors in the development of behaviour difficulties among students with special educational needs and disabilities: A multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Oldfield, Jeremy; Humphrey, Neil; Hebron, Judith

2017-06-01

Students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are more likely to exhibit behaviour difficulties than their typically developing peers. The aim of this study was to identify specific risk factors that influence variability in behaviour difficulties among individuals with SEND. The study sample comprised 4,228 students with SEND, aged 5-15, drawn from 305 primary and secondary schools across England. Explanatory variables were measured at the individual and school levels at baseline, along with a teacher-reported measure of behaviour difficulties (assessed at baseline and at 18-month follow-up). Hierarchical linear modelling of data revealed that differences between schools accounted for between 13% (secondary) and 15.4% (primary) of the total variance in the development of students' behaviour difficulties, with the remainder attributable to individual differences. Statistically significant risk markers for these problems across both phases of education were being male, eligibility for free school meals, being identified as a bully, and lower academic achievement. Additional risk markers specific to each phase of education at the individual and school levels are also acknowledged. Behaviour difficulties are affected by risks across multiple ecological levels. Addressing any one of these potential influences is therefore likely to contribute to the reduction in the problems displayed. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

A Middle School Dilemma: Dealing with "I Don't Care"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Foster

2006-01-01

This article addresses the difficulty of engaging middle school students who don't seem to care about learning. Several classroom vignettes illustrate practical, classroom-based dilemmas generated from a university classroom management course. Three positive engagement principles are proposed to address the challenge of the reluctant learner: get…

Better Categorizing Misconceptions Using a Contemporary Cognitive Science Lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, S. J.; Slater, T. F.

2013-12-01

Much of the last three decades of discipline-based education research in the geosciences has focused on the important work of identifying the range and domain of misconceptions students bring into undergraduate science survey courses. Pinpointing students' prior knowledge is a cornerstone for developing constructivist approaches and learning environments for effective teaching. At the same time, the development of a robust a priori formula for professors to use in mitigating students' misconceptions remains elusive. An analysis of the literature and our own research has persuaded researchers at the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research to put forth a model that will allow professors to operate on students' various learning difficulties in a more productive manner. Previously, much of the field's work binned erroneous student thinking into a single construct, and from that basis, curriculum developers and instructors addressed student misconceptions with a single instructional strategy. In contrast, we propose a model based on the notion that 'misconceptions' are a mixture of at least four learning barriers: incorrect factual information, inappropriately applied mental algorithms (phenomenological primitives), insufficient cognitive structures (e.g. spatial reasoning), and affective/emotional difficulties (e.g. students' spiritual commitments). In this sense, each of these different types of learning barriers would be more effectively addressed with an instructional strategy purposefully targeting these different attributes. Initial applications of this model to learning problems in geosciences have been fruitful, suggesting that an effort towards categorizing persistent learning difficulties in the geosciences beyond the single generalized category of 'misconceptions' might allow our community to more effectively design learning experiences for our students and the general public

Supporting New Students from Vocational Education and Training: Finding a Reusable Solution to Address Recurring Learning Difficulties in e-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Dai Fei; Catterall, Janice; Davis, Janelle

2013-01-01

This paper reports on a project that investigated the first year, online experiences of vocational education and training (VET) pathway students studying at university. It was found that, although some students embraced online learning, more than twenty percent of new VET students suffered from high levels of anxiety and frustration when learning…

Multiplicative Effects of Social and Psychological Risk Factors on College Students' Suicidal Behaviors.

PubMed

Assari, Shervin

2018-05-17

Less is known about the multiplicative effects of social and psychological risk and protective factors of suicidality on college campuses. The current study aimed to investigate the multiplicative effects of social (identifying oneself as gay/lesbian, financial difficulty, violence victimization, and religiosity) and psychological (anxiety, depression, problem alcohol use, drug use) and risk/protective factors on suicidal behaviors among college students in the United States. Using a cross-sectional design, the Healthy Mind Study (HMS; 2016⁻2017), is a national online survey of college students in the United States. Social (identifying oneself as gay/lesbian, violence victimization, financial difficulty, and religiosity) and psychological (anxiety, depression, problem alcohol use, and drug use) risk/protective factors were assessed among 27,961 individuals. Three aspects of suicidality, including ideation, plan, and attempt, were also assessed. Logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Financial difficulty, violence victimization, identifying oneself as gay/lesbian, anxiety, depression, and drug use increased, while religiosity reduced the odds of suicidal behaviors. Multiplicative effects were found between the following social and psychological risk factors: (1) financial difficulty and anxiety; (2) financial difficulty and depression; (3) depression and drug use; (4) problem alcohol use and drug use; and (5) depression and problem alcohol use. There is a considerable overlap in the social and psychological processes, such as financial stress, mood disorders, and substance use problems, on risk of suicide in college students. As social and psychological risk factors do not operate independently, comprehensive suicidal risk evaluations that simultaneously address multiple social and psychological risk factors may be superior to programs that only address a single risk factor.

Addressing Student Difficulties with Buoyancy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, D. J.; Cohen, Sam; Moyer, Adam

2009-11-01

This study is part of an ongoing effort to develop a diagnostic test assessing student understanding of fluids. In particular, this paper addresses a question involving density and buoyancy, which was used in the study of reference [1]. The "five blocks" question, which asks students to predict the final location of blocks released from rest when submerged and explain their reasoning, has been administered to hundreds of students in three different introductory courses at Grove City College for the past four years. We used the common student responses to craft a multiple-select version of the five blocks problem in 2008. This paper will present the effects that changing workshop activities have had on student performance on the five block question.

Using the Genetics Concept Assessment to Document Persistent Conceptual Difficulties in Undergraduate Genetics Courses

PubMed Central

Smith, Michelle K.; Knight, Jennifer K.

2012-01-01

To help genetics instructors become aware of fundamental concepts that are persistently difficult for students, we have analyzed the evolution of student responses to multiple-choice questions from the Genetics Concept Assessment. In total, we examined pretest (before instruction) and posttest (after instruction) responses from 751 students enrolled in six genetics courses for either majors or nonmajors. Students improved on all 25 questions after instruction, but to varying degrees. Notably, there was a subgroup of nine questions for which a single incorrect answer, called the most common incorrect answer, was chosen by >20% of students on the posttest. To explore response patterns to these nine questions, we tracked individual student answers before and after instruction and found that particular conceptual difficulties about genetics are both more likely to persist and more likely to distract students than other incorrect ideas. Here we present an analysis of the evolution of these incorrect ideas to encourage instructor awareness of these genetics concepts and provide advice on how to address common conceptual difficulties in the classroom. PMID:22367036

Using the Genetics Concept Assessment to document persistent conceptual difficulties in undergraduate genetics courses.

PubMed

Smith, Michelle K; Knight, Jennifer K

2012-05-01

To help genetics instructors become aware of fundamental concepts that are persistently difficult for students, we have analyzed the evolution of student responses to multiple-choice questions from the Genetics Concept Assessment. In total, we examined pretest (before instruction) and posttest (after instruction) responses from 751 students enrolled in six genetics courses for either majors or nonmajors. Students improved on all 25 questions after instruction, but to varying degrees. Notably, there was a subgroup of nine questions for which a single incorrect answer, called the most common incorrect answer, was chosen by >20% of students on the posttest. To explore response patterns to these nine questions, we tracked individual student answers before and after instruction and found that particular conceptual difficulties about genetics are both more likely to persist and more likely to distract students than other incorrect ideas. Here we present an analysis of the evolution of these incorrect ideas to encourage instructor awareness of these genetics concepts and provide advice on how to address common conceptual difficulties in the classroom.

Improving student dentist competencies and perception of difficulty in delivering care to children with developmental disabilities using a virtual patient module.

PubMed

Kleinert, Harold L; Sanders, Carla; Mink, John; Nash, David; Johnson, Jeff; Boyd, Sara; Challman, Sandra

2007-02-01

An interactive, multimedia, virtual patient module was designed and developed on compact disc (CD-ROM) to address the need for student dentists to increase their competence and decrease their perception of difficulty in caring for children with developmental disabilities. A development team consisting of pediatric dentistry faculty members, parents of children with developmental disabilities, an individual with a developmental disability, and educational specialists developed an interactive virtual patient case. The case involved a ten-year-old child with Down syndrome presenting with a painful tooth. Student dentists were required to make decisions regarding proper interactions with the child, as well as appropriate clinical procedures throughout the case. Differences in perceived difficulty level and knowledge change were measured, as well as the student dentists' overall satisfaction with the learning experience. Significant results were obtained in both perceived difficulty level and knowledge-based measures for student dentists. Participants reported overall satisfaction with the modules. Preparing student dentists to provide sensitive and competent care for children with developmental disabilities is a critical need within dentistry. This study demonstrated that an interactive, multimedia (CD-ROM), virtual patient learning module for student dentists is potentially an effective tool in meeting this need.

Teaching Mathematics to Middle School Students with Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montague, Marjorie, Ed.; Jitendra, Asha K., Ed.

2006-01-01

A highly practical resource for special educators and classroom teachers, this book provides specific instructional guidance illustrated with vignettes, examples, and sample lesson plans. Every chapter is grounded in research and addresses the nuts and bolts of teaching math to students who are not adequately prepared for the challenging middle…

Standards for Library Services to Disabled Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trezza, Alphonse F.

The paper addresses the quality and extent of services provided by academic libraries to students with disabilities. The issue of establishing standards for such services is considered, and while the author notes the formidable difficulties involved in establishing such standards, he asserts that standards must be developed and implemented. He…

Handwriting and Students with Disabilities: Overcoming First Impressions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenland, Roy; Polloway, Edward A.

Students with disabilities often experience particular difficulties with handwriting, and these problems can hinder their development both in school and in postsecondary settings. This paper addresses three issues: (1) the possibility of a prejudicial and potentially lasting first impression, based on the individual's handwriting; (2) the lack of…

Revealing Student Thinking about Experimental Design and the Roles of Control Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shi, Jia; Power, Joy M.; Klymkowsky, Michael W.

2011-01-01

Well-designed "controls" distinguish experimental from non-experimental studies. Surprisingly, we found that a high percentage of students had difficulty identifying control experiments even after completing three university-level laboratory courses. To address this issue, we designed and ran a revised cell biology lab course in which…

Producing Better Writers in Sociology: A Programmatic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Migliaccio, Todd; Carrigan, Jacqueline

2017-01-01

High-quality undergraduate student writing is a common and important objective for sociology programs while at the same time a continuous challenge. Programs often struggle to address writing adequately because of the difficulty of fully evaluating student writing and responding to any identified limitations, largely because of the impact on…

Quantitative Experiments to Explain the Change of Seasons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Testa, Italo; Busarello, Gianni; Puddu, Emanuella; Leccia, Silvio; Merluzzi, Paola; Colantonio, Arturo; Moretti, Maria Ida; Galano, Silvia; Zappia, Alessandro

2015-01-01

The science education literature shows that students have difficulty understanding what causes the seasons. Incorrect explanations are often due to a lack of knowledge about the physical mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. To address this, we present a module in which the students engage in quantitative measurements with a photovoltaic panel to…

Instructional Math Technology in Secondary Special Education: Teacher-Reported Practices and Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higa, Joice M.

2017-01-01

Students with disabilities often have difficulty meeting established math proficiency levels. Without these skills, students may face increased challenges in transitioning to adulthood, including fewer post-secondary educational opportunities, limited career options, and decreased long-term income. Addressing low math skills is important to…

Vocabulary Instruction for Struggling Students. What Works for Special-Needs Learners Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vadasy, Patricia F.; Nelson, J. Ron

2012-01-01

Addressing a key skill in reading, writing, and speaking, this comprehensive book is grounded in cutting-edge research on vocabulary development. It presents evidence-based instructional approaches for at-risk students, including English language learners and those with learning difficulties. Coverage ranges from storybook reading interventions…

Advanced Level Physics Students' Conceptions of Quantum Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mashhadi, Azam

This study addresses questions about particle physics that focus on the nature of electrons. Speculations as to whether they are more like particles or waves or like neither illustrate the difficulties with which students are confronted when trying to incorporate the concepts of quantum physics into their overall conceptual framework. Such…

Students' Reading Images in Kinematics: The Case of Real-Time Graphs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Testa, Italo; Monroy, Gabriella; Sassi, Elena

2002-01-01

Describes a study in which secondary school students were called upon to read and interpret documents containing images of real-time kinematics graphs specially designed to address common learning problems and minimize iconic difficulties. Makes suggestions regarding the acquisition of some specific capabilities that are needed to avoid…

Addressing Mental Illness Stigma in the Psychology Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maranzan, K. Amanda

2016-01-01

A number of initiatives are aimed at reducing mental illness stigma, yet stigma remains a problem in the general population. A focus on stigma reduction with students is particularly relevant, as students often hold negative attitudes toward mental illness, have regular contact with persons experiencing mental health difficulties, and because…

Homework Hotlines: Recommendations for Successful Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reach, Kelle; Cooper, Harris

2004-01-01

It is common for students to have difficulty completing homework in a timely and accurate manner. Many school districts and organizations offer homework hotlines to help students complete assignments. However, educators lack a clear description of what is necessary to establish and maintain an effective hotline. This article addresses four issues…

Reaching More Students through Thinking in Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coletta, Vincent P.

2017-01-01

Thinking in Physics (TIP) is a new curriculum that is more effective than commonly used interactive engagement methods for students who have the greatest difficulty learning physics. Research has shown a correlation between learning in physics and other factors, including scientific reasoning ability. The TIP curriculum addresses those factors.…

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Clashes and Confrontations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scherff, Lisa, Ed.; Spector, Karen, Ed.

2010-01-01

The authors in this edited volume reflect on their experiences with culturally relevant pedagogy--as students, as teachers, as researchers--and how these experiences were often at odds with their backgrounds and/or expectations. Each of the authors speaks to the complexity and difficulty in attempting to address students' cultures, create learning…

Examining the Effectiveness of the Corrective Reading Program for Special Education and Non-Special Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCutcheon, Catherine A.

2013-01-01

The traditional classroom educational approach has been unsuccessful in helping special education and non-special education students who are not proficient readers. The problem addressed in this study was that a large number of American children are experiencing difficulty learning to read. One possible way to help students learn to read is…

Investigating and addressing student difficulties with the corrections to the energies of the hydrogen atom for the strong and weak field Zeeman effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keebaugh, Christof; Marshman, Emily; Singh, Chandralekha

2018-07-01

Understanding when and how to make limiting case approximations and why they are valid in a particular situation is a hallmark of expertise in physics. Using limiting cases can simplify the problem-solving process significantly and they often provide a means to check that the results obtained are reasonable. We discuss an investigation of student difficulties with the corrections to the energy spectrum of the hydrogen atom for the limiting cases of the strong and weak field Zeeman effects using degenerate perturbation theory. This investigation was carried out in advanced quantum mechanics courses by administering written free-response and multiple-choice questions and conducting individual interviews with students. Here we first discuss the common student difficulties related to these concepts. We then describe how the research on student difficulties was used as a guide to develop and evaluate a quantum interactive learning tutorial (QuILT) which strives to help students develop a functional understanding of the concepts necessary for finding the corrections to the energy spectrum of the hydrogen atom for the strong field and weak field Zeeman effects. The development of the QuILT and its evaluation in the undergraduate and PhD level courses are presented.

Response to Intervention (RTI) for Students Presenting with Behavioral Difficulties: Culturally Responsive Guiding Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abou-Rjaily, Kathleen; Stoddard, Susan

2017-01-01

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a tiered intervention that assists school personnel in determining eligibility for special education services. Studies support the use of RTI as an early intervention for addressing significant learning disabilities (SLD) and social emotional behaviors, as well as for students who are culturally and linguistically…

A Story Well Told: Rich Narrative Engages California Fifth Grade Students in American History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huson, Julie Alice

2007-01-01

The educational publisher Pearson/Scott-Foresman in 2006 introduced curriculum to address California History/Social Studies standards. Fifth grade students have difficulty comprehending non-fiction text that is informative enough to have historical accuracy. The publisher promotes a program that features a standard in every lesson, and promises no…

Web-Based Learning System for Developing and Assessing Clinical Diagnostic Skills for Dermatology Residency Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuo, Fan-Ray; Chin, Yi-Ying; Lee, Chao-Hsien; Chiu, Yu-Hsien; Hong, Chien-Hu; Lee, Kuang-Lieh; Ho, Wen-Hsien; Lee, Chih-Hung

2016-01-01

Few studies have explored the learning difficulties and misconceptions that students encounter when using information and communication technology for e-learning. To address this issue, this research developed a system for evaluating the learning efficiency of medical students by applying two-tier diagnosis assessment. The effectiveness of the…

Addressing Students' Difficulties with Faraday's Law: A Guided Problem Solving Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuza, Kristina; Almudí, José-Manuel; Leniz, Ane; Guisasola, Jenaro

2014-01-01

In traditional teaching, the fundamental concepts of electromagnetic induction are usually quickly analyzed, spending most of the time solving problems in a more or less rote manner. However, physics education research has shown that the fundamental concepts of the electromagnetic induction theory are barely understood by students. This article…

Curricular Treatments of Length Measurement in the United States: Do They Address Known Learning Challenges?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, John P., III; Males, Lorraine M.; Dietiker, Leslie C.; Lee, KoSze; Mosier, Aaron

2013-01-01

Extensive research has shown that elementary students struggle to learn the basic principles of length measurement. However, where patterns of errors have been documented, the origins of students' difficulties have not been identified. This study investigated the hypothesis that written elementary mathematics curricula contribute to the…

Systematic Academic Instruction for Students with EBD: The Construction and Use of a Tool for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Worp-van der Kamp, Lidy; Pijl, Sip Jan; Post, Wendy J.; Bijstra, Jan O.; van den Bosch, Els J.

2017-01-01

Educating students with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties requires a thorough systematic approach with the focus on academic instruction. This study addresses the development of a tool, consisting of two questionnaires, for measuring systematic academic instruction. The questionnaires cover the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and academic…

Practical Implications of Research on Referral and Opportunity to Learn. Monograph No. 22.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ysseldyke, James; And Others

The paper summarizes findings from four studies on the referral process for students with academic and social/behavioral problems and several observational investigations on students' academic responding time. Research on referral addresses such aspects as reasons for referral, causes ascribed for difficulties, pre-referral classroom intervention,…

Turning Mealtimes into Learning Opportunities: Integrating Feeding Goals into IEPs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bruns, Deborah A.; Thompson, Stacy D.

2014-01-01

In this article, the authors use scenarios to describe three students with different individual needs related to feeding, as well as other developmental domains. Feeding difficulties affect students in multiple ways and addressing feeding-related skills on IEPs can include grocery shopping, food preparation, and placing food orders in various…

Putting Teachers First: Leading Change through Design--Initiating and Sustaining Effective Teaching of Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Proffitt-White, Rob

2017-01-01

The Teachers First initiative is a grass-roots cluster-model approach for bringing together primary and secondary teachers and school principals: to analyse student performance data; design and practice activities and assessment tools; and promote teaching practices that address students' learning difficulties in mathematics. The balance of both…

Rigid Body Motion in Stereo 3D Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zabunov, Svetoslav

2010-01-01

This paper addresses the difficulties experienced by first-grade students studying rigid body motion at Sofia University. Most quantities describing the rigid body are in relations that the students find hard to visualize and understand. They also lose the notion of cause-result relations between vector quantities, such as the relation between…

Governor's Schools: Fostering the Social and Emotional Well-Being of Gifted and Talented Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McHugh, Marcianne W.

2006-01-01

Reviewing and conducting research on summer residential program models for gifted and talented students will illuminate the academic, social, and emotional difficulties they face and reveal which practices are effective in addressing these issues. One program model, the Governor's School, warrants particular attention because of its mission to…

Using Problem-Solving Frameworks to Address Challenging Behavior of Students with High-Functioning Autism and/or Asperger Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Karen V.; Stichter, Janine P.

2011-01-01

Students with high-functioning autism and/or Asperger Syndrome (HFA/AS) are characterized by difficulties with communication as well as impairments in social interaction skills. Students with HFA/AS have been shown to generate solutions that are lower quality (e.g., less socially appropriate) than those of their typical peers and also to have…

Understanding first law of thermodynamics through activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pathare, Shirish; Huli, Saurabhee; Ladage, Savita; Pradhan, H. C.

2018-03-01

The first law of thermodynamics involves several types of energies and many studies have shown that students lack awareness of them. They have difficulties in applying the law to different thermodynamic processes. These observations were confirmed in our pilot studies, carried out with students from undergraduate colleges across the whole of India. We, then, decided to develop an activity-based module to address students’ conceptual difficulties in this area. In particular, we took up the cases of both adiabatic and isothermal compression of an ideal gas. We tested, through a two-group pre and post test design, the effectiveness of the module.

Attention deficit and attention training in early twentieth-century Japan.

PubMed

Takeda, Toshinobu; Ando, Mizuho; Kumagai, Keiko

2015-06-01

Yuzero Motora (1856-1912), regarded as the first professional Japanese psychologist, tried to address students' attention difficulties through attention training methods of his own design. His reports contain the first description of ADHD-like symptoms in the history of Japan. Motora viewed "distractibility" as the irregular transition of attention. Students with low scores and attention difficulties who participated in Motora's exercises showed improvement in arithmetic, psychological testing, and certain aspects of daily life. This article describes Motora's theoretical conception of attention and attention training methodology, the history of attention deficit and attention training, and the significance of Motora's experiments.

A Simple Activity to Facilitate Proportional Reasoning in the Contexts of Density, Dissolving, and Nanoparticles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamed, Kastro

2008-01-01

To address the confusion resulting from difficulties with proportional reasoning among preservice physical science students, a cube-assembly activity was used to bring a sense of concreteness to abstract ideas. The activity took students from the concrete step of assembling cubes of various sizes and directly measuring their properties to slightly…

CS Unplugged and Middle-School Students' Views, Attitudes, and Intentions regarding CS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taub, Rivka; Armoni, Michal; Ben-Ari, Mordechai

2012-01-01

Many students hold incorrect ideas and negative attitudes about computer science (CS). In order to address these difficulties, a series of learning activities called Computer Science Unplugged was developed by Tim Bell and his colleagues. These activities expose young people to central concepts in CS in an entertaining way without requiring a…

The Cure for Early Grades Assessment Difficulties? Take a Tablet. International Developments. Volume 5, Article 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Maurice

2015-01-01

Monitoring educational development in the early years of schooling is vital if practitioners, and policy makers, are to support students' learning, but the assessment of student achievement in developing countries can be a logistical headache. Maurice Walker reports on an innovative approach to assessment using tablets that is addressing that.

A Computer Program To Increase Comprehension of the Cartesian Rectangular Coordinate System in High School Pre-Algebra Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Exley, I. Sheck

The high percentage of high school pre-algebra students having difficulty learning the abstract concept of graphing ordered pairs on the Cartesian rectangular coordinate system was addressed by the creation and implementation of a computer-managed instructional program. Modules consisted of a pretest, instruction, two practice sessions, and a…

Academic Writing at the Graduate Level: Improving the Curriculum through Faculty Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bair, Mary A.; Mader, Cynthia E.

2013-01-01

This article describes a collaborative self-study undertaken to identify the source of academic writing difficulties among graduate students and find ways to address them. Ten faculty members in a college of education came together to define the problem and to analyze data gleaned from faculty and student surveys, course documents, course…

Workshop on Friction: Understanding and Addressing Students' Difficulties in Learning Science through a Hermeneutical Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ha, Sangwoo; Lee, Gyoungho; Kalman, Calvin S.

2013-01-01

Hermeneutics is useful in science and science education by emphasizing the process of understanding. The purpose of this study was to construct a workshop based upon hermeneutical principles and to interpret students' learning in the workshop through a hermeneutical perspective. When considering the history of Newtonian mechanics, it could be…

Perceived Effectiveness of Identified Methods and Techniques Teachers Adopt in Prose Literature Lessons in Some Secondary Schools in Owerri

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ezeokoli, F. O.

2016-01-01

The study determined the methods adopted by teachers in prose literature-in-English classrooms, activities of teachers and students, teachers' perceived effectiveness of techniques used. It also examined the objectives of teaching prose literature that teachers should address and the extent teachers believe in student-identified difficulties of…

Applying a Linked-Course Model to Foster Inquiry and Integration across Large First-Year Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Husband, Brian C.; Bettger, William J.; Murrant, Coral L.; Kirby, Kim; Wright, Patricia A.; Newmaster, Steven G.; Dawson, John F.; Gregory, T. Ryan; Mullen, Robert T.; Nejedly, April; van der Merwe, George; Yankulov, Krassimir; Wolf, Peter

2015-01-01

Many first-year university courses are large and content-driven, which can contribute to low student engagement and difficulty involving students in the dynamic, cross-disciplinary nature of inquiry. Learning communities can address these goals, but their implementation often poses logistical challenges, especially in large courses. Here, we apply…

A Quantitative Study of the Use of "DreamBox Learning" and Its Effectiveness in Improving Math Achievement of Elementary Students with Math Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grams, Devonee

2018-01-01

Math underachievement is of grave concern with 42% of 4th grade and 36% of 8th grade students achieving at a proficient or advanced level in mathematics, and schools are continually searching for interventions to implement with struggling students. The problem addressed in this study is recently an elementary school purchased access to…

Does the Man in the Moon Ever Sleep? An Analysis of Student Answers about Simple Astronomical Events: A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dove, Jane

2002-01-01

Analyzes the answers provided by (n=98) 12-year-old students to questions on an end-of-the-year science examination. Points out that although students are able to explain day and night, they have difficulties explaining why the moon always presents the same face to Earth. Addresses implications for teaching and learning. (Contains 17 references.)…

Using a Problem Solving-Cooperative Learning Approach to Improve Students' Skills for Interpreting [Superscript 1]H NMR Spectra of Unknown Compounds in an Organic Spectroscopy Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angawi, Rihab F.

2014-01-01

To address third- and fourth-year chemistry students' difficulties with the challenge of interpreting [superscript 1]H NMR spectra, a problem solving-cooperative learning technique was incorporated in a Spectra of Organic Compounds course. Using this approach helped students deepen their understanding of the basics of [superscript 1]H NMR…

How Role Play Addresses the Difficulties Students Perceive when Writing Reflectively about the Concepts They are Learning in Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millar, Susan

A fundamental problem which confronts Science teachers is the difficulty many students experience in the construction, understanding and remembering of concepts. This is more likely to occur when teachers adhere to a Transmission model of teaching and learning, and fail to provide students with opportunities to construct their own learning. Social construction, followed by individual reflective writing, enables students to construct their own understanding of concepts and effectively promotes deep learning. This method of constructing knowledge in the classroom is often overlooked by teachers as they either have no knowledge of it, or do not know how to appropriate it for successful teaching in Science. This study identifies the difficulties which students often experience when writing reflectively and offers solutions which are likely to reduce these difficulties. These solutions, and the use of reflective writing itself, challenge the ideology of the Sydney Genre School, which forms the basis of the attempt to deal with literacy in the NSW Science Syllabus. The findings of this investigation support the concept of literacy as the ability to use oral and written language, reading and listening to construct meaning. The investigation demonstrates how structured discussion, role play and reflective writing can be used to this end. While the Sydney Genre School methodology focuses on the structure of genre as a prerequisite for understanding concepts in Science, the findings of this study demonstrate that students can use their own words to discuss and write reflectively as they construct scientific concepts for themselves. Social construction and reflective writing can contribute to the construction of concepts and the development of metacognition in Science. However, students often experience difficulties when writing reflectively about scientific concepts they are learning. In this investigation, students identified these difficulties as an inability to understand, remember and think about a concept and to plan the sequence of their reflective writing. This study was undertaken in four different classes at junior to senior levels. The difficulties identified by students were successfully addressed by role play and the activities that are integral to it. These include physical or kinaesthetic activity, social construction, the use of drawing, diagrams and text, and the provision of a concrete model of the concept. Through the enactment effect, kinaesthetic activity enables students to automatically remember and visualise concepts, whilst visual stimuli and social construction provide opportunities for students to both visualise and verbalise concepts. In addition, the provision of a concrete model enables most students to visualise and understand abstract concepts to some extent. These activities, embedded in role play, enable students to understand, remember, sequence and think about a concept as they engage in reflective writing. This, in turn, enhances understanding and memory. Role play has hitherto been regarded as a useful teaching technique when dealing with very young students. This study demonstrates that role play can be highly effective when teaching Science at the secondary level. This investigation looks at the activities embedded in role play, and demonstrates how they can be effectively translated from theoretical constructs into classroom practice. Grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978; 1998; 2002) was selected as the most appropriate methodology for this investigation. The problems of identifying and controlling variables in an educational setting were essentially resolved using this qualitative, interpretative approach. Students from four classes in Years 8, 10 and 11 were investigated. Data were gathered using classroom observations, informal interviews, and formal written interviews, focus group conversations and samples of student writing.

Open-Inquiry Driven Overcoming of Epistemological Difficulties in Engineering Undergraduates: A Case Study in the Context of Thermal Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pizzolato, Nicola; Fazio, Claudio; Sperandeo Mineo, Rosa Maria; Persano Adorno, Dominique

2014-01-01

This paper addresses the efficacy of an open-inquiry approach that allows students to build on traditionally received knowledge. A sample of thirty engineering undergraduates, having already attended traditional university physics instruction, was selected for this study. The students were involved in a six-week long learning experience of…

Clinically speaking: A communication skills program for students from non-English speaking backgrounds.

PubMed

Miguel, Caroline San; Rogan, Fran; Kilstoff, Kathleen; Brown, Di

2006-09-01

This paper reports on the design, delivery and evaluation of an innovative oral communication skills program for first year students in a Bachelor of Nursing degree at an Australian university. This program was introduced in 2004 to meet the needs of first year undergraduate students from non-English speaking backgrounds who had experienced difficulties with spoken English while on clinical placement. The program consisted of early identification of students in need of communication development, a series of classes incorporated into the degree program to address students' needs, followed by a clinical placement block. This paper describes the structure of the program, discusses some of the major problems encountered by students in the clinical setting and presents some of the teaching strategies used to address these problems. Evaluations of the program suggest that students' communication skills and confidence improved, resulting in a more positive clinical experience for the majority of students.

What do Cells Really Look Like? An Inquiry into Students' Difficulties in Visualising a 3-D Biological Cell and Lessons for Pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijapurkar, Jyotsna; Kawalkar, Aisha; Nambiar, Priya

2014-04-01

In our explorations of students' concepts in an inquiry science classroom with grade 6 students from urban schools in India, we uncovered a variety of problems in their understanding of biological cells as structural and functional units of living organisms. In particular, we found not only that they visualised the cell as a two-dimensional (2-D) structure, instead of a closed three-dimensional (3-D) functional unit, but that they had a strong resistance to changing their 2-D conception to a 3-D one. Based on analyses of students' oral as well as written descriptions of cells in the classroom, and of models they made of the cell, we were able to identify the causes of students' difficulties in correctly visualising the cell. These insights helped us design a pedagogy involving guided discussions and activities that challenges students' 2-D conceptions of the cell. The activities entail very simple, low-cost, easily doable techniques to help students visualise the cell and to understand that it would not be able to function if its structure were 2-D. We also present the results of our investigations of conceptions of grade 7 students and biology undergraduates, revealing that the incorrect 2-D mental model can persist right up to the college level if it is not explicitly addressed. The classroom interactions described in this study illustrate how students' ideas can be probed and addressed in the classroom using pedagogical action research.

The relationship between subjective sleep disturbance, sleep quality, and emotion regulation difficulties in a sample of college students reporting trauma exposure.

PubMed

Pickett, Scott M; Barbaro, Nicole; Mello, David

2016-01-01

Sleep disturbance and poor sleep quality has been associated with trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms; however, the associated emotional consequences of sleep disturbance have not been examined within this context (i.e., emotional reactivity, emotion modulation). The current study examined the relationship between sleep disturbance, poor sleep quality, and emotion regulation difficulties. In a sample of college students reporting exposure to at least 1 traumatic event, online survey methodology was used to assess PTSD symptom severity (PTSS), sleep disturbances, including PTSD-specific sleep disturbances, and emotion regulation difficulties. After controlling for PTSS, sleep disturbance and poor sleep quality domains were related to both global and specific difficulties in emotion regulation domains. The findings suggest that sleep disturbance and emotion regulation difficulties associated with PTSD may not be a mere extension of the clinical picture of PTSD. Sleep disturbances following trauma exposure may contribute to emotion regulation difficulties and exacerbate negative consequences. Future research should examine the effects of treatments that simultaneously address sleep disturbances and PTSD symptoms on emotion regulation processes. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Is the "First-Generation Student" Term Useful for Understanding Inequality? the Role of Intersectionality in Illuminating the Implications of an Accepted--Yet Unchallenged--Term

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Thai-Huy; Nguyen, Bach Mai Dolly

2018-01-01

First-generation students (FGSs) have received a great deal of attention in education research, practice, and policy. The difficulty of understanding and subsequently addressing the various and persistent configurations of inequality associated with FGSs lies with the complicated yet obscure state of the FGS term itself. Leaving the term…

Understanding L2 Speaking Problems: Implications for ESL Curriculum Development in a Teacher Training Institution in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gan, Zhengdong

2012-01-01

This paper reports the result of a study that aimed to identify the problems with oral English skills of ESL (English as a second language) students at a tertiary teacher training institution in Hong Kong. The study, by way of semi-structured interview, addresses the gap in our understanding of the difficulties ESL students encountered in their…

Primary school students' mental health in Uganda and its association with school violence, connectedness, and school characteristics: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Thumann, Barbara F; Nur, Ula; Naker, Dipak; Devries, Karen M

2016-07-29

Few studies have explored risk factors for poor mental health in Ugandan primary schools. This study investigated whether individual- and contextual-level school-related factors including violence from school staff and other students, connectedness to school and peers, as well as school size and urban/rural location, were associated with mental health difficulties in Ugandan children. We also examined whether associations between violence exposure at school and mental health were mediated by connectedness as well as whether associations were different for boys and girls. The analytic sample consisted of 3,565 students from 42 primary schools participating in the Good Schools Study. Data were collected through individual interviews conducted in June and July 2012. Mental health was measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to investigate factors associated with mental health difficulties. Experiences of violence from school staff and other students in the past week were strongly associated with mental health difficulties (OR = 1.58, 95 % CI 1.31 to 1.90 and 1.81, 1.47 to 2.23, respectively). Children with a low school connectedness had 1.43 times (1.11 to 1.83) the odds of mental health difficulties compared to those with a high school connectedness. The OR comparing children never feeling close to other students at their school with those always feeling close was 1.86 (1.18 to 2.93). The effect of violence on mental health was not mediated through the connectedness variables. School size was not related to mental health difficulties, but attending an urban school increased the odds of mental health difficulties after accounting for other factors. We did not find evidence that the effect of one or more of the exposures on the outcome differed between boys and girls. These findings suggest that violence in school and low connectedness to school and peers are independently associated with mental health difficulties and interventions should address both concurrently. Extra support may be needed for students in urban schools. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01678846 . Registered 24 August 2012.

Sleep problems of adolescents: A detailed survey.

PubMed

Muluk, Nuray Bayar; Bulbul, Selda Fatma; Turğut, Mahmut; Ağirtaş, Gülşah

2015-06-01

We investigated the sleep problems and sleep habits of adolescents at three public primary schools and two high schools. Our study included 428 Turkish school children (244 girls and 184 boys). We used a questionnaire to determine the time they went to sleep at night; waking time in the morning; incidence of nightmares, snoring, daytime sleepiness, and intrafamilial physical trauma; concentration difficulty in class; and school success. The students were divided into age-related groups (group 1 = 11 to 13 years of age; group 2 = 14 to 15 years; group 3 = 16 to 18 years). The time they went to sleep was mostly between 10 and 11 p.m. in groups 1 and 2, and 11 to 12 p.m. in group 3. Difficulty in falling asleep was reported by 16.8 to 19.6% of the students in the three groups. Difficulty in waking up in the morning was reported by 12.7% of group 1, 16.0% of group 2, and 16.8% of group 3. Snoring was present in 12.1% of females and 22.0% of males. The occurrence of one nightmare in the preceding 3 months was reported by 11.3% of the students; 17.9% of the students reported having nightmares several times. Daytime sleepiness was present in 65.1%, and concentration difficulty was present in 56.8% of the students. We conclude that difficulty in falling asleep, snoring, and daytime sleepiness may be seen in adolescents who are in both primary and high schools. Watching inappropriate programs and movies on television and intrafamilial physical trauma may cause nightmares and sleeping problems in these adolescents. Students and families should be educated about the importance of sleep in academic performance. Countries' public health policies should address sleep problems and related educational activities.

Service-Learning Pathologies and Prognoses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwartzman, Roy

2007-01-01

This essay addresses how to cope with several potential barriers to implementing effective service-learning projects. The discussion builds on experiences of developing and refining service-learning in upper-division communication courses. Difficulties arise in three areas: the institutional and physical setting, student attitudes, and community…

Enhancing students' higher order thinking skills through computer-based scaffolding in problem-based learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Nam Ju

This multiple paper dissertation addressed several issues in Problem-based learning (PBL) through conceptual analysis, meta-analysis, and empirical research. PBL is characterized by ill-structured tasks, self-directed learning process, and a combination of individual and cooperative learning activities. Students who lack content knowledge and problem-solving skills may struggle to address associated tasks that are beyond their current ability levels in PBL. This dissertation addressed a) scaffolding characteristics (i.e., scaffolding types, delivery method, customization) and their effects on students' perception of optimal challenge in PBL, b) the possibility of virtual learning environments for PBL, and c) the importance of information literacy for successful PBL learning. Specifically, this dissertation demonstrated the effectiveness of scaffolding customization (i.e., fading, adding, and fading/adding) to enhance students' self-directed learning in PBL. Moreover, the effectiveness of scaffolding was greatest when scaffolding customization is self-selected than based on fixed-time interval and their performance. This suggests that it might be important for students to take responsibility for their learning in PBL and individualized and just-in-time scaffolding can be one of the solutions to address K-12 students' difficulties in improving problem-solving skills and adjusting to PBL.

Astronomy textbook images: do they really help students?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Testa, Italo; Leccia, Silvio; Puddu, Emanuella

2014-05-01

In this paper we present a study on the difficulties secondary school students experience in interpreting textbook images of elementary astronomical phenomena, namely, the changing of the seasons, Sun and lunar eclipses and Moon phases. Six images from a commonly used textbook in Italian secondary schools were selected. Interviews of 45 min about the astronomical concepts related to the images were carried out with eighteen students attending the last year of secondary school (aged 17-18). Students’ responses were analyzed through a semiotic framework based on the different types of visual representation structures. We found that the wide range of difficulties shown by students come from naïve or alternative ideas due to incorrect or inadequate geometric models of the addressed phenomena. As a primary implication of this study, we suggest that teachers should pay attention to specific iconic features of the discussed images, e.g., the compositional structure and the presence of real/symbolic elements.

Examining Student Attitudes in Introductory Physics via the Math Attitude and Expectations Survey (MAX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hemingway, Deborah; Eichenlaub, Mark; Losert, Wolfgang; Redish, Edward F.

2017-01-01

Student often face difficulties with using math in science, and this exploratory project seeks to address the underlying mechanisms that lead to these difficulties. This mixed-methods project includes the creation of two novel assessment surveys, the Mathematical Epistemic Games Survey (MEGS) and the Math Attitude and Expectations Survey (MAX). The MAX, a 30-question Likert-scale survey, focuses on the attitudes towards using mathematics of the students in a reformed introductory physics course for the life sciences (IPLS) which is part of the National Experiment in Undergraduate Education (NEXUS/Physics) developed at the University of Maryland (UMD). Preliminary results from the MAX are discussed with specific attention given to students' attitudes towards math and physics, opinions about interdisciplinarity, and the usefulness of physics in academic settings as well as in professional biological research and modern medicine settings.

Student performance on argumentation task in the Swedish National Assessment in science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jönsson, Anders

2016-07-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of content knowledge on students' socio-scientific argumentation in the Swedish National Assessment in biology, chemistry and physics for 12-year-olds. In Sweden, the assessment of socio-scientific argumentation has been a major part of the National Assessment during three consecutive years and this study utilizes data on student performance to investigate (a) the relationship between tasks primarily addressing argumentation and tasks addressing primarily content knowledge as well as (b) students' performance on argumentation tasks, which differ in relation to content, subject, aspect of argumentation and assessment criteria. Findings suggest a strong and positive relationship between content knowledge and students' performance on argumentation tasks. The analysis also provides some hypotheses about the task difficulty of argumentation tasks that may be pursued in future investigations.

Understanding Probabilistic Interpretations of Physical Systems: A Prerequisite to Learning Quantum Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bao, Lei; Redish, Edward F.

2002-01-01

Explains the critical role of probability in making sense of quantum physics and addresses the difficulties science and engineering undergraduates experience in helping students build a model of how to think about probability in physical systems. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/YDS)

The Thinking Body in/of Multimodal Engineering Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Wolff-Michael

2017-01-01

Studies show that engineering is particularly suited for students traditionally experiencing difficulties in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects--including those marked learning disabled--because it supports literacy in its different manifestations (i.e., across modes). This article addresses this topic, building on…

Teachers Wanted: Must Like Snow.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarrett, Denise

1999-01-01

Profiles Mary Ellen Darling, an exceptional teacher at Clark Middle School in Anchorage (Alaska). Addresses the difficulties in recruiting qualified teachers for the Anchorage School District, where 20 percent of students speak 85 different languages. Describes successful efforts to recruit teachers and professional staff from states with similar…

Electromagnetic Concepts in Mathematical Representation of Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Albe, Virginie; Venturini, Patrice; Lascours, Jean

2001-01-01

Addresses the use of mathematics when studying the physics of electromagnetism. Focuses on common electromagnetic concepts and their associated mathematical representation and arithmetical tools. Concludes that most students do not understand the significant aspects of physical situations and have difficulty using relationships and models specific…

Implications of the Failure of the Higher Education Assistance Foundation. Hearing before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

This hearing before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, addresses the implications of the anticipated failure of the Higher Education Assistance Foundation (HEAF), the largest guarantor of student loans. HEAF's difficulties have affected Sallie Mae (Student Loan Marketing Association), and have raised general questions about the…

Objectification and Semiotic Function

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santi, George

2011-01-01

The objective of this paper is to study students' difficulties when they have to ascribe the same meaning to different representations of the same mathematical object. We address two theoretical tools that are at the core of Radford's cultural semiotic and Godino's onto-semiotic approaches: objectification and the semiotic function. The analysis…

Preparing for Algebra by Building Fraction Sense

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodrigues, Jessica; Dyson, Nancy I.; Hansen, Nicole; Jordan, Nancy C.

2016-01-01

Fractions are troublesome for many children, especially students with learning difficulties and disabilities in mathematics. To address this serious educational concern, this article recommends the use of number lines to build fraction sense. Math activities that center on the number line build fraction concepts as early as third grade. A number…

Animation-Based Learning in Geology: Impact of Animations Coupled with Seductive Details

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clayton, Rodney L.

2016-01-01

Research is not clear on how to address the difficulty students have conceptualizing geologic processes and phenomena. This study investigated how animations coupled with seductive details effect learners' situational interest and emotions. A quantitative quasi-experimental study employing an independent-measures factorial design was used. The…

Academic Preparation for International Pre-MBA's in Marketing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westerfield, Kay

Adjustments to the case study approach are recommended to address three major areas of difficulty for foreign students in master's-level marketing education programs: (1) language-related problems; (2) unfamiliar class format and methodology; and (3) lack of cultural background knowledge. For language-related problems, case studies are a good…

Continuous Professional Learning through School Based Strategic Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tytler, Russell

2007-01-01

There is ample evidence that in many countries school science is in difficulty, with declining student attitudes and uptake of science. This presentation argues that a key to addressing the problem lies in transforming teachers' classroom practice, and that pedagogical innovation is best supported within a school context. Evidence for effective…

Using Reading as an Automated Learning Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruiz Fodor, Ana

2017-01-01

The problem addressed in this quantitative experimental study was that students were having more difficulty learning from audiovisual lessons than necessary because educators had eliminated textual references, based on early findings from CLT research. In more recent studies, CLT researchers estimated that long-term memory schemas may be used by…

The Medical Terminology Course--Its Necessity and the Solution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, J. H.

1981-01-01

Addresses difficulties faced by medical students in the acquisition of a technical terminology largely based on Greek or Latin, and explains how in recent years undergraduate Classics departments have met the challenge by offering a Medical Terminology course. Discusses course development and currently available instruction materials. (MES)

Comparing Three Methods of Geometrical Approach in Visualizing Differential Equations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

KarimiFardinpour, Younes; Gooya, Zahra

2018-01-01

This paper concerns "planes-coordination" and "long-term-prediction" difficulties. These are specifically the case when students attempt to visualize solution curves of autonomous differential equations for predicting the long-term behavior of various initial conditions. To address these issues, a study was conducted in which…

A Study of General Education Astronomy Students' Understandings of Cosmology. Part V. The Effects of a New Suite of Cosmology "Lecture-Tutorials" on Students' Conceptual Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Colin S.; Prather, Edward E.; Duncan, Douglas K.

2012-01-01

This is the final paper in a five-paper series describing our national study of the teaching and learning of cosmology in general education astronomy college-level courses. A significant portion of this work was dedicated to the development of five new "Lecture-Tutorials" that focus on addressing the conceptual and reasoning difficulties that our…

Nursing students assess nursing education.

PubMed

Norman, Linda; Buerhaus, Peter I; Donelan, Karen; McCloskey, Barbara; Dittus, Robert

2005-01-01

This study assessed the characteristics of nursing students currently enrolled in nursing education programs, how students finance their nursing education, their plans for clinical practice and graduate education, and the rewards and difficulties of being a nursing student. Data are from a survey administered to a national sample of 496 nursing students. The students relied on financial aid and personal savings and earnings to finance their education. Parents, institutional scholarships, and government loans are also important sources, but less than 15% of the students took out bank loans. Nearly one quarter of the students, particularly younger and minority students, plan to enroll in graduate school immediately after graduation and most want to become advanced nursing practitioners. Most of the nursing students (88%) are satisfied with their nursing education and nearly all (95%) provided written answers to two open-ended questions. Comments collapsed into three major categories reflecting the rewards (helping others, status, and job security) and three categories reflecting the difficulties (problems with balancing demands, quality of nursing education, and the admissions process) of being a nursing student. Implications for public policymaking center on expanding the capacity of nursing education programs, whereas schools themselves should focus on addressing the financial needs of students, helping them strike a balance among their school, work, and personal/family responsibilities and modifying certain aspects of the curriculum.

Evaluation of a cognitive remediation intervention for college students with psychiatric conditions.

PubMed

Mullen, Michelle G; Thompson, Judy L; Murphy, Ann A; Malenczak, Derek; Giacobbe, Giovanna; Karyczak, Sean; Holloway, Katherine E; Twamley, Elizabeth W; Silverstein, Steven M; Gill, Kenneth J

2017-03-01

Given the poor educational outcomes associated with psychiatric conditions, we developed Focused Academic Strength Training (FAST), a 12-week strategy-focused cognitive remediation intervention designed to improve academic functioning among college students with psychiatric conditions. Here we report initial results from a randomized controlled trial of FAST. Seventy-two college students with mood, anxiety, and/or psychotic disorders were randomized to receive FAST or services as usual and were assessed at baseline and 4 months (posttreatment). Repeated-measures analyses of variance indicated FAST-associated improvements in self-reported cognitive strategy use (p < .001), self-efficacy (p = .001), and academic difficulties (p = .025). There were no significant treatment-related improvements in neuropsychological performance. FAST may lead to an increase in self-efficacy and cognitive strategy use, as well as a reduction in academic difficulties among students with psychiatric conditions. Future analyses with follow-up data through 12 months will address the potential of FAST to improve academic functioning among this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Schoolwide Collaboration to Prevent and Address Reading Difficulties: Opportunities for School Psychologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nellis, Leah M.; Sickman, Linda Sue; Newman, Daniel S.; Harman, Deborah R.

2014-01-01

With the increase in schoolwide practices to improve reading instruction for all students and provide supplemental interventions for struggling readers, the need for collaboration among education professionals has become increasingly important. This article focuses on the expanding opportunities for collaboration between school psychologists and…

Trends in Children's Concepts of Vertebrate and Invertebrate.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braund, Martin

1998-01-01

Presents the results of a cross-age study of 7- to 15-year-old children on their thinking about vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Suggests experiences that could be included in the school science curriculum and argues for more classroom work relating structure with function in order to address students' conceptual difficulties. (Contains 18…

Guided Retrieval Practice of Educational Materials Using Automated Scoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grimaldi, Phillip J.; Karpicke, Jeffrey D.

2014-01-01

Retrieval practice is a powerful way to promote long-term retention and meaningful learning. However, students do not frequently practice retrieval on their own, and when they do, they have difficulty evaluating the correctness of their responses and making effective study choices. To address these problems, we have developed a guided retrieval…

Collaborating with Parents for Early School Success: The Achieving-Behaving-Caring Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConaughy, Stephanie H.; Kay, Pam; Welkowitz, Julie A.; Hewitt, Kim; Fitzgerald, Martha D.

2007-01-01

The Achieving-Behaving-Caring (ABC) Program is an evidence-based approach to addressing the needs of elementary students at risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties and promoting successful home-school collaboration. This practical guide demonstrates how classroom teachers and parents can work together to boost individual children's…

Who Benefits from Special Education? Remediating (Fixing) Other People's Children. Studies in Curriculum Theory Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brantlinger, Ellen, Ed.

2006-01-01

This book addresses the negative consequences of labeling and separating education for students with "disabilities," the cultural biases inherent in the way that we view children's learning difficulties, the social construction of disability, the commercialization of special education, and related issues. The theme that unifies the chapters is…

Preparation of Experienced Teachers to Address Teacher Shortages: A Quantitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Lisa Davis

2009-01-01

Public educational institutions are facing the problem of a shortage of experienced, certified, skilled teachers in the areas of special education, English as a Second Language, mathematics, biology or life science, bilingual education, and music. This shortage compounds difficulties in serving students in these areas. Reasons for this shortage…

Analogical Instruction in Statistics: Implications for Social Work Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Leela

2008-01-01

This paper examines the use of analogies in statistics instruction. Much has been written about the difficulty social work students have with statistics. To address this concern, Glisson and Fischer (1987) called for the use of analogies. Understanding of analogical problem solving has surged in the last few decades with the integration of…

Brief Experimental Analysis of Written Letter Formation: Single-Case Demonstration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Matthew K.; Ganuza, Zoila M.; London, Rachel M.

2009-01-01

Many students experience difficulty in acquiring basic writing skills and educators need to efficiently address those deficits by implementing an intervention with a high likelihood for success. The current article demonstrates the utility of using a brief experimental analysis (BEA) to identify a letter-formation intervention for a second-grade…

On Improving Text Readability by Creating a Personal Writing Style

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Yuru

2017-01-01

English writing is one of the four indispensable skills that English learners need to master, but unfortunately, many Chinese college students have much difficulty composing clear, concise and coherent essays although they have studied English for at least over six years. To address the problem, the researchers and teachers in China have tried…

Assessment and Support of the Idea Co-Construction Process that Influences Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gweon, Gahgene

2012-01-01

Research in team science suggests strategies for addressing difficulties that groups face when working together. This dissertation examines how student teams work in project based learning (PBL) environments, with the goal of creating strategies and technology to improve collaboration. The challenge of working in such a group is that the members…

A Framework for Addressing the Needs of Students Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol and Other Drugs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Silvana M. R.; Westby, Carol E.; Gable, Robert A.

2007-01-01

In this article, the authors review learning and behavioral problems of children exposed prenatally to alcohol and other drugs, focusing on executive-function deficits such as difficulty shifting tasks, maintaining attention, and manipulating information in working memory. They discuss various risk factors associated with prenatal drug exposure so…

Making It Till Friday: Your Guide to Effective Classroom Management. Fifth Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Long, James D.; Williams, Robert L.

2005-01-01

A brighter day has arrived for America's educators. By recognizing and addressing the difficulties of classroom management for both new and experienced teachers, this book is designed to help teachers enjoy teaching and students enjoy learning. Each chapter introduces established techniques as well as new trends in classroom management that…

Messy Problems and Lay Audiences: Teaching Critical Thinking within the Finance Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrithers, David; Ling, Teresa; Bean, John C.

2008-01-01

This article investigates the critical thinking difficulties of finance majors when asked to address ill-structured finance problems. The authors build on previous research in which they asked students to analyze an ill-structured investment problem and recommend a course of action. The results revealed numerous critical thinking weaknesses,…

A Synthesis of Reading Interventions and Effects on Reading Comprehension Outcomes for Older Struggling Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmonds, Meaghan S.; Vaughn, Sharon; Wexler, Jade; Reutebuch, Colleen; Cable, Amory; Tackett, Kathryn Klingler; Schnakenberg, Jennifer Wick

2009-01-01

This article reports a synthesis of intervention studies conducted between 1994 and 2004 with older students (Grades 6-12) with reading difficulties. Interventions addressing decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension were included if they measured the effects on reading comprehension. Twenty-nine studies were located and synthesized.…

Research as a guide for curriculum development: An example from introductory spectroscopy. II. Addressing student difficulties with atomic emission spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanjek, L.; Shaffer, P. S.; McDermott, L. C.; Planinic, M.; Veza, D.

2015-02-01

This is the second of two closely related articles (Paper I and Paper II) that together illustrate how research in physics education has helped guide the design of instruction that has proved effective in improving student understanding of atomic spectroscopy. Most of the more than 1000 students who participated in this four-year investigation were science majors enrolled in the introductory calculus-based physics course at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, WA, USA. The others included graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants at UW and physics majors in introductory and advanced physics courses at the University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia. About half of the latter group were preservice high school physics teachers. Paper I describes how several conceptual and reasoning difficulties were identified among university students as they tried to relate a discrete line spectrum to the energy levels of atoms in a light source. This second article (Paper II) illustrates how findings from this research informed the development of a tutorial that led to improvement in student understanding of atomic emission spectra.

Rasch Measurement of Collaborative Problem Solving in an Online Environment.

PubMed

Harding, Susan-Marie E; Griffin, Patrick E

2016-01-01

This paper describes an approach to the assessment of human to human collaborative problem solving using a set of online interactive tasks completed by student dyads. Within the dyad, roles were nominated as either A or B and students selected their own roles. The question as to whether role selection affected individual student performance measures is addressed. Process stream data was captured from 3402 students in six countries who explored the problem space by clicking, dragging the mouse, moving the cursor and collaborating with their partner through a chat box window. Process stream data were explored to identify behavioural indicators that represented elements of a conceptual framework. These indicative behaviours were coded into a series of dichotomous items. These items represented actions and chats performed by students. The frequency of occurrence was used as a proxy measure of item difficulty. Then given a measure of item difficulty, student ability could be estimated using the difficulty estimates of the range of items demonstrated by the student. The Rasch simple logistic model was used to review the indicators to identify those that were consistent with the assumptions of the model and were invariant across national samples, language, curriculum and age of the student. The data were analysed using a one and two dimension, one parameter model. Rasch separation reliability, fit to the model, distribution of students and items on the underpinning construct, estimates for each country and the effect of role differences are reported. This study provides evidence that collaborative problem solving can be assessed in an online environment involving human to human interaction using behavioural indicators shown to have a consistent relationship between the estimate of student ability, and the probability of demonstrating the behaviour.

Cigarettes and waterpipe smoking among medical students in Syria: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Almerie, M Q; Matar, H E; Salam, M; Morad, A; Abdulaal, M; Koudsi, A; Maziak, W

2008-09-01

To investigate tobacco use, beliefs and attitudes among medical students in Syria. A cross-sectional study of a random sample of 570 medical students (first and fifth year) registered at the Damascus University Faculty of Medicine in 2006-2007. We used a self-administered questionnaire for demo-graphic information, smoking behaviour (cigarette, waterpipe), family and peer smoking, attitudes and beliefs about smoking and future role in advising patients to quit smoking. The overall prevalence of tobacco use was 10.9% for cigarettes (15.8% men, 3.3% women), 23.5% for waterpipe (30.3% men, 13.4% women) and 7.3% for both (10.1% men, 3.1% women). Both smoking methods were more popular among the fifth year students (15.4% and 27%) compared to their younger counterparts (6.6% and 19.7%). Regular smoking patterns predominated for cigarettes (62%), while occasional use patterns predominated for waterpipes (83%). More than two thirds of students (69%) thought they might not address or would have difficulty addressing smoking in their future patients. The level of tobacco use among Syrian medical students is alarming and highlights the rapidly changing patterns of waterpipe use, especially among female students. Medical schools should work harder to tackle this phenomenon and address it more efficiently in their curricula.

Investigating and Improving Student Understanding of Key Ideas in Quantum Mechanics throughout Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emigh, Paul Jeffrey

This dissertation describes research on student understanding of quantum mechanics across multiple levels of instruction. The primary focus has been to identify patterns in student reasoning related to key concepts in quantum mechanics. The specific topics include quantum measurements, time dependence, vector spaces, and angular momentum. The research has spanned a variety of different quantum courses intended for introductory physics students, upper-division physics majors, and graduate students in physics. The results of this research have been used to develop a set of curriculum, Tutorials in Physics: Quantum Mechanics, for addressing the most persistent student difficulties. We document both the development of this curriculum and how it has impacted and improved student understanding of quantum mechanics.

Increasing the understanding of chemical concepts: The effectiveness of multiple exposures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bius, Janet H.

Chemistry is difficult because it has multilevels of knowledge with each level presenting challenges in vocabulary, abstract thinking, and symbolic language. Students have to be able to transfer between levels to understand the concepts and the theoretical models of chemistry. The cognitive theories of constructivism and cognitive-load theory are used to explain the difficulties novice learners have with the subject of chemistry and methods to increase success for students. The relationship between external representations, misconceptions and topics on the success of students are addressed. If students do not know the formalisms associated with chemical diagrams and graphs, the representations will decrease student success. Misconceptions can be formed when new information is interpreted based on pre-existing knowledge that is faulty. Topics with large amount of interacting elements that must be processed simultaneously are considered difficult to understand. New variables were created to measure the number of times a student is exposed to a chemical concept. Each variable was coded according to topic and learning environment, which are the lecture and laboratory components of the course, homework assignments and textbook examples. The exposure variables are used to measure the success rate of students on similar exam questions. Question difficulty scales were adapted for this project from those found in the chemical education literature. The exposure variables were tested on each level of the difficulty scales to determine their effect at decreasing the cognitive demand of these questions. The subjects of this study were freshmen science majors at a large Midwest university. The effects of the difficulty scales and exposure variables were measured for those students whose exam scores were in the upper one-fourth percentile, for students whose test scores were in the middle one-half percentile, and the lower one-fourth percentile are those students that scored the lowest on the exam. The most difficult for all three percentiles were the topics of acid/base equilibria and aqueous equilibria. The exposure variables of recall and algorithmic homework increased student success for all percentiles. Students perform better on exam questions when they understand the terminology and symbolic representations of a topic.

Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties

PubMed Central

Denton, Carolyn A.; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Sharon; Bryan, Deanna

2012-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of a multicomponent reading intervention implemented with middle school students with severe reading difficulties, all of whom had received remedial and/or special education for several years with minimal response to intervention. Participants were 38 students in grades 6–8 who had severe deficits in word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Most were Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) with identified disabilities. Nearly all demonstrated severely limited oral vocabularies in English and, for ELLs, in both English and Spanish. Students were randomly assigned to receive the research intervention (n = 20) or typical instruction provided in their school’s remedial reading or special education classes (n = 18). Students in the treatment group received daily explicit and systematic small-group intervention for 40 minutes over 13 weeks, consisting of a modified version of a phonics-based remedial program augmented with English as a Second Language practices and instruction in vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension strategies. Results indicated that treatment students did not demonstrate significantly higher outcomes in word recognition, comprehension, or fluency than students who received the school’s typical instruction and that neither group demonstrated significant growth over the course of the study. Significant correlations were found between scores on teachers’ ratings of students’ social skills and problem behaviors and posttest decoding and spelling scores, and between English oral vocabulary scores and scores in word identification and comprehension. The researchers hypothesize that middle school students with the most severe reading difficulties, particularly those who are ELLs and those with limited oral vocabularies, may require intervention of considerably greater intensity than that provided in this study. Further research directly addressing features of effective remediation for these students is needed. PMID:22736893

Introductory Physics Students' Physics and Mathematics Epistemologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scanlon, Erin M.

The purpose of this three study dissertation is to investigate why students are enrolled in introductory physics courses experience difficulties in being successful; one possible source of their difficulties is related to their epistemology. In order to investigate students' epistemologies about mathematics and physics, students were observed solving physics problems in groups during a laboratory course (study 1) and while solving physics and mathematics problems individually during office-hour sessions (study 2). The Epistemological Resources theoretical framework was employed (Hammer & Elby, 2002). Using emergent and a priori epistemological resource operationalizations (Jones, 2015), 25 distinct epistemological resources were identified in study 1. Differences in physics epistemological resource usage between students of varying academic background (as measured by their number of previously completed mathematics and science classes were identified. By employing an external (Jones, 2015) and internal (Scanlon, 2016) a priori epistemological resource coding scheme, a total of 17 distinct epistemological resources were identified in study 2. The data were sampled to compare the mathematics and physics epistemological resource usage of participants with consistent and inconsistent sign usage in an energy conservation physics problem in order to provide a meaningful context for discussion. Participants of the same sign usage group employed epistemological resources similarly. Conversely, participants in different groups had significantly different physics epistemological resource usage patterns. Finally, student epistemological resource usage patterns from the first two studies were compared to course outcomes in order to determine implications for practice (study 3). Educators must be aware of and address the epistemological underpinnings of students' difficulties in introductory physics courses.

Online support system for students in higher education: Proof-of-concept study

PubMed Central

Touloumakos, Anna K; Goozée, Rhianna; Papadatou-Pastou, Marietta; Barley, Elizabeth; Haddad, Mark; Tzotzoli, Patapia

2016-01-01

Background Providing support to the increasing numbers of students facing mental health difficulties in higher education (HE) can be difficult due to stigma or lack of resources. Alternative and/or complementary sources of support are needed, such as online interventions that are recognised for their therapeutic value and cost-effectiveness. Objectives We aim to provide evidence supporting the conceptual and practical value of a newly developed online multimedia intervention system for HE students who face mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression and study-skills difficulties. Methods Students from five universities were invited to participate in a cross-sectional proof-of-concept study. Students were invited through the universities’ internal communication channels. Following demonstration of each part of the system, students completed a survey with quantitative and qualitative questions. Results Response was largely positive. Positive responses on the features of the questionnaire ranged between 65% and 86%; on the features of the workshops ranged between 57% and 91%; on ‘My place’ ranged between 65% and 79%; on the animated videos ranged between 79% and 92%; and on the overall system ranged between 78% and 89%. Participants indicated areas for improvement and ways in which such improvement could be accomplished; these then guided the development of the system. Conclusions The results confirm the need for such a system. It can complement student support services (SSS) by dealing with cases with mild to moderate difficulties, hence allowing SSS to prioritise and effectively address more severe cases. Potentially this method can provide a meaningful alternative to SSS; this is worth investigating further.

An Alignment of the Canadian Language Benchmarks to the BC ESL Articulation Levels. Final Report - January 2007

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbour, Ross; Ostler, Catherine; Templeman, Elizabeth; West, Elizabeth

2007-01-01

The British Columbia (BC) English as a Second Language (ESL) Articulation Committee's Canadian Language Benchmarks project was precipitated by ESL instructors' desire to address transfer difficulties of ESL students within the BC transfer system and to respond to the recognition that the Canadian Language Benchmarks, a descriptive scale of ESL…

Effects of a Response-Based, Tiered Framework for Intervening with Struggling Readers in Middle School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Greg; Vaughn, Sharon; Fletcher, Jack; Stuebing, Karla; Barth, Amy

2013-01-01

This study addressed the effects of multiyear, response-based, tiered intervention for struggling readers in grades 6-8. A sample of 768 sixth-grade students with reading difficulties was randomized to a response-based, tiered-intervention condition or "business as usual," and initial treatment status was maintained over the three-year…

Problems and Issues Related to Legislative Process: The State Dimension.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reibman, Jeanette F.

Issues of concern to higher education in Pennsylvania and possible roles for the state government are addressed by a state senator. The difficulty of providing postsecondary education in view of reduced funds is noted. It is suggested that the expectation that adult students will help solve the problem of fewer traditional aged college students…

A Public School Cued Speech Program for Children with Hearing Loss and Special Learning Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeBlanc, Barbara M.

2004-01-01

The difficulties encountered by students with hearing loss and special learning needs are often attributed exclusively to hearing loss, particularly when there are no other obvious physical or sensory handicaps. A Louisiana public school system has addressed this issue for the past 9 years and has included both regular and special education…

Using Google Earth and Satellite Imagery to Foster Place-Based Teaching in an Introductory Physical Geology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monet, Julie; Greene, Todd

2012-01-01

Students in an introductory physical geology course often have difficulty making connections between basic course topics and assembling key concepts (beyond textbook examples) to interpret how geologic processes shape the characteristics of the local and regional natural environment. As an approach to address these issues, we designed and…

Exploring Writing Individually and Collaboratively Using Google Docs in EFL Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alsubaie, Jawaher; Ashuraidah, Ali

2017-01-01

Online teaching and learning became popular with the evolution of the World Wide Web now days. Implementing online learning tools within EFL contexts will help better address the multitude of teaching and learning styles. Difficulty in academic writing can be considered one of the common problems that students face in and outside their classrooms.…

Randomness, Sample Size, Imagination and Metacognition: Making Judgments about Differences in Data Sets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stack, Sue; Watson, Jane

2013-01-01

There is considerable research on the difficulties students have in conceptualising individual concepts of probability and statistics (see for example, Bryant & Nunes, 2012; Jones, 2005). The unit of work developed for the action research project described in this article is specifically designed to address some of these in order to help…

Data-Based Decision-Making: Developing a Method for Capturing Teachers' Understanding of CBM Graphs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Espin, Christine A.; Wayman, Miya Miura; Deno, Stanley L.; McMaster, Kristen L.; de Rooij, Mark

2017-01-01

In this special issue, we explore the decision-making aspect of "data-based decision-making". The articles in the issue address a wide range of research questions, designs, methods, and analyses, but all focus on data-based decision-making for students with learning difficulties. In this first article, we introduce the topic of…

Teaching with Web-Based Videos: Helping Students Grasp the Science in Popular Online Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pace, Barbara G.; Jones, Linda Cronin

2009-01-01

Today, the use of web-based videos in science classrooms is becoming more and more commonplace. However, these videos are often fast-paced and information rich--science concepts can be fragmented and embedded within larger cultural issues. This article addresses the cognitive difficulties posed by many web-based science videos. Drawing on concepts…

Understanding neurophobia: Reasons behind impaired understanding and learning of neuroanatomy in cross-disciplinary healthcare students.

PubMed

Javaid, Muhammad Asim; Chakraborty, Shelly; Cryan, John F; Schellekens, Harriët; Toulouse, André

2018-01-01

Recent studies have highlighted a fear or difficulty with the study and understanding of neuroanatomy among medical and healthcare students. This has been linked with a diminished confidence of clinical practitioners and students to manage patients with neurological conditions. The underlying reasons for this difficulty have been queried among a broad cohort of medical, dental, occupational therapy, and speech and language sciences students. Direct evidence of the students' perception regarding specific difficulties associated with learning neuroanatomy has been provided and some of the measures required to address these issues have been identified. Neuroanatomy is perceived as a more difficult subject compared to other anatomy topics (e.g., reproductive/pelvic anatomy) and not all components of the neuroanatomy curriculum are viewed as equally challenging. The difficulty in understanding neuroanatomical concepts is linked to intrinsic factors such as the inherent complex nature of the topic rather than outside influences (e.g., lecture duration). Participants reporting high levels of interest in the subject reported higher levels of knowledge, suggesting that teaching tools aimed at increasing interest, such as case-based scenarios, could facilitate acquisition of knowledge. Newer pedagogies, including web-resources and computer assisted learning (CAL) are considered important tools to improve neuroanatomy learning, whereas traditional tools such as lecture slides and notes were considered less important. In conclusion, it is suggested that understanding of neuroanatomy could be enhanced and neurophobia be decreased by purposefully designed CAL resources. This data could help curricular designers to refocus attention and guide educators to develop improved neuroanatomy web-resources in future. Anat Sci Educ 11: 81-93. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

Medical student sexuality: how sexual experience and sexuality training impact U.S. and Canadian medical students' comfort in dealing with patients' sexuality in clinical practice.

PubMed

Shindel, Alan W; Ando, Kathryn A; Nelson, Christian J; Breyer, Benjamin N; Lue, Tom F; Smith, James F

2010-08-01

To determine factors associated with students' comfort in addressing patients' sexuality in the clinical context. The authors invited students enrolled in MD-degree-granting and osteopathic medical schools in the United States and Canada to participate in an anonymous Internet survey between February and July 2008. The survey assessed ethnodemographic factors and sexual history. Respondents also completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Male respondents completed the International Index of Erectile Function and the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool. Female respondents completed the Female Sexual Function Index and the Index of Sex Life. The authors used descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and multivariable logistic regression to analyze responses. The authors' analyses included 2,261 completed survey responses: 910 from men, 1,343 from women, and 8 from individuals who self-identified as "other" gendered. Over 53% of respondents (n = 1,206) stated that they felt they had not received sufficient training in medical school to address sexual concerns clinically. Despite this, 81% of students (n = 1,827) reported feeling comfortable dealing with their patients' sexuality issues. Students with limited sexual experience, students at risk for sexual problems, and students who felt that they had not been trained adequately were less likely to report being comfortable talking to patients about sexual health issues. Perception of inadequate sexuality training in medical school and personal issues pertaining to sex may be associated with students' difficulty in addressing patients' sexuality. Adequate training is preeminently associated with feeling comfortable addressing patients' sexuality and should be a priority for medical education.

An investigation of student understanding of classical ideas related to quantum mechanics: Potential energy diagrams and spatial probability density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephanik, Brian Michael

This dissertation describes the results of two related investigations into introductory student understanding of ideas from classical physics that are key elements of quantum mechanics. One investigation probes the extent to which students are able to interpret and apply potential energy diagrams (i.e., graphs of potential energy versus position). The other probes the extent to which students are able to reason classically about probability and spatial probability density. The results of these investigations revealed significant conceptual and reasoning difficulties that students encounter with these topics. The findings guided the design of instructional materials to address the major problems. Results from post-instructional assessments are presented that illustrate the impact of the curricula on student learning.

Difficulties Experienced by University Students with Severe Mental Illness Who Participate in Supported Education Programs.

PubMed

Shor, Ron

2017-04-01

Knowledge about the difficulties students with severe mental illness (SMI) encounter is essential to helping them meet the challenges of studying in universities. Therefore, a study was conducted in Israel with 80 university students with SMI to ascertain their difficulties and the relationship between these difficulties and their level of recovery. The two subscales of an instrument measuring students' difficulties that were ranked the highest were "Learning Skills and Management of Academic Tasks" and "Social Inclusion Difficulties." Inverse relationships were found between the students' difficulties and their perceived level of recovery. The findings illuminate that one of the major challenges that students with SMI experience is to meet academic requirements while coping with mental illness. They also indicate that students' difficulties may not be limited to academic functioning. Therefore, there is a need to broaden the view of students' difficulties to include social and contextual factors in the university environment.

Student learning styles in anatomy and physiology courses: Meeting the needs of nursing students.

PubMed

Johnston, A N B; Hamill, J; Barton, M J; Baldwin, S; Percival, J; Williams-Pritchard, G; Salvage-Jones, J; Todorovic, M

2015-11-01

Anatomy and Physiology is a core course in pre-registration nursing programs, yet many students have difficulty successfully negotiating the large volume of content and the complex concepts in these bioscience courses. Typically students perform poorly in these 'threshold' courses', despite multiple interventions to support student engagement. Investigation of the shortcomings in these courses, based on feedback from students indicated several key areas of difficulty in the course, especially focused around a relative lack of hands-on 'concrete' activities in laboratories and tutorials. To attempt to address this, academic and technical staff developed activities for students that promoted discussion and allowed students to interact easily and repetitively with content. Interactive tables and posters that needed to be labelled or 'filled-in' using pre-prepared Velcro dots, as well as pre-prepared flash cards to promote group work, were some examples of the activities used to enhance student experiences and promote hands-on learning. Over the academic year of 2013 these activities were introduced into the laboratory and tutorial classes for first year Bachelor of Nursing anatomy and physiology students. Staff and student participants positively rated implementation of these new activities on surveys, as they allowed them to explore the difficult aspects of anatomy and physiology, utilising various learning styles that may have been neglected in the past. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visualizations and Mental Models - The Educational Implications of GEOWALL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rapp, D.; Kendeou, P.

2003-12-01

Work in the earth sciences has outlined many of the faulty beliefs that students possess concerning particular geological systems and processes. Evidence from educational and cognitive psychology has demonstrated that students often have difficulty overcoming their na‹ve beliefs about science. Prior knowledge is often remarkably resistant to change, particularly when students' existing mental models for geological principles may be faulty or inaccurate. Figuring out how to help students revise their mental models to include appropriate information is a major challenge. Up until this point, research has tended to focus on whether 2-dimensional computer visualizations are useful tools for helping students develop scientifically correct models. Research suggests that when students are given the opportunity to use dynamic computer-based visualizations, they are more likely to recall the learned information, and are more likely to transfer that knowledge to novel settings. Unfortunately, 2-dimensional visualization systems are often inadequate representations of the material that educators would like students to learn. For example, a 2-dimensional image of the Earth's surface does not adequately convey particular features that are critical for visualizing the geological environment. This may limit the models that students can construct following these visualizations. GEOWALL is a stereo projection system that has attempted to address this issue. It can display multidimensional static geologic images and dynamic geologic animations in a 3-dimensional format. Our current research examines whether multidimensional visualization systems such as GEOWALL may facilitate learning by helping students to develop more complex mental models. This talk will address some of the cognitive issues that influence the construction of mental models, and the difficulty of updating existing mental models. We will also discuss our current work that seeks to examine whether GEOWALL is an effective tool for helping students to learn geological information (and potentially restructure their na‹ve conceptions of geologic principles).

A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies of Mathematics Difficulty.

PubMed

Nelson, Gena; Powell, Sarah R

2017-06-01

Some students may be diagnosed with a learning disability in mathematics or dyscalculia, whereas other students may demonstrate below-grade-level mathematics performance without a disability diagnosis. In the literature, researchers often identify students in both groups as experiencing math difficulty. To understand the performance of students with math difficulty, we examined 35 studies that reported longitudinal results of mathematics achievement (i.e., mathematics performance measured across at least a 12-month span). Our primary goal was to conduct a systematic review of these studies and to understand whether the growth of students with math difficulty was comparable or stagnant when compared with that of students without math difficulty. We also analyzed whether identification of math difficulty was predictive of mathematics achievement in later grades and whether a diagnosis of math difficulty was stable across grade levels. Results indicate that students with math difficulty demonstrate growth on mathematics measures, but this growth still leads to lower performance than that of students without math difficulty. Identification of math difficulty is strongly related to math performance in subsequent grades, and this diagnosis is often stable. Collectively, this literature indicates that students with math difficulty continue to struggle with mathematics in later grades.

Determining What Our Students Need Most: Exploring Student Perceptions and Comparing Difficulty Ratings of Students and Faculty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gulacar, Ozcan; Bowman, Charles R.

2014-01-01

If the goal of teaching is to help students understand a subject, teaching cannot begin until student difficulties with a subject are understood. In order to create a guide for assessing student difficulties with chemistry material, students were asked to rate exam questions on three factors: problem difficulty, familiarity, and self-confidence.…

Evaluation and treatment of students with difficulties passing the Step examinations.

PubMed

Laatsch, Linda

2009-05-01

The author designed this retrospective case series study both to systematically examine characteristics of individuals referred for treatment after multiple failures on the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE) Step 1 or 2 administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners and to evaluate treatment effectiveness in a uniform sample. Six medical students referred to rehabilitation psychology met selection criteria. All students completed the requisite neuropsychological, academic, and psychological testing to identify cognitive and emotional strengths and weaknesses. All six underwent individualized cognitive rehabilitation (CR) with a primary focus on reading fluency and accuracy. All participants improved on a quantitative measure of reading speed and accuracy, and five of the six passed their next USLME Step examination in spite of past failures. Medical students with identified difficulties on reading fluency, but no history of a learning disability, may benefit from systematic CR that addresses cognitive weaknesses related to test-taking abilities. The strong relationships between language and reading skills and the USMLE Step examinations suggest that some students may fail these examinations because of a relative weakness in language processing and reading fluency that may prohibit their successful completion of the Step examinations.

Alternative conceptions of introductory geoscience students and a method to decrease them

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kortz, Karen Melissa

College students often leave introductory geoscience courses with alternative conceptions, and these alternative conceptions are a barrier to their grasp of geological conceptions. This dissertation clarifies the problem and suggests pedagogical strategies for correcting it. It is an integration of research on students' conceptions of geoscience topics with the application of that knowledge to the development of materials to change these conceptions to be more scientifically accurate. This research identifies and documents alternative conceptions students have in several key geoscience topics and the consequences of these alternative conception in terms of preventing understanding. After documenting the alternative conceptions, I investigate their sources. In addition, I develop ways in which the alternative conceptions can be addressed in classrooms in terms of non-traditional teaching techniques, and I assess the success of these methods. Chapter 1 addresses alternative conceptions in general introductory geoscience topics. I use known student alternative conceptions to develop a series of interactive materials to help reduce students' alternative conceptions. After their development, I assess the efficacy of these materials, and my research indicates that they are successful in helping students better learn the geoscience concepts. Chapter 2 deals with a particularly difficult topic for students---that of phylogenetic systematics. Students have an intuitive way of categorizing organisms, and this categorization is different from the system used by experts within the field. My investigation indicates the conceptual change required of students to fully understand the topic leads to great difficulties with learning. Drawing upon results of the research in Chapter 1, I developed and assessed interactive materials to help students better understand phylogenetic systematics. Using the insight gained from Chapters 1 and 2, Chapters 3 and 4 further examine students' conceptions in an area critical to understanding geology: rocks and their formation. My research indicates that students view rocks as objects independent from the processes that form and change them. In addition, I document students' alternative conceptions of rocks. Using these alternative conceptions, I look more deeply into the underlying factors that cause the difficulties students have with learning rocks, their formation, and their importance to the geosciences.

Addressing Teacher Shortages in Disadvantaged Schools: Lessons from Two Institute of Education Sciences Studies. NCEE Evaluation Brief. NCEE 2013-4018

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Melissa; McConnell, Sheena; Constantine, Jill; Chiang, Hanley

2013-01-01

Schools serving low-income students struggle to attract effective teachers, particularly in science and math. In response to these staffing difficulties, states have tried to lower the barriers to becoming a teacher by establishing "alternative routes to certification." These routes enable teachers to begin teaching before completing all…

An Inexpensive 2-D and 3-D Model of the Sarcomere as a Teaching Aid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rios, Vitor Passos; Bonfim, Vanessa Maria Gomes

2013-01-01

To address a common problem of teaching the sliding filament theory (that is, students have difficulty in visualizing how the component proteins of the sarcomere differ, how they organize themselves into a single working unit, and how they function in relation to each other), we have devised a simple model, with inexpensive materials, to be built…

The State of Proof in Finnish and Swedish Mathematics Textbooks--Capturing Differences in Approaches to Upper-Secondary Integral Calculus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergwall, Andreas; Hemmi, Kirsti

2017-01-01

Students' difficulties with proof, scholars' calls for proof to be a consistent part of K-12 mathematics, and the extensive use of textbooks in mathematics classrooms motivate investigations on how proof-related items are addressed in mathematics textbooks. We contribute to textbook research by focusing on opportunities to learn proof-related…

The Social and Emotional Situation of First Graders with Classroom Behavior Problems and Classroom Learning Difficulties in Inclusive Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krull, Johanna; Wilbert, Jürgen; Hennemann, Thomas

2014-01-01

The inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) in general education classrooms in Europe due to education policy and social developments is currently up for debate, especially in Germany. This paper addresses whether or not co-education of students with and without classroom problems and/or disabilities has negative consequences…

Perception of Misbehavior: Understanding the Process of Labeling and the Role of Cultural Capital in the Disciplinary Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glass, Cynthia S.

2014-01-01

Educators face multiple forms of misbehavior in the classroom on a regular basis. This ethnographic research project addresses the difficulties encountered by teachers in a high school setting, giving consideration to the decision-making process in determining whether to admonish students for misbehavior and whether to issue a referral to an…

Social Networking Sites and Educational Adaptation in Higher Education: A Case Study of Chinese International Students in New Zealand

PubMed Central

Cao, Ling; Zhang, Tingting

2012-01-01

This study aims to find out the relationship between the use of SNSs and educational adaptation process of Chinese international students (from China) in New Zealand. Based on interview data, this paper addressed how Chinese international students use SNSs (RenRen, Facebook, etc.) to expand and manage their online social networks to help their adaptation to new educational environment. As a case study of Chinese international students in New Zealand and from the narrative of students, we examined the relationship among educational difficulties, life satisfaction, and the use of SNSs. This study would help in further understanding how and why SNSs can be adopted in higher education to support effective overseas learning experiences. PMID:22666100

Social networking sites and educational adaptation in higher education: a case study of Chinese international students in New Zealand.

PubMed

Cao, Ling; Zhang, Tingting

2012-01-01

This study aims to find out the relationship between the use of SNSs and educational adaptation process of Chinese international students (from China) in New Zealand. Based on interview data, this paper addressed how Chinese international students use SNSs (RenRen, Facebook, etc.) to expand and manage their online social networks to help their adaptation to new educational environment. As a case study of Chinese international students in New Zealand and from the narrative of students, we examined the relationship among educational difficulties, life satisfaction, and the use of SNSs. This study would help in further understanding how and why SNSs can be adopted in higher education to support effective overseas learning experiences.

Critical Issues in the Understanding of Young Elementary School Students at Risk for Problems in Written Expression: Introduction to the Special Series.

PubMed

Coker, David L; Kim, Young-Suk Grace

In this introduction to the special series "Critical Issues in the Understanding of Young Elementary School Students at Risk for Problems in Written Expression," we consider some of the contextual factors that have changed since a similar special issue was published in the Journal of Learning Disabilities in 2002. We also explore how the five articles included in this special series address the following important themes: early writing development, identification of students with writing difficulties, and effective interventions for struggling writers. In conclusion, we envision future directions to advance the field.

Undergraduate research in medical education: a descriptive study of students' views.

PubMed

Oliveira, Cristiano C; de Souza, Renata C; Abe, Erika H Sassaki; Silva Móz, Luís E; de Carvalho, Lidia R; Domingues, Maria A C

2014-03-17

Medical students engage in curricular and extracurricular activities, including undergraduate research (UR). The advantages, difficulties and motivations for medical students pursuing research activities during their studies have rarely been addressed. In Brazil, some medical schools have included undergraduate research into their curriculum. The present study aimed to understand the reality of scientific practice among medical students at a well-established Brazilian medical school, analyzing this context from the students' viewpoint. A cross-sectional survey based on a questionnaire applied to students from years one to six enrolled in an established Brazilian medical school that currently has no curricular UR program. The questionnaire was answered by 415 students, 47.2% of whom were involved in research activities, with greater participation in UR in the second half of the course. Independent of student involvement in research activities, time constraints were cited as the main obstacle to participation. Among students not involved in UR, 91.1% said they favored its inclusion in the curriculum, since this would facilitate the development of such activity. This approach could signify an approximation between the axes of teaching and research. Among students who had completed at least one UR project, 87.7% said they would recommend the activity to students entering the course. Even without an undergraduate research program, students of this medical school report strong involvement in research activities, but discussion of the difficulties inherent in its practice is important to future developments.

Concerns among first year midwifery students: towards addressing attrition rates.

PubMed

Carolan, Mary C; Kruger, Gina B

2011-01-01

Since 2000, there has been a shift to undergraduate midwifery education in Australia. Midwifery students are generally highly motivated, however attrition rates remain high among first-year students. This study was undertaken in one Australian University against a background of high course demand and high student attrition. Thirty-two first-year midwifery students completed a demographic questionnaire and wrote a reflection in response to the question: What if anything, would make your experience as a first year student better? Data were subjected to thematic content analysis. Findings indicated a need for: greater opportunities to prepare; for more time to study; for greater student supports; and outlined difficulties such as financial and childcare. In conclusion, undergraduate midwifery courses and local conditions vary among institutions. Student feedback is a useful way of identifying local concerns that may impact on student completion rates. This is a necessary first step to the provision of meaningful student support.

Response to Intervention: Preventing and Remediating Academic Difficulties

PubMed Central

Fletcher, Jack M.; Vaughn, Sharon

2009-01-01

We address the advantages and challenges of service delivery models based on student response to intervention (RTI) for preventing and remediating academic difficulties and as data sources for identification for special education services. The primary goal of RTI models is improved academic and behavioral outcomes for all students. We review evidence for the processes underlying RTI, including screening and progress monitoring assessments, evidence-based interventions, and schoolwide coordination of multitiered instruction. We also discuss the secondary goal of RTI, which is to provide data for identification of learning disabilities (LDs). Incorporating instructional response into identification represents a controversial shift away from discrepancies in cognitive skills that have traditionally been a primary basis for LD identification. RTI processes potentially integrate general and special education and suggest new directions for research and public policy related to LDs, but the scaling issues in schools are significant and more research is needed on the use of RTI data for identification. PMID:21765862

Students' performance in phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading, and writing.

PubMed

Capellini, Simone Aparecida; Lanza, Simone Cristina

2010-01-01

phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading and writing in students with learning difficulties of a municipal public school. to characterize and compare the performance of students from public schools with and without learning difficulties in phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading and writing. participants were 60 students from the 2nd to the 4th grades of municipal public schools divided into 6 groups. Each group was composed by 10 students, being 3 groups of students without learning difficulties and 3 groups with students with learning difficulties. As testing procedure phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, oral reading and writing under dictation assessments were used. the results highlighted the better performance of students with no learning difficulties. Students with learning difficulties presented a higher ratios considering time/speed in rapid naming tasks and, consequently, lower production in activities of phonological awareness and reading and writing, when compared to students without learning difficulties. students with learning difficulties presented deficits when considering the relationship between naming and automatization skills, and among lexical access, visual discrimination, stimulus frequency use and competition in using less time for code naming, i.e. necessary for the phoneme-grapheme conversion process required in the reading and writing alphabetic system like the Portuguese language.

The Impact of School of Attendance, Classroom, Interventionist, Ethnicity, and Level of Educational Support on Oral Reading Fluency Measures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preston, Andrew James

2013-01-01

Response to intervention (RtI) is an approach to assist students with learning difficulties. There is limited research into the effectiveness of RtI within rural school districts. To address that gap, this quantitative, experimental study tested the theory of RtI, comparing the tier of intervention to oral reading fluency, controlling for…

What Teachers Don't Know and Why They Aren't Learning It: Addressing the Need for Content and Pedagogy in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moats, Louisa

2014-01-01

This article discusses the lingering problem of poor and inappropriate preparation of professional teachers of reading and learning disabilities--why it exists and what we can do about it. Because most students classified as having learning disabilities experience primary difficulties with language-based learning, teachers must know how to teach…

Black Feminist Thought and Cultural Contracts: Understanding the Intersection and Negotiation of Racial, Gendered, and Professional Identities in the Academy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Tina M.

2007-01-01

This chapter explores identity negotiation by women of color in academe at a predominantly white institution. The author discusses use of the title "doctor" as a form of address to manage interactions with graduate students in the college classroom, and the difficulties associated with negotiating and balancing these diverse and complex identities…

Analysis of junior high school students' difficulty in resolving rectangular conceptual problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utami, Aliksia Kristiana Dwi; Mardiyana, Pramudya, Ikrar

2017-08-01

Geometry is one part of the mathematics that must be learned in school and it has important effects on the development of creative thinking skills of learners, but in fact, there are some difficulties experienced by the students. This research focuses on analysis difficulty in resolving rectangular conceptual problems among junior high school students in every creative thinking skills level. This research used a descriptive method aimed to identify the difficulties and cause of the difficulties experienced by five students. The difficulties are associated with rectangular shapes and related problems. Data collection was done based on students' work through test, interview, and observations. The result revealed that student' difficulties in understanding the rectangular concept can be found at every creative thinking skills level. The difficulties are identifying the objects rectangular in the daily life except for a rectangle and square, analyzing the properties of rectangular shapes, and seeing the interrelationships between figures.

Emergence, Learning Difficulties, and Misconceptions in Chemistry Undergraduate Students' Conceptualizations of Acid Strength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tümay, Halil

2016-03-01

Philosophical debates about chemistry have clarified that the issue of emergence plays a critical role in the epistemology and ontology of chemistry. In this article, it is argued that the issue of emergence has also significant implications for understanding learning difficulties and finding ways of addressing them in chemistry. Particularly, it is argued that many misconceptions in chemistry may derive from students' failure to consider emergence in a systemic manner by taking into account all relevant factors in conjunction. Based on this argument, undergraduate students' conceptions of acids, and acid strength (an emergent chemical property) were investigated and it was examined whether or not they conceptualized acid strength as an emergent chemical property. The participants were 41 third- and fourth-year undergraduate students. A concept test and semi-structured interviews were used to probe students' conceptualizations and reasoning about acid strength. Findings of the study revealed that the majority of the undergraduate students did not conceptualize acid strength as an emergent property that arises from interactions among multiple factors. They generally focused on a single factor to predict and explain acid strength, and their faulty responses stemmed from their failure to recognize and consider all factors that affect acid strength. Based on these findings and insights from philosophy of chemistry, promoting system thinking and epistemologically sound argumentative discourses among students is suggested for meaningful chemical education.

Breaking Down Barriers: Addressing student misconceptions in the K-12 classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisenhamer, B.; McCallister, J. D.; Knisely, L.

2004-05-01

A typical astronomy question an educator may ask their students is "What is a black hole?" Many times, students' responses sound more like an episode of Star Trek than an understanding about the universe and how it works: responses such as "Black holes are worm holes in space" or "A black hole is a huge vacuum in space, sucking everything in". These are all common astronomy misconceptions about black holes. A misconception is defined as a preconceived notion of how the world, or in the case of astronomy - the universe, works. Misconceptions may originate for a variety of reasons, from miscommunication, to oversimplification, to misrepresentation via the media or pop culture. Students who latch on to an astronomy misconception may have difficulty learning new information that is built upon the existing misconception. Additionally, educators who are not able to identify and address misconceptions can create learning barriers that may resonate throughout a students' life. This poster will introduce some of the extensive research that has gone into determining typical student misconceptions about astronomy, ways to identify them, and how students develop them. The poster will also explain why teachers need to be aware of ideas and concepts students may harbor as well as how misconceptions can be remedied.

Quantitative experiments to explain the change of seasons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Testa, Italo; Busarello, Gianni; Puddu, Emanuella; Leccia, Silvio; Merluzzi, Paola; Colantonio, Arturo; Moretti, Maria Ida; Galano, Silvia; Zappia, Alessandro

2015-03-01

The science education literature shows that students have difficulty understanding what causes the seasons. Incorrect explanations are often due to a lack of knowledge about the physical mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. To address this, we present a module in which the students engage in quantitative measurements with a photovoltaic panel to explain changes to the sunray flow on Earth’s surface over the year. The activities also provide examples of energy transfers between the incoming radiation and the environment to introduce basic features of Earth’s climate. The module was evaluated with 45 secondary school students (aged 17-18) and a pre-/post-test research design. Analysis of students’ learning outcomes supports the effectiveness of the proposed activities.

Students' Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties: The Role of Teachers' Social and Emotional Learning and Teacher-Student Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria S.

2017-01-01

This study investigates how teachers? perceptions of Emotional Intelligence (EI), Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills, and teacher-student relationships relate to students? emotional and behavioral difficulties. We examined teachers and students? perceptions of students? emotional and behavioral difficulties and the degree of agreement…

The Effects on Students' Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties of Teacher-Student Interactions, Students' Social Skills and Classroom Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria

2014-01-01

Children's emotional and behavioural difficulties are the result of multiple individual, social and contextual factors working in concert. The current paper proposes a theoretical framework for interpreting students' emotional and behavioural difficulties in classrooms, by taking into consideration teacher-student interactions, students' social…

Students’ difficulties in probabilistic problem-solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arum, D. P.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Pramudya, I.

2018-03-01

There are many errors can be identified when students solving mathematics problems, particularly in solving the probabilistic problem. This present study aims to investigate students’ difficulties in solving the probabilistic problem. It focuses on analyzing and describing students errors during solving the problem. This research used the qualitative method with case study strategy. The subjects in this research involve ten students of 9th grade that were selected by purposive sampling. Data in this research involve students’ probabilistic problem-solving result and recorded interview regarding students’ difficulties in solving the problem. Those data were analyzed descriptively using Miles and Huberman steps. The results show that students have difficulties in solving the probabilistic problem and can be divided into three categories. First difficulties relate to students’ difficulties in understanding the probabilistic problem. Second, students’ difficulties in choosing and using appropriate strategies for solving the problem. Third, students’ difficulties with the computational process in solving the problem. Based on the result seems that students still have difficulties in solving the probabilistic problem. It means that students have not able to use their knowledge and ability for responding probabilistic problem yet. Therefore, it is important for mathematics teachers to plan probabilistic learning which could optimize students probabilistic thinking ability.

Influence of proportional number relationships on item accessibility and students' strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carney, Michele B.; Smith, Everett; Hughes, Gwyneth R.; Brendefur, Jonathan L.; Crawford, Angela

2016-12-01

Proportional reasoning is important to students' future success in mathematics and science endeavors. More specifically, students' fluent and flexible use of scalar and functional relationships to solve problems is critical to their ability to reason proportionally. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of systematically manipulating the location of an integer multiplier—to press the scalar or functional relationship—on item difficulty and student solution strategies. We administered short-answer assessment forms to 473 students in grades 6-8 (approximate ages 11-14) and analyzed the data quantitatively with the Rasch model to examine item accessibility and qualitatively to examine student solution strategies. We found that manipulating the location of the integer multiplier encouraged students to make use of different aspects of proportional relationships without decreasing item accessibility. Implications for proportional reasoning curricular materials, instruction, and assessment are addressed.

Transportation and socioemotional well-being of urban students with and without disabilities.

PubMed

Graham, Benjamin C; Keys, Christopher B; McMahon, Susan D

2014-01-01

This study explored the extent to which transportation difficulties were associated with social, psychological, and academic experiences of urban, at-risk students who recently experienced a school transition. Participants included 165 predominantly African American and Latino/a high school youth with and without disabilities, a critical population for community psychology to address given their likelihood of multiple marginalizations. Results suggested transportation problems within school predicted more school stressors and aggressive behavior. Transportation problems to and from school predicted fewer school resources, less school belonging, and more school stressors, anxiety, and depression. Greater time to get to school predicted fewer school resources, less school belonging, and more depressive symptoms. This study demonstrates the importance of including transportation in how the school day is conceptualized, and offers several implications for how transportation services can be best addressed.

Charter Schools: Guidance Needed for Military Base Schools on Startup and Operational Issues

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-01

to the school on weekends, which would prevent the school from holding extracurricular activities , such as morning tutorials or enrichment programs...first preference to children of active -duty personnel, who represented the preponderance of enrolled students. The schools were established to address...background check and show a pass. Several school officials reported difficulties conducting school activities such as open houses and sporting events

Analysis of a Physics Teacher's Pedagogical "Micro-Actions" That Support 17-Year-Olds' Learning of Free Body Diagrams via a Modelling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tay, Su Lynn; Yeo, Jennifer

2018-01-01

Great teaching is characterised by the specific actions a teacher takes in the classroom to bring about learning. In the context of model-based teaching (MBT), teachers' difficulty in working with students' models that are not scientifically consistent is troubling. To address this problem, the aim of this study is to identify the pedagogical…

Gender Fair Efficacy of Concept Mapping Tests in Identifying Students' Difficulties in High School Organic Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gafoor, Kunnathodi Abdul; Shilna, V.

2014-01-01

In view of the perceived difficulty of organic chemistry unit for high schools students, this study examined the usefulness of concept mapping as a testing device to assess students' difficulty in the select areas. Since many tests used for identifying students misconceptions and difficulties in school subjects are observed to favour one or the…

Relating Difficulty in School Mathematics to Nature of Mathematics: Perception of High School Students from Kerala

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gafoor, Kunnathodi Abdul; Sarabi, M. K.

2015-01-01

This study relates factors in nature of Mathematics and its teaching learning to student difficulties for diverse mathematics tasks. Descriptive survey was done on a sample of 300 high school students in Kerala with a questionnaire on difficulties in learning. Student perception of difficulty on 26 types of tasks, under five heads that students…

The "Finding Physics" Project: Recognizing and Exploring Physics Outside the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, Judith; Perkins, James

2016-11-01

Students in introductory physics classes often have difficulty recognizing the relevance of physics concepts outside the confines of the physics classroom, lab, and textbook. Even though textbooks and instructors often provide examples of physics applications from a wide array of areas, students have difficulty relating physics to their own lives. Encouraging students to apply physics to their own surroundings helps them develop the critical analysis skills of a scientifically literate and competent citizen. Fink, in his book Creating Significant Learning Experiences, emphasizes the importance of constructing opportunities to help students connect what they learn in their academic courses with past and current life experiences and link them to possible future life experiences. Several excellent papers in this journal have presented labs and activities that address this concern by encouraging teachers to bring real-world examples into the classroom or to take students into the field for data collection and observation. Alternatively, Smith suggests a writing exercise in which his students identify and explain an event in terms of their understanding of physics. In this paper we present a multiphase exercise that challenges students to find their own examples of physics from outside the classroom and analyze them using the conceptual understanding and quantitative skills which they are developing in the classroom. The ultimate goal of the "Finding Physics" project is to improve students' learning through enhancing their recognition that, to quote one participant's end-of-course survey, "Physics is everywhere!"

Scaffolding for solving problem in static fluid: A case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koes-H, Supriyono; Muhardjito, Wijaya, Charisma P.

2018-01-01

Problem solving is one of the basic abilities that should be developed from learning physics. However, students still face difficulties in the process of non-routine problem-solving. Efforts are necessary to be taken in order to identify such difficulties and the solutions to solve them. An effort in the form of a diagnosis of students' performance in problem solving can be taken to identify their difficulties, and various instructional scaffolding supports can be utilized to eliminate the difficulties. This case study aimed to describe the students' difficulties in solving static fluid problems and the effort to overcome such difficulties through different scaffolding supports. The research subjects consisted of four 10-grade students of (Public Senior High School) SMAN 4 Malang selected by purposive sampling technique. The data of students' difficulties were collected via think-aloud protocol implemented on students' performance in solving non-routine static fluid problems. Subsequently, combined scaffolding supports were given to the students based on their particular difficulties. The research findings pointed out that there were several conceptual difficulties discovered from the students when solving static fluid problems, i.e. the use of buoyancy force formula, determination of all forces acting on a plane in a fluid, the resultant force on a plane in a fluid, and determination of a plane depth in a fluid. An effort that can be taken to overcome such conceptual difficulties is providing a combination of some appropriate scaffolding supports, namely question prompts with specific domains, simulation, and parallel modeling. The combination can solve students' lack of knowledge and improve their conceptual understanding, as well as help them to find solutions by linking the problems with their prior knowledge. According to the findings, teachers are suggested to diagnose the students' difficulties so that they can provide an appropriate combination of scaffolding to support their students in finding the solutions.

Metacognitive Reading and Study Strategies and Academic Achievement of University Students With and Without a History of Reading Difficulties.

PubMed

Bergey, Bradley W; Deacon, S Hélène; Parrila, Rauno K

2017-01-01

University students who report a history of reading difficulties have been demonstrated to have poorer word reading and reading comprehension skills than their peers; yet, without a diagnosed learning disability, these students do not have access to the same support services, potentially placing them at academic risk. This study provides a comprehensive investigation of first-year academic achievement for students with a history of reading difficulties (n = 244) compared to students with no such history (n = 603). We also examine reported use of metacognitive reading and study strategies and their relations with GPA. Results indicate that students with a history of reading difficulties earn lower GPA and successfully complete fewer credits compared to students with no history of reading difficulty. These patterns varied somewhat by faculty of study. Students with a history of reading difficulties also reported lower scores across multiple metacognitive reading and study strategy scales, yet these scores were not associated with their academic performance. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of identifying students with a history of reading difficulties and that commonly used study strategy inventories have limited value in predicting their academic success. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2015.

CIMAC: A Coordinated Introduction to Calculus and Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fathe, Laurie; Quinn, Jennifer; McDonald, Michael A.

1997-04-01

CIMAC, new course incorporating Mechanics, Precalculus, and Calculus, targets the growing number of motivated but underprepared students who wish to pursue a major in science or mathematics. Team-taught by a Physicist and a Mathematician, CIMAC, a new course incorporating Mechanics, Precalculus, and Calculus, targets the growing number of motivated but underprepared students who wish to pursue a major in science or mathematics. Team-taught by a Physicist and a Mathematician, the class contains specific content while exploiting the substantial commonality of these subjects. CIMAC also addresses variety of non-content areas, including supplementing basic mathematics and communication skills, accommodating various learning styles, and building student confidence. Specific approaches include class formats; gateway exams; group assignments; emphasis on writing and reading; use of computers and graphing calculators for comprehension, data acquisition, analysis, and modeling; student-led help sessions; and use of the Web http://www.oxy.edu/ departments/math/cimac/ This talk highlights the development of the course and teaching insights and innovations which have arisen from it, and addresses benefits and difficulties of coordinating material and team teaching across disciplinary lines. Finally, it presents data on student success and retention.

Medical Student Sexuality: How Sexual Experience and Sexuality Training Impact U.S. and Canadian Medical Students’ Comfort in Dealing with Patients’ Sexuality in Clinical Practice

PubMed Central

Shindel, Alan W.; Ando, Kathryn A.; Nelson, Christian J.; Breyer, Benjamin N.; Lue, Tom F.; Smith, James F.

2013-01-01

Purpose To determine factors associated with students’ comfort in addressing patients’ sexuality in the clinical context. Method The authors invited students enrolled in MD-degree-granting and osteopathic medical schools in the United States and Canada to participate in an anonymous Internet survey between February and July 2008. The survey assessed ethnodemographic factors and sexual history. Respondents also completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Male respondents completed the International Index of Erectile Function and the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool. Female respondents completed the Female Sexual Function Index and the Index of Sex Life. The authors used descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and multivariable logistic regression to analyze responses. Results The authors’ analyses included 2,261 completed survey responses: 910 from men, 1,343 from women, and 8 from individuals who self-identified as “other” gendered. Over 53% of respondents (n = 1,206) stated that they felt they had not received sufficient training in medical school to address sexual concerns clinically. Despite this, 81% of students (n = 1,827) reported feeling comfortable dealing with their patients’ sexuality issues. Students with limited sexual experience, students at risk for sexual problems, and students who felt that they had not been trained adequately were less likely to report being comfortable talking to patients about sexual health issues. Conclusions Perception of inadequate sexuality training in medical school and personal issues pertaining to sex may be associated with students’ difficulty in addressing patients’ sexuality. Adequate training is preeminently associated with feeling comfortable addressing patients’ sexuality and should be a priority for medical education. PMID:20671459

Learning difficulties of senior high school students based on probability understanding levels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anggara, B.; Priatna, N.; Juandi, D.

2018-05-01

Identifying students' difficulties in learning concept of probability is important for teachers to prepare the appropriate learning processes and can overcome obstacles that may arise in the next learning processes. This study revealed the level of students' understanding of the concept of probability and identified their difficulties as a part of the epistemological obstacles identification of the concept of probability. This study employed a qualitative approach that tends to be the character of descriptive research involving 55 students of class XII. In this case, the writer used the diagnostic test of probability concept learning difficulty, observation, and interview as the techniques to collect the data needed. The data was used to determine levels of understanding and the learning difficulties experienced by the students. From the result of students' test result and learning observation, it was found that the mean cognitive level was at level 2. The findings indicated that students had appropriate quantitative information of probability concept but it might be incomplete or incorrectly used. The difficulties found are the ones in arranging sample space, events, and mathematical models related to probability problems. Besides, students had difficulties in understanding the principles of events and prerequisite concept.

A Novel Web-Based Approach for Visualization and Inspection of Reading Difficulties on University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mejia, Carolina; Florian, Beatriz; Vatrapu, Ravi; Bull, Susan; Gomez, Sergio; Fabregat, Ramon

2017-01-01

Existing tools aim to detect university students with early diagnosis of dyslexia or reading difficulties, but there are not developed tools that let those students better understand some aspects of their difficulties. In this paper, a dashboard for visualizing and inspecting early detected reading difficulties and their characteristics, called…

A sense of place: rural training at a regional medical school campus.

PubMed

Crump, William J; Barnett, Darel; Fricker, Steve

2004-01-01

Traditionally, rural students experience urban disruption during the many years of education and training in urban environments before choosing a practice site. Regional rural campuses that allow students to live and work in small towns during the last 2 years of medical school are one strategy to address this issue. To report the results of the first 10 years of a rural campus in western Kentucky, including response to difficulties filling openings for third- and fourth-year medical students at the campus. A survey was sent to all 76 students who had shown interest in the rural campus, asking them to prioritize the important issues in their campus choice. Students not choosing the rural campus placed a higher priority on large-city amenities, better opportunities for their spouse, and proximity to family in eastern and central Kentucky. Students who chose the rural campus placed a higher priority on one-on-one clinical training and interest in small town life. For the rural clinical campus to reach its potential, more rural students from the western part of the state must be admitted to medical school and then choose this campus. Strategies to reinforce the sense of place among rural students focus on experiential programs in rural areas. Initial results suggest that medical educators should consider geography more carefully when designing approaches to address physician maldistribution.

Learning difficulties or learning English difficulties? Additional language acquisition: an update for paediatricians.

PubMed

Clifford, Vanessa; Rhodes, Anthea; Paxton, Georgia

2014-03-01

Australia is a diverse society: 26% of the population were born overseas, a further 20% have at least one parent born overseas and 19% speak a language other than English at home. Paediatricians are frequently involved in the assessment and management of non-English-speaking-background children with developmental delay, disability or learning issues. Despite the diversity of our patient population, information on how children learn additional or later languages is remarkably absent in paediatric training. An understanding of second language acquisition is essential to provide appropriate advice to this patient group. It takes a long time (5 years or more) for any student to develop academic competency in a second language, even a student who has received adequate prior schooling in their first language. Refugee students are doubly disadvantaged as they frequently have limited or interrupted prior schooling, and many are unable to read and write in their first language. We review the evidence on second language acquisition during childhood, describe support for English language learners within the Australian education system, consider refugee-background students as a special risk group and address common misconceptions about how children learn English as an additional language. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Response to Specific Training for Students with Different Levels of Mathematical Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Re, Anna Maria; Pedron, Martina; Tressoldi, Patrizio Emanuele; Lucangeli, Daniela

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of specific, individualized training for students with different levels of mathematical difficulties. Fifty-four students, with either severe or mild math difficulties, were assigned to individualized training or to a control condition. Ten students with severe math difficulties…

Metacognition Difficulty of Students with Visual-Spatial Intelligence during Solving Open-Ended Problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rimbatmojo, S.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Riyadi, R.

2017-09-01

This study aims to find out students metacognition difficulty during solving open-ended problem in mathematics. It focuses on analysing the metacognition difficulty of students with visual-spatial intelligence in solving open-ended problem. A qualitative research with case study strategy is used in this study. Data in the form of visual-spatial intelligence test result and recorded interview during solving open-ended problems were analysed qualitatively. The results show that: (1) students with high visual-spatial intelligence have no difficulty on each metacognition aspects, (2) students with medium visual-spatial intelligence have difficulty on knowledge aspect on strategy and cognitive tasks, (3) students with low visual-spatial intelligence have difficulty on three metacognition aspects, namely knowledge on strategy, cognitive tasks and self-knowledge. Even though, several researches about metacognition process and metacognition literature recommended the steps to know the characteristics. It is still important to discuss that the difficulties of metacognitive is happened because of several factors, one of which on the characteristics of student’ visual-spatial intelligence. Therefore, it is really important for mathematics educators to consider and pay more attention toward students’ visual-spatial intelligence and metacognition difficulty in designing better mathematics learning.

Teaching genetics using hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoppe, Stephanie Ann

Teaching genetics can be challenging because of the difficulty of the content and misconceptions students might hold. This thesis focused on using hands-on model activities, problem solving, and inquiry-based teaching/learning methods in order to increase student understanding in an introductory biology class in the area of genetics. Various activities using these three methods were implemented into the classes to address any misconceptions and increase student learning of the difficult concepts. The activities that were implemented were shown to be successful based on pre-post assessment score comparison. The students were assessed on the subjects of inheritance patterns, meiosis, and protein synthesis and demonstrated growth in all of the areas. It was found that hands-on models, problem solving, and inquiry-based activities were more successful in learning concepts in genetics and the students were more engaged than tradition styles of lecture.

Recognizing Prefixes in Scientific Quantities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sokolowski, Andrzej

2015-09-01

Although recognizing prefixes in physical quantities is inherent for practitioners, it might not be inherent for students, who do not use prefixes in their everyday life experiences. This deficiency surfaces in AP Physics exams. For example, readers of an AP Physics exam reported "a common mistake of incorrectly converting nanometers to meters." Similar students' mistakes were reported also by AP Chemistry readers "as in previous years, students still had difficulty converting kJ to J." While traditional teaching focuses on memorizing the symbols of prefixes, little attention is given to helping learners recognize a prefix in a given quantity. I noticed in my teaching practice that by making the processes of identifying prefixes more explicit, students make fewer mistakes on unit conversion. Thus, this paper presents an outline of a lesson that focuses on prefix recognition. It is designed for a first-year college physics class; however, its key points can be addressed to any group of physics students.

Materials education activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ries, Heidi R.; Harris, Jonice; Leake, Woodrow W.; Bunnell, L. Roy; Berrettini, Robert

1993-01-01

Last year, at NEW: Update '91, a panel discussion was held to address the unique difficulties of attracting and retaining minorities and women in technical studies. Unfortunately, retention in technical majors is a problem of varying proportions for the entire student population, and must be improved in order to maintain the strength of the nation's industrial base. To investigate the cause of student attrition in technical majors, in-depth interviews of both current and former (non-graduating) engineering students at four colleges and universities in Colorado were conducted by Hewitt and Seymour. They found that there was no significant difference in the level of high school preparation and undergraduate academic performance in these two groups, despite the prevailing faculty perception that most students who switch from technical to nontechnical majors were underprepared. The majority of engineering students who changed majors reported that they were turned off by science, while one-third complained of poor teaching.

Relationships between Self-Concept and Life Difficulty among International College Students: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Glenda Phillips; Suh, Suhyun

2005-01-01

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between life difficulties of international students at a Southeastern university in the USA and the self-concept of these students. The findings indicate that international students experience minor to moderate difficulty in studying in the United States. The current study also indicates…

Invented Spelling, Word Stress, and Syllable Awareness in Relation to Reading Difficulties in Children.

PubMed

Mehta, Sheena; Ding, Yi; Ness, Molly; Chen, Eric C

2018-06-01

The study assessed the clinical utility of an invented spelling tool and determined whether invented spelling with linguistic manipulation at segmental and supra-segmental levels can be used to better identify reading difficulties. We conducted linguistic manipulation by using real and nonreal words, incorporating word stress, alternating the order of consonants and vowels, and alternating the number of syllables. We recruited 60 third-grade students, of which half were typical readers and half were poor readers. The invented spelling task consistently differentiated those with reading difficulties from typical readers. It explained unique variance in conventional spelling, but not in word reading. Word stress explained unique variance in both word reading and conventional spelling, highlighting the importance of addressing phonological awareness at the supra-segmental level. Poor readers had poorer performance when spelling both real and nonreal words and demonstrated substantial difficulty in detecting word stress. Poor readers struggled with spelling words with double consonants at the beginning and ending of words, and performed worse on spelling two- and three-syllable words than typical readers. Practical implications for early identification and instruction are discussed.

Use of the Computer for Research on Instruction and Student Understanding in Physics.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grayson, Diane Jeanette

This dissertation describes an investigation of how the computer may be utilized to perform research on instruction and on student understanding in physics. The research was conducted within three content areas: kinematics, waves and dynamics. The main focus of the research on instruction was the determination of factors needed for a computer program to be instructionally effective. The emphasis in the research on student understanding was the identification of specific conceptual and reasoning difficulties students encounter with the subject matter. Most of the research was conducted using the computer -based interview, a technique developed during the early part of the work, conducted within the domain of kinematics. In a computer-based interview, a student makes a prediction about how a particular system will behave under given circumstances, observes a simulation of the event on a computer screen, and then is asked by an interviewer to explain any discrepancy between prediction and observation. In the course of the research, a model was developed for producing educational software. The model has three important components: (i) research on student difficulties in the content area to be addressed, (ii) observations of students using the computer program, and (iii) consequent program modification. This model was used to guide the development of an instructional computer program dealing with graphical representations of transverse pulses. Another facet of the research involved the design of a computer program explicitly for the purposes of research. A computer program was written that simulates a modified Atwood's machine. The program was than used in computer -based interviews and proved to be an effective means of probing student understanding of dynamics concepts. In order to ascertain whether or not the student difficulties identified were peculiar to the computer, laboratory-based interviews with real equipment were also conducted. The laboratory-based interviews were designed to parallel the computer-based interviews as closely as possible. The results of both types of interviews are discussed in detail. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of some of the benefits of using the computer in physics instruction and physics education research. Attention is also drawn to some of the limitations of the computer as a research instrument or instructional device.

School-based interventions for elementary school students with ADHD.

PubMed

DuPaul, George J; Gormley, Matthew J; Laracy, Seth D

2014-10-01

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience significant difficulties with behavior, social functioning, and academic performance in elementary school classrooms. Although psychotropic medication may enhance classroom behavior, pharmacologic treatment is rarely sufficient in addressing the many challenges encountered by individuals with ADHD in school settings. This article describes 3 evidence-based strategies including behavioral, academic, and self-regulation interventions. Future directions for research on school-based interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Medical students’ perceptions and understanding of their specific learning difficulties

PubMed Central

Abbott, Stephen; Bevere, Grazia; Roberts, Christopher M.

2013-01-01

Objectives The purpose of this study is to explore how medical students with Specific Learning Difficulties perceive and understand their Specific Learning Difficulty and how it has impacted on their experience of medical training. Method A purposive sample of fifteen students from one medical school was interviewed. Framework Analysis was used to identify and organise themes emerging from the data. An interpretation of the data was made capturing the essence of what had been learned. The concept of ‘reframing’ was then used to re-analyse and organise the data. Results Students reported having found ways to cope with their Specific Leaning Difficulty in the past, some of which proved inadequate to deal with the pressures of medical school. Diagnosis was a mixed experience: many felt relieved to understand their difficulties better, but some feared discrimination. Practical support was available in university but not in placement. Students focused on the impact of their Specific Learning Difficulty on their ability to pass undergraduate exams. Most did not contemplate difficulties post-qualification. Conclusions The rigours of the undergraduate medical course may reveal undisclosed Specific Learning Difficulties. Students need help to cope with such challenges, psychologically and practically in both classroom and clinical practice. University services for students with Specific Learning Difficulties should become familiar with the challenges of clinical placements, and ensure that academic staff has access to information about the needs of these students and how these can be met.

College Adjustment Difficulties and the Overt and Covert Forms of Narcissism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weikel, Kim A.; Avara, Renee Mowery; Hanson, Chad A.; Kater, Hope

2010-01-01

Overt narcissism correlated negatively with emotional distress and interpersonal difficulties among female, but not male, students. After controlling for self-esteem, overt narcissism correlated positively with depression among female students and with emotional distress and interpersonal difficulties among male students. Covert narcissism…

Students’ difficulties in solving linear equation problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wati, S.; Fitriana, L.; Mardiyana

2018-03-01

A linear equation is an algebra material that exists in junior high school to university. It is a very important material for students in order to learn more advanced mathematics topics. Therefore, linear equation material is essential to be mastered. However, the result of 2016 national examination in Indonesia showed that students’ achievement in solving linear equation problem was low. This fact became a background to investigate students’ difficulties in solving linear equation problems. This study used qualitative descriptive method. An individual written test on linear equation tasks was administered, followed by interviews. Twenty-one sample students of grade VIII of SMPIT Insan Kamil Karanganyar did the written test, and 6 of them were interviewed afterward. The result showed that students with high mathematics achievement donot have difficulties, students with medium mathematics achievement have factual difficulties, and students with low mathematics achievement have factual, conceptual, operational, and principle difficulties. Based on the result there is a need of meaningfulness teaching strategy to help students to overcome difficulties in solving linear equation problems.

Cigarettes & waterpipe smoking among medical students in Syria: a cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

Matar, HE; Salam, M; Morad, A; Abdulaal, M; Koudsi, A; Maziak, W

2008-01-01

Summary Objectives To investigate tobacco use practices, beliefs and attitude among medical students in Syria. Methods This is a cross-sectional study among a random sample of 570 medical students (1st and 5th year) registered at Damascus Faculty of Medicine, 2006–07. We used a self-administered questionnaire inquiring about demographic information, smoking behaviour (cigarette, waterpipe), family and peer smoking, attitudes and beliefs about smoking and future role in advising patients to quit smoking. Results The overall prevalence of tobacco use was 10.9% for cigarette (15.8% men, 3.3% women), 23.5% for waterpipe (30.3% men, 13.4% women), and 7.3% for both (10.1% men, 3.1% women). Both smoking methods were more popular among 5th year students (15.4% and 27%) compared to their younger counterparts (6.6% and 19.7%). Regular smoking patterns predominated for cigarettes (62%), while occasional use patterns predominated for waterpipe (83%). More than two thirds of students (69%) think they may not or have difficulty addressing smoking in their future patients. Conclusion The level of tobacco use among Syrian medical students is alarming and point at the rapidly changing patterns towards waterpipe use, especially among female students. Medical schools should work harder to tackle this phenomenon and address it more efficiently in their curricula. PMID:18713509

Stimulating the clinical academics of tomorrow: a survey of research opportunities for medical students in New Zealand.

PubMed

Al-Busaidi, Ibrahim S; Wells, Cameron I

2017-09-22

Developing the clinical academic workforce of the future is a priority of international relevance. Despite a number of measures implemented to address this challenge, a small proportion of medical students engage in research. Lack of knowledge of available research opportunities, and difficulty finding projects and suitable mentors are key barriers to undergraduate medical research. To date, there is no consolidated source of information on undergraduate research training opportunities and their outcomes available to medical students in New Zealand. Based on a comprehensive review of the published and grey literature and the authors' personal experiences of research training activities as medical students, this article presents an overview of the research training opportunities available to medical students in New Zealand. Challenges facing medical student research involvement are discussed and current knowledge gaps in the literature are highlighted. The article concludes with suggested strategies to help promote research training opportunities and support students through their research experience.

Inclusion and Access for Students with Disabilties in Geoscience Field Learning Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, A. M.

2017-12-01

In the modern age of technology, physical ability is no longer a requirement for a successful career as a geoscientist. Yet students who do not fit the traditional physical image of a geologist are often excluded from the discipline. Individuals with disabilities - who make up a percentage of every ethnicity, age group and gender - often face great difficulty when working towards a geoscience degree. There are substantial physical barriers to participation in traditional lab and field environments and significant social barriers from deeply held cultural bias within the geoscience community from those who assume a fully able body is a requisite to a geoscience career. With intentional planning and the thoughtful use of technological aids, physical barriers to participation can be addressed in such a way as to provide engaging and inclusive learning opportunities for students of all physical abilities. The social barrier, perhaps the more challenging to address, can only be dismantled by faculty and staff who are willing to model inclusive practices and promote a culture that focuses less on a student's ability to `hike like a geologist', and more on an individual's ability to `think like a geologist'.

The Effects of Schema-Based Instruction on the Proportional Thinking of Students With Mathematics Difficulties With and Without Reading Difficulties.

PubMed

Jitendra, Asha K; Dupuis, Danielle N; Star, Jon R; Rodriguez, Michael C

2016-07-01

This study examined the effect of schema-based instruction (SBI) on the proportional problem-solving performance of students with mathematics difficulties only (MD) and students with mathematics and reading difficulties (MDRD). Specifically, we examined the responsiveness of 260 seventh grade students identified as MD or MDRD to a 6-week treatment (SBI) on measures of proportional problem solving. Results indicated that students in the SBI condition significantly outperformed students in the control condition on a measure of proportional problem solving administered at posttest (g = 0.40) and again 6 weeks later (g = 0.42). The interaction between treatment group and students' difficulty status was not significant, which indicates that SBI was equally effective for both students with MD and those with MDRD. Further analyses revealed that SBI was particularly effective at improving students' performance on items related to percents. Finally, students with MD significantly outperformed students with MDRD on all measures of proportional problem solving. These findings suggest that interventions designed to include effective instructional features (e.g., SBI) promote student understanding of mathematical ideas. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

The Relationship of Print Reading in Tier I Instruction and Reading Achievement for Kindergarten Students at Risk of Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanzek, Jeanne; Roberts, Greg; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Kent, Shawn C.

2014-01-01

For many students at risk of reading difficulties, effective, early reading instruction can improve reading outcomes and set them on a positive reading trajectory. Thus, response-to-intervention models include a focus on a student's Tier I reading instruction as one element for preventing reading difficulties and identifying students with a…

Helping Students Draw Correct Free-Body Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Albert

2017-01-01

As physics instructors, we try to help our students learn physics. But most of us begin to realize that our students are not learning as much as we hope they would. As we listen to our students, we begin to see some of their difficulties. Some of their difficulties are expected, but some are unexpected. One such difficulty is drawing the force…

A Study of ELL Students' Writing Difficulties: A Call for Culturally, Linguistically, and Psychologically Responsive Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Show Mei

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the difficulties ELL students experience in their writing development from the perspective of twenty ELL students. Through the use of questionnaires and in depth interviews, this study attempted to explore the writing needs or difficulties of ELL students. The findings indicated that…

An Examination of the Effectiveness of Instruction in Which Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers Use Technology to Overcome Student Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yenmez, Arzu Aydogan

2017-01-01

It is seen that students face certain difficulties when learning the concepts and the relationships between them in the mathematics education that aims at enabling students to learn on the highest level. Identifying and eliminating these difficulties, helping students in the learning process and guiding them are among teachers' tasks. Overcoming…

Comparison of reading-writing patterns and performance of students with and without reading difficulties.

PubMed

Fidalgo, Raquel; Torrance, Mark; Arias-Gundín, Olga; Martínez-Cocó, Begoña

2014-01-01

This paper analyses performance and the process used in carrying out a common hybrid task, such as, summarizing a text, from a developmental point of view and comparing the differences between students with and without reading difficulties. 548 students typically developing and 54 students with learning difficulties for reading (grades 5 to 8, ages 11 to 14) read and summarized a text using the triple task technique and then they did a comprehension questionnaire. Attention was paid to the various activities undertaken during this task, their cognitive cost, and the organization of reading and writing activities throughout the exercise, together with performance through evaluation of the summary and the reading comprehension questionnaire. There were no significant differences in performance or strategies used for the task between students of primary and secondary education. A linear reading-writing process was mostly employed by both, with greater cost and time needed by primary students. Students with reading difficulties did not show any strategies compensating for the greater difficulty and cognitive cost that the task represents for them. The effective and strategic use of summarizing as a learning tool seems to demand a specific training for students with or without reading difficulties.

Explicit Mathematics Instruction: What Teachers Can Do for Teaching Students With Mathematics Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doabler, Christian T.; Fien, Hank

2013-01-01

This article describes the essential instructional elements necessary for delivering explicit mathematics instruction to students with mathematics difficulties. Mathematics intervention research indicates that explicit instruction is one of the most effective instructional approaches for teaching students with or at risk for math difficulties.…

Improving Students' Understanding of Quantum Measurement. I. Investigation of Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Guangtian; Singh, Chandralekha

2012-01-01

We describe the difficulties that advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with quantum measurement within the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics. We explore the possible origins of these difficulties by analyzing student responses to questions from both surveys and interviews. Results from this research are applied to develop…

Situating Student Errors: Linguistic-to-Algebra Translation Errors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adu-Gyamfi, Kwaku; Bossé, Michael J.; Chandler, Kayla

2015-01-01

While it is well recognized that students are prone to difficulties when performing linguistic-to-algebra translations, the nature of students' difficulties remain an issue of contention. Moreover, the literature indicates that these difficulties are not easily remediated by domain-specific instruction. Some have opined that this is the case…

Difficulties for University Students with Mental Health Problems: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markoulakis, Roula; Kirsh, Bonnie

2013-01-01

Postsecondary institutions are witnessing an increase in the number and severity of student mental health problems, necessitating an understanding of the difficulties these students encounter in striving for higher education. The authors conducted a critical interpretive synthesis of 10 articles pertaining to difficulties experienced by students…

Classification of Students with Reading Comprehension Difficulties: The Roles of Motivation, Affect, and Psychopathology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sideridis, Georgios D.; Mouzaki, Angeliki; Simos, Panagiotis; Protopapas, Athanassios

2006-01-01

Attempts to evaluate the cognitive-motivational profiles of students with reading comprehension difficulties have been scarce. The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to assess the discriminatory validity of cognitive, motivational, affective, and psychopathological variables for identification of students with reading difficulties, and…

Response to Intervention with Secondary School Students with Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaughn, Sharon; Fletcher, Jack M.

2012-01-01

The authors summarize evidence from a multiyear study with secondary students with reading difficulties on (a) the potential efficacy of primary-level (Tier 1), secondary-level (Tier 2), and tertiary-level (Tier 3) interventions in remediating reading difficulties with middle school students, (b) the likelihood of resolving reading disabilities…

A Theoretical Framework towards Understanding of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria S.

2014-01-01

Children's emotional and behavioural difficulties are the result of multiple individual, social and contextual factors working in concert. The current paper proposes a theoretical framework to interpret students' emotional and behavioural difficulties in schools, by taking into consideration teacher-student relationships, students'…

A medical student in private practice for a 1-month clerkship: a qualitative exploration of the challenges for primary care clinical teachers.

PubMed

Muller-Juge, Virginie; Pereira Miozzari, Anne Catherine; Rieder, Arabelle; Hasselgård-Rowe, Jennifer; Sommer, Johanna; Audétat, Marie-Claude

2018-01-01

The predicted shortage of primary care physicians emphasizes the need to increase the family medicine workforce. Therefore, Swiss universities develop clerkships in primary care physicians' private practices. The objective of this research was to explore the challenges, the stakes, and the difficulties of clinical teachers who supervised final year medical students in their primary care private practice during a 1-month pilot clerkship in Geneva. Data were collected via a focus group using a semistructured interview guide. Participants were asked about their role as a supervisor and their difficulties and positive experiences. The text of the focus group was transcribed and analyzed qualitatively, with a deductive and inductive approach. The results show the nature of pressures felt by clinical teachers. First, participants experienced the difficulty of having dual roles: the more familiar one of clinician, and the new challenging one of teacher. Second, they felt compelled to fill the gap between the academic context and the private practice context. Clinical teachers were surprised by the extent of the adaptive load, cognitive load, and even the emotional load involved when supervising a trainee in their clinical practice. The context of this rotation demonstrated its utility and its relevance, because it allowed the students to improve their knowledge about the outpatient setting and to develop their professional autonomy and their maturity by taking on more clinical responsibilities. These findings show that future training programs will have to address the needs of clinical teachers as well as bridge the gap between students' academic training and the skills needed for outpatient care. Professionalizing the role of clinical teachers should contribute to reaching these goals.

Earth Science Pipeline: Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGill, S.; Smith, A.; Fryxell, J.; Leatham, W.; Brunkhorst, B. J.

2002-12-01

Our initial efforts to recruit and retain students from under-represented ethnic groups were guided by results from a survey of students in our introductory geology courses. Among students from under-represented ethnic groups, the most common reasons for NOT majoring in geology were (1) lack of exposure to geosciences, (2) lack of knowledge about careers in geology, (3) a student's perception that he or she is not a "science-type" of person, (4) the difficulty of science, (5) the fact that the student had no friends or family members that had majored in geology, (6) the lack of role models from their ethnicity in geology, (7) boredom with science. The first reasons listed above were rated as "very important" to the greatest number of students [45%], and the following reasons were considered "very important" to decreasing numbers of students [down to 20%]. Issues related to prestige, religion and gender role models were considered "very important" to <10% of the students. To address the two most common reasons for not majoring in geology, we made presentations about the geosciences and careers in geosciences at local schools. We have presented in science classes, to students in Project UPBEAT, as well as to students in the Advancement Via Independent Determination (AVID) program at local high schools. We also participated in the Earth Science portion of a Science Olympiad for high-achieving middle and high school students, offered consulting for science fair projects and led students on field trips to the San Andreas fault and Pisgah Crater. We hired CSUSB students from both our introductory and upper-division geology courses to help with these outreach activities. Several of these students were from under-represented ethnic groups, and they thus served as role models for the pre-college students from those ethnic groups. These outreach assistants have also continued taking geology courses, and some have become geology majors or minors. A total of 44 presentations/field trips/other activities with students were conducted during 2001-02, resulting in over 4300 contact hours with more than 2300 pre-college students. The majority (66%) of the students at these events were from under-represented groups. Responses on evaluation forms indicate that presentations that provided hands-on experiences for students were more likely to influence students to consider majoring in the geosciences than were more traditional presentations, such as slide shows. We have also engaged in teacher development, to better prepare teachers to provide more exposure to the Earth Sciences for pre-college students. We conducted a week-long field trip to Owens Valley for local high school and middle school teachers, as well as various one-day workshops. To address students' perception that they are not "science-type" people, we recruited and hired 15 student research assistants, many of whom were students from under-represented ethnic groups from our introductory geology courses. We trained these students to help us begin monitoring deformation across the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults near our campus, using the Global Positioning System. To address the difficulty with science that many students expressed, we hired students who had done well in our introductory geology courses to serve as tutors for those courses during subsequent quarters. The presence of these tutors (some of whom were from under-represented ethnic groups) in the laboratory session made it easier for students currently taking the class to get their questions answered promptly, thus making their experience with geology more pleasant and effective.

Reaching More Students Through Thinking in Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coletta, Vincent P.

2017-02-01

Thinking in Physics (TIP) is a new curriculum that is more effective than commonly used interactive engagement methods for students who have the greatest difficulty learning physics. Research has shown a correlation between learning in physics and other factors, including scientific reasoning ability. The TIP curriculum addresses those factors. Features of the curriculum and evidence of its effectiveness are described. The most recent version of the TIP curriculum has greatly reduced a substantial gender gap that previously existed. More details and sample materials are provided in Thinking in Physics, a book intended for instructors of introductory physics, published in 2014 by Pearson as part of its Educational Innovation series. Additional materials, both for students and instructors, are provided on the website http://thinkinginphysics.com. Both the book and the website are free.

Differential diagnosis of dental fluorosis made by undergraduate dental students

PubMed Central

Rigo, Lilian; Lodi, Leodinei; Garbin, Raíssa Rigo

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective To check knowledge of undergraduate dental students to make diagnosis of dental fluorosis with varying degrees of severity and choose its appropriate treatment. Methods Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire addressing knowledge of undergraduates based on ten images of mouths presenting enamel changes. Results Only three images were correctly diagnosed by most undergraduates; the major difficulty was in establishing dental fluorosis severity degree. Conclusion Despite much information about fluorosis conveyed during the Dentistry training, as defined in the course syllabus, a significant part of the students was not able to differentiate it from other lesions; they did not demonstrate expertise as to defining severity of fluorosis and indications for treatment, and could not make the correct diagnosis of enamel surface changes. PMID:26761552

Personalized Outreach to University Students with a History of Reading Difficulties: Early Screening and Outreach to Support Academically At-Risk Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deacon, S. Hélène; Tucker, Rebecca; Bergey, Bradley W.; Laroche, Annie; Parrila, Rauno

2017-01-01

We examined whether identification of and personalized outreach to a group of students with a history of reading difficulties would impact their use of support services and academic outcomes. Using a brief self-report questionnaire, we identified students with a history of reading difficulties (n = 175) and a comparison group of university…

The Relation of Teachers' Emotional Intelligence and Students' Social Skills to Students' Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties: A Study of Preschool Teachers' Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria S.

2017-01-01

The present study used hierarchical linear modeling to examine predictors of students' emotional and behavioral difficulties in preschool classrooms. Specifically, the study examined (a) the link between teachers' perceptions of their own emotional intelligence and students' emotional and behavioral difficulties, (b) the link between teachers'…

An Investigation into the Performance, Solution Strategies and Difficulties in Middle School Students' Calculation of the Volume of a Rectangular Prism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tekin-Sitrava, Reyhan; Isiksal-Bostan, Mine

2014-01-01

This qualitative study examined middle school students' performance, solution strategies, difficulties and the underlying reasons for their difficulties in calculating the volume of a rectangular prism. The data was collected from 35 middle school students (6th, 7th and 8th grade students) enrolled in a private school in Istanbul, Turkey. The data…

Analysis of difficulties in mathematics learning on students with guardian personality type in problem-solving HOTS geometry test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimah, R. K. N.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Pramudya, I.

2018-04-01

Learning in the current 2013 curriculum is based on contextual issues based on questions that can encourage students to think broadly. HOTS is a real-life based assessment of everyday life, but in practice, the students are having trouble completing the HOTS issue. Learning difficulty is also influenced by personality type Based on the fact that the real difference one can see from a person is behavior. Kersey classifies the personality into 4 types, namely Idealist, Rational, Artisan, and Guardian. The researcher focuses on the type of guardian personality that is the type of personality that does not like the picture. This study aims to describe the difficulty of learning mathematics in students with a type of guardian personality in the completion of Geometry materials especially in solving HOTS. This research type is descriptive qualitative research. Instruments used in this study were the researchers themselves, personality class test sheets, learning difficulty test sheets in the form of HOTS Geometry test, and interview guides. The results showed that students with guardian personality it was found that a total of 3.37 % difficulties of number fact skill, 4.49 % difficulties of arithmetics skill, 37.08 % difficulties of information skill, 31.46% difficulties of language skill, 23.60 % difficulties of visual-spatial skill.

Working Memory in Students with Mathematical Difficulties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur, I. R. D.; Herman, T.; Ningsih, S.

2018-04-01

Learning process is the activities that has important role because this process is one of the all factors that establish students success in learning. oftentimes we find so many students get the difficulties when they study mathematics. This condition is not only because of the outside factor but also it comes from the inside. The purpose of this research is to analyze and give the representation how students working memory happened in physical education students for basic statistics subjects which have mathematical difficulties. The subjects are 4 students which have a mathematical difficulties. The research method is case study and when the describe about students working memory are explanated deeply with naturalistic observation. Based on this research, it was founded that 4 students have a working memory deficit in three components. The components are phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, dan episodic buffer.

Using Biology Education Research and Qualitative Inquiry to Inform Genomic Nursing Education.

PubMed

Ward, Linda D

Decades of research in biology education show that learning genetics is difficult and reveals specific sources of learning difficulty. Little is known about how nursing students learn in this domain, although they likely encounter similar difficulties as nonnursing students. Using qualitative approaches, this study investigated challenges to learning genetics among nursing students. Findings indicate that nursing students face learning difficulties already identified among biology students, suggesting that nurse educators might benefit from biology education research.

Emotional/Behavioral difficulties and mental health service contacts of students in special education for non-mental health problems.

PubMed

Pastor, Patricia N; Reuben, Cynthia A

2009-02-01

Emotional/behavioral difficulties and mental health (MH) service contacts of 3 groups of youth were compared: students in special education for non-MH problems, students in special education for MH problems, and youth not in special education. Parents reported the characteristics, special education placement, emotional/behavioral difficulties, and MH service contacts of 25,122 youth aged 6-17 years in the National Health Interview Survey. Two thirds of students in special education received special education services for non-MH problems. Among students in special education for non-MH problems, 17% had serious emotional/behavioral difficulties compared with 51% of students in special education for MH problems and 4% of youth not in special education. MH service contacts were examined only for youth whose difficulties significantly interfered with their ability to function in or out of school. Among youth with serious difficulties, the percentage of youth without a recent MH service contact was greater for students in special education for non-MH problems (40%) and youth not in special education (47%) compared with students in special education for MH problems (13%). Compared with youth not in special education, students in special education for non-MH problems were 4 times more likely to have serious emotional/behavioral difficulties but were just as likely as youth not in special education to lack a recent MH service contact. Study findings provide a national context for considering the MH screening/evaluation needs of students receiving special education for non-MH problems.

Criticism and Interpretation: Teaching the Persuasive Aspects of Research Articles

PubMed Central

Gillen, Christopher M.

2006-01-01

Research articles are an excellent tool for promoting active learning about the scientific process. One difficulty in teaching research articles is that they address a professional audience and often seek to be persuasive as well as informative. This essay discusses pedagogical strategies that are intended to help students differentiate the purely informative aspects of research articles, such as descriptions of the methods and results, from the persuasive aspects, such as interpretation of results and critical evaluation of the work of other scientists. PMID:17012188

Criticism and interpretation: teaching the persuasive aspects of research articles.

PubMed

Gillen, Christopher M

2006-01-01

Research articles are an excellent tool for promoting active learning about the scientific process. One difficulty in teaching research articles is that they address a professional audience and often seek to be persuasive as well as informative. This essay discusses pedagogical strategies that are intended to help students differentiate the purely informative aspects of research articles, such as descriptions of the methods and results, from the persuasive aspects, such as interpretation of results and critical evaluation of the work of other scientists.

Academic Responding during Instruction and Reading Outcomes for Kindergarten Students At-Risk for Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanzek, Jeanne; Roberts, Greg; Al Otaiba, Stephanie

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the academic responding of students at-risk for reading difficulties in beginning reading instruction. Opportunities for kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties to respond academically during teacher-facilitated reading instruction in the general education classroom were examined in…

Initial Understandings of Fraction Concepts Evidenced by Students with Mathematics Learning Disabilities and Difficulties: A Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Jessica H.; Welch-Ptak, Jasmine J.; Silva, Juanita M.

2016-01-01

Documenting how students with learning disabilities (LD) initially conceive of fractional quantities, and how their understandings may align with or differ from students with mathematics difficulties, is necessary to guide development of assessments and interventions that attach to unique ways of thinking or inherent difficulties these students…

Profiles of Academic Achievement and Cognitive Processing in College Students with Foreign Language Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prevatt, Frances; Proctor, Briley; Swartz, Stacy L.; Canto, Angela I.

2003-01-01

This study evaluated the cognitive and achievement profiles of college students experiencing difficulties in foreign language (FLD group). Because past research appears to have generated different results based on the type of comparison groups utilized, we attempted to obtain a better representation of students with foreign language difficulties.…

Effects of a Year Long Supplemental Reading Intervention for Students with Reading Difficulties in Fourth Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanzek, Jeanne; Petscher, Yaacov; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Rivas, Brenna; Jones, Francesca; Kent, Shawn; Schatschneider, Christopher; Mehta, Paras

2017-01-01

Research examining effective reading interventions for students with reading difficulties in the upper elementary grades is limited relative to the information available for the early elementary grades. In the current study, we examined the effects of a multicomponent reading intervention for students with reading comprehension difficulties. We…

The Difficulties That Seventh Grade Students Face in Comprehensive Reading Skill for English Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Albdour, Waddah Mahmoud

2015-01-01

The study aims at identifying the difficulties affecting the student in the area of reading comprehension skill in English language curricula, measuring the differences in English language teachers' attitudes towards difficulties that seventh grade students face in reading comprehension skill for English language according to personal variables.…

Talking with patients and peers: medical students' difficulties with learning communication skills.

PubMed

Lumma-Sellenthin, Antje

2009-06-01

Patient-centered communication skills, such as an empathic attitude towards patients and a holistic perspective on health, are difficult to acquire. Designing effective courses requires better understanding of the difficulties that students perceive with learning to talk with patients The study aimed at exploring students' common difficulties with learning patient-centered communication skills. Group discussions about student-patient interviews were videotaped and analyzed with regard to issues that students perceived as difficult and to their reflections about these difficulties. The students reported feeling intrusive as they explored the patient's psychosocial situation. They avoided being empathic and felt insecure about coping adequately with emotionally loaded topics. Their difficulties were mainly due to insufficient understanding of the functional relations between psychosocial issues and health conditions. Moreover, students were insecure concerning the function of affective feedback in the diagnostic process. However, the group discussions generated a language for analyzing and structuring interviews that helped develop the students' professional identities. Students experienced moral qualms about applying major aspects of patient-centered interviewing. Instruction in communication skills should aim at filling the students' knowledge gaps and fostering their awareness and expression of emotional perceptions. Long-term relationships with patients could help develop patient-centered communication.

What Do Romanian Teachers Know about Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pop, Cristina Florina; Ciascai, Liliana

2013-01-01

There is a growing concern for students with learning difficulties and teachers are responsible for identifying and helping these students. The present study aims to explore the teachers' knowledge of manifestations, causes and types of learning difficulties, necessary to diagnose, prevent or remedy learning difficulties. The participants involved…

Does Initial Learning about the Meaning of Fractions Present Similar Challenges for Students with and without Adequate Whole-Number Skill?

PubMed

Namkung, Jessica M; Fuchs, Lynn S; Koziol, Natalie

2018-01-01

The purposes of this study were to (a) explore whether early fractions understanding at 4 th grade is differentially challenging for students with versus without adequate whole-number competence and (b) identify specific whole-number skill associated with difficulty in fractions understanding. Based on initial whole-number competence, 1,108 4 th graders were classified as having (a) adequate whole-number competence ( n = 775), (b) less severe whole-number difficulty ( n = 201), and (c) severe whole-number difficulty ( n = 132). At the end of 4 th grade, they were assessed on fractions understanding and further classified as with versus without difficulty in fractions understanding. Multi-level logistic regression indicated that compared to students with adequate whole-number competence, those with less severe whole-number difficulty were almost 5 times as likely to experience difficulty with fractions understanding whereas those with severe whole-number difficulty were about 32 times as likely to experience difficulty with fractions understanding. Students with severe whole-number difficulty were about 7 times as likely to experience difficulty with fractions understanding compared to those with less severe whole-number difficulty. Among students with adequate whole-number competence, the pretest whole-number skill distinguishing those with versus without difficulty in fractions understanding was basic division facts (i.e., 2-digit dividend ÷ 1-digit divisor) and simple multiplication (i.e., 3-digit × 1-digit without regrouping). The role of whole-number competence in developing initial fractions understanding and implications for instruction are discussed.

Does Initial Learning about the Meaning of Fractions Present Similar Challenges for Students with and without Adequate Whole-Number Skill?

PubMed Central

Namkung, Jessica M.; Fuchs, Lynn S.; Koziol, Natalie

2017-01-01

The purposes of this study were to (a) explore whether early fractions understanding at 4th grade is differentially challenging for students with versus without adequate whole-number competence and (b) identify specific whole-number skill associated with difficulty in fractions understanding. Based on initial whole-number competence, 1,108 4th graders were classified as having (a) adequate whole-number competence (n = 775), (b) less severe whole-number difficulty (n = 201), and (c) severe whole-number difficulty (n = 132). At the end of 4th grade, they were assessed on fractions understanding and further classified as with versus without difficulty in fractions understanding. Multi-level logistic regression indicated that compared to students with adequate whole-number competence, those with less severe whole-number difficulty were almost 5 times as likely to experience difficulty with fractions understanding whereas those with severe whole-number difficulty were about 32 times as likely to experience difficulty with fractions understanding. Students with severe whole-number difficulty were about 7 times as likely to experience difficulty with fractions understanding compared to those with less severe whole-number difficulty. Among students with adequate whole-number competence, the pretest whole-number skill distinguishing those with versus without difficulty in fractions understanding was basic division facts (i.e., 2-digit dividend ÷ 1-digit divisor) and simple multiplication (i.e., 3-digit × 1-digit without regrouping). The role of whole-number competence in developing initial fractions understanding and implications for instruction are discussed. PMID:29276363

The recording of student performance in the microbiology laboratory as a training, tutorial, and motivational tool.

PubMed

Lipson, Steven M; Gair, Marina

2011-01-01

The laboratory component of a microbiology course consists of exercises which mandate a level of proficiency and manual dexterity equal to and often beyond that recognized among other biology courses. Bacterial growth, maintenance, identification (e.g., Gram stain, biochemical tests, genomics), as well as the continuous need to maintain laboratory safety and sterile technique, are only a few skills/responsibilities critical to the discipline of microbiology. Performance of the Gram stain remains one of the most basic and pivotal skills that must be mastered in the microbiology laboratory. However, a number of students continually have difficulty executing the Gram stain and preparative procedures associated with the test. In order to address this issue, we incorporated real-time digital recording as a supplemental teaching aid in the microbiology laboratory. Our use of the digital movie camera in the teaching setting served to enhance interest, motivate students, and in general, improve student performance.

Students' and teachers' perceptions of single-sex and mixed-sex mathematics classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rennie, Léonie J.; Parker, Lesley H.

1997-11-01

This study examines students' perceptions of the learning settings in single-sex and mixed-sex mathematics classes, and teachers' responses to those different classroom contexts. Nearly 300 students in four coeducational secondary schools gave their views of the nature of their participation and interaction in their mathematics classrooms, and data were also obtained from their teachers. There was congruence between students' and teachers' perceptions of the environment in the two kinds of classrooms. Overall, it was perceived that single-sex classrooms provided a more supportive environment for girls, but a rather less supportive environment for boys. Teachers used different strategies with the two kinds of classes and, although many experienced initial difficulty with unruly boys' classes, these problems were overcome. The single-sex environment provided opportunities for teachers to address apparent shortcomings arising from boys' and girls' previous educational experience, which resulted in improved attitudes and performance.

Influence of burnout and sleep difficulties on the quality of life among medical students.

PubMed

Pagnin, Daniel; de Queiroz, Valéria

2015-01-01

This study assessed the influence of burnout dimensions and sleep difficulties on the quality of life among preclinical-phase medical school students. Data were collected from 193 students through their completion of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, the Mini-Sleep Questionnaire, the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. This survey performed hierarchical multiple regressions to quantify the effects of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, academic efficacy, and sleep difficulties on the physical, psychological, social, and environmental components of an individual's quality of life. The influence of confounding variables, such as gender, stress load, and depressive symptoms, were controlled in the statistical analyses. Physical health decreased when emotional exhaustion and sleep difficulties increased. Psychological well-being also decreased when cynicism and sleep difficulties increased. Burnout and sleep difficulties together explained 22 and 21 % of the variance in the physical and psychological well-being, respectively. On the other hand, physical health, psychological well-being, and social relationships increased when the sense of academic efficacy increased. Physical and psychological well-being are negatively associated with emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and sleep difficulties in students in the early phase of medical school. To improve the quality of life of these students, a significant effort should be directed towards burnout and sleep difficulties.

Addressing the difficulty of changing fields in geophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Civilini, F.; Savage, M. K.

2014-12-01

Geophysics is a wonderfully diverse field of study, encompassing a variety of disciplines greatly different from one other. Even within the same discipline, various branches of study can have drastically different vocabulary and methodologies. The difficulty of breaking this "jargon" barrier is also an important reminder for scientists of how critical it is to clearly and concisely convey information. This presentation will focus on strategies that students can focus on to ease a transition between fields in geophysics. I believe that a student changing disciplines should proceed in the following steps: [1] Do a cursory literature review to find a review paper of the desired topic and work backwards through the details until a level of understanding or recognition is reached, [2] Obtain a clear physical understanding of the data and methods of the proposed study, and [3] Establish a support network through the research group or elsewhere which will recognize the areas in which the student is behind and offer remedies in a supportive and productive manner. These strategies are based on my own personal experience changing from music to geophysics in my undergrad and working on projects spanning various subdisciplines of geophysics during my Masters and PhD. It is worthwhile for research groups to spend the time to mentor students switching from other disciplines because those students will in time be able to observe the research in a different way than their peers, and easily adapt to changes of direction within the research.

University Students' Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics.

PubMed

Fiedler, Daniela; Tröbst, Steffen; Harms, Ute

2017-01-01

Students of all ages face severe conceptual difficulties regarding key aspects of evolution-the central, unifying, and overarching theme in biology. Aspects strongly related to abstract "threshold" concepts like randomness and probability appear to pose particular difficulties. A further problem is the lack of an appropriate instrument for assessing students' conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the context of evolution. To address this problem, we have developed two instruments, Ra ndomness and Pro bability Test in the Context of Evo lution (RaProEvo) and Ra ndomness and Pro bability Test in the Context of Math ematics (RaProMath), that include both multiple-choice and free-response items. The instruments were administered to 140 university students in Germany, then the Rasch partial-credit model was applied to assess them. The results indicate that the instruments generate reliable and valid inferences about students' conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the two contexts (which are separable competencies). Furthermore, RaProEvo detected significant differences in knowledge of randomness and probability, as well as evolutionary theory, between biology majors and preservice biology teachers. © 2017 D. Fiedler et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Questions for Assessing Higher-Order Cognitive Skills: It's Not Just Bloom’s

PubMed Central

Lemons, Paula P.; Lemons, J. Derrick

2013-01-01

We present an exploratory study of biologists’ ideas about higher-order cognition questions. We documented the conversations of biologists who were writing and reviewing a set of higher-order cognition questions. Using a qualitative approach, we identified the themes of these conversations. Biologists in our study used Bloom's Taxonomy to logically analyze questions. However, biologists were also concerned with question difficulty, the length of time required for students to address questions, and students’ experience with questions. Finally, some biologists demonstrated an assumption that questions should have one correct answer, not multiple reasonable solutions; this assumption undermined their comfort with some higher-order cognition questions. We generated a framework for further research that provides an interpretation of participants’ ideas about higher-order questions and a model of the relationships among these ideas. Two hypotheses emerge from this framework. First, we propose that biologists look for ways to measure difficulty when writing higher-order questions. Second, we propose that biologists’ assumptions about the role of questions in student learning strongly influence the types of higher-order questions they write. PMID:23463228

University Students’ Conceptual Knowledge of Randomness and Probability in the Contexts of Evolution and Mathematics

PubMed Central

Fiedler, Daniela; Tröbst, Steffen; Harms, Ute

2017-01-01

Students of all ages face severe conceptual difficulties regarding key aspects of evolution—the central, unifying, and overarching theme in biology. Aspects strongly related to abstract “threshold” concepts like randomness and probability appear to pose particular difficulties. A further problem is the lack of an appropriate instrument for assessing students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the context of evolution. To address this problem, we have developed two instruments, Randomness and Probability Test in the Context of Evolution (RaProEvo) and Randomness and Probability Test in the Context of Mathematics (RaProMath), that include both multiple-choice and free-response items. The instruments were administered to 140 university students in Germany, then the Rasch partial-credit model was applied to assess them. The results indicate that the instruments generate reliable and valid inferences about students’ conceptual knowledge of randomness and probability in the two contexts (which are separable competencies). Furthermore, RaProEvo detected significant differences in knowledge of randomness and probability, as well as evolutionary theory, between biology majors and preservice biology teachers. PMID:28572180

Unseen disadvantage: how American universities' focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students.

PubMed

Stephens, Nicole M; Fryberg, Stephanie A; Markus, Hazel Rose; Johnson, Camille S; Covarrubias, Rebecca

2012-06-01

American universities increasingly admit first-generation college students whose parents do not have 4-year degrees. Once admitted, these students tend to struggle academically, compared with continuing-generation students--students who have at least 1 parent with a 4-year degree. We propose a cultural mismatch theory that identifies 1 important source of this social class achievement gap. Four studies test the hypothesis that first-generation students underperform because interdependent norms from their mostly working-class backgrounds constitute a mismatch with middle-class independent norms prevalent in universities. First, assessing university cultural norms, surveys of university administrators revealed that American universities focus primarily on norms of independence. Second, identifying the hypothesized cultural mismatch, a longitudinal survey revealed that universities' focus on independence does not match first-generation students' relatively interdependent motives for attending college and that this cultural mismatch is associated with lower grades. Finally, 2 experiments at both private and public universities created a match or mismatch for first-generation students and examined the performance consequences. Together these studies revealed that representing the university culture in terms of independence (i.e., paving one's own paths) rendered academic tasks difficult and, thereby, undermined first-generation students' performance. Conversely, representing the university culture in terms of interdependence (i.e., being part of a community) reduced this sense of difficulty and eliminated the performance gap without adverse consequences for continuing-generation students. These studies address the urgent need to recognize cultural obstacles that contribute to the social class achievement gap and to develop interventions to address them. 2012 APA, all rights reserved

University Students with Reading Difficulties: Do Perceived Supports and Comorbid Difficulties Predict Well-being and GPA?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stack-Cutler, Holly L.; Parrila, Rauno K.; Torppa, Minna

2016-01-01

We examined the impact of the number of comorbid difficulties, social support, and community support on life satisfaction and academic achievement among 120 university students or recent graduates with self-reported reading difficulties. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing perceived social support, perceived community support, the…

Upper-Division Students' Difficulties with Ampere's Law

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Colin S.; Chasteen, Stephanie V.

2010-01-01

This study presents and interprets some conceptual difficulties junior-level physics students experience with Ampere's law. We present both quantitative data, based on students' written responses to conceptual questions, and qualitative data, based on interviews of students solving Ampere's law problems. We find that some students struggle to…

Computation Error Analysis: Students with Mathematics Difficulty Compared to Typically Achieving Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Gena; Powell, Sarah R.

2018-01-01

Though proficiency with computation is highly emphasized in national mathematics standards, students with mathematics difficulty (MD) continue to struggle with computation. To learn more about the differences in computation error patterns between typically achieving students and students with MD, we assessed 478 third-grade students on a measure…

Types of OI

MedlinePlus

... is also important to address difficulties with social integration, participation in leisure activities, and maintaining stamina. The ... is also important to address difficulties with social integration, participation in leisure activities, and maintaining stamina. The ...

Social, emotional, and behavioral functioning of secondary school students with low academic and language performance: perspectives from students, teachers, and parents.

PubMed

Joffe, Victoria L; Black, Emma

2012-10-01

Adolescence is a time of transition when young people with language difficulties are at increased risk of experiencing social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (SEBD). Most studies of social, emotional, and behavioral functioning (SEBF) in individuals with language difficulties focus on children with a clinical diagnosis of language impairment. This study explores SEBF in a nonclinical group of 12-year-old students with low educational and language performance from their own perspectives and those of their parents and teachers. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire ( Goodman, 1997) was given to 352 mainstream secondary school students who were underperforming academically and had poor language performance. Two hundred and twenty-five of their parents and 230 of their teachers also completed the questionnaire. Students with low educational attainment and poor language showed significantly greater SEBD than a normative sample as reported by themselves, their parents, and their teachers. Significant differences were found across informants, with students identifying more overall difficulties than parents or teachers. Secondary school students with low academic and language performance are more vulnerable to experiencing SEBD compared to typically developing peers. The extent of their difficulties varied depending on the informant, emphasizing the importance of gaining views from multiple perspectives.

The Effects of Educational Multimedia in Dictation and Its Role in Improving Dysgraphia in Students with Dictation Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azimi, Esmaeel; Mousavipour, Saeed

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present research is to study the effects of educational multimedia in dictation and its role in improving dysgraphia in students with dictation difficulty. Research methodology is categorized as being quasi-experimental. The statistical population of the study includes students with dictation difficulty of the second grade of…

Students' Perceptions of Their First-Year University Experience: What Universities Need to Know

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soiferman, L. Karen

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to discover some of the difficulties that first-year students have when they begin university. It was important to get the students to articulate those difficulties, in their own words, so that a better understanding could be attained. As expected, most of the difficulties centred on the institution itself. Students…

High School Students' Career Decision-Making Difficulties According to Locus of Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirdök, Oguzhan; Harman, Esranur

2018-01-01

This study intends to elaborate upon difficulties in career decisions of high school students with different locus of control. 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students aged 14-19, 282 (%55.4) females, 227 (%44.6) males totaling 509 participants involved in research located in the south of Turkey. Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire…

Amount of Time in Print Reading in General Education Kindergarten Classrooms: What Does It Look Like for Students At-risk for Reading Difficulties?

PubMed Central

Kent, Shawn C.; Wanzek, Jeanne; Al Otaiba, Stephanie

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the amount of time spent actively engaged in reading sounds, words, and connected text for students at-risk for reading difficulties in the first formal grade of reading instruction, kindergarten. Observational data of 109 kindergarten students at high-risk for later reading difficulties were collected during general education reading instruction across the school year. Findings revealed students read orally for just over 1 minute during their reading instruction with approximately equal time spent reading sounds, words, or connected text. Implications of these results for early reading instruction and intervention for students at-risk for reading difficulties or disabilities are presented. PMID:23087545

Teacher-Student Relationships, Social and Emotional Skills, and Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria

2015-01-01

In this study, the role of teacher-student relationships and students' social and emotional skills as potential predictors of students' emotional and behavioural difficulties was investigated by tapping into 962 primary school students' perceptions via questionnaires. While significant correlations were found linking teachers' interpersonal…

Accommodation Use during Content Area Instruction for Students with Reading Difficulties: Teacher and Student Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Witmer, Sara; Schmitt, Heather; Clinton, Marianne; Mathes, Nicole

2018-01-01

Accommodations are often necessary to help students with reading difficulties access instructional materials that facilitate learning across content areas. However, the extent to which students with disabilities use accommodations during instruction is unclear. We surveyed and interviewed special educators and students with reading-related…

Observations on Student Difficulties with Mathematics in Upper-Division Electricity and Magnetism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pepper, Rachel E.; Chasteen, Stephanie V.; Pollock, Steven J.; Perkins, Katherine K.

2012-01-01

We discuss common difficulties in upper-division electricity and magnetism (E&M) in the areas of Gauss's law, vector calculus, and electric potential using both quantitative and qualitative evidence. We also show that many of these topical difficulties may be tied to student difficulties with mathematics. At the junior level, some students…

The influence of textbooks on teachers' knowledge of chemical bonding representations relative to students' difficulties understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergqvist, Anna; Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu

2017-04-01

Background: Textbooks are integral tools for teachers' lessons. Several researchers observed that school teachers rely heavily on textbooks as informational sources when planning lessons. Moreover, textbooks are an important resource for developing students' knowledge as they contain various representations that influence students' learning. However, several studies report that students have difficulties understanding models in general, and chemical bonding models in particular, and that students' difficulties understanding chemical bonding are partly due to the way it is taught by teachers and presented in textbooks.

Associations among attitudes, perceived difficulty of learning science, gender, parents' occupation and students' scientific competencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chi, ShaoHui; Wang, Zuhao; Liu, Xiufeng; Zhu, Lei

2017-11-01

This study investigated the associations among students' attitudes towards science, students' perceived difficulty of learning science, gender, parents' occupations and their scientific competencies. A sample of 1591 (720 males and 871 females) ninth-grade students from 29 junior high schools in Shanghai completed a scientific competency test and a Likert scale questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students' general interest of science, their parents' occupations and perceived difficulty of science significantly associated with their scientific competencies. However, there was no gender gap in terms of scientific competencies.

The difficulties of teacher in teaching geometry for mental retardation students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shomad, Z. A.; Kusmayadi, T. A.; Riyadi

2018-03-01

The purpose of this research is to find out the problems faced by teachers in teaching materials on mental retardation students. It focused on the difficulties faced by the teacher in teaching geometry. A qualitative method with field study approach used in this study. The subjects in this research are the teacher and mild mental retardation students. There are six teachers and six students involve as the subject which is chosen by purposive sampling. The data of this research is the observation and interview against teachers and mental retardation students. The data was analyzed qualitatively with Miles and Huberman steps. The results of this research show that mental retardation students have less attention to the materials, less special books or learning media props, difficult in the set the students, and the difficulty in choosing the material that suits the student needs and the condition of mental retardation students. There's not much pay attention to the children with special need, particularly mental retardation student. Thus, this study can help analyze the difficulties teachers so that learning math for mental retardation students more optimal.

Do word-problem features differentially affect problem difficulty as a function of students' mathematics difficulty with and without reading difficulty?

PubMed

Powell, Sarah R; Fuchs, Lynn S; Fuchs, Douglas; Cirino, Paul T; Fletcher, Jack M

2009-01-01

This study examined whether and, if so, how word-problem features differentially affect problem difficulty as a function of mathematics difficulty (MD) status: no MD (n = 109), MD only (n = 109), or MD in combination with reading difficulties (MDRD; n = 109). The problem features were problem type (total, difference, or change) and position of missing information in the number sentence representing the word problem (first, second, or third position). Students were assessed on 14 word problems near the beginning of third grade. Consistent with the hypothesis that mathematical cognition differs as a function of MD subtype, problem type affected problem difficulty differentially for MDRD versus MD-only students; however, the position of missing information in word problems did not. Implications for MD subtyping and for instruction are discussed.

A New Role Change Approach in Pre-service Teacher Education for Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Context of a Student Outreach Lab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scharfenberg, Franz-Josef; Bogner, Franz X.

2016-10-01

How pre-service teachers (PST) develop pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) during science teacher education is an open research question. Our teacher education module, theoretically based on PCK, specifically combines biology PSTs' education with high school students' biology education and includes an innovative role change approach. Altogether, 41 PSTs each participated in three subsequent module days with students ( N = 823) from 50 classes. The module's content dealt with the syllabus topic Genetic Fingerprinting. During participation, the PSTs changed their role by assuming a student's role on the first day, a tutor's role on the second day, and a teacher's role on the third day. By quasi-experimentally administering pre- and delayed posttests, we qualitatively monitored, then content-analytically categorized, and finally quantitatively analyzed three specific PCK components. In contrast to a control group (which did not participate in the module), our treatment preferentially changed the PSTs' orientations toward teaching biology to a more student-centered orientation (both intra- and inter-group differences with medium effect sizes). Additionally, the PSTs who participated in the three modules days differed before and after module participation in how they addressed potential student learning difficulties and identified potential instructional strategies for avoiding these difficulties. The changes in these PCK components point to a step-by-step development of the PSTs' PCK. In this process, our participating PSTs assessed the importance of their three roles on the 3 days quite differently; most notably, we found one relationship between the teacher role and the PSTs' student-centeredness. We specifically discuss the potential and importance of our role change approach within science teacher education.

Print Reading in General Education Kindergarten Classrooms: What Does It Look Like for Students At-Risk for Reading Difficulties?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kent, Shawn C.; Wanzek, Jeanne; Al Otaiba, Stephanie

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the amount of time spent actively engaged in reading sounds, words, and connected text for students at-risk for reading difficulties in the first formal grade of reading instruction, kindergarten. Observational data of 109 kindergarten students at high-risk for later reading difficulties were collected…

Follow-Up Study of Ex-Students of a Residential School for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornby, Garry; Witte, Chrystal

2008-01-01

A follow-up study was conducted on ex-students of a residential special school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in New Zealand. Previous research on post-school outcomes for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties has found low levels on quality of life indicators such as education, employment and community…

Learning Difficulties Experienced by Grade 12 South African Students in the Chemical Representation of Phenomena

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramnarain, Umesh; Joseph, Aleyamma

2012-01-01

This study investigated the learning difficulties of grade 12 South African students in a national chemistry examination. A quantitative analysis of students' performance in the examination revealed there was a significant difference between student performance in questions where students needed to execute a transformation across levels of…

Internet computer coaches for introductory physics problem solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu Ryan, Qing

The ability to solve problems in a variety of contexts is becoming increasingly important in our rapidly changing technological society. Problem-solving is a complex process that is important for everyday life and crucial for learning physics. Although there is a great deal of effort to improve student problem solving skills throughout the educational system, national studies have shown that the majority of students emerge from such courses having made little progress toward developing good problem-solving skills. The Physics Education Research Group at the University of Minnesota has been developing Internet computer coaches to help students become more expert-like problem solvers. During the Fall 2011 and Spring 2013 semesters, the coaches were introduced into large sections (200+ students) of the calculus based introductory mechanics course at the University of Minnesota. This dissertation, will address the research background of the project, including the pedagogical design of the coaches and the assessment of problem solving. The methodological framework of conducting experiments will be explained. The data collected from the large-scale experimental studies will be discussed from the following aspects: the usage and usability of these coaches; the usefulness perceived by students; and the usefulness measured by final exam and problem solving rubric. It will also address the implications drawn from this study, including using this data to direct future coach design and difficulties in conducting authentic assessment of problem-solving.

Introductory Physics Students' Physics and Mathematics Epistemologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scanlon, Erin M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this three study dissertation is to investigate why students are enrolled in introductory physics courses experience difficulties in being successful; one possible source of their difficulties is related to their epistemology. In order to investigate students' epistemologies about mathematics and physics, students were observed…

Dialogical argumentation in elementary science classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Mijung; Roth, Wolff-Michael

2018-02-01

To understand students' argumentation abilities, there have been practices that focus on counting and analyzing argumentation schemes such as claim, evidence, warrant, backing, and rebuttal. This analytic approach does not address the dynamics of epistemic criteria of children's reasoning and decision-making in dialogical situations. The common approach also does not address the practice of argumentation in lower elementary grades (K-3) because these children do not master the structure of argumentation and, therefore, are considered not ready for processing argumentative discourse. There is thus little research focusing on lower elementary school students' argumentation in school science. This study, drawing on the societal-historical approach by L. S. Vygotsky, explored children's argumentation as social relations by investigating the genesis of evidence-related practices (especially burden of proof) in second- and third-grade children. The findings show (a) students' capacity for connecting claim and evidence/responding to the burden of proof and critical move varies and (b) that teachers play a significant role to emphasize the importance of evidence but experience difficulties removing children's favored ideas during the turn taking of argumentative dialogue. The findings on the nature of dialogical reasoning and teacher's role provide further insights about discussions on pedagogical approaches to children's reasoning and argumentation.

Difficulties faced by university students with self-reported symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Kwon, Soo Jin; Kim, Yoonjung; Kwak, Yeunhee

2018-01-01

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persists into adolescence and adulthood; however, few studies have analyzed the experiences of university students with ADHD. This study explored the difficulties experienced by university students with ADHD symptoms. Between December 2015 and February 2016, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 university students with self-reported ADHD symptoms. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Difficulties in university life were classified into four main themes (lack of daily routine, unsatisfactory academic performance and achievement, reduced interpersonal skills, and continuing worries) and analyzed. University students with ADHD symptoms had difficulties coping with repeated cycles of negative thoughts and worries, irregular lifestyles due to poor time management, dissatisfaction with academic performance and interpersonal relationships, self-dissatisfaction, and decreased self-esteem. To improve their university experience, students with ADHD should receive education about ways to stop worrying, to express emotions healthily, and to manage time efficiently.

The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students.

PubMed

Andrews, Bernice; Wilding, John M

2004-11-01

An apparent increase in seriously disturbed students consulting student health services in the UK has led to concern that increasing financial difficulties and other outside pressures may affect student mental health and academic performance. The current research investigated whether student anxiety and depression increases after college entry, the extent to which adverse life experiences contribute to any increases, and the impact of adversity, anxiety and depression on exam performance. 351 UK-domiciled undergraduates completed questionnaires one month before university entry and mid-course. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS: Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) was administered at both time points and a modified List of Threatening Experiences (Brugha, Bebbington, Tennant, & Hurry, 1985) was administered mid-course. By mid-course 9% of previously symptom-free students became depressed and 20% became anxious at a clinically significant level. Of those previously anxious or depressed 36% had recovered. After adjusting for pre-entry symptoms, financial difficulties made a significant independent contribution to depression and relationship difficulties independently predicted anxiety. Depression and financial difficulties mid-course predicted a decrease in exam performance from first to second year. This is the first study to confirm empirically that financial and other difficulties can increase British students' levels of anxiety and depression and that financial difficulties and depression can affect academic performance. However, university life may also have a beneficial effect for some students with pre-existing conditions. With widening participation in higher education, the results have important implications for educational and health policies.

The Most Important Thing: Students with Reading and Writing Difficulties Talk about Their Experiences of Teachers' Treatment and Guidance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielsen, Cecilia

2011-01-01

Dyslexia is a well-known phenomenon and help and assistance are offered to pupils and students who experience literacy difficulties on a regular basis. But what help do they need and want? In this article the responses people with reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia give to this question are discussed. What, if we take the student's own…

The Effects of a Growth Mindset Intervention on the Beliefs about Intelligence, Effort Beliefs, Achievement Goal Orientations, and Academic Self-Efficacy of LD Students with Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldridge, Mary Caufield

2010-01-01

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a "growth mindset" intervention on the beliefs about intelligence, effort beliefs, achievement goals, and academic self-efficacy of learning disabled (LD) students with reading difficulties. The treatment group consisted of 12 high school LD students with reading difficulties. This…

Stigma and Student Mental Health in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Jennifer Marie

2010-01-01

Stigma is a powerful force in preventing university students with mental health difficulties from gaining access to appropriate support. This paper reports on an exploratory study of university students with mental health difficulties that found most students did not disclose their mental health problems to staff at university. This was primarily…

Students' Difficulties With Multiple Representations in Introductory Mechanics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Dong-Hai; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2011-01-01

Research in physics education indicates that the use of multiple representations in teaching and learning helps students become better problem-solvers. We report on a study to investigate students' difficulties in solving mechanics problems presented in multiple representations. We conducted teaching/learning interviews with 20 students in a…

Academic Difficulties Encountered by East Asian International University Students in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Boram; Farruggia, Susan P.; Brown, Gavin T. L.

2013-01-01

The study focused on learning difficulties experienced by East Asian International (EAI) students. Participants were 117 EAI students undertaking tertiary study at a major university, all were surveyed and 21 students were interviewed. The findings suggest that language limitations, academic content and learning styles were associated with…

What Makes Biology Learning Difficult and Effective: Students' Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cimer, Atilla

2012-01-01

The present study aims to determine the biological topics that students have difficulties learning, the reasons why secondary school students have difficulties in learning biology, and ways to improve the effectiveness of students' biology learning. For these purposes, a self-administered questionnaire including three open-ended questions was…

A Therapeutic Approach for Treating Chronic Illness and Disability among College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haemmelmann, Katie L.; McClain, Mary-Catherine

2013-01-01

Research in chronic illness and disability (CID) in college students has demonstrated that students with disabilities encounter more difficulties psychosocially than their nondisabled counterparts. Subsequently, these difficulties impact the ability of these students to successfully adapt. Using the illness intrusiveness model in combination with…

The Roles and Ethics of Journalism: How Chinese Students and American Students Perceive Them Similarly and Differently

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Jin; Arant, David

2014-01-01

This study compares how American and Chinese journalism students view the importance of various journalistic roles and the difficulties of ethical dilemmas faced by journalists. Chinese students perceive greater difficulty in resolving conflict of interests and making a fair representation of the news while American students find greater…

College students' understanding of stereochemistry: Difficulties in learning and critical junctures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyon, Gary Lester

Because stereochemistry is an important part of both high school and college chemistry curricula, a study of difficulties experienced by students in the learning of stereochemistry was undertaken in a one-semester college organic chemistry course. This study, conducted over the course of two semesters with more than two hundred students, utilized clinical interviews, concept maps, and student journals to identify these difficulties, which were then tabulated and categorized. Although student journals were not a productive source of information, the types of difficulties that emerged from the concept maps were compared and contrasted with those that emerged from the clinical interviews. Data from the concept maps were analyzed using Kendall's W, a nonparametric statistic that was deemed appropriate for determining concordance between individual concept maps. The correlation between values of Kendall's W for sets of concept maps and multiple choice questions designed to evaluate the content of these same maps was determined, with values of Pearson's r of .8093 (p = .051) and .7191 (p = .044) for the Fall, 1997 and Spring, 1998 semesters, respectively. These data were used to estimate the occurrence of critical junctures in the learning of stereochemistry, or points at which students must possess a certain framework of understanding of previous concepts in order to master new material (Trowbridge & Wandersee, 1994). One critical juncture was identified that occurred when the topics of enantiorners, absolute configuration, and inversion of configuration were introduced. Among the more important conclusions of this study to the learning of stereochemistry are the following. Both concept maps and interviews provided useful information regarding difficulties in the learning of stereochemistry; this information was complementary in some aspects and similar in others. Concept maps were useful in diagnosing difficulties in application of terms and definitions, whereas interviews were useful when seeking information about difficulties in the manipulation of chemical structures. Both concept maps and interviews were superior to student journals as tools to probe student difficulties in the learning of stereochemistry.

A Randomized Trial of the Effects of Schema-Based Instruction on Proportional Problem-Solving for Students With Mathematics Problem-Solving Difficulties.

PubMed

Jitendra, Asha K; Harwell, Michael R; Dupuis, Danielle N; Karl, Stacy R

This article reports results from a study investigating the efficacy of a proportional problem-solving intervention, schema-based instruction (SBI), in seventh grade. Participants included 806 students with mathematical difficulties in problem solving (MD-PS) from an initial pool of 1,999 seventh grade students in a larger study. Teachers and their students in the larger study were randomly assigned to an SBI or control condition and teachers in both conditions then provided instruction on the topics of ratio, proportion, and percent. We found that students with MD-PS in SBI classrooms scored on average higher than their counterparts in control classrooms on a posttest and delayed posttest administered 9 weeks later. Given students' difficulties with proportional problem-solving and the consequences of these difficulties, an important contribution of this research is the finding that when provided with appropriate instruction, students with MD-PS are capable of enhanced proportional problem-solving performance.

Academic Attainment in Students with Dyslexia in Distance Education.

PubMed

Richardson, John T E

2015-11-01

This investigation studied attainment in students with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties who were taking modules by distance learning with the Open University in 2012. Students with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties who had no additional disabilities were just as likely as nondisabled students to complete their modules, but they were less likely to pass the modules that they had completed and less likely to obtain good grades on the modules that they had passed. Students with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties who had additional disabilities were less likely to complete their modules, less likely to pass the modules that they had completed and less likely to obtain good grades on the modules that they had passed than were nondisabled students. Nevertheless, around 40% of students with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties obtained good grades (i.e. those that would lead to a bachelor's degree with first-class or upper second-class honours). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Identifying Students Difficulties in Understanding Concepts Pertaining to Cell Water Relations: An Exploratory Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedler, Y.; And Others

This study identified students' conceptual difficulties in understanding concepts and processes associated with cell water relationships (osmosis), determined possible reasons for these difficulties, and pilot-tested instruments and research strategies for a large scale comprehensive study. Research strategies used included content analysis of…

Middle school students' reading comprehension of mathematical texts and algebraic equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duru, Adem; Koklu, Onder

2011-06-01

In this study, middle school students' abilities to translate mathematical texts into algebraic representations and vice versa were investigated. In addition, students' difficulties in making such translations and the potential sources for these difficulties were also explored. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data for this study: questionnaire and clinical interviews. The questionnaire consisted of two general types of items: (1) selected-response (multiple-choice) items for which the respondent selects from multiple options and (2) open-ended items for which the respondent constructs a response. In order to further investigate the students' strategies while they were translating the given mathematical texts to algebraic equations and vice versa, five randomly chosen (n = 5) students were interviewed. Data were collected in the 2007-2008 school year from 185 middle-school students in five teachers' classrooms in three different schools in the city of Adıyaman, Turkey. After the analysis of data, it was found that students who participated in this study had difficulties in translating the mathematical texts into algebraic equations by using symbols. It was also observed that these students had difficulties in translating the symbolic representations into mathematical texts because of their weak reading comprehension. In addition, finding of this research revealed that students' difficulties in translating the given mathematical texts into symbolic representations or vice versa come from different sources.

A medical student in private practice for a 1-month clerkship: a qualitative exploration of the challenges for primary care clinical teachers

PubMed Central

Muller-Juge, Virginie; Pereira Miozzari, Anne Catherine; Rieder, Arabelle; Hasselgård-Rowe, Jennifer; Sommer, Johanna; Audétat, Marie-Claude

2018-01-01

Purpose The predicted shortage of primary care physicians emphasizes the need to increase the family medicine workforce. Therefore, Swiss universities develop clerkships in primary care physicians’ private practices. The objective of this research was to explore the challenges, the stakes, and the difficulties of clinical teachers who supervised final year medical students in their primary care private practice during a 1-month pilot clerkship in Geneva. Methods Data were collected via a focus group using a semistructured interview guide. Participants were asked about their role as a supervisor and their difficulties and positive experiences. The text of the focus group was transcribed and analyzed qualitatively, with a deductive and inductive approach. Results The results show the nature of pressures felt by clinical teachers. First, participants experienced the difficulty of having dual roles: the more familiar one of clinician, and the new challenging one of teacher. Second, they felt compelled to fill the gap between the academic context and the private practice context. Clinical teachers were surprised by the extent of the adaptive load, cognitive load, and even the emotional load involved when supervising a trainee in their clinical practice. The context of this rotation demonstrated its utility and its relevance, because it allowed the students to improve their knowledge about the outpatient setting and to develop their professional autonomy and their maturity by taking on more clinical responsibilities. Conclusion These findings show that future training programs will have to address the needs of clinical teachers as well as bridge the gap between students’ academic training and the skills needed for outpatient care. Professionalizing the role of clinical teachers should contribute to reaching these goals. PMID:29344003

Learning Self-Evaluation: Challenges for Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacGregor, Jean

1993-01-01

Self-evaluation is unfamiliar to most college students. Teachers can use varied approaches to support students in overcoming unfamiliarity with self-evaluation, lack of confidence in describing learning, writing difficulties, evaluation difficulties, discomfort discussing academic problems, cultural bias against self-evaluation, emotional…

Simulations for Teaching Chemical Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huddle, Penelope A.; White, Margaret Dawn; Rogers, Fiona

2000-07-01

This paper outlines a systematic approach to teaching chemical equilibrium using simulation experiments that address most known alternate conceptions in the topic. Graphs drawn using the data from the simulations are identical to those obtained using real experimental data for reactions that go to equilibrium. This allows easy mapping of the analogy to the target. The requirements for the simulations are simple and inexpensive, making them accessible to even the poorest schools. The simulations can be adapted for all levels, from pupils who are first encountering equilibrium through students in tertiary education to qualified teachers who have experienced difficulty in teaching the topic. The simulations were piloted on four very different audiences. Minor modifications were then made before the Equilibrium Games as reported in this paper were tested on three groups of subjects: a Grade 12 class, college students, and university Chemistry I students. Marked improvements in understanding of the concept were shown in two of the three sets of subjects.

Analyzing force concept inventory with item response theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jing; Bao, Lei

2010-10-01

Item response theory is a popular assessment method used in education. It rests on the assumption of a probability framework that relates students' innate ability and their performance on test questions. Item response theory transforms students' raw test scores into a scaled proficiency score, which can be used to compare results obtained with different test questions. The scaled score also addresses the issues of ceiling effects and guessing, which commonly exist in quantitative assessment. We used item response theory to analyze the force concept inventory (FCI). Our results show that item response theory can be useful for analyzing physics concept surveys such as the FCI and produces results about the individual questions and student performance that are beyond the capability of classical statistics. The theory yields detailed measurement parameters regarding the difficulty, discrimination features, and probability of correct guess for each of the FCI questions.

The Effects of a Skill-Based Intervention for Victims of Bullying in Brazil.

PubMed

da Silva, Jorge Luiz; de Oliveira, Wanderlei Abadio; Braga, Iara Falleiros; Farias, Marilurdes Silva; da Silva Lizzi, Elisangela Aparecida; Gonçalves, Marlene Fagundes Carvalho; Pereira, Beatriz Oliveira; Silva, Marta Angélica Iossi

2016-10-26

This study's objective was to verify whether improved social and emotional skills would reduce victimization among Brazilian 6th grade student victims of bullying. The targets of this intervention were victimized students; a total of 78 victims participated. A cognitive-behavioral intervention based on social and emotional skills was held in eight weekly sessions. The sessions focused on civility, the ability to make friends, self-control, emotional expressiveness, empathy, assertiveness, and interpersonal problem-solving capacity. Data were analyzed through Poisson regression models with random effects. Pre- and post-analyses reveal that intervention and comparison groups presented significant reduced victimization by bullying. No significant improvement was found in regard to difficulties in practicing social skills. Victimization reduction cannot be attributed to the program. This study contributes to the incipient literature addressing anti-bullying interventions conducted in developing countries and highlights the need for approaches that do not exclusively focus on the students' individual aspects.

The Influence of the Complexity of Student Educational Goals on Student Performance at Community College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Secolsky, Charles

It is a commonly held belief that student educational achievement is enhanced when students have goals. But individual goals may vary in terms of difficulty, as well as in terms of their importance and the commitment students make to achieve them. In this study, goal complexity was viewed as the influence of commitment, difficulty, and importance…

Risk of Reading Difficulty among Students with a History of Speech or Language Impairment: Implications for Student Support Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zipoli, Richard P., Jr.; Merritt, Donna D.

2017-01-01

Many students with a history of speech or language impairment have an elevated risk of reading difficulty. Specific subgroups of these students remain at risk of reading problems even after clinical manifestations of a speech or language disorder have diminished. These students may require reading intervention within a general education system of…

Reading Disabilities of Chinese Elementary School Students: Beyond the Phonological Deficits of Single-Character Identification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Hua; Lin, Dan; Zhang, Dake; Wen, Hongbo; Zhu, Huohong; He, Xianyou; Mo, Lei

2010-01-01

This study investigated the contributions of single-word identification and compound word categorization to Chinese students' reading achievement among 31 students with reading difficulties and 20 students without reading difficulties. The results suggested that, deficiency in single characters identification is not the primarily reason for…

The Influence of Mathematics Vocabulary Instruction Embedded within Addition Tutoring for First-Grade Students with Mathematics Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Sarah R.; Driver, Melissa K.

2015-01-01

Researchers and practitioners indicate students require explicit instruction on mathematics vocabulary terms, yet no study has examined the effects of an embedded vocabulary component within mathematics tutoring for early elementary students. First-grade students with mathematics difficulty (MD; n = 98) were randomly assigned to addition tutoring…

Changing How We Think, Changing How We Learn: Scaffolding Executive Function Processes for Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Sonia M.; Boyle, Joseph R.; Cariss, Kaitlyn; Forchelli, Gina A.

2014-01-01

Students with learning disabilities have been reported to have difficulty in a number of different executive function processes that affect their academic performance (Singer & Bashir, 1999). Executive function difficulties for students with learning disabilities have been implicated as the reason why these students struggle with complex…

The Influence of Circadian Type, Time of Day and Class Difficulty on Students' Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McElroy, Todd; Mosteller, Lynn

2006-01-01

Introduction: In this paper we investigate how students' class grades are affected by individual differences in circadian rhythm, class time-of-day and class difficulty. Method: Using a sample of university students, we assessed morningness and eveningness personality type, and then obtained students recalled classes as well as their…

Understanding Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Mental Health, Mental Well-Being and Help-Seeking Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laidlaw, Anita; McLellan, Julie; Ozakinci, Gozde

2016-01-01

Despite relatively high levels of psychological distress, many students in higher education do not seek help for difficulties. This study explored undergraduate student understanding of the concepts of mental health and mental well-being and where undergraduate students would seek help for mental well-being difficulties. Semi-structured interviews…

Undergraduate ESL Students' Difficulties in Writing the Introduction for Research Reports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maznun, Mirrah Diyana Binti; Monsefi, Roya; Nimehchisalem, Vahid

2017-01-01

This study was conducted to investigate the difficulties encountered by undergraduate ESL students in writing the introduction section of their project reports. Five introduction sections of bachelor of arts students, majoring in English language, were analyzed and a lecturer was interviewed regarding the areas of the students' weaknesses. Swales'…

Multimedia Cai Program for Students with Mathematics Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seo, You-Jin; Bryant, Diane

2012-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of "Math Explorer" at enhancing the word problem-solving skills of students with mathematics difficulties (MD). The study, which had a multiple-probe-across-subjects design, was conducted over 18 weeks. Four students with MD in Grades 2 and 3 participated. All students were able to use the four-step…

Comparing Students with and without Reading Difficulties on Reading Comprehension Assessments: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Alyson A.; Lindström, Esther R.; Compton, Donald L.

2018-01-01

Researchers have increasingly investigated sources of variance in reading comprehension test scores, particularly with students with reading difficulties (RD). The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine if the achievement gap between students with RD and typically developing (TD) students varies as a function of different reading…

Pharmacy students' opinions of direct-to-consumer advertising: a pilot study at one university.

PubMed

Harrington, Amanda R; Desselle, Shane P; Apgar, David A; Hesselbacher, Elizabeth; Pié, Aaron; Quesnel, Aimee; Warholak, Terri L

2013-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertisement (DTCA) of prescription medications has become an important informational source for health care consumers. As future health care professionals on the front line of potential communication and dispensing of products emerging from DTCA, it is important to elicit the attitudes of student-pharmacists. This study aims to (1) evaluate the validity of the DTCA attitudinal questionnaire using Rasch rating scale analysis and (2) investigate the attitudes of pharmacy students toward DTCA and determine whether these attitudes were associated with years of pharmacy education and demographic characteristics. This investigation used a cross-sectional print-based questionnaire to evaluate the attitudes of pharmacy students toward DTCA of prescription medications. The 16-item questionnaire included items addressing the attitudes of pharmacy students toward DTCA with respect to patients' knowledge of medications, pharmacists' interaction with patients, and overall consumer judgment of medical prescriptions. Analyses included Rasch analysis and a multiple linear regression. A total of 243 students submitted usable questionnaires (85% response rate). Item response categories were collapsed from 5 categories to 3, and 4 items were removed to achieve acceptable Rasch model fit. Pharmacy students demonstrated little difficulty in agreeing with the statements suggesting that DTCA helps patients take a more active role in health care and had the most difficulty in agreeing with items suggesting that DTCA may lead to inappropriate prescribing to satisfy patient requests. Students' overall support for DTCA was the only variable that predicted the questionnaire score (P<.001). In conclusion, the Rasch analysis evaluated the psychometric properties of the instrument and identified the necessity to adapt the questionnaire from previous iterations to adequately fit the student population. Future research should examine factors that contribute to the variance in attitudes toward DTCA among a larger and more heterogeneous population. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Effects of reading difficulties on scholastic self-evaluation and mental health in elementary school children].

PubMed

Yamashita, Toshiya; Hayashi, Takashi

2014-05-01

We aimed to examine the effects of reading difficulties on scholastic self-evaluation and mental health in elementary school students. Following guidelines for diagnosing reading disorders in elementary school students, we administered reading test batteries consisting of single sounds, single words, and single sentences to 41 fifth-grade elementary school students in Japan. The students' levels of scholastic self-evaluation, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms were assessed using self-rating questionnaires. By evaluating students' reading speed and the number of reading errors they made, we found that six students (14.6%) had reading difficulties (RD group) as per the guidelines for diagnosing reading disorders. The scholastic self-evaluation scores of this RD group were significantly lower than that of the non-RD group. No significant differences were found between the groups on self-esteem or depressive symptoms scores, which we considered to be indicators of mental health, Speed in reading single sounds and single words, and the number of reading errors in reading single sounds had significant negative correlations with scholastic self-evaluation scores. We found that reading difficulties might result in decreased scholastic self-evaluation in elementary school students; however, reading difficulties did not directly influence self-esteem or depression.

Improvement of Word Problem Solving and Basic Mathematics Competencies in Students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Mathematical Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González-Castro, Paloma; Cueli, Marisol; Areces, Débora; Rodríguez, Celestino; Sideridis, Georgios

2016-01-01

Problem solving represents a salient deficit in students with mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) primarily caused by difficulties with informal and formal mathematical competencies. This study proposes a computerized intervention tool, the integrated dynamic representation (IDR), for enhancing the early learning of basic mathematical…

Perceptions of Sleep Duration, Patterns and Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties: A Study of Greek Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria S.; Cooper, Paul

2017-01-01

The study investigated adolescent students' perceptions of sleep duration and patterns, and the way they relate to emotional and behavioural difficulties. Five hundred and two students from public schools in Greece completed the Sleep Questionnaire and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). It was demonstrated that consistency in…

Learners' Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilakjani, Abbas Pourhosein; Sabouri, Narjes Banou

2016-01-01

Listening is one of the most important skills in English language learning. When students listen to English language, they face a lot of listening difficulties. Students have critical difficulties in listening comprehension because universities and schools pay more attention to writing, reading, and vocabulary. Listening is not an important part…

Students' Difficulties with Integration in Electricity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nguyen, Dong-Hai; Rebello, N. Sanjay

2011-01-01

This study investigates the common difficulties that students in introductory physics experience when solving problems involving integration in the context of electricity. We conducted teaching-learning interviews with 15 students in a second-semester calculus-based introductory physics course on several problems involving integration. We found…

High School Students with Reading Comprehension Difficulties: Results of a Randomized Control Trial of a Two-Year Reading Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Michael G.; Fall, Anna-Mária; Schnakenberg, Jennifer B.

2015-01-01

A 2-year, randomized control trial with 9th to 10th grade students with significant reading problems was provided for 50 minutes a day in small groups. Comparison students were provided an elective class and treatment students the reading intervention. Students were identified as demonstrating reading difficulties through failure on their state…

Flexibility in Mathematics Problem Solving Based on Adversity Quotient

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dina, N. A.; Amin, S. M.; Masriyah

2018-01-01

Flexibility is an ability which is needed in problem solving. One of the ways in problem solving is influenced by Adversity Quotient (AQ). AQ is the power of facing difficulties. There are three categories of AQ namely climber, camper, and quitter. This research is a descriptive research using qualitative approach. The aim of this research is to describe flexibility in mathematics problem solving based on Adversity Quotient. The subjects of this research are climber student, camper student, and quitter student. This research was started by giving Adversity Response Profile (ARP) questioner continued by giving problem solving task and interviews. The validity of data measurement was using time triangulation. The results of this research shows that climber student uses two strategies in solving problem and doesn’t have difficulty. The camper student uses two strategies in solving problem but has difficulty to finish the second strategies. The quitter student uses one strategy in solving problem and has difficulty to finish it.

Effects of Fact Retrieval Tutoring on Third-Grade Students with Math Difficulties with and without Reading Difficulties.

PubMed

Powell, Sarah R; Fuchs, Lynn S; Fuchs, Douglas; Cirino, Paul T; Fletcher, Jack M

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of fact retrieval tutoring as a function of math difficulty (MD) subtype, that is, whether students have MD alone (MD-only) or have concurrent difficulty with math and reading (MDRD). Third graders (n = 139) at two sites were randomly assigned, blocking by site and MD subtype, to four tutoring conditions: fact retrieval practice, conceptual fact retrieval instruction with practice, procedural computation/estimation instruction, and control (no tutoring). Tutoring occurred for 45 sessions over 15weeks for 15-25 minutes per session. Results provided evidence of an interaction between tutoring condition and MD subtype status for assessment of fact retrieval. For MD-only students, students in both fact retrieval conditions achieved comparably and outperformed MD-only students in the control group as well as those in the procedural computation/estimation instruction group. By contrast, for MDRD students, there were no significant differences among intervention conditions.

Effects of Fact Retrieval Tutoring on Third-Grade Students with Math Difficulties with and without Reading Difficulties

PubMed Central

Powell, Sarah R.; Fuchs, Lynn S.; Fuchs, Douglas; Cirino, Paul T.; Fletcher, Jack M.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of fact retrieval tutoring as a function of math difficulty (MD) subtype, that is, whether students have MD alone (MD-only) or have concurrent difficulty with math and reading (MDRD). Third graders (n = 139) at two sites were randomly assigned, blocking by site and MD subtype, to four tutoring conditions: fact retrieval practice, conceptual fact retrieval instruction with practice, procedural computation/estimation instruction, and control (no tutoring). Tutoring occurred for 45 sessions over 15weeks for 15–25 minutes per session. Results provided evidence of an interaction between tutoring condition and MD subtype status for assessment of fact retrieval. For MD-only students, students in both fact retrieval conditions achieved comparably and outperformed MD-only students in the control group as well as those in the procedural computation/estimation instruction group. By contrast, for MDRD students, there were no significant differences among intervention conditions. PMID:19448840

Difficulties encountered at the beginning of professional life: results of a 2003 pilot survey among undergraduate students in Paris Rene Descartes University (France).

PubMed

Benbelaïd, R; Dot, D; Levy, G; Eid, N

2006-11-01

In addition to dental hospital clinical activity, dental students at Paris Rene Descartes University have the opportunity in their final year of study to practise clinically in a dental office, as associates. This paper outlines a pilot, experimental study designed to assess student reaction to this Vocational Clinical Activity (VCA) in order to identify relevant weaknesses of the undergraduate programme. Using questionnaires, data were collected for each of the following clinical or management skills: clinical difficulty, therapeutic decision-making, patient/practitioner relationship, time management, administrative matters and technical problems. Students were asked to rank each item in order of difficulty (1, high level to 6, low level). A high response rate was observed (90%) among the 50 undergraduate VCA students. The results pointed out three main difficulties encountered by undergraduate students during the VCA: time management (90% of the students), administrative matters (85% of the students) and clinical decision-making (80% of the students). These preliminary results need further investigation. However, they give us the incentive to carry on with this type of assessment and to extend it to young, qualified colleagues' perceptions and to other French Universities.

Improving students' understanding of quantum mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Guangtian

2011-12-01

Learning physics is challenging at all levels. Students' difficulties in the introductory level physics courses have been widely studied and many instructional strategies have been developed to help students learn introductory physics. However, research shows that there is a large diversity in students' preparation and skills in the upper-level physics courses and it is necessary to provide scaffolding support to help students learn advanced physics. This thesis explores issues related to students' common difficulties in learning upper-level undergraduate quantum mechanics and how these difficulties can be reduced by research-based learning tutorials and peer instruction tools. We investigated students' difficulties in learning quantum mechanics by administering written tests and surveys to many classes and conducting individual interviews with a subset of students. Based on these investigations, we developed Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorials (QuILTs) and peer instruction tools to help students build a hierarchical knowledge structure of quantum mechanics through a guided approach. Preliminary assessments indicate that students' understanding of quantum mechanics is improved after using the research-based learning tools in the junior-senior level quantum mechanics courses. We also designed a standardized conceptual survey that can help instructors better probe students' understanding of quantum mechanics concepts in one spatial dimension. The validity and reliability of this quantum mechanics survey is discussed.

An Examination of the Relationship among Teachers' Perceptions of Social-Emotional Learning, Teaching Efficacy, Teacher-Student Interactions, and Students' Behavioral Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulou, Maria S.

2017-01-01

The study investigated how teachers' perceptions of emotional intelligence (EI), social and emotional learning (SEL) skills, and teaching efficacy relate to perceptions of teacher-student relationships and students' emotional and behavioral difficulties. Ninety-eight elementary teachers from public schools in central Greece completed the…

Challenges in Designing Appropriate Scaffolding to Improve Students' Representational Consistency: The Case of a Gauss's Law Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maries, Alexandru; Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2017-01-01

Prior research suggests that introductory physics students have difficulty with graphing and interpreting graphs. Here, we discuss an investigation of student difficulties in translating between mathematical and graphical representations for a problem in electrostatics and the effect of increasing levels of scaffolding on students'…

Improving Transition Behaviors in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Interventions in Educational Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lequia, Jenna; Wilkerson, Kimber L.; Kim, Sunyoung; Lyons, Gregory L.

2015-01-01

Students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often exhibit rigidity, which can lead to difficulties with transitions. Such difficulties can explain why students with ASD are placed in more restrictive educational environments. This review offers a quantitative synthesis of effects of interventions aimed to improve transitions of students with ASD…

Difficulties in Academic Writing: From the Perspective of King Saud University Postgraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al Fadda, Hind

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine what difficulties King Saud University students encounter when learning to write academic English and to differentiate between students' learning needs and objectives. The sample consisted of 50 postgraduate students enrolled in King Saud University during the academic year 2009-2010. Analysis of the data…

Early Numeracy Intervention Program for First-Grade Students with Mathematics Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, Diane Pedrotty; Bryant, Brian R.; Roberts, Greg; Vaughn, Sharon; Pfannenstiel, Kathleen Hughes; Porterfield, Jennifer; Gersten, Russell

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an early numeracy preventative Tier 2 intervention on the mathematics performance of first-grade students with mathematics difficulties. Researchers used a pretest-posttest control group design with randomized assignment of 139 students to the Tier 2 treatment condition and 65 students to…

Associations among Attitudes, Perceived Difficulty of Learning Science, Gender, Parents' Occupation and Students' Scientific Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chi, ShaoHui; Wang, Zuhao; Liu, Xiufeng; Zhu, Lei

2017-01-01

This study investigated the associations among students' attitudes towards science, students' perceived difficulty of learning science, gender, parents' occupations and their scientific competencies. A sample of 1591 (720 males and 871 females) ninth-grade students from 29 junior high schools in Shanghai completed a scientific competency test and…

Effects of Self-Monitoring on Math Competency of an Elementary Student with Cerebral Palsy in an Inclusive Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheehey, Patricia H.; Wells, Jenny C.; Rowe, Mary

2017-01-01

Students with cerebral palsy (CP) without severe intellectual impairments often experience difficulties in mathematics performance. Given the high prevalence of learning difficulties in students with CP, few studies have examined interventions to improve the math competency of these students (Jenks et al., 2009). A single-subject reversal design…

Difficulties First-Year University Mathematics Students Have in Reading Their Mathematics Textbook. Technical Report. No. 2009-1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Mary D.; Selden, Annie; Selden, John

2009-01-01

This exploratory study examined the experiences and difficulties certain first-year university students displayed in reading new passages from their mathematics textbooks. We interviewed eleven precalculus and calculus students who were considered to be good at mathematics, as indicated by high ACT mathematics scores. These students were also …

Difficulties EFL Jordanian University Students Encounter in Translating English Idioms into Arabic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alrishan, Amal; Smadi, Oqlah

2015-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the difficulties that Jordanian EFL University students encounter in translating English idioms into Arabic. The participants of the study were all M.A translation students at Yarmouk University and the University of Jordan who were selected purposefully. The total number of the students who participated in the…

Linear Algebra Revisited: An Attempt to Understand Students' Conceptual Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Britton, Sandra; Henderson, Jenny

2009-01-01

This article looks at some of the conceptual difficulties that students have in a linear algebra course. An overview of previous research in this area is given, and the various theories that have been espoused regarding the reasons that students find linear algebra so difficult are discussed. Student responses to two questions testing the ability…

Creating Lecture Tutorials for the Introductory Geoscience Classroom with Data Found on the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) Website

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kortz, K. M.; Jager, J. M.

2006-05-01

Lecture Tutorials (LTs) are short, interactive materials used during lectures that guide student learning and challenge students to think about their own misconceptions. They are designed to be used by instructors as a simple way to increase the amount of interactive learning in their classroom. We developed several geoscience LTs, using data sets found on the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) website when possible, in order to address the problems of student misconceptions and lack of appreciation of science. After a short lecture, the students were given 3 to 4 multiple choice questions about the material covered. They then worked in groups on an LT, participated in a class discussion and answered a second similar question set to test for additional learning. Based on the results of one author's students, the materials were revised and retested with the other's students. Student interviews were conducted to determine the role data sets played in changing student attitudes toward science. LTs in this study were written with two different purposes. One set focused on data interpretation and scientific methods using real-world data sets found on DLESE. We found little to no increase in pre-LT and post-LT performance on the question sets when these LTs were used. The other set of LTs specifically tackled misconceptions about a single geologic topic. Students showed a significant increase in pre-LT and post-LT learning based on the questions sets when these LTs were used. LTs that successfully decreased student misconceptions did not require the use of real-world data sets. We identified several factors influencing student performance on the pre- and post-LT questions, in addition to whether or not the LT focused on including data sets or tackling misconceptions. The distracters in the questions need to include the student misconceptions to verify the students have changed their understanding. This demonstrates a need for a large database of well-written and tested questions to use for evaluation purposes. If lectures are well-designed, effective, and address the focus of the LT, then the increase in student performance on the questions is reduced. However, students still have difficulties with not changing their previously-held conceptions which shows why the LTs are so effective when they address misconceptions - misconceptions cannot be overcome by simply listening to a lecture.

Personality traits, future time perspective and adaptive behavior in adolescence.

PubMed

Gomes Carvalho, Renato Gil; Novo, Rosa Ferreira

2015-04-24

Several studies provide evidence of the importance of future time perspective (FTP) for individual success. However, little research addresses the relationship between FTP and personality traits, particularly if FTP can mediate their influence on behavior. In this study we analyze the mediating of FTP in the influence of personality traits on the way adolescents live their life at school. Sample consisted in 351 students, aged from 14 to 18 years-old, at different schooling levels. Instruments were the Portuguese version of the MMPI-A, particularly the PSY-5 dimensions (Aggressiveness, Psychoticism, Disconstraint, Neuroticism, Introversion), a FTP questionnaire, and a survey on school life, involving several indicators of achievement, social integration, and overall satisfaction. With the exception of Neuroticism, the results show significant mediation effects (p < .001) of FTP on most relationships between PSY-5 dimensions and school life variables. Concerning Disconstraint, FTP mediated its influence on overall satisfaction (β = -.125) and school achievement (β = -.106). In the case of Introversion, significant mediation effects occurred for interpersonal difficulties (β = .099) and participation in extracurricular activities (β = -.085). FTP was also a mediator of Psychoticism influence in overall satisfaction (β = -.094), interpersonal difficulties (β = .057), and behavior problems (β = .037). Finally, FTP mediated the influence of Aggressiveness on overall satisfaction (β = -.061), interpersonal difficulties (β = .040), achievement (β = -.052), and behavior problems (β = .023). Results are discussed considering the importance of FTP in the impact of some personality structural characteristics in students' school adaptation.

Students' conceptual difficulties in hydrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suarez, Alvaro; Kahan, Sandra; Zavala, Genaro; Marti, Arturo C.

2017-12-01

We describe a study on the conceptual difficulties faced by college students in understanding hydrodynamics of ideal fluids. This study was based on responses obtained in hundreds of written exams complemented with several oral interviews, which were held with first-year engineering and science university students. Their responses allowed us to identify a series of misconceptions unreported in the literature so far. The study findings demonstrate that the most critical difficulties arise from the students' inability to establish a link between the kinematics and dynamics of moving fluids, and from a lack of understanding regarding how different regions of a system interact.

Hearing, Auditory Processing, and Language Skills of Male Youth Offenders and Remandees in Youth Justice Residences in New Zealand.

PubMed

Lount, Sarah A; Purdy, Suzanne C; Hand, Linda

2017-01-01

International evidence suggests youth offenders have greater difficulties with oral language than their nonoffending peers. This study examined the hearing, auditory processing, and language skills of male youth offenders and remandees (YORs) in New Zealand. Thirty-three male YORs, aged 14-17 years, were recruited from 2 youth justice residences, plus 39 similarly aged male students from local schools for comparison. Testing comprised tympanometry, self-reported hearing, pure-tone audiometry, 4 auditory processing tests, 2 standardized language tests, and a nonverbal intelligence test. Twenty-one (64%) of the YORs were identified as language impaired (LI), compared with 4 (10%) of the controls. Performance on all language measures was significantly worse in the YOR group, as were their hearing thresholds. Nine (27%) of the YOR group versus 7 (18%) of the control group fulfilled criteria for auditory processing disorder. Only 1 YOR versus 5 controls had an auditory processing disorder without LI. Language was an area of significant difficulty for YORs. Difficulties with auditory processing were more likely to be accompanied by LI in this group, compared with the controls. Provision of speech-language therapy services and awareness of auditory and language difficulties should be addressed in youth justice systems.

Investigating and improving introductory physics students’ understanding of electric flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jing; Singh, Chandralekha

2018-07-01

A solid grasp of the concept of electric flux is an important pre-requisite for appropriate use of Gauss’s law in solving electrostatics problems. As part of a broader investigation focusing on improving understanding of electrostatics concepts, we investigated the conceptual difficulties of college students in a traditionally taught calculus-based introductory physics course with the concept of electric flux and then the research on student difficulties was used as a guide in the development and evaluation of a research-validated tutorial which strives to help students learn this concept better. During the investigation of difficulties and the design and validation of the guided inquiry-based tutorial, college students in a calculus-based introductory physics course were given written questions to probe the common conceptual difficulties with the electric flux related concepts, and we also interviewed a subset of those students to get an in-depth account of the reasons behind the conceptual difficulties. The guided inquiry-based learning sequences in the tutorial were also iterated several times with instructors who regularly teach these courses. Here we discuss the common student difficulties with the electric flux found in our investigations, and the development and validation of a tutorial that strives to improve student understanding. We analyse how students performed on the pre-test (administered before the electric flux tutorial but after traditional instruction in the electric flux concepts) and on the post-test (administered after students in the tutorial group had engaged with the electric flux related tutorial). The performance of students in all sections of the course was comparable on the pre-test regardless of who taught that section. However, on the post-test, the performance of those in the sections of the course in which students engaged with the tutorial is significantly better that the section in which the tutorial was not used.

Difficulties in initial algebra learning in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jupri, Al; Drijvers, Paul; van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, Marja

2014-12-01

Within mathematics curricula, algebra has been widely recognized as one of the most difficult topics, which leads to learning difficulties worldwide. In Indonesia, algebra performance is an important issue. In the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007, Indonesian students' achievement in the algebra domain was significantly below the average student performance in other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. This fact gave rise to this study which aims to investigate Indonesian students' difficulties in algebra. In order to do so, a literature study was carried out on students' difficulties in initial algebra. Next, an individual written test on algebra tasks was administered, followed by interviews. A sample of 51 grade VII Indonesian students worked the written test, and 37 of them were interviewed afterwards. Data analysis revealed that mathematization, i.e., the ability to translate back and forth between the world of the problem situation and the world of mathematics and to reorganize the mathematical system itself, constituted the most frequently observed difficulty in both the written test and the interview data. Other observed difficulties concerned understanding algebraic expressions, applying arithmetic operations in numerical and algebraic expressions, understanding the different meanings of the equal sign, and understanding variables. The consequences of these findings on both task design and further research in algebra education are discussed.

[Returning students' perspectives on adjusting to medical graduate school in Korea: an interview study].

PubMed

Park, So Youn; Kwon, Oh Young; Yoon, Tai Young

2015-03-01

The recent trend of switching from medical graduate school to medical school in Korea raises questions about the adjustments that students must make in medical education. We examined the perceptions of medical graduate students with regard to their adaptation in medical education. Sixteen semistructured, in-depth interviews were administered to medical graduate students who received their first degrees in foreign countries. The interviews addressed their perceptions of their experience in medical graduate school and on how well they adjusted to medical education. Students perceived their adaptation to medical graduate school in two dimensions: academic achievement and cultural adjustment. In academic achievement, a limited student-teacher relationship was recognized by students. Students tended to be passive in the classroom due to an uncomfortable atmosphere. They also reported witnessing culture shock in relation to the paucity of information on entrance into medical graduate school. Freshmen voiced many difficulties in adjusting to the unique culture in medical graduate school, in contrast to upper classmen. However, only 32% of students experienced helpful mentoring for their problems. Students' perspectives should guide all decisions made about medical education in an altered educational system.Self-regulated learning and a good mentoring program can help prepare students for medical education and professional life.

A Longitudinal Study of Financial Difficulties and Mental Health in a National Sample of British Undergraduate Students.

PubMed

Richardson, Thomas; Elliott, Peter; Roberts, Ron; Jansen, Megan

2017-04-01

Previous research has shown a relationship between financial difficulties and poor mental health in students, but most research is cross-sectional. To examine longitudinal relationships over time between financial variables and mental health in students. A national sample of 454 first year British undergraduate students completed measures of mental health and financial variables at up to four time points across a year. Cross-sectional relationships were found between poorer mental health and female gender, having a disability and non-white ethnicity. Greater financial difficulties predicted greater depression and stress cross-sectionally, and also predicted poorer anxiety, global mental health and alcohol dependence over time. Depression worsened over time for those who had considered abandoning studies or not coming to university for financial reasons, and there were effects for how students viewed their student loan. Anxiety and alcohol dependence also predicted worsening financial situation suggesting a bi-directional relationship. Financial difficulties appear to lead to poor mental health in students with the possibility of a vicious cycle occurring.

In Physics Education, Perception Matters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sattizahn, Jason R.; Lyons, Daniel J.; Kontra, Carly; Fischer, Susan M.; Beilock, Sian L.

2015-01-01

Student difficulties in science learning are frequently attributed to misconceptions about scientific concepts. We argue that domain-general perceptual processes may also influence students' ability to learn and demonstrate mastery of difficult science concepts. Using the concept of center of gravity (CoG), we show how student difficulty in…

College Student Debt and Anticipated Repayment Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Jonathan J.; Bartholomae, Suzanne; Letkiewicz, Jodi C.; Montalto, Catherine P.

2017-01-01

This study analyzes factors associated with anticipated difficulty with repayment of debt accumulated during college using a basic model of credit risk that includes socialization processes influencing college student financial decisions. The empirical analysis uses data from the 2010 Ohio Student Financial Wellness Study. Results provide evidence…

Upper-Division Student Difficulties with Separation of Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, Bethany R.; Pollock, Steven J.

2015-01-01

Separation of variables can be a powerful technique for solving many of the partial differential equations that arise in physics contexts. Upper-division physics students encounter this technique in multiple topical areas including electrostatics and quantum mechanics. To better understand the difficulties students encounter when utilizing the…

Students' Difficulties with Vector Calculus in Electrodynamics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bollen, Laurens; van Kampen, Paul; De Cock, Mieke

2015-01-01

Understanding Maxwell's equations in differential form is of great importance when studying the electrodynamic phenomena discussed in advanced electromagnetism courses. It is therefore necessary that students master the use of vector calculus in physical situations. In this light we investigated the difficulties second year students at KU Leuven…

Career Decision-Making Difficulties of Turkish Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bacanli, Feride

2016-01-01

The purposes of this study are (1) to adapt the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) to Turkish high school students and (2) to examine gender differences, grade differences, and differences between "decided" and "undecided" students. The sample consisted of 2509 adolescent students. The results showed that…

Training in summarizing notes: Effects of teaching students a self-regulation study strategy in science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nebres, Michelle

The last two decades of national data assessments reveal that there has been a sharp decline in nationwide standardized test scores. International assessment data show that in 2012 a very low amount of American students were performing at proficiency or above in science literacy. Research in science literacy education suggests that students benefit most when they are self-regulated (SR) learners. Unfortunately, SR poses a challenge for many students because students lack these skills. The effects of having learned few SR strategies at an early age may lead to long term learning difficulties--preventing students from achieving academic success in college and beyond. As a result, some researchers have begun to investigate how to best support students' SR skills. In order for studying to be successful, students need to know which SR study strategies to implement. This can be tricky for struggling students because they need study strategies that are well defined. This needs to be addressed through effective classroom instruction, and should be addressed prior to entering high school in order for students to be prepared for higher level learning. In this study, students underwent a treatment in which they were taught a SR study strategy called summarizing notes. A crossover repeated measures design was employed to understand the effectiveness of the treatment. Results indicated a weak, but positive correlation between how well students summarized notes and how well they performed on science tests. Self-regulation skills are needed because these are the types of skills young adults will use as they enter the workforce. As young adults began working in a professional setting, they will be expected to know how to observe and become proficient on their own. This study is pertinent to the educational field because it is an opportunity for students to increase SR, which affords students with the skills needed to be a lifelong learner.

Attitudes towards statistics of graduate entry medical students: the role of prior learning experiences.

PubMed

Hannigan, Ailish; Hegarty, Avril C; McGrath, Deirdre

2014-04-04

While statistics is increasingly taught as part of the medical curriculum, it can be an unpopular subject and feedback from students indicates that some find it more difficult than other subjects. Understanding attitudes towards statistics on entry to graduate entry medical programmes is particularly important, given that many students may have been exposed to quantitative courses in their previous degree and hence bring preconceptions of their ability and interest to their medical education programme. The aim of this study therefore is to explore, for the first time, attitudes towards statistics of graduate entry medical students from a variety of backgrounds and focus on understanding the role of prior learning experiences. 121 first year graduate entry medical students completed the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics instrument together with information on demographics and prior learning experiences. Students tended to appreciate the relevance of statistics in their professional life and be prepared to put effort into learning statistics. They had neutral to positive attitudes about their interest in statistics and their intellectual knowledge and skills when applied to it. Their feelings towards statistics were slightly less positive e.g. feelings of insecurity, stress, fear and frustration and they tended to view statistics as difficult. Even though 85% of students had taken a quantitative course in the past, only 24% of students described it as likely that they would take any course in statistics if the choice was theirs. How well students felt they had performed in mathematics in the past was a strong predictor of many of the components of attitudes. The teaching of statistics to medical students should start with addressing the association between students' past experiences in mathematics and their attitudes towards statistics and encouraging students to recognise the difference between the two disciplines. Addressing these issues may reduce students' anxiety and perception of difficulty at the start of their learning experience and encourage students to engage with statistics in their future careers.

Supporting middle school students' construction of evidence-based arguments: Impact of and student interactions with computer-based argumentation scaffolds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belland, Brian Robert

Middle school students have difficulty creating evidence-based arguments (EBAs) during problem-based learning (PBL) units due to challenges (a) adequately representing the unit's central problem (Ge & Land, 2004; Liu & Bera, 2005), (b) determining and obtaining the most relevant evidence (Pedersen & Liu, 2002-2003), and (c) synthesizing gathered information to construct a sound argument (Cho & Jonassen, 2002). I designed and developed the Connection Log to support middle school students in this process. This study addressed (1) the Connection Log's impact on (a) argument evaluation ability, and (b) group argument quality and (2) how and why middle school science students used the Connection Log. Four sections of a 7th-grade science class participated. Student groups selected a stakeholder position related to the Human Genome Project (HGP) and needed to decide on and promote a plan to use $3 million to further their position as pertains to the HGP. I randomly assigned one higher-achieving and one lower-achieving class to Connection Log or no Connection Log conditions. Students completed an argument evaluation test, and impact on argument evaluation ability was determined using nested ANOVA. Two graduate students, blind to treatment conditions, rated group arguments, and impact on group argument quality was determined using nested MANOVA. To determine how and why students used the Connection Log, I videotaped and interviewed one small group from each class in the experimental condition. I coded transcripts and generated themes, triangulating the two data sources with informal observations during all class sessions and what students wrote in the Connection Log. I detected no significant differences on claim, evidence, or connection of claim to evidence ratings of debate performances. However, students used the Connection Log to counter different difficulties, and I found a significant main effect of the Connection Log on argument evaluation ability, as well as a significant simple main effect of the Connection Log on argument evaluation ability of lower-achieving students. Implications include the Connection Log's potential to facilitate the creation of evidence-based arguments and the importance of (a) supporting English as a New Language students' efforts and (b) redundancy in communication.

Modelling Difficulties and Their Overcoming Strategies in the Solution of a Modelling Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dede, Ayse Tekin

2016-01-01

The purpose of the study is to reveal the elementary mathematics student teachers' difficulties encountered in the solution of a modelling problem, the strategies to overcome those difficulties and whether the strategies worked or not. Nineteen student teachers solved the modelling problem in their four or five-person groups, and the video records…

Identifying College Students at Risk for Learning Disabilities: Evidence for Use of the Learning Difficulties Assessment in Postsecondary Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kane, Steven T.; Roy, Soma; Medina, Steffanie

2013-01-01

This article describes research supporting the use of the Learning Difficulties Assessment (LDA), a normed and no-cost, web-based survey that assesses difficulties with reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, listening, concentration, memory, organizational skills, sense of control, and anxiety in college students. Previous research has supported…

Risk Factors in the Development of Behaviour Difficulties among Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities: A Multilevel Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oldfield, Jeremy; Humphrey, Neil; Hebron, Judith

2017-01-01

Background: Students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are more likely to exhibit behaviour difficulties than their typically developing peers. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify specific risk factors that influence variability in behaviour difficulties among individuals with SEND. Sample: The study sample comprised…

Quantitative Measurement of Text Difficulty: What's the Use?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, James W.; Mesmer, Heidi Anne

2014-01-01

Common Core Reading Standard 10 not only prescribes the difficulty of texts students should become able to read, but also the difficulty diet of texts schools should ask their students to read across the school year. The use of quantitative text-assessment tools in the implementation of this standard warrants an examination into the validity of…

The use of Second Life as an effective means of providing informal science education to secondary school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amous, Haytham

This research study evaluated the use of Second Life and its virtual museums as a means of providing effective informal science education for both junior high and high school students. This study investigated whether the attitudes of students toward science change as a result of scholastic exposure to the science museums in Second Life. The dependence between attitudes and learning styles was also investigated. The data gathered from the experiences and the perceptions of students using Second Life in informal science education were analyzed to address the questions of the study. The researcher used qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to investigate the research questions. The first and second research questions were quantitative and used TOSRA2 research instrument to assess attitude and perceptions and learning style questionnaire scores. The attitudes toward science before and after visiting the Second Life museums showed no significant change. A weak relationship between the attitudes toward science and the participants learning styles was found. The researcher therefore concluded that no relationship existed between the average of the TOSRA scores and the learning styles questionnaire scores. To address questions research three and four, a collective qualitative case study approach (Creswell, 2007), as well as a structured interviews focusing on the students' perspectives about using Second Life for informal science education was used. The students did not prefer informal science education using second life over formal education. This was in part attributed to the poor usability and/or familiarity with the program. Despite the students' technical difficulties confronted in visiting Second Life the perception of student about their learning experiences and the use of Second Life on informal science environment were positive.

Meeting the health and social care needs of pregnant asylum seekers; midwifery students' perspectives: part 3; "the pregnant woman within the global context"; an inclusive model for midwifery education to address the needs of asylum seeking women in the UK.

PubMed

Haith-Cooper, Melanie; Bradshaw, Gwendolen

2013-09-01

to describe the conceptualisation and development of an inclusive educational model. The model is designed to facilitate pre-registration midwifery students' learning around the health and social care needs of pregnant women seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. current literature has identified a concern about the standard of maternity care experienced by asylum seeking women accessing maternity services in the United Kingdom. In response to this, a doctorate study was undertaken which focused on examining the way in which a group of midwifery students approached the provision of care for asylum seekers. This study revealed difficulties that these students had both in identifying these women's needs and also in the wider care issues in practice. Consequently, one of the recommendations was to ameliorate these difficulties through midwifery education. the key findings from this study were used together with relevant supporting literature to construct "the pregnant woman within the global context" model for midwifery education. The model is designed to facilitate a holistic assessment of need rather than focusing on the physical assessment at the expense of other aspects of care. It incorporates wider factors, on a global level, which could impact on the health and social care needs of a pregnant woman seeking asylum. It also prompts students to consider the influence of dominant discourses on perceptions of asylum seek;ing and is designed to encourage students' to question these discourses. this model can be used in midwifery education to prepare students in caring for pregnant women seeking asylum. It may be especially helpful when students have close contact with pregnant women seeking asylum, for example through caseloading. Further research is recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of this model in enhancing the care of asylum seeking women in the United Kingdom. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Student and Text Characteristics on the Oral Reading Fluency of Middle-Grade Students

PubMed Central

Barth, Amy E.; Tolar, Tammy D.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Francis, David

2014-01-01

We evaluated the effects of student characteristics (sight word reading efficiency, phonological decoding, verbal knowledge, level of reading ability, grade, gender) and text features (passage difficulty, length, genre, and language and discourse attributes) on the oral reading fluency of a sample of middle-school students in Grades 6–8 (N = 1,794). Students who were struggling (n = 704) and typically developing readers (n = 1,028) were randomly assigned to read five 1-min passages from each of 5 Lexile bands (within student range of 550 Lexiles). A series of multilevel analyses showed that student and text characteristics contributed uniquely to oral reading fluency rates. Student characteristics involving sight word reading efficiency and level of decoding ability accounted for more variability than reader type and verbal knowledge, with small, but statistically significant effects of grade and gender. The most significant text feature was passage difficulty level. Interactions involving student text characteristics, especially attributes involving overall ability level and difficulty of the text, were also apparent. These results support views of the development of oral reading fluency that involve interactions of student and text characteristics and highlight the importance of scaling for passage difficulty level in assessing individual differences in oral reading fluency. PMID:24567659

Learning about general practice through qualitative interviews: lessons from a seminar course with medical students.

PubMed

von Unger, Hella; Werwick, Katrin; Lichte, Thomas; Herrmann, Markus

2010-01-01

A seminar course was developed in order to train medical students in qualitative research methods, while providing an introduction to the field of General Practice. Students were enabled to conduct semi-structured interviews with general practitioners (GPs), during which they learned about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of frequently encountered medical problems. The course was carried out four times at two universities in Germany. The study explores the students' learning experiences focusing on their research experience. Data were collected in four focus groups and analyzed. The students perceived the course as very different from their usual medical education. This was appreciated, but also caused some difficulties. Three themes emerged: (1) Missing 'facts', (2) New horizons: 'Thinking outside the box', and (3) The challenge of interpretation: 'Reading between the lines'. Learning qualitative research methods can be particularly challenging for medical students as the tasks and epistemology of qualitative research run counter to the usual learning formats and research paradigms in medical education. When teaching qualitative research, special care should be taken to address the cognitive dissonance experienced by students and to explain the unique contribution of qualitative research to medical practice and the field of General Practice especially.

Computer and Internet use among Undergraduate Medical Students in Iran

PubMed Central

Ayatollahi, Ali; Ayatollahi, Jamshid; Ayatollahi, Fatemeh; Ayatollahi, Reza; Shahcheraghi, Seyed Hossein

2014-01-01

Objective: Although computer technologies are now widely used in medicine, little is known about its use among medical students in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the competence and access to computer and internet among the medical students. Methods: In this descriptive study, medical students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Science, Yazd, Iran from the fifth years were asked to answer a questionnaire during a time-tabled lecture slot. The chi-square test was used to compare the frequency of computer and internet use between the two genders, and the level of statistical significance for all test was set at 0.05. Results: All the students have a personal computer and internet access. There were no statistically significant differences between men and women for the computer and internet access, use wireless device to access internet, having laptop and e-mail address and the difficulties encountered using internet. The main reason for less utilization of internet was slow speed of data transfer. Conclusions: Because of the wide range of computer skills and internet information among medical students in our institution, a single computer and internet course for all students would not be useful nor would it be accepted. PMID:25225525

Sleep difficulties and academic performance in Norwegian higher education students.

PubMed

Hayley, Amie C; Sivertsen, Børge; Hysing, Mari; Vedaa, Øystein; Øverland, Simon

2017-12-01

Sleep difficulties are common among university students and may detrimentally affect academic outcomes. Despite this, remarkably little information is currently available during this critical developmental period of early adulthood, and thus, the direct effect on measurable domains of academic ability and proficiency is equivocal. To evaluate the associations between difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep (DIMS) and subjective and objective academic performance in a large sample of university students. A total of 12,915 students who participated in large student survey in Norway from 24 February 2014 to 27 March 2014. DIMS was assessed by the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25), and academic outcomes included failed examinations, delayed study progress, and school-related self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale). Difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep was independently associated with increased odds for poor school performance for all academic outcomes. Reporting 'extreme' DIMS was associated with increased odds of reporting delayed study progress (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.25, 95% CI 1.01-1.57, p < .05), increased odds for having failed several examinations (adjusted OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.56-2.34, p < .001), and being in the lowest self-efficacy quartile (adjusted OR = 4.94, 95% CI: 4.04-6.03, p < .001). Self-reported sleep difficulties are associated with poorer objective markers of academic outcomes as well as poorer self-rated academic proficiency among higher education students. Amelioration of sleep difficulties may improve overall academic performance and health outcomes in affected students. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Students' Conceptual Difficulties in Hydrodynamics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suarez, Alvaro; Kahan, Sandra; Zavala, Genaro; Marti, Arturo C.

2017-01-01

We describe a study on the conceptual difficulties faced by college students in understanding hydrodynamics of ideal fluids. This study was based on responses obtained in hundreds of written exams complemented with several oral interviews, which were held with first-year engineering and science university students. Their responses allowed us to…

Overcoming Executive Function Deficits with Students with ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Joseph; Reid, Robert

2011-01-01

Academic problems are common among students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). One reason for academic problems is the difficulties in executive functions (EF) that are necessary for complex goal-oriented behaviors. Students with ADHD often exhibit EF deficits and as a result have difficulties with tasks that require planning,…

The Expected Adjustment and Academic Outcomes of Honors College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington, Christina R.

2012-01-01

The transition to an institution of higher education can present challenges and difficulties, but it is a student's expectations that can ultimately predict adjustment (Jackson, Pancer, Pratt, & Hunsberger, 2000). A larger number of students who experience difficulties in their adjustment end up withdrawing from the institution (Baker…

Blended Learning for College Students with English Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Yu-Fen

2012-01-01

Most previous studies in blended learning simply involved on-site and online instruction without considering students' control of their own learning in these two different modalities. The purpose of this study was to investigate how college students with English reading difficulties integrate their conceptions of and approaches to blended learning…

More than Meets the Eye--Infrared Cameras in Open-Ended University Thermodynamics Labs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melander, Emil; Haglund, Jesper; Weiszflog, Matthias; Andersson, Staffan

2016-01-01

Educational research has found that students have challenges understanding thermal science. Undergraduate physics students have difficulties differentiating basic thermal concepts, such as heat, temperature, and internal energy. Engineering students have been found to have difficulties grasping surface emissivity as a thermal material property.…

Students' Understanding of Molecular Structure and Properties of Organic Compounds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Hans-Jurgen

The purpose of this study was to investigate senior high school students' difficulties predicting the existence of hydrogen bridge bonds between organic molecules, investigate students' difficulties predicting the relative boiling points of simple organic compounds, and develop test questions that enable teachers to quickly get information about…

Beyond Epistemological Deficits: Dynamic Explanations of Engineering Students' Difficulties with Mathematical Sense-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gupta, Ayush; Elby, Andrew

2011-01-01

Researchers have argued against deficit-based explanations of students' difficulties with mathematical sense-making, pointing instead to factors such as epistemology. Students' beliefs about knowledge and learning can hinder the activation and integration of productive knowledge they have. Such explanations, however, risk falling into a…

Academic Reading Difficulties Encountered by International Graduate Students in a Malaysian University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alghail, Ali Abdullah Ali; Mahfoodh, Omer Hassan Ali

2016-01-01

This study examines how international graduate students in a Malaysian public university perceive and overcome academic reading difficulties. The target population included all graduate students from Yemen, an Arab country, studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Data were collected using questionnaires, focus group interviews, and journal writing.…

Assessing, Understanding, and Supporting Students with ADHD at School: Contemporary Science, Practice, and Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DuPaul, George J.; Jimerson, Shane R.

2014-01-01

Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit chronic behavior difficulties that deleteriously impact their academic and social functioning in school settings. These difficulties not only impair student performance, but also present significant challenges to teachers, school psychologists, and other school professionals…

Take the Pencil out of the Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broun, Leslie

2009-01-01

In classrooms, it is not unusual to see students who struggle to produce legible print. In actuality, many students have difficulty with the physical printing and writing processes ("handwriting")--difficulty that is significant enough to interfere with their academic performance. Some students grow out of this, and some, with extra practice,…

Piaget for Chemists: Explaining What "Good" Students Cannot Understand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herron, J. Dudley

1975-01-01

Attributes learning difficulties in introductory chemistry to the thesis that many students have not reached the formal operations level of intellectual development. Cites instances to support this thesis, outlines an instructional procedure to overcome the difficulty, and presents a list of competencies that can be expected of these students. (GS)

ADHD Coaching with College Students: Exploring the Processes Involved in Motivation and Goal Completion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prevatt, Frances; Smith, Shannon M.; Diers, Sarah; Marshall, Diana; Coleman, Jennifer; Valler, Emilee; Miller, Nathan

2017-01-01

College students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience increased academic difficulties, which can negatively impact graduation rates, employment, self-esteem, and mental health. ADHD coaching assists students with ADHD to reduce such difficulties. The present study evaluated the processes involved in ADHD coaching…

Using Literature Response Activities To Build Strategic Reading for Students with Reading Difficulties.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Sarah H.; Martin, Michael A.

2001-01-01

Describes two classroom activities that can be implemented in accordance with the best practices revealed by current research on reading instruction with learning disabled students. Describes what research suggests for promoting comprehension for students with reading difficulties. Describes instructional sequences for two literacy activities,…

Identifying Secondary-School Students' Difficulties When Reading Visual Representations Displayed in Physics Simulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

López, Víctor; Pintó, Roser

2017-01-01

Computer simulations are often considered effective educational tools, since their visual and communicative power enable students to better understand physical systems and phenomena. However, previous studies have found that when students read visual representations some reading difficulties can arise, especially when these are complex or dynamic…

Writing Characteristics of Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Steve; Fishman, Evan J.; Reid, Robert; Hebert, Michael

2016-01-01

Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) frequently experience significant difficulty mastering basic academic skills. This meta-analysis focuses on one specific potential area of learning difficulties for these students: namely, writing. To identify the extent and depth of the potential writing challenges faced by students…

Ten-Year-Old Students Solving Linear Equations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brizuela, Barbara; Schliemann, Analucia

2004-01-01

In this article, the authors seek to re-conceptualize the perspective regarding students' difficulties with algebra. While acknowledging that students "do" have difficulties when learning algebra, they also argue that the generally espoused criteria for algebra as the ability to work with the syntactical rules for solving equations is…

Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving to Students with Limited English Proficiency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Rochelle G.; Patino, Rodrigo A.

Many mainstreamed students with limited English proficiency continue to face the difficulty of learning English as a second language (ESL) while studying mathematics and other content areas framed in the language of native speakers. The difficulty these students often encounter in mathematics classes and their poor performance on subsequent…

Effects of Visual Working Memory Training and Direct Instruction on Geometry Problem Solving in Students with Geometry Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Dake

2017-01-01

We examined the effectiveness of (a) a working memory (WM) training program and (b) a combination program involving both WM training and direct instruction for students with geometry difficulties (GD). Four students with GD participated. A multiple-baseline design across participants was employed. During the Phase 1, students received six sessions…

The Impact of Instruction Incorporating Content Area Reading Strategies on Student Mathematical Achievement in a Community College Developmental Mathematics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rust, Amber Heller

2011-01-01

When a student is not successful in mathematics, teachers frequently assume the difficulty lies within the student's mathematical ability or negative disposition towards mathematics, but the difficulty may lie with the student's reading comprehension (Draper, Smith, Hall, & Siebert, 2005; Kane, Byrne, & Hater, 1974). Many…

Difficulties Associated with the Coding and Categorization of Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disabilities in Alberta

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wishart, Diane; Jahnukainen, Markku

2010-01-01

In Canada, there is a recent trend toward non-categorization of services of students with emotional and behavioural disabilities (EBD). Yet in Alberta, the coding of students with EBD provides opportunities to diagnose students' learning difficulties but is hindered in this process, in large part, by being tied into special needs funding. Current…

Potential or Problem? An Investigation of Secondary School Teachers' Attributions of the Educational Outcomes of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodcock, Stuart; Hitches, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Despite strong support for inclusive education in principle, many teachers and administrators still demonstrate mixed responses to the inclusion of certain students in their classrooms. Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) form a large group of students in inclusive classrooms yet some provincial, state and national jurisdictions…

On the Roots of Difficulties in Learning about Cell Division: Process-Based Analysis of Students' Conceptual Development in Teaching Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riemeier, Tanja; Gropengiesser, Harald

2008-01-01

Empirical investigations on students' conceptions of cell biology indicate major misunderstandings of scientific concepts even after thorough teaching. Therefore, the main aim of our research project was to investigate students' difficulties in learning this topic and to study the impact of learning activities on students' conceptions. Using the…

Comparability of Self-Concept among Normal Achievers and Children with Learning Difficulties within a Greek Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonadari, Angeliki

1994-01-01

Assessed Greek third through sixth graders on the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (PCSC). Subjects were normally achieving (NA) and low achieving students and a special class (SC) of students identified as at risk for learning difficulties. The SC students scored lower than the NA students on the PCSC global self-worth, competence affect,…

Supporting a friend, housemate or partner with mental health difficulties: The student experience.

PubMed

Byrom, Nicola C

2017-07-14

When experiencing mental health difficulties, university students turn to their friends for support. This study assessed the consequences of caregiving among a university sample, identifying predictors of caregiving burden among students. A total of 79 students with experience of supporting a friend with mental health difficulties were recruited through a UK student mental health charity to complete an online survey. Alongside qualitative data, the online survey used the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire as measures of the consequences of caregiving. Students supporting friends, housemates or partners were found to experience significant consequences of caregiving. Frequency of face-to-face contact and duration of illness predicted more negative consequences of caregiving, but these relationships were not straightforward. The presence and intensity of professional support did not influence the experience of caregiving. The study suggests that the impact of supporting friends with mental health difficulties is not insubstantial for students. Broadening the network of informal social support may help improve the experience for students supporting a friend, but currently, contact with professional services appears to have a limited effect. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Comparative Difficulties with Non-Scientific General Vocabulary and Scientific/Medical Terminology in English as a Second Language (ESL) Medical Students.

PubMed

Heming, Thomas A; Nandagopal, Shobha

2012-11-01

Medical education requires student comprehension of both technical (scientific/medical) and non-technical (general) vocabulary. Our experience with "English as a second language" (ESL) Arab students suggested they often have problems comprehending scientific statements because of weaknesses in their understanding of non-scientific vocabulary. This study aimed to determine whether ESL students have difficulties with general vocabulary that could hinder their understanding of scientific/medical texts. A survey containing English text was given to ESL students in the premedical years of an English-medium medical school in an Arabic country. The survey consisted of sample questions from the Medical College Admission Test (USA). Students were instructed to identify all unknown words in the text. ESL students commenced premedical studies with substantial deficiencies in English vocabulary. Students from English-medium secondary schools had a selective deficiency in scientific/medical terminology which disappeared with time. Students from Arabic-medium secondary schools had equal difficulty with general and scientific/medical vocabulary. Deficiencies in both areas diminished with time but remained even after three years of English-medium higher education. Typically, when teaching technical subjects to ESL students, attention is focused on subject-unique vocabulary and associated modifiers. This study highlights that ESL students also face difficulties with the general vocabulary used to construct statements employing technical words. Such students would benefit from increases in general vocabulary knowledge.

Medical-Legal Partnership: Collaborating with Lawyers to Identify and Address Health Disparities

PubMed Central

Cohen, Ellen; Fullerton, Danya Fortess; Retkin, Randye; Weintraub, Dana; Tames, Pamela; Brandfield, Julie

2010-01-01

Introduction Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) bring together medical professionals and lawyers to address social causes of health disparities, including access to adequate food, housing and income. Setting Eighty-one MLPs offer legal services for patients whose basic needs are not being met. Program Description Besides providing legal help to patients and working on policy advocacy, MLPs educate residents (29 residency programs), health care providers (160 clinics and hospitals) and medical students (25 medical schools) about how social conditions affect health and screening for unmet basic needs, and how these needs can often be impacted by enforcing federal and state laws. These curricula include medical school courses, noon conferences, advocacy electives and CME courses. Program Evaluation Four example programs are described in this paper. Established MLPs have changed knowledge (MLP | Boston—97% reported screening for two unmet needs), attitudes (Stanford reported reduced concern about making patients “nervous” with legal questions from 38% to 21%) and behavior (NY LegalHealth reported increasing resident referrals from 15% to 54%) after trainings. One developing MLP found doctors experienced difficulty addressing social issues (NJ LAMP—67% of residents felt uncomfortable). Discussion MLPs train residents, students and other health care providers to tackle socially caused health disparities. PMID:20352508

Reaching the Future Teachers in Your Classroom: New Directions in Pre-Service Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grier, Jennifer A.; Ruberg, L.

2006-09-01

We will present results and progress from initiatives seeking to improve the experiences of future teachers in college level science classes. A future teacher (pre-service teacher) is inspired to teach science based on personal experiences with college science classes. The most critical opportunity to make a real difference in science education in schools comes when the teachers themselves are first being educated. Given the difficulties in identifying future teachers and the wide variations in their needs, how can we best help future teachers in training? What critical thinking skills are most important for them to absorb from their exposure to science as undergraduates and graduate students? What teaching and learning experiences can we offer that will help science teachers in training confidently assess the relationship between evidence and explanations and then bring that understanding and experience effectively into their own classroom? Recent initiatives in pre-service education have identified several key strategies for improving teacher preparation at the post-secondary level: - Using a constructivist approach to teach physical science concepts and guided inquiry - Knowing common misconceptions about key scientific concepts that students bring to college-level science classrooms - Applying documented strategies for identifying and addressing student misconceptions; and - Knowing how to select and adapt curriculum materials based on common preconceptions held by students. The challenge of reaching these outcomes is complex and cannot be addressed with simple solutions. Teaching strategies that help prepare future teachers include modeling effective teaching of science, understanding the relationship between student/teacher misconceptions, designing and implementing evaluation and assessment, appropriate use of technology tools, and tapping into the existing community of learners to provide ongoing education opportunities and support as the pre-service teacher progresses. Several examples of student preconceptions and a description of the teaching strategies used to help address specific misconceptions will be provided.

Identifying student difficulties with entropy, heat engines, and the Carnot cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Trevor I.; Christensen, Warren M.; Mountcastle, Donald B.; Thompson, John R.

2015-12-01

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] We report on several specific student difficulties regarding the second law of thermodynamics in the context of heat engines within upper-division undergraduate thermal physics courses. Data come from ungraded written surveys, graded homework assignments, and videotaped classroom observations of tutorial activities. Written data show that students in these courses do not clearly articulate the connection between the Carnot cycle and the second law after lecture instruction. This result is consistent both within and across student populations. Observation data provide evidence for myriad difficulties related to entropy and heat engines, including students' struggles in reasoning about situations that are physically impossible and failures to differentiate between differential and net changes of state properties of a system. Results herein may be seen as the application of previously documented difficulties in the context of heat engines, but others are novel and emphasize the subtle and complex nature of cyclic processes and heat engines, which are central to the teaching and learning of thermodynamics and its applications. Moreover, the sophistication of these difficulties is indicative of the more advanced thinking required of students at the upper division, whose developing knowledge and understanding give rise to questions and struggles that are inaccessible to novices.

Self reported behavioral and emotional difficulties in relation to dentition status among school going children of Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, India.

PubMed

Srilatha, Adepu; Doshi, Dolar; Reddy, Madupu Padma; Kulkarni, Suhas; Reddy, Bandari Srikanth

2016-01-01

Oral health has strong biological, psychological, and social projections, which influence the quality of life. Thus, developing a common vision and a comprehensive approach to address children's social, emotional, and behavioral health needs is an integral part of the child and adolescent's overall health. To assess and compare the behavior and emotional difficulties among 15-year-olds and to correlate it with their dentition status based on gender. Study Settings and Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire study among 15-year-old schoolgoing children in six private schools in Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, India. The behavior and emotional difficulties were assessed using self-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The dentition status was recorded by the criteria given by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Basic Oral Health Survey Assessment Form (1997). Independent Student's t-test was used for comparison among the variables. Correlation between scales of SDQ and dentition status was done using Karl Pearson's correlation coefficient method. Girls reported more emotional problems and good prosocial behavior and males had more conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, and total difficulty problems. Total decayed-missing-filled teeth (DMFT) and decayed component were significantly and positively correlated with total difficulty, emotional symptom, and conduct problems scale while missing component was correlated with the hyperactivity scale and filled component with prosocial behavior. DMFT and its components showed an association with all scales of SDQ except for peer problem scale. Thus, the oral health of children was significantly influenced by behavioral and emotional difficulties; so, changes in the mental health status will affect the oral health of children.

A Framework for Understanding the Patterns of Student Difficulties in Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Chandralekha

2015-04-01

Compared with introductory physics, relatively little is known about the development of expertise in advanced physics courses, especially in the case of quantum mechanics. We describe a theoretical framework for understanding the patterns of student reasoning difficulties and how students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. The framework posits that the challenges many students face in developing expertise in quantum mechanics are analogous to the challenges introductory students face in developing expertise in introductory classical mechanics. This framework incorporates the effects of diversity in students' prior preparation, goals and motivation for taking upper-level physics courses in general as well as the ``paradigm shift'' from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics. The framework is based on empirical investigations demonstrating that the patterns of reasoning, problem-solving, and self-monitoring difficulties in quantum mechanics bear a striking resemblance to those found in introductory classical mechanics. Examples from research in quantum mechanics and introductory classical mechanics will be discussed to illustrate how the patterns of difficulties are analogous as students learn to unpack the respective principles and grasp the formalism in each knowledge domain during the development of expertise. Embracing such a theoretical framework and contemplating the parallels between the difficulties in these two knowledge domains can enable researchers to leverage the extensive literature for introductory physics education research to guide the design of teaching and learning tools for helping students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. Support from the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

Perspectives and realities of teaching statistics at a superior school of business administration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nunes, Sandra

2016-06-01

This paper aims to describe the reality of the teaching of statistics in a superior school of business administration in Portugal. It is supported in a twenty years of experience teaching several disciplines belonging to the scientific area of Mathematics such as: Statistics and Probability, Data Analysis, Calculus, Algebra and Numerical Analysis. This experience is not limited to school of business administration but also in engineering and health courses and in all these schools there has been a substantial increase of failure in these disciplines. I intend to present the main difficulties that teachers encounter. These difficulties are due to a diversity of problems. A leading cause is undoubtedly the huge heterogeneity of the level of knowledge that students have. The large number of students in each class it is also a massive problem. I must point out that, in my opinion, the introduction of the Bologna process has aggravated this situation. The assumption of reduced classroom hours and an increase in self-study is extremely penalizing for such students. There are many challenges that teachers have to face: How to teach statistics to a class where more than half the students cannot interpret the basic concepts of mathematics? Is the approach of teaching statistics through software beneficial? Should the teaching of statistics be addressed in a more practical way? How can we install a critical thinking in the students, to enable them to use the knowledge acquired to solve problems? How can we deal and prevent the failure that is increasing each year? These are only a few questions that all the teachers need an answer.

Why do I need to know this? Optics/photonics problem-based learning in the math classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donnelly, Matthew J.; Donnelly, Judith F.; Donnelly, Stephanie

2017-08-01

A common complaint of engineering managers is that new employees at all levels, technician through engineer, tend to have rote calculation ability but are unable to think critically and use structured problem solving techniques to apply mathematical concepts. Further, they often have poor written and oral communication skills and difficulty working in teams. Ironically, a common question of high school mathematics students is "Why do I need to know this?" In this paper we describe a project using optics/photonics and Problem Based Learning (PBL) to address these issues in a high school calculus classroom.

Why Is Math So Hard for Some Children? The Nature and Origins of Mathematical Learning Difficulties and Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berch, Daniel B., Ed; Mazzocco, Michele M.M., Ed.

2007-01-01

In order for schools to help students with learning difficulties and disabilities improve their achievement in mathematics, educators, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers need a better understanding of the evidence based on what is behind these students' difficulties in learning math. That is just what they will get with this landmark…

The Relationships between Indonesian Fourth Graders' Difficulties in Fractions and the Opportunity to Learn Fractions: A Snapshot of TIMSS Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wijaya, Ariyadi

2017-01-01

This paper reports an exploration into Indonesian fourth graders' difficulties in fractions and their relation to the opportunity to learn fractions students got at schools. The concept of "opportunity to learn" is often considered as a framework to investigate possible reasons for students' difficulties. The data for this study was…

What Is Literacy for Students with Severe Learning Difficulties? Exploring Conventional and Inclusive Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lacey, Penny; Layton, Lyn; Miller, Carol; Goldbart, Juliet; Lawson, Hazel

2007-01-01

This paper arises from research into inclusive literacy for pupils with severe learning difficulties who do not learn to read and write conventionally. The ultimate aim of the study was to seek out examples of good practice in teaching and learning literacy that includes students with severe learning difficulties and disseminate them as widely as…

Attitudes towards statistics of graduate entry medical students: the role of prior learning experiences

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background While statistics is increasingly taught as part of the medical curriculum, it can be an unpopular subject and feedback from students indicates that some find it more difficult than other subjects. Understanding attitudes towards statistics on entry to graduate entry medical programmes is particularly important, given that many students may have been exposed to quantitative courses in their previous degree and hence bring preconceptions of their ability and interest to their medical education programme. The aim of this study therefore is to explore, for the first time, attitudes towards statistics of graduate entry medical students from a variety of backgrounds and focus on understanding the role of prior learning experiences. Methods 121 first year graduate entry medical students completed the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics instrument together with information on demographics and prior learning experiences. Results Students tended to appreciate the relevance of statistics in their professional life and be prepared to put effort into learning statistics. They had neutral to positive attitudes about their interest in statistics and their intellectual knowledge and skills when applied to it. Their feelings towards statistics were slightly less positive e.g. feelings of insecurity, stress, fear and frustration and they tended to view statistics as difficult. Even though 85% of students had taken a quantitative course in the past, only 24% of students described it as likely that they would take any course in statistics if the choice was theirs. How well students felt they had performed in mathematics in the past was a strong predictor of many of the components of attitudes. Conclusion The teaching of statistics to medical students should start with addressing the association between students’ past experiences in mathematics and their attitudes towards statistics and encouraging students to recognise the difference between the two disciplines. Addressing these issues may reduce students’ anxiety and perception of difficulty at the start of their learning experience and encourage students to engage with statistics in their future careers. PMID:24708762

Framework for understanding the patterns of student difficulties in quantum mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshman, Emily; Singh, Chandralekha

2015-12-01

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] Compared with introductory physics, relatively little is known about the development of expertise in advanced physics courses, especially in the case of quantum mechanics. Here, we describe a framework for understanding the patterns of student reasoning difficulties and how students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. The framework posits that the challenges many students face in developing expertise in quantum mechanics are analogous to the challenges introductory students face in developing expertise in introductory classical mechanics. This framework incorporates both the effects of diversity in upper-level students' prior preparation, goals, and motivation in general (i.e., the facts that even in upper-level courses, students may be inadequately prepared, have unclear goals, and have insufficient motivation to excel) as well as the "paradigm shift" from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics. The framework is based on empirical investigations demonstrating that the patterns of reasoning, problem-solving, and self-monitoring difficulties in quantum mechanics bear a striking resemblance to those found in introductory classical mechanics. Examples from research in quantum mechanics and introductory classical mechanics are discussed to illustrate how the patterns of difficulties are analogous as students learn to unpack the respective principles and grasp the formalism in each knowledge domain during the development of expertise. Embracing such a framework and contemplating the parallels between the difficulties in these two knowledge domains can enable researchers to leverage the extensive literature for introductory physics education research to guide the design of teaching and learning tools for helping students develop expertise in quantum mechanics.

Academic Responding During Instruction and Reading Outcomes for Kindergarten Students At-risk for Reading Difficulties

PubMed Central

Wanzek, Jeanne; Roberts, Greg; Al Otaiba, Stephanie

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the academic responding of students at-risk for reading difficulties in beginning reading instruction. Opportunities for kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties to respond academically during teacher-facilitated reading instruction in the general education classroom were examined in relation to student reading achievement as well as social behaviors. Student academic responding during teacher-facilitated instruction significantly predicted end of year reading achievement. Teacher perceptions of students’ social skills (positive correlation) and problem behaviors (negative correlation) were significantly correlated with academic responding. When academic responding and teacher perceptions of social behaviors were examined together, only teacher perceptions of academic competence and problem behaviors predicted spring outcomes. PMID:24665162

Comparison of university students' understanding of graphs in different contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Planinic, Maja; Ivanjek, Lana; Susac, Ana; Milin-Sipus, Zeljka

2013-12-01

This study investigates university students’ understanding of graphs in three different domains: mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs were developed. A test consisting of these eight sets of questions (24 questions in all) was administered to 385 first year students at University of Zagreb who were either prospective physics or mathematics teachers or prospective physicists or mathematicians. Rasch analysis of data was conducted and linear measures for item difficulties were obtained. Average difficulties of items in three domains (mathematics, physics, and other contexts) and over two concepts (graph slope, area under the graph) were computed and compared. Analysis suggests that the variation of average difficulty among the three domains is much smaller for the concept of graph slope than for the concept of area under the graph. Most of the slope items are very close in difficulty, suggesting that students who have developed sufficient understanding of graph slope in mathematics are generally able to transfer it almost equally successfully to other contexts. A large difference was found between the difficulty of the concept of area under the graph in physics and other contexts on one side and mathematics on the other side. Comparison of average difficulty of the three domains suggests that mathematics without context is the easiest domain for students. Adding either physics or other context to mathematical items generally seems to increase item difficulty. No significant difference was found between the average item difficulty in physics and contexts other than physics, suggesting that physics (kinematics) remains a difficult context for most students despite the received instruction on kinematics in high school.

Using Student Writing and Lexical Analysis to Reveal Student Thinking about the Role of Stop Codons in the Central Dogma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prevost, Luanna B.; Smith, Michelle K.; Knight, Jennifer K.

2016-01-01

Previous work has shown that students have persistent difficulties in understanding how central dogma processes can be affected by a stop codon mutation. To explore these difficulties, we modified two multiple-choice questions from the Genetics Concept Assessment into three open-ended questions that asked students to write about how a stop codon…

Exploring Students at Risk for Reading Comprehension Difficulties in South Korea: The RTI Approach Applying Latent Class Growth Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Dongil; Kim, Woori; Koh, Hyejung; Lee, Jaeho; Shin, Jaehyun; Kim, Heeju

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify students at risk of reading comprehension difficulties by using the responsiveness to intervention (RTI) approach. The participants were 177 students in Grades 1-3 in three elementary schools in South Korea. The students received Tier 1 instruction of RTI from March to May 2011, and their performance was…

A Preliminary Research on the Lifestyle of International Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Hsiaowen; Shih, Hongyu; Thiruvadi, Sheela; Song, Yiru

2011-01-01

The focus of this study is to explore the lifestyle of international students and also the difficulties faced by them due to the language barrier (difficulty in learning the Chinese language) in Taiwan. Motivation for this study comes from the increasing number of international students, and the related educational policy settings of the…

Differences in the Emotional Intelligence between Undergraduate Therapy and Business Students and the Population Norms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gribble, Nigel; Ladyshewsky, Richard K.; Parsons, Richard

2017-01-01

Students occasionally experience difficulties during work-integrated learning and clinical placements. The authors reasoned that these placement difficulties might be related to the students' emotional intelligence (EI) being underdeveloped before they commence full-time clinical placements. A cross-sectional survey design was used to measure the…

Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denton, Carolyn A.; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Sharon; Bryan, Deanna

2008-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of a multicomponent reading intervention implemented with middle school students with severe reading difficulties, all of whom had received remedial and/or special education for several years with minimal response to intervention. Participants were 38 students in grades 6-8 who had severe deficits in word…

The Effect of Visual-Chunking-Representation Accommodation on Geometry Testing for Students with Math Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Dake; Ding, Yi; Stegall, Joanna; Mo, Lei

2012-01-01

Students who struggle with learning mathematics often have difficulties with geometry problem solving, which requires strong visual imagery skills. These difficulties have been correlated with deficiencies in visual working memory. Cognitive psychology has shown that chunking of visual items accommodates students' working memory deficits. This…

History of Not Completing Courses as Predictor of Academic Difficulty among First-Year Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Evelyn W.; Dawson-Saunders, Beth

1987-01-01

A study found that variables significant in predicting minority students with academic difficulty include science grade-point average, Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) reading subtest score, and number of course withdrawals. For majority students, they include MCAT biology subtest score and number of incompletes taken in courses. (MSE)

The Twin Twin Paradox: Exploring Student Approaches to Understanding Relativistic Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cormier, Sebastien; Steinberg, Richard

2010-01-01

A great deal has long been known about student difficulties connecting real-world experiences with what they are learning in their physics classes, making learning basic ideas of classical physics challenging. Understanding these difficulties has led to the development of many instructional approaches that have been shown to help students make…

Secondary Education Students' Difficulties in Algorithmic Problems with Arrays: An Analysis Using the SOLO Taxonomy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vrachnos, Euripides; Jimoyiannis, Athanassios

2017-01-01

Developing students' algorithmic and computational thinking is currently a major objective for primary and secondary education in many countries around the globe. Literature suggests that students face at various difficulties in programming processes, because of their mental models about basic programming constructs. Arrays constitute the first…

Student Difficulties in Analyzing Thin-Film Interference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newburgh, Ronald; Goodale, Douglass

2009-01-01

A question we posed in a recent final examination has uncovered a fundamental difficulty for students in understanding destructive interference. The problem stated that glass of index n[subscript 3] was coated with a thin film of a substance with index n[subscript 2]. The question then asked the student to calculate (a) the minimum coating…

Multiple Goals Perspective in Adolescent Students with Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nunez, Jose Carlos; Gonzalez-Pienda, Julio Antonio; Rodriguez, Celestino; Valle, Antonio; Gonzalez-Cabanach, Ramon; Rosario, Pedro

2011-01-01

In the present work, the hypothesis of the existence of diverse motivational profiles in students with learning difficulties (LD) and the differential implications for intervention in the classroom are analyzed. Various assessment scales (academic goals, self-concept, and causal attributions) were administered to a sample of 259 students with LD,…

Meanings Given to Algebraic Symbolism in Problem-Posing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cañadas, María C.; Molina, Marta; del Río, Aurora

2018-01-01

Some errors in the learning of algebra suggest that students might have difficulties giving meaning to algebraic symbolism. In this paper, we use problem posing to analyze the students' capacity to assign meaning to algebraic symbolism and the difficulties that students encounter in this process, depending on the characteristics of the algebraic…

Framework for Understanding the Patterns of Student Difficulties in Quantum Mechanics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshman, Emily; Singh, Chandralekha

2015-01-01

Compared with introductory physics, relatively little is known about the development of expertise in advanced physics courses, especially in the case of quantum mechanics. Here, we describe a framework for understanding the patterns of student reasoning difficulties and how students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. The framework posits that…

Students with Disabilities, Learning Difficulties and Disadvantages: Policies, Statistics and Indicators--2007

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

OECD Publishing (NJ3), 2008

2008-01-01

This book provides an internationally comparable set of indicators on educational provision for students with disabilities, learning difficulties and disadvantages (DDD). It highlights the number of students involved, where they are educated--special schools, special classes or regular classes--and in what phases of education--pre-primary,…

Decided and Undecided Students: Career Self-Efficacy, Negative Thinking, and Decision-Making Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullock-Yowell, Emily; McConnell, Amy E.; Schedin, Emily A.

2014-01-01

The career concern differences between undecided and decided college students (N = 223) are examined. Undecided college students (n = 83) reported lower career decision-making self-efficacy, higher incidences of negative career thoughts, and more career decision-making difficulties than their decided peers (n = 143). Results reveal that undecided…

Social Functioning among College Students Diagnosed with ADHD and the Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Julia; Ross, Samantha; Reyes, Rebecca; Kosmerly, Stacey; Rogers, Maria

2016-01-01

Despite the many studies that have documented the association between symptoms of ADHD and social difficulties in children and adolescents, few have examined this phenomenon in college students. In addition, the underlying factors contributing to such social difficulties are still poorly understood. We hypothesised that college students with…

The Relationship between Social-Emotional Difficulties and Underachievement of Gifted Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaas, Sabrina

2014-01-01

Gifted students are a diverse minority group with high intelligence and talent whose needs are often unrecognised and unmet. It is believed that this group of students, from a range of backgrounds, socio-economic statuses and abilities, may experience a range of social-emotional difficulties, including peer exclusion, isolation, stress, anxiety,…

Frequency-Specific, Binaural Stimulation of Students with Reading and Spelling Difficulties.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansen, Kjeld

A study examined the hearing of learning disabled students (such as dyslexics) in an attempt to classify, identify, and design auditory stimulation procedures. Subjects, 40 students from seventh-grade classes and 40 volunteers (ages 9 to 23) with reading and spelling difficulties, were given listening tests. Results indicated that many of the…

The Mathematics of Fountain Design: A Multiple-Centres Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Marshall

2013-01-01

Teachers of mathematics recognize the difficulty of reaching every student when the range of student abilities puts a considerable strain on the classroom discussion and time. In a response to the problem, students are grouped so that those with greater mathematical aptitude help those who have difficulties. While this approach is to be…

The Impact of Task Difficulty and Performance Scores on Student Engagement and Progression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Raymond; Patten, James Vincent; Hennessy, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Background: This article considers the impact of differential task difficulty on student engagement and progression within an Irish primary school context. Gaining and maintaining student engagement during learning tasks such as homework is a significant and understandable on-going challenge for teachers. The findings of this study hold the…

Career Decision-Making Difficulties of British and Chinese International University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Dingyuan; Santos, Angeli

2007-01-01

This study explored cultural and gender differences in career decision-making difficulties (CDMD) experienced by 109 British and 86 Chinese international university students, and the impact of cross-cultural adjustment on the CDMD of Chinese international students. Results showed no significant cultural differences in overall CDMD, and that the…

The Difficulties That the Undergraduate Students Face about Inner Product Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burhanzade, Hülya; Aygör, Nilgün

2016-01-01

In this qualitative research, we studied difficulties that undergraduate students face while learning the concept of inner product space. Participants were 35 first-year mathematics students from Yildiz Technical University in the 2011 and 2012 academic years. We asked participants to solve 5 inner product space questions. Data were jointly…

Differences in the Mathematics-Vocabulary Knowledge of Fifth-Grade Students with and without Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forsyth, Suzanne R.; Powell, Sarah R.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the impact of mathematics and reading learning difficulties on the mathematics-vocabulary understanding of fifth-grade students. Students (n = 114) completed three measures: mathematics computation, general vocabulary, and mathematics vocabulary. Based on performance on the mathematics computation and…

Effect of Task Presentation on Students' Performances in Introductory Statistics Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomasetto, Carlo; Matteucci, Maria Cristina; Carugati, Felice; Selleri, Patrizia

2009-01-01

Research on academic learning indicates that many students experience major difficulties with introductory statistics and methodology courses. We hypothesized that students' difficulties may depend in part on the fact that statistics tasks are commonly viewed as related to the threatening domain of math. In two field experiments which we carried…

Reading, Mathematics, and Behavioral Difficulties Interrelate: Evidence from a Cross-Lagged Panel Design and Population-Based Sample of US Upper Elementary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Yu-Chu; Morgan, Paul L.; Hillemeier, Marianne; Cook, Michael; Maczuga, Steve; Farkas, George

2013-01-01

We examined three questions. First, do reading difficulties increase children's risk of behavioral difficulties? Second, do behavioral difficulties increase children's risk of reading difficulties? Third, do mathematics difficulties increase children's risk of reading or behavioral difficulties? We investigated these questions using (a) a sample…

Comparison of the Properties of the Handwriting Speed Test (HST) and Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH): An Exploratory Study.

PubMed

Francis, Anna; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

2017-05-01

Handwriting speed is an important component of students' ability to adequately express their ideas, knowledge and creativity in a timely and effective manner. Psychometric properties of the Handwriting Speed Test (HST) and Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) and accuracy of the norms for identifying current Australian students with handwriting speed difficulties were examined. An exploratory, cross-sectional study was conducted involving students, with and without handwriting difficulties, in Years 3-12 (mean age: 12.0 yrs, SD = 3.0 yrs; range = 7 to 18 yrs) in New South Wales (NSW; Australia). Participants were recruited through occupational therapists and schools. Students completed the HST and all DASH subtests. Thirty-two students with, and 139 students without, handwriting difficulties participated. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were found to be excellent; sensitivity was low and specificity high for the HST and DASH. No significant differences were found between test scores and normative data for students without handwriting difficulties (year/age groups with n > 10). The HST and DASH are reliable assessments of handwriting speed. Further research is required into discriminant validity of the HST and DASH and need for updated norms.

Genetics at school level: addressing the difficulties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Yu-Chien; Reid, Norman

2012-11-01

Background : A wide range of studies has offered suggestions why genetics is difficult and some of their key findings are summarised. Underpinning all of this is the way the brain works when handling information. The limitations of working memory capacity offer an interpretation of these difficulties Purpose : The aim is to confirm that working memory capacity (and the related concept of field dependency) controls performance in understanding genetics and whether it is possible to improve performance by changing the teaching approach to mininise overload. Programme description : The curriculum in Taiwan in genetics is outlined briefly. A wide range of measurements were made. Using a diagnostic test of understanding of underpinning ideas, the key areas of weakness were detected before the pupils started the course. Sample : Stage 1: 141 students in Taiwan, aged 13, boys and girls, drawn from a cross-section of Taiwanese pupils at this age, following their first course in genetics. Stage 2: 361 students, drawn from a cross-section of Taiwanese pupils at the same age, and divided into two groups (experimental-control) which both encompass the same ability range. Design and methods : Stage 1: test of pre-knowledge using structural communication grids, applied before the course commenced; working memory capacity using the figural intersection test; extent of field dependency using the group embedded figure test; understanding of genetics was measured at end of course; school test data collated. Stage 2: following a completely revised approach, performance in genetics was measured using traditional school tests and a word association test. Student perspectives were measured. Results : The test of pre-knowledge revealed key areas of difficulty. In addition, it was found that working memory capacity and extent of field dependency both correlated extremely highly with all measures of performance. Given that it has been established that working memory capacity controls performance, working memory demand explains why genetics is difficult. It was found that re-structuring the teaching approach to minimise mental overload brought about a very marked improvement in performance. Conclusions : The findings suggest that it is possible to reduce difficulties in understanding genetics by means of teaching re-design to minimise potential working memory overload, with concomitant improvements in learner confidence.

Older age, higher perceived disability and depressive symptoms predict the amount and severity of work-related difficulties in persons with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Raggi, Alberto; Giovannetti, Ambra Mara; Schiavolin, Silvia; Brambilla, Laura; Brenna, Greta; Confalonieri, Paolo Agostino; Cortese, Francesca; Frangiamore, Rita; Leonardi, Matilde; Mantegazza, Renato Emilio; Moscatelli, Marco; Ponzio, Michela; Torri Clerici, Valentina; Zaratin, Paola; De Torres, Laura

2018-04-16

This cross-sectional study aims to identify the predictors of work-related difficulties in a sample of employed persons with multiple sclerosis as addressed with the Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire for Job Difficulties. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of work difficulties: predictors included demographic variables (age, formal education), disease duration and severity, perceived disability and psychological variables (cognitive dysfunction, depression and anxiety). The targets were the questionnaire's overall score and its six subscales. A total of 177 participants (108 females, aged 21-63) were recruited. Age, perceived disability and depression were direct and significant predictors of the questionnaire total score, and the final model explained 43.7% of its variation. The models built on the questionnaire's subscales show that perceived disability and depression were direct and significant predictors of most of its subscales. Our results show that, among patients with multiple sclerosis, those who were older, with higher perceived disability and higher depression symptoms have more and more severe work-related difficulties. The Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire for Job Difficulties can be fruitfully exploited to plan tailored actions to limit the likelihood of near-future job loss in persons of working age with multiple sclerosis. Implications for rehabilitation Difficulties with work are common among people with multiple sclerosis and are usually addressed in terms of unemployment or job loss. The Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire for Job Difficulties is a disease-specific questionnaire developed to address the amount and severity of work-related difficulties. We found that work-related difficulties were associated to older age, higher perceived disability and depressive symptoms. Mental health issues and perceived disability should be consistently included in future research targeting work-related difficulties.

An investigation into introductory astronomy students' difficulties with cosmology, and the development, validation, and efficacy of a new suite of cosmology lecture-tutorials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, Colin S.

This study reports the results of the first systematic investigation into Astro 101 students' conceptual and reasoning difficulties with cosmology. We developed four surveys with which we measured students' conceptual knowledge of the Big Bang, the expansion and evolution of the universe, and the evidence for dark matter. Our classical test theory and item response theory analyses of over 2300 students' pre- and post-instruction responses, combined with daily classroom observations, videotapes of students working in class, and one-on-one semi-structured think-aloud interviews with nineteen Astro 101 students, revealed several common learning difficulties. In order to help students overcome these difficulties, we used our results to inform the development of a new suite of cosmology lecture-tutorials. In our initial testing of the new lecture-tutorials at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Arizona, we found many cases in which students who used the lecture-tutorials achieved higher learning gains (as measured by our surveys) at statistically significant levels than students who did not. Subsequent use of the lecture-tutorials at a variety of colleges and universities across the United States produced a wide range of learning gains, suggesting that instructors' pedagogical practices and implementations of the lecture-tutorials significantly affect whether or not students achieve high learning gains.

Learning approaches and learning difficulties: a comparison of Indian and Nepali dental science students.

PubMed

Mayya, Shreemathi S; Rao, A Krishna; Ramnarayan, K

2002-11-01

This study explored the difference in learning approaches and difficulties of Nepali and Indian undergraduate students of dental science. A locally developed inventory was used to measure learning approach and learning difficulties. Data collected from 166 Indians and 69 Nepalis were compared. The scores on various scales of the inventory indicate that Nepalis are more fearful and less confident regarding examination and course completion and have significantly less positive perception about academic capability. Indian students scored significantly higher on motivation, interest, and deep processing. The language problem was significantly greater for Nepali students. Higher percentages of Nepalis experienced various academic and nonacademic problems. The study highlights the need to consider difference in learning approach among the students of health science courses that admit students from different academic, nonacademic, and cultural backgrounds.

IMPACT OF THE GERIATRIC MEDICATION GAME® ON NURSING STUDENTS EMPATHY AND ATTITUDES TOWARD OLDER ADULTS

PubMed Central

Kiersma, Mary E.; Yehle, Karen S.; Plake, Kimberly S.

2014-01-01

Background Nurses should be well-prepared to improve and address health-related needs of older adults, but students may have difficulty understanding and empathizing, as they may not yet have personally experienced aging-related challenges. Simulation games can be used to help students understand the experiences of others, but limited information is available on the impact of simulation experiences on student empathy. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the impact of participation in an aging simulation game on nursing students’ empathy and attitudes toward older adults as well as their understanding of patients’ experiences in the healthcare system. Design This study used a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design. Setting A school of nursing in the Midwestern United States. Participants The convenience sample included 58 sophomore-level baccalaureate nursing students. Methods Students played the role of an older adult during a 3-hour laboratory aging simulation game, the Geriatric Medication Game® (GMG). Students completed the (1) Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale (KCES, 15 items, 7-point Likert-type), (2) Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Students (JSE-HPS, 20 items, 7-point Likert-type), and (3) Aging Simulation Experience Survey (13 items, 7-point Likert-type) pre- and post-game to assess study objectives. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests (were performed in SPSS v.21.0, as the data were normally distributed. Results Students’ empathy (N=58) toward older adults significantly improved overall (KCES p=0.015, JSE-HPS p<0.001). Improvements also were seen on seven out of 13 questions related to attitudes and healthcare understanding (p<0.05). In the post-test, students agreed that they experienced frustration and impatience during the GMG. Conclusions Students may not be aware of older adults’ feelings and experiences prior to experiencing aging-related changes themselves. Simulation activities, such as the GMG, can be a useful mechanism for addressing empathy and caring during student education. PMID:24912741

An interactive modeling lesson increases students' understanding of ploidy during meiosis.

PubMed

Wright, L Kate; Newman, Dina L

2011-01-01

Chromosome structure is confusing to students at all levels, and chromosome behavior during meiosis is a notoriously difficult topic. Undergraduate biology majors are exposed to the process of meiosis numerous times during their presecondary and postsecondary education, yet understanding of key concepts, such as the point at which haploidy is established, does not improve substantially with repeated exposure. Based on student's drawings, 96% of intermediate-level biology majors have unclear or incorrect ideas about meiosis. Students have difficulty diagramming the process of meiosis starting with three unreplicated pairs of chromosomes, and even when they can produce an accurate diagram, they are unclear how to assign the terms "haploid" and "diploid." We designed an interactive lesson based on constructivist theory to address these issues in a large lecture class. Pretest and posttest scores showed a significant improvement in students' understanding of ploidy compared to a parallel class taught in the traditional way (e.g. using the textbook diagrams). In interviews afterward, those students whose scores improved on exams specifically pointed to the features of the in-class modeling that were deliberately incorporated for that purpose. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

1, 2, 3, 4: infusing quantitative literacy into introductory biology.

PubMed

Speth, Elena Bray; Momsen, Jennifer L; Moyerbrailean, Gregory A; Ebert-May, Diane; Long, Tammy M; Wyse, Sara; Linton, Debra

2010-01-01

Biology of the twenty-first century is an increasingly quantitative science. Undergraduate biology education therefore needs to provide opportunities for students to develop fluency in the tools and language of quantitative disciplines. Quantitative literacy (QL) is important for future scientists as well as for citizens, who need to interpret numeric information and data-based claims regarding nearly every aspect of daily life. To address the need for QL in biology education, we incorporated quantitative concepts throughout a semester-long introductory biology course at a large research university. Early in the course, we assessed the quantitative skills that students bring to the introductory biology classroom and found that students had difficulties in performing simple calculations, representing data graphically, and articulating data-driven arguments. In response to students' learning needs, we infused the course with quantitative concepts aligned with the existing course content and learning objectives. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by significant improvement in the quality of students' graphical representations of biological data. Infusing QL in introductory biology presents challenges. Our study, however, supports the conclusion that it is feasible in the context of an existing course, consistent with the goals of college biology education, and promotes students' development of important quantitative skills.

Part I. Development of a concept inventory addressing students' beliefs and reasoning difficulties regarding the greenhouse effect, Part II. Distribution of chlorine measured by the Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, John Michael

This work presents two research efforts, one involving planetary science education research and a second involving the surface composition of Mars. In the former, student beliefs and reasoning difficulties associated with the greenhouse effect were elicited through student interviews and written survey responses from >900 US undergraduate non-science majors. This guided the development of the Greenhouse Effect Concept Inventory (GECI), an educational research tool designed to assess pre- and post-instruction conceptual understanding of the greenhouse effect. Three versions of this multiple-choice instrument were administered to >2,500 undergraduates as part of the development and validation process. In contrast to previous research efforts regarding causes, consequences, and solutions to the enhanced greenhouse effect, the GECI focuses primarily on the physics of energy flow through Earth's atmosphere. The GECI is offered to the science education community as a research tool for assessing instructional strategies on this topic. It was confirmed that the study population subscribes to several previously identified beliefs. These include correct understandings that carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas and the greenhouse effect increases planetary surface temperatures. Students also commonly associate the greenhouse effect with increased penetration of sunlight into and trapping of solar energy in the atmosphere. Students intermix concepts associated with the greenhouse effect, global warming, and ozone depletion. Reinforcing the latter concept, a majority believe that the Sun radiates most of its energy as ultraviolet light. Students also describe inaccurate and incomplete trapping models, which include permanent trapping, trapping through reflection, and trapping of gases and pollution. Another reasoning difficulty involves the idea that Earth's surface radiates energy primarily during the nighttime. The second research effort describes the distribution of chlorine on Mars measured by the Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS). The distribution of chlorine is heterogeneous across the surface, with a concentration of high chlorine centered over the Medusa Fossae Formation. The distribution of chlorine correlates positively with hydrogen and negatively with silicon and thermal inertia. Four mechanisms (aeolian, volcanic, aqueous, and hydrothermal) are discussed as possible factors influencing the distribution of chlorine measured within the upper few tens of centimeters of the surface.

Word-Problem-Solving Strategy for Minority Students at Risk for Math Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kong, Jennifer E.; Orosco, Michael J.

2016-01-01

Minority students at risk for math difficulties (MD) struggle with word problems for various reasons beyond procedural or calculation challenges. As a result, these students require support in reading and language development in addition to math. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a math comprehension strategy based on a…

Building Word Knowledge: Opportunities for Direct Vocabulary Instruction in General Education for Students with Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanzek, Jeanne

2014-01-01

Direct vocabulary instruction is 1 critical component of reading instruction. Although most students in the elementary grades need to continue building their vocabulary knowledge, students with reading difficulties are at the greatest risk of falling further behind each year in vocabulary and concept knowledge without effective instruction. This…

Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Equivalence Tasks: The Influence of Symbols on Students with Mathematics Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Driver, Melissa K.; Powell, Sarah R.

2015-01-01

Students often experience difficulty with attaching meaning to mathematics symbols. Many students react to symbols, such as the equal sign, as a command to "do something" or "write an answer" without reflecting upon the proper relational meaning of the equal sign. One method for assessing equal-sign understanding is through…

Using CRA to Teach Algebra to Students with Math Difficulties in Inclusive Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Witzel, Bradley S.

2005-01-01

The importance of algebra instruction has increased in the United States in the past few years. Thus, in most states, middle school students are required to take Algebra 1. Middle school students with math difficulties in inclusion algebra settings may require a different instructional approach. The purpose of this research was to compare student…

An Investigation of Difficulties Experienced by Students Developing Unified Modelling Language (UML) Class and Sequence Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sien, Ven Yu

2011-01-01

Object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD) is not an easy subject to learn. There are many challenges confronting students when studying OOAD. Students have particular difficulty abstracting real-world problems within the context of OOAD. They are unable to effectively build object-oriented (OO) models from the problem domain because they…

Prevalence and Pattern of Learning Difficulties in Primary School Students in Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abu-Hamour, Bashir; Al-Hmouz, Hanan

2016-01-01

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of learning difficulties (LDs) among primary school students (Grade 1 to Grade 3) in Jordan. A total of 306 students were randomly selected and tested using the Arabic version of the Woodcock-Johnson Basic Achievement Tests that measure reading, spelling, and calculation skills. The…

Understanding Neurophobia: Reasons behind Impaired Understanding and Learning of Neuroanatomy in Cross-Disciplinary Healthcare Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Javaid, Muhammad Asim; Chakraborty, Shelly; Cryan, John F.; Schellekens, Harriët; Toulouse, André

2018-01-01

Recent studies have highlighted a fear or difficulty with the study and understanding of neuroanatomy among medical and healthcare students. This has been linked with a diminished confidence of clinical practitioners and students to manage patients with neurological conditions. The underlying reasons for this difficulty have been queried among a…

Teaching Chained Tasks to Students with Intellectual Disabilities by Using Video Prompting in Small Group Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aykut, Çigil; Dagseven Emecen, Deniz; Dayi, Eylem; Karasu, Necdet

2014-01-01

Teaching students with intellectual disabilities in groups presents several difficulties. Use of technology can reduce some of these difficulties. The literature cites several examples of skill acquisition. The purpose of this study is to teach skills to students with intellectual disabilities by using video prompting. A multiple-probe design of…

Adjustment Difficulties and Caregiving Burdens Faced by College Students with a Parent with Bipolar or Depressive Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crandall, Erin K.; Ruggero, Camilo J.; Bain, Kathleen; Kilmer, Jared

2014-01-01

College campuses often host students who come from families where one or more parent has been affected by a bipolar or depressive disorder. The present study sought to determine whether these students face unique challenges in college, including increased adjustment difficulties as well as greater caregiving burden associated with their…

Students' Difficulties with Definitions in the Context of Proofs in Elementary Set Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaker, Hedieh; Berger, Margot

2016-01-01

In this paper we explore first-year students' difficulties with the use and interpretation of definitions of mathematical objects as they attempt proof construction exercises in the area of elementary set theory. The participants are students at a historically disadvantaged university in South Africa. In this study the activities and utterances of…

The Creation of Task-Based Differentiated Learning Materials for Students with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barker, Trevor; Jones, Sara; Britton, Carol; Messer, David

This paper describes Horizon, a European-funded project designed to increase employment opportunities for students with disabilities or learning difficulties. The project established a working cafe/restaurant (Cafe Horizon) in East London staffed by students. Part of the project involved the creation of multimedia units linked directly to Level 1…

Perry's Scheme of Intellectual and Epistemological Development as a Framework for Describing Student Difficulties in Learning Organic Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grove, Nathaniel P.; Bretz, Stacey Lowery

2010-01-01

We have investigated student difficulties with the learning of organic chemistry. Using Perry's Model of Intellectual Development as a framework revealed that organic chemistry students who function as dualistic thinkers struggle with the complexity of the subject matter. Understanding substitution/elimination reactions and multi-step syntheses is…

The Use of Response to Intervention Practices for Behavior: An Examination of the Validity of a Screening Instrument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muyskens, Paul; Marston, Doug; Reschly, Amy L.

2007-01-01

Behavioral difficulties of school-aged students are typically dealt with in a reactive, rather than preventative manner. This article examines a proactive approach, consistent with the Response-to-Intervention model, using a screening measure designed to identify students at risk for behavior difficulties and targeting these students for early…

Determining the Effectiveness of Alternative Seating Systems for Students with Attention Difficulties: A Systematic Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gochenour, Brittany; Poskey, Gail A.

2017-01-01

A student's ability to attend in the classroom is an important factor in determining academic success. This systematic review examined the effects of an alternative seating system on improving attention in students with attention difficulties. Databases searched included CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, OTSeeker, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar.…

Using Performance Feedback of Reciprocal Teaching Strategies to Increase Reading Comprehension Srategy Use with Seventh Grade Students with Comprehension Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Matthew K.; Maki, Kathrin E.; Karich, Abbey C.; Coolong-Chaffin, Melissa

2017-01-01

The current study used a multiple-baseline design to examine the effect of providing performance feedback on comprehension strategy use and reading comprehension. The participants were four seventh grade students with comprehension difficulties. The students were taught the reciprocal teaching comprehension strategies of generating questions,…

Student Difficulties in Learning Density: A Distributed Cognition Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Lihua; Clarke, David

2012-01-01

Density has been reported as one of the most difficult concepts for secondary school students (e.g. Smith et al. 1997). Discussion about the difficulties of learning this concept has been largely focused on the complexity of the concept itself or student misconceptions. Few, if any, have investigated how the concept of density was constituted in…

Single Student Parents Face Financial Difficulties, Debt, without Adequate Aid. Fact Sheet #C394

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Kevin

2012-01-01

Parents with dependent children were nearly one quarter of students enrolled for credit at American postsecondary institutions in 2008. These students face significant challenges to remaining enrolled and graduating, including limited access to affordable child care, difficulty balancing the demands of school with the demands of work and family,…

Influence of Student Beliefs about Nature of School Mathematics on Their Achievement at Secondary Level in Kerala

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gafoor, Kunnathodi Abdul; Sarabi, M. K.

2016-01-01

This study probes students' beliefs about nature of mathematics, difficulty in learning mathematics sourcing from these and their influence on achievement in mathematics. Questionnaire survey on 458, 9th standard students randomly selected from schools of Malappuram district elicited data on nature of school mathematics and difficulty arising out…

Morphological Derivations: Learning Difficulties Encountered by Public Secondary School Students in Amman/Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naseeb, Maha Zouhair; Ibrahim, Majid Abdulatif

2017-01-01

This study aims at investigating the difficulties encountered by public school students in Amman/ Jordan. The study raises the following questions: What are the obstacles that students may encounter in relation to the derivations? What are the causes of such obstacles? To achieve the aims of the study, the researchers manipulate two methods: A…

Developing and assessing research-based tools for teaching quantum mechanics and thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Benjamin R.

Research-based tools to educate college students in physics courses from introductory level to graduate level are essential for helping students with a diverse set of goals and backgrounds learn physics. This thesis explores issues related to student common difficulties with some topics in undergraduate quantum mechanics and thermodynamics courses. Student difficulties in learning quantum mechanics and thermodynamics are investigated by administering written tests and surveys to many classes and conducting individual interviews with a subset of students outside the class to unpack the cognitive mechanisms of the difficulties. The quantum mechanics research also focuses on using the research on student difficulties for the development and evaluation of a Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT) to help students learn about the time-dependence of expectation values using the context of Larmor precession of spin and evaluating the role of asking students to self-diagnose their mistakes on midterm examination on their performance on subsequent problem solving. The QuILT on Larmor precession of spin has both paper-pencil activities and a simulation component to help students learn these foundational issues in quantum mechanics. Preliminary evaluations suggest that the QuILT, which strives to help students build a robust knowledge structure of time-dependence of expectation values in quantum mechanics using a guided approach, is successful in helping students learn these topics in the junior-senior level quantum mechanics courses. The technique to help upper-level students in quantum mechanics courses effectively engage in the process of learning from their mistakes is also found to be effective. In particular, research shows that the self-diagnosis activity in upper-level quantum mechanics significantly helps students who are struggling and this activity can reduce the gap between the high and low achieving students on subsequent problem solving. Finally, a survey of Thermodynamic Processes and the First and Second Laws (STPFaSL) is developed and validated with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of these topics in a thermodynamics curriculum. The validity and reliability of this survey are discussed and the student difficulties with these topics among various groups from introductory students to physics graduate students are cataloged.

An investigation of difficulties experienced by students developing unified modelling language (UML) class and sequence diagrams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sien, Ven Yu

2011-12-01

Object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD) is not an easy subject to learn. There are many challenges confronting students when studying OOAD. Students have particular difficulty abstracting real-world problems within the context of OOAD. They are unable to effectively build object-oriented (OO) models from the problem domain because they essentially do not know "what" to model. This article investigates the difficulties and misconceptions undergraduate students have with analysing systems using unified modelling language analysis class and sequence diagrams. These models were chosen because they represent important static and dynamic aspects of the software system under development. The results of this study will help students produce effective OO models, and facilitate software engineering lecturers design learning materials and approaches for introductory OOAD courses.

Curricular Transformation in Health Systems Science: The Need for Global Change.

PubMed

Gonzalo, Jed D; Wolpaw, Terry; Wolpaw, Dan

2018-05-08

In this Invited Commentary, the authors propose a counter-perspective to the article by Borkan and colleagues, who advocate for a circumscribed, piloted, choice-focused approach to introducing curricular redesign options in undergraduate medical education, particularly in the area of health systems science. In making this case, Borkan and colleagues cluster several kinds of innovative curricular changes that the authors of this commentary believe are best separated by the scope of change and associated educational strategy: 1) innovations customized to student interest and motivation, which are best served by focused programmatic interventions, 2) innovations such as longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) that represent creative and needed educational strategies but may be difficult to expand due to complex barriers, and 3) innovations that are truly transformational, with critical connections far beyond the boundaries of the medical school curriculum, which must be addressed in a comprehensive approach-despite the challenges, frustrations, and difficulties. The authors situate health systems science squarely into the third category, and address three important questions addressing the nature and demands of this change. In making these arguments, the authors draw from experiences at the Penn State College of Medicine and collaborations with other U.S. medical schools related to large-scale curricular transformation and challenges that impact this change. The authors contend that medical education needs to navigate this major change for all students in a way that not only succeeds for learners but, more important, addresses the needs of patients seeking care in rapidly evolving systems of care.

Strategies for teaching object-oriented concepts with Java

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sicilia, Miguel-Ángel

2006-03-01

A considerable amount of experiences in teaching object-oriented concepts using the Java language have been reported to date, some of which describe language pitfalls and concrete learning difficulties. In this paper, a number of additional issues that have been experienced as difficult for students to master, along with approaches intended to overcome them, are addressed. Concretely, practical issues regarding associations, interfaces, genericity and exceptions are described. These issues suggest that more emphasis is required on presenting Java programs as derivations of conceptual models, in order to guarantee that a thorough design of the object structure actually precedes implementation issues. In addition, common student misunderstandings about the uses of interfaces and exceptions point to the necessity of introducing both specific design philosophies and also a clear distinction between design-for-reuse and more specific implementation issues.

Probing when Japanese junior high school students begin to feel difficulty in learning mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishikawa, Tomoko; Izuta, Giido

2017-05-01

It is thought that the increasing number of Japanese students avoiding mathematics has become a serious problem in the last decades. Japanese junior high school students are learning the basic understanding and skills of mathematics during the years of mandatory education. To our knowledge, there are few reports about the time when Japanese junior high school students begin to feel difficulty in mathematics learning. The aim of this work is to examine this case. To accomplish this purpose, a typical public junior high school in a country city with 616 students (182 first-year, 212 second-year, 222 third-year) in all was chosen to be the field of investigation. Likert scale type questionnaires to assess their feelings were conducted, and the respondents who answered `difficulty' and `a little difficulty' were extracted. The number of respondents were 89 first-year (26 males, 63 females), 76 second-year (27 males, 49 females), and 112 third-year (45 males, 67 females) students. The beginning time was divided into school years when it was in elementary school, and semesters when it was in junior high school. Ordinary statistical processings for each grade and gender were performed to analyze them. It was found that the time when they began to have difficulty learning mathematics was different in gender. Male students tended to start from higher-grade of elementary school whereas female students from middle-grade of elementary school. In other words, these results showed differences in gender and time. Finally, these examinations suggest that teachers need to provide appropriate support for students at a suitable time in the elementary school. Also these results are useful in mathematics education of elementary school.

Challenges in designing appropriate scaffolding to improve students' representational consistency: The case of a Gauss's law problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maries, Alexandru; Lin, Shih-Yin; Singh, Chandralekha

2017-12-01

Prior research suggests that introductory physics students have difficulty with graphing and interpreting graphs. Here, we discuss an investigation of student difficulties in translating between mathematical and graphical representations for a problem in electrostatics and the effect of increasing levels of scaffolding on students' representational consistency. Students in calculus-based introductory physics were given a typical problem that can be solved using Gauss's law involving a spherically symmetric charge distribution in which they were asked to write a mathematical expression for the electric field in various regions and then plot the electric field. In study 1, we found that students had great difficulty in plotting the electric field as a function of the distance from the center of the sphere consistent with the mathematical expressions in various regions, and interviews with students suggested possible reasons which may account for this difficulty. Therefore, in study 2, we designed two scaffolding interventions with levels of support which built on each other (i.e., the second scaffolding level built on the first) in order to help students plot their expressions consistently and compared the performance of students provided with scaffolding with a comparison group which was not given any scaffolding support. Analysis of student performance with different levels of scaffolding reveals that scaffolding from an expert perspective beyond a certain level may sometimes hinder student performance and students may not even discern the relevance of the additional support. We provide possible interpretations for these findings based on in-depth, think-aloud student interviews.

Attitudes and learning difficulties in middle school science in South Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Eun Sook

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between cognitive and attitudinal aspects of learning science, concentrating mainly on the influence of cognitive understanding and learning difficulty on attitudes to science. This theme is selected, in particular, because it is reported that Korean students at secondary level do not enjoy studying science and have not enough confidence, although their achievements are high. Johnstone's information processing model (1993) is used to account for cognitive aspects of science education. Learning processes are understood in terms of student's own knowledge construction through the operation of perception filters, processing in working memory space and storing in long term memory. In particular, the overload of student's working memory space is considered as the main factor causing learning difficulty and, in consequence, learning failure. The research took place in one middle school located in Seoul, the capital city in South Korea. 364 students aged 13 and 350 aged 15 participated. In order to try to find relationships between cognitive and affective factors of science learning, individual student's working memory space was measured and a questionnaire designed to gather information about students' attitudes was prepared and given to all students. To determine the working memory space capacity of the students, the Figural Intersection Test (F.I.T), designed by Pascual-Leone, was used. Two kinds of analysis, comparison and correlation, were performed with data from the Figural Intersection Test and the questionnaire applied to students. For the comparison of attitudes between age 13 and 15, the distributions of frequencies of responses were analyzed for each particular statement in a question. The Chi-square (?[2]) test was applied to judge the statistically significant differences in responses of the two groups. The levels of significance used were 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001. In order to see whether there is difference of opinions related to various aspects of learning science between age 13 and 15, and between high and middle and low working memory capacity groups, students responses were compared by just looking at the distribution of percentages without doing more statistics. Correlation coefficients were calculated to see if student's working memory capacity is linked with attitudes. As a result of data analyses from the working memory test and the questionnaire, it is seen that working memory space is related to some student attitudes towards science and their way of studying. Compared to students with high working memory capacity, students who have low working memory capacity are likely to lose their interest in science, feel science is difficult, and have low confidence about studying science. In addition, they tend to depend on memorization when they study science, consider science as a future career less, and are less motivated to study science by attitudinal factors such as "I really enjoy studying science", "Science is useful in my life". This exploratory study has suggested some important issues which need addressed in developing positive attitudes as well as encouraging meaningful learning.

The Effect of the 4MAT Learning Model on the Achievement and Motivation of 7th Grade Students on the Subject of Particulate Nature of Matter and an Examination of Student Opinions on the Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aktas, Idris; Bilgin, Ibrahim

2015-01-01

Background: Many researchers agree that students, especially primary students, have learning difficulties on the "Particulate Nature of Matter" unit. One reason for this difficulty is not considering individual differences for teaching science. In 4MAT model learning, environment is arranged according to individual differences. Purpose:…

American medical students in Israel: stress and coping.

PubMed

Schreier, A R; Abramovitch, H

1996-11-01

Medical students studying abroad have to adapt to a new cultural environment in addition to the usual stresses of medical school. This study explored the perceived stress and coping ability of students of the New York State/American Programme, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, who study medicine in Israel but are expected to return to America to practice. Students were surveyed using the Ways of Coping Checklist (WCCL), Appraisal Dimension Scale (ADS) and two instruments specifically designed for the study. The results supported the view that students having difficulty adapting to their new cultural environment also have difficulty at medical school. This pattern is a negative spiral in which anxiety and depression impair cognitive performance, which leads to academic difficulties and emotional distress. Improvements in student social support and primary prevention were implemented as a result of the study. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Helping students with learning difficulties in medical and health-care education.

PubMed

Coles, C R

1990-05-01

In health profession education many more students than is currently acknowledged experience often extreme difficulties with their studying. This booklet is intended to help them. It outlines an approach being adopted in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton by which students are encouraged to reflect on and discuss their approaches to studying, identifying their perception of their task and where necessary changing this. It is shown that students need to elaborate their knowledge, that is to structure the factual information they are receiving and to relate it to their practical experiences. A number of suggestions are made to encourage this, and their theoretical underpinnings are discussed. It is concluded that while inappropriate curricula and teaching methods and not some weakness on the part of students are largely the cause of learning difficulties, it will take time to change these. Establishing a kind of 'clinic' for helping students cope can be of value immediately.

Sources of listening anxiety in learning English as a foreign language.

PubMed

Chang, Anna Ching-Shyang

2008-02-01

In this study of college students' listening anxiety in learning English in a classroom context, participants were 160 students (47 men and 113 women) ages 18 to 19 years. To address their listening anxiety, participants were chosen from students enrolling in a required listening course. A listening questionnaire was used to assess learners' anxiety about spoken English, its intensity, and the main sources of listening anxiety. Overall, participants showed moderately high intensity of anxiety in listening to spoken English, but were more anxious in testing than in general situations. In contrast to previous research on the nature of spoken English as the main source of listening anxiety, this study found that low confidence in comprehending spoken English, taking English listening courses as a requirement, and worrying about test difficulty were the three main factors contributing to participants' listening anxiety in a classroom context. Participants' learning profiles both in the classroom and outside the class yielded data which provides suggestions for reducing anxiety.

Applying the Rule Space Model to Develop a Learning Progression for Thermochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Fu; Zhang, Shanshan; Guo, Yanfang; Xin, Tao

2017-12-01

We used the Rule Space Model, a cognitive diagnostic model, to measure the learning progression for thermochemistry for senior high school students. We extracted five attributes and proposed their hierarchical relationships to model the construct of thermochemistry at four levels using a hypothesized learning progression. For this study, we developed 24 test items addressing the attributes of exothermic and endothermic reactions, chemical bonds and heat quantity change, reaction heat and enthalpy, thermochemical equations, and Hess's law. The test was administered to a sample base of 694 senior high school students taught in 3 schools across 2 cities. Results based on the Rule Space Model analysis indicated that (1) the test items developed by the Rule Space Model were of high psychometric quality for good analysis of difficulties, discriminations, reliabilities, and validities; (2) the Rule Space Model analysis classified the students into seven different attribute mastery patterns; and (3) the initial hypothesized learning progression was modified by the attribute mastery patterns and the learning paths to be more precise and detailed.

Traditional versus internet bullying in junior high school students.

PubMed

Gofin, Rosa; Avitzour, Malka

2012-11-01

To examine the prevalence of traditional and Internet bullying and the personal, family, and school environment characteristics of perpetrators and victims. Students (12-14 years old) in 35 junior high schools were randomly selected from the Jerusalem Hebrew (secular and religious) and Arab educational system (n = 2,610). Students answered an anonymous questionnaire, addressing personal, family, and school characteristics. Traditional bullying and Internet bullying for perpetrators and victims were categorized as either occurring at least sometimes during the school year or not occurring. Twenty-eight percent and 8.9 % of students were perpetrators of traditional and Internet bullying, respectively. The respective proportions of victims were 44.9 and 14.4 %. Traditional bullies presented higher Odds Ratios (ORs) for boys, for students with poor social skills (those who had difficulty in making friends, were influenced by peers in their behavior, or were bored), and for those who had poor communication with their parents. Boys and girls were equally likely to be Internet bullies and to use the Internet for communication and making friends. The OR for Internet bullying victims to be Internet bullying perpetrators was 3.70 (95 % confidence interval 2.47-5.55). Victims of traditional bullying felt helpless, and victims of traditional and Internet bullying find school to be a frightening place. There was a higher OR of Internet victimization with reports of loneliness. Traditional bully perpetrators present distinctive characteristics, while Internet perpetrators do not. Victims of traditional and Internet bullying feel fear in school. Tailored interventions are needed to address both types of bullying.

School Experiences of Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Wiener, Judith; Daniels, Lesley

2016-11-01

This article reports on a qualitative study of the school experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the context of quantitative research on teacher attitudes and practices, adolescent self-appraisals, and social and family relationships. Twelve adolescents with ADHD participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews addressing major aspects of school life. Using a modified grounded theory framework, researchers coded these interviews. Three themes emerged: (a) support for a performance deficit, (b) academic and social engagement, and (c) moving from dependence to independence. What is most striking is the low level of agency students demonstrated; that is, rather than acting with purpose on their environments, they seemed to react to things that happened to them. These findings suggest that teachers of adolescents with ADHD know about the nature of the disorder, understand that students' difficulties with organization and academic performance are not typically intentional, use evidence-based interventions to support students, and provide the monitoring and scaffolding needed for academic achievement. The students also provide specific suggestions for parents and peers regarding the supports they need to be successful. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2015.

Screening Internet websites for educational potential in undergraduate medical education.

PubMed

Burd, Andrew; Chiu, Tor; McNaught, Carmel

2004-01-01

This paper addresses the difficulty of finding suitable websites to support undergraduate medical students in learning key concepts and skills in plastic surgery in particular, and other areas of undergraduate medical education in general. Based on a model of the pedagogical elements contained in educational websites, the authors developed a short objective scoring system with five criteria. Pre-university students were used to find websites in plastic surgery. One hundred and fifty of those that were still in place after a year were evaluated using the objective scoring system. Sixty of these were then selected and were subjectively evaluated by final year medical students in terms of their perceived educational potential. There was only a moderate correlation between the objective and subjective scores. Our conclusion is that it does not seem possible to construct any objective system of medical website evaluation. The discussion of the results of this study focuses on the issues involved in finding suitable web-based material and the diversity between students. New strategies such as formally organized consortia involving agreements between medical schools may evolve.

The PBL projects: where we've been and where we are going

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donnelly, Judith F.; Massa, Nicholas M.

2015-10-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach in which students learn course content by using a structured approach to collaboratively solving complex real-world problems. PBL addresses widespread industry concern that graduates of technician and engineering programs often have difficulty applying their technical knowledge to novel situations and working effectively in teams. Over the past 9 years, the PBL Projects of the New England Board of Higher Education (Boston, MA) have developed instructional strategies and materials that research shows address industry concerns by improving student learning, retention, critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as the transfer of knowledge to new situations. In this paper we present a retrospective of the PBL Projects, three National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education (NSF-ATE) projects that developed twenty interdisciplinary multi-media PBL case studies called "Challenges" in the topic areas of optics/photonics, sustainable technology and advanced manufacturing, provided faculty professional development in the use of PBL in the classroom to teachers across the U.S. and abroad, and conducted research on the efficacy of the PBL method. We will describe the resources built into the Challenges to scaffold the development of students' problem solving and critical thinking skills and the support provided to instructors who wish to create a student-centered classroom by incorporating PBL. Finally, we will discuss plans for next steps and examine strategies for taking PBL to the next level through actual industry-based problem solving experiences.

Systemic Synthesis Questions [SSynQs] as Tools to Help Students to Build Their Cognitive Structures in a Systemic Manner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hrin, Tamara N.; Fahmy, Ameen F. M.; Segedinac, Mirjana D.; Milenkovic, Dušica D.

2016-01-01

Many studies dedicated to the teaching and learning of organic chemistry courses have emphasized that high school students have shown significant difficulties in mastering the concepts of this discipline. Therefore, the aim of our study was to help students to overcome these difficulties by applying systemic synthesis questions, [SSynQs], as the…

The Value of Using ICT in the Education of School Students with Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adam, Tas; Tatnall, Arthur

2017-01-01

This article argues that whatever the 2015 OECD report says about the value of ICT in relation to PISA results, our research has shown that using ICT in the education of students with Learning Difficulties has great value in interesting, enthusing and inspiring these students, so leading to better educational outcomes. The term "Learning…

The Use of a Bar Model Drawing to Teach Word Problem Solving to Students with Mathematics Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morin, Lisa L.; Watson, Silvana M. R.; Hester, Peggy; Raver, Sharon

2017-01-01

For students with mathematics difficulties (MD), math word problem solving is especially challenging. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a problem-solving strategy, bar model drawing, on the mathematical problem-solving skills of students with MD. The study extended previous research that suggested that schematic-based…

Pre-Service Science Teachers' PCK: Inconsistency of Pre-Service Teachers' Predictions and Student Learning Difficulties in Newton's Third Law

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Shaona; Wang, Yanlin; Zhang, Chunbin

2016-01-01

There is widespread agreement that science learning always builds upon students' existing ideas and that science teachers should possess knowledge of learners. This study aims at investigating pre-service science teachers' knowledge of student misconceptions and difficulties, a crucial component of PCK, on Newton's Third Law. A questionnaire was…

Cross-Informant Agreement and Stability of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire among Finnish Mainstream and Special Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lappalainen, Kristiina; Savolainen, Hannu; Sointu, Erkko T.; Epstein, Michael H.

2014-01-01

This study investigated the cross-informant agreement among student self-report, teacher report, and parent report on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire translated into Finnish (SDQ-Fin) and estimated mean convergent and divergent correlations with a sample of fifth-grade Finnish students (N = 588) and the cross-informant agreement among…

Metacognitive Reading and Study Strategies and Academic Achievement of University Students with and without a History of Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergey, Bradley W.; Deacon, S. Hélène; Parrila, Rauno K.

2017-01-01

University students who report a history of reading difficulties have been demonstrated to have poorer word reading and reading comprehension skills than their peers; yet, without a diagnosed learning disability, these students do not have access to the same support services, potentially placing them at academic risk. This study provides a…

"Why Do I Slog through the Physics?" Understanding High School Students' Difficulties in Learning Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekici, Erhan

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess why physics courses are perceived as one of the most difficult courses among high school students and to investigate the reasons why students have difficulty in learning physics through this scale. This study includes the development and validation studies of the…

A Model of Academic Self-Concept: Perceived Difficulty and Social Comparison among Academically Accelerated Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Hope E.; Siegle, Del; McCoach, D. Betsy; Little, Catherine A.; Reis, Sally M.

2014-01-01

Academic self-concept predicts students' future goals and is affected by a student's relative success compared with his or her peer group. This exploratory study used structural equation modeling to examine the contributions of the perceived level of difficulty of the curriculum, in addition to the contributions of social comparison and…

Is Mathematics to Blame? An Investigation into High School Students' Difficulty in Performing Calculations in Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Fraser J.

2012-01-01

Mathematical ability is a major contributory factor to the success of a student in any science course. This paper aims to determine the source of the difficulty that students often find when performing calculations in chemistry. Through the design and analysis of a set of chemistry questions and analogous mathematics questions, set in a Standard…