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Investigating students’ journey through a computer science program using exam data: three new approaches
Get PDFA computing student will over the first three years of their studies complete approximately 20 exams and even more attempts due to failures and retakes. Details about all exam attempts are stored in a national database called Common Student System (Felles studentsystem, FS). Although access to FS, in general, is restricted, anonymized data about exam attempts can be provided for research and is a potential goldmine of data that, if used right might be a useful tool for educators and teachers. In this study, we explore this data in an attempt to conceptualize three new approaches to assessing student performance. Firstly, we relate students' final grade point average (GPA) to their performance in all courses in the first two years. Additionally, we propose a new indicator of student performance called "struggle factor," which is calculated using the number of exam attempts. Lastly, we investigate how students perform in different course subjects and types. Both the proposed use of FS data and the new approaches to performance indicators are relevant for educators wanting to understand the educational design of a study program and the students’ journey
English Language Teaching Textbooks from Nicaragua and Norway: A Comparative Analysis of the Topics presented in Secondary English Book – 8th Grade and Enter 8
Get PDFNicaragua’s first official series of textbooks for English as a foreign language (EFL) in secondary schools was made available in 2016. This article presents a comparative analysis of Secondary English Book, which is the new Nicaraguan series, and Enter, an award-winning Norwegian series for the same age group. I use content analysis to identify the main topics presented in the two textbooks. The findings indicate that, while the Norwegian textbook focuses primarily on English-speaking cultures, the Nicaraguan one limits its topics to the local (Nicaraguan) culture. The Nicaraguan book seems to aim at strengthening the learner’s sense of national pride and cultural values. The study also suggests that the two textbooks differ in the way they address the development of the students’ moral and civic values and the way they try to motivate the learners to use the target language. I use the notion of “challenging” and “authentic” topics in my discussion of these issues.La primera serie oficial de libros para la enseñanza del idioma a nivel secundario se hizo disponible en Nicaragua en el año 2016. Esta investigación presenta un análisis comparativo de Secondary English Book, la cual es la nueve serie, y Enter, una serie noruega ganadora de premios dirigida al mismo grupo de edad. Mediante análisis de contenido, identifiqué los principales temas presentados en ambos textos. Los resultados indican que, mientras el libro noruego se enfoca principalmente en la cultura de países anglosajones, el libro nicaragüense se limita a la cultura local (nicaragüense). De ese modo, el texto nicaragüense parece apuntar al fortalecimiento del sentido y orgullo nacional del estudiante. El estudio también sugiere que los dos textos difieren en la forma en que abordan el desarrollo de los valores cívicos y morales del estudiante y en como intentan motivarlo a utilizar el idioma extranjero. Uso la noción de temas “retadores” y “auténticos” en mi discusión.A primeira série oficial de livros para o ensino do Inglês como idioma estrangeiro para o nível secundário na Nicarágua foi disponibilizada em 2016. Esta pesquisa apresenta uma análise comparativa do Secondary English Book, que é a nova série nicaraguense, e Enter, uma série norueguesa ganhadora de prêmios dirigidos à mesma faixa etária. Por meio da análise do conteúdo, identifiquei os principais temas apresentados em ambos os textos. Os resultados indicam que, enquanto o livro norueguês focaliza principalmente a cultura de países anglo-saxões, o livro nicaraguense se limita à cultura local (nicaraguense). Dessa maneira, o texto nicaraguense parece apontar para o fortalecimento do sentido do orgulho nacionale valores culturais no estudante. A pesquisa também sugere que os dois livros didáticos diferem na forma como abordam o desenvolvimento dos valores cívicos e morais dos alunos e na forma como procuram motivá-los para o uso do idioma estrangeiro. Uso as noções de temas “desafiadores” e “autênticos” para di cussão dos resultados
Blending functions based on trigonometric and polynomial approximations of the Fabius function
Get PDFMost simple blending functions are polynomials, while more advanced blending functions are, for example, rational or expo-rational fractions. The Fabius function has the required properties of a blending function, but is a nowhere analytic function and cannot be calculated exactly everywhere on the required domain. We present a new set of trigonometric and polynomial blending functions with the shape and other properties similar to the Fabius function. They consist of combinations of trigonometric polynomials and piecewise polynomials. The main advanced of these are that they are easy to implement, have low processing costs and have simple derivatives. This makes them very suitable for the calculation of splines. Due to the selfdifferential property of the Fabius function, scaled versions of these functions can even be used to approximate their own derivatives
Educational photocopying in French secondary schools: How does a technology adjust the content being taught to students' reading and writing skills?
Get PDFAmong the documents consulted, adapted and produced by teachers, pedagogical photocopies are particular objects. First, because they are documents most often created by teachers. Then, because they are primarily destined for their students. These documents are part of a complex process that is strongly linked to contextual elements such as curriculum, textbooks, classroom dynamics and school set-up. In the framework of the ReVEA project (www.anr-revea.fr), inspired by Horsley (2012) and Horsley & Walker (2011), a quantitative study on pedagogical photocopying was conducted (Boelaert & Khaneboubi, 2016), in which 46 French upper secondary school teachers were interviewed about how they conceive of and use photocopying for their students. In what part of their teaching strategies are photocopies used? Why is it impossible to avoid using photocopies? How flexible are photocopies in the classroom? What types of documents and documentary techniques are used?
According to the teachers, the content of a photocopy is based on sample textbooks and documents found by using Google search. Analysis of the interviews suggests that photocopies are hand-crafted, tailor-made, modifiable and ephemeral textbooks. The most important criterion that guides the teaching strategy and best explains the importance and nature of photocopies is students’ reading and writing skills. Depending on whether students need to practice reading, writing or being ‘active’, teachers implement a teaching strategy based on the production of a document. When students are good readers/writers, support becomes invisible and teaching is dedicated only on content. Moreover, these documents are a way of managing the class and the activities of the students.Entre los documentos consultados, adaptados y producidos por los profesores, las fotocopias pedagógicas son objetos particulares. En primer lugar, porque son los documentos creados por mayor frecuencia por los profesores. Tambien porque están destinadas principalmente a sus alumnos. Estos documentos forman parte de un proceso complejo que está fuertemente ligado a elementos contextuales como el currículo, los libros de texto, la dinámica del aula y la organización de la escuela. En el marco del proyecto ReVEA (www.anr-revea.fr), inspirado en Horsley (2012) y Horsley & Walker (2011), se realizó un estudio cuantitativo sobre la fotocopia pedagógica (Boelaert & Khaneboubi, 2016), en el que se entrevistó a 46 profesores franceses de enseñanza secundaria superior sobre cómo conciben y utilizan la fotocopia para sus alumnos. ¿En qué parte de sus estrategias pedagógicas se utilizan las fotocopias? ¿Por qué es imposible evitar el uso de las fotocopias? ¿Qué tan flexibles son las fotocopias en el salón de clases? ¿Qué tipo de documentos y técnicas documentales se utilizan?
De acuerdo con los profesores, el contenido de una fotocopia se basa en ejemplos de libros de texto y documentos encontrados mediante la búsqueda en Google. El análisis de las entrevistas sugiere que las fotocopias son libros de texto artesanales, hechos a medida, modificables y efímeros. El criterio más importante que guía la estrategia de enseñanza y que mejor explica la importancia y la naturaleza de las fotocopias es la capacidad de la lectura y escritura de los estudiantes. Dependiendo de la necesidad de los estudiantes de practicar la lectura, la escritura o ser "activos", los maestros implementan una estrategia de enseñanza basada en la producción de un documento. Cuando los estudiantes son buenos lectores/escritores, el apoyo se vuelve invisible y la enseñanza se dedica sólo al contenido. Además, estos documentos son una forma de gestionar la clase y las actividades de los estudiantes
Escape Local Minima with Improved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm
Get PDFParticle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a powerful meta-heuristic technique which has been maneuvered to solve numerous complex optimization problems. However, due to its characteristics, there is a possibility to trap all particles in a local minimum in the solution space and then they cannot find the way out from the trap on their own. Therefore, we modify the traditional PSO algorithm by adding an extra step so that it helps PSO to find a better solution than the local minimum that they undesirably found. We perturb all the particles by adjusting parameter values in the traditional algorithm when there is no improvement of the objective value over the training iterations, assuming that particles have stuck in a local minimum. In this research, we mainly focus on adjusting the learning factors. However, the parameter values have to be used in an effective way to perturb the particles. The behavior of the proposed modification and its parameter adjustments are studied using a function which has a large number of local minima - Schwefel’s function. Results show that 2 out of 3 PSO attempts trap in local minimum and slight changes on learning factors do not help them to get out from the traps. However, perturbances made with large learning factors can find better solutions than the local minima that they stuck in and help to find the global minimum eventually
Students’ mental models of references in Python
Get PDFThis paper reports on a study exploring students’ understanding of references and reference assignments. Students in an introductory programming course in Python were interviewed with respect to what happens during execution of reference assignment statements and function calls involving references. Previous research on Java hasidentified two types of mental models related to reference assignment, which in this paper is referred to as the “Copy value model” and the “Copy reference model”.An important result in this paper is that each of these models can be divided into two sub-models, giving a total of four different models where only one of them is valid. In addition, we have identified three types of mental models related to references in function calls. This gives valuable insight into students’ thinking, which can then be addressed by teachers both in class and in formative assessments. Furthermore, students in two introductory courses were asked to participate in a survey with multiple choice questions asking the students to identify the correct results of executing code examples involving references. The patterns of answers were analyzed based on the mental models identified in interviews. It was found that the identified mental models explained the most common patterns in the student responses
Refining primary textbooks for behaviour change in Bangladesh
No full textIt is not surprising that little is known about the criteria of effective textbooks because they are only one among a complex range of factors that affect teaching and learning. On the other hand, more is known about the potential of structured pedagogy in improving learner experiences and learning outcomes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In many LMICs, textbooks for subjects such as social studies are often presented as a sequence of comprehension exercises, and fail to model good pedagogy, develop good learning processes and model good student behaviors. This paper is an account of how government primary school social studies textbooks in Bangladesh were revised in order to reflect curricular aims in a clearer, more engaging, and more practical way for classroom conditions in poorly-resourced contexts. The revised textbooks include a structured pedagogy rather than a content-heavy, comprehension-based approach, and thereby aim to better achieve behavior change.No es extraño que poco se conozca sobre los criterios de los libros de texto eficaces, ya que son sólo uno de los factores complejos que afectan a la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. Por otra parte, se sabe más sobre el potencial de la pedagogía estructurada para mejorar las experiencias de los alumnos y los resultados del aprendizaje, especialmente en los países de ingresos bajos y medios. En muchos de ellos, los libros de texto de asignaturas como los estudios sociales se presentan a menudo como una secuencia de ejercicios de comprensión, y no consiguen modelar una buena pedagogía, desarrollar buenos procesos de aprendizaje y modelar buenos comportamientos para los estudiantes. Este documento es un recuento de cómo los libros de texto de estudios sociales de las escuelas primarias del gobierno de Bangladesh fueron revisados con el proposito de reflejar los objetivos curriculares de una manera más clara, más atractiva y más práctica para las condiciones del aula en contextos de escasos recursos. Los libros de texto revisados incluyen una pedagogía estructurada en lugar de un enfoque basado en la comprensión y el contenido, y por lo tanto tienen como objetivo lograr un mejor cambio en el comportamiento de los alumnos
Voices of male and female authorship: legitimations and discourses in literature textbooks
Get PDFThe literature textbook contains a range of voices (e.g. the textbook writer, the authors, experts etc.) who legitimize certain perspectives on the authorship (Dahl 2015). The aim of this paper is to discuss how voices are used and combined to legitimize female and male authorship in five literature textbooks for upper secondary schools in Sweden. The analysis is based on Theo van Leeuwen’s (2007) concept of legitimation, Bakhtin’s (1991) concept of voice and Norman Fairclough’s (1992) concept of intertextuality and interdiscursivity. Intertextuality focuses on how voices, i.e. explicit references, are used to authorize a specific perspective on the authorship. Interdiscursivity highlights texts as social practices constituted by combinations of voices, discourses and genres. My analysis of interdiscursivity examines how voices and discourses are articulated in the legitimation of the authorship and how it is realized linguistically. The result indicates differences in how male and female authorship are legitimized. Typical for the discourse of the male authorship is that the textbook writer’s voice interacts with the voices of the author and authorities in literature, shaping a homophonic discourse in which literary concepts and theory are predominant. The male authorship is legitimized as artistically significant in the history of literature. In comparison, the legitimization of the female authorship is characterized by a monophonic discourse with few references to authorities in literature. Interdiscursively, the voice of the textbook writer is more evaluative and authoritative, and the legitimations focus on the author’s social and empathetic ability. The result raises questions about the construction of male and female identities and didactic implications regarding language, identity and power in textbooks
An automatic image-based system for detecting wild and stocked fish
Get PDFFish stocking is the method of raising fish in a hatchery and releasing them into a river or lake to sustain or increase an existing population or to create a population. This has been practised in many countries, including Norway. Before the fish are released, the adipose fin is commonly removed in order to identify that it is a stocked fish. Cameras have been mounted in several Norwegian rivers in order to monitor fish populations. Classification of fish from these cameras is today a manual task carried out by people. In this paper we propose an automatic classification method to separate wild fish from stocked fish using machine learning. Experiments on an image set of trouts (Salmo Trutta) show a very high accuracy of the proposed method