Sample records for information learning activities

  1. Teachers' Everyday Professional Development: Mapping Informal Learning Activities, Antecedents, and Learning Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kyndt, Eva; Gijbels, David; Grosemans, Ilke; Donche, Vincent

    2016-01-01

    Although a lot is known about teacher development by means of formal learning activities, research on teachers' everyday learning is limited. In the current systematic review, we analyzed 74 studies focusing on teachers' informal learning to identify teachers' learning activities, antecedents for informal learning, and learning outcomes. In…

  2. Informal Learning Activities for Learners of English and for Learners of Dutch

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Marsenille, Anne

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the informal learning activities which French-speaking higher education students in Brussels engage in while learning English and Dutch. The informal learning of English was investigated in 2012, while the informal learning of Dutch was studied in 2015 and then compared to the informal…

  3. Active Learning by Querying Informative and Representative Examples.

    PubMed

    Huang, Sheng-Jun; Jin, Rong; Zhou, Zhi-Hua

    2014-10-01

    Active learning reduces the labeling cost by iteratively selecting the most valuable data to query their labels. It has attracted a lot of interests given the abundance of unlabeled data and the high cost of labeling. Most active learning approaches select either informative or representative unlabeled instances to query their labels, which could significantly limit their performance. Although several active learning algorithms were proposed to combine the two query selection criteria, they are usually ad hoc in finding unlabeled instances that are both informative and representative. We address this limitation by developing a principled approach, termed QUIRE, based on the min-max view of active learning. The proposed approach provides a systematic way for measuring and combining the informativeness and representativeness of an unlabeled instance. Further, by incorporating the correlation among labels, we extend the QUIRE approach to multi-label learning by actively querying instance-label pairs. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed QUIRE approach outperforms several state-of-the-art active learning approaches in both single-label and multi-label learning.

  4. The Organization of Informal Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rogoff, Barbara; Callanan, Maureen; Gutiérrez, Kris D.; Erickson, Frederick

    2016-01-01

    Informal learning is often treated as simply an alternative to formal, didactic instruction. This chapter discusses how the organization of informal learning differs across distinct settings but with important commonalities distinguishing informal learning from formal learning: Informal learning is nondidactic, is embedded in meaningful activity,…

  5. Does (In)Formal Learning Enhance Employability?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van der Heijden, Beatrice I.J.M.; Boon, Jo; van der Klink, Marcel R.; Meys, Ely

    2008-01-01

    Not much is known about the actual contribution of informal learning to employability over and above formal learning activities. This paper presents findings of a research project among university staff members and is aimed to determine the contribution of formal and informal learning activities in the light of future career potential. Findings…

  6. A Critical Analysis of Active Learning and an Alternative Pedagogical Framework for Introductory Information Systems Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drake, John R.

    2012-01-01

    Active learning has been championed in academic circles as the pedagogical fix to boring lectures typically found in introduction to information systems courses. However, the literature on active learning is mixed. In this paper, we critically examine active learning research and discover a misplaced emphasis leading to paradoxical findings in…

  7. Active-learning implementation in an advanced elective course on infectious diseases.

    PubMed

    Hidayat, Levita; Patel, Shreya; Veltri, Keith

    2012-06-18

    To describe the development, implementation, and assessment of an advanced elective course on infectious diseases using active-learning strategies. Pedagogy for active learning was incorporated by means of mini-lecture, journal club, and debate with follow-up discussion. Forty-eight students were enrolled in this 4-week elective course, in which 30% of course time was allocated for active-learning exercises. All activities were fundamentally designed as a stepwise approach in complementing each active-learning exercise. Achievement of the course learning objectives was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale survey instrument. Students' awareness of the significance of antimicrobial resistance was improved (p ≤ 0.05). Students' ability to critically evaluate the infectious-disease literature and its application in informed clinical judgments was also enhanced through these active-learning exercises (p ≤ 0.05). Students agreed that active learning should be part of the pharmacy curriculum and that active-learning exercises improved their critical-thinking, literature-evaluation, and self-learning skills. An elective course using active-learning strategies allowed students to combine information gained from the evaluation of infectious-disease literature, critical thinking, and informed clinical judgment. This blended approach ultimately resulted in an increased knowledge and awareness of infectious diseases.

  8. Active-learning strategies to develop health literacy knowledge and skills.

    PubMed

    Devraj, Radhika; Butler, Lakesha M; Gupchup, Gireesh V; Poirier, Therese I

    2010-10-11

    To implement active-learning exercises in a required pharmacy course and assess their impact on students' knowledge and confidence in identifying and communicating with patients with low health literacy, as part of a required course in cultural competency, health literacy, and health beliefs. Active-learning activities including administering health literacy assessments, identifying informal signs of low health literacy, conducting mock patient counseling sessions, rating the readability of drug information, analyzing information in drug advertisements, and writing patient education materials were incorporated into the 6-sesssion health literacy portion of the course. A pretest and posttest showed that students' knowledge of health literacy increased, and a retrospective pretest found improvement in students' confidence in their ability to care for patients with low health literacy. In-class discussions provided informal evidence that students gained new knowledge from the active-learning activities. The addition of active-learning activities was effective in teaching health literacy concepts to pharmacy students.

  9. Identifying Information Behavior in Information Search and Retrieval through Learning Activities Using an E-learning Platform Case: Interamerican School of Library and Information Science at the University of Antioquia (Medellin-Colombia)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tirado, Alejandro Uribe; Munoz, Wilson Castano

    2011-01-01

    This text presents the future of librarian education as exemplified by the Interamerican School of Library and Information Science at the University of Antioquia (Medellin-Colombia), using an online learning platform-LMS (Moodle) and through different personalized and collaborative learning activities and tools that help students identify their…

  10. Active-Learning Implementation in an Advanced Elective Course on Infectious Diseases

    PubMed Central

    Patel, Shreya; Veltri, Keith

    2012-01-01

    Objectives. To describe the development, implementation, and assessment of an advanced elective course on infectious diseases using active-learning strategies. Design. Pedagogy for active learning was incorporated by means of mini-lecture, journal club, and debate with follow-up discussion. Forty-eight students were enrolled in this 4-week elective course, in which 30% of course time was allocated for active-learning exercises. All activities were fundamentally designed as a stepwise approach in complementing each active-learning exercise. Assessment. Achievement of the course learning objectives was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale survey instrument. Students’ awareness of the significance of antimicrobial resistance was improved (p ≤ 0.05). Students’ ability to critically evaluate the infectious-disease literature and its application in informed clinical judgments was also enhanced through these active-learning exercises (p ≤ 0.05). Students agreed that active learning should be part of the pharmacy curriculum and that active-learning exercises improved their critical-thinking, literature-evaluation, and self-learning skills. Conclusion. An elective course using active-learning strategies allowed students to combine information gained from the evaluation of infectious-disease literature, critical thinking, and informed clinical judgment. This blended approach ultimately resulted in an increased knowledge and awareness of infectious diseases. PMID:22761528

  11. Empowering Prospective Teachers to Become Active Sense-Makers: Multimodal Modeling of the Seasons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Mi Song

    2015-10-01

    Situating science concepts in concrete and authentic contexts, using information and communications technologies, including multimodal modeling tools, is important for promoting the development of higher-order thinking skills in learners. However, teachers often struggle to integrate emergent multimodal models into a technology-rich informal learning environment. Our design-based research co-designs and develops engaging, immersive, and interactive informal learning activities called "Embodied Modeling-Mediated Activities" (EMMA) to support not only Singaporean learners' deep learning of astronomy but also the capacity of teachers. As part of the research on EMMA, this case study describes two prospective teachers' co-design processes involving multimodal models for teaching and learning the concept of the seasons in a technology-rich informal learning setting. Our study uncovers four prominent themes emerging from our data concerning the contextualized nature of learning and teaching involving multimodal models in informal learning contexts: (1) promoting communication and emerging questions, (2) offering affordances through limitations, (3) explaining one concept involving multiple concepts, and (4) integrating teaching and learning experiences. This study has an implication for the development of a pedagogical framework for teaching and learning in technology-enhanced learning environments—that is empowering teachers to become active sense-makers using multimodal models.

  12. Research report: learning styles of biomedical engineering students.

    PubMed

    Dee, Kay C; Nauman, Eric A; Livesay, Glen A; Rice, Janet

    2002-09-01

    Examining students' learning styles can yield information useful to the design of learning activities, courses, and curricula. A variety of measures have been used to characterize learning styles, but the literature contains little information specific to biomedical engineering (BMEN) students. We, therefore, utilized Felder's Index of Learning Styles to investigate the learning style preferences of BMEN students at Tulane University. Tulane BMEN students preferred to receive information visually (preferred by 88% of the student sample) rather than verbally, focus on sensory information (55%) instead of intuitive information, process information actively (66%) instead of reflectively, and understand information globally (59%) rather than sequentially. These preferences varied between cohorts (freshman, sophomore, etc.) and a significantly higher percentage of female students preferred active and sensing learning styles. Compared to other engineering student populations, our sample of Tulane BMEN students contained the highest percentage of students preferring the global learning style. Whether this is a general trend for all BMEN students or a trait specific to Tulane engineers requires further investigation. Regardless, this study confirms the existence of a range of learning styles within biomedical engineering students, and provides motivation for instructors to consider how well their teaching style engages multiple learning styles.

  13. Blogs and Social Network Sites as Activity Systems: Exploring Adult Informal Learning Process through Activity Theory Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heo, Gyeong Mi; Lee, Romee

    2013-01-01

    This paper uses an Activity Theory framework to explore adult user activities and informal learning processes as reflected in their blogs and social network sites (SNS). Using the assumption that a web-based space is an activity system in which learning occurs, typical features of the components were investigated and each activity system then…

  14. Active Learning Works! Until It Doesn't: Measuring the Effectiveness of Activity-Based Learning Exercises on Information Anxiety

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Halpern, Rebecca

    2016-01-01

    This study served to investigate how information literacy instruction can alleviate information anxiety in online learners. While there has been much research to demonstrate that hands-on or activity-based learning is beneficial in reducing library anxiety, those studies have not been conducted for the online classroom. Using a required,…

  15. Sticking with the nice guy: trait warmth information impairs learning and modulates person perception brain network activity.

    PubMed

    Lee, Victoria K; Harris, Lasana T

    2014-12-01

    Social learning requires inferring social information about another person, as well as evaluating outcomes. Previous research shows that prior social information biases decision making and reduces reliance on striatal activity during learning (Delgado, Frank, & Phelps, Nature Neuroscience 8 (11): 1611-1618, 2005). A rich literature in social psychology on person perception demonstrates that people spontaneously infer social information when viewing another person (Fiske & Taylor, 2013) and engage a network of brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex, temporal parietal junction, superior temporal sulcus, and precuneus (Amodio & Frith, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7(4), 268-277, 2006; Haxby, Gobbini, & Montgomery, 2004; van Overwalle Human Brain Mapping, 30, 829-858, 2009). We investigate the role of these brain regions during social learning about well-established dimensions of person perception-trait warmth and trait competence. We test the hypothesis that activity in person perception brain regions interacts with learning structures during social learning. Participants play an investment game where they must choose an agent to invest on their behalf. This choice is guided by cues signaling trait warmth or trait competence based on framing of monetary returns. Trait warmth information impairs learning about human but not computer agents, while trait competence information produces similar learning rates for human and computer agents. We see increased activation to warmth information about human agents in person perception brain regions. Interestingly, activity in person perception brain regions during the decision phase negatively predicts activity in the striatum during feedback for trait competence inferences about humans. These results suggest that social learning may engage additional processing within person perception brain regions that hampers learning in economic contexts.

  16. Brain-Based Teaching/Learning and Implications for Religious Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weber, Jean Marie

    2002-01-01

    Argues that physical activity and water can increase brain activity, and hence, learning. Findings of neuroscientists regarding the brain can inform educators. Brain-based teaching emphasizes teamwork, cooperative learning, and global responsibility. Argues against gathering information without relevance. Connects brain-based learning concepts to…

  17. An integrative review of in-class activities that enable active learning in college science classroom settings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arthurs, Leilani A.; Kreager, Bailey Zo

    2017-10-01

    Engaging students in active learning is linked to positive learning outcomes. This study aims to synthesise the peer-reviewed literature about 'active learning' in college science classroom settings. Using the methodology of an integrative literature review, 337 articles archived in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) are examined. Four categories of in-class activities emerge: (i) individual non-polling activities, (ii) in-class polling activities, (iii) whole-class discussion or activities, and (iv) in-class group activities. Examining the collection of identified in-class activities through the lens of a theoretical framework informed by constructivism and social interdependence theory, we synthesise the reviewed literature to propose the active learning strategies (ALSs) model and the instructional decisions to enable active learning (IDEAL) theory. The ALS model characterises in-class activities in terms of the degrees to which they are designed to promote (i) peer interaction and (ii) social interdependence. The IDEAL theory includes the ALS model and provides a framework for conceptualising different levels of the general concept 'active learning' and how these levels connect to instructional decision-making about using in-class activities. The proposed ALS model and IDEAL theory can be utilised to inform instructional decision-making and future research about active learning in college science courses.

  18. Information Forests

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-01-01

    Classification confidence, or informative content of the subsets, is quantified by the Information Divergence. Our approach relates to active learning , semi-supervised learning, mixed generative/discriminative learning.

  19. Learning in later life: participation in formal, non-formal and informal activities in a nationally representative Spanish sample.

    PubMed

    Villar, Feliciano; Celdrán, Montserrat

    2013-06-01

    This article examines the participation of Spanish older people in formal, non-formal and informal learning activities and presents a profile of participants in each kind of learning activity. We used data from a nationally representative sample of Spanish people between 60 and 75 years old ( n  = 4,703). The data were extracted from the 2007 Encuesta sobre la Participación de la Población Adulta en Actividades de Aprendizaje (EADA, Survey on Adult Population Involvement in Learning Activities). Overall, only 22.8 % of the sample participated in a learning activity. However, there was wide variation in the participation rates for the different types of activity. Informal activities were far more common than formal ones. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that education level and involvement in social and cultural activities were associated with likelihood of participating, regardless of the type of learning activity. When these variables were taken into account, age did not predict decreasing participation, at least in non-formal and informal activities. Implications for further research, future trends and policies to promote older adult education are discussed.

  20. Active Learning with Irrelevant Examples

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mazzoni, Dominic; Wagstaff, Kiri L.; Burl, Michael

    2006-01-01

    Active learning algorithms attempt to accelerate the learning process by requesting labels for the most informative items first. In real-world problems, however, there may exist unlabeled items that are irrelevant to the user's classification goals. Queries about these points slow down learning because they provide no information about the problem of interest. We have observed that when irrelevant items are present, active learning can perform worse than random selection, requiring more time (queries) to achieve the same level of accuracy. Therefore, we propose a novel approach, Relevance Bias, in which the active learner combines its default selection heuristic with the output of a simultaneously trained relevance classifier to favor items that are likely to be both informative and relevant. In our experiments on a real-world problem and two benchmark datasets, the Relevance Bias approach significantly improved the learning rate of three different active learning approaches.

  1. Examining Informal Learning in Commercial Airline Pilots' Communities of Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corns, Kevin M.

    2014-01-01

    A pragmatic sequential mixed methods research methodology was used to examine commercial airline pilots' (N =156) types and frequencies of informal learning activities, perceptions of workplace informal learning, and opinions on how organizations should support workplace informal learning outside of the formal learning environment. This study…

  2. Factors that Influence Informal Learning in the Workplace

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berg, Shelley A.; Chyung, Seung Youn

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate factors that influence informal learning in the workplace and the types of informal learning activities people engage in at work. More specifically, the research examined: the relationship between informal learning engagement and the presence of learning organization characteristics; and…

  3. Experience API: Flexible, Decentralized and Activity-Centric Data Collection

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kevan, Jonathan M.; Ryan, Paul R.

    2016-01-01

    This emerging technology report describes the Experience API (xAPI), a new e-learning specification designed to support the learning community in standardizing and collecting both formal and informal distributed learning activities. Informed by Activity Theory, a framework aligned with constructivism, data is collected in the form of activity…

  4. Informal Workplace Learning: An Exploration of Age Differences in Learning Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schulz, Melanie; Rosznagel, Christian Stamov

    2010-01-01

    Informal learning is becoming a standard format in companies' training and development (T&D) activities. It requires a specific learning competence comprising cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational dimensions. In the present study, it was investigated whether learning-competence variables predict success in informal learning. Given the…

  5. An Active, Reflective Learning Cycle for E-Commerce Classes: Learning about E-Commerce by Doing and Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrahams, Alan S.; Singh, Tirna

    2010-01-01

    Active, experiential learning is an important component in information systems education, ensuring that students gain an appreciation for both practical and theoretical information systems concepts. Typically, students in active, experiential classes engage in real world projects for commercial companies or not-for-profit organizations. In the…

  6. An Activity-Based Learning Approach for Key Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Concepts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Srivastava, Sanjeev Kumar; Tait, Cynthia

    2012-01-01

    This study presents the effect of active learning methods of concepts in geographical information systems where students participated in a series of interlocked learning experiences. These activities spanned several teaching weeks and involved the creation of a hand drawn map that was scanned and geo-referenced with locations' coordinates derived…

  7. Active Learning in Engineering Education: A (Re)Introduction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lima, Rui M.; Andersson, Pernille Hammar; Saalman, Elisabeth

    2017-01-01

    The informal network "Active Learning in Engineering Education" (ALE) has been promoting Active Learning since 2001. ALE creates opportunity for practitioners and researchers of engineering education to collaboratively learn how to foster learning of engineering students. The activities in ALE are centred on the vision that learners…

  8. Active Learning Using Arbitrary Binary Valued Queries

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-10-01

    active learning in the sense that the learner has complete choice in the information received. Specifically, we allow the learner to ask arbitrary yes...no questions. We consider both active learning under a fixed distribution and distribution-free active learning . In the case of active learning , the...a concept class is actively learnable iff it is finite, so that active learning is in fact less powerful than the usual passive learning model. We

  9. Managers' Informal Learning: A Trait Activation Theory Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noe, Raymond A.; Tews, Michael J.; Michel, John W.

    2017-01-01

    Research focusing on how individual differences and the work context influence informal learning is growing but incomplete. This study contributes to our understanding of the antecedents of informal learning by examining the relationships of goal orientation, job autonomy and training climate with informal learning. Based on trait activation…

  10. Weekly active-learning activities in a drug information and literature evaluation course.

    PubMed

    Timpe, Erin M; Motl, Susannah E; Eichner, Samantha F

    2006-06-15

    To incorporate learning activities into the weekly 2-hour Drug Information and Literature Evaluation class sessions to improve student ability and confidence in performing course objectives, as well as to assess student perception of the value of these activities. In-class activities that emphasized content and skills taught within class periods were created and implemented. Three different surveys assessing student ability and confidence in completing drug information and literature retrieval and evaluation tasks were administered prior to and following the appropriate class sessions. At the completion of the course, an additional evaluation was administered to assess the students' impressions of the value of the learning activities. Students reported increased ability and confidence in all course objectives. The teaching activities were also stated to be useful in students' learning of the material. Incorporation of weekly learning activities resulted in an improvement in student ability and confidence to perform course objectives. Students considered these activities to be beneficial and to contribute to the completion of course objectives.

  11. Learning by Doing: Twenty Successful Active Learning Exercises for Information Systems Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mitchell, Alanah; Petter, Stacie; Harris, Albert L.

    2017-01-01

    Aim/Purpose: This paper provides a review of previously published work related to active learning in information systems (IS) courses. Background: There are a rising number of strategies in higher education that offer promise in regards to getting students' attention and helping them learn, such as flipped classrooms and offering courses online.…

  12. 75 FR 70931 - Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-19

    ... Information Collection Activity; Comment Request Title: Evaluation of Head Start Early Learning Mentor Coach... implementation evaluation of the Head Start Early Learning Mentor-Coach Initiative. The study will collect... awarded funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009--Early Learning Mentor Coach...

  13. Community Garden: A Bridging Program between Formal and Informal Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Datta, Ranjan

    2016-01-01

    Community garden activities can play a significant role in bridging formal and informal learning, particularly in urban children's science and environmental education. It promotes relational methods of learning, discussing, and practicing that will integrate food security, social interactions, community development, environmental activism, and…

  14. Informal Learning through the Internet: A Learning Journey through the World of Rugby

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saunders, Danny; Wyn-Lewis, Eleri; Andrews, Jocelyn

    2005-01-01

    Informal learning involves a wide variety of activities and pursuits which extend beyond conventional classrooms or lifelong learning courses. In this article one application of informal learning is explored in detail: the use of a sports theme, which deploys various multimedia applications in order to encourage adult learning. The article builds…

  15. What Are Drivers for Informal Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schürmann, Eva; Beausaert, Simon

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The topic of informal learning at work has received increasing attention in the past years. The purpose of this study is to explore in which informal learning activities employees engage and what are the drivers for informal learning. Design/Methodology/Approach: Semi-structured interviews were taken from ten human resources (HR) and ten…

  16. Student Perceptions of Information Literacy Instruction: The Importance of Active Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Detlor, Brian; Booker, Lorne; Serenko, Alexander; Julien, Heidi

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the merits of employing active learning strategies in the delivery of information literacy instruction (ILI). Traditional approaches to the teaching of information literacy skills--where students are passive recipients of the information they receive--are challenged. Rather, methods that encourage students to actively…

  17. Diverse expected gradient active learning for relative attributes.

    PubMed

    You, Xinge; Wang, Ruxin; Tao, Dacheng

    2014-07-01

    The use of relative attributes for semantic understanding of images and videos is a promising way to improve communication between humans and machines. However, it is extremely labor- and time-consuming to define multiple attributes for each instance in large amount of data. One option is to incorporate active learning, so that the informative samples can be actively discovered and then labeled. However, most existing active-learning methods select samples one at a time (serial mode), and may therefore lose efficiency when learning multiple attributes. In this paper, we propose a batch-mode active-learning method, called diverse expected gradient active learning. This method integrates an informativeness analysis and a diversity analysis to form a diverse batch of queries. Specifically, the informativeness analysis employs the expected pairwise gradient length as a measure of informativeness, while the diversity analysis forces a constraint on the proposed diverse gradient angle. Since simultaneous optimization of these two parts is intractable, we utilize a two-step procedure to obtain the diverse batch of queries. A heuristic method is also introduced to suppress imbalanced multiclass distributions. Empirical evaluations of three different databases demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.

  18. Diverse Expected Gradient Active Learning for Relative Attributes.

    PubMed

    You, Xinge; Wang, Ruxin; Tao, Dacheng

    2014-06-02

    The use of relative attributes for semantic understanding of images and videos is a promising way to improve communication between humans and machines. However, it is extremely labor- and time-consuming to define multiple attributes for each instance in large amount of data. One option is to incorporate active learning, so that the informative samples can be actively discovered and then labeled. However, most existing active-learning methods select samples one at a time (serial mode), and may therefore lose efficiency when learning multiple attributes. In this paper, we propose a batch-mode active-learning method, called Diverse Expected Gradient Active Learning (DEGAL). This method integrates an informativeness analysis and a diversity analysis to form a diverse batch of queries. Specifically, the informativeness analysis employs the expected pairwise gradient length as a measure of informativeness, while the diversity analysis forces a constraint on the proposed diverse gradient angle. Since simultaneous optimization of these two parts is intractable, we utilize a two-step procedure to obtain the diverse batch of queries. A heuristic method is also introduced to suppress imbalanced multi-class distributions. Empirical evaluations of three different databases demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.

  19. Workplace Learning in Informal Networks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Milligan, Colin; Littlejohn, Allison; Margaryan, Anoush

    2014-01-01

    Learning does not stop when an individual leaves formal education, but becomes increasingly informal, and deeply embedded within other activities such as work. This article describes the challenges of informal learning in knowledge intensive industries, highlighting the important role of personal learning networks. The article argues that…

  20. Informal Learning of Social Workers: A Method of Narrative Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gola, Giancarlo

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate social workers' processes of informal learning, through their narration of their professional experience, in order to understand how social workers learn. Informal learning is any individual practice or activity that is able to produce continuous learning; it is often non-intentional and…

  1. Application of Instructional Design Principles in Developing an Online Information Literacy Curriculum.

    PubMed

    Mi, Misa

    2016-01-01

    An online information literacy curriculum was developed as an intervention to engage students in independent study and self-assessment of their learning needs and learning outcomes, develop proficiency in information skills, and foster lifelong learning. This column demonstrates how instructional design principles were applied to create the learning experiences integrated into various courses of the medical curriculum to promote active learning of information skills and maximize self-directed learning outcomes for lifelong learning.

  2. Experienced Teachers' Informal Learning from Classroom Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoekstra, Annemarieke; Beijaard, Douwe; Brekelmans, Mieke; Korthagen, Fred

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to explore how experienced teachers learn informally, and more specifically, how they learn through the activities they undertake when teaching classes. Regarding these activities we studied four aspects: behaviour, cognition, motivation and emotion. During one year, data were collected through observations of and…

  3. Using Informance to Educate Parents and Demonstrate the Music Learning Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nowmos, Christine M.

    2010-01-01

    Informances, informal and informative presentations of student learning that emphasize the learning process, provide an alternative to traditional concerts or programs, which may take general music classroom time away from activities not geared toward a specific performance. Informances are an excellent means of communicating educational…

  4. From the Mouths of Canadian University Students: Web-Based Information-Seeking Activities for Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Martine; Weinberg, Alysse; Sarma, Nandini; Frankoff, Mary

    2011-01-01

    This article presents student perceptions about different types of web-based activities used to seek information for French language learning. Group interviews were conducted with 71 students in five Canadian universities to elicit data on their use of the Internet for information-seeking activities. These students use the Web for three main…

  5. Exploring informal workplace learning in primary healthcare for continuous professional development.

    PubMed

    Joynes, Viktoria; Kerr, Micky; Treasure-Jones, Tamsin

    2017-07-01

    All health and social care professionals learn on the job through both formal and informal learning processes, which contributes to continuous professional development (CPD). This study explored workplace learning in General Practices, specifically looking at the role of informal learning and the workplace practices that appear to support or restrict that learning, as well as how technology was integrated into these learning processes. Three focus groups with general practitioners, practice nurses, managerial and administrative staff were conducted followed by twelve individual semi-structured interviews with participants drawn from the focus groups. Three observations of multi-disciplinary team meetings were used to establish potential team-based learning activities. Triggers for informal workplace learning included patients presenting challenging or unusual conditions; exposure to others' professional practice; and policy driven changes through revised guidance and protocols. By exploring how these triggers were acted upon, we identified mechanisms through which the primary care workplace supports or restricts informal learning through working practices, existing technologies and inter-professional structures. Informal workplace learning was identified as arising from both opportunistic encounters and more planned activities, which are both supported and restricted through a variety of mechanisms. Maximising informal learning opportunities and removing barriers to doing so should be a priority for primary care practitioners, managers and educators.

  6. Twitter as a Teaching Practice to Enhance Active and Informal Learning in Higher Education: The Case of Sustainable Tweets

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kassens-Noor, Eva

    2012-01-01

    With the rise of Web 2.0, a multitude of new possibilities on how to use these online technologies for active learning has intrigued researchers. While most instructors have used Twitter for in-class discussions, this study explores the teaching practice of Twitter as an active, informal, outside-of-class learning tool. Through a comparative…

  7. Incorporating Duration Information in Activity Recognition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chaurasia, Priyanka; Scotney, Bryan; McClean, Sally; Zhang, Shuai; Nugent, Chris

    Activity recognition has become a key issue in smart home environments. The problem involves learning high level activities from low level sensor data. Activity recognition can depend on several variables; one such variable is duration of engagement with sensorised items or duration of intervals between sensor activations that can provide useful information about personal behaviour. In this paper a probabilistic learning algorithm is proposed that incorporates episode, time and duration information to determine inhabitant identity and the activity being undertaken from low level sensor data. Our results verify that incorporating duration information consistently improves the accuracy.

  8. Perceptions of the use of intelligent information access systems in university level active learning activities among teachers of biomedical subjects.

    PubMed

    Aparicio, Fernando; Morales-Botello, María Luz; Rubio, Margarita; Hernando, Asunción; Muñoz, Rafael; López-Fernández, Hugo; Glez-Peña, Daniel; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; de la Villa, Manuel; Maña, Manuel; Gachet, Diego; Buenaga, Manuel de

    2018-04-01

    Student participation and the use of active methodologies in classroom learning are being increasingly emphasized. The use of intelligent systems can be of great help when designing and developing these types of activities. Recently, emerging disciplines such as 'educational data mining' and 'learning analytics and knowledge' have provided clear examples of the importance of the use of artificial intelligence techniques in education. The main objective of this study was to gather expert opinions regarding the benefits of using complementary methods that are supported by intelligent systems, specifically, by intelligent information access systems, when processing texts written in natural language and the benefits of using these methods as companion tools to the learning activities that are employed by biomedical and health sciences teachers. Eleven teachers of degree courses who belonged to the Faculties of Biomedical Sciences (BS) and Health Sciences (HS) of a Spanish university in Madrid were individually interviewed. These interviews were conducted using a mixed methods questionnaire that included 66 predefined close-ended and open-ended questions. In our study, three intelligent information access systems (i.e., BioAnnote, CLEiM and MedCMap) were successfully used to evaluate the teacher's perceptions regarding the utility of these systems and their different methods in learning activities. All teachers reported using active learning methods in the classroom, most of which were computer programs that were used for initially designing and later executing learning activities. All teachers used case-based learning methods in the classroom, with a specific emphasis on case reports written in Spanish and/or English. In general, few or none of the teachers were familiar with the technical terms related to the technologies used for these activities such as "intelligent systems" or "concept/mental maps". However, they clearly realized the potential applicability of such approaches in both the preparation and the effective use of these activities in the classroom. Specifically, the themes highlighted by a greater number of teachers after analyzing the responses to the open-ended questions were the usefulness of BioAnnote system to provide reliable sources of medical information and the usefulness of the bilingual nature of CLEiM system for learning medical terminology in English. Three intelligent information access systems were successfully used to evaluate the teacher's perceptions regarding the utility of these systems in learning activities. The results of this study showed that integration of reliable sources of information, bilingualism and selective annotation of concepts were the most valued features by the teachers, who also considered the incorporation of these systems into learning activities to be potentially very useful. In addition, in the context of our experimental conditions, our work provides useful insights into the way to appropriately integrate this type of intelligent information access systems into learning activities, revealing key themes to consider when developing such approaches. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Information Activities and Appropriation in Teacher Trainees' Digital, Group-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanell, Fredrik

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: This paper reports results from an ethnographic study of teacher trainees' information activities in digital, group-based learning and their relation to the interplay between use and appropriation of digital tools and the learning environment. Method: The participants in the present study are 249 pre-school teacher trainees in…

  10. Examining Factors Affecting Beginning Teachers' Transfer of Learning of ICT-Enhanced Learning Activities in Their Teaching Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Agyei, Douglas D.; Voogt, Joke

    2014-01-01

    This study examined 100 beginning teachers' transfer of learning when utilising Information Communication Technology-enhanced activity-based learning activities. The beginning teachers had participated in a professional development program that was characterised by "learning technology by collaborative design" in their final year of…

  11. Exploring Characteristics of Fine-Grained Behaviors of Learning Mathematics in Tablet-Based E-Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeung, Cheuk Yu; Shum, Kam Hong; Hui, Lucas Chi Kwong; Chu, Samuel Kai Wah; Chan, Tsing Yun; Kuo, Yung Nin; Ng, Yee Ling

    2017-01-01

    Attributes of teaching and learning contexts provide rich information about how students participate in learning activities. By tracking and analyzing snapshots of these attributes captured continuously throughout the duration of the learning activities, teachers can identify individual students who need special attention and apply different…

  12. An Integrative Review of In-Class Activities That Enable Active Learning in College Science Classroom Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arthurs, Leilani A.; Kreager, Bailey Zo

    2017-01-01

    Engaging students in active learning is linked to positive learning outcomes. This study aims to synthesise the peer-reviewed literature about "active learning" in college science classroom settings. Using the methodology of an integrative literature review, 337 articles archived in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) are…

  13. Informal Adult Learning and Everyday Literacy Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Maurice C.

    2006-01-01

    This study investigated the types of informal learning activities that adults with low literacy skills engage in outside of formal literacy programs and how these activities relate to their literacy practices. Key informants for the study included 10 adults identified at International Adult Literacy Survey levels 1 and 2. Using ethnographic…

  14. Factors Influencing Teachers' Engagement in Informal Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lohman, Margaret C.

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine factors influencing the engagement of public school teachers in informal learning activities. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a survey research design. Findings: Analysis of the data found that teachers rely to a greater degree on interactive than on independent informal learning…

  15. Understanding Health Professionals' Informal Learning in Online Social Networks: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

    PubMed

    Li, Xin; Verspoor, Karin; Gray, Kathleen; Barnett, Stephen

    2017-01-01

    Online social networks (OSNs) enable health professionals to learn informally, for example by sharing medical knowledge, or discussing practice management challenges and clinical issues. Understanding how learning occurs in OSNs is necessary to better support this type of learning. Through a cross-sectional survey, this study found that learning interaction in OSNs is low in general, with a small number of active users. Some health professionals actively used OSNs to support their practice, including sharing practical and experiential knowledge, benchmarking themselves, and to keep up-to-date on policy, advanced information and news in the field. These health professionals had an overall positive learning experience in OSNs.

  16. Arts-Based Learning: A New Approach to Nursing Education Using Andragogy.

    PubMed

    Nguyen, Megan; Miranda, Joyal; Lapum, Jennifer; Donald, Faith

    2016-07-01

    Learner-oriented strategies focusing on learning processes are needed to prepare nursing students for complex practice situations. An arts-based learning approach uses art to nurture cognitive and emotional learning. Knowles' theory of andragogy aims to develop the skill of learning and can inform the process of implementing arts-based learning. This article explores the use and evaluation of andragogy-informed arts-based learning for teaching nursing theory at the undergraduate level. Arts-based learning activities were implemented and then evaluated by students and instructors using anonymous questionnaires. Most students reported that the activities promoted learning. All instructors indicated an interest in integrating arts-based learning into the curricula. Facilitators and barriers to mainstreaming arts-based learning were highlighted. Findings stimulate implications for prospective research and education. Findings suggest that arts-based learning approaches enhance learning by supporting deep inquiry and different learning styles. Further exploration of andragogy-informed arts-based learning in nursing and other disciplines is warranted. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(7):407-410.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

  17. Integrating research, clinical care, and education in academic health science centers.

    PubMed

    King, Gillian; Thomson, Nicole; Rothstein, Mitchell; Kingsnorth, Shauna; Parker, Kathryn

    2016-10-10

    Purpose One of the major issues faced by academic health science centers (AHSCs) is the need for mechanisms to foster the integration of research, clinical, and educational activities to achieve the vision of evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) and optimal client care. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper synthesizes literature on organizational learning and collaboration, evidence-informed organizational decision making, and learning-based organizations to derive insights concerning the nature of effective workplace learning in AHSCs. Findings An evidence-informed model of collaborative workplace learning is proposed to aid the alignment of research, clinical, and educational functions in AHSCs. The model articulates relationships among AHSC academic functions and sub-functions, cross-functional activities, and collaborative learning processes, emphasizing the importance of cross-functional activities in enhancing collaborative learning processes and optimizing EIDM and client care. Cross-functional activities involving clinicians, researchers, and educators are hypothesized to be a primary vehicle for integration, supported by a learning-oriented workplace culture. These activities are distinct from interprofessional teams, which are clinical in nature. Four collaborative learning processes are specified that are enhanced in cross-functional activities or teamwork: co-constructing meaning, co-learning, co-producing knowledge, and co-using knowledge. Practical implications The model provides an aspirational vision and insight into the importance of cross-functional activities in enhancing workplace learning. The paper discusses the conceptual and empirical basis to the model, its contributions and limitations, and implications for AHSCs. Originality/value The model's potential utility for health care is discussed, with implications for organizational culture and the promotion of cross-functional activities.

  18. Active and passive spatial learning in human navigation: acquisition of graph knowledge.

    PubMed

    Chrastil, Elizabeth R; Warren, William H

    2015-07-01

    It is known that active exploration of a new environment leads to better spatial learning than does passive visual exposure. We ask whether specific components of active learning differentially contribute to particular forms of spatial knowledge-the exploration-specific learning hypothesis. Previously, we found that idiothetic information during walking is the primary active contributor to metric survey knowledge (Chrastil & Warren, 2013). In this study, we test the contributions of 3 components to topological graph and route knowledge: visual information, idiothetic information, and cognitive decision making. Four groups of participants learned the locations of 8 objects in a virtual hedge maze by (a) walking or (b) watching a video, crossed with (1) either making decisions about their path or (2) being guided through the maze. Route and graph knowledge were assessed by walking in the maze corridors from a starting object to the remembered location of a test object, with frequent detours. Decision making during exploration significantly contributed to subsequent route finding in the walking condition, whereas idiothetic information did not. Participants took novel routes and the metrically shortest routes on the majority of both direct and barrier trials, indicating that labeled graph knowledge-not merely route knowledge-was acquired. We conclude that, consistent with the exploration-specific learning hypothesis, decision making is the primary component of active learning for the acquisition of topological graph knowledge, whereas idiothetic information is the primary component for metric survey knowledge. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  19. Community Based Learning and Civic Engagement: Informal Learning among Adult Volunteers in Community Organizations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mundel, Karsten; Schugurensky, Daniel

    2008-01-01

    Many iterations of community based learning employ models, such as consciousness raising groups, cultural circles, and participatory action research. In all of them, learning is a deliberate part of an explicit educational activity. This article explores another realm of community learning: the informal learning that results from volunteering in…

  20. Informal Workplace Learning among Nurses: Organisational Learning Conditions and Personal Characteristics That Predict Learning Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kyndt, Eva; Vermeire, Eva; Cabus, Shana

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to examine which organisational learning conditions and individual characteristics predict the learning outcomes nurses achieve through informal learning activities. There is specific relevance for the nursing profession because of the rapidly changing healthcare systems. Design/Methodology/Approach: In total, 203 nurses…

  1. A Blended Approach to Active Learning in a Physiology Laboratory-Based Subject Facilitated by an e-Learning Component

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dantas, Arianne M.; Kemm, Robert E.

    2008-01-01

    Learning via online activities (e-learning) was introduced to facilitate existing face-to-face teaching to encourage more effective student preparation and then informed participation in an undergraduate physiology laboratory-based course. Active learning was encouraged by hypothesis formation and predictions prior to classes, with opportunities…

  2. Learning from Texts: Activation of Information from Previous Texts during Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beker, Katinka; Jolles, Dietsje; Lorch, Robert F., Jr.; van den Broek, Paul

    2016-01-01

    Learning often involves integration of information from multiple texts. The aim of the current study was to determine whether relevant information from previously read texts is spontaneously activated during reading, allowing for integration between texts (experiment 1 and 2), and whether this process is related to the representation of the texts…

  3. Collegial Activity Learning between Heterogeneous Sensors.

    PubMed

    Feuz, Kyle D; Cook, Diane J

    2017-11-01

    Activity recognition algorithms have matured and become more ubiquitous in recent years. However, these algorithms are typically customized for a particular sensor platform. In this paper we introduce PECO, a Personalized activity ECOsystem, that transfers learned activity information seamlessly between sensor platforms in real time so that any available sensor can continue to track activities without requiring its own extensive labeled training data. We introduce a multi-view transfer learning algorithm that facilitates this information handoff between sensor platforms and provide theoretical performance bounds for the algorithm. In addition, we empirically evaluate PECO using datasets that utilize heterogeneous sensor platforms to perform activity recognition. These results indicate that not only can activity recognition algorithms transfer important information to new sensor platforms, but any number of platforms can work together as colleagues to boost performance.

  4. Informal/Formal Learning and Workload among Ontario Secondary School Teachers. NALL Working Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smaller, Harry; Hart, Doug; Clark, Rosemary; Livingstone, David

    Following up on an earlier national survey study of Canadian teachers' formal and informal learning, this study had 13 Ontario secondary teachers keep detailed logs of their day and evening activities, along with notations about what they may have learned as a result of engaging in each activity, for 7 consecutive days in late 1999, and again in…

  5. Boundary Interaction: Towards Developing a Mobile Technology-Enabled Science Curriculum to Integrate Learning in the Informal Spaces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, Daner; Looi, Chee-Kit

    2018-01-01

    This paper explores the crossover between formal learning and learning in informal spaces supported by mobile technology, and proposes design principles for educators to carry out a science curriculum, namely Boundary Activity-based Science Curriculum (BAbSC). The conceptualization of the boundary object, and the principles of boundary activity as…

  6. Didactic Content of Constructively-Projective Function of Students Learning: The Extrapolation in Information Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kutuev, Ruslan A.; Nuriyeva, Elvira N.; Safiullina, Tatyana R.; Kryukova, Nina I.; Tagirova, Nataliya P.; Karpenko, Galina V.

    2016-01-01

    The relevance of the study is conditioned by a radical impact on the learning process of the university by information technology, which put start a new phase in its transformation. According to experts at the present time the main factor of efficiency of university's activity becomes the expansion of students' learning activities, realized on the…

  7. Conceptualizing School-Based Teacher Learning from Teachers' Points of View: Holistically Leveraging Formal, Informal, and Independent Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Monty; Dexter, Sara

    2016-01-01

    Improving in-service teacher education is paramount to improving student learning outcomes, and while research in this area typically examines formal teacher learning opportunities, emerging research indicates that teachers also engage in informal and independent modes of learning. Our inquiry into how teachers learned about integrating technology…

  8. 78 FR 65302 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Evaluation of a District Wide...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-31

    ...; Comment Request; Evaluation of a District Wide Implementation of a Professional Learning Community... Professional Learning Community Initiative. OMB Control Number: 1850--NEW. Type of Review: A new information... need for systematic information about district-wide implementation of professional learning communities...

  9. Pattern Activity Clustering and Evaluation (PACE)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blasch, Erik; Banas, Christopher; Paul, Michael; Bussjager, Becky; Seetharaman, Guna

    2012-06-01

    With the vast amount of network information available on activities of people (i.e. motions, transportation routes, and site visits) there is a need to explore the salient properties of data that detect and discriminate the behavior of individuals. Recent machine learning approaches include methods of data mining, statistical analysis, clustering, and estimation that support activity-based intelligence. We seek to explore contemporary methods in activity analysis using machine learning techniques that discover and characterize behaviors that enable grouping, anomaly detection, and adversarial intent prediction. To evaluate these methods, we describe the mathematics and potential information theory metrics to characterize behavior. A scenario is presented to demonstrate the concept and metrics that could be useful for layered sensing behavior pattern learning and analysis. We leverage work on group tracking, learning and clustering approaches; as well as utilize information theoretical metrics for classification, behavioral and event pattern recognition, and activity and entity analysis. The performance evaluation of activity analysis supports high-level information fusion of user alerts, data queries and sensor management for data extraction, relations discovery, and situation analysis of existing data.

  10. Opportunities to Create Active Learning Techniques in the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Camacho, Danielle J.; Legare, Jill M.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to contribute to the growing body of research that focuses on active learning techniques. Active learning techniques require students to consider a given set of information, analyze, process, and prepare to restate what has been learned--all strategies are confirmed to improve higher order thinking skills. Active…

  11. An interpolated activity during the knowledge-of-results delay interval eliminates the learning advantages of self-controlled feedback schedules.

    PubMed

    Carter, Michael J; Ste-Marie, Diane M

    2017-03-01

    The learning advantages of self-controlled knowledge-of-results (KR) schedules compared to yoked schedules have been linked to the optimization of the informational value of the KR received for the enhancement of one's error-detection capabilities. This suggests that information-processing activities that occur after motor execution, but prior to receiving KR (i.e., the KR-delay interval) may underlie self-controlled KR learning advantages. The present experiment investigated whether self-controlled KR learning benefits would be eliminated if an interpolated activity was performed during the KR-delay interval. Participants practiced a waveform matching task that required two rapid elbow extension-flexion reversals in one of four groups using a factorial combination of choice (self-controlled, yoked) and KR-delay interval (empty, interpolated). The waveform had specific spatial and temporal constraints, and an overall movement time goal. The results indicated that the self-controlled + empty group had superior retention and transfer scores compared to all other groups. Moreover, the self-controlled + interpolated and yoked + interpolated groups did not differ significantly in retention and transfer; thus, the interpolated activity eliminated the typically found learning benefits of self-controlled KR. No significant differences were found between the two yoked groups. We suggest the interpolated activity interfered with information-processing activities specific to self-controlled KR conditions that occur during the KR-delay interval and that these activities are vital for reaping the associated learning benefits. These findings add to the growing evidence that challenge the motivational account of self-controlled KR learning advantages and instead highlights informational factors associated with the KR-delay interval as an important variable for motor learning under self-controlled KR schedules.

  12. Student Learning in the Information Age. American Council on Education Series on Higher Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Breivik, Patricia Senn

    This book discusses resource-based learning in higher education. One premise of resource-based learning is that as students become able to select their own learning materials from information resources, they become active, independent learners, while professors become learning facilitators in cooperation with librarians and other information…

  13. Informal Conversations about Teaching and Their Relationship to a Formal Development Program: Learning Opportunities for Novice and Mid-Career Academics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomson, Kate

    2015-01-01

    Engaging in informal activities, like conversations with colleagues, is one way that professionals can learn within workplace contexts. Informal conversations present opportunities for academics to learn about teaching. The current study investigated academics' experience of informal conversations, and their experience of the relations between…

  14. Preschoolers' Preference for Syntactic Complexity Varies by Socioeconomic Status

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corriveau, Kathleen H.; Kurkul, Katelyn; Arunachalam, Sudha

    2016-01-01

    Two experiments investigated whether 4- and 5-year-old children choose to learn from informants who use more complex syntax (passive voice) over informants using more simple syntax (active voice). In Experiment 1 (N = 30), children viewed one informant who consistently used the passive voice and another who used active voice. When learning novel…

  15. Indicators on Informal Learning for Active Citizenship at School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scheerens, Jaap

    2011-01-01

    The article is based on an international comparative study in seven European countries, in which informal learning for active citizenship at school was explored by means of in depth case studies. Active citizenship is being recognized as an important goal of education and school pedagogy in an increasing number of countries. After defining the key…

  16. Enhancing Learning Outcomes through Application Driven Activities in Marketing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stegemann, Nicole; Sutton-Brady, Catherine

    2013-01-01

    This paper introduces an activity used in class to allow students to apply previously acquired information to a hands-on task. As the authors have previously shown active learning is a way to effectively facilitate and improve students' learning outcomes. As a result to improve learning outcomes we have overtime developed a series of learning…

  17. 78 FR 5793 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Evaluation of State Expanded Learning...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-28

    ...; Comment Request; Evaluation of State Expanded Learning Time AGENCY: Department of Education (ED), IES... State Expanded Learning Time. OMB Control Number: 1850-New. Type of Review: New information collection... conduct semi-structured interviews with 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) state...

  18. An Exploratory Study Comparing the Effectiveness of Lecturing versus Team-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huggins, Christopher M.; Stamatel, Janet P.

    2015-01-01

    Lecturing has been criticized for fostering a passive learning environment, emphasizing a one-way flow of information, and not adequately engaging students. In contrast, active-learning approaches, such as team-based learning (TBL), prioritize student interaction and engagement and create multidirectional flows of information. This paper presents…

  19. A Comparison of the neural correlates that underlie rule-based and information-integration category learning.

    PubMed

    Carpenter, Kathryn L; Wills, Andy J; Benattayallah, Abdelmalek; Milton, Fraser

    2016-10-01

    The influential competition between verbal and implicit systems (COVIS) model proposes that category learning is driven by two competing neural systems-an explicit, verbal, system, and a procedural-based, implicit, system. In the current fMRI study, participants learned either a conjunctive, rule-based (RB), category structure that is believed to engage the explicit system, or an information-integration category structure that is thought to preferentially recruit the implicit system. The RB and information-integration category structures were matched for participant error rate, the number of relevant stimulus dimensions, and category separation. Under these conditions, considerable overlap in brain activation, including the prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and the hippocampus, was found between the RB and information-integration category structures. Contrary to the predictions of COVIS, the medial temporal lobes and in particular the hippocampus, key regions for explicit memory, were found to be more active in the information-integration condition than in the RB condition. No regions were more activated in RB than information-integration category learning. The implications of these results for theories of category learning are discussed. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3557-3574, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Active and passive spatial learning in human navigation: acquisition of survey knowledge.

    PubMed

    Chrastil, Elizabeth R; Warren, William H

    2013-09-01

    It seems intuitively obvious that active exploration of a new environment would lead to better spatial learning than would passive visual exposure. It is unclear, however, which components of active learning contribute to spatial knowledge, and previous literature is decidedly mixed. This experiment tests the contributions of 4 components to metric survey knowledge: visual, vestibular, and podokinetic information and cognitive decision making. In the learning phase, 6 groups of participants learned the locations of 8 objects in a virtual hedge maze by (a) walking, (b) being pushed in a wheelchair, or (c) watching a video, crossed with (1) making decisions about their path or (2) being guided through the maze. In the test phase, survey knowledge was assessed by having participants walk a novel shortcut from a starting object to the remembered location of a test object, with the maze removed. Performance was slightly better than chance in the passive video condition. The addition of vestibular information did not improve performance in the wheelchair condition, but the addition of podokinetic information significantly improved angular accuracy in the walking condition. In contrast, there was no effect of decision making in any condition. The results indicate that visual and podokinetic information significantly contribute to survey knowledge, whereas vestibular information and decision making do not. We conclude that podokinetic information is the primary component of active learning for the acquisition of metric survey knowledge. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  1. Feasibility of Active Machine Learning for Multiclass Compound Classification.

    PubMed

    Lang, Tobias; Flachsenberg, Florian; von Luxburg, Ulrike; Rarey, Matthias

    2016-01-25

    A common task in the hit-to-lead process is classifying sets of compounds into multiple, usually structural classes, which build the groundwork for subsequent SAR studies. Machine learning techniques can be used to automate this process by learning classification models from training compounds of each class. Gathering class information for compounds can be cost-intensive as the required data needs to be provided by human experts or experiments. This paper studies whether active machine learning can be used to reduce the required number of training compounds. Active learning is a machine learning method which processes class label data in an iterative fashion. It has gained much attention in a broad range of application areas. In this paper, an active learning method for multiclass compound classification is proposed. This method selects informative training compounds so as to optimally support the learning progress. The combination with human feedback leads to a semiautomated interactive multiclass classification procedure. This method was investigated empirically on 15 compound classification tasks containing 86-2870 compounds in 3-38 classes. The empirical results show that active learning can solve these classification tasks using 10-80% of the data which would be necessary for standard learning techniques.

  2. 76 FR 72414 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-23

    ... participating in a CME activity to determine the degree to which the learning activities with integrated EHC... awareness of and willingness to learn about results from comparative effectiveness research studies. The... learning programs for delivery through the Eisenberg Center for Clinical Decisions and Communications...

  3. Improving Learning with Information Technology: Report of a Workshop (Washington, DC, January 24-25, 2001).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pritchard, Gail E., Ed.

    This report summarizes the proceedings of a symposium on learning with information technology. Part 1 discusses the initial ILIT (Improving Learning with Information Technology) activity, including: the confluence of issues and opportunities that catalyzed the project; ILIT committee goals; the evening symposium sessions; participant observations…

  4. An Interactive Robotic Fish Exhibit for Designed Settings in Informal Science Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phamduy, Paul; Leou, Mary; Milne, Catherine; Porfiri, Maurizio

    2017-01-01

    Informal science learning aims to improve public understanding of STEM. Free-choice learners can be engaged in a wide range of experiences, ranging from watching entertaining educational videos to actively participating in hands-on projects. Efforts in informal science learning are often gauged by their ability to elicit interaction, to foster…

  5. Assessing Environmental Impact: A Secondary School Learning Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nous, Albert P.

    This packet contains information on teaching about environmental impact. Background information is included on the role of environmental impact on our society and environmental risk is also discussed. Environmental impacts are studied using Stages of Assessment. Learning activities and seven lesson plans include: (1) "The Community…

  6. Preparing Stocks. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.10a. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with the uses for and types of stocks and also gives information on how to cook, cool, and store stocks. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities…

  7. Effect of students' learning styles on classroom performance in problem-based learning.

    PubMed

    Alghasham, Abdullah A

    2012-01-01

    Since problem-based learning (PBL) sessions require a combination of active discussion, group interaction, and inductive and reflective thinking, students with different learning styles can be expected to perform differently in the PBL sessions. Using "Learning Style Inventory Questionnaire," students were divided into separate active and reflective learner groups. Tutors were asked to observe and assess the students' behavioral performance during the PBL sessions for a period of 5 weeks. A questionnaire of 24 items was developed to assess students' behavioral performance in PBL sessions. Active students tended to use multiple activities to obtain the needed information were more adjusted to the group norms and regulation and more skillful in using reasoning and problem-solving skills and in participation in discussion. On the other hand, reflective students used independent study more, listened actively and carefully to others and used previously acquired information in the discussion more frequently. Formative assessment quizzes did not indicate better performance of either group. There were no significant gender differences in PBL behavioral performance or quizzes' scores. Active and reflective learners differ in PBL class behavioral performance but not in the formative assessment. We recommend that students should be informed about their learning style and that they should learn strategies to compensate for any lacks in PBL sessions through self-study. Also, educational planners should ensure an adequate mix of students with different learning styles in the PBL groups to achieve PBL desired objectives.

  8. Training and Educating Army Officers for the 21st Century: Implications for the United States Military Academy.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1998-03-11

    Characteristics of Active Learning 24 Vll Vlll The world is facing a paradigm shift as we enter an Information Age characterized by rapid change...general, their teaching philosophy is 22 rapidly moving toward promoting active learning through stimulating student/faculty intellectual interaction...College Teaching, November 1995. Similarly, characteristics of active learning are emphasized (Table 2) .55 These types of active learning strategies

  9. Focusing on Active, Meaningful Learning. IDEA Paper No. 34.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stalheim-Smith, Ann

    This paper discusses active and meaningful learning and the application of this instructional approach to the college classroom, focusing on techniques used in the author's biology classes. Active and meaningful learning places emphasis on students actually doing things and thinking about what they are doing, relating new information to…

  10. 78 FR 38957 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Race to the Top-Early Learning...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-28

    ... Department of Defense and Full- Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, and the Department of Education... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION [Docket No. ED-2013-ICCD-0085] Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Race to the Top--Early Learning Challenge Annual Performance Report AGENCY: Office of...

  11. Small Stories for Learning: A Sociocultural Analysis of Children's Participation in Informal Science Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Desjardins, Elia Nelson

    2011-12-01

    This dissertation examines the ways children use language to construct scientific knowledge in designed informal learning environments such as museums, aquariums, and zoos, with particular attention to autobiographical storytelling. This study takes as its foundation cultural-historical activity theory, defining learning as increased participation in meaningful, knowledge-based activity. It aims to improve experience design in informal learning environments by facilitating and building upon language interactions that are already in use by learners in these contexts. Fieldwork consists of audio recordings of individual children aged 4--12 as they explored a museum of science and technology with their families. Recordings were transcribed and coded according to the activity (task) and context (artifact/exhibit) in which the child was participating during each sequence of utterances. Additional evidence is provided by supplemental interviews with museum educators. Analysis suggests that short autobiographical stories can provide opportunities for learners to access metacognitive knowledge, for educators to assess learners' prior experience and knowledge, and for designers to engage affective pathways in order to increase participation that is both active and contemplative. Design implications are discussed and a design proposal for a distributed informal learning environment is presented.

  12. An Auto-Scoring Mechanism for Evaluating Problem-Solving Ability in a Web-Based Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiou, Chuang-Kai; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Tseng, Judy C. R.

    2009-01-01

    The rapid development of computer and network technologies has attracted researchers to investigate strategies for and the effects of applying information technologies in learning activities; simultaneously, learning environments have been developed to record the learning portfolios of students seeking web information for problem-solving. Although…

  13. The Effectiveness of WhatsApp Mobile Learning Activities Guided by Activity Theory on Students' Knowledge Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barhoumi, Chokri

    2015-01-01

    This research paper explores the effectiveness of using mobile technologies to support a blended learning course titled Scientific Research Methods in Information Science. Specifically, it discusses the effects of WhatsApp mobile learning activities guided by activity theory on students' knowledge Management (KM). During the 2014 academic year,…

  14. Use of Online Learning Resources in the Development of Learning Environments at the Intersection of Formal and Informal Learning: The Student as Autonomous Designer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lebenicnik, Maja; Pitt, Ian; Istenic Starcic, Andreja

    2015-01-01

    Learning resources that are used in the education of university students are often available online. The nature of new technologies causes an interweaving of formal and informal learning, with the result that a more active role is expected from students with regard to the use of ICT for their learning. The variety of online learning resources…

  15. From Swimming Pool to Collaborative Learning Studio: Pedagogy, Space, and Technology in a Large Active Learning Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Dabae; Morrone, Anastasia S.; Siering, Greg

    2018-01-01

    To promote student learning and bolster student success, higher education institutions are increasingly creating large active learning classrooms to replace traditional lecture halls. Although there have been many efforts to examine the effects of those classrooms on learning outcomes, there is paucity of research that can inform the design and…

  16. When cognitive exertion does not yield cognitive gain: toward an informational explanation of learned helplessness.

    PubMed

    Sedek, G; Kofta, M

    1990-04-01

    This study tested a new information-processing explanation of learned helplessness that proposes that an uncontrollable situation produces helplessness symptoms because it is a source of inconsistent, self-contradictory task information during problem-solving attempts. The flow of such information makes hypothesis-testing activity futile. Prolonged and inefficient activity of this kind leads in turn to the emergence of a state of cognitive exhaustion, with accompanying performance deficits. In 3 experiments, Ss underwent informational helplessness training (IHT): They were sequentially exposed to inconsistent task information during discrimination problems. As predicted, IHT was associated with subjective symptoms of irreducible uncertainty and resulted in (a) performance deterioration on subsequent avoidance learning, (b) heightened negative mood, and (c) subjective symptoms of cognitive exhaustion.

  17. How Patterns of Learning About Sexual Information Among Adolescents Are Related to Sexual Behaviors.

    PubMed

    Bleakley, Amy; Khurana, Atika; Hennessy, Michael; Ellithorpe, Morgan

    2018-03-01

    Parents, peers and media are informal sources of sexual information for adolescents. Although the content of sexual information communicated by these sources is known to vary, little is known about what adolescents report actually learning from each source. Data from 1,990 U.S.14-17-year-olds who participated in an online survey in 2015 were used to assess learning about four topics (sex, condoms, hormonal birth control and romantic relationships) from three informal sources (parents, peers, and television and movies). Gender and race differences in learning by source and topic were assessed using t tests. Following a factor analysis, learning about all topics was grouped by source, and regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between learning from each source and three outcomes: sexual activity, condom use and hormonal birth control use. Models included interactions between information sources and race and gender. White adolescents reported learning more from parents and less from media than black adolescents. Compared with males, females learned more about hormonal birth control and less about condoms from their parents, and more about relationships from peers and media. Learning from parents and from peers were positively associated with adolescents' sexual activity (unstandardized coefficients, 0.26 and 0.52, respectively). Learning from parents was positively associated with condom use (odds ratio, 1.5). Adolescents' learning about sex from informal sources varies by race and gender. Future research should examine whether sexual health interventions and message development can capitalize on these differences. Copyright © 2018 by the Guttmacher Institute.

  18. Multi-Modal Traveler Information System - Lessons Learned

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-05-19

    The purpose of this working paper is to provide an information base of lessons learned from activities similar to the design of the Gary Chicago Milwaukee (GCM) Corridor Architecture and the Gateway Traveler Information System (TIS). Many similar act...

  19. Active Learning Using Hint Information.

    PubMed

    Li, Chun-Liang; Ferng, Chun-Sung; Lin, Hsuan-Tien

    2015-08-01

    The abundance of real-world data and limited labeling budget calls for active learning, an important learning paradigm for reducing human labeling efforts. Many recently developed active learning algorithms consider both uncertainty and representativeness when making querying decisions. However, exploiting representativeness with uncertainty concurrently usually requires tackling sophisticated and challenging learning tasks, such as clustering. In this letter, we propose a new active learning framework, called hinted sampling, which takes both uncertainty and representativeness into account in a simpler way. We design a novel active learning algorithm within the hinted sampling framework with an extended support vector machine. Experimental results validate that the novel active learning algorithm can result in a better and more stable performance than that achieved by state-of-the-art algorithms. We also show that the hinted sampling framework allows improving another active learning algorithm designed from the transductive support vector machine.

  20. Active learning-based information structure analysis of full scientific articles and two applications for biomedical literature review.

    PubMed

    Guo, Yufan; Silins, Ilona; Stenius, Ulla; Korhonen, Anna

    2013-06-01

    Techniques that are capable of automatically analyzing the information structure of scientific articles could be highly useful for improving information access to biomedical literature. However, most existing approaches rely on supervised machine learning (ML) and substantial labeled data that are expensive to develop and apply to different sub-fields of biomedicine. Recent research shows that minimal supervision is sufficient for fairly accurate information structure analysis of biomedical abstracts. However, is it realistic for full articles given their high linguistic and informational complexity? We introduce and release a novel corpus of 50 biomedical articles annotated according to the Argumentative Zoning (AZ) scheme, and investigate active learning with one of the most widely used ML models-Support Vector Machines (SVM)-on this corpus. Additionally, we introduce two novel applications that use AZ to support real-life literature review in biomedicine via question answering and summarization. We show that active learning with SVM trained on 500 labeled sentences (6% of the corpus) performs surprisingly well with the accuracy of 82%, just 2% lower than fully supervised learning. In our question answering task, biomedical researchers find relevant information significantly faster from AZ-annotated than unannotated articles. In the summarization task, sentences extracted from particular zones are significantly more similar to gold standard summaries than those extracted from particular sections of full articles. These results demonstrate that active learning of full articles' information structure is indeed realistic and the accuracy is high enough to support real-life literature review in biomedicine. The annotated corpus, our AZ classifier and the two novel applications are available at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/yg244/12bioinfo.html

  1. The Philosophical and Pedagogical Underpinnings of Active Learning in Engineering Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christie, Michael; de Graaff, Erik

    2017-01-01

    In this paper the authors draw on three sequential keynote addresses that they gave at Active Learning in Engineering Education (ALE) workshops in Copenhagen (2012), Caxias do Sol (2014) and San Sebastian (2015). Active Learning in Engineering Education is an informal international network of engineering educators dedicated to improving…

  2. Photography. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This curriculum guide provides technology learning activities designed to prepare students in grades 6-10 to work in the world of the future. The 8-day course provides exploratory, hands-on learning activities and information that can enhance the education of students of all types in an integrated curriculum that provides practical applications of…

  3. Using cooperative learning for a drug information assignment.

    PubMed

    Earl, Grace L

    2009-11-12

    To implement a cooperative learning activity to engage students in analyzing tertiary drug information resources in a literature evaluation course. The class was divided into 4 sections to form expert groups and each group researched a different set of references using the jigsaw technique. Each member of each expert group was reassigned to a jigsaw group so that each new group was composed of 4 students from 4 different expert groups. The jigsaw groups met to discuss search strategies and rate the usefulness of the references. In addition to group-based learning, teaching methods included students' writing an independent research paper to enhance their abilities to search and analyze drug information resources. The assignment and final course grades improved after implementation of the activity. Students agreed that class discussions were a useful learning experience and 75% (77/102) said they would use the drug information references for other courses. The jigsaw technique was successful in engaging students in cooperative learning to improve critical thinking skills regarding drug information.

  4. Exploring Representativeness and Informativeness for Active Learning.

    PubMed

    Du, Bo; Wang, Zengmao; Zhang, Lefei; Zhang, Liangpei; Liu, Wei; Shen, Jialie; Tao, Dacheng

    2017-01-01

    How can we find a general way to choose the most suitable samples for training a classifier? Even with very limited prior information? Active learning, which can be regarded as an iterative optimization procedure, plays a key role to construct a refined training set to improve the classification performance in a variety of applications, such as text analysis, image recognition, social network modeling, etc. Although combining representativeness and informativeness of samples has been proven promising for active sampling, state-of-the-art methods perform well under certain data structures. Then can we find a way to fuse the two active sampling criteria without any assumption on data? This paper proposes a general active learning framework that effectively fuses the two criteria. Inspired by a two-sample discrepancy problem, triple measures are elaborately designed to guarantee that the query samples not only possess the representativeness of the unlabeled data but also reveal the diversity of the labeled data. Any appropriate similarity measure can be employed to construct the triple measures. Meanwhile, an uncertain measure is leveraged to generate the informativeness criterion, which can be carried out in different ways. Rooted in this framework, a practical active learning algorithm is proposed, which exploits a radial basis function together with the estimated probabilities to construct the triple measures and a modified best-versus-second-best strategy to construct the uncertain measure, respectively. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our algorithm consistently achieves superior performance over the state-of-the-art active learning algorithms.

  5. Aligning Professional Skills and Active Learning Methods: An Application for Information and Communications Technology Engineering

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Llorens, Ariadna; Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina; Llinàs-Audet, Xavier

    2017-01-01

    Engineering education is facing new challenges to effectively provide the appropriate skills to future engineering professionals according to market demands. This study proposes a model based on active learning methods, which is expected to facilitate the acquisition of the professional skills most highly valued in the information and…

  6. Active Learning in Engineering Education: a (re)introduction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lima, Rui M.; Andersson, Pernille Hammar; Saalman, Elisabeth

    2017-01-01

    The informal network 'Active Learning in Engineering Education' (ALE) has been promoting Active Learning since 2001. ALE creates opportunity for practitioners and researchers of engineering education to collaboratively learn how to foster learning of engineering students. The activities in ALE are centred on the vision that learners construct their knowledge based on meaningful activities and knowledge. In 2014, the steering committee of the ALE network reinforced the need to discuss the meaning of Active Learning and that was the base for this proposal for a special issue. More than 40 submissions were reviewed by the European Journal of Engineering Education community and this theme issue ended up with eight contributions, which are different both in their research and Active Learning approaches. These different Active Learning approaches are aligned with the different approaches that can be increasingly found in indexed journals.

  7. Informal Learning as Performance: Toward a Hermeneutic Phenomenology of Museum Learning in "Second Life"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cool, Kathleen L.

    2013-01-01

    This study explored how avid users of "Second Life" ("SL") experience and make meaning of informal learning activities in virtual art museums and similar cultural spaces through their avatars. While recent literature has laid the groundwork for studying student engagement and formal learning, the lacuna of research bound by the…

  8. Mobile Blogs in Language Learning: Making the Most of Informal and Situated Learning Opportunities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Comas-Quinn, Anna; Mardomingo, Raquel; Valentine, Chris

    2009-01-01

    The application of mobile technologies to learning has the potential to facilitate the active participation of learners in the creation and delivery of content. Mobile technologies can also provide a powerful connection between a variety of formal and informal learning contexts and can help to build a community of learners. However these versatile…

  9. Active learning for ontological event extraction incorporating named entity recognition and unknown word handling.

    PubMed

    Han, Xu; Kim, Jung-jae; Kwoh, Chee Keong

    2016-01-01

    Biomedical text mining may target various kinds of valuable information embedded in the literature, but a critical obstacle to the extension of the mining targets is the cost of manual construction of labeled data, which are required for state-of-the-art supervised learning systems. Active learning is to choose the most informative documents for the supervised learning in order to reduce the amount of required manual annotations. Previous works of active learning, however, focused on the tasks of entity recognition and protein-protein interactions, but not on event extraction tasks for multiple event types. They also did not consider the evidence of event participants, which might be a clue for the presence of events in unlabeled documents. Moreover, the confidence scores of events produced by event extraction systems are not reliable for ranking documents in terms of informativity for supervised learning. We here propose a novel committee-based active learning method that supports multi-event extraction tasks and employs a new statistical method for informativity estimation instead of using the confidence scores from event extraction systems. Our method is based on a committee of two systems as follows: We first employ an event extraction system to filter potential false negatives among unlabeled documents, from which the system does not extract any event. We then develop a statistical method to rank the potential false negatives of unlabeled documents 1) by using a language model that measures the probabilities of the expression of multiple events in documents and 2) by using a named entity recognition system that locates the named entities that can be event arguments (e.g. proteins). The proposed method further deals with unknown words in test data by using word similarity measures. We also apply our active learning method for the task of named entity recognition. We evaluate the proposed method against the BioNLP Shared Tasks datasets, and show that our method can achieve better performance than such previous methods as entropy and Gibbs error based methods and a conventional committee-based method. We also show that the incorporation of named entity recognition into the active learning for event extraction and the unknown word handling further improve the active learning method. In addition, the adaptation of the active learning method into named entity recognition tasks also improves the document selection for manual annotation of named entities.

  10. The Influence of Extracurricular Activities on Middle School Students' Science Learning in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Danhui; Tang, Xing

    2017-01-01

    Informal science learning has been found to have effects on students' science learning. Through the use of secondary data from a national assessment of 7410 middle school students in China, this study explores the relationship among five types of extracurricular science activities, learning interests, academic self-concept, and science…

  11. "Sustainability on Earth" Webquests: Do They Qualify as Problem-Based Learning Activities?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leite, Laurinda; Dourado, Luís; Morgado, Sofia

    2015-01-01

    Information and communication technologies (ICT), namely the Internet, can play a valuable educational role in several school subjects, including science education. The same applies to problem-based learning (PBL), that is, a student-centered active learning methodology that can prepare students for lifelong learning. WebQuests (WQs) combine PBL…

  12. Telementoring Physics: University-Community After-school Collaborations and the Mediation of the Formal/Informal Divide

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lecusay, Robert A.

    For several decades improvement of science education has been a major concern of policy makers concerned that the U.S. is a "nation at risk" owing to the dearth of students pursing careers in science. Recent policy proposals have argued that provision of broadband digital connectivity to organizations in the informal sector would increase the reach of the formal, academic sector to raise the overall level of science literacy in the country. This dissertation reports on a longitudinal study of a physics telementoring activity jointly run by a university-community collaborative at a community learning center. The activity implemented a digital infrastructure that exceeds the technical and social-institutional arrangements promoted by policy makers. In addition to broadband internet access (for tele-conferencing between students at the community center and physicists at a university), supplemented by digital software designed to promote physics education, the activity included the presence of a collaborating researcher/tutor at the community learning center to coordinate and document the instructional activities. The current research revealed a fundamental contradiction between the logic, goals, and practices of the physics instructors, and the corresponding logic, goals, and practices of the participants at the community learning center. This contradiction revolves around a contrast between the physicists' formal, logocentric ways of understanding expressed in the ability to explain the scientific rules underlying physical phenomena and the informal, pragmatic orientation of the youth and adults at the learning center. The observations in this dissertation should remind techno-enthusiasts, especially in the arena of public education policy, that there are no turnkey solutions in "distance" science education. Technically "connecting" people is not equivalent to creating conditions that expand opportunities to learn and a functioning socio-technical system that supports learning. Secondly, for designers and practitioners of informal learning in community-university collaborative settings, it is critically important to understand distance learning activities as developing "cross-cultural, " collaborative encounters, the results of which are more likely to be hybrids of different ways of learning and knowing than the conversion of informal learning into a tool for instruction that will allow youth to "think like physicists."

  13. Incorporating active learning in psychiatry education.

    PubMed

    Kumar, Sonia; McLean, Loyola; Nash, Louise; Trigwell, Keith

    2017-06-01

    We aim to summarise the active learning literature in higher education and consider its relevance for postgraduate psychiatry trainees, to inform the development of a new Formal Education Course (FEC): the Master of Medicine (Psychiatry) at the University of Sydney. We undertook a literature search on 'active learning', 'flipped classroom', 'problem-based learning' and 'psychiatry education'. The effectiveness of active learning pedagogy in higher education is well supported by evidence; however, there have been few psychiatry-specific studies. A new 'flipped classroom' format was developed for the Master of Medicine (Psychiatry). Postgraduate psychiatry training is an active learning environment; the pedagogical approach to FECs requires further evaluation.

  14. Addressing Information Literacy through Student-Centered Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bond, Paul

    2016-01-01

    This case study describes several courses that resulted from a teaching partnership between an instructional technologist/professor and a librarian that evolved over several semesters, and the information literacy implications of the course formats. In order to increase student engagement, active learning and inquiry-based learning techniques were…

  15. Tornadoes: A Center Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christman-Rothlein, Liz; Meinbach, Anita M.

    1981-01-01

    Information is given on how to put together a learning center. Discusses information and activity packets for a complete learning center on tornadoes including objectives, directions, materials, photographs of physical arrangements, and posttest. (DC)

  16. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jamieson, Kevin; Davis, IV, Warren L.

    Active learning methods automatically adapt data collection by selecting the most informative samples in order to accelerate machine learning. Because of this, real-world testing and comparing active learning algorithms requires collecting new datasets (adaptively), rather than simply applying algorithms to benchmark datasets, as is the norm in (passive) machine learning research. To facilitate the development, testing and deployment of active learning for real applications, we have built an open-source software system for large-scale active learning research and experimentation. The system, called NEXT, provides a unique platform for realworld, reproducible active learning research. This paper details the challenges of building themore » system and demonstrates its capabilities with several experiments. The results show how experimentation can help expose strengths and weaknesses of active learning algorithms, in sometimes unexpected and enlightening ways.« less

  17. Active learning strategies for the deduplication of electronic patient data using classification trees.

    PubMed

    Sariyar, M; Borg, A; Pommerening, K

    2012-10-01

    Supervised record linkage methods often require a clerical review to gain informative training data. Active learning means to actively prompt the user to label data with special characteristics in order to minimise the review costs. We conducted an empirical evaluation to investigate whether a simple active learning strategy using binary comparison patterns is sufficient or if string metrics together with a more sophisticated algorithm are necessary to achieve high accuracies with a small training set. Based on medical registry data with different numbers of attributes, we used active learning to acquire training sets for classification trees, which were then used to classify the remaining data. Active learning for binary patterns means that every distinct comparison pattern represents a stratum from which one item is sampled. Active learning for patterns consisting of the Levenshtein string metric values uses an iterative process where the most informative and representative examples are added to the training set. In this context, we extended the active learning strategy by Sarawagi and Bhamidipaty (2002). On the original data set, active learning based on binary comparison patterns leads to the best results. When dropping four or six attributes, using string metrics leads to better results. In both cases, not more than 200 manually reviewed training examples are necessary. In record linkage applications where only forename, name and birthday are available as attributes, we suggest the sophisticated active learning strategy based on string metrics in order to achieve highly accurate results. We recommend the simple strategy if more attributes are available, as in our study. In both cases, active learning significantly reduces the amount of manual involvement in training data selection compared to usual record linkage settings. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. 75 FR 63822 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-18

    ... design to assess the impact of Learn and Serve America-funded service-learning activities on student...-funded service-learning activities on ninth and tenth grade students' academic achievement, academic... will be collected from students on their academic and civic engagement; teachers on the implementation...

  19. Learning about Energy. Superific Science Book XI. A Good Apple Science Activity Book for Grades 5-8+.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conway, Lorraine

    Based on the idea that active participation stimulates the processes by which learning takes place, this document provides teachers and students with a variety of information and learning activities dealing with energy. Concepts about energy are presented through the use of laboratory experiments, demonstrations, worksheet exercises and individual…

  20. Learning about Chemistry Concepts. Superific Science Book VIII. A Good Apple Science Activity Book for Grades 5-8+.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conway, Lorraine

    Based on the idea that active participation stimulates the processes by which learning takes place, this document provides teachers and students with a variety of information and learning activities dealing with chemistry. Basic concepts about chemistry are presented through the use of laboratory experiments, demonstrations, worksheet exercises…

  1. Business and Office Education: Accounting, Clerk. Instructor's Manual [and] Student Learning Activity Guide. Kit No. 204.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cliatt, Katherine H.

    This learning activity guide and instructor's manual provide information and exercises for an exploratory activity in accounting. Instructional objectives covered in the guide are for the students to learn (1) reasons for studying accounting and related job descriptions, (2) definitions for accounting terms, (3) the accounting equation, (4) how to…

  2. Problem Solving. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This curriculum guide provides technology learning activities designed to prepare students in grades 6-10 to work in the world of the future. The 8-day course provides exploratory, hands-on learning activities and information that can enhance the education of students of all types in an integrated curriculum that provides practical applications of…

  3. Structural Engineering. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This curriculum guide provides technology learning activities designed to prepare students in grades 6-10 to work in the world of the future. The 8-day course provides exploratory, hands-on learning activities and information that can enhance the education of students of all types in an integrated curriculum that provides practical applications of…

  4. Thermal Screen Printing. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This curriculum guide provides technology learning activities designed to prepare students in grades 6-10 to work in the world of the future. The 8-day course provides exploratory, hands-on learning activities and information that can enhance the education of students of all types in an integrated curriculum that provides practical applications of…

  5. Research and Design. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This curriculum guide provides technology learning activities designed to prepare students in grades 6-10 to work in the world of the future. The 8-day course provides exploratory, hands-on learning activities and information that can enhance the education of students of all types in an integrated curriculum that provides practical applications of…

  6. Mapping the Iceberg. NALL Working Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Livingstone, David

    A survey of 1,500 Canadian adults looked at the full range of adults' learning activities, including informal learning related to employment, community volunteer work, household work, and other general interest. Findings indicated those in the labor force, or expecting to be in soon, participated in informal learning related to current or…

  7. Globalization of Knowledge Discovery and Information Retrieval in Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zaidel, Mark; Guerrero, Osiris

    2008-01-01

    Developments in communication and information technologies in the last decade have had a significant impact on instructional and learning activities. For many students and educators, the Internet became the significant medium for sharing instruction, learning and communication. Access to knowledge beyond boundaries and cultures has an impact on…

  8. Developing a Dynamic Inference Expert System to Support Individual Learning at Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Yu Hsin; Lin, Chun Fu; Chang, Ray I.

    2015-01-01

    In response to the rapid growth of information in recent decades, knowledge-based systems have become an essential tool for organizational learning. The application of electronic performance-support systems in learning activities has attracted considerable attention from researchers. Nevertheless, the vast, ever-increasing amount of information is…

  9. Effectiveness of Information Processing Strategy Training on Academic Task Performance in Children with Learning Disabilities: A Pilot Study.

    PubMed

    Juntorn, Sutinun; Sriphetcharawut, Sarinya; Munkhetvit, Peeraya

    2017-01-01

    Learning disabilities (LD) can be associated with problems in the four stages of information processing used in learning: input, throughput, output, and feedback. These problems affect the child's ability to learn and perform activities in daily life, especially during academic activities. This study is a pilot study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of information processing strategy training using a combination of two approaches that address the ability to apply processing strategies during academic activities in children with LD. The two approaches are the Perceive, Recall, Plan, and Perform (PRPP) System of Intervention, which is a strategy training intervention, and the Four-Quadrant Model (4QM) of Facilitated Learning approach, which is a systematic facilitator technique. Twenty children with LD were assigned to two groups: the experimental group ( n = 10) and the control group ( n = 10). Children in the experimental group received the intervention twice a week for 6 consecutive weeks. Each treatment session took approximately 50 minutes. Children in the control group received traditional intervention twice a week for 6 consecutive weeks. The results indicated that the combination of the PRPP System of Intervention and the 4QM may improve the participants' ability to apply information processing strategies during academic activities.

  10. Active versus Passive Training of a Complex Bimanual Task: Is Prescriptive Proprioceptive Information Sufficient for Inducing Motor Learning?

    PubMed Central

    Beets, Iseult A. M.; Macé, Marc; Meesen, Raf L. J.; Cuypers, Koen; Levin, Oron; Swinnen, Stephan P.

    2012-01-01

    Perceptual processes play an important role in motor learning. While it is evident that visual information greatly contributes to learning new movements, much less is known about provision of prescriptive proprioceptive information. Here, we investigated whether passive (proprioceptively-based) movement training was comparable to active training for learning a new bimanual task. Three groups practiced a bimanual coordination pattern with a 1∶2 frequency ratio and a 90° phase offset between both wrists with Lissajous feedback over the course of four days: 1) passive training; 2) active training; 3) no training (control). Retention findings revealed that passive as compared to active training resulted in equally successful acquisition of the frequency ratio but active training was more effective for acquisition of the new relative phasing between the limbs in the presence of augmented visual feedback. However, when this feedback was removed, performance of the new relative phase deteriorated in both groups whereas the frequency ratio was better preserved. The superiority of active over passive training in the presence of augmented feedback is hypothesized to result from active involvement in processes of error detection/correction and planning. PMID:22666379

  11. Leisure Activities as a Source of Informal Learning for Older People: The Role of Community-Based Organisations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MacKean, Rowena; Abbott-Chapman, Joan

    2011-01-01

    The significance of findings from a qualitative Tasmanian study, which investigated the part played by informal learning in positive ageing, is highlighted by the increasing proportion of the Australian population in the "Third Age" cohort of active, independent people aged 65 years and over. Semi-structured interviews, conducted by a…

  12. Civic Participation of High School Students: The Effect of Civic Learning in School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reichert, Frank; Print, Murray

    2018-01-01

    Building active and informed citizens is a major part of civics and citizenship education in order to enhance and sustain democracies. Civic learning and civic action opportunities within school contexts are commonly claimed to promote an active and informed citizenry. In the present research, we examine the meaning of formal civics education and…

  13. Developing Students' Listening Metacognitive Strategies Using Online Videotext Self-Dictation-Generation Learning Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Ching; Chang, Chih-Kai

    2014-01-01

    The study is based on the use of a flexible learning framework to help students improve information processes underlying strategy instruction in EFL listening. By exploiting the online videotext self-dictation-generation (video-SDG) learning activity implemented on the YouTube caption manager platform, the learning cycle was emphasized to promote…

  14. Aligning professional skills and active learning methods: an application for information and communications technology engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Llorens, Ariadna; Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina; Llinàs-Audet, Xavier

    2017-07-01

    Engineering education is facing new challenges to effectively provide the appropriate skills to future engineering professionals according to market demands. This study proposes a model based on active learning methods, which is expected to facilitate the acquisition of the professional skills most highly valued in the information and communications technology (ICT) market. The theoretical foundations of the study are based on the specific literature on active learning methodologies. The Delphi method is used to establish the fit between learning methods and generic skills required by the ICT sector. An innovative proposition is therefore presented that groups the required skills in relation to the teaching method that best develops them. The qualitative research suggests that a combination of project-based learning and the learning contract is sufficient to ensure a satisfactory skills level for this profile of engineers.

  15. Active semi-supervised learning method with hybrid deep belief networks.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Shusen; Chen, Qingcai; Wang, Xiaolong

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we develop a novel semi-supervised learning algorithm called active hybrid deep belief networks (AHD), to address the semi-supervised sentiment classification problem with deep learning. First, we construct the previous several hidden layers using restricted Boltzmann machines (RBM), which can reduce the dimension and abstract the information of the reviews quickly. Second, we construct the following hidden layers using convolutional restricted Boltzmann machines (CRBM), which can abstract the information of reviews effectively. Third, the constructed deep architecture is fine-tuned by gradient-descent based supervised learning with an exponential loss function. Finally, active learning method is combined based on the proposed deep architecture. We did several experiments on five sentiment classification datasets, and show that AHD is competitive with previous semi-supervised learning algorithm. Experiments are also conducted to verify the effectiveness of our proposed method with different number of labeled reviews and unlabeled reviews respectively.

  16. Testing communication strategies to convey genomic concepts using virtual reality technology.

    PubMed

    Kaphingst, Kimberly A; Persky, Susan; McCall, Cade; Lachance, Christina; Beall, Andrew C; Blascovich, Jim

    2009-06-01

    Health professionals need to be able to communicate information about genomic susceptibility in understandable and usable ways, but substantial challenges are involved. We developed four learning modules that varied along two factors: (1) learning mode (active learning vs. didactic learning) and (2) metaphor (risk elevator vs. bridge) and tested them using a 2 x 2 between-subjects, repeated measures design. The study used an innovative virtual reality technology experimental platform; four virtual worlds were designed to convey the concept that genetic and behavioral factors interact to affect common disease risk. The primary outcome was comprehension (recall, transfer). Study participants were 42 undergraduates aged 19-23. The results indicated that the elevator metaphor better supported learning of the concept than the bridge metaphor. Mean transfer score was significantly higher for the elevator metaphor (p < 0.05). Mean change in recall was significantly higher for didactic learning than active learning (p < 0.05). Mean ratings for variables posited to be associated with better learning (e.g., motivation), however, were generally higher for the active learning worlds. The results suggested that active learning might not always be more effective than didactic learning in increasing comprehension of health information. The findings also indicated that less complex metaphors might convey abstract concepts more effectively.

  17. Testing Communication Strategies to Convey Genomic Concepts Using Virtual Reality Technology

    PubMed Central

    Kaphingst, Kimberly A.; Persky, Susan; McCall, Cade; Lachance, Christina; Beall, Andrew C.; Blascovich, Jim

    2009-01-01

    Health professionals need to be able to communicate information about genomic susceptibility in understandable and usable ways, but substantial challenges are involved. We developed four learning modules that varied along two factors: (1) learning mode (active learning vs. didactic learning) and (2) metaphor (risk elevator vs. bridge) and tested them using a 2×2 between-subjects, repeated measures design. The study used an innovative virtual reality technology experimental platform; four virtual worlds were designed to convey the concept that genetic and behavioral factors interact to affect common disease risk. The primary outcome was comprehension (recall, transfer). Study participants were 42 undergraduates aged 19–23. The results indicated that the elevator metaphor better supported learning of the concept than the bridge metaphor. Mean transfer score was significantly higher for the elevator metaphor (p<0.05). Mean change in recall was significantly higher for didactic learning than active learning (p<0.05). However, mean ratings for variables posited to be associated with better learning (e.g., motivation) were generally higher for the active learning worlds. The results suggested that active learning might not always be more effective than didactic learning in increasing comprehension of health information. The findings also indicated that less complex metaphors might convey abstract concepts more effectively. PMID:19466649

  18. Back to the future? Active learning of medical physiology in the 1900s.

    PubMed

    Rangachari, P K

    2007-12-01

    In the early 1900s, teachers of medical physiology faced a problem familiar to those teaching the subject in a contemporary setting: too much information, too little time, too many students in crowded rooms, and exams that discouraged real learning. They wanted students to question authority and demand evidence and thus be better prepared for medicine. Their solution was to bring students into laboratories and minimize didactic learning as they felt strongly that useful information could not be obtained merely from books. Thus, they were strong proponents of what we now call active learning.

  19. Deep learning improves prediction of CRISPR-Cpf1 guide RNA activity.

    PubMed

    Kim, Hui Kwon; Min, Seonwoo; Song, Myungjae; Jung, Soobin; Choi, Jae Woo; Kim, Younggwang; Lee, Sangeun; Yoon, Sungroh; Kim, Hyongbum Henry

    2018-03-01

    We present two algorithms to predict the activity of AsCpf1 guide RNAs. Indel frequencies for 15,000 target sequences were used in a deep-learning framework based on a convolutional neural network to train Seq-deepCpf1. We then incorporated chromatin accessibility information to create the better-performing DeepCpf1 algorithm for cell lines for which such information is available and show that both algorithms outperform previous machine learning algorithms on our own and published data sets.

  20. A comparison of the effectiveness of a game informed online learning activity and face to face teaching in increasing knowledge about managing aggression in health settings.

    PubMed

    McKenzie, Karen

    2013-12-01

    The present study compared the impact of face to face teaching with a short online game informed learning activity on health participants' knowledge about, and confidence in, managing aggressive situations. Both forms of teaching resulted in a significant increase in participants' knowledge and confidence. Face to face training led to significantly greater increases in knowledge but was equivalent in terms of confidence. Both forms of teaching were rated positively, but face to face teaching received significantly higher ratings than the online activity. The study suggests that short online game informed learning activities may offer an effective alternative for health professional training where face to face training is not possible. Further research is needed on the longer term impact of both types of training on practice.

  1. How an Active Learning Classroom Transformed IT Executive Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connolly, Amy; Lampe, Michael

    2016-01-01

    This article describes how our university built a unique classroom environment specifically for active learning. This classroom changed students' experience in the undergraduate executive information technology (IT) management class. Every college graduate should learn to think critically, solve problems, and communicate solutions, but 90% of…

  2. Rapid Training of Information Extraction with Local and Global Data Views

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-05-01

    relation type extension system based on active learning a relation type extension system based on semi-supervised learning, and a crossdomain...bootstrapping system for domain adaptive named entity extraction. The active learning procedure adopts features extracted at the sentence level as the local

  3. Metaplasticity contributes to memory formation in the hippocampus.

    PubMed

    Crestani, Ana P; Krueger, Jamie N; Barragan, Eden V; Nakazawa, Yuki; Nemes, Sonya E; Quillfeldt, Jorge A; Gray, John A; Wiltgen, Brian J

    2018-05-16

    Prior learning can modify the plasticity mechanisms that are used to encode new information. For example, NMDA receptor (NMDAR) activation is typically required for new spatial and contextual learning in the hippocampus. However, once animals have acquired this information, they can learn new tasks even if NMDARs are blocked. This finding suggests that behavioral training alters cellular plasticity mechanisms such that NMDARs are not required for subsequent learning. The mechanisms that mediate this change are currently unknown. To address this issue, we tested the idea that changes in intrinsic excitability (induced by learning) facilitate the encoding of new memories via metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) activation. Consistent with this hypothesis, hippocampal neurons exhibited increases in intrinsic excitability after learning that lasted for several days. This increase was selective and only observed in neurons that were activated by the learning event. When animals were trained on a new task during this period, excitable neurons were reactivated and memory formation required the activation of mGluRs instead of NMDARs. These data suggest that increases in intrinsic excitability may serve as a metaplastic mechanism for memory formation.

  4. Contributions of the hippocampus to feedback learning

    PubMed Central

    Dickerson, Kathryn C.; Delgado, Mauricio R.

    2015-01-01

    Humans learn about the world in a variety of manners, including by observation, by associating cues in the environment, and via feedback. Across species, two brain structures have been predominantly involved in these learning processes: the hippocampus—supporting learning via observation and paired association—and the striatum—critical for feedback learning. This simple dichotomy, however, has recently been challenged by reports of hippocampal engagement in feedback learning, although the role of the hippocampus is not fully understood. The purpose of this experiment was to characterize the hippocampal response during feedback learning by manipulating varying levels of memory interference. Consistent with prior reports, feedback learning recruited the striatum and midbrain. Notably, feedback learning also engaged the hippocampus. The level of activity in these regions was modulated by the degree of memory interference, such that the greatest activation occurred during the highest level of memory interference. Importantly, the accuracy of information learned via feedback correlated with hippocampal activation and was reduced by the presence of high memory interference. Taken together, these findings provide evidence of hippocampal involvement in feedback learning by demonstrating both its relevance for the accuracy of information learned via feedback and its susceptibility to interference. PMID:26055632

  5. Wiki technology enhanced group project to promote active learning in a neuroscience course for first-year medical students: an exploratory study.

    PubMed

    Mi, Misa; Gould, Douglas

    2014-01-01

    A Wiki group project was integrated into a neuroscience course for first-year medical students. The project was developed as a self-directed, collaborative learning task to help medical students review course content and make clinically important connections. The goals of the project were to enhance students' understanding of key concepts in neuroscience, promote active learning, and reinforce their information literacy skills. The objective of the exploratory study was to provide a formative evaluation of the Wiki group project and to examine how Wiki technology was utilized to enhance active and collaborative learning of first-year medical students in the course and to reinforce information literacy skills.

  6. On valuing information in adaptive-management models.

    PubMed

    Moore, Alana L; McCarthy, Michael A

    2010-08-01

    Active adaptive management looks at the benefit of using strategies that may be suboptimal in the near term but may provide additional information that will facilitate better management in the future. In many adaptive-management problems that have been studied, the optimal active and passive policies (accounting for learning when designing policies and designing policy on the basis of current best information, respectively) are very similar. This seems paradoxical; when faced with uncertainty about the best course of action, managers should spend very little effort on actively designing programs to learn about the system they are managing. We considered two possible reasons why active and passive adaptive solutions are often similar. First, the benefits of learning are often confined to the particular case study in the modeled scenario, whereas in reality information gained from local studies is often applied more broadly. Second, management objectives that incorporate the variance of an estimate may place greater emphasis on learning than more commonly used objectives that aim to maximize an expected value. We explored these issues in a case study of Merri Creek, Melbourne, Australia, in which the aim was to choose between two options for revegetation. We explicitly incorporated monitoring costs in the model. The value of the terminal rewards and the choice of objective both influenced the difference between active and passive adaptive solutions. Explicitly considering the cost of monitoring provided a different perspective on how the terminal reward and management objective affected learning. The states for which it was optimal to monitor did not always coincide with the states in which active and passive adaptive management differed. Our results emphasize that spending resources on monitoring is only optimal when the expected benefits of the options being considered are similar and when the pay-off for learning about their benefits is large.

  7. Enhanced Memory as a Common Effect of Active Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Markant, Douglas B.; Ruggeri, Azzurra; Gureckis, Todd M.; Xu, Fei

    2016-01-01

    Despite widespread consensus among educators that "active learning" leads to better outcomes than comparatively passive forms of instruction, it is often unclear why these benefits arise. In this article, we review research showing that the opportunity to control the information experienced while learning leads to improved memory…

  8. World Culture Areas: Africa [And] U.S.S.R. Grade 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nevens, Margaret; And Others

    Two social studies units for sixth grade provide information and learning activities about Africa and Russia. Both units contain lists of concepts to be learned, skills, objectives, learning activities, common misconceptions, vocabulary, maps, objective and essay tests, and bibliographies. The unit on Africa helps students understand the wide…

  9. Mobilising Funds of Identity in and out of School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Subero, David; Vujasinovic, Ellen; Esteban-Guitart, Moises

    2017-01-01

    Learning happens through participation in formal community events and informal community activities. However, learning activities that take place in and out of school are often not mutually recognised. "Funds of knowledge" projects foster new ways of exchanging learning experiences in and out of school. "Funds of identity" can…

  10. Resource-Bounded Information Gathering for Correlation Clustering

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-01-01

    5], budgeted learning, [4], and active learning , for example, [3]. 3 Acknowledgments We thank Avrim Blum, Katrina Ligett, Chris Pal, Sridhar...2007 3. N. Roy, A. McCallum, Toward Optimal Active Learning through Sampling Estima- tion of Error Reduction, Proc. of 18th ICML, 2001 4. A. Kapoor, R

  11. Exemplary Worksite Learning Programs: Preparing Students for the 21st Century.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, Kippy; Souders, Amy

    This report provides information on three Exemplary Worksite Learning Award winning programs in which students learn by participating in hands-on classroom activities and by taking part in worksite experiences. Three sections provide a brief description of each winner. The first provides information on the Breithaupt Career and Technical Center…

  12. From Commons to Classroom: The Evolution of Learning Spaces in Academic Libraries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karasic, Victoria

    2016-01-01

    Over the past two decades, academic library spaces have evolved to meet the changing teaching and learning needs of diverse campus communities. The Information Commons combines the physical and virtual in an informal library space, whereas the recent Active Learning Classroom creates a more formal setting for collaboration. As scholarship has…

  13. Manifold Regularized Experimental Design for Active Learning.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Lining; Shum, Hubert P H; Shao, Ling

    2016-12-02

    Various machine learning and data mining tasks in classification require abundant data samples to be labeled for training. Conventional active learning methods aim at labeling the most informative samples for alleviating the labor of the user. Many previous studies in active learning select one sample after another in a greedy manner. However, this is not very effective because the classification models has to be retrained for each newly labeled sample. Moreover, many popular active learning approaches utilize the most uncertain samples by leveraging the classification hyperplane of the classifier, which is not appropriate since the classification hyperplane is inaccurate when the training data are small-sized. The problem of insufficient training data in real-world systems limits the potential applications of these approaches. This paper presents a novel method of active learning called manifold regularized experimental design (MRED), which can label multiple informative samples at one time for training. In addition, MRED gives an explicit geometric explanation for the selected samples to be labeled by the user. Different from existing active learning methods, our method avoids the intrinsic problems caused by insufficiently labeled samples in real-world applications. Various experiments on synthetic datasets, the Yale face database and the Corel image database have been carried out to show how MRED outperforms existing methods.

  14. Expanding "Within Context" to "Across Contexts" Learning: A Case Study of Informal and Formal Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Mi Song; Hung, Wei Loong David; Jamaludin, Azilawati Bte; Lim, Seo Hong

    2014-01-01

    Learning happens not only in schools, but also in every context that affords new experiences and opportunities for metacognition. We aim to maximize the different activity-milieux in which learners are engaged in developing their life-long learning dispositions to learn within and across contexts. This paper is a follow up of an earlier published…

  15. A Case for Contextual Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Souders, John; Prescott, Carolyn

    1999-01-01

    Establishing schooling/larger world connections is critical for adolescents. The contextual learning approach views learning as most effective when information is presented within a familiar framework. Employing puzzles, hands-on learning activities, project-based learning, contextual connections, applied math, mentoring, and wider audiences…

  16. Construction of a Learning Environment Supporting Learners' Reflection: A Case of Information Seeking on the Web

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saito, Hitomi; Miwa, Kazuhisa

    2007-01-01

    In this study, we design a learning environment that supports reflective activities for information seeking on the Web and evaluate its educational effects. The features of this design are: (1) to visualize the learners' search processes as described, based on a cognitive schema, (2) to support two types of reflective activities, such as…

  17. Learning beyond graduation: exploring newly qualified specialists' entrance into daily practice from a learning perspective.

    PubMed

    Cuyvers, Katrien; Donche, Vincent; Van den Bossche, Piet

    2016-05-01

    The entrance of newly qualified medical specialists into daily practice is considered to be a stressful period in which curriculum support is absent. Although engaging in both personal and professional learning and development activities is recognized fundamental for lifelong professional competence, research on medical professionals' entrance into practice is scarce. This research aims to contribute to the framework of medical professionals' informal learning and outlines the results of an exploratory study on the nature of learning in daily practice beyond postgraduate training. Eleven newly qualified physicians from different specialized backgrounds participated in a phenomenographic study, using a critical incident method and a grounded theory approach. Results demonstrated that learning in the workplace is, to a large extent, informal and associated with a variety of learning experiences. Analysis shows that experiences related to diagnostics and treatments are important sources for learning. Furthermore, incidents related to communication, changing roles, policy and organization offer learning opportunities, and therefore categorized as learning experiences. A broad range of learning activities are identified in dealing with these learning experiences. More specifically, actively engaging in actions and interactions, especially with colleagues of the same specialty, are the most mentioned. Observing others, consulting written sources, and recognizing uncertainties, are also referred to as learning activities. In the study, interaction, solely or combined with other learning activities, are deemed as very important by specialists in the initial entrance into practice. These insights can be used to develop workplace structures to support the entrance into practice following postgraduate training.

  18. Does a Formal Wiki Event Contribute to the Formation of a Network of Practice? A Social Capital Perspective on the Potential for Informal Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rehm, Martin; Littlejohn, Allison; Rienties, Bart

    2018-01-01

    Informal learning in blended and online settings plays an increasingly important role in the continuous professional development of individuals. Yet, how do individuals engage into these types of activities? We argue that social capital theory can provide valuable insights into how people behave and decide to take part in (in)formal learning.…

  19. Activity Summaries as a Classroom Assessment Tool.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGee, Steven; Kirby, Jennifer; Croft, Steven K.

    This study explored the usefulness of a classroom assessment technique called the activity summary template. It is proposed that the activity summary template enables students to process and organize information learning during an investigation. This process will in turn help students to achieve greater learning outcomes. The activity summary…

  20. Motivating At-Risk Students through Computer-based Cooperative Learning Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gan, Siowck-Lee

    1999-01-01

    Malaysian at-risk students trained in information-technology skills were appointed to lead cooperative-learning groups engaged in computer-search activities. Activities were structured to incorporate individual accountability, positive interdependence and interaction, collaborative skills, and group processing. Motivation, self-confidence,…

  1. Stress time-dependently influences the acquisition and retrieval of unrelated information by producing a memory of its own.

    PubMed

    Cadle, Chelsea E; Zoladz, Phillip R

    2015-01-01

    Stress induces several temporally guided "waves" of psychobiological responses that differentially influence learning and memory. One way to understand how the temporal dynamics of stress influence these cognitive processes is to consider stress, itself, as a learning experience that influences additional learning and memory. Indeed, research has shown that stress results in electrophysiological and biochemical activity that is remarkably similar to the activity observed as a result of learning. In this review, we will present the idea that when a stressful episode immediately precedes or follows learning, such learning is enhanced because the learned information becomes a part of the stress context and is tagged by the emotional memory being formed. In contrast, when a stressful episode is temporally separated from learning or is experienced prior to retrieval, such learning or memory is impaired because the learning or memory is experienced outside the context of the stress episode or subsequent to a saturation of synaptic plasticity, which renders the retrieval of information improbable. The temporal dynamics of emotional memory formation, along with the neurobiological correlates of the stress response, are discussed to support these hypotheses.

  2. Reference frames in allocentric representations are invariant across static and active encoding

    PubMed Central

    Chan, Edgar; Baumann, Oliver; Bellgrove, Mark A.; Mattingley, Jason B.

    2013-01-01

    An influential model of spatial memory—the so-called reference systems account—proposes that relationships between objects are biased by salient axes (“frames of reference”) provided by environmental cues, such as the geometry of a room. In this study, we sought to examine the extent to which a salient environmental feature influences the formation of spatial memories when learning occurs via a single, static viewpoint and via active navigation, where information has to be integrated across multiple viewpoints. In our study, participants learned the spatial layout of an object array that was arranged with respect to a prominent environmental feature within a virtual arena. Location memory was tested using judgments of relative direction. Experiment 1A employed a design similar to previous studies whereby learning of object-location information occurred from a single, static viewpoint. Consistent with previous studies, spatial judgments were significantly more accurate when made from an orientation that was aligned, as opposed to misaligned, with the salient environmental feature. In Experiment 1B, a fresh group of participants learned the same object-location information through active exploration, which required integration of spatial information over time from a ground-level perspective. As in Experiment 1A, object-location information was organized around the salient environmental cue. Taken together, the findings suggest that the learning condition (static vs. active) does not affect the reference system employed to encode object-location information. Spatial reference systems appear to be a ubiquitous property of spatial representations, and might serve to reduce the cognitive demands of spatial processing. PMID:24009595

  3. Architecting Learning Continuities for Families Across Informal Science Experiences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Perin, Suzanne Marie

    By first recognizing the valuable social and scientific practices taking place within families as they learn science together across multiple, everyday settings, this dissertation addresses questions of how to design and scaffold activities that build and expand on those practices to foster a deep understanding of science, and how the aesthetic experience of learning science builds connections across educational settings. Families were invited to visit a natural history museum, an aquarium, and a place or activity of the family's choice that they associated with science learning. Some families were asked to use a set of activities during their study visits based on the practices of science (National Research Council, 2012), which were delivered via smartphone app or on paper cards. I use design-based research, video data analysis and interaction analysis to examine how families build connections between informal science learning settings. Chapter 2 outlines the research-based design process of creating activities for families that fostered connections across multiple learning settings, regardless of the topical content of those settings. Implications of this study point to means for linking everyday family social practices such as questioning, observing, and disagreeing to the practices of science through activities that are not site-specific. The next paper delves into aesthetic experience of science learning, and I use video interaction analysis and linguistic analysis to show how notions of beauty and pleasure (and their opposites) are perfused throughout learning activity. Designing for aesthetic experience overtly -- building on the sensations of enjoyment and pleasure in the learning experience -- can motivate those who might feel alienated by the common conception of science as merely a dispassionate assembly of facts, discrete procedures or inaccessible theory. The third paper, a case study of a family who learns about salmon in each of the sites they visit, highlights the contributions of multiple sites of learning in an ecological view of learning. Finally, the dissertations' conclusion highlights the broad implications for conceiving of the many varied learning settings in a community as an educational infrastructure, and reflections on using aesthetic experience for broadening participation the sciences through the design of informal environments.

  4. Information Literacy and the Serious Leisure Participant: Variation in the Experience of Using Information to Learn

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demasson, Andrew; Partridge, Helen; Bruce, Christine

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: This study reports an investigation into the ways in which people engaged in a serious leisure activity can experience using information to learn (also known as information literacy). Method: Data were collected through twenty-two semi-structured, one-on-one, phenomenographic interviews conducted with identified serious leisure…

  5. Stress affects the neural ensemble for integrating new information and prior knowledge.

    PubMed

    Vogel, Susanne; Kluen, Lisa Marieke; Fernández, Guillén; Schwabe, Lars

    2018-06-01

    Prior knowledge, represented as a schema, facilitates memory encoding. This schema-related learning is assumed to rely on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) that rapidly integrates new information into the schema, whereas schema-incongruent or novel information is encoded by the hippocampus. Stress is a powerful modulator of prefrontal and hippocampal functioning and first studies suggest a stress-induced deficit of schema-related learning. However, the underlying neural mechanism is currently unknown. To investigate the neural basis of a stress-induced schema-related learning impairment, participants first acquired a schema. One day later, they underwent a stress induction or a control procedure before learning schema-related and novel information in the MRI scanner. In line with previous studies, learning schema-related compared to novel information activated the mPFC, angular gyrus, and precuneus. Stress, however, affected the neural ensemble activated during learning. Whereas the control group distinguished between sets of brain regions for related and novel information, stressed individuals engaged the hippocampus even when a relevant schema was present. Additionally, stressed participants displayed aberrant functional connectivity between brain regions involved in schema processing when encoding novel information. The failure to segregate functional connectivity patterns depending on the presence of prior knowledge was linked to impaired performance after stress. Our results show that stress affects the neural ensemble underlying the efficient use of schemas during learning. These findings may have relevant implications for clinical and educational settings. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Technology enhanced learning for occupational and environmental health nursing: a global imperative.

    PubMed

    Olson, D K; Cohn, S; Carlson, V

    2000-04-01

    One strategy for decreasing the barriers to higher education and for increasing the competency and performance of the occupational and environmental health nurse in the information age is technology enhanced learning. Technology enhanced learning encompasses a variety of technologies employed in teaching and learning activities of presentation, interaction, and transmission to on campus and distant students. Web based learning is growing faster than any other instructional technology, offering students convenience and a wealth of information.

  7. Using Facebook as an informal learning environment.

    PubMed

    Cain, Jeff; Policastri, Anne

    2011-12-15

    To create, implement, and assess the effectiveness of an optional Facebook activity intended to expose students to contemporary business issues not covered in the core content of a pharmacy management and leadership course and to perspectives of experts and thought leaders external to their university. An informal learning strategy was used to create a Facebook group page and guest experts were identified and invited to submit posts pertaining to business-related topics. Students were given instructions for joining the Facebook group but informed that participation was optional. A mixed-methods approach using a student questionnaire, results on examination questions, and a student focus group was used to assess this activity. The informal design with no posting guidelines and no participation requirement was well received by students, who appreciated the unique learning environment and exposure to external experts. Facebook provides an informal learning environment for presenting contemporary topics and the thoughts of guest experts not affiliated with a college or school, thereby exposing students to relevant "real world" issues.

  8. Using Facebook as an Informal Learning Environment

    PubMed Central

    Policastri, Anne

    2011-01-01

    Objective. To create, implement, and assess the effectiveness of an optional Facebook activity intended to expose students to contemporary business issues not covered in the core content of a pharmacy management and leadership course and to perspectives of experts and thought leaders external to their university. Design. An informal learning strategy was used to create a Facebook group page and guest experts were identified and invited to submit posts pertaining to business-related topics. Students were given instructions for joining the Facebook group but informed that participation was optional. Assessment. A mixed-methods approach using a student questionnaire, results on examination questions, and a student focus group was used to assess this activity. The informal design with no posting guidelines and no participation requirement was well received by students, who appreciated the unique learning environment and exposure to external experts. Conclusions. Facebook provides an informal learning environment for presenting contemporary topics and the thoughts of guest experts not affiliated with a college or school, thereby exposing students to relevant “real world” issues. PMID:22345726

  9. How to Select a Good Training-data Subset for Transcription: Submodular Active Selection for Sequences

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    selection and uncertainty sampling signif- icantly. Index Terms: Transcription, labeling, submodularity, submod- ular selection, active learning , sequence...name of batch active learning , where a subset of data that is most informative and represen- tative of the whole is selected for labeling. Often...representative subset. Note that our Fisher ker- nel is over an unsupervised generative model, which enables us to bootstrap our active learning approach

  10. Birding with Children: A Nest of Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ard, Linda; Wilkerson, Kristen

    1996-01-01

    Describes hummingbirds and how they can serve as sources of learning and enjoyment for young children. Gives information on feeding, breeding, and behavior of hummingbirds, and on their natural predators. Outlines activities for "discovery," making feeders, watching and charting hummingbirds, and other creative learning activities. (BGC)

  11. Active Sampling State Dynamically Enhances Olfactory Bulb Odor Representation.

    PubMed

    Jordan, Rebecca; Fukunaga, Izumi; Kollo, Mihaly; Schaefer, Andreas T

    2018-06-27

    The olfactory bulb (OB) is the first site of synaptic odor information processing, yet a wealth of contextual and learned information has been described in its activity. To investigate the mechanistic basis of contextual modulation, we use whole-cell recordings to measure odor responses across rapid learning episodes in identified mitral/tufted cells (MTCs). Across these learning episodes, diverse response changes occur already during the first sniff cycle. Motivated mice develop active sniffing strategies across learning that robustly correspond to the odor response changes, resulting in enhanced odor representation. Evoking fast sniffing in different behavioral states demonstrates that response changes during active sampling exceed those predicted from feedforward input alone. Finally, response changes are highly correlated in tufted cells, but not mitral cells, indicating there are cell-type-specific effects on odor representation during active sampling. Altogether, we show that active sampling is strongly associated with enhanced OB responsiveness on rapid timescales. Copyright © 2018 The Francis Crick Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Beverages. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.3. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with preparing and serving beverages and caring for the equipment used to make them. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these…

  13. Learning about Plants and Animals in Nature. Superific Science Book XII. A Good Apple Science Activity Book for Grades 5-8+.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conway, Lorraine

    Based on the idea that active participation stimulates the processes by which learning takes place, this document provides teachers and students with a variety of information and learning activities that deal with plants and animals in nature. Basic concepts are presented through the use of laboratory experiments, worksheet exercises, diagrams,…

  14. Felder-Soloman's Index of Learning Styles: internal consistency, temporal stability, and factor structure.

    PubMed

    Hosford, Charles C; Siders, William A

    2010-10-01

    Strategies to facilitate learning include using knowledge of students' learning style preferences to inform students and their teachers. Aims of this study were to evaluate the factor structure, internal consistency, and temporal stability of medical student responses to the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) and determine its appropriateness as an instrument for medical education. The ILS assesses preferences on four dimensions: sensing/intuitive information perceiving, visual/verbal information receiving, active/reflective information processing, and sequential/global information understanding. Students entering the 2002-2007 classes completed the ILS; some completed the ILS again after 2 and 4 years. Analyses of responses supported the ILS's intended structure and moderate reliability. Students had moderate preferences for sensing and visual learning. This study provides evidence supporting the appropriateness of the ILS for assessing learning style preferences in medical students.

  15. Application of ICTS in Teaching and Learning at University Level: The Case of Shahid Beheshti University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vajargah, Kourosh Fathi; Jahani, Sheida; Azadmanesh, Nahid

    2010-01-01

    Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a diverse set of technological tools and resources used for creating, storing, managing and communicating information. For educational purposes, ICTs can be used to support teaching and learning as well as research activities including collaborative learning and inquiring. One of the main…

  16. Enriching Formal Language Learning with an Informal Social Component

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dettori, Giuliana; Torsani, Simone

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes an informal component that we added to an online formal language learning environment in order to help the learners reach relevant Internet pages they can freely use to complement their learning activity. Thanks to this facility, each lesson is enriched, at run time, with a number of links automatically retrieved from social…

  17. Student Satisfaction Process in Virtual Learning System: Considerations Based in Information and Service Quality from Brazil's Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Machado-Da-Silva, Fábio Nazareno; Meirelles, Fernando de Souza; Filenga, Douglas; Filho, Marino Brugnolo

    2014-01-01

    Distance learning has undergone great changes, especially since the advent of the Internet and communication and information technology. Questions have been asked following the growth of this mode of instructional activity. Researchers have investigated methods to assess the benefits of e-learning from a number of perspectives. This survey…

  18. Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education: A Comparative Review of Selected Practices. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 15

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nusche, Deborah

    2008-01-01

    Higher education institutions (HEIs) have experienced increasing pressures to provide accountability data and consumer information on the quality of teaching and learning. Existing ratings and rankings of HEIs tend to neglect information on student learning outcomes. Instead, they focus on inputs, activities and research outputs, such as resources…

  19. Teacher Perspectives on Technology Integration Professional Development: Formal, Informal, and Independent Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Monty; Dexter, Sara

    2018-01-01

    This mixed-methods study examined the technology integration learning activities of four teachers throughout one year using weekly quantitative surveys and a series of three qualitative individual interviews. Through the teachers' own voices an illustration of their learning processes is presented, and the gap between what is supported by their…

  20. An active role for machine learning in drug development

    PubMed Central

    Murphy, Robert F.

    2014-01-01

    Due to the complexity of biological systems, cutting-edge machine-learning methods will be critical for future drug development. In particular, machine-vision methods to extract detailed information from imaging assays and active-learning methods to guide experimentation will be required to overcome the dimensionality problem in drug development. PMID:21587249

  1. Constructive alignment of a research-informed teaching activity within an undergraduate diagnostic radiography curriculum: A reflection.

    PubMed

    Higgins, R; Hogg, P; Robinson, L

    2017-09-01

    To evaluate the learning experience of a level 5 (year 2) student cohort within a research-informed teaching (RiT) activity and to map findings against learning outcomes and level descriptors using constructive alignment. An online questionnaire was used to explore the level 5 student experience of a Research-informed Teaching (RiT) activity. Responses were retrospectively mapped against Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) level descriptors for level 5 using constructive alignment. Thirty one out of 46 level 5 students completed the questionnaire (67% response rate). Analysis of the questionnaire supported the integration of this RiT activity within the curriculum in terms of learning and research skill development by students. However, it was identified that this activity could be revised further to better align with level 5 descriptors and incorporate additional higher level cognitive processes. Learning outcomes for this RiT activity were constructively aligned with FHEQ level 5 descriptors. Recommendations are provided on how these could be further refined to ensure students undertake a more critical approach to the application of theory into practice. Discussion also considers how this process could be used to develop a similar RiT activity at level 6 (year 3). Copyright © 2016 The College of Radiographers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Informal learning.

    PubMed

    Callanan, Maureen; Cervantes, Christi; Loomis, Molly

    2011-11-01

    We consider research and theory relevant to the notion of informal learning. Beginning with historical and definitional issues, we argue that learning happens not just in schools or in school-aged children. Many theorists have contrasted informal learning with formal learning. Moving beyond this dichotomy, and away from a focus on where learning occurs, we discuss five dimensions of informal learning that are drawn from the literature: (1) non-didactive, (2) highly socially collaborative, (3) embedded in meaningful activity, (4) initiated by learner's interest or choice, and (5) removed from external assessment. We consider these dimensions in the context of four sample domains: learning a first language, learning about the mind and emotions within families and communities, learning about science in family conversations and museum settings, and workplace learning. Finally, we conclude by considering convergences and divergences across the different literatures and suggesting areas for future research. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 646-655 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.143 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  3. Distributed Patterns of Brain Activity that Lead to Forgetting

    PubMed Central

    Öztekin, Ilke; Badre, David

    2011-01-01

    Proactive interference (PI), in which irrelevant information from prior learning disrupts memory performance, is widely viewed as a major cause of forgetting. However, the hypothesized spontaneous recovery (i.e., automatic retrieval) of interfering information presumed to be at the base of PI remains to be demonstrated directly. Moreover, it remains unclear at what point during learning and/or retrieval interference impacts memory performance. In order to resolve these open questions, we employed a machine-learning algorithm to identify distributed patterns of brain activity associated with retrieval of interfering information that engenders PI and causes forgetting. Participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging during an item recognition task. We induced PI by constructing sets of three consecutive study lists from the same semantic category. The classifier quantified the magnitude of category-related activity at encoding and retrieval. Category-specific activity during retrieval increased across lists, consistent with the category information becoming increasingly available and producing interference. Critically, this increase was correlated with individual differences in forgetting and the deployment of frontal lobe mechanisms that resolve interference. Collectively, these findings suggest that distributed patterns of brain activity pertaining to the interfering information during retrieval contribute to forgetting. The prefrontal cortex mediates the relationship between the spontaneous recovery of interfering information at retrieval and individual differences in memory performance. PMID:21897814

  4. Active learning for semi-supervised clustering based on locally linear propagation reconstruction.

    PubMed

    Chang, Chin-Chun; Lin, Po-Yi

    2015-03-01

    The success of semi-supervised clustering relies on the effectiveness of side information. To get effective side information, a new active learner learning pairwise constraints known as must-link and cannot-link constraints is proposed in this paper. Three novel techniques are developed for learning effective pairwise constraints. The first technique is used to identify samples less important to cluster structures. This technique makes use of a kernel version of locally linear embedding for manifold learning. Samples neither important to locally linear propagation reconstructions of other samples nor on flat patches in the learned manifold are regarded as unimportant samples. The second is a novel criterion for query selection. This criterion considers not only the importance of a sample to expanding the space coverage of the learned samples but also the expected number of queries needed to learn the sample. To facilitate semi-supervised clustering, the third technique yields inferred must-links for passing information about flat patches in the learned manifold to semi-supervised clustering algorithms. Experimental results have shown that the learned pairwise constraints can capture the underlying cluster structures and proven the feasibility of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. How Attention Can Create Synaptic Tags for the Learning of Working Memories in Sequential Tasks

    PubMed Central

    Rombouts, Jaldert O.; Bohte, Sander M.; Roelfsema, Pieter R.

    2015-01-01

    Intelligence is our ability to learn appropriate responses to new stimuli and situations. Neurons in association cortex are thought to be essential for this ability. During learning these neurons become tuned to relevant features and start to represent them with persistent activity during memory delays. This learning process is not well understood. Here we develop a biologically plausible learning scheme that explains how trial-and-error learning induces neuronal selectivity and working memory representations for task-relevant information. We propose that the response selection stage sends attentional feedback signals to earlier processing levels, forming synaptic tags at those connections responsible for the stimulus-response mapping. Globally released neuromodulators then interact with tagged synapses to determine their plasticity. The resulting learning rule endows neural networks with the capacity to create new working memory representations of task relevant information as persistent activity. It is remarkably generic: it explains how association neurons learn to store task-relevant information for linear as well as non-linear stimulus-response mappings, how they become tuned to category boundaries or analog variables, depending on the task demands, and how they learn to integrate probabilistic evidence for perceptual decisions. PMID:25742003

  6. Usages and Impacts of the Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS) in Elementary Classrooms: Case Study of Swedish Municipality Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sahlin, Johannes S.; Tsertsidis, Antony; Islam, M. Sirajul

    2017-01-01

    During recent years, many schools have started to implement information and communication technologies (ICTs)-based learning devices (such as laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and active boards) in the classroom settings in order to increase learning outcomes. The aim of this study is to find which activities and outcomes are evident in the usages…

  7. Rethinking women's learning and empowerment in Kenya: Maasai village women take initiative

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takayanagi, Taeko

    2016-12-01

    This study investigates the activities of a village-based literacy centre in Kenya and explores the benefits of community development activities on women's well-being in Africa. Through the analysis of the stories of two Maasai women who had experienced adult literacy learning, the author discovered that: (1) the literacy instructor had inadequate in-service teacher training support from the government; (2) these women were using a space generated by collaborative informal learning through the literacy centre to improve their families' and community's well-being; and (3) these women gained empowerment through community development activities organised by the literacy centre. The author concludes that grassroots literacy and informal learning have been effective in improving the quality of life for the village women, and should be encouraged and supported by external agencies.

  8. Agriculture--Floriculture. Kit No. 104. Instructor's Manual and Student Learning Activity Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huffman, Tommy

    Designed for use in a secondary agricultural education class, this activity kit on floriculture consists of an instructor's manual and a student learning guide. The instructor's manual contains this information: duration, goals, a list of instructional objectives, the vocational clusters to which this activity is related, activity implementation…

  9. An active learning curriculum improves fellows' knowledge and faculty teaching skills.

    PubMed

    Inra, Jennifer A; Pelletier, Stephen; Kumar, Navin L; Barnes, Edward L; Shields, Helen M

    2017-01-01

    Traditional didactic lectures are the mainstay of teaching for graduate medical education, although this method may not be the most effective way to transmit information. We created an active learning curriculum for Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) gastroenterology fellows to maximize learning. We evaluated whether this new curriculum improved perceived knowledge acquisition and knowledge base. In addition, our study assessed whether coaching faculty members in specific methods to enhance active learning improved their perceived teaching and presentation skills. We compared the Gastroenterology Training Exam (GTE) scores before and after the implementation of this curriculum to assess whether an improved knowledge base was documented. In addition, fellows and faculty members were asked to complete anonymous evaluations regarding their learning and teaching experiences. Fifteen fellows were invited to 12 lectures over a 2-year period. GTE scores improved in the areas of stomach ( p <0.001), general gastroenterology ( p =0.005), esophagus ( p <0.001), and small bowel ( p =0.001), and the total score ( p =0.001) between pre- and postimplementation of the active learning curriculum. Scores in hepatology, as well as biliary and pancreatic study, showed a trend toward improvement ( p >0.05). All fellows believed the lectures were helpful, felt more prepared to take the GTE, and preferred the interactive format to traditional didactic lectures. All lecturers agreed that they acquired new teaching skills, improved teaching and presentation skills, and learned new tools that could help them teach better in the future. An active learning curriculum is preferred by GI fellows and may be helpful for improving transmission of information in any specialty in medical education. Individualized faculty coaching sessions demonstrating new ways to transmit information may be important for an individual faculty member's teaching excellence.

  10. Know your RO from your AE? Learning styles in practice.

    PubMed

    Woods, Helen Buckley

    2012-06-01

    In this article, Kolb's cycle of learning is put forward as a useful theory to consult when planning information literacy or other teaching sessions. The learning cycle is contextualised and Kolb's and other theories are briefly explored. The author then considers how learning style theories can be utilised when planning teaching and learning activities. The use of planning tools is advocated and ideas for sessions are suggested. HS. © 2012 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2012 Health Libraries Group.

  11. Comparing the neural basis of monetary reward and cognitive feedback during information-integration category learning.

    PubMed

    Daniel, Reka; Pollmann, Stefan

    2010-01-06

    The dopaminergic system is known to play a central role in reward-based learning (Schultz, 2006), yet it was also observed to be involved when only cognitive feedback is given (Aron et al., 2004). Within the domain of information-integration category learning, in which information from several stimulus dimensions has to be integrated predecisionally (Ashby and Maddox, 2005), the importance of contingent feedback is well established (Maddox et al., 2003). We examined the common neural correlates of reward anticipation and prediction error in this task. Sixteen subjects performed two parallel information-integration tasks within a single event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging session but received a monetary reward only for one of them. Similar functional areas including basal ganglia structures were activated in both task versions. In contrast, a single structure, the nucleus accumbens, showed higher activation during monetary reward anticipation compared with the anticipation of cognitive feedback in information-integration learning. Additionally, this activation was predicted by measures of intrinsic motivation in the cognitive feedback task and by measures of extrinsic motivation in the rewarded task. Our results indicate that, although all other structures implicated in category learning are not significantly affected by altering the type of reward, the nucleus accumbens responds to the positive incentive properties of an expected reward depending on the specific type of the reward.

  12. Empowering Adaptive Lectures through Activation of Intelligent and Web 2.0 Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    El-Ghareeb, Haitham; Riad, A.

    2011-01-01

    Different Learning Paradigms can be presented by different educators as a result of utilizing several types of Information and Communication Technologies in the Learning Process. The three abstract Learning Delivery Models are: "Traditional", "Distance", and "Hybrid Learning". Hybrid Learning attempts to maintain the…

  13. Introduction to Fish and Shellfish. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.13a. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with fish and shellfish for restaurant use. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these areas: buying and storing fish and…

  14. Yeast Breads. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.15a. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with yeast breads and their ingredients. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these areas: yeast breads and their ingredients,…

  15. Preparing Soups. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.10b. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with preparing and serving soups. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these areas: thin soups, thick soups, convenience soups,…

  16. Summary of Progress on SIG Ft. Ord ESTCP DemVal

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-04-01

    We report on progress under an ESTCP demonstration plan dedicated to demonstrating active learning - based UXO detection on an actual former UXO site...Ft. Ord), using EMI data. In addition to describing the details of the active - learning algorithm, we discuss techniques that were required when...terms of two dipole-moment magnitudes and two resonant frequencies. Information-theoretic active learning is then conducted on all anomalies to

  17. Multi-Sensor Information Integration and Automatic Understanding

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-05-27

    distributions for target tracks and class which are utilized by an active learning cueing management framework to optimally task the appropriate sensor...modality to cued regions of interest. Moreover, this active learning approach also facilitates analyst cueing to help resolve track ambiguities in complex...scenes. We intend to leverage SIG’s active learning with analyst cueing under future efforts with ONR and other DoD agencies. Obtaining long- term

  18. Reducing Labeling Effort for Structured Prediction Tasks

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-01-01

    correctly annotated for the instance to be of use to the learner. Traditional active learning addresses this problem by optimizing the order in which the...than for others. We propose a new active learning paradigm which reduces not only how many instances the annotator must label, but also how difficult...We validate this active learning framework in an interactive information extraction system, reducing the total number of annotation actions by 22%.

  19. Multi-Sensor Information Integration and Automatic Understanding

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-08-27

    distributions for target tracks and class which are utilized by an active learning cueing management framework to optimally task the appropriate sensor modality...to cued regions of interest. Moreover, this active learning approach also facilitates analyst cueing to help resolve track ambiguities in complex...scenes. We intend to leverage SIG’s active learning with analyst cueing under future efforts with ONR and other DoD agencies. Obtaining long- term

  20. Basics for sensorimotor information processing: some implications for learning

    PubMed Central

    Vidal, Franck; Meckler, Cédric; Hasbroucq, Thierry

    2015-01-01

    In sensorimotor activities, learning requires efficient information processing, whether in car driving, sport activities or human–machine interactions. Several factors may affect the efficiency of such processing: they may be extrinsic (i.e., task-related) or intrinsic (i.e., subjects-related). The effects of these factors are intimately related to the structure of human information processing. In the present article we will focus on some of them, which are poorly taken into account, even when minimizing errors or their consequences is an essential issue at stake. Among the extrinsic factors, we will discuss, first, the effects of the quantity and quality of information, secondly, the effects of instruction and thirdly motor program learning. Among the intrinsic factors, we will discuss first the influence of prior information, secondly how individual strategies affect performance and, thirdly, we will stress the fact that although the human brain is not structured to function errorless (which is not new) humans are able to detect their errors very quickly and (in most of the cases), fast enough to correct them before they result in an overt failure. Extrinsic and intrinsic factors are important to take into account for learning because (1) they strongly affect performance, either in terms of speed or accuracy, which facilitates or impairs learning, (2) the effect of certain extrinsic factors may be strongly modified by learning and (3) certain intrinsic factors might be exploited for learning strategies. PMID:25762944

  1. Careers in Fashion. Teacher Edition. Marketing Education LAPs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawley, Jana

    This learning activity packet is designed to help students to acquire a competency, namely: how to use knowledge of careers in the fashion industry to gain information about their career choices. The unit consists of the competency, three objectives, suggested learning activities, transparency masters, handout materials for activities, and a…

  2. Acquisition of Programming Skills

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-04-01

    skills (e.g., arithmetic reasoning, work knowledge, information processing speed); and c) passive versus active learning style. Ability measures...concurrent storage and processing an individual was capable of doing), and an active learning style. Implications of the findings for the development of

  3. Learning classification with auxiliary probabilistic information

    PubMed Central

    Nguyen, Quang; Valizadegan, Hamed; Hauskrecht, Milos

    2012-01-01

    Finding ways of incorporating auxiliary information or auxiliary data into the learning process has been the topic of active data mining and machine learning research in recent years. In this work we study and develop a new framework for classification learning problem in which, in addition to class labels, the learner is provided with an auxiliary (probabilistic) information that reflects how strong the expert feels about the class label. This approach can be extremely useful for many practical classification tasks that rely on subjective label assessment and where the cost of acquiring additional auxiliary information is negligible when compared to the cost of the example analysis and labelling. We develop classification algorithms capable of using the auxiliary information to make the learning process more efficient in terms of the sample complexity. We demonstrate the benefit of the approach on a number of synthetic and real world data sets by comparing it to the learning with class labels only. PMID:25309141

  4. Learning in Social Action: A Contribution to Understanding Informal Education. Global Perspectives on Adult Education and Training.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foley, Griff

    This book argues the importance of the incidental learning that can occur when people become involved in voluntary organizations, social struggles, and political activity. Chapter 1 introduces the case studies of informal learning in social struggle used to develop the argument and outlines the theoretical framework within which the case studies…

  5. Learning Outside of Classroom: Exploring the Active Part of an Informal Online English Learning Community in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, Yanyan; Franklin, Teresa; Gao, Fei

    2017-01-01

    This study explored how the GRE Analytical Writing Section Discussion Forum, an informal online language learning community in China, functioned to support its members to improve their English writing proficiency. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) model was used as the theoretical framework to explore the existence of teaching presence, cognitive…

  6. [Learning and Repetive Reproduction of Memorized Sequences by the Right and the Left Hand].

    PubMed

    Bobrova, E V; Lyakhovetskii, V A; Bogacheva, I N

    2015-01-01

    An important stage of learning a new skill is repetitive reproduction of one and the same sequence of movements, which plays a significant role in forming of the movement stereotypes. Two groups of right-handers repeatedly memorized (6-10 repetitions) the sequences of their hand transitions by experimenter in 6 positions, firstly by the right hand (RH), and then--by the left hand (LH) or vice versa. Random sequences previously unknown to the volunteers were reproduced in the 11 series. Modified sequences were tested in the 2nd and 3rd series, where the same elements' positions were presented in different order. The processes of repetitive sequence reproduction were similar for RH and LH. However, the learning of the modified sequences differed: Information about elements' position disregarding the reproduction order was used only when LH initiated task performing. This information was not used when LH followed RH and when RH performed the task. Consequently, the type of information coding activated by LH helped learn the positions of sequence elements, while the type of information coding activated by RH prevented learning. It is supposedly connected with the predominant role of right hemisphere in the processes of positional coding and motor learning.

  7. Fusing a Reversed and Informal Learning Scheme and Space: Student Perceptions of Active Learning in Physical Chemistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnelly, Julie; Hernández, Florencio E.

    2018-01-01

    Physical chemistry students often have negative perceptions and low expectations for success in physical chemistry, attitudes that likely affect their performance in the course. Despite the results of several studies indicating increased positive perception of physical chemistry when active learning strategies are used, a recent survey of faculty…

  8. Introducing an Informal Synchronous Medium in a Distance Learning Course: How Is Participation Affected?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hrastinski, Stefan

    2006-01-01

    Achieving active participation has been argued to be an intrinsic part of learning and has become a central issue in debates on online education. This research examines whether an emerging synchronous communication medium, instant messaging (IM), may enable students in participating more actively in a distance learning course. In doing this, it is…

  9. Employing Active Learning Strategies to Become the Facilitator, Not the Authoritarian: A Literature Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patton, Cheryl M.

    2015-01-01

    Traditional higher education instruction involves an authoritarian educator who is charged with delivering information in lecture format to passive students. Within the past few decades, a new approach has gained popularity. Active learning allows the students to become more involved in their own learning. The educator becomes more of a…

  10. Student Perceptions of Online Radiologic Science Courses.

    PubMed

    Papillion, Erika; Aaron, Laura

    2017-03-01

    To evaluate student perceptions of the effectiveness of online radiologic science courses by examining various learning activities and course characteristics experienced in the online learning environment. A researcher-designed electronic survey was used to obtain results from students enrolled in the clinical portion of a radiologic science program that offers online courses. The survey consisted of elements associated with demographics, experience, and perceptions related to online radiologic science courses. Surveys were sent to 35 program directors of Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology-accredited associate and bachelor's degree programs with requests to share the survey with students. The 38 students who participated in the survey identified 4 course characteristics most important for effective online radiologic science courses: a well-organized course, timely instructor feedback, a variety of learning activities, and informative documents, such as course syllabus, calendar, and rubrics. Learner satisfaction is a successful indicator of engagement in online courses. Descriptive statistical analysis indicated that elements related to the instructor's role is one of the most important components of effectiveness in online radiologic science courses. This role includes providing an organized course with informative documents, a variety of learning activities, and timely feedback and communication. Although online courses should provide many meaningful learning activities that appeal to a wide range of learning styles, the nature of the course affects the types of learning activities used and therefore could decrease the ability to vary learning activities. ©2017 American Society of Radiologic Technologists.

  11. Measurement of Usability for Multimedia Interactive Learning Based on Website in Mathematics for SMK

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sukardjo, Moch.; Sugiyanta, Lipur

    2018-04-01

    Web usability, if evaluation done correctly, can significantly improve the quality of the website. Website containing multimedia for education shoud apply user interfaces that are both easy to learn and easy to use. Multimedia has big role in changing the mindset of a person in learning. Using multimedia, learners get easy to obtain information, adjust information and empower information. Therefore, multimedia is utilized by teachers in developing learning techniques to improve student learning outcomes. For students with self-directed learning, multimedia provides the ease and completeness of the courses in such a way that students can complete the learning independently both at school and at home without the guidance of teachers. The learning independence takes place in how students choose, absorb information, and follow the evaluation quickly and efficiently. The 2013 Curriculum 2013 for Vocational High School (SMK) requires teachers to create engaging teaching and learning activities that students enjoy in the classroom (also called invitation learning environment). The creation of learning activity environment is still problem for most teachers. Various researches reveal that teaching and learning activities will be more effective and easy when assisted by visual tools. Using multimedia, learning material can be presented more attractively that help students understand the material easily. The opposite is found in the learning activity environment who only rely on ordinary lectures. Usability is a quality level of multimedia with easy to learn, easy to use and encourages users to use it. The website Multimedia Interactive Learning for Mathematics SMK Class X is targeted object. Usability website in Multimedia Interactive Learning for Mathematics SMK Class X is important indicators to measure effectiveness, efficiency, and student satisfaction to access the functionality of website. This usability measurement should be done carefully before the design is implemented thoroughly. The only way to get test with high quality results is to start testing at the beginning of the design process and continuously testing each of the next steps. This research performs usability testing on of website by using WAMMI criterion (Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory) and will be focused on how convenience using the website application. Components of Attractiveness, Controllability, Efficiency, Helpfulness, and Learnability are applied. The website in Multimedia Interactive Learning for Mathematics SMK Class X can be in accordance with the purpose to be accepted by student to improve student learning outcomes. The results show that WAMMI method show the usability value of Multimedia Mathematics SMK Class X is about from 70% to 90%.

  12. The IT Audit Assignment: Viewing Technology in the Organizational and Strategic Context.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwering, Randolph E.

    2002-01-01

    The information technology audit is a management learning activity in which students apply interdisciplinary research questions to a client organization. Business students thus learn to predict, diagnose, and mitigate organizational risks in implementing information technology. (Contains 14 references.) (SK)

  13. A Comparison of the Effectiveness of a Game Informed Online Learning Activity and Face to Face Teaching in Increasing Knowledge about Managing Aggression in Health Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKenzie, Karen

    2013-01-01

    The present study compared the impact of face to face teaching with a short online game informed learning activity on health participants' knowledge about, and confidence in, managing aggressive situations. Both forms of teaching resulted in a significant increase in participants' knowledge and confidence. Face to face training led to…

  14. Stimulating Deep Learning Using Active Learning Techniques

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yew, Tee Meng; Dawood, Fauziah K. P.; a/p S. Narayansany, Kannaki; a/p Palaniappa Manickam, M. Kamala; Jen, Leong Siok; Hoay, Kuan Chin

    2016-01-01

    When students and teachers behave in ways that reinforce learning as a spectator sport, the result can often be a classroom and overall learning environment that is mostly limited to transmission of information and rote learning rather than deep approaches towards meaningful construction and application of knowledge. A group of college instructors…

  15. 78 FR 67376 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request Periodically, the...; memory for information learned during the training and webinar; ability to apply the information to job...

  16. Promoting Learning in Libraries through Information Literacy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Breivik, Patricia Senn; Ford, Barbara J.

    1993-01-01

    Discusses information literacy and describes activities under the sponsorship of the National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) that promotes information literacy in schools and libraries. Activities of member organizations of the NFIL are described, including policy formation, publications, and programs; and the role of the American Library…

  17. Using Active Learning to Identify Health Information Technology Related Patient Safety Events.

    PubMed

    Fong, Allan; Howe, Jessica L; Adams, Katharine T; Ratwani, Raj M

    2017-01-18

    The widespread adoption of health information technology (HIT) has led to new patient safety hazards that are often difficult to identify. Patient safety event reports, which are self-reported descriptions of safety hazards, provide one view of potential HIT-related safety events. However, identifying HIT-related reports can be challenging as they are often categorized under other more predominate clinical categories. This challenge of identifying HIT-related reports is exacerbated by the increasing number and complexity of reports which pose challenges to human annotators that must manually review reports. In this paper, we apply active learning techniques to support classification of patient safety event reports as HIT-related. We evaluated different strategies and demonstrated a 30% increase in average precision of a confirmatory sampling strategy over a baseline no active learning approach after 10 learning iterations.

  18. Incorporation of perception-based information in robot learning using fuzzy reinforcement learning agents

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Changjiu; Meng, Qingchun; Guo, Zhongwen; Qu, Wiefen; Yin, Bo

    2002-04-01

    Robot learning in unstructured environments has been proved to be an extremely challenging problem, mainly because of many uncertainties always present in the real world. Human beings, on the other hand, seem to cope very well with uncertain and unpredictable environments, often relying on perception-based information. Furthermore, humans beings can also utilize perceptions to guide their learning on those parts of the perception-action space that are actually relevant to the task. Therefore, we conduct a research aimed at improving robot learning through the incorporation of both perception-based and measurement-based information. For this reason, a fuzzy reinforcement learning (FRL) agent is proposed in this paper. Based on a neural-fuzzy architecture, different kinds of information can be incorporated into the FRL agent to initialise its action network, critic network and evaluation feedback module so as to accelerate its learning. By making use of the global optimisation capability of GAs (genetic algorithms), a GA-based FRL (GAFRL) agent is presented to solve the local minima problem in traditional actor-critic reinforcement learning. On the other hand, with the prediction capability of the critic network, GAs can perform a more effective global search. Different GAFRL agents are constructed and verified by using the simulation model of a physical biped robot. The simulation analysis shows that the biped learning rate for dynamic balance can be improved by incorporating perception-based information on biped balancing and walking evaluation. The biped robot can find its application in ocean exploration, detection or sea rescue activity, as well as military maritime activity.

  19. Addressing Challenges in Web Accessibility for the Blind and Visually Impaired

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guercio, Angela; Stirbens, Kathleen A.; Williams, Joseph; Haiber, Charles

    2011-01-01

    Searching for relevant information on the web is an important aspect of distance learning. This activity is a challenge for visually impaired distance learners. While sighted people have the ability to filter information in a fast and non sequential way, blind persons rely on tools that process the information in a sequential way. Learning is…

  20. Bidirectional Active Learning: A Two-Way Exploration Into Unlabeled and Labeled Data Set.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xiao-Yu; Wang, Shupeng; Yun, Xiaochun

    2015-12-01

    In practical machine learning applications, human instruction is indispensable for model construction. To utilize the precious labeling effort effectively, active learning queries the user with selective sampling in an interactive way. Traditional active learning techniques merely focus on the unlabeled data set under a unidirectional exploration framework and suffer from model deterioration in the presence of noise. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel bidirectional active learning algorithm that explores into both unlabeled and labeled data sets simultaneously in a two-way process. For the acquisition of new knowledge, forward learning queries the most informative instances from unlabeled data set. For the introspection of learned knowledge, backward learning detects the most suspiciously unreliable instances within the labeled data set. Under the two-way exploration framework, the generalization ability of the learning model can be greatly improved, which is demonstrated by the encouraging experimental results.

  1. Using Herbs and Spices/Preparing Sauces and Gravies. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.11. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with herbs and spices and the selection and preparation of sauces and gravies. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these areas:…

  2. Buying, Preparing, and Cooking Shellfish. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.13c. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with the various market forms of shellfish and how to clean, prepare, and cook them. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these…

  3. Buying, Preparing, and Cooking Fish. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.13b. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with the market forms of fish, how to clean and portion them, and how to cook them. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided in these…

  4. Using Cooking, Baking, and Cutting Terms. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.1a. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with some of the terms used in recipes. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided on important cooking, baking, and cutting terms. The…

  5. Recognition and Use of Kitchen Tools and Utensils. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 4.4. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 4: Equipment Handling, Operation, and Maintenance.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with common tools and utensils used in commercial kitchens. Illustrated information sheets and learning activities are provided on various kitchen tools (cutting,…

  6. The philosophical and pedagogical underpinnings of Active Learning in Engineering Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Christie, Michael; de Graaff, Erik

    2017-01-01

    In this paper the authors draw on three sequential keynote addresses that they gave at Active Learning in Engineering Education (ALE) workshops in Copenhagen (2012), Caxias do Sol (2014) and San Sebastian (2015). Active Learning in Engineering Education is an informal international network of engineering educators dedicated to improving engineering education through active learning (http://www.ale-net.org/). The paper reiterates themes from those keynotes, namely, the philosophical and pedagogical underpinnings of Active Learning in Engineering Education, the scholarly questions that inspire engineering educators to go on improving their practice and exemplary models designed to activate the learning of engineering students. This paper aims to uncover the bedrock of established educational philosophies and theories that define and support active learning. The paper does not claim to present any new or innovative educational theory. There is already a surfeit of them. Rather, the aim is to assist Engineering Educators who wish to research how they can best activate the learning of their students by providing a readable, reasonable and solid underpinning for best practice in this field.

  7. Group-Based Active Learning of Classification Models.

    PubMed

    Luo, Zhipeng; Hauskrecht, Milos

    2017-05-01

    Learning of classification models from real-world data often requires additional human expert effort to annotate the data. However, this process can be rather costly and finding ways of reducing the human annotation effort is critical for this task. The objective of this paper is to develop and study new ways of providing human feedback for efficient learning of classification models by labeling groups of examples. Briefly, unlike traditional active learning methods that seek feedback on individual examples, we develop a new group-based active learning framework that solicits label information on groups of multiple examples. In order to describe groups in a user-friendly way, conjunctive patterns are used to compactly represent groups. Our empirical study on 12 UCI data sets demonstrates the advantages and superiority of our approach over both classic instance-based active learning work, as well as existing group-based active-learning methods.

  8. Your teaching strategy matters: how engagement impacts application in health information literacy instruction.

    PubMed

    Johnson, Heather A; Barrett, Laura

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare two pedagogical methods, active learning and passive instruction, to determine which is more useful in helping students to achieve the learning outcomes in a one-hour research skills instructional session. Two groups of high school students attended an instructional session to learn about consumer health resources and strategies to enhance their searching skills. The first group received passive instruction, and the second engaged in active learning. We assessed both groups' learning using 2 methods with differing complexity. A total of 59 students attended the instructional sessions (passive instruction, n=28; active learning, n=31). We found that the active learning group scored more favorably in four assessment categories. Active learning may help students engage with and develop a meaningful understanding of several resources in a single session. Moreover, when using a complex teaching strategy, librarians should be mindful to gauge learning using an equally complex assessment method.

  9. Your teaching strategy matters: how engagement impacts application in health information literacy instruction *

    PubMed Central

    Johnson, Heather A.; Barrett, Laura

    2017-01-01

    Objective The purpose of this study was to compare two pedagogical methods, active learning and passive instruction, to determine which is more useful in helping students to achieve the learning outcomes in a one-hour research skills instructional session. Methods Two groups of high school students attended an instructional session to learn about consumer health resources and strategies to enhance their searching skills. The first group received passive instruction, and the second engaged in active learning. We assessed both groups’ learning using 2 methods with differing complexity. A total of 59 students attended the instructional sessions (passive instruction, n=28; active learning, n=31). Results We found that the active learning group scored more favorably in four assessment categories. Conclusions Active learning may help students engage with and develop a meaningful understanding of several resources in a single session. Moreover, when using a complex teaching strategy, librarians should be mindful to gauge learning using an equally complex assessment method. PMID:28096745

  10. Creative and Playful Learning: Learning through Game Co-Creation and Games in a Playful Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kangas, Marjaana

    2010-01-01

    This paper reports on a pilot study in which children aged 7-12 (N = 68) had an opportunity to study in a novel formal and informal learning setting. The learning activities were extended from the classroom to the playful learning environment (PLE), an innovative playground enriched by technological tools. Curriculum-based learning was intertwined…

  11. A New Comparison of Active Learning Strategies to Traditional Lectures for Teaching College Astronomy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LoPresto, Michael C.; Slater, Timothy F.

    2016-01-01

    Although traditional lectures are still the dominant form of undergraduate instruction, there have been relatively few studies comparing various learner-centered and active learning teaching strategies to one another in order to guide professors in making informed instructional decisions. To study the impact of different active learning…

  12. Drafting. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials for drafting for students in grades 6-10 consists of an instructor's section and student materials. The instructor's section contains background information, suggested activities, and a list of suggested resources. A lesson plan for the 8-day module includes assignments; equipment, tools,…

  13. Residential Construction. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials for residential construction for students in grades 6-10 consists of an instructor's section and student materials. The instructor's section contains background information, suggested activities, and a list of suggested resources. A lesson plan for the 10-day module includes assignments;…

  14. The Universal House: Energy, Shelter & The California Indian. Activity Guide, 4th/5th Grade.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    California Energy Extension Service, Sacramento.

    This activity guide links energy awareness with resource management and traditional California Indian cultures for the 3rd-6th grade span. The materials combine cooperative, hands-on activities with background information and learning extensions. The interdisciplinary lessons are built upon themes, concepts, and learning processes outlined in…

  15. Models of Learning Space: Integrating Research on Space, Place and Learning in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellis, R. A.; Goodyear, P.

    2016-01-01

    Learning space research is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the design, evaluation and management of learning spaces. This paper reviews a dispersed and fragmented literature relevant to understanding connections between university learning spaces and student learning activities. From this review, the paper distils a number of…

  16. Ethics education in research involving human beings in undergraduate medicine curriculum in Brazil.

    PubMed

    Novaes, Maria Rita Garbi; Guilhem, Dirce; Barragan, Elena; Mennin, Stewart

    2013-12-01

    The Brazilian national curriculum guidelines for undergraduate medicine courses inspired and influenced the groundwork for knowledge acquisition, skills development and the perception of ethical values in the context of professional conduct. The evaluation of ethics education in research involving human beings in undergraduate medicine curriculum in Brazil, both in courses with active learning processes and in those with traditional lecture learning methodologies. Curricula and teaching projects of 175 Brazilian medical schools were analyzed using a retrospective historical and descriptive exploratory cohort study. Thirty one medical schools were excluded from the study because of incomplete information or a refusal to participate. Active research for information from institutional sites and documents was guided by terms based on 69 DeCS/MeSH descriptors. Curriculum information was correlated with educational models of learning such as active learning methodologies, tutorial discussions with integrated curriculum into core modules, and traditional lecture learning methodologies for large classes organized by disciplines and reviewed by occurrence frequency of ethical themes and average hourly load per semester. Ninety-five medical schools used traditional learning methodologies. The ten most frequent ethical themes were: 1--ethics in research (26); 2--ethical procedures and advanced technology (46); 3--ethic-professional conduct (413). Over 80% of schools using active learning methodologies had between 50 and 100 hours of scheduled curriculum time devoted to ethical themes whereas more than 60% of traditional learning methodology schools devoted less than 50 hours in curriculum time to ethical themes. The data indicates that medical schools that employ more active learning methodologies provide more attention and time to ethical themes than schools with traditional discipline-based methodologies. Given the importance of ethical issues in contemporary medical education, these findings are significant for curriculum change and modification plans in the future of Brazilian medical education. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Learning Processes and Learning Outcomes

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-06-01

    establish and maintain activation levels) may process information faster because the relevant traces in long - term memory are already activated...drill and practice, and discovery. Finally, implications for the design of computerized instructional environments are indicated. 14. SUBJECT TERMS lI...outcome. This impact may be direct, or may interact with characteristics of the learner to effect learning outcome. INITIAL STATES Conative and cognitive

  18. Auditory cortical activity after intracortical microstimulation and its role for sensory processing and learning.

    PubMed

    Deliano, Matthias; Scheich, Henning; Ohl, Frank W

    2009-12-16

    Several studies have shown that animals can learn to make specific use of intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) of sensory cortex within behavioral tasks. Here, we investigate how the focal, artificial activation by ICMS leads to a meaningful, behaviorally interpretable signal. In natural learning, this involves large-scale activity patterns in widespread brain-networks. We therefore trained gerbils to discriminate closely neighboring ICMS sites within primary auditory cortex producing evoked responses largely overlapping in space. In parallel, during training, we recorded electrocorticograms (ECoGs) at high spatial resolution. Applying a multivariate classification procedure, we identified late spatial patterns that emerged with discrimination learning from the ongoing poststimulus ECoG. These patterns contained information about the preceding conditioned stimulus, and were associated with a subsequent correct behavioral response by the animal. Thereby, relevant pattern information was mainly carried by neuron populations outside the range of the lateral spatial spread of ICMS-evoked cortical activation (approximately 1.2 mm). This demonstrates that the stimulated cortical area not only encoded information about the stimulation sites by its focal, stimulus-driven activation, but also provided meaningful signals in its ongoing activity related to the interpretation of ICMS learned by the animal. This involved the stimulated area as a whole, and apparently required large-scale integration in the brain. However, ICMS locally interfered with the ongoing cortical dynamics by suppressing pattern formation near the stimulation sites. The interaction between ICMS and ongoing cortical activity has several implications for the design of ICMS protocols and cortical neuroprostheses, since the meaningful interpretation of ICMS depends on this interaction.

  19. Cross-domain active learning for video concept detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Huan; Li, Chao; Shi, Yuan; Xiong, Zhang; Hauptmann, Alexander G.

    2011-08-01

    As video data from a variety of different domains (e.g., news, documentaries, entertainment) have distinctive data distributions, cross-domain video concept detection becomes an important task, in which one can reuse the labeled data of one domain to benefit the learning task in another domain with insufficient labeled data. In this paper, we approach this problem by proposing a cross-domain active learning method which iteratively queries labels of the most informative samples in the target domain. Traditional active learning assumes that the training (source domain) and test data (target domain) are from the same distribution. However, it may fail when the two domains have different distributions because querying informative samples according to a base learner that initially learned from source domain may no longer be helpful for the target domain. In our paper, we use the Gaussian random field model as the base learner which has the advantage of exploring the distributions in both domains, and adopt uncertainty sampling as the query strategy. Additionally, we present an instance weighting trick to accelerate the adaptability of the base learner, and develop an efficient model updating method which can significantly speed up the active learning process. Experimental results on TRECVID collections highlight the effectiveness.

  20. Interactive and collaborative learning in the classroom at the medical school Automated response systems and team-based learning.

    PubMed

    Nasr, Rihab; Antoun, Jumana; Sabra, Ramzi; Zgheib, Nathalie K

    2016-01-01

    There has been a pedagogic shift in higher education from the traditional teacher centered to the student centered approach in teaching, necessitating a change in the role of the teacher from a supplier of information to passive receptive students into a more facilitative role. Active learning activities are based on various learning theories such as self-directed learning, cooperative learning and adult learning. There exist many instructional activities that enhance active and collaborative learning. The aim of this manuscript is to describe two methods of interactive and collaborative learning in the classroom, automated response systems (ARS) and team-based learning (TBL), and to list some of their applications and advantages. The success of these innovative teaching and learning methods at a large scale depends on few elements, probably the most important of which is the support of the higher administration and leadership in addition to the availability of “champions” who are committed to lead the change.

  1. Learning with Your Parents Has Long-Term Benefits

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eley, Alison

    2016-01-01

    Family learning means any learning that includes children and adult members of their family, and where there are outcomes for both child and adult. Learning activities may be formal or informal, and can take place in a range of contexts and venues. Good family learning experiences are characterised by well-planned programmes, with good or…

  2. E-Classroom of the 21st Century: Information Gaps

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oluwatumbi, Oso Senny

    2015-01-01

    The introduction of technology into the classroom has revolutionized teaching and learning process. The 21st century learning environment creates exciting learning for students to collaborate and learn at their own pace making them active participants in learning process. The teacher is no-longer a dictator, pouring knowledge into passive learners…

  3. A Study of the Effects of Digital Learning on Learning Motivation and Learning Outcome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Ming-Hung; Chen, Huang-Cheng; Liu, Kuang-Sheng

    2017-01-01

    In the modern society when intelligent mobile devices become popular, the Internet breaks through the restrictions on time and space and becomes a ubiquitous learning tool. Designing teaching activity for digital learning and flexibly applying technology tools are the key issues for current information technology integrated education. In this…

  4. Learning Organization Models and Their Application to the U.S. Army

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-06-01

    activities from informal to formal. At the informal end resides unanticipated experiences which result in learning either consciously or unconsciously, new...A systems Approach to Quantum Improvement and Global Success. New York: McGraw-Hill. Marsick, V. J., & Watkins, K. E. (1999). Facilitating

  5. Visual Learning Induces Changes in Resting-State fMRI Multivariate Pattern of Information.

    PubMed

    Guidotti, Roberto; Del Gratta, Cosimo; Baldassarre, Antonello; Romani, Gian Luca; Corbetta, Maurizio

    2015-07-08

    When measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the resting state (R-fMRI), spontaneous activity is correlated between brain regions that are anatomically and functionally related. Learning and/or task performance can induce modulation of the resting synchronization between brain regions. Moreover, at the neuronal level spontaneous brain activity can replay patterns evoked by a previously presented stimulus. Here we test whether visual learning/task performance can induce a change in the patterns of coded information in R-fMRI signals consistent with a role of spontaneous activity in representing task-relevant information. Human subjects underwent R-fMRI before and after perceptual learning on a novel visual shape orientation discrimination task. Task-evoked fMRI patterns to trained versus novel stimuli were recorded after learning was completed, and before the second R-fMRI session. Using multivariate pattern analysis on task-evoked signals, we found patterns in several cortical regions, as follows: visual cortex, V3/V3A/V7; within the default mode network, precuneus, and inferior parietal lobule; and, within the dorsal attention network, intraparietal sulcus, which discriminated between trained and novel visual stimuli. The accuracy of classification was strongly correlated with behavioral performance. Next, we measured multivariate patterns in R-fMRI signals before and after learning. The frequency and similarity of resting states representing the task/visual stimuli states increased post-learning in the same cortical regions recruited by the task. These findings support a representational role of spontaneous brain activity. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/359786-13$15.00/0.

  6. Learning how to learn using simulation: Unpacking disguised feedback using a qualitative analysis of doctors' telephone talk.

    PubMed

    Eppich, Walter J; Rethans, Jan-Joost; Dornan, Timothy; Teunissen, Pim W

    2018-05-04

    Telephone talk between clinicians represents a substantial workplace activity in postgraduate clinical education, yet junior doctors receive little training in goal-directed, professional telephone communication. To assess educational needs for telephone talk and develop a simulation-based educational intervention. Thematic analysis of 17 semi-structured interviews with doctors-in-training from various training levels and specialties. We identified essential elements to incorporate into simulation-based telephone talk, including common challenging situations for junior doctors as well as explicit and informal aspects that promote learning. These elements have implications for both junior doctors and clinical supervisors, including: (a) explicit teaching and feedback practices and (b) informal conversational interruptions and questions. The latter serve as "disguised" feedback, which aligns with recent conceptualizations of feedback as "performance relevant information". In addition to preparing clinical supervisors to support learning through telephone talk, we propose several potential educational strategies: (a) embedding telephone communication skills throughout simulation activities and (b) developing stand-alone curricular elements to sensitize junior doctors to "disguised" feedback during telephone talk as a mechanism to augment future workplace learning, i.e. 'learning how to learn' through simulation.

  7. Student Motivation from and Resistance to Active Learning Rooted in Essential Science Practices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Owens, David C.; Sadler, Troy D.; Barlow, Angela T.; Smith-Walters, Cindi

    2017-12-01

    Several studies have found active learning to enhance students' motivation and attitudes. Yet, faculty indicate that students resist active learning and censure them on evaluations after incorporating active learning into their instruction, resulting in an apparent paradox. We argue that the disparity in findings across previous studies is the result of variation in the active learning instruction that was implemented. The purpose of this study was to illuminate sources of motivation from and resistance to active learning that resulted from a novel, exemplary active-learning approach rooted in essential science practices and supported by science education literature. This approach was enacted over the course of 4 weeks in eight sections of an introductory undergraduate biology laboratory course. A plant concept inventory, administered to students as a pre-, post-, and delayed-posttest indicated significant proximal and distal learning gains. Qualitative analysis of open-response questionnaires and interviews elucidated sources of motivation and resistance that resulted from this active-learning approach. Several participants indicated this approach enhanced interest, creativity, and motivation to prepare, and resulted in a challenging learning environment that facilitated the sharing of diverse perspectives and the development of a community of learners. Sources of resistance to active learning included participants' unfamiliarity with essential science practices, having to struggle with uncertainty in the absence of authoritative information, and the extra effort required to actively construct knowledge as compared to learning via traditional, teacher-centered instruction. Implications for implementation, including tips for reducing student resistance to active learning, are discussed.

  8. Active learning methods for interactive image retrieval.

    PubMed

    Gosselin, Philippe Henri; Cord, Matthieu

    2008-07-01

    Active learning methods have been considered with increased interest in the statistical learning community. Initially developed within a classification framework, a lot of extensions are now being proposed to handle multimedia applications. This paper provides algorithms within a statistical framework to extend active learning for online content-based image retrieval (CBIR). The classification framework is presented with experiments to compare several powerful classification techniques in this information retrieval context. Focusing on interactive methods, active learning strategy is then described. The limitations of this approach for CBIR are emphasized before presenting our new active selection process RETIN. First, as any active method is sensitive to the boundary estimation between classes, the RETIN strategy carries out a boundary correction to make the retrieval process more robust. Second, the criterion of generalization error to optimize the active learning selection is modified to better represent the CBIR objective of database ranking. Third, a batch processing of images is proposed. Our strategy leads to a fast and efficient active learning scheme to retrieve sets of online images (query concept). Experiments on large databases show that the RETIN method performs well in comparison to several other active strategies.

  9. Educating adult females for leadership roles in an informal science program for girls

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCreedy, Dale

    The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of and an evidentiary warrant for, how a community of practice focused on informal science learning, can engage and promote active participation that offers adult female members and the community opportunities for legitimacy and transformation. This study is a qualitative, ethnographic research study that documents how adult female volunteers, historically inexperienced and/or excluded from traditional practices of science, come to engage in science activities through an informal, community-based context that helps them to appreciate science connections in their lives that are ultimately empowering and agentic. I begin to understand the ways in which such informal contexts, often thought to be marginal to dominant educational beliefs and practices, can offer adults outside of the field of science, education, or both, an entree into science learning and teaching that facilitate female's participation in legitimate and empowering ways. Using descriptive analyses, I first identify the characteristics of peripheral and active program participants. Through phenomenological analyses, I then develop an understanding of participation in an informal science program by focusing on three adult female members' unique trajectories of participation leading to core member status. Each draws on different aspects of the program that they find most salient, illustrating how different elements can serve as motivators for participation, and support continuation along the trajectory of participation reflecting personal and political agency. Through a purposeful ethnographic case-study analysis, I then explore one core member's transformation, evidenced by her developing identities as someone who enjoys science, engages in science activities, and, enacts a role as community old timer and door opener to science learning. This study: (1) contributes to the limited knowledge base in fields of informal learning, science education, and feminist research; (2) provides data that lead to assertions about the impact of NSP participation; and (3) takes advantage of a unique context in which to study adults and the interaction of gender, science, and informal learning.

  10. Games as an innovative teaching strategy for overactive bladder and BPH.

    PubMed

    LeCroy, Cheryl

    2006-10-01

    A challenge for urologic nurses and nurse educators is how to present information to staff, students, and patients in a way that will capture their interest and engage them in the learning process. The use of adult-learning principles and innovative teaching strategies can make the learning experience dynamic, and encourage learners to take a more active role in their own learning. Games are a creative, fun, and interactive way to assist in the emphasis, review, reinforcement, and retention of information for urology nurses.

  11. MSL Lessons Learned and Knowledge Capture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Buxbaum, Karen L.

    2012-01-01

    The Mars Program has recently been informed of the Planetary Protection Subcommittee (PPS) recommendation, which was endorsed by the NAC, concerning Mars Science Lab (MSL) lessons learned and knowledge capture. The Mars Program has not had an opportunity to consider any decisions specific to the PPS recommendation. Some of the activities recommended by the PPS would involve members of the MSL flight team who are focused on cruise, entry descent & landing, and early surface operations; those activities would have to wait. Members of the MSL planetary protection team at JPL are still available to support MSL lessons learned and knowledge capture; some of the specifically recommended activities have already begun. The Mars Program shares the PPS/NAC concerns about loss of potential information & expertise in planetary protection practice.

  12. Which learning activities enhance physiotherapy practice? A systematic review protocol of quantitative and qualitative studies.

    PubMed

    Leahy, Edmund; Chipchase, Lucy; Blackstock, Felicity

    2017-04-17

    Learning activities are fundamental for the development of expertise in physiotherapy practice. Continuing professional development (CPD) encompasses formal and informal learning activities undertaken by physiotherapists. Identifying the most efficient and effective learning activities is essential to enable the profession to assimilate research findings and improve clinical skills to ensure the most efficacious care for clients. To date, systematic reviews on the effectiveness of CPD provide limited guidance on the most efficacious models of professional development for physiotherapists. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate which learning activities enhance physiotherapy practice. A search of Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO (Psychological Abstracts), PEDro, Cochrane Library, AMED and Educational Resources and Information Center (ERIC) will be completed. Citation searching and reference list searching will be undertaken to locate additional studies. Quantitative and qualitative studies will be included if they examine the impact of learning activities on clinician's behaviour, attitude, knowledge, beliefs, skills, self-efficacy, work satisfaction and patient outcomes. Risk of bias will be assessed by two independent researchers. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) and Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (CERQual) will be used to synthesise results where a meta-analysis is possible. Where a meta-analysis is not possible, a narrative synthesis will be conducted. PROSPERO CRD42016050157.

  13. Learning With E-books and Project-based Strategy in a Community Health Nursing Course.

    PubMed

    Sung, Tien-Wen; Wu, Ting-Ting

    2018-03-01

    With advances in information technology, "information-assisted instruction" has been gradually introduced to nursing education curricula. Specifically, the integration of an e-book system can effectively enhance nursing students' attention and interest. Most studies on nursing education that incorporated e-books have focused on the advantages of convenience and assistance provided by e-books. Few studies have addressed community health nursing and off-campus practice activities in relation to suitable teaching strategies for learning activities. This study involved designing and planning a multimedia e-book learning system with a project-based learning activity that conforms to the curriculum and practical requirements of a community health nursing course. The purpose was to reduce the gap between theory and practice and realize an effective learning process. For learning evaluations, a final examination analysis with an independent sample t test; a scoring scheme with intrateam, interteam, and expert ratings; and Bloom's taxonomy-based analysis were conducted. The evaluation results indicated that the comprehension and learning abilities of the experimental group using the e-book system with a mobile device were effectively improved. In addition, the exploratory process involved in project-based learning can develop multiple cognitive skills and problem-solving ability, thereby realizing effective learning.

  14. Science education through informal education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Mijung; Dopico, Eduardo

    2016-06-01

    To develop the pedagogic efficiency of informal education in science teaching, promoting a close cooperation between institutions is suggested by Monteiro, Janerine, de Carvalho, and Martins. In their article, they point out effective examples of how teachers and educators work together to develop programs and activities at informal education places such as science museums. Their study explored and discussed the viability and relevancy of school visits to museums and possibilities to enhance the connection between students' visits in informal contexts and their learning in schools. Given that students learn science by crossing the boundaries of formal and informal learning contexts, it is critical to examine ways of integrated and collaborative approach to develop scientific literacy to help students think, act and communicate as members of problem solving communities. In this forum, we suggest the importance of students' lifeworld contexts in informal learning places as continuum of Monteiro, Janerine, de Carvalho, and Martins' discussion on enhancing the effectiveness of informal learning places in science education.

  15. 78 FR 54261 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-03

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request In compliance with Section... include: The level to which the event met expectations; memory for information learned during the training...

  16. Instructional Technology and Learning Resource Center-Based Community Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, James W.

    A survey of nonformal community education activities was conducted to determine specific use of media for identified educational and informational purposes. The results presented in this report are intended to provide resource information to professionals and paraprofessionals who ultimately may be employed in Learning Resource Center-Based…

  17. Unravelling Secondary Students' Challenges in Digital Literacy: A Gender Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Argelagós, Esther; Pifarré, Manoli

    2017-01-01

    The use of the Internet to learn involves complex cognitive activities. Educational researchers claim more attention in studying the nature of students' challenges when using digital information for learning purposes. Our research investigated in depth the challenges that secondary students face when solving web information-problem tasks. We…

  18. Learning and Skills Formation in the New Economy: Evidence from Greece.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zambarloukos, Stella; Constantelou, Anastasia

    2002-01-01

    Interviews with 26 Greek companies involved in electronic activity revealed few major differences in recruiting information/communications technology (ICT) specialists and extensive use of outsourcing, especially by small firms. Those with recruiting difficulties thought ICT education was inadequate. Informal learning was important, but lack of…

  19. Instructional Design and Professional Informal Learning: Practices, Tensions, and Ironies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yanchar, Stephen C.; Hawkley, Melissa N.

    2015-01-01

    This qualitative study explored the nature of informal learning in professional instructional designers' everyday work activities. Based on intensive interviews with six full-time practitioners, and using a hermeneutic form of data analysis, this study produced seven themes concerning the practices, tensions, and ironies associated with this…

  20. Science Learning with Information Technologies as a Tool for "Scientific Thinking" in Engineering Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smirnov, Eugeny; Bogun, Vitali

    2011-01-01

    New methodologies in science (or mathematics) learning process and scientific thinking in the classroom activity of engineer students with ICT (information and communication technology), including graphic calculator are presented: visual modelling with ICT, action research with graphic calculator, insight in classroom and communications and…

  1. A Learning Module for BA Students to Develop ICT Skills for Their Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Platteaux, Hervé; Hoein, Sergio

    2015-01-01

    This case illustrates the process of developing a learning module to support BA students in their use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools in their learning. At the university where this case occurred, the skill level of ICT use among students in a learning context was very heterogeneous. The E-learning Competency Centre, or…

  2. Towards the Construction of a Personal Professional Pathway: An Experimental Project for the Recognition of Non-Formal and Informal Learning in the University of Catania

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piazza, Roberta

    2013-01-01

    In Italy, accreditation of prior learning is a sensitive issue. Despite the lack of laws or qualification frameworks regulating the recognition of non-formal and informal learning, most Italian universities proceed with caution, allowing only a restricted number of credits in the university curriculum related to practical activities or to external…

  3. The Evocative Power of Words: Activation of Concepts by Verbal and Nonverbal Means

    PubMed Central

    Lupyan, Gary; Thompson-Schill, Sharon L.

    2014-01-01

    A major part of learning a language is learning to map spoken words onto objects in the environment. An open question is what are the consequences of this learning for cognition and perception? Here, we present a series of experiments that examine effects of verbal labels on the activation of conceptual information as measured through picture verification tasks. We find that verbal cues, such as the word “cat,” lead to faster and more accurate verification of congruent objects and rejection of incongruent objects than do either nonverbal cues, such as the sound of a cat meowing, or words that do not directly refer to the object, such as the word “meowing.” This label advantage does not arise from verbal labels being more familiar or easier to process than other cues, and it does extends to newly learned labels and sounds. Despite having equivalent facility in learning associations between novel objects and labels or sounds, conceptual information is activated more effectively through verbal means than through non-verbal means. Thus, rather than simply accessing nonverbal concepts, language activates aspects of a conceptual representation in a particularly effective way. We offer preliminary support that representations activated via verbal means are more categorical and show greater consistency between subjects. These results inform the understanding of how human cognition is shaped by language and hint at effects that different patterns of naming can have on conceptual structure. PMID:21928923

  4. Sources of Developmental Change in the Efficiency of Information Search

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ruggeri, Azzurra; Lombrozo, Tania; Griffiths, Thomas L.; Xu, Fei

    2016-01-01

    Children are active learners: they learn not only from the information people offer and the evidence they happen to observe, but by actively seeking information. However, children's information search strategies are typically less efficient than those of adults. In two studies, we isolate potential sources of developmental change in how children…

  5. Spicing Up Information Literacy Tutorials: Interactive Class Activities that Worked

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zdravkovic, Neda

    2010-01-01

    Constructivist learning theories promote students' engagement as one of the key factors in successful learning and knowledge building. Research indicates that the short attention span of adult learners, their need to "learn-by-doing," interact and multitask in the learning process can be accommodated with a positive outcome by…

  6. Serious Fun: Life-Deep Learning of Koi Hobbyists

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Chi-Chang

    2012-01-01

    Hobby activities can be viewed through the lens of informal, free-choice learning. A wide range of hobbies combine fun and learning-intensive practices, and can contribute to scientific literacy. Hobby learning involves clear goal orientation, persistence and effort, and often results in more richly and strongly connected knowledge; traits highly…

  7. How Learning Mathematics Can Be Made More Enjoyable

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    D'Apice, Ciro; Manzo, Rosanna

    2004-01-01

    New information technologies can act as a Trojan horse offering activities that will require major changes in the teaching-learning process. Computer aided learning applications are able to offer advanced students the opportunity to improve their skills and to maintain their motivation. In the spirit of "learning by doing", they are…

  8. Using Targeted Active-Learning Exercises and Diagnostic Question Clusters to Improve Students' Understanding of Carbon Cycling in Ecosystems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and…

  9. Who Assigns the Most ICT Activities? Examining the Relationship between Teacher and Student Usage

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hsu, Shihkuan

    2011-01-01

    The expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in schools is expected to promote learning. To what extent teachers are utilizing the new ICT tools to engage students in learning activities remains a question. This study reports what kind of activities teachers are likely to assign students, and what type of teachers…

  10. ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom

    PubMed Central

    Wiggins, Benjamin L.; Eddy, Sarah L.; Wener-Fligner, Leah; Freisem, Karen; Grunspan, Daniel Z.; Theobald, Elli J.; Timbrook, Jerry; Crowe, Alison J.

    2017-01-01

    The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today’s active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is important to gain a more holistic view of the student experience in an active-learning classroom. We have taken a mixed-methods approach to iteratively develop and validate a 16-item survey to measure multiple facets of the student experience during active-learning exercises. The instrument, which we call Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class Tool (ASPECT), was administered to a large introductory biology class, and student responses were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The 16 items loaded onto three factors that cumulatively explained 52% of the variation in student response: 1) value of activity, 2) personal effort, and 3) instructor contribution. ASPECT provides a rapid, easily administered means to measure student perception of engagement in an active-learning classroom. Gaining a better understanding of students’ level of engagement will help inform instructor best practices and provide an additional measure for comprehensively assessing the impact of different active-learning strategies. PMID:28495936

  11. Activities Handbook for Energy Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeVito, Alfred; Krockover, Gerald H.

    The purpose of this handbook is to present information about energy and to translate this information into learning activities for children. Chapter 1, "Energy: A Delicate Dilemma," presents activities intended to provide an introduction to energy and energy usage. Chapter 2, "What are the Sources of Energy?" provides…

  12. Creation and implementation of a flipped jigsaw activity to stimulate interest in biochemistry among medical students.

    PubMed

    Williams, Charlene; Perlis, Susan; Gaughan, John; Phadtare, Sangita

    2018-05-06

    Learner-centered pedagogical methods that are based on clinical application of basic science concepts through active learning and problem solving are shown to be effective for improving knowledge retention. As the clinical relevance of biochemistry is not always apparent to health-profession students, effective teaching of medical biochemistry should highlight the implications of biochemical concepts in pathology, minimize memorization, and make the concepts memorable for long-term retention. Here, we report the creation and successful implementation of a flipped jigsaw activity that was developed to stimulate interest in learning biochemistry among medical students. The activity combined the elements of a flipped classroom for learning concepts followed by a jigsaw activity to retrieve these concepts by solving clinical cases, answering case-based questions, and creating concept maps. The students' reception of the activity was very positive. They commented that the activity provided them an opportunity to review and synthesize information, helped to gage their learning by applying this information and work with peers. Students' improved performance especially for answering the comprehension-based questions correctly in the postquiz as well as the depth of information included in the postquiz concept maps suggested that the activity helped them to understand how different clinical scenarios develop owing to deviations in basic biochemical pathways. Although this activity was created for medical students, the format of this activity can also be useful for other health-professional students as well as undergraduate and graduate students. © 2018 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2018. © 2018 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  13. Surprised at All the Entropy: Hippocampal, Caudate and Midbrain Contributions to Learning from Prediction Errors

    PubMed Central

    Schiffer, Anne-Marike; Ahlheim, Christiane; Wurm, Moritz F.; Schubotz, Ricarda I.

    2012-01-01

    Influential concepts in neuroscientific research cast the brain a predictive machine that revises its predictions when they are violated by sensory input. This relates to the predictive coding account of perception, but also to learning. Learning from prediction errors has been suggested for take place in the hippocampal memory system as well as in the basal ganglia. The present fMRI study used an action-observation paradigm to investigate the contributions of the hippocampus, caudate nucleus and midbrain dopaminergic system to different types of learning: learning in the absence of prediction errors, learning from prediction errors, and responding to the accumulation of prediction errors in unpredictable stimulus configurations. We conducted analyses of the regions of interests' BOLD response towards these different types of learning, implementing a bootstrapping procedure to correct for false positives. We found both, caudate nucleus and the hippocampus to be activated by perceptual prediction errors. The hippocampal responses seemed to relate to the associative mismatch between a stored representation and current sensory input. Moreover, its response was significantly influenced by the average information, or Shannon entropy of the stimulus material. In accordance with earlier results, the habenula was activated by perceptual prediction errors. Lastly, we found that the substantia nigra was activated by the novelty of sensory input. In sum, we established that the midbrain dopaminergic system, the hippocampus, and the caudate nucleus were to different degrees significantly involved in the three different types of learning: acquisition of new information, learning from prediction errors and responding to unpredictable stimulus developments. We relate learning from perceptual prediction errors to the concept of predictive coding and related information theoretic accounts. PMID:22570715

  14. Country watch: Central African Republic (CAR).

    PubMed

    Aubel, J; Sobela, F; Voga, P

    1997-01-01

    This article describes the activities of the Community Peer AIDS Education Project, initiated in 1995 in the Central African Republic (CAR). The CAR project was created by the National AIDS Committee (NAC) and the US Peace Corps. A 4-day workshop was held at the onset for project staff and consultants. Staff developed a simple monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system that emphasizes "learning." M&E schemes measure project outputs, expenditures, and other measures of program implementation in order to help staff gradually improve implementation. M&E helps staff document activities, share information, and learn from the implementation process. Project activities are documented by maintaining community logbooks, taking photos of significant aspects of the educational activities, and leading informal discussion groups. The CAR project engaged in sharing and learning activities by holding meetings with peer leaders, team meetings, meetings with project managers, and meetings with the NAC. Once a month, peer field coordinators conducted a structured exercise with peer leaders. One aim was to gain their feedback on the successes and constraints of activities. Another was to make suggestions on how to improve activities. These structured exercises are recorded as lessons learned in a project book. Team meetings are held periodically. During meetings, staff review project books and photos and discuss successes and problems encountered. Project manager meetings provide time to share lessons learned and to suggest project strengthening options. NAC meetings between the project manager and field coordinators allow for a bottom-up learning process. CAR project staff were receptive to M&E efforts.

  15. The Secretary as an Information Resource.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wynn, Eleanor Herasimchuk

    The purpose of this study was to learn something about information-transmission procedures in offices. It was hypothesized that certain kinds of information and communication activities have particular properties, and that some of these activities are best pursued in face-to-face communication situations. Natural conversations involving an…

  16. Puerto Rican Children's Informal Education at Home. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jacob, Evelyn

    Observations of children's daily activities and interviews with the children's caretakers provided information on preschool children's informal home education in Utuado, Puerto Rico. Three kinds of skills were examined: literacy, chores, and rule-bound games. The unit of analysis was the "Potential Learning Activity" (PLA), a…

  17. Multiple subclasses of Purkinje cells in the primate floccular complex provide similar signals to guide learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Raymond, J. L.; Lisberger, S. G.

    1997-01-01

    The neural "learning rules" governing the induction of plasticity in the cerebellum were analyzed by recording the patterns of neural activity in awake, behaving animals during stimuli that induce a form of cerebellum-dependent learning. We recorded the simple- and complex-spike responses of a broad sample of Purkinje cells in the floccular complex during a number of stimulus conditions that induce motor learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Each subclass of Purkinje cells carried essentially the same information about required changes in the gain of the VOR. The correlation of simple-spike activity in Purkinje cells with activity in vestibular pathways could guide learning during low-frequency but not high-frequency stimuli. Climbing fiber activity could guide learning during all stimuli tested but only if compared with the activity present approximately 100 msec earlier in either vestibular pathways or Purkinje cells.

  18. Active Learning of Classification Models with Likert-Scale Feedback.

    PubMed

    Xue, Yanbing; Hauskrecht, Milos

    2017-01-01

    Annotation of classification data by humans can be a time-consuming and tedious process. Finding ways of reducing the annotation effort is critical for building the classification models in practice and for applying them to a variety of classification tasks. In this paper, we develop a new active learning framework that combines two strategies to reduce the annotation effort. First, it relies on label uncertainty information obtained from the human in terms of the Likert-scale feedback. Second, it uses active learning to annotate examples with the greatest expected change. We propose a Bayesian approach to calculate the expectation and an incremental SVM solver to reduce the time complexity of the solvers. We show the combination of our active learning strategy and the Likert-scale feedback can learn classification models more rapidly and with a smaller number of labeled instances than methods that rely on either Likert-scale labels or active learning alone.

  19. Active Learning of Classification Models with Likert-Scale Feedback

    PubMed Central

    Xue, Yanbing; Hauskrecht, Milos

    2017-01-01

    Annotation of classification data by humans can be a time-consuming and tedious process. Finding ways of reducing the annotation effort is critical for building the classification models in practice and for applying them to a variety of classification tasks. In this paper, we develop a new active learning framework that combines two strategies to reduce the annotation effort. First, it relies on label uncertainty information obtained from the human in terms of the Likert-scale feedback. Second, it uses active learning to annotate examples with the greatest expected change. We propose a Bayesian approach to calculate the expectation and an incremental SVM solver to reduce the time complexity of the solvers. We show the combination of our active learning strategy and the Likert-scale feedback can learn classification models more rapidly and with a smaller number of labeled instances than methods that rely on either Likert-scale labels or active learning alone. PMID:28979827

  20. The Internet: A Learning Environment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGreal, Rory

    1997-01-01

    The Internet environment is suitable for many types of learning activities and teaching and learning styles. Every World Wide Web-based course should provide: home page; introduction; course overview; course requirements, vital information; roles and responsibilities; assignments; schedule; resources; sample tests; teacher biography; course…

  1. Recollections of sexual socialisation among marginalised heterosexual black men

    PubMed Central

    Dunlap, Eloise; Benoit, Ellen; Graves, Jennifer L.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes the sexual socialisation process of marginalised, drug-using heterosexual black men, focusing primarily on the sources and content of sexual information. Analysing qualitative interview data, we discovered that the men in our sample both learn about sex and become sexually active at an early age. They most often learn about sex from the media and least often learn about sex from family members. The content of sexual information varies in specifics, but overall tends to equate sex with pleasure, encourage sexual activity with multiple partners, and emphasise using protection. Our goal is to use this data to better understand how sexual socialisation contributes to the prevalence of multiple sexual partners and high rates of HIV among heterosexual black men in order to inform future risk-reduction intervention programmes. PMID:24482611

  2. Closed-form expressions of some stochastic adapting equations for nonlinear adaptive activation function neurons.

    PubMed

    Fiori, Simone

    2003-12-01

    In recent work, we introduced nonlinear adaptive activation function (FAN) artificial neuron models, which learn their activation functions in an unsupervised way by information-theoretic adapting rules. We also applied networks of these neurons to some blind signal processing problems, such as independent component analysis and blind deconvolution. The aim of this letter is to study some fundamental aspects of FAN units' learning by investigating the properties of the associated learning differential equation systems.

  3. Aviation. Teacher Resources.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    2001

    This teacher's guide contains information, lesson plans, and diverse student learning activities focusing on aviation. The guide is divided into seven sections: (1) "Drawing Activities" (Airmail Art; Eyewitness; Kite Power); (2) "Geography" (U.S. Airports); (3) "Information" (Aviation Alphabet; Glossary; Four Forces…

  4. The use of an active learning approach in a SCALE-UP learning space improves academic performance in undergraduate General Biology.

    PubMed

    Hacisalihoglu, Gokhan; Stephens, Desmond; Johnson, Lewis; Edington, Maurice

    2018-01-01

    Active learning is a pedagogical approach that involves students engaging in collaborative learning, which enables them to take more responsibility for their learning and improve their critical thinking skills. While prior research examined student performance at majority universities, this study focuses on specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for the first time. Here we present work that focuses on the impact of active learning interventions at Florida A&M University, where we measured the impact of active learning strategies coupled with a SCALE-UP (Student Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies) learning environment on student success in General Biology. In biology sections where active learning techniques were employed, students watched online videos and completed specific activities before class covering information previously presented in a traditional lecture format. In-class activities were then carefully planned to reinforce critical concepts and enhance critical thinking skills through active learning techniques such as the one-minute paper, think-pair-share, and the utilization of clickers. Students in the active learning and control groups covered the same topics, took the same summative examinations and completed identical homework sets. In addition, the same instructor taught all of the sections included in this study. Testing demonstrated that these interventions increased learning gains by as much as 16%, and students reported an increase in their positive perceptions of active learning and biology. Overall, our results suggest that active learning approaches coupled with the SCALE-UP environment may provide an added opportunity for student success when compared with the standard modes of instruction in General Biology.

  5. Retrieval activates related words more than presentation.

    PubMed

    Hausman, Hannah; Rhodes, Matthew G

    2018-03-23

    Retrieving information enhances learning more than restudying. One explanation of this effect is based on the role of mediators (e.g., sand-castle can be mediated by beach). Retrieval is hypothesised to activate mediators more than restudying, but existing tests of this hypothesis have had mixed results [Carpenter, S. K. (2011). Semantic information activated during retrieval contributes to later retention: Support for the mediator effectiveness hypothesis of the testing effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(6), 1547-1552. doi: 10.1037/a0024140 ; Lehman, M., & Karpicke, J. D. (2016). Elaborative retrieval: Do semantic mediators improve memory? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(10), 1573-1591. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000267 ]. The present experiments explored an explanation of the conflicting results, testing whether mediator activation during a retrieval attempt depends on the accessibility of the target information. A target was considered less versus more accessible when fewer versus more cues were given during retrieval practice (Experiments 1 and 2), when the target had been studied once versus three times initially (Experiment 3), or when the target could not be recalled versus could be recalled during retrieval practice (Experiments 1-3). A mini meta-analysis of all three experiments revealed a small effect such that retrieval activated mediators more than presentation, but mediator activation was not reliably related to target accessibility. Thus, retrieval may enhance learning by activating mediators, in part, but these results suggest the role of other processes, too.

  6. The Dinosaur Connection.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donovan, Christine S.

    1988-01-01

    Provides background information, lesson plans, bulletin board activities, and a learning center description, all dealing with dinosaurs. Includes clip art for the learning center and reproducible "stamps" about some endangered species. (TW)

  7. Nutrition. Learning Activity Package.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Carolyn

    This learning activity package on nutrition is one of a series of 12 titles developed for use in health occupations education programs. Materials in the package include objectives, a list of materials needed, a list of definitions, information sheets, reviews (self evaluations) of portions of the content, and answers to reviews. These topics are…

  8. Shock & Anaphylactic Shock. Learning Activity Package.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hime, Kirsten

    This learning activity package on shock and anaphylactic shock is one of a series of 12 titles developed for use in health occupations education programs. Materials in the package include objectives, a list of materials needed, information sheets, reviews (self evaluations) of portions of the content, and answers to reviews. These topics are…

  9. Origami: An Active Learning Exercise for Scrum Project Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sibona, Christopher; Pourreza, Saba; Hill, Stephen

    2018-01-01

    Scrum is a popular project management model for iterative delivery of software that subscribes to Agile principles. This paper describes an origami active learning exercise to teach the principles of Scrum in management information systems courses. The exercise shows students how Agile methods respond to changes in requirements during project…

  10. Entrepreneurship. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on entrepreneurship for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Components of the instructor's and student's sections are…

  11. Introduction to Animation. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on introduction to animation for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and the instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Section components are described next. The…

  12. Audiovisual Programming. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on audiovisual programming for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and the instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Components of the instructor's and student's sections…

  13. Health Occupations. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on health occupations for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Components of the instructor's and student's sections are…

  14. Electronic Publishing. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on electronic publishing for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and the instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Components of the instructor and student sections are…

  15. Career Search. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on career search for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and the instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Components of the instructor's and student's sections are…

  16. Oral Hygiene. Learning Activity Package.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hime, Kirsten

    This learning activity package on oral hygiene is one of a series of 12 titles developed for use in health occupations education programs. Materials in the package include objectives, a list of materials needed, a list of definitions, information sheets, reviews (self evaluations) of portions of the content, and answers to reviews. These topics…

  17. Grooming. Learning Activity Package.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stark, Pamela

    This learning activity package on grooming for health workers is one of a series of 12 titles developed for use in health occupations education programs. Materials in the package include objectives, a list of materials needed, information sheets, reviews (self evaluations) of portions of the content, and answers to reviews. These topics are…

  18. Bears. Interactive Animal Kit. Grades 1-3.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernard, Robin

    This kit was created to make learning about bears a fun and meaningful experience for teachers and students. It offers students opportunities to learn about favorite animals through an assortment of fun activities filled with information. The activities interact with science, language arts, critical thinking, music, social studies, math, art, and…

  19. Using Interactive "Shiny" Applications to Facilitate Research-Informed Learning and Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fawcett, Lee

    2018-01-01

    In this article we discuss our attempt to incorporate research-informed learning and teaching activities into a final year undergraduate Statistics course. We make use of the Shiny web-based application framework for R to develop "Shiny apps" designed to help facilitate student interaction with methods from recently published papers in…

  20. Multimodal Modeling Activities with Special Needs Students in an Informal Learning Context: Vygotsky Revisited

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Mi Song

    2017-01-01

    In light of the challenges facing science educators and special education teachers in Singapore, this study entails design-based research to develop participatory learning environments. Drawing upon Vygotskian perspectives, this case study was situated in an informal workshop around the theme of "day and night" working for Special Needs…

  1. Epistemic Metacognition in Context: Evaluating and Learning Online Information

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mason, Lucia; Boldrin, Angela; Ariasi, Nicola

    2010-01-01

    This study examined epistemic metacognition as a reflective activity about knowledge and knowing in the context of online information searching on the Web, and whether it was related to prior knowledge on the topic, study approach, and domain-specific beliefs about science. In addition, we investigated whether Internet-based learning was…

  2. Assessing, Recognising and Certifying Informal and Non-Formal Learning (ARCNIL): Evolution and Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Svetlik, Ivan

    2009-01-01

    Certifying non-formal and informal knowledge may be a consequence of separating education and training from other social and economic activities. Specialisation and formalisation of education and training both aim to increase learning efficiency. In the emerging knowledge society, this has attracted particular attention among researchers and…

  3. 75 FR 69152 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Requests for Comments; Clearance of a New Information...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-10

    ... 40863. The FAA/AST will collect lessons learned from members of the commercial space [[Page 69153... collection. Background: The FAA/AST collects lessons learned from members of the commercial space industry in... amateur rocket community, experimental permit holders, licensed launch and reentry operators, and licensed...

  4. Managing Investment in Teaching and Learning Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coen, Michael; Nicol, David

    2007-01-01

    Information and communications technologies are radically changing the way that teaching and learning activities are organised and delivered within higher education (HE) institutions. A wide range of technologies is being deployed in quite complex and interactive ways, including virtual learning environments (VLEs), mobile communication…

  5. The role of alpha-rhythm states in perceptual learning: insights from experiments and computational models

    PubMed Central

    Sigala, Rodrigo; Haufe, Sebastian; Roy, Dipanjan; Dinse, Hubert R.; Ritter, Petra

    2014-01-01

    During the past two decades growing evidence indicates that brain oscillations in the alpha band (~10 Hz) not only reflect an “idle” state of cortical activity, but also take a more active role in the generation of complex cognitive functions. A recent study shows that more than 60% of the observed inter-subject variability in perceptual learning can be ascribed to ongoing alpha activity. This evidence indicates a significant role of alpha oscillations for perceptual learning and hence motivates to explore the potential underlying mechanisms. Hence, it is the purpose of this review to highlight existent evidence that ascribes intrinsic alpha oscillations a role in shaping our ability to learn. In the review, we disentangle the alpha rhythm into different neural signatures that control information processing within individual functional building blocks of perceptual learning. We further highlight computational studies that shed light on potential mechanisms regarding how alpha oscillations may modulate information transfer and connectivity changes relevant for learning. To enable testing of those model based hypotheses, we emphasize the need for multidisciplinary approaches combining assessment of behavior and multi-scale neuronal activity, active modulation of ongoing brain states and computational modeling to reveal the mathematical principles of the complex neuronal interactions. In particular we highlight the relevance of multi-scale modeling frameworks such as the one currently being developed by “The Virtual Brain” project. PMID:24772077

  6. Semantic-gap-oriented active learning for multilabel image annotation.

    PubMed

    Tang, Jinhui; Zha, Zheng-Jun; Tao, Dacheng; Chua, Tat-Seng

    2012-04-01

    User interaction is an effective way to handle the semantic gap problem in image annotation. To minimize user effort in the interactions, many active learning methods were proposed. These methods treat the semantic concepts individually or correlatively. However, they still neglect the key motivation of user feedback: to tackle the semantic gap. The size of the semantic gap of each concept is an important factor that affects the performance of user feedback. User should pay more efforts to the concepts with large semantic gaps, and vice versa. In this paper, we propose a semantic-gap-oriented active learning method, which incorporates the semantic gap measure into the information-minimization-based sample selection strategy. The basic learning model used in the active learning framework is an extended multilabel version of the sparse-graph-based semisupervised learning method that incorporates the semantic correlation. Extensive experiments conducted on two benchmark image data sets demonstrated the importance of bringing the semantic gap measure into the active learning process.

  7. Family Learning: The Missing Exemplar

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dentzau, Michael W.

    2013-01-01

    As a supporter of informal and alternative learning environments for science learning I am pleased to add to the discussion generated by Adriana Briseno-Garzon's article, "More than science: family learning in a Mexican science museum". I am keenly aware of the value of active family involvement in education in general, and science education in…

  8. Social Learning by Design: The Role of Social Media

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks, Laura

    2009-01-01

    It is no secret that learning has a social context. As library media specialists work with students nearly every day, they take for granted their pedagogical roots in social learning theory based on the premise that students need modeling and observation to learn from one another. Information gathering becomes a key activity, and social…

  9. From Psychomotor to "Motorpsycho": Learning through Gestures with Body Sensory Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xu, Xinhao; Ke, Fengfeng

    2014-01-01

    As information and communication technology continues to evolve, body sensory technologies, like the Microsoft Kinect, provide learning designers new approaches to facilitating learning in an innovative way. With the advent of body sensory technology like the Kinect, it is important to use motor activities for learning in good and effective ways.…

  10. Mining Learning Behavioral Patterns of Students by Sequence Analysis in Cloud Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Sanya; Hu, Zhenfan; Peng, Xian; Liu, Zhi; Cheng, H. N. H.; Sun, Jianwen

    2017-01-01

    In a MOOC environment, each student's interaction with the course content is a crucial clue for learning analytics, which offers an opportunity to record learner activity of unprecedented scale. In online learning, the educators and the administrators need to get informed with students' learning states since the performance of unsupervised…

  11. Investigating Learning through Work: The Development of the "Provider Learning Environment Scale"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chappell, Clive; Hawke, Geof

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this research activity was to investigate contemporary understandings of the connections between learning and work. This initial work was then used to inform the development of an organisational tool that registered training organisations (RTOs) could use to identify organisational practices likely to lead to greater learning at…

  12. MALL in the Wild: Learners' Designs for Scaffolding Vocabulary Learning Trajectories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Underwood, Joshua; Luckin, Rosemary; Winters, Niall

    2014-01-01

    This study aims to inform the design of mobile apps for vocabulary learning. Learning vocabulary involves developing, connecting, and sustaining various types of knowledge and skills. Learners do not typically acquire these all at once, but rather over the course of distinct episodes of activity. Yet, little is known about learning experience…

  13. Ocean Drilling Program: Public Information: Promotional Materials

    Science.gov Websites

    Learning web site) "From Mountains to Monsoons" interactive CD-ROM and Teacher's Guide (August 1997; JOI Learning web site) "Blast from the Past" poster with classroom activities (August 1997; JOI Learning web site) Slides "The ODP in Film" DVD (JOI Learning web site) B-roll

  14. An Active Learning Framework for Hyperspectral Image Classification Using Hierarchical Segmentation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zhang, Zhou; Pasolli, Edoardo; Crawford, Melba M.; Tilton, James C.

    2015-01-01

    Augmenting spectral data with spatial information for image classification has recently gained significant attention, as classification accuracy can often be improved by extracting spatial information from neighboring pixels. In this paper, we propose a new framework in which active learning (AL) and hierarchical segmentation (HSeg) are combined for spectral-spatial classification of hyperspectral images. The spatial information is extracted from a best segmentation obtained by pruning the HSeg tree using a new supervised strategy. The best segmentation is updated at each iteration of the AL process, thus taking advantage of informative labeled samples provided by the user. The proposed strategy incorporates spatial information in two ways: 1) concatenating the extracted spatial features and the original spectral features into a stacked vector and 2) extending the training set using a self-learning-based semi-supervised learning (SSL) approach. Finally, the two strategies are combined within an AL framework. The proposed framework is validated with two benchmark hyperspectral datasets. Higher classification accuracies are obtained by the proposed framework with respect to five other state-of-the-art spectral-spatial classification approaches. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed pruning strategy is also demonstrated relative to the approaches based on a fixed segmentation.

  15. Mobile learning in resource-constrained environments: a case study of medical education.

    PubMed

    Pimmer, Christoph; Linxen, Sebastian; Gröhbiel, Urs; Jha, Anil Kumar; Burg, Günter

    2013-05-01

    The achievement of the millennium development goals may be facilitated by the use of information and communication technology in medical and health education. This study intended to explore the use and impact of educational technology in medical education in resource-constrained environments. A multiple case study was conducted in two Nepalese teaching hospitals. The data were analysed using activity theory as an analytical basis. There was little evidence for formal e-learning, but the findings indicate that students and residents adopted mobile technologies, such as mobile phones and small laptops, as cultural tools for surprisingly rich 'informal' learning in a very short time. These tools allowed learners to enhance (a) situated learning, by immediately connecting virtual information sources to their situated experiences; (b) cross-contextual learning by documenting situated experiences in the form of images and videos and re-using the material for later reflection and discussion and (c) engagement with educational content in social network communities. By placing the students and residents at the centre of the new learning activities, this development has begun to affect the overall educational system. Leveraging these tools is closely linked to the development of broad media literacy, including awareness of ethical and privacy issues.

  16. Organised Governmental Learning: Vocational Education and Training Practices between Peer Review and Peer Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Speer, Sandra

    2011-01-01

    Peer learning has already existed for a long time, as an informal as well as a formal practice between people from the same professional area. However, peer learning systems on the macro level are relatively newer concepts. Policy learning can be fostered by various types of organised activities, ranging from peer review frameworks, which often…

  17. Harnessing the Power of Learning Management Systems: An E-Learning Approach for Professional Development.

    PubMed

    White, Meagan; Shellenbarger, Teresa

    E-learning provides an alternative approach to traditional professional development activities. A learning management system may help nursing professional development practitioners deliver content more efficiently and effectively; however, careful consideration is needed during planning and implementation. This article provides essential information in the selection and use of a learning management system for professional development.

  18. Role of Interaction in Enhancing the Epistemic Utility of 3D Mathematical Visualizations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liang, Hai-Ning; Sedig, Kamran

    2010-01-01

    Many epistemic activities, such as spatial reasoning, sense-making, problem solving, and learning, are information-based. In the context of epistemic activities involving mathematical information, learners often use interactive 3D mathematical visualizations (MVs). However, performing such activities is not always easy. Although it is generally…

  19. Orientation of nurses towards formal and informal learning: motives and perceptions.

    PubMed

    Bahn, Dolores

    2007-10-01

    The aim of this exploratory study was to gain information on the current orientation of registered nurses towards continuing education and lifelong learning. The population (N=162) consists of 2nd and 1st Level nurses who have or are currently taking part in continuing education. Qualitative empirical data were obtained through semi structured one to one interviews. The research questions sought information related to some of the reasons and motives for the participants' taking part in various categories of learning. Also explored was what factors might influence these participants' learning activities and the views and perceptions of their learning experiences. For many of these nurses, the initial motive for taking part in continuing education was the perception that they were being left behind by the higher educational level of nurses entering the profession. Contrary to some anecdotal views, the participants generally felt that higher education (HE) contributed to enhanced client care, reporting additional personal and professional satisfaction. Alleged poor support from managers for continuing education and the lack of parity, often within the same organisation regarding the selection criteria to take part in a variety of learning activities, was a source of dissatisfaction for some of these participants. Their determination to learn, however, remained strong.

  20. Understanding active sampling strategies: Empirical approaches and implications for attention and decision research.

    PubMed

    Gottlieb, Jacqueline

    2018-05-01

    In natural behavior we actively gather information using attention and active sensing behaviors (such as shifts of gaze) to sample relevant cues. However, while attention and decision making are naturally coordinated, in the laboratory they have been dissociated. Attention is studied independently of the actions it serves. Conversely, decision theories make the simplifying assumption that the relevant information is given, and do not attempt to describe how the decision maker may learn and implement active sampling policies. In this paper I review recent studies that address questions of attentional learning, cue validity and information seeking in humans and non-human primates. These studies suggest that learning a sampling policy involves large scale interactions between networks of attention and valuation, which implement these policies based on reward maximization, uncertainty reduction and the intrinsic utility of cognitive states. I discuss the importance of using such paradigms for formalizing the role of attention, as well as devising more realistic theories of decision making that capture a broader range of empirical observations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Networked Learning: Design Considerations for Online Instructors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Czerkawski, Betul C.

    2016-01-01

    The considerable increase in web-based knowledge networks in the past two decades is strongly influencing learning environments. Learning entails information retrieval, use, communication, and production, and is strongly enriched by socially mediated discussions, debates, and collaborative activities. It is becoming critical for educators to…

  2. Carpentry. Student Learning Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction, West Palm Beach, FL.

    This student learning guide contains 17 modules for completing a course in carpentry. It is designed especially for use in secondary schools in Palm Beach County, Florida. Each module covers one task, and consists of a purpose, performance objective, enabling objectives, learning activities keyed to resources, information sheets, student…

  3. Masonry. Student Learning Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction, West Palm Beach, FL.

    This student learning guide contains nine modules for completing a course in masonry. It is designed especially for use in secondary schools in Palm Beach County, Florida. Each module covers one task, and consists of a purpose, performance objective, enabling objectives, learning activities keyed to resources, information sheets, student…

  4. Does Technology Acceptance Affect E-Learning in a Non-Technology-Intensive Course?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buche, Mari W.; Davis, Larry R.; Vician, Chelley

    2012-01-01

    Prior research suggests that individuals' technology acceptance levels may affect their work and learning performance outcomes when activities are conducted through information technology usage. Most previous research investigating the relationship between individual attitudes towards technology and learning has been conducted in…

  5. Neural networks involved in learning lexical-semantic and syntactic information in a second language.

    PubMed

    Mueller, Jutta L; Rueschemeyer, Shirley-Ann; Ono, Kentaro; Sugiura, Motoaki; Sadato, Norihiro; Nakamura, Akinori

    2014-01-01

    The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of language acquisition in a realistic learning environment. Japanese native speakers were trained in a miniature version of German prior to fMRI scanning. During scanning they listened to (1) familiar sentences, (2) sentences including a novel sentence structure, and (3) sentences containing a novel word while visual context provided referential information. Learning-related decreases of brain activation over time were found in a mainly left-hemispheric network comprising classical frontal and temporal language areas as well as parietal and subcortical regions and were largely overlapping for novel words and the novel sentence structure in initial stages of learning. Differences occurred at later stages of learning during which content-specific activation patterns in prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortices emerged. The results are taken as evidence for a domain-general network supporting the initial stages of language learning which dynamically adapts as learners become proficient.

  6. Enhancing RN-to-BSN students' information literacy skills through the use of instructional technology.

    PubMed

    Schutt, Michelle A; Hightower, Barbara

    2009-02-01

    The American Association of Colleges of Nursing advocates that professional nurses have the information literacy skills essential for evidence-based practice. As nursing schools embrace evidence-based models to prepare students for nursing careers, faculty can collaborate with librarians to create engaging learning activities focused on the development of information literacy skills. Instructional technology tools such as course management systems, virtual classrooms, and online tutorials provide opportunities to reach students outside the traditional campus classroom. This article discusses the collaborative process between faculty and a library instruction coordinator and strategies used to create literacy learning activities focused on the development of basic database search skills for a Computers in Nursing course. The activities and an online tutorial were included in a library database module incorporated into WebCT. In addition, synchronous classroom meeting software was used by the librarian to reach students in the distance learning environment. Recommendations for module modifications and faculty, librarian, and student evaluations are offered.

  7. Active learning based segmentation of Crohns disease from abdominal MRI.

    PubMed

    Mahapatra, Dwarikanath; Vos, Franciscus M; Buhmann, Joachim M

    2016-05-01

    This paper proposes a novel active learning (AL) framework, and combines it with semi supervised learning (SSL) for segmenting Crohns disease (CD) tissues from abdominal magnetic resonance (MR) images. Robust fully supervised learning (FSL) based classifiers require lots of labeled data of different disease severities. Obtaining such data is time consuming and requires considerable expertise. SSL methods use a few labeled samples, and leverage the information from many unlabeled samples to train an accurate classifier. AL queries labels of most informative samples and maximizes gain from the labeling effort. Our primary contribution is in designing a query strategy that combines novel context information with classification uncertainty and feature similarity. Combining SSL and AL gives a robust segmentation method that: (1) optimally uses few labeled samples and many unlabeled samples; and (2) requires lower training time. Experimental results show our method achieves higher segmentation accuracy than FSL methods with fewer samples and reduced training effort. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Sharp wave ripples during learning stabilize hippocampal spatial map

    PubMed Central

    Roux, Lisa; Hu, Bo; Eichler, Ronny; Stark, Eran; Buzsáki, György

    2017-01-01

    Cognitive representation of the environment requires a stable hippocampal map but the mechanisms maintaining map representation are unknown. Because sharp wave-ripples (SPW-R) orchestrate both retrospective and prospective spatial information, we hypothesized that disrupting neuronal activity during SPW-Rs affects spatial representation. Mice learned daily a new set of three goal locations on a multi-well maze. We used closed-loop SPW-R detection at goal locations to trigger optogenetic silencing of a subset of CA1 pyramidal neurons. Control place cells (non-silenced or silenced outside SPW-Rs) largely maintained the location of their place fields after learning and showed increased spatial information content. In contrast, the place fields of SPW-R-silenced place cells remapped, and their spatial information remained unaltered. SPW-R silencing did not impact the firing rates or the proportions of place cells. These results suggest that interference with SPW-R-associated activity during learning prevents the stabilization and refinement of the hippocampal map. PMID:28394323

  9. The WebQuest: constructing creative learning.

    PubMed

    Sanford, Julie; Townsend-Rocchiccioli, Judith; Trimm, Donna; Jacobs, Mike

    2010-10-01

    An exciting expansion of online educational opportunities is occurring in nursing. The use of a WebQuest as an inquiry-based learning activity can offer considerable opportunity for nurses to learn how to analyze and synthesize critical information. A WebQuest, as a constructivist, inquiry-oriented strategy, requires learners to use higher levels of thinking as a means to analyze and apply complex information, providing an exciting online teaching and learning strategy. A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all of the information learners work with comes from the web. This article provides an overview of the WebQuest as a teaching strategy and provides examples of its use. Copyright 2010, SLACK Incorporated.

  10. The Need for Ocean Literacy in the Classroom: Part II

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schoedinger, Sarah; Cava, Francesca; Jewell, Beth

    2006-01-01

    As mentioned in Part I, certain classroom activities can help students learn about the ocean and empower them to make informed decisions about their impacts on the environment. One such activity focuses on harmful algal blooms (HABs). In this article, the authors include background information on HABs and then present two activities. Activity 1 is…

  11. Evaluation of Online Learning Modules for Improving Physical Activity Counseling Skills, Practices, and Knowledge of Oncology Nurses.

    PubMed

    Karvinen, Kristina H; Balneaves, Lynda; Courneya, Kerry S; Perry, Beth; Truant, Tracy; Vallance, Jeff

    2017-11-01

    To examine the effectiveness of online learning modules for improving physical activity counseling practices among oncology nurses. 
. Randomized, controlled trial.
. Online.
. 54 oncology nurses.
. Oncology nurses were randomly assigned to the learning modules group or control group. The learning modules group completed six online learning modules and quizzes focused on physical activity for cancer survivors, general physical activity principles, and motivational interviewing.
. Percentage of cancer survivors counseled, self-efficacy for physical activity counseling, knowledge of physical activity, and perceived barriers and benefits of physical activity counseling.
. Analyses of covariance revealed no significant difference between the learning modules and control groups in the percentage of cancer survivors that oncology nurses counseled. Significant differences were found in self-efficacy for physical activity counseling and perceived barriers to physical activity counseling at postintervention. 
. The online learning intervention tested in this study improved some parameters of physical activity counseling but did not increase the percentage of cancer survivors that oncology nurses counseled. Additional pilot work is needed to refine the intervention.
. This study suggests the potential utility of an evidence-based online learning strategy for oncology nurses that includes information on physical activity and its benefits in cancer survivorship. The findings offer a framework on how to implement physical activity counseling skills in oncology nursing practice.

  12. Professional development of undergraduates in wildlife ecology and management

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Moen, A.N.; Boomer, G.S.; Runge, M.C.

    2000-01-01

    This paper describes a cooperative learning environment and a course continuum in wildlife ecology and management which promote the professional development of undergraduates. Students learn about functional relationships in ecology and management in lecture periods that focus on concepts, with participation by students in active learning exercises. Laboratory periods are designed around learning groups, which consist of freshmen through graduate students who focus on a common theme as they work together, while each student is responsible for his or her own research. Undergraduate teaching assistants and senior wildlife management students coordinate the activities of the learning groups and supervise the student research, learning about personnel management by active participation in leadership roles. Publication of research results on a wildlife ecology and management information system in the department's Cooperative Learning Center enables students to share what they learn with their peers and with students who follow in later years.

  13. Renewed roles for librarians in problem-based learning in the medical curriculum.

    PubMed

    Mi, Misa

    2011-01-01

    Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching-learning process or method of instruction that is widely used in medical education curricula. Librarians play important roles as facilitators for PBL as well as guides for information resources. Involvement in PBL activities presents unique opportunities to incorporate library resources and instruction into the medical curriculum. This article reviews the problem-based learning method within the conceptual framework of the learning theory of constructivism. It describes how a medical librarian at a U.S. medical school used emerging technologies to facilitate PBL small group case discussions, guide students to quality information resources, and enhance the learning environment for the PBL process.

  14. Assessing student clinical learning experiences.

    PubMed

    Nehyba, Katrine; Miller, Susan; Connaughton, Joanne; Singer, Barbara

    2017-08-01

    This article describes the use of an activity worksheet and questionnaire to investigate the learning experience of students on clinical placement. The worksheet measures the amount of time students spend in different learning activities, and the questionnaire explores student satisfaction and preferred learning activities. An activity worksheet and questionnaire … investigate[d] the learning experiences of students on clinical placement METHODS: The activity worksheet and questionnaire were used in a cohort pilot study of physiotherapy students on clinical placement. The activity worksheet provides details of the amount of time students engage in a range of clinical and non-clinical tasks while on placement, such as time spent treating patients, working individually, working with their peers and engaging in reflective practice. In combination with the questionnaire results, it allows clinicians to gain an understanding of the clinical learning environment experienced by their students. The data collected using these tools provide a description of the students' activities while undertaking the clinical placement. This information may guide the refinement of the clinical experience, and offers an opportunity to individualise learning activities to match students' needs and preferences. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

  15. Choosing Classroom-Led Activities Reinforce Active Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Escribano, Begona M.; Aguera, Estrella L.; Tovar, Pura

    2013-01-01

    The authors of this article have had some doubts as to whether the new information and communication technologies presented through the internet may be altering the way in which the student's brain processes the information received. Access to the internet permits students to obtain abundant information quite rapidly, but the result is…

  16. The Life Cycles of Stars: An Information & Activity Booklet Grades K-8, 1997-1998. Star-Child--A Learning Center for Young Astronomers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Truelove, Elizabeth; Dejoie, Joyce

    This booklet contains information and activities on the life cycle of stars. Materials can be adapted for kindergarten through grade 8 classrooms. Background information on massive stars and medium stars and activities with subjects such as star life, constellation shapes, nebula terminology, astronomical distances, and pulsars is included. The 12…

  17. Using of Teleconference as a Medium to Establish an "E-Global-Learning-System": An Experience of 1000guru-Association on Facilitates Open and Distance Learning Activities with Schools in Indonesia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haris, Ikhfan

    2014-01-01

    Information communication and technology (ICT) has been used in various fields. The use of teleconference for teaching and learning activities is currently not a new topic in global world. In Indonesia, through IMHERE Program from Directorate of Higher Education, some universities have been connected with a network of teleconference as a medium of…

  18. Dental Charting. Learning Activities, Unit Tests, Progress Chart, and Work Sheet.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Univ., Austin. Center for Occupational Curriculum Development.

    These materials are part of a series dealing with skills and information needed by students in dental assisting. The individualized student materials are suitable for classroom, laboratory, or cooperative training programs. These student materials, designed to be used with the Dental Charting Student Manual, consist of learning activities, unit…

  19. Promising and Successful Programs and practices in Schools with Intermediate Grade Levels: Programs, Projects & Activities. Information & Dissemination Series 18.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawaii State Dept. of Education, Honolulu. Office of Instructional Services.

    Outlined are the following 11 successful programs, projects, and activities functioning in Hawaii's intermediate schools: Alternative Learning Center (Waipahu and Pearl City Highlands); Career Awareness Exploring through Basic Practical Arts; Career Education Guidance (Kailua); Creating a Positive School Climate; Learning through the Arts;…

  20. Working in Pharmacies. Instructor's Guide. Student's Manual. Student Learning Activities. Second Revised Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Driever, Carl W.; And Others

    This document combines three separately bound volumes, a student manual, an instructor's guide, and student learning activities designed for students who are either in beginning-level pharmacy technician courses or considering careers in pharmacy. The material is intended to relate training experience to information studied in the classroom. The…

  1. Sources of Variation in Consequences of Everyday Activity Settings on Child and Parent Functioning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trivette, Carol; Dunst, Carl; Hamby, Deborah

    2004-01-01

    Relationships between acculturation and enculturation, parent beliefs about child learning methods and parenting roles in children's learning, children's participation in family and community activity settings, and a variety of child, parent and family outcomes were examined in a sample of 203 parents. Information received from these parents…

  2. Tlingit Survival Practices and Stories with Activity Folder.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Frank

    Students learn Tlingit survival practices and lore in this booklet of stories and learning activities. Five readings discuss fire making methods, edible wild foods, weather conditions, and shelter; information is related to the resources of Southeast Alaska and to typical survival situations; e.g., storms at sea and dense fogs. Narratives relate…

  3. Safety. A Guide for Industrial Cooperative Training Programs. Learning Activity Package. LAP 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duenk, Lester G.; Lear, George

    This learning activity package, one of six intended for use in Industrial Cooperative Training Programs, is designed to provide students with information on several general safety topics which would apply in most employment situations. (The industrial cooperative training program provides industrial occupational training experience for high school…

  4. Aerospace and Flight. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This packet of technology learning activity (TLA) materials on aerospace and flight for students in grades 6-10 consists of a technology education overview, information on use, and instructor's and student's sections. The overview discusses the technology education program and materials. Components of the instructor's and student's sections are…

  5. Modeling Social Activism and Teaching about Violence against Women through Theatre Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pataki, Sherri P.; Mackenzie, Scott A.

    2012-01-01

    To inform students about global violence against women and to empower them to take action, the authors developed an interdisciplinary course focused on experiential learning and theatre education. Their article discusses the development of the course; the implementation of active learning strategies to develop critical thinking, empathy, and…

  6. Guided Imagery in the Classroom: An Enhancement to Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Herr, Kay U.

    The use of guided imagery meshes with recent insights into right and left brain learning. Guided imagery engages the right brain processes such as imagination, emotion, creative, and intuitive activities. While much instruction is concerned with left brain activity, that is, the processsing of information through words, the addition of right brain…

  7. Young Children's Engagement and Learning Opportunities in a Cooking Activity with Parents and Older Siblings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finn, Lauren; Vandermaas-Peeler, Maureen

    2013-01-01

    Parents teach their children through informal social interactions in a process known as guided participation (Rogoff, 1990). Although most research focuses on parent-child dyads, young children also learn from older siblings and parents through shared participation in daily activities. Utilizing a structured observational design, the authors…

  8. The Surgical Scrub. Learning Activity Package.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Runge, Lillian

    This learning activity package on the surgical scrub is one of a series of 12 titles developed for use in health occupations education programs. Materials in the package include objectives, a list of materials needed, a list of definitions, information sheets, reviews (self evaluations) of portions of the content, and answers to reviews. These…

  9. Development and Evaluation of an Interactive Mobile Learning Environment with Shared Display Groupware

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Jie Chi; Lin, Yi Lung

    2010-01-01

    When using mobile devices in support of learning activities, students gain mobility, but problems arise when group members share information. The small size of the mobile device screen becomes problematic when it is being used by two or more students to share and exchange information. This problem affects interactions among group members. To…

  10. This Is Challenger Center...Changing the Way Teachers Teach and Students Learn. [Information Packet].

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Challenger Center for Space Science Education, Alexandria, VA.

    The Challenger Center for Space Science Education is a not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1986 following the Challenger 51-L space shuttle tragedy. This packet contains a variety of separate sheets and brochures providing information about the activities of the Challenger Center. Challenger Learning Centers provide hands-on,…

  11. Understanding the Online Informal Learning of English as a Complex Dynamic System: An Emic Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sockett, Geoffrey

    2013-01-01

    Research into the online informal learning of English has already shown it to be a widespread phenomenon involving a range of comprehension and production activities such as viewing original version television series, listening to music on demand and social networking with other English users. Dynamic systems theory provides a suitable framework…

  12. Adults' Participation in Informal Learning Activities: Key Findings from the Adult Education Participation Survey in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Horng-Ji; Wu, Ming-Lieh; Li, Ai-Tzu

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the informal learning experiences expressed by Taiwanese adults (aged from 16 to 97) and examined their involvement related to selected socio-demographic characteristics. Data of the 2008 Adult Education Participation Survey in Taiwan and Fujian Area were used to look at different variables of adults' demographic…

  13. An Integrated Learning Approach to Teaching an Undergraduate Information Systems Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riordan, Robert J.; Hine, Michael J.; Smith, Tim C.

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes the redesign and implementation of an introductory Information Systems class. The redesign was guided by principles drawn from the experiential and active learning literature. Central to the redesign are two simulated companies: petGRO, a fictional ERP-enabled pet food and accessories e-tailer, and beans4all, a technology…

  14. Pupils' Perceptions of Informal Learning in School Music Lessons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hallam, Susan; Creech, Andrea; McQueen, Hilary

    2018-01-01

    Music education has faced considerable challenges in trying to bridge the gap between music in young people's lives and that taking place in the classroom. The 'Musical Futures' initiative aimed to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11-19, in music activities through a process of informal learning based initially on…

  15. Learning about Marine Biology. Superific Science Book VI. A Good Apple Science Activity Book for Grades 5-8+.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conway, Lorraine

    Based on the assumption that most students have a natural curiosity about the plant and animal life residing in the oceans, this document provides students in grades five through eight with activities in marine biology. The book provides illustrated information and learning activities dealing with: (1) diatoms; (2) the life cycle of the jellyfish;…

  16. 4SPPIces: A Case Study of Factors in a Scripted Collaborative-Learning Blended Course across Spatial Locations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perez-Sanagustin, Mar; Santos, Patricia; Hernandez-Leo, Davinia; Blat, Josep

    2012-01-01

    Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning (CSCBL) scripts are complex learning situations in which formal and informal activities conducted at different spatial locations are coordinated and integrated into one unique learning setting through the use of technology. We define a conceptual model identifying four factors to be considered when…

  17. Effects of the ISIS Recommender System for Navigation Support in Self-Organised Learning Networks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drachsler, Hendrik; Hummel, Hans; van den Berg, Bert; Eshuis, Jannes; Waterink, Wim; Nadolski, Rob; Berlanga, Adriana; Boers, Nanda; Koper, Rob

    2009-01-01

    The need to support users of the Internet with the selection of information is becoming more important. Learners in complex, self-organising Learning Networks have similar problems and need guidance to find and select most suitable learning activities, in order to attain their lifelong learning goals in the most efficient way. Several research…

  18. An Evolving Learning Management System for New Educational Environments Using 2.0 Tools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conde, Miguel Á.; García-Peñalvo, Francisco J.; Rodríguez-Conde, María J.; Alier, Marc; Casany, María J.; Piguillem, Jordi

    2014-01-01

    The tools used in learning processes are in a continuous state of flux. One of the most significant changes is the application of Information and Communications technologies (ICTs) to educational contexts. This provides new possible ways to carry out learning activities, new learning services, the possibility to use new kinds of contents and…

  19. Language Learning and Its Impact on the Brain: Connecting Language Learning with the Mind through Content-Based Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy, Teresa J.

    2006-01-01

    Cognitive sciences are discovering many things that educators have always intuitively known about language learning. However, the important point is actively using this new information to improve both students learning and current teaching practices. The implications of neuroscience for educational reform regarding second language (L2) learning…

  20. Experience in Education Environment Virtualization within the Automated Information System "Platonus" (Kazakhstan)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abeldina, Zhaidary; Moldumarova, Zhibek; Abeldina, Rauza; Makysh, Gulmira; Moldumarova, Zhuldyz Ilibaevna

    2016-01-01

    This work reports on the use of virtual tools as means of learning process activation. A good result can be achieved by combining the classical learning with modern computer technology. By creating a virtual learning environment and using multimedia learning tools one can obtain a significant result while facilitating the development of students'…

  1. Gallery Educators as Adult Learners: The Active Application of Adult Learning Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCray, Kimberly H.

    2016-01-01

    In order to better understand the importance of adult learning theory to museum educators' work, and that of their profession at large, museum professionals must address the need for more adult learning research and practice in museums--particularly work informed by existing theory and work seeking to generate new theory. Adult learning theory…

  2. Core Skills & Participative Learning. Coombe Lodge Working Paper. Information Bank Number 2088. Draft.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boffy, Roy; And Others

    This paper is intended to help supervisors, trainers, and teachers involved in Great Britain's Youth Training Scheme (YTS) understand the principles of participative learning and use them in teaching core skills to YTS trainees. Participative learning is discussed in terms of its emphasis on individual activity in learning and recognition of the…

  3. Using Blogs to Support Learning during Internship

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chu, Samuel K. W.; Chan, Carol K. K.; Tiwari, Agnes F. Y.

    2012-01-01

    Blogging has been recommended as a suitable tool for learning during internship due to its associated usefulness in collaborative learning, reflection, communication, and social support. In this study, blogging was incorporated into the internship activities of two discipline-specific groups of interns: information management (n = 53) and nursing…

  4. Welding. Student Learning Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction, West Palm Beach, FL.

    This student learning guide contains 30 modules for completing a course in welding. It is designed especially for use in secondary schools in Palm Beach County, Florida. Each module covers one task, and consists of a purpose, performance objective, enabling objectives, learning activities keyed to resources, information sheets, student self-check…

  5. Learning Space Service Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Felix, Elliot

    2011-01-01

    Much progress has been made in creating informal learning spaces that incorporate technology and flexibly support a variety of activities. This progress has been principally in designing the right combination of furniture, technology, and space. However, colleges and universities do not design services within learning spaces with nearly the same…

  6. New Educational Video Series From AGU

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Adamec, Bethany Holm; Sollosi, Derek

    2013-04-01

    A new video series entitled Live Education Activity Resource Network (LEARN) With AGU was recently launched. This series of short Earth and space science-related videos is designed to give K-12 formal and informal educators the tools they need to try new hands-on activities with their students. Research indicates that hands-on learning and problem solving are important ways for students to learn, but educators do not always know where to begin or think that they need a lot of materials to do a hands-on activity (which often is not the case).

  7. Animals, Emperors, Senses: Exploring a Story-Based Learning Design in a Museum Setting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murmann, Mai; Avraamidou, Lucy

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this qualitative case study was to explore the use of stories as tools for learning within formal and informal learning environments. The design was based on three areas of interest: (a) the story as a tool for learning; (b) the student as subjects engaging with the story; and (c) the context in which the story learning activity takes…

  8. Multi-agents and learning: Implications for Webusage mining.

    PubMed

    Lotfy, Hewayda M S; Khamis, Soheir M S; Aboghazalah, Maie M

    2016-03-01

    Characterization of user activities is an important issue in the design and maintenance of websites. Server weblog files have abundant information about the user's current interests. This information can be mined and analyzed therefore the administrators may be able to guide the users in their browsing activity so they may obtain relevant information in a shorter span of time to obtain user satisfaction. Web-based technology facilitates the creation of personally meaningful and socially useful knowledge through supportive interactions, communication and collaboration among educators, learners and information. This paper suggests a new methodology based on learning techniques for a Web-based Multiagent-based application to discover the hidden patterns in the user's visited links. It presents a new approach that involves unsupervised, reinforcement learning, and cooperation between agents. It is utilized to discover patterns that represent the user's profiles in a sample website into specific categories of materials using significance percentages. These profiles are used to make recommendations of interesting links and categories to the user. The experimental results of the approach showed successful user pattern recognition, and cooperative learning among agents to obtain user profiles. It indicates that combining different learning algorithms is capable of improving user satisfaction indicated by the percentage of precision, recall, the progressive category weight and F 1-measure.

  9. Multi-agents and learning: Implications for Webusage mining

    PubMed Central

    Lotfy, Hewayda M.S.; Khamis, Soheir M.S.; Aboghazalah, Maie M.

    2015-01-01

    Characterization of user activities is an important issue in the design and maintenance of websites. Server weblog files have abundant information about the user’s current interests. This information can be mined and analyzed therefore the administrators may be able to guide the users in their browsing activity so they may obtain relevant information in a shorter span of time to obtain user satisfaction. Web-based technology facilitates the creation of personally meaningful and socially useful knowledge through supportive interactions, communication and collaboration among educators, learners and information. This paper suggests a new methodology based on learning techniques for a Web-based Multiagent-based application to discover the hidden patterns in the user’s visited links. It presents a new approach that involves unsupervised, reinforcement learning, and cooperation between agents. It is utilized to discover patterns that represent the user’s profiles in a sample website into specific categories of materials using significance percentages. These profiles are used to make recommendations of interesting links and categories to the user. The experimental results of the approach showed successful user pattern recognition, and cooperative learning among agents to obtain user profiles. It indicates that combining different learning algorithms is capable of improving user satisfaction indicated by the percentage of precision, recall, the progressive category weight and F1-measure. PMID:26966569

  10. Using targeted active-learning exercises and diagnostic question clusters to improve students' understanding of carbon cycling in ecosystems.

    PubMed

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non-biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal.

  11. Using Targeted Active-Learning Exercises and Diagnostic Question Clusters to Improve Students' Understanding of Carbon Cycling in Ecosystems

    PubMed Central

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non–biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal. PMID:22383618

  12. Blended Learning Implementation in “Guru Pembelajar” Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahdan, D.; Kamaludin, M.; Wendi, H. F.; Simanjuntak, M. V.

    2018-02-01

    The rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), especially the internet, computers and communication devices requires the innovation in learning; one of which is Blended Learning. The concept of Blended Learning is the mixing of face-to-face learning models by learning online. Blended learning used in the learner teacher program organized by the Indonesian department of education and culture that a program to improve the competence of teachers, called “Guru Pembelajar” (GP). Blended learning model is perfect for learning for teachers, due to limited distance and time because online learning can be done anywhere and anytime. but the problems that arise from the implementation of this activity are many teachers who do not follow the activities because teachers, especially the elderly do not want to follow the activities because they cannot use computers and the internet, applications that are difficult to understand by participants, unstable internet connection in the area where the teacher lives and facilities and infrastructure are not adequate.

  13. Participatory Learning through Behavioral and Cognitive Engagements in an Online Collective Information Searching Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Chia-Ching; Tsai, Chin-Chung

    2012-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate the relationships between college students' behavioral and cognitive engagements while performing an online collective information searching (CIS) activity. The activity aimed to assist the students in utilizing a social bookmarking application to exploit the Internet in a collective manner. A group of 101 college…

  14. Making information skills meaningful: a case study from occupational therapy.

    PubMed

    Spring, Hannah

    2018-03-01

    The effective delivery of information literacy training can be a challenging process, and health library and information professionals are constantly innovating in this area. This article presents a case study of the BHSc (Hons) Occupational therapy degree programme at York St John University to demonstrate ways in which deep integration of information skills into the curriculum can be achieved. The article advises that in the delivery of health and social care related information skills, we should look more broadly at where relevant learning can happen. In particular, contexts of the health care environment are suggested as a consideration rather than the narrow scope of the academic, classroom-based environment. Examples are provided of specific teaching and learning activities used on the programme alongside CPD activity and curriculum design. © 2018 Health Libraries Group.

  15. Incorporating conditional random fields and active learning to improve sentiment identification.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Kunpeng; Xie, Yusheng; Yang, Yi; Sun, Aaron; Liu, Hengchang; Choudhary, Alok

    2014-10-01

    Many machine learning, statistical, and computational linguistic methods have been developed to identify sentiment of sentences in documents, yielding promising results. However, most of state-of-the-art methods focus on individual sentences and ignore the impact of context on the meaning of a sentence. In this paper, we propose a method based on conditional random fields to incorporate sentence structure and context information in addition to syntactic information for improving sentiment identification. We also investigate how human interaction affects the accuracy of sentiment labeling using limited training data. We propose and evaluate two different active learning strategies for labeling sentiment data. Our experiments with the proposed approach demonstrate a 5%-15% improvement in accuracy on Amazon customer reviews compared to existing supervised learning and rule-based methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Active learning: a step towards automating medical concept extraction.

    PubMed

    Kholghi, Mahnoosh; Sitbon, Laurianne; Zuccon, Guido; Nguyen, Anthony

    2016-03-01

    This paper presents an automatic, active learning-based system for the extraction of medical concepts from clinical free-text reports. Specifically, (1) the contribution of active learning in reducing the annotation effort and (2) the robustness of incremental active learning framework across different selection criteria and data sets are determined. The comparative performance of an active learning framework and a fully supervised approach were investigated to study how active learning reduces the annotation effort while achieving the same effectiveness as a supervised approach. Conditional random fields as the supervised method, and least confidence and information density as 2 selection criteria for active learning framework were used. The effect of incremental learning vs standard learning on the robustness of the models within the active learning framework with different selection criteria was also investigated. The following 2 clinical data sets were used for evaluation: the Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside/Veteran Affairs (i2b2/VA) 2010 natural language processing challenge and the Shared Annotated Resources/Conference and Labs of the Evaluation Forum (ShARe/CLEF) 2013 eHealth Evaluation Lab. The annotation effort saved by active learning to achieve the same effectiveness as supervised learning is up to 77%, 57%, and 46% of the total number of sequences, tokens, and concepts, respectively. Compared with the random sampling baseline, the saving is at least doubled. Incremental active learning is a promising approach for building effective and robust medical concept extraction models while significantly reducing the burden of manual annotation. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Fundamental concepts of problem-based learning for the new facilitator.

    PubMed Central

    Kanter, S L

    1998-01-01

    Problem-based learning (PBL) is a powerful small group learning tool that should be part of the armamentarium of every serious educator. Classic PBL uses ill-structured problems to simulate the conditions that occur in the real environment. Students play an active role and use an iterative process of seeking new information based on identified learning issues, restructuring the information in light of the new knowledge, gathering additional information, and so forth. Faculty play a facilitatory role, not a traditional instructional role, by posing metacognitive questions to students. These questions serve to assist in organizing, generalizing, and evaluating knowledge; to probe for supporting evidence; to explore faulty reasoning; to stimulate discussion of attitudes; and to develop self-directed learning and self-assessment skills. Professional librarians play significant roles in the PBL environment extending from traditional service provider to resource person to educator. Students and faculty usually find the learning experience productive and enjoyable. PMID:9681175

  18. Understanding the challenges to facilitating active learning in the resident conferences: a qualitative study of internal medicine faculty and resident perspectives.

    PubMed

    Sawatsky, Adam P; Zickmund, Susan L; Berlacher, Kathryn; Lesky, Dan; Granieri, Rosanne

    2015-01-01

    In the Next Accreditation System, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education outlines milestones for medical knowledge and requires regular didactic sessions in residency training. There are many challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences, and we need to better understand resident learning preferences and faculty perspectives on facilitating active learning. The goal of this study was to identify challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences, both through identifying specific implementation barriers and identifying differences in perspective between faculty and residents on effective teaching and learning strategies. The investigators invited core residency faculty to participate in focus groups. The investigators used a semistructured guide to facilitate discussion about learning preferences and teaching perspectives in the conference setting and used an 'editing approach' within a grounded theory framework to qualitative analysis to code the transcripts and analyze the results. Data were compared to previously collected data from seven resident focus groups. Three focus groups with 20 core faculty were conducted. We identified three domains pertaining to facilitating active learning in resident conferences: barriers to facilitating active learning formats, similarities and differences in faculty and resident learning preferences, and divergence between faculty and resident opinions about effective teaching strategies. Faculty identified several setting, faculty, and resident barriers to facilitating active learning in resident conferences. When compared to residents, faculty expressed similar learning preferences; the main differences were in motivations for conference attendance and type of content. Resident preferences and faculty perspectives differed on the amount of information appropriate for lecture and the role of active participation in resident conferences. This study highlights several challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences and provides insights for residency faculty who seek to transform the conference learning environment within their residency program.

  19. The Use of Geogebra Software as a Calculus Teaching and Learning Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nobre, Cristiane Neri; Meireles, Magali Rezende Gouvêa; Vieira, Niltom, Jr.; de Resende, Mônica Neli; da Costa, Lucivânia Ester; da Rocha, Rejane Corrêa

    2016-01-01

    Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education provide a new learning environment where the student builds his own knowledge, allowing his visualization and experimentation. This study evaluated the Geogebra software in the learning process of Calculus. It was observed that the proposed activities helped in the graphical…

  20. Working and Learning in the Information Age: A Profile of Canadians. CPRN Discussion Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Livingstone, D. W.

    Canadians' employment and working patterns were examined by analyzing the 1998 survey called New Approaches to Lifelong Learning and other recent surveys by Statistics Canada. "Work" was defined as comprising household labor, community volunteer activities, and paid employment, and "learning" was defined as comprising informal…

  1. Engaging Students in Learning: An Application with Quantitative Psychology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harlow, Lisa L.; Burkholder, Gary J.; Morrow, Jennifer A.

    2006-01-01

    In response to calls for more engaging and interactive pedagogy, we simultaneously implemented 4 rousing learning activities: peer-mentored learning, student reports of what was clear (or not) from a previous lecture, consult corners where student groups provided course-informed solutions to problem-based scenarios, and applied projects presented…

  2. 45 CFR 2516.200 - How may grant funds be used?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ...-learning activities on communities. (v) Establishing effective outreach and dissemination of information to... COMMUNITY SERVICE SCHOOL-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS Use of Grant Funds § 2516.200 How may grant funds be used? Funds under a school-based service learning grant may be used for the purposes described in...

  3. 45 CFR 2516.200 - How may grant funds be used?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ...-learning activities on communities. (v) Establishing effective outreach and dissemination of information to... COMMUNITY SERVICE SCHOOL-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS Use of Grant Funds § 2516.200 How may grant funds be used? Funds under a school-based service learning grant may be used for the purposes described in...

  4. 45 CFR 2516.200 - How may grant funds be used?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ...-learning activities on communities. (v) Establishing effective outreach and dissemination of information to... COMMUNITY SERVICE SCHOOL-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS Use of Grant Funds § 2516.200 How may grant funds be used? Funds under a school-based service learning grant may be used for the purposes described in...

  5. Literature on the Safe and Disruptive Learning Potential of Mobile Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koszalka, Tiffany A.; Ntloedibe-Kuswani, G. S.

    2010-01-01

    Worldwide growth in use of mobile phones has fostered the emergence of mobile learning. Mobile technologies are used both in classrooms to support instruction (safe) and as tools that significantly change instructional activities, learner roles, and learning location (disruptive). Learners become less consumers of information and more…

  6. 78 FR 22254 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-15

    ... State Expanded Learning Time AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences/National Center for Education... State Expanded Learning Time. OMB Control Number: 1850-NEW. Type of Review: a new collection... conduct semi-structured interviews with 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) state...

  7. Elemental Food for Thought

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cady, Susan

    2005-01-01

    One of the first tasks students learn in chemistry is to pronounce and spell the names of elements and learn their corresponding chemical symbols. Repetitive oral recitation is commonly used to learn this information, but games and puzzles can make this task creative, variable, and fun. Elemental Food for Thought is a puzzlelike activity that…

  8. Learning Is Moving in New Ways: The Ecological Dynamics of Mathematics Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrahamson, Dor; Sánchez-García, Raúl

    2016-01-01

    Whereas emerging technologies, such as touchscreen tablets, are bringing sensorimotor interaction back into mathematics learning activities, existing educational theory is not geared to inform or analyze passages from action to concept. We present case studies of tutor-student behaviors in an embodied-interaction learning environment, the…

  9. Machine Shop. Student Learning Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction, West Palm Beach, FL.

    This student learning guide contains eight modules for completing a course in machine shop. It is designed especially for use in Palm Beach County, Florida. Each module covers one task, and consists of a purpose, performance objective, enabling objectives, learning activities and resources, information sheets, student self-check with answer key,…

  10. Self-Regulated Learning in the Digital Age: An EFL Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sahin Kizil, Aysel; Savran, Zehra

    2016-01-01

    Research on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in language learning has ascertained heretofore various potentials ranging from metacognitive domain to skill-based practices. One area in which the potentials of ICT tools requires further exploration is self-regulated language learning, an active, constructive process in…

  11. Creating an Organic Knowledge-Building Environment within an Asynchronous Distributed Learning Context.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moller, Leslie; Prestera, Gustavo E.; Harvey, Douglas; Downs-Keller, Margaret; McCausland, Jo-Ann

    2002-01-01

    Discusses organic architecture and suggests that learning environments should be designed and constructed using an organic approach, so that learning is not viewed as a distinct human activity but incorporated into everyday performance. Highlights include an organic knowledge-building model; information objects; scaffolding; discourse action…

  12. From feedback- to response-based performance monitoring in active and observational learning.

    PubMed

    Bellebaum, Christian; Colosio, Marco

    2014-09-01

    Humans can adapt their behavior by learning from the consequences of their own actions or by observing others. Gradual active learning of action-outcome contingencies is accompanied by a shift from feedback- to response-based performance monitoring. This shift is reflected by complementary learning-related changes of two ACC-driven ERP components, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the error-related negativity (ERN), which have both been suggested to signal events "worse than expected," that is, a negative prediction error. Although recent research has identified comparable components for observed behavior and outcomes (observational ERN and FRN), it is as yet unknown, whether these components are similarly modulated by prediction errors and thus also reflect behavioral adaptation. In this study, two groups of 15 participants learned action-outcome contingencies either actively or by observation. In active learners, FRN amplitude for negative feedback decreased and ERN amplitude in response to erroneous actions increased with learning, whereas observational ERN and FRN in observational learners did not exhibit learning-related changes. Learning performance, assessed in test trials without feedback, was comparable between groups, as was the ERN following actively performed errors during test trials. In summary, the results show that action-outcome associations can be learned similarly well actively and by observation. The mechanisms involved appear to differ, with the FRN in active learning reflecting the integration of information about own actions and the accompanying outcomes.

  13. Teaching with Data: Resources for Designing Effective Activities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manduca, C. A.; Mogk, D. W.

    2004-12-01

    Faculty and teachers understand the power of engaging students directly with data and are tremendously enthusiastic about the possibilities of incorporating data-rich activities in their teaching. This enthusiasm reflects the desire to empower students to solve problems, to place learning in an exciting and authentic real world context that motivates learning, and to illuminate students' understanding of the nature of science. Data-rich activities provide abundant opportunities to motivate students to engage in learning, to integrate learning of facts and skills, and to build on prior knowledge. These are all factors that are identified by research as fundamental to the learning process (How People Learn, 1999, NRC). Data-rich activities can place learning in a context that enhances students' ability to use information in new situations. Seismological data offer many opportunities due to students' familiarity with and interest in earthquakes, and its use to probe the internal structure of the Earth. Three of the most challenging aspects of teaching with data are 1) presenting data with analysis tools that can be quickly mastered, 2) designing learning activities to match the level of student expertise with data analysis and critical thinking, and 3) creating assessments that capture learning beyond factual recall. The Using Data in the Classroom website (serc.carleton.edu/usingdata) helps faculty excel at teaching with data by providing easy access to a wide range of data, discussion of the ways in which data can be effectively used in the classroom, examples of data-rich activities at a variety of educational levels across a range of geoscience topics, and references to pedagogic information. The Earth Exploration Toolbook (serc.Carleton.edu/eet) supports teachers' use of particular datasets and tools by providing step-by-step instructions in the context of an example. The Investigating Earthquakes chapter focuses specifically on use of GIS to analyze USGS earthquake data (serc.Carleton.edu/eet/earthquakes).

  14. Starchild Presents...StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers. Black Holes. An Information and Activity Booklet. Grades K-8, 1998-1999.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Truelove, Elizabeth; Dejoie, Joyce

    The information provided in this booklet is meant to give the necessary background information so that the science of black holes can be taught confidently to elementary students. The featured activities can be used to engage and excite students about the topic of black holes in different disciplines and in a number of ways. Activities include:…

  15. No need to grow my resumé? Mentorship and the intersection of learning between emerging and established leaders.

    PubMed

    Stevenson, Lynn; Vaulkhard, Kimberley

    2017-09-01

    Active ongoing learning is a foundational expectation of every healthcare leader whether at the beginning or end of their career. In order for leaders to be nimble and responsive to the ongoing changes in the healthcare environment, they must actively engage in a multiplicity of learning activities. One way of ensuring diversity of learning is for emerging and established leaders to learn together through formal or informal mentoring. This article will explore that intersection and the value add of a reciprocal mentoring relationship where mentor and mentee roles become blurred and joint learning becomes the goal. Capabilities from the LEADS in a Caring Environment framework will be drawn upon, and a challenge is suggested for experienced leaders to go beyond resumé building and invest in emerging leaders, as ultimately it is an investment in their own learning and the future.

  16. The Library's role and challenges in implementing an e-learning strategy: a case study from northern Australia.

    PubMed

    Ritchie, Ann

    2011-03-01

      The Northern Territory Department of Health and Families' (DHF) Library supports education programs for all staff. DHF is implementing an e-learning strategy, which may be viewed as a vehicle for coordinating the education function throughout the organisation.   The objective of this study is to explore the concept of e-learning in relation to the Library's role in implementing an organisation-wide e-learning strategy.   The main findings of a literature search about the effectiveness of e-learning in health professionals' education, and the responsibility and roles of health librarians in e-learning are described. A case study approach is used to outline the current role and future opportunities and challenges for the Library.   The case study presents the organisation's strategic planning context. Four areas of operational activity which build on the Library's current educational activities are suggested: the integration of library resources 'learning objects' within a Learning Management System; developing online health information literacy training programs; establishing a physical and virtual 'e-Learning Library/Centre'; developing collaborative partnerships, taking on new responsibilities in e-learning development, and creating a new e-learning librarian role.   The study shows that the Library's role is fundamental to developing the organisation's e-learning capacity and implementing an organisation-wide e-learning strategy. © 2010 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2010 Health Libraries Group.

  17. Afro-Americans: Resource Material.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henson, Valeria B.; And Others

    This resource guide lists activities and materials that can be used by teachers to provide students with information about the historical background and cultural heritage of Afro-Americans. Specific teaching strategies, learning activities, and informational readings are provided for the following topics: (1) prominent black Americans; (2) African…

  18. Reinforcement active learning in the vibrissae system: optimal object localization.

    PubMed

    Gordon, Goren; Dorfman, Nimrod; Ahissar, Ehud

    2013-01-01

    Rats move their whiskers to acquire information about their environment. It has been observed that they palpate novel objects and objects they are required to localize in space. We analyze whisker-based object localization using two complementary paradigms, namely, active learning and intrinsic-reward reinforcement learning. Active learning algorithms select the next training samples according to the hypothesized solution in order to better discriminate between correct and incorrect labels. Intrinsic-reward reinforcement learning uses prediction errors as the reward to an actor-critic design, such that behavior converges to the one that optimizes the learning process. We show that in the context of object localization, the two paradigms result in palpation whisking as their respective optimal solution. These results suggest that rats may employ principles of active learning and/or intrinsic reward in tactile exploration and can guide future research to seek the underlying neuronal mechanisms that implement them. Furthermore, these paradigms are easily transferable to biomimetic whisker-based artificial sensors and can improve the active exploration of their environment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Learning from instructional explanations: effects of prompts based on the active-constructive-interactive framework.

    PubMed

    Roelle, Julian; Müller, Claudia; Roelle, Detlev; Berthold, Kirsten

    2015-01-01

    Although instructional explanations are commonly provided when learners are introduced to new content, they often fail because they are not integrated into effective learning activities. The recently introduced active-constructive-interactive framework posits an effectiveness hierarchy in which interactive learning activities are at the top; these are then followed by constructive and active learning activities, respectively. Against this background, we combined instructional explanations with different types of prompts that were designed to elicit these learning activities and tested the central predictions of the active-constructive-interactive framework. In Experiment 1, N = 83 students were randomly assigned to one of four combinations of instructional explanations and prompts. To test the active < constructive learning hypothesis, the learners received either (1) complete explanations and engaging prompts designed to elicit active activities or (2) explanations that were reduced by inferences and inference prompts designed to engage learners in constructing the withheld information. Furthermore, in order to explore how interactive learning activities can be elicited, we gave the learners who had difficulties in constructing the prompted inferences adapted remedial explanations with either (3) unspecific engaging prompts or (4) revision prompts. In support of the active < constructive learning hypothesis, we found that the learners who received reduced explanations and inference prompts outperformed the learners who received complete explanations and engaging prompts. Moreover, revision prompts were more effective in eliciting interactive learning activities than engaging prompts. In Experiment 2, N = 40 students were randomly assigned to either (1) a reduced explanations and inference prompts or (2) a reduced explanations and inference prompts plus adapted remedial explanations and revision prompts condition. In support of the constructive < interactive learning hypothesis, the learners who received adapted remedial explanations and revision prompts as add-ons to reduced explanations and inference prompts acquired more conceptual knowledge.

  20. Learning from Instructional Explanations: Effects of Prompts Based on the Active-Constructive-Interactive Framework

    PubMed Central

    Roelle, Julian; Müller, Claudia; Roelle, Detlev; Berthold, Kirsten

    2015-01-01

    Although instructional explanations are commonly provided when learners are introduced to new content, they often fail because they are not integrated into effective learning activities. The recently introduced active-constructive-interactive framework posits an effectiveness hierarchy in which interactive learning activities are at the top; these are then followed by constructive and active learning activities, respectively. Against this background, we combined instructional explanations with different types of prompts that were designed to elicit these learning activities and tested the central predictions of the active-constructive-interactive framework. In Experiment 1, N = 83 students were randomly assigned to one of four combinations of instructional explanations and prompts. To test the active < constructive learning hypothesis, the learners received either (1) complete explanations and engaging prompts designed to elicit active activities or (2) explanations that were reduced by inferences and inference prompts designed to engage learners in constructing the withheld information. Furthermore, in order to explore how interactive learning activities can be elicited, we gave the learners who had difficulties in constructing the prompted inferences adapted remedial explanations with either (3) unspecific engaging prompts or (4) revision prompts. In support of the active < constructive learning hypothesis, we found that the learners who received reduced explanations and inference prompts outperformed the learners who received complete explanations and engaging prompts. Moreover, revision prompts were more effective in eliciting interactive learning activities than engaging prompts. In Experiment 2, N = 40 students were randomly assigned to either (1) a reduced explanations and inference prompts or (2) a reduced explanations and inference prompts plus adapted remedial explanations and revision prompts condition. In support of the constructive < interactive learning hypothesis, the learners who received adapted remedial explanations and revision prompts as add-ons to reduced explanations and inference prompts acquired more conceptual knowledge. PMID:25853629

  1. Constructing Knowledge: An Experience of Active and Collaborative Learning in ICT Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pinheiro, Margarida M.; Simoes, Dora

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports on the impact of the implementation of active and collaborative practices in ICT (information and communication technologies) classrooms. Both of these approaches convey a lot of responsibility from the teacher to the students and the hoping, as backed up by the literature, is to promote deeper learning and reasoning skills at a…

  2. Putting Connectivist Principles into Practice: A Case Study of an Online Tertiary Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Armatas, Christine; Spratt, Christine; Vincent, Andrew

    2014-01-01

    The Bachelor of Enterprise Learning is a newly accredited undergraduate degree where connectivist principles have been used to guide design of active, student-centered learning activities. A key feature of the curriculum is that it incorporates technology as both a source of information and a tool. Examples from this course are provided in this…

  3. World War II Memorial Learning Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tennessee State Dept. of Education, Nashville.

    These learning activities can help students get the most out of a visit to the Tennessee World War II Memorial, a group of ten pylons located in Nashville (Tennessee). Each pylon contains informational text about the events of World War II. The ten pylons are listed as: (1) "Pylon E-1--Terror: America Enters the War against Fascism, June…

  4. Exploring the Extreme: High Performance Learning Activities in Mathematics, Science and Technology. An Educator's Guide. EG-2002-10-001-DFRC

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dana, Judi; Kock, Meri; Lewis, Mike; Peterson, Bruce; Stowe, Steve

    2010-01-01

    The many activities contained in this teaching guide emphasize hands-on involvement, prediction, data collection and interpretation, teamwork, and problem solving. The guide also contains background information about aeronautical research that can help students learn how airplanes fly. Following the background sections are a series of activities…

  5. Teaching Tip: Active Learning via a Sample Database: The Case of Microsoft's Adventure Works

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mitri, Michel

    2015-01-01

    This paper describes the use and benefits of Microsoft's Adventure Works (AW) database to teach advanced database skills in a hands-on, realistic environment. Database management and querying skills are a key element of a robust information systems curriculum, and active learning is an important way to develop these skills. To facilitate active…

  6. Promoting children's agency and communication skills in an informal science program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wulf, Rosemary; Hinko, Kathleen; Finkelstein, Noah

    2013-01-01

    The Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) program at the University of Colorado Boulder brings together university and community institutions to create an environment where K-12 students join with university educators to engage in inquiry-based scientific practices after school. In our original framing, these afterschool activities were developed to reinforce the traditional learning goals of the classroom, including mastering scientific content, skills and processes. Recently, the primary focus of the PISEC curriculum has been shifted towards the development of students' scientific identity, an explicit objective of informal learning environments. The new curriculum offers students more activity choices, affords opportunities for scientific drawings and descriptions, and provides incentive for students to design their own experiments. We have analyzed student science notebooks from both old and new curricula and find that with the redesigned curriculum, students exhibit increased agency and more instances of scientific communication while still demonstrating substantial content learning gains.

  7. Building Capacity in Understanding Foundational Biology Concepts: A K-12 Learning Progression in Genetics Informed by Research on Children's Thinking and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elmesky, Rowhea

    2013-01-01

    This article describes the substance, structure, and rationale of a learning progression in genetics spanning kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). The learning progression is designed to build a foundation towards understanding protein structure and activity and should be viewed as one possible pathway to understanding concepts of genetics…

  8. Effects of Digital Teaching on the Thinking Styles and the Transfer of Learning of the Students in Department of Interior Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Kuang Sheng; Hsueh, Sung-Lin

    2016-01-01

    Along with the constant advance of information technology and the rapid development of the Internet, the diverse functions and characteristics of e-learning break through lots of limitations in traditional instruction. Properly integrating e-learning design with Internet activities could enhance students' learning effect, and applying digital…

  9. Writing to Learn the Reformation: Or, Who Was Ulrich Zwingli and Why Should I Care?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jordon, Sherry

    2014-01-01

    This article describes the use of "Writing to Learn" assignments in a course on the Theology of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. These short, informal assignments promote active learning by focusing on writing as a process for critical thinking and as a way to learn the content of the course. They help students creatively engage…

  10. Participation Ahead: Perceptions of Masters Degree Students on Reciprocal Peer Learning Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lelis, Catarina

    2017-01-01

    Peer Learning is broadly described as the development of knowledge or skills by individuals from similar statutory conditions who are learning from and with each other in both formal and informal ways. There is a considerable amount of published work on peer learning in the context of schools and undergraduate courses but little work has been…

  11. Understanding pictorial information in biology: students' cognitive activities and visual reading strategies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brandstetter, Miriam; Sandmann, Angela; Florian, Christine

    2017-06-01

    In classroom, scientific contents are increasingly communicated through visual forms of representations. Students' learning outcomes rely on their ability to read and understand pictorial information. Understanding pictorial information in biology requires cognitive effort and can be challenging to students. Yet evidence-based knowledge about students' visual reading strategies during the process of understanding pictorial information is pending. Therefore, 42 students at the age of 14-15 were asked to think aloud while trying to understand visual representations of the blood circulatory system and the patellar reflex. A category system was developed differentiating 16 categories of cognitive activities. A Principal Component Analysis revealed two underlying patterns of activities that can be interpreted as visual reading strategies: 1. Inferences predominated by using a problem-solving schema; 2. Inferences predominated by recall of prior content knowledge. Each pattern consists of a specific set of cognitive activities that reflect selection, organisation and integration of pictorial information as well as different levels of expertise. The results give detailed insights into cognitive activities of students who were required to understand the pictorial information of complex organ systems. They provide an evidence-based foundation to derive instructional aids that can promote students pictorial-information-based learning on different levels of expertise.

  12. Intervening in Informal Learning: Activity Theory as Teaching Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Susan L.

    2013-01-01

    In this article, I argue that a concentrated focus on everyday informal learning about unions is critical not only to re-thinking union education programs, but to the overall project of union renewal. The article offers, by way of example, an inquiry into the grievance system as a routine (and central) union practice and a key site of informal…

  13. Curriculum Design of a Flipped Classroom to Enhance Haematology Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Porcaro, Pauline A.; Jackson, Denise E.; McLaughlin, Patricia M.; O'Malley, Cindy J.

    2016-06-01

    A common trend in higher education is the "flipped" classroom, which facilitates active learning during class. The flipped approach to teaching was instituted in a haematology `major' class and the students' attitudes and preferences for the teaching materials were surveyed. The curriculum design was explicit and involved four major components (1) the preparation of the students; (2) the weekly pre-class work; (3) the in-class active learning strategies and (4) closing the learning loop using formative quizzes. Each of these components is discussed in detail and was informed by sound pedagogical strategies. Several different sources of information and several freely available software tools to engage the students are discussed. Two iterations are reported here, with improved pass rate for the final examination from 47 to 48 % in the traditional class to 56-65 % in the flipped classroom approach. The majority of students (93 and 89 %) came to the class prepared, after viewing the screencasts and engaged fully with the activities within the face-to-face time. The students perceived that solving case studies (93 %) was the most beneficial activity for their learning and this was closely followed by the production of essay plans (71 %). The majority of students recommended that this approach be repeated the following year (69 and 75 %).

  14. Statistical learning: A powerful mechanism that operates by mere exposure

    PubMed Central

    Aslin, Richard N.

    2015-01-01

    How do infants learn so rapidly and with little apparent effort? In 1996, Saffran, Aslin, and Newport reported that 8-month-old human infants could learn the underlying temporal structure of a stream of speech syllables after only two minutes of passive listening. This demonstration of what was called statistical learning, involving no instruction, reinforcement, or feedback, led to dozens of confirmations of this powerful mechanism of implicit learning in a variety of modalities, domains, and species. These findings reveal that infants are not nearly as dependent on explicit forms of instruction as we might have assumed from studies of learning in which children or adults are taught facts such as math or problem solving skills. Instead, at least in some domains, infants soak up the information around them by mere exposure. Learning and development in these domains thus appear to occur automatically and with little active involvement by an instructor (parent or teacher). The details of this statistical learning mechanism are discussed, including how exposure to specific types of information can, under some circumstances, generalize to never-before-observed information, thereby enabling transfer of learning. PMID:27906526

  15. Variation in behavioral engagement during an active learning activity leads to differential knowledge gains in college students.

    PubMed

    LaDage, Lara D; Tornello, Samantha L; Vallejera, Jennilyn M; Baker, Emily E; Yan, Yue; Chowdhury, Anik

    2018-03-01

    There are many pedagogical techniques used by educators in higher education; however, some techniques and activities have been shown to be more beneficial to student learning than others. Research has demonstrated that active learning and learning in which students cognitively engage with the material in a multitude of ways result in better understanding and retention. The aim of the present study was to determine which of three pedagogical techniques led to improvement in learning and retention in undergraduate college students. Subjects partook in one of three different types of pedagogical engagement: hands-on learning with a model, observing someone else manipulate the model, and traditional lecture-based presentation. Students were then asked to take an online quiz that tested their knowledge of the new material, both immediately after learning the material and 2 wk later. Students who engaged in direct manipulation of the model scored higher on the assessment immediately after learning the material compared with the other two groups. However, there were no differences among the three groups when assessed after a 2-wk retention interval. Thus active learning techniques that involve direct interaction with the material can lead to learning benefits; however, how these techniques benefit long-term retention of the information is equivocal.

  16. Debate: a teaching-learning strategy for developing competence in communication and critical thinking.

    PubMed

    Darby, Michele

    2007-01-01

    The literature highlights key benefits from debate as a teaching-learning strategy for developing critical thinking and analytical skills while fostering teamwork and communication. Authors report that this method of teaching-learning has been implemented successfully in nursing and occupational therapy programs and would benefit other academic programs in the health sciences, particularly in courses that cover controversial issues. Although there are disadvantages to using the debate as a teaching-learning strategy, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. In conclusion, debating is an effective pedagogical strategy because of the level of responsibility for learning and active involvement required by all student debaters. Moreover, it provides an experience by which students can develop competencies in researching current issues, preparing logical arguments, actively listening to various perspectives, differentiating between subjective and evidence-based information, asking cogent questions, integrating relevant information, and formulating their own opinions based on evidence. After the debate is over, students also report that the experience is FUN!

  17. Transfer Learning for Activity Recognition: A Survey

    PubMed Central

    Cook, Diane; Feuz, Kyle D.; Krishnan, Narayanan C.

    2013-01-01

    Many intelligent systems that focus on the needs of a human require information about the activities being performed by the human. At the core of this capability is activity recognition, which is a challenging and well-researched problem. Activity recognition algorithms require substantial amounts of labeled training data yet need to perform well under very diverse circumstances. As a result, researchers have been designing methods to identify and utilize subtle connections between activity recognition datasets, or to perform transfer-based activity recognition. In this paper we survey the literature to highlight recent advances in transfer learning for activity recognition. We characterize existing approaches to transfer-based activity recognition by sensor modality, by differences between source and target environments, by data availability, and by type of information that is transferred. Finally, we present some grand challenges for the community to consider as this field is further developed. PMID:24039326

  18. Exploring medical student learning in the large group teaching environment: examining current practice to inform curricular development.

    PubMed

    Luscombe, Ciara; Montgomery, Julia

    2016-07-19

    Lectures continue to be an efficient and standardised way to deliver information to large groups of students. It has been well documented that students prefer interactive lectures, based on active learning principles, to didactic teaching in the large group setting. Despite this, it is often the case than many students do not engage with active learning tasks and attempts at interaction. By exploring student experiences, expectations and how they use lectures in their learning we will provide recommendations for faculty to support student learning both in the lecture theatre and during personal study time. This research employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Three focus groups, consisting of 19 students in total, were used to explore the experiences of second year medical students in large group teaching sessions. Using generic thematic data analysis, these accounts have been developed into a meaningful account of experience. This study found there to be a well-established learning culture amongst students and with it, expectations as to the format of teaching sessions. Furthermore, there were set perceptions about the student role within the learning environment which had many implications, including the way that innovative teaching methods were received. Student learning was perceived to take place outside the lecture theatre, with a large emphasis placed on creating resources that can be taken away to use in personal study time. Presented here is a constructive review of reasons for student participation, interaction and engagement in large group teaching sessions. Based on this are recommendations constructed with the view to aid educators in engaging students within this setting. Short term, educators can implement strategies that monopolise on the established learning culture of students to encourage engagement with active learning strategies. Long term, it would be beneficial for educators to consider ways to shift the current student learning culture to one that embraces an active learning curriculum.

  19. Supporting Scientific Experimentation and Reasoning in Young Elementary School Students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Varma, Keisha

    2014-06-01

    Researchers from multiple perspectives have shown that young students can engage in the scientific reasoning involved in science experimentation. However, there is little research on how well these young students learn in inquiry-based learning environments that focus on using scientific experimentation strategies to learn new scientific information. This work investigates young children's science concept learning via inquiry-based instruction on the thermodynamics system in a developmentally appropriate, technology-supported learning environment. First- and third-grade students participate in three sets of guided experimentation activities that involve using handheld computers to measure change in temperature given different types of insulation materials. Findings from pre- and post-comparisons show that students at both grade levels are able to learn about the thermodynamics system through engaging in the guided experiment activities. The instruction groups outperformed the control groups on multiple measures of thermodynamics knowledge, and the older children outperform the younger children. Knowledge gains are discussed in the context of mental models of the thermodynamics system that include the individual concepts mentioned above and the relationships between them. This work suggests that young students can benefit from science instruction centered on experimentation activities. It shows the benefits of presenting complex scientific information authentic contexts and the importance of providing the necessary scaffolding for meaningful scientific inquiry and experimentation.

  20. Towards Networked Knowledge: The Learning Registry, an Infrastructure for Sharing Online Learning Resources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Ashley; Hobson, Joe; Bienkowski, Marie; Midgley, Steve; Currier, Sarah; Campbell, Lorna M.; Novoselova, Tatiana

    2012-01-01

    In this article, the authors describe an open-source, open-data digital infrastructure for sharing information about open educational resources (OERs) across disparate systems and platforms. The Learning Registry, which began as a project funded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Defense, currently has an active international community…

  1. Maximizing Learning Using Online Student Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyles, Patrice C.

    2011-01-01

    As the technological age reaches its peak, so does the need to improve assessment for online instruction. Assessment includes all activities that teachers and students undertake to get information that can be used to improve teaching and learning (Black and William,1998b). Assessment is a critical factor of the learning environment. The popularity…

  2. Creating Memorable Learning Experiences with Foldables in AP Human Geography

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Purcell, Jane

    2014-01-01

    Many teachers struggle with helping their students simultaneously comprehend and retain the information that they read. These classroom educators have students take notes (copious amounts of notes) that neither produces the intended learning effect nor actively engages the student in the learning process. One way to increase retention is through…

  3. Incorporating Service-Learning, Technology, and Research Supportive Teaching Techniques into the University Chemistry Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saitta, E. K. H.; Bowdon, M. A.; Geiger, C. L.

    2011-01-01

    Technology was integrated into service-learning activities to create an interactive teaching method for undergraduate students at a large research institution. Chemistry students at the University of Central Florida partnered with high school students at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in interactive service learning projects. The…

  4. Evaluating Learning in the 21st Century: A Digital Age Learning Matrix

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Starkey, Louise

    2011-01-01

    If the purpose of secondary schooling is to educate the upcoming generation to become active participants in society, evaluation of teaching and learning in the information-rich digital age should be underpinned by relevant theories and models. This article describes an evaluation tool developed using emerging ideas about knowledge creation and…

  5. Curricula as Spaces of Interruption?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Savin-Baden, Maggi

    2011-01-01

    This paper suggests that there has been a move away from teaching as a means of transmitting information, towards supporting learning as a student-generated activity. There has been much work relating to this in the arena of problem-based learning, which to date has been seen as a relatively stable approach to learning, delineated by particular…

  6. Using Paper Presentation Breaks during Didactic Lectures Improves Learning of Physiology in Undergraduate Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghorbani, Ahmad; Ghazvini, Kiarash

    2016-01-01

    Many studies have emphasized the incorporation of active learning into classrooms to reinforce didactic lectures for physiology courses. This work aimed to determine if presenting classic papers during didactic lectures improves the learning of physiology among undergraduate students. Twenty-two students of health information technology were…

  7. A Self-Regulated Learning Approach for Children with Learning/Behavior Disorders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benevento, Joan A.

    2004-01-01

    This book is designed to be an intervention model based on the concepts of Piaget's study of constructivism. The application of this approach will help children with learning/ behavioral disorders actively participate in a fuller integration of their own psychomotor, affective, and cognitive information processing skills and adaptation. The work…

  8. A Natural Teaching Method Based on Learning Theory.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smilkstein, Rita

    1991-01-01

    The natural teaching method is active and student-centered, based on schema and constructivist theories, and informed by research in neuroplasticity. A schema is a mental picture or understanding of something we have learned. Humans can have knowledge only to the degree to which they have constructed schemas from learning experiences and practice.…

  9. Active Learning with Interactive Videos: Creating Student-Guided Learning Materials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Ariana

    2016-01-01

    Distance learning programs across the country continue to grow and evolve. In order to support these programs, librarians are often expected to convert face-to-face classes and reference sessions to the online environment. Due to the necessity of explaining information literacy concepts and demonstrating the access and use of library resources,…

  10. Open the Door, Let's Explore More! Field Trips of Discovery for Young Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redleaf, Rhoda

    Designed as a resource for teachers and parents, this guide contains activities to help children in primary grades learn from walks and field trips. Chapter 1, "Experience and Learning," discusses general information about how young children learn and the contribution of field trips to children's perception, language, memory, and logical…

  11. Involvement of Students in E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al Ya, Marwa; Aziz, Sheikha A.; Mohyuddin, Muhammad Raheel; Al Balushi, Nabila

    2017-01-01

    The involvement of E-learning activities for students in the classroom play an important role in the teaching and learning process. In this paper, the authors describe how we collected information from 3-different Colleges/Universities in Oman forming an online study with regard to the use of internet, e-library, online book access, and…

  12. Effects of Practice Type in the Here and Now Mobile Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tutty, Jeremy I.; Martin, Florence

    2014-01-01

    This generation of technology is characterized by mobile and portable devices such as smartphones and tablet computers with wireless broadband access. Mobile technologies enable a new kind of learning called "here and now learning," where learners have access to information anytime and anywhere to perform authentic activities in the…

  13. Cooperative Learning and Soft Skills Training in an IT Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Aimao

    2012-01-01

    Pedagogy of higher education is shifting from passive to active and deep learning. At the same time, the information technology (IT) industry and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) are demanding soft skills training. Thus, in designing an IT course, we devised group teaching projects where students learn to work with…

  14. The Involvement of Occipital and Inferior Frontal Cortex in the Phonological Learning of Chinese Characters

    PubMed Central

    Deng, Yuan; Chou, Tai-li; Ding, Guo-sheng; Peng, Dan-ling; Booth, James R.

    2016-01-01

    Neural changes related to the learning of the pronunciation of Chinese characters in English speakers were examined using fMRI. We examined the item-specific learning effects for trained characters and the generalization of phonetic knowledge to novel transfer characters that shared a phonetic radical (part of a character that gives a clue to the whole character’s pronunciation) with trained characters. Behavioral results showed that shared phonetic information improved performance for transfer characters. Neuroimaging results for trained characters over learning found increased activation in the right lingual gyrus, and greater activation enhancement in the left inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann’s area 44) was correlated with higher accuracy improvement. Moreover, greater activation for transfer characters in these two regions at the late stage of training was correlated with better knowledge of the phonetic radical in a delayed recall test. The current study suggests that the right lingual gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus are crucial for the learning of Chinese characters and the generalization of that knowledge to novel characters. Left inferior frontal gyrus is likely involved in phonological segmentation, whereas right lingual gyrus may subserve processing visual–orthographic information. PMID:20807053

  15. Enhancing ASTRO101 Student Engagement Using Student-Created ScienceSKETCHES

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, Stephanie

    2016-01-01

    As astronomy teaching faculty are changing their teaching strategies from those less desirable approaches that allow students to passively listen to professor-centered, information-lectures to more desirable, active-student engagement classrooms characterized by active learning, ASTRO 101 professors are looking for more ways to help students learn to participate in authentic scientific practices. This is consistent with notion advocated by the NRC that students should practice scientific thinking, scientific discourse, and scientific practices while learning science. Noticing that much informal scientific discussion is mediated by sketches—such as those occasionally lively discussions held after hours during scientific conferences—scholars at the CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research have been piloting a series of active learning tasks where students are challenged to create scientific drawings to illustrate their understanding of astronomical phenomena or structures. Known informally as ScienceSKETCHES, examples of these tasks challenge students to illustrate: the spectral curve differences between high and low mass stars; the differences among galaxy shapes; the distribution of stars for the Andromeda Galaxy in terms of luminosity versus temperature; old and young planetary surfaces; or the relationships between distances and speeds of orbiting objects. Although our initial testing has focused on predominately on paper and pencil tasks, with the occasional cell phone picture of a ScienceSKETCH being texted to the professor, the electronic-based teaching world is nearly ready to support these sorts of drawing tasks. Already, the ability to complete and submit scientific sketches is becoming commonplace across electronic learning platforms, including shared white-boarding in many desktop videoconferencing systems, and handheld device learning systems for interactive classrooms, like those from Learning Catalytics, among many others. Our initial results suggest that this strategy is worthwhile line of research and development for a wide range of astronomy education researchers and curriculum developers.

  16. Achieving change through mutual development: supported online learning and the evolving roles of health and information professionals.

    PubMed

    Bury, Rachel; Martin, Lindsey; Roberts, Sue

    2006-12-01

    Major changes in health care, within an information- and technology-rich age, are impacting significantly on health professionals and upon their education and training. Health information professionals-in both the National Health Service (NHS) and higher education (HE) contexts-are consequently developing their roles, skills and partnerships to meet the needs of flexible education and training. This article explores one facet of this-supported online learning and its impact on role development. A case study approach was taken, aiming to explore how academics, health information professionals and learning technologists are developing supported online learning to explicitly address the e-literacy and information needs of health students within the context of NHS frameworks for education. This was contextualized by a literature review. The case study explores and discusses three dynamics--(i) The use of supported online learning tools by future health-care professionals throughout their professional training to ensure they have the appropriate e-literacy skills; (ii) the use of supported online learning by current health professionals to enable them to adapt to the changing environment; (iii) the development of the health information professional, and particularly their role within multi-disciplinary teams working with learning technologists and health professionals, to enable them to design and deliver supported online learning. The authors argue that, in this specific case study, health information professionals are key to the development of supported online learning. They are working successfully in collaboration and their roles are evolving to encompass learning and teaching activities in a wider context. There are consequently several lessons to be drawn in relation to professional education and role development.

  17. From Competency List to Curriculum Implementation: A Case Study of Japan's First Online Master's Program for E-Learning Specialists Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suzuki, Katsuaki

    2009-01-01

    This article describes the creation of a fully online master's program for e-learning specialist training. This program is the first of its kind in Japan. As background information, Japan's general trends in e-learning are described, including activities of the e-Learning Consortium Japan and National Institute of Multimedia in Education. Such…

  18. Empowering Students in Science through Active Learning: Voices From Inside the Classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Erickson, Sabrina Ann

    Preparing students for success in the 21st century has shifted the focus of science education from acquiring information and knowledge to mastery of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teacher and student perspectives of the relationship between (a) active learning, problem solving, and achievement in science and (b) the conditions that help facilitate this environment. Adapting a social constructivist theoretical framework, high school science teachers and students were interviewed, school records analyzed, curriculum documents studied, and classes observed. The findings revealed that students were engaged with the material in an active learning environment, which led to a sense of involvement, interest, and meaningful learning. Students felt empowered to take ownership of their learning, developed the critical thinking skills necessary to solve problems independently and became aware of how they learn best, which students reported as interactive learning. Moreover, student reflections revealed that an active environment contributed to deeper understanding and higher skills through interaction and discussion, including questioning, explaining, arguing, and contemplating scientific concepts with their peers. Recommendations are for science teachers to provide opportunities for students to work actively, collaborate in groups, and discuss their ideas to develop the necessary skills for achievement and for administrators to facilitate the conditions needed for active learning to occur.

  19. Mid-USA, Making Informed Decisions: Using Student Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scovel, Donald A.; Nelson, Phillip J.

    This document presents a series of learning activities focusing on the role of state government in American society. It is intended for senior or junior high school students. Six objectives are: to identify information sources about state government; to increase knowledge about its organization, processes, services, and costs; to compare these…

  20. The Impact of Personality, Goal Orientation and Self-Efficacy on Participation of High School Teachers in Learning Activities in the Workplace

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Daal, Tine; Donche, Vincent; De Maeyer, Sven

    2014-01-01

    This study examines the influence of personality traits, goal orientation and self-efficacy on high school teachers' participation in learning activities in the workplace (i.e. experimentation, informal interaction with colleagues, self-regulation and avoidance behaviour). A convenience sample of 95 teachers from six high schools in Flanders…

  1. Discover New Windsor Cantonment, The Last Encampment of Washington's Army. An Activities Learning Packet.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site, Vails Gate, NY.

    The activities in this learning packet are designed to provide background information on the significance of New Windsor Cantonment to local, state, and U.S. history. The New Windsor Cantonment was the final winter encampment of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and the site where the cessation of hostilities was announced in April…

  2. Introduction to Agronomy, Grain Crops, Weeds and Controls. A Learning Activity Pac in Agricultural Education Courses in Wisconsin.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin State Dept. of Public Instruction, Madison. Div. of Instructional Services.

    This learning activity pac contains information to help the teachers of high school vocational agriculture in the instructional area of agronomy. Each of the two main sections, grain crops and weeds and controls, includes teacher and student units for the section lessons. Teacher units include special instructions--equipment needed (film…

  3. Keyboarding and Computer Application. Technology Learning Activity. Teacher Edition. Technology Education Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education, Stillwater. Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

    This curriculum guide is designed to prepare students in grades 6-10 to work in the world of the future. The 8-day course provides exploratory, hands-on learning activities and information that can enhance the education of students of all types in an integrated curriculum that provides practical applications of academic skills. The guide contains…

  4. A Case Study on Using Prediction Markets as a Rich Environment for Active Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buckley, Patrick; Garvey, John; McGrath, Fergal

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, prediction markets are presented as an innovative pedagogical tool which can be used to create a Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL). Prediction markets are designed to make forecasts about specific future events by using a market mechanism to aggregate the information held by a large group of traders about that event into a…

  5. Making a Difference. A Resource Pack for People Who Want To Become More Active Citizens.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dadzie, Stella, Comp.; Turner, Cheryl, Ed.

    This document, which is a resource pack for individuals in the United Kingdom who want to become more active citizens, consists of information for group leaders and five learning modules. The section for group leaders contains the following: basic tips on leading a group; strategies for overcoming barriers to learning; glossary; and overview of…

  6. Storytelling with Chemistry and Related Hands-on Activities: Informal Learning Experiences to Prevent "Chemophobia" and Promote Young Children's Scientific Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morais, Carla

    2015-01-01

    The dissemination of chemistry has been experienced as a difficult task, largely because of the negative image that the public has of this science, but also because of its inherent complexity and its own semantics and symbolism. Science centers, as informal learning environments, can contribute to a more effective dissemination of chemistry to an…

  7. A Deep Learning Approach to on-Node Sensor Data Analytics for Mobile or Wearable Devices.

    PubMed

    Ravi, Daniele; Wong, Charence; Lo, Benny; Yang, Guang-Zhong

    2017-01-01

    The increasing popularity of wearable devices in recent years means that a diverse range of physiological and functional data can now be captured continuously for applications in sports, wellbeing, and healthcare. This wealth of information requires efficient methods of classification and analysis where deep learning is a promising technique for large-scale data analytics. While deep learning has been successful in implementations that utilize high-performance computing platforms, its use on low-power wearable devices is limited by resource constraints. In this paper, we propose a deep learning methodology, which combines features learned from inertial sensor data together with complementary information from a set of shallow features to enable accurate and real-time activity classification. The design of this combined method aims to overcome some of the limitations present in a typical deep learning framework where on-node computation is required. To optimize the proposed method for real-time on-node computation, spectral domain preprocessing is used before the data are passed onto the deep learning framework. The classification accuracy of our proposed deep learning approach is evaluated against state-of-the-art methods using both laboratory and real world activity datasets. Our results show the validity of the approach on different human activity datasets, outperforming other methods, including the two methods used within our combined pipeline. We also demonstrate that the computation times for the proposed method are consistent with the constraints of real-time on-node processing on smartphones and a wearable sensor platform.

  8. Neural learning rules for the vestibulo-ocular reflex

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Raymond, J. L.; Lisberger, S. G.

    1998-01-01

    Mechanisms for the induction of motor learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) were evaluated by recording the patterns of neural activity elicited in the cerebellum by a range of stimuli that induce learning. Patterns of climbing-fiber, vestibular, and Purkinje cell simple-spike signals were examined during sinusoidal head movement paired with visual image movement at stimulus frequencies from 0.5 to 10 Hz. A comparison of simple-spike and vestibular signals contained the information required to guide learning only at low stimulus frequencies, and a comparison of climbing-fiber and simple-spike signals contained the information required to guide learning only at high stimulus frequencies. Learning could be guided by comparison of climbing-fiber and vestibular signals at all stimulus frequencies tested, but only if climbing fiber responses were compared with the vestibular signals present 100 msec earlier. Computational analysis demonstrated that this conclusion is valid even if there is a broad range of vestibular signals at the site of plasticity. Simulations also indicated that the comparison of vestibular and climbing-fiber signals across the 100 msec delay must be implemented by a subcellular "eligibility" trace rather than by neural circuits that delay the vestibular inputs to the site of plasticity. The results suggest two alternative accounts of learning in the VOR. Either there are multiple mechanisms of learning that use different combinations of neural signals to drive plasticity, or there is a single mechanism tuned to climbing-fiber activity that follows activity in vestibular pathways by approximately 100 msec.

  9. Formal and Informal Learning and First-Year Psychology Students’ Development of Scientific Thinking: A Two-Wave Panel Study

    PubMed Central

    Soyyılmaz, Demet; Griffin, Laura M.; Martín, Miguel H.; Kucharský, Šimon; Peycheva, Ekaterina D.; Vaupotič, Nina; Edelsbrunner, Peter A.

    2017-01-01

    Scientific thinking is a predicate for scientific inquiry, and thus important to develop early in psychology students as potential future researchers. The present research is aimed at fathoming the contributions of formal and informal learning experiences to psychology students’ development of scientific thinking during their 1st-year of study. We hypothesize that informal experiences are relevant beyond formal experiences. First-year psychology student cohorts from various European countries will be assessed at the beginning and again at the end of the second semester. Assessments of scientific thinking will include scientific reasoning skills, the understanding of basic statistics concepts, and epistemic cognition. Formal learning experiences will include engagement in academic activities which are guided by university authorities. Informal learning experiences will include non-compulsory, self-guided learning experiences. Formal and informal experiences will be assessed with a newly developed survey. As dispositional predictors, students’ need for cognition and self-efficacy in psychological science will be assessed. In a structural equation model, students’ learning experiences and personal dispositions will be examined as predictors of their development of scientific thinking. Commonalities and differences in predictive weights across universities will be tested. The project is aimed at contributing information for designing university environments to optimize the development of students’ scientific thinking. PMID:28239363

  10. Formal and Informal Learning and First-Year Psychology Students' Development of Scientific Thinking: A Two-Wave Panel Study.

    PubMed

    Soyyılmaz, Demet; Griffin, Laura M; Martín, Miguel H; Kucharský, Šimon; Peycheva, Ekaterina D; Vaupotič, Nina; Edelsbrunner, Peter A

    2017-01-01

    Scientific thinking is a predicate for scientific inquiry, and thus important to develop early in psychology students as potential future researchers. The present research is aimed at fathoming the contributions of formal and informal learning experiences to psychology students' development of scientific thinking during their 1st-year of study. We hypothesize that informal experiences are relevant beyond formal experiences. First-year psychology student cohorts from various European countries will be assessed at the beginning and again at the end of the second semester. Assessments of scientific thinking will include scientific reasoning skills, the understanding of basic statistics concepts, and epistemic cognition. Formal learning experiences will include engagement in academic activities which are guided by university authorities. Informal learning experiences will include non-compulsory, self-guided learning experiences. Formal and informal experiences will be assessed with a newly developed survey. As dispositional predictors, students' need for cognition and self-efficacy in psychological science will be assessed. In a structural equation model, students' learning experiences and personal dispositions will be examined as predictors of their development of scientific thinking. Commonalities and differences in predictive weights across universities will be tested. The project is aimed at contributing information for designing university environments to optimize the development of students' scientific thinking.

  11. Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task.

    PubMed

    Sargent, Barbara; Reimann, Hendrik; Kubo, Masayoshi; Fetters, Linda

    2015-06-01

    Task-specific actions emerge from spontaneous movement during infancy. It has been proposed that task-specific actions emerge through a discovery-learning process. Here a method is described in which 3-4 month old infants learn a task by discovery and their leg movements are captured to quantify the learning process. This discovery-learning task uses an infant activated mobile that rotates and plays music based on specified leg action of infants. Supine infants activate the mobile by moving their feet vertically across a virtual threshold. This paradigm is unique in that as infants independently discover that their leg actions activate the mobile, the infants' leg movements are tracked using a motion capture system allowing for the quantification of the learning process. Specifically, learning is quantified in terms of the duration of mobile activation, the position variance of the end effectors (feet) that activate the mobile, changes in hip-knee coordination patterns, and changes in hip and knee muscle torque. This information describes infant exploration and exploitation at the interplay of person and environmental constraints that support task-specific action. Subsequent research using this method can investigate how specific impairments of different populations of infants at risk for movement disorders influence the discovery-learning process for task-specific action.

  12. D. Carlos de Bragança, a Pioneer of Experimental Marine Oceanography: Filling the Gap Between Formal and Informal Science Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Faria, Cláudia; Pereira, Gonçalo; Chagas, Isabel

    2012-06-01

    The activities presented in this paper are part of a wider project that investigates the effects of infusing the history of science in science teaching, toward students' learning and attitude. Focused on the work of D. Carlos de Bragança, King of Portugal from 1889 to 1908, and a pioneer oceanographer, the activities are addressed at the secondary Biology curriculum (grade 10, ages 15, 16). The proposed activities include a pre-visit orientation task, two workshops performed in a science museum and a follow-up learning task. In class, students have to analyse original historical excerpts of the king's work, in order to discuss and reflect about the nature of science. In the museum, students actively participate in two workshops: biological classification and specimen drawing. All students considered the project relevant for science learning, stating that it was important not only for knowledge acquisition but also for the understanding of the nature of science. As a final remark we stress the importance of creating activities informed by the history of science as a foundation for improving motivation, sustaining effective science teaching and meaningful science learning, and as a vehicle to promote a closer partnership between schools and science museums.

  13. The Development of Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in L2 Written Production through Informal Participation in Online Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kusyk, Meryl

    2017-01-01

    Research into the online informal learning of English (OILE) examines how nonnative speakers of English may develop L2 skills through participation in leisure activities on the Internet in the target language. Such activities include, e.g., watching television series, films, or videos, interacting on Facebook, reading articles, or listening to…

  14. Adaptive structured dictionary learning for image fusion based on group-sparse-representation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Jiajie; Sun, Bin; Luo, Chengwei; Wu, Yuzhong; Xu, Limei

    2018-04-01

    Dictionary learning is the key process of sparse representation which is one of the most widely used image representation theories in image fusion. The existing dictionary learning method does not use the group structure information and the sparse coefficients well. In this paper, we propose a new adaptive structured dictionary learning algorithm and a l1-norm maximum fusion rule that innovatively utilizes grouped sparse coefficients to merge the images. In the dictionary learning algorithm, we do not need prior knowledge about any group structure of the dictionary. By using the characteristics of the dictionary in expressing the signal, our algorithm can automatically find the desired potential structure information that hidden in the dictionary. The fusion rule takes the physical meaning of the group structure dictionary, and makes activity-level judgement on the structure information when the images are being merged. Therefore, the fused image can retain more significant information. Comparisons have been made with several state-of-the-art dictionary learning methods and fusion rules. The experimental results demonstrate that, the dictionary learning algorithm and the fusion rule both outperform others in terms of several objective evaluation metrics.

  15. Presence Relates to Distinct Outcomes in Two Virtual Environments Employing Different Learning Modalities

    PubMed Central

    Persky, Susan; Kaphingst, Kimberly A.; McCall, Cade; Lachance, Christina; Beall, Andrew C.; Blascovich, Jim

    2009-01-01

    Presence in virtual learning environments (VLEs) has been associated with a number of outcome factors related to a user’s ability and motivation to learn. The extant but relatively small body of research suggests that a high level of presence is related to better performance on learning outcomes in VLEs. Different configurations of form and content variables such as those associated with active (self-driven, interactive activities) versus didactic (reading or lecture) learning may, however, influence how presence operates and on what content it operates. We compared the influence of presence between two types of immersive VLEs (i.e., active versus didactic techniques) on comprehension and engagement-related outcomes. The findings revealed that the active VLE promoted greater presence. Although we found no relationship between presence and learning comprehension outcomes for either virtual environment, presence was related to information engagement variables in the didactic immersive VLE but not the active environment. Results demonstrate that presence is not uniformly elicited or effective across immersive VLEs. Educational delivery mode and environment complexity may influence the impact of presence on engagement. PMID:19366319

  16. Presence relates to distinct outcomes in two virtual environments employing different learning modalities.

    PubMed

    Persky, Susan; Kaphingst, Kimberly A; McCall, Cade; Lachance, Christina; Beall, Andrew C; Blascovich, Jim

    2009-06-01

    Presence in virtual learning environments (VLEs) has been associated with a number of outcome factors related to a user's ability and motivation to learn. The extant but relatively small body of research suggests that a high level of presence is related to better performance on learning outcomes in VLEs. Different configurations of form and content variables such as those associated with active (self-driven, interactive activities) versus didactic (reading or lecture) learning may, however, influence how presence operates and on what content it operates. We compared the influence of presence between two types of immersive VLEs (i.e., active versus didactic techniques) on comprehension and engagement-related outcomes. The findings revealed that the active VLE promoted greater presence. Although we found no relationship between presence and learning comprehension outcomes for either virtual environment, presence was related to information engagement variables in the didactic immersive VLE but not the active environment. Results demonstrate that presence is not uniformly elicited or effective across immersive VLEs. Educational delivery mode and environment complexity may influence the impact of presence on engagement.

  17. Role-Playing Mitosis.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wyn, Mark A.; Stegink, Steven J.

    2000-01-01

    Introduces a role playing activity that actively engages students in the learning process of mitosis. Students play either chromosomes carrying information, or cells in the cell membrane. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/YDS)

  18. Numerical Activities and Information Learned at Home Link to the Exact Numeracy Skills in 5–6 Years-Old Children

    PubMed Central

    Benavides-Varela, Silvia; Butterworth, Brian; Burgio, Francesca; Arcara, Giorgio; Lucangeli, Daniela; Semenza, Carlo

    2016-01-01

    It is currently accepted that certain activities within the family environment contribute to develop early numerical skills before schooling. However, it is unknown whether this early experience influences both the exact and the approximate representation of numbers, and if so, which is more important for numerical tasks. In the present study the mathematical performance of 110 children (mean age 5 years 11 months) was evaluated using a battery that included tests of approximate and exact numerical abilities, as well as everyday numerical problems. Moreover, children were assessed on their knowledge of number information learned at home. The parents of the participants provided information regarding daily activities of the children and socio-demographic characteristics of the family. The results showed that the amount of numerical information learned at home was a significant predictor of participants' performance on everyday numerical problems and exact number representations, even after taking account of age, memory span and socio-economic and educational status of the family. We also found that particular activities, such as board games, correlate with the children's counting skills, which are foundational for arithmetic. Crucially, tests relying on approximate representations were not predicted by the numerical knowledge acquired at home. The present research supports claims about the importance and nature of home experiences in the child's acquisition of mathematics. PMID:26903902

  19. Acting to gain information

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosenchein, Stanley J.; Burns, J. Brian; Chapman, David; Kaelbling, Leslie P.; Kahn, Philip; Nishihara, H. Keith; Turk, Matthew

    1993-01-01

    This report is concerned with agents that act to gain information. In previous work, we developed agent models combining qualitative modeling with real-time control. That work, however, focused primarily on actions that affect physical states of the environment. The current study extends that work by explicitly considering problems of active information-gathering and by exploring specialized aspects of information-gathering in computational perception, learning, and language. In our theoretical investigations, we analyzed agents into their perceptual and action components and identified these with elements of a state-machine model of control. The mathematical properties of each was developed in isolation and interactions were then studied. We considered the complexity dimension and the uncertainty dimension and related these to intelligent-agent design issues. We also explored active information gathering in visual processing. Working within the active vision paradigm, we developed a concept of 'minimal meaningful measurements' suitable for demand-driven vision. We then developed and tested an architecture for ongoing recognition and interpretation of visual information. In the area of information gathering through learning, we explored techniques for coping with combinatorial complexity. We also explored information gathering through explicit linguistic action by considering the nature of conversational rules, coordination, and situated communication behavior.

  20. Eight-Legged Encounters—Arachnids, Volunteers, and Art help to Bridge the Gap between Informal and Formal Science Learning

    PubMed Central

    Hebets, Eileen A.; Welch-Lazoritz, Melissa; Tisdale, Pawl; Wonch Hill, Trish

    2018-01-01

    Increased integration and synergy between formal and informal learning environments is proposed to provide multiple benefits to science learners. In an effort to better bridge these two learning contexts, we developed an educational model that employs the charismatic nature of arachnids to engage the public of all ages in science learning; learning that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas associated with Biodiversity and Evolution). We created, implemented, and evaluated a family-focused, interactive science event—Eight-Legged Encounters (ELE)—which encompasses more than twenty modular activities. Volunteers facilitated participant involvement at each activity station and original artwork scattered throughout the event was intended to attract visitors. Initial ELE goals were to increase interest in arachnids and science more generally, among ELE participants. In this study, we tested the efficacy of ELE in terms of (i) activity-specific visitation rates and self-reported interest levels, (ii) the self-reported efficacy of our use of volunteers and original artwork on visitor engagement, and (iii) self-reported increases in interest in both spiders and science more generally. We collected survey data across five ELE events at four museum and zoo sites throughout the Midwest. We found that all activities were successful at attracting visitors and capturing their interest. Both volunteers and artwork were reported to be effective at engaging visitors, though likely in different ways. Additionally, most participants reported increased interest in learning about arachnids and science. In summary, ELE appears effective at engaging the public and piquing their interest. Future work is now required to assess learning outcomes directly, as well as the ability for participants to transfer knowledge gain across learning environments. PMID:29495395

  1. Eight-Legged Encounters-Arachnids, Volunteers, and Art help to Bridge the Gap between Informal and Formal Science Learning.

    PubMed

    Hebets, Eileen A; Welch-Lazoritz, Melissa; Tisdale, Pawl; Wonch Hill, Trish

    2018-02-26

    Increased integration and synergy between formal and informal learning environments is proposed to provide multiple benefits to science learners. In an effort to better bridge these two learning contexts, we developed an educational model that employs the charismatic nature of arachnids to engage the public of all ages in science learning; learning that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas associated with Biodiversity and Evolution). We created, implemented, and evaluated a family-focused, interactive science event- Eight-Legged Encounters (ELE )-which encompasses more than twenty modular activities. Volunteers facilitated participant involvement at each activity station and original artwork scattered throughout the event was intended to attract visitors. Initial ELE goals were to increase interest in arachnids and science more generally, among ELE participants. In this study, we tested the efficacy of ELE in terms of (i) activity-specific visitation rates and self-reported interest levels, (ii) the self-reported efficacy of our use of volunteers and original artwork on visitor engagement, and (iii) self-reported increases in interest in both spiders and science more generally. We collected survey data across five ELE events at four museum and zoo sites throughout the Midwest. We found that all activities were successful at attracting visitors and capturing their interest. Both volunteers and artwork were reported to be effective at engaging visitors, though likely in different ways. Additionally, most participants reported increased interest in learning about arachnids and science. In summary, ELE appears effective at engaging the public and piquing their interest. Future work is now required to assess learning outcomes directly, as well as the ability for participants to transfer knowledge gain across learning environments.

  2. By the Numbers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, Bruce S.; McGrath, Michael; Monahan, Brian D.; Steele, Joanne Laughlin

    1999-01-01

    Educators can learn from business people accounting models that can be applied to managerial accounting, integrated information systems, focused/activity-based costing, decentralized information, and mission-driven costing. A sidebar discusses measuring technology's impact. (MLF)

  3. Learning to teach optics through experiments and demonstrations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lancis, Jesús; Fernández-Alonso, Mercedes; Martínez-León, Lluis; Tajahuerce-Romera, Enrique; Mínguez-Vega, Gladis

    2014-07-01

    We have applied an active methodology to pre-service teacher training courses and to active teacher workshops on Optics. As a practical resource, a set of demonstrations has been used to learn how to perform classroom demonstrations. The set includes experiments about polarization and birefringence, optical information transmission, diffraction, fluorescence or scattering. It had been prepared for Science popularization activities and has been employed in several settings with a variety of audiences. In the teacher training sessions, simple but clarifying experiments have been performed by all the participants. Moreover, in these workshops, devices or basic set-ups, like the ones included in our demonstration set, have been built. The practical approach has allowed the enthusiastic sharing of teaching and learning experiences among the workshop participants. We believe that such an active orientation in teacher training courses promotes the active and collaborative teaching and learning of Optics in different levels of Education.

  4. Is Library Database Searching a Language Learning Activity?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bordonaro, Karen

    2010-01-01

    This study explores how non-native speakers of English think of words to enter into library databases when they begin the process of searching for information in English. At issue is whether or not language learning takes place when these students use library databases. Language learning in this study refers to the use of strategies employed by…

  5. Open the Door Let's Explore: Neighborhood Field Trips for Young Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redleaf, Rhoda

    Designed as a resource for teachers and parents, this guide contains activities to help children from 2 to 8 years old learn from neighborhood walks and field trips. Information is presented on: field trips as an approach to learning, learning processes of children, and techniques to make trips meaningful. Teaching material for each trip includes…

  6. Peer Sharing Facilitates the Effect of Inquiry-Based Projects on Science Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chung, Hui-Min; Behan, Kristina Jackson

    2010-01-01

    Authentic assessment exercises are similar to real-world tasks that would be expected by a professional. An authentic assessment in combination with an inquiry-based learning activity enhances students' learning and rehearses them for their future roles, whether as scientists or as informed citizens. Over a period of 2 years, we experimented with…

  7. Square Pegs, Round Holes: An Exploration of Teaching Methods and Learning Styles of Millennial College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bailey, Regina M.

    2012-01-01

    In an information-saturated world, today's college students desire to be engaged both in and out of their college classrooms. This mixed-methods study sought to explore how replacing traditional teaching methods with engaged learning activities affects millennial college student attitudes and perceptions about learning. The sub-questions…

  8. Research Trends in the Study of ICT Based Learning Communities: A Bibliometric Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hernández, Jonathan Bermúdez; Chalela, Salim; Arias, Jackeline Valencia; Arias, Alejandro Valencia

    2017-01-01

    The current opportunities to develop and acquire knowledge in the network, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) play a major role in the learning process. This research offers a bibliometric analysis in order to examine the state of the research activity carried out in relation to the learning communities based on ICT. The indicators…

  9. Encouraging Contributions in Learning Networks Using Incentive Mechanisms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hummel, H. G. K.; Burgos, D.; Tattersall, C.; Brouns, F.; Kurvers, H.; Koper, R.

    2005-01-01

    We investigate incentive mechanisms to increase active participation in Learning Networks (LNs). The LN under study is LN4LD, an LN for the exchange of information about the IMS Learning Design specification. We examine how to encourage learners in LN4LD to contribute their knowledge, and whether incentive mechanisms can increase the level of…

  10. The Parents'& Teachers' Guide To Helping Young Children Learn: Creative Ideas from 35 Respected Experts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farber, Betty, Ed.

    Parents and teachers may often have wondered how preschoolers learn, or why certain things, events, or people are more interesting to them than others? This book provides information on how young children learn, and offers activities to encourage emerging literacy, promote creativity and imagination, and enhance knowledge and development in music,…

  11. Adult Play-Learning: Observing Informal Family Education at a Science Museum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kanhadilok, Peeranut; Watts, Mike

    2014-01-01

    This paper discusses some of the issues surrounding the nature of adult play. More specifically, we explore "family play-learning", where play activities result in forms of added knowledge or insight for the adults involved. Adult play itself is an under-researched area, and play-learning even more so. We discuss related research and, in…

  12. Structuring Assignments to Improve Understanding and Presentation Skills: Experiential Learning in the Capstone Strategic Management Team Presentation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Helms, Marilyn M.; Whitesell, Melissa

    2017-01-01

    In the strategic management course, students select, analyze, and present viable future alternatives based on information provided in cases or computer simulations. Rather than understanding the entire process, the student's focus is on the final presentation. Chickering's (1977) research on active learning suggests students learn more effectively…

  13. Digital Leisure-Time Activities, Cognition, Learning Behaviour and Information Literacy: What Are Our Children Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grimley, Mick

    2012-01-01

    Recent developments in digital technology have resulted in the unprecedented uptake of digital technology engagement as a leisure-time pursuit across the age span. This has resulted in the speculation that such use of digital technology is responsible for changes in cognition and learning behaviour. This study investigated two groups of…

  14. The Effect of Selected "Desirable Difficulties" on the Ability to Recall Anatomy Information

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobson, John L.; Linderholm, Tracy

    2015-01-01

    "Desirable difficulties" is a theory from cognitive science used to promote learning in a variety of contexts. The basic premise is that creating a cognitively challenging environment at the learning acquisition phase, by actively engaging learners in the retrieval of to-be-learned materials, promotes long-term retention. In this study,…

  15. Understanding the challenges to facilitating active learning in the resident conferences: a qualitative study of internal medicine faculty and resident perspectives

    PubMed Central

    Sawatsky, Adam P.; Zickmund, Susan L.; Berlacher, Kathryn; Lesky, Dan; Granieri, Rosanne

    2015-01-01

    Background In the Next Accreditation System, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education outlines milestones for medical knowledge and requires regular didactic sessions in residency training. There are many challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences, and we need to better understand resident learning preferences and faculty perspectives on facilitating active learning. The goal of this study was to identify challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences, both through identifying specific implementation barriers and identifying differences in perspective between faculty and residents on effective teaching and learning strategies. Methods The investigators invited core residency faculty to participate in focus groups. The investigators used a semistructured guide to facilitate discussion about learning preferences and teaching perspectives in the conference setting and used an ‘editing approach’ within a grounded theory framework to qualitative analysis to code the transcripts and analyze the results. Data were compared to previously collected data from seven resident focus groups. Results Three focus groups with 20 core faculty were conducted. We identified three domains pertaining to facilitating active learning in resident conferences: barriers to facilitating active learning formats, similarities and differences in faculty and resident learning preferences, and divergence between faculty and resident opinions about effective teaching strategies. Faculty identified several setting, faculty, and resident barriers to facilitating active learning in resident conferences. When compared to residents, faculty expressed similar learning preferences; the main differences were in motivations for conference attendance and type of content. Resident preferences and faculty perspectives differed on the amount of information appropriate for lecture and the role of active participation in resident conferences. Conclusion This study highlights several challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences and provides insights for residency faculty who seek to transform the conference learning environment within their residency program. PMID:26160805

  16. Understanding the challenges to facilitating active learning in the resident conferences: a qualitative study of internal medicine faculty and resident perspectives.

    PubMed

    Sawatsky, Adam P; Zickmund, Susan L; Berlacher, Kathryn; Lesky, Dan; Granieri, Rosanne

    2015-01-01

    Background In the Next Accreditation System, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education outlines milestones for medical knowledge and requires regular didactic sessions in residency training. There are many challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences, and we need to better understand resident learning preferences and faculty perspectives on facilitating active learning. The goal of this study was to identify challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences, both through identifying specific implementation barriers and identifying differences in perspective between faculty and residents on effective teaching and learning strategies. Methods The investigators invited core residency faculty to participate in focus groups. The investigators used a semistructured guide to facilitate discussion about learning preferences and teaching perspectives in the conference setting and used an 'editing approach' within a grounded theory framework to qualitative analysis to code the transcripts and analyze the results. Data were compared to previously collected data from seven resident focus groups. Results Three focus groups with 20 core faculty were conducted. We identified three domains pertaining to facilitating active learning in resident conferences: barriers to facilitating active learning formats, similarities and differences in faculty and resident learning preferences, and divergence between faculty and resident opinions about effective teaching strategies. Faculty identified several setting, faculty, and resident barriers to facilitating active learning in resident conferences. When compared to residents, faculty expressed similar learning preferences; the main differences were in motivations for conference attendance and type of content. Resident preferences and faculty perspectives differed on the amount of information appropriate for lecture and the role of active participation in resident conferences. Conclusion This study highlights several challenges to facilitating active learning in resident conferences and provides insights for residency faculty who seek to transform the conference learning environment within their residency program.

  17. 77 FR 67656 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-13

    ... of information technology to minimize the information collection burden. Information Collection... to improve access to primary care, which is supported by clinicians who remain in their sites well... of learning how to bolster retention. Survey data will be gathered anonymously and presented in...

  18. Processing of action- but not stimulus-related prediction errors differs between active and observational feedback learning.

    PubMed

    Kobza, Stefan; Bellebaum, Christian

    2015-01-01

    Learning of stimulus-response-outcome associations is driven by outcome prediction errors (PEs). Previous studies have shown larger PE-dependent activity in the striatum for learning from own as compared to observed actions and the following outcomes despite comparable learning rates. We hypothesised that this finding relates primarily to a stronger integration of action and outcome information in active learners. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain activations related to action-dependent PEs, reflecting the deviation between action values and obtained outcomes, and action-independent PEs, reflecting the deviation between subjective values of response-preceding cues and obtained outcomes. To this end, 16 active and 15 observational learners engaged in a probabilistic learning card-guessing paradigm. On each trial, active learners saw one out of five cues and pressed either a left or right response button to receive feedback (monetary win or loss). Each observational learner observed exactly those cues, responses and outcomes of one active learner. Learning performance was assessed in active test trials without feedback and did not differ between groups. For both types of PEs, activations were found in the globus pallidus, putamen, cerebellum, and insula in active learners. However, only for action-dependent PEs, activations in these structures and the anterior cingulate were increased in active relative to observational learners. Thus, PE-related activity in the reward system is not generally enhanced in active relative to observational learning but only for action-dependent PEs. For the cerebellum, additional activations were found across groups for cue-related uncertainty, thereby emphasising the cerebellum's role in stimulus-outcome learning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Student approaches for learning in medicine: what does it tell us about the informal curriculum?

    PubMed

    Zhang, Jianzhen; Peterson, Raymond F; Ozolins, Ieva Z

    2011-10-21

    It has long been acknowledged that medical students frequently focus their learning on that which will enable them to pass examinations, and that they use a range of study approaches and resources in preparing for their examinations. A recent qualitative study identified that in addition to the formal curriculum, students are using a range of resources and study strategies which could be attributed to the informal curriculum. What is not clearly established is the extent to which these informal learning resources and strategies are utilized by medical students. The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which students in a graduate-entry medical program use various learning approaches to assist their learning and preparation for examinations, apart from those resources offered as part of the formal curriculum. A validated survey instrument was administered to 522 medical students. Factor analysis and internal consistence, descriptive analysis and comparisons with demographic variables were completed. The factor analysis identified eight scales with acceptable levels of internal consistency with an alpha coefficient between 0.72 and 0.96. Nearly 80% of the students reported that they were overwhelmed by the amount of work that was perceived necessary to complete the formal curriculum, with 74.3% believing that the informal learning approaches helped them pass the examinations. 61.3% believed that they prepared them to be good doctors. A variety of informal learning activities utilized by students included using past student notes (85.8%) and PBL tutor guides (62.7%), and being part of self-organised study groups (62.6%), and peer-led tutorials (60.2%). Almost all students accessed the formal school resources for at least 10% of their study time. Students in the first year of the program were more likely to rely on the formal curriculum resources compared to those of Year 2 (p = 0.008). Curriculum planners should examine the level of use of informal learning activities in their schools, and investigate whether this is to enhance student progress, a result of perceived weakness in the delivery and effectiveness of formal resources, or to overcome anxiety about the volume of work expected by medical programs.

  20. Science beyond the Classroom: Hands-On Optics and the Boys and Girls Club

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dokter, Erin F.; Walker, C.; Peruta, C.; Ubach, C.; Sparks, R.; Pompea, S.

    2006-12-01

    In Summer and Fall 2006, the Hands-On Optics program of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) teamed up with two local Boys and Girls Clubs in the Tucson area to conduct informal education programs for elementary and middle school aged children. Hands-On Optics (HOO) is a collaborative program funded by NSF to create and sustain a unique, national, informal science education program to excite students about science by actively engaging them in optics activities. The program was designed especially to reach underserved students. In this talk, the successes and challenges of implementing these programs will be discussed, as well as the lessons learned in the process, which may be applied to other partnerships between EPO providers and informal learning venues.

  1. Spatio-Temporal Information Analysis of Event-Related BOLD Responses

    PubMed Central

    Alpert, Galit Fuhrmann; Handwerker, Dan; Sun, Felice T.; D’Esposito, Mark; Knight, Robert T.

    2009-01-01

    A new approach for analysis of event related fMRI (BOLD) signals is proposed. The technique is based on measures from information theory and is used both for spatial localization of task related activity, as well as for extracting temporal information regarding the task dependent propagation of activation across different brain regions. This approach enables whole brain visualization of voxels (areas) most involved in coding of a specific task condition, the time at which they are most informative about the condition, as well as their average amplitude at that preferred time. The approach does not require prior assumptions about the shape of the hemodynamic response function (HRF), nor about linear relations between BOLD response and presented stimuli (or task conditions). We show that relative delays between different brain regions can also be computed without prior knowledge of the experimental design, suggesting a general method that could be applied for analysis of differential time delays that occur during natural, uncontrolled conditions. Here we analyze BOLD signals recorded during performance of a motor learning task. We show that during motor learning, the BOLD response of unimodal motor cortical areas precedes the response in higher-order multimodal association areas, including posterior parietal cortex. Brain areas found to be associated with reduced activity during motor learning, predominantly in prefrontal brain regions, are informative about the task typically at significantly later times. PMID:17188515

  2. Learning and Transition of Symbols: Towards a Dynamical Model of a Symbolic Individual

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hashimoto, Takashi; Masumi, Akira

    The remarkable feature of linguistic communications is the use of symbols for transmitting information and mutual understanding. Deacon (1997) pointed out that humans are symbolic species, namely, we show symbolic cognitive activities such as learning, formation, and manipulation of symbols. In research into the origin and the evolution of language, we should elucidate the emerging process of such symbolic cognitive activities.

  3. Creating a Model of Acceptance: Preservice Teachers Interact with Non-English-Speaking Latino Parents Using Culturally Relevant Mathematics and Science Activities at Family Learning Events

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramirez, Olga; McCollough, Cherie A.; Diaz, Zulmaris

    2016-01-01

    The following describes a culturally relevant mathematics and science content program implemented by preservice teachers (PSTs) at Family Math/Science Learning Events (FM/SLEs) conducted through two different university programs in south Texas. These experiences are required course activities designed to inform PSTs of the importance of…

  4. Starch Products. Learning Activity Pack and Instructor's Guide 5.9. Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts Competency-Based Series. Section 5: Basic Food Preparation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Studies in Vocational Education.

    This document consists of a learning activity packet (LAP) for the student and an instructor's guide for the teacher. The LAP is intended to acquaint occupational home economics students with some basic information about starches and with three starch products found throughout the world: cereals and rice, potatoes, and pasta. Illustrated…

  5. Alianza para el Aprendizaje: Una guia de actividades educativas para familias (Alliance for Learning: A Guide of Educational Activities for Families).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carr, Phil

    This Spanish-language publication condenses the information in the Alliance for Learning series. The publication is intended principally for families with preschool or primary grade children, although the material can be used with older children. The sections of the publication address various themes and present activities that parents can do with…

  6. Engineering Lessons Learned and Systems Engineering Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gill, Paul S.; Garcia, Danny; Vaughan, William W.

    2005-01-01

    Systems Engineering is fundamental to good engineering, which in turn depends on the integration and application of engineering lessons learned and technical standards. Thus, good Systems Engineering also depends on systems engineering lessons learned from within the aerospace industry being documented and applied. About ten percent of the engineering lessons learned documented in the NASA Lessons Learned Information System are directly related to Systems Engineering. A key issue associated with lessons learned datasets is the communication and incorporation of this information into engineering processes. Systems Engineering has been defined (EINIS-632) as "an interdisciplinary approach encompassing the entire technical effort to evolve and verify an integrated and life-cycle balanced set of system people, product, and process solutions that satisfy customer needs". Designing reliable space-based systems has always been a goal for NASA, and many painful lessons have been learned along the way. One of the continuing functions of a system engineer is to compile development and operations "lessons learned" documents and ensure their integration into future systems development activities. They can produce insights and information for risk identification identification and characterization. on a new project. Lessons learned files from previous projects are especially valuable in risk

  7. Veterinary student attitudes toward curriculum integration at James Cook University.

    PubMed

    Cavalieri, John

    2009-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of veterinary science students to activities designed to promote curriculum integration. Students (N = 33) in their second year of a five-year veterinary degree were surveyed in regard to their attitudes to activities that aimed to promote integration. Imaging, veterinary practice practicals, and a field trip to a cattle property were classified as the three most valuable learning activities that were designed to promote integration. Veterinary practice practicals, case studies, and palpable anatomy were regarded by students as helping them to learn information presented in other teaching sessions. They also appeared to enhance student motivation, and students indicated that the activities assisted them with their preparation for and performance at examinations. Attitudes to whether the learning exercises helped improve a range of skills and specific knowledge varied, with 39-88% of students agreeing that specific skills and knowledge were enhanced to a large or very large extent by the learning activities. The results indicate that learning activities designed to promote curriculum integration helped improve motivation, reinforced learning, created links between foundational knowledge and its application, and assisted with the development of skills that are related to what students will do in their future careers.

  8. Understanding How Families Use Magnifiers During Nature Center Walks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zimmerman, Heather Toomey; McClain, Lucy Richardson; Crowl, Michele

    2013-10-01

    This analysis uses a sociocultural learning theory and parent-child interaction framework to understand families' interactions with one type of scientific tool, the magnifier, during nature walks offered by a nature center. Families were video recorded to observe how they organized their activities where they used magnifiers to explore in the outdoors. Findings include that families used magnifiers for scientific inquiry as well as for playful exploration. Using the concept of guided facilitation where families develop roles to support their joint endeavor, three roles to support family thinking were found to be: (a) tool suggester, (b) teacher, and (c) exploration ender. Some families struggled to use magnifiers and often, parents and older siblings provided support for younger children in using magnifying lenses. Implications to informal science learning theory are drawn and suggestions for future family learning research are offered: (a) inclusion of sociocultural and situated perspectives as theories to study informal learning in outdoor spaces, (b) further study on the role of siblings in family interactions, (c) design-based research is needed to encourage family role-taking when engaging in science practices, and (d) new conceptualizations on how to design informal programs that support science learning while leaving space for visitors' personal agendas and interests that can guide the families' activities.

  9. 78 FR 54636 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION [Docket No. ED-2013-ICCD-0085] Agency Information Collection Activities...--Early Learning Challenge Annual Performance Report AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.... Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., LBJ, Room 2E115, Washington, DC 20202-4537. FOR FURTHER...

  10. Using Informal Inferential Reasoning to Develop Formal Concepts: Analyzing an Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weinberg, Aaron; Wiesner, Emilie; Pfaff, Thomas J.

    2010-01-01

    Inferential reasoning is a central component of statistics. Researchers have suggested that students should develop an informal understanding of the ideas that underlie inference before learning the concepts formally. This paper presents a hands-on activity that is designed to help students in an introductory statistics course draw informal…

  11. The influence of extracurricular activities on middle school students' science learning in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Danhui; Tang, Xing

    2017-07-01

    Informal science learning has been found to have effects on students' science learning. Through the use of secondary data from a national assessment of 7410 middle school students in China, this study explores the relationship among five types of extracurricular science activities, learning interests, academic self-concept, and science achievement. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the influence of students' self-chosen and school-organised extracurricular activities on science achievement through mediating interests and the academic self-concept. Chi-square tests were used to determine whether there was an opportunity gap in the student's engagement in extracurricular activities. The students' volunteer and school-organised participation in extracurricular science activities had a positive and indirect influence on their science achievement through the mediating variables of their learning interests and academic self-concept. However, there were opportunity gaps between different groups of students in terms of school location, family background, and especially the mother's education level. Students from urban areas with better-educated mothers or higher socioeconomic status are more likely to access diverse science-related extracurricular activities.

  12. Learning during processing Word learning doesn’t wait for word recognition to finish

    PubMed Central

    Apfelbaum, Keith S.; McMurray, Bob

    2017-01-01

    Previous research on associative learning has uncovered detailed aspects of the process, including what types of things are learned, how they are learned, and where in the brain such learning occurs. However, perceptual processes, such as stimulus recognition and identification, take time to unfold. Previous studies of learning have not addressed when, during the course of these dynamic recognition processes, learned representations are formed and updated. If learned representations are formed and updated while recognition is ongoing, the result of learning may incorporate spurious, partial information. For example, during word recognition, words take time to be identified, and competing words are often active in parallel. If learning proceeds before this competition resolves, representations may be influenced by the preliminary activations present at the time of learning. In three experiments using word learning as a model domain, we provide evidence that learning reflects the ongoing dynamics of auditory and visual processing during a learning event. These results show that learning can occur before stimulus recognition processes are complete; learning does not wait for ongoing perceptual processing to complete. PMID:27471082

  13. Connecting for Health Literacy: Health Information Partners

    PubMed Central

    Pomerantz, Karyn L.; Muhammad, Abdul-Ali; Downey, Stacey; Kind, Terry

    2010-01-01

    This article describes a community-based health information partnership to address health literacy and health information inequalities in marginalized communities. Public health, medical, literacy, and library practitioners promote health literacy through outreach, training, and professional development activities in community settings. They create learning environments for people to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to better understand health information and health policy so they can make decisions concerning personal and community health. Outreach activities focus on visits to neighborhood health centers, health fairs, health exhibits at union meetings and conferences; training programs involve hands-on, peer-led computer classes for people living with HIV and for the general public; and professional development programs connect librarians, health providers, public health workers, and literacy teachers in joint planning and learning. Several learners currently participate in and lead community health education programs and HIV advocacy. The coalition's strength develops from strongly shared objectives, an absence of territoriality, and a core active leadership group. PMID:18544664

  14. Family caregiver learning--how family caregivers learn to provide care at the end of life: a qualitative secondary analysis of four datasets.

    PubMed

    Stajduhar, Kelli I; Funk, Laura; Outcalt, Linda

    2013-07-01

    Family caregivers are assuming growing responsibilities in providing care to dying family members. Supporting them is fundamental to ensure quality end-of-life care and to buffer potentially negative outcomes, although family caregivers frequently acknowledge a deficiency of information, knowledge, and skills necessary to assume the tasks involved in this care. The aim of this inquiry was to explore how family caregivers describe learning to provide care to palliative patients. Secondary analysis of data from four qualitative studies (n = 156) with family caregivers of dying people. Data included qualitative interviews with 156 family caregivers of dying people. Family caregivers learn through the following processes: trial and error, actively seeking needed information and guidance, applying knowledge and skills from previous experience, and reflecting on their current experiences. Caregivers generally preferred and appreciated a supported or guided learning process that involved being shown or told by others, usually learning reactively after a crisis. Findings inform areas for future research to identify effective, individualized programs and interventions to support positive learning experiences for family caregivers of dying people.

  15. How the Brain Learns: A Classroom Teacher's Guide. Second Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sousa, David A.

    This book presents information to help teachers turn research on brain function into practical classroom activities and lessons, offering: brain facts; information on how the brain processes information; tips on maximizing retention; an information processing model that reflects new terminology regarding the memory systems; new research on how the…

  16. Growing up at the intersection of the genomic era and the information age.

    PubMed

    Driessnack, Martha

    2009-06-01

    Children actively seek to make sense of their worlds based on the information they receive and their experience. For children growing up at the intersection of genomic era and information age, the array of information and experience continues to expand. This article highlights the importance of exploring these early contexts for learning, including the children's exposure to books and mass media, and the impact of early learning on later health literacy and behaviors. This article presents a case study discussing the inheritance of cystic fibrosis using the Harry Potter book series.

  17. Preparing Students for the Future: Making Career Development a Priority.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hughey, Kenneth F.; Hughey, Judith K.

    1999-01-01

    Presents information relevant to school counseling about the implications of work changes. Outlines foundational guides for student success: improving decision making, learning about career paths, acquiring employability skills, and developing lifelong learning attitudes. Describes activities to facilitate career development. (SK)

  18. Older Australians: Structural barriers to learning in later life.

    PubMed

    Boulton-Lewis, Gillian; Aird, Rosemary; Buys, Laurie

    2016-01-01

    Learning in older age is associated with benefits including increases in skills, social interactions, self-satisfaction, coping ability, enjoyment, and resilience to age-related changes in the brain. It is also a fundamental component of active ageing and if active ageing objectives are to be met for the growing ageing population, barriers to learning need to be understood and addressed. This study aimed at determining the degree that structural factors deter people aged 55 years and older from engaging in learning activities. The data were obtained from survey (n=421) with a purposive sample of Australian Seniors aged 55 to 75+, and open ended follow up interviews (n=40). The survey responses to the 22 barriers to learning questions were ranked and quantified. The issues identified in the interviews shed further light on the survey data. The analyses revealed that factors related to educational institutions as well as infrastructure were commonly cited as barriers to participation in learning. In particular expense of educational programmes (55.1%), long travelling time (45.6%) other transportation difficulties (38.9%), lack of interest in offered programmes ((36.4) and lack of information about courses (31.1%) were seen as barriers. The interviews revealed and confirmed five main barriers; money, offerings of interest/availability, travel/transport, information, computer skills and being employed. The findings should provide policy makers, institutions, organizations and government with a list of areas where changes might be made so as to improve older people's opportunities for learning as they proceed through older age.

  19. ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom.

    PubMed

    Wiggins, Benjamin L; Eddy, Sarah L; Wener-Fligner, Leah; Freisem, Karen; Grunspan, Daniel Z; Theobald, Elli J; Timbrook, Jerry; Crowe, Alison J

    2017-01-01

    The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today's active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is important to gain a more holistic view of the student experience in an active-learning classroom. We have taken a mixed-methods approach to iteratively develop and validate a 16-item survey to measure multiple facets of the student experience during active-learning exercises. The instrument, which we call A ssessing S tudent P erspective of E ngagement in C lass T ool (ASPECT), was administered to a large introductory biology class, and student responses were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The 16 items loaded onto three factors that cumulatively explained 52% of the variation in student response: 1) value of activity, 2) personal effort, and 3) instructor contribution. ASPECT provides a rapid, easily administered means to measure student perception of engagement in an active-learning classroom. Gaining a better understanding of students' level of engagement will help inform instructor best practices and provide an additional measure for comprehensively assessing the impact of different active-learning strategies. © 2017 B. L. Wiggins, S. L. Eddy, 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).

  20. Intermittent compared to continuous real-time fMRI neurofeedback boosts control over amygdala activation.

    PubMed

    Hellrung, Lydia; Dietrich, Anja; Hollmann, Maurice; Pleger, Burkhard; Kalberlah, Christian; Roggenhofer, Elisabeth; Villringer, Arno; Horstmann, Annette

    2018-02-01

    Real-time fMRI neurofeedback is a feasible tool to learn the volitional regulation of brain activity. So far, most studies provide continuous feedback information that is presented upon every volume acquisition. Although this maximizes the temporal resolution of feedback information, it may be accompanied by some disadvantages. Participants can be distracted from the regulation task due to (1) the intrinsic delay of the hemodynamic response and associated feedback and (2) limited cognitive resources available to simultaneously evaluate feedback information and stay engaged with the task. Here, we systematically investigate differences between groups presented with different variants of feedback (continuous vs. intermittent) and a control group receiving no feedback on their ability to regulate amygdala activity using positive memories and feelings. In contrast to the feedback groups, no learning effect was observed in the group without any feedback presentation. The group receiving intermittent feedback exhibited better amygdala regulation performance when compared with the group receiving continuous feedback. Behavioural measurements show that these effects were reflected in differences in task engagement. Overall, we not only demonstrate that the presentation of feedback is a prerequisite to learn volitional control of amygdala activity but also that intermittent feedback is superior to continuous feedback presentation. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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