Internet Scout Project
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the home of Project Links, an original site that combines the principles of mathematics with applied science and engineering topics. In most college curricula, math is a standalone subject, and students often find it difficult to relate what they learn to their other classes. Project Links offers a series of modules that introduce concepts like mechanical oscillations, electricity and magnetism, and system design. Each module starts with basic background infor
Internet Scout Project
A civil engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley is working on a novel way of maintaining a building's structural stability after an earthquake or terrorist bomb. The team of researchers working with the professor have designed and tested a system that uses cables for backup support in case main support beams failed. An overview of the system is provided in a February 20, 2003 news article.
Narrative Evolution: Learning from Students' Talk about Species Variation
Learners do not always enjoy productive interactions with Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments. Their attention can be distracted away from the educational focus intended by designers and teachers through poor design and operational inadequacy. In this paper we describe a study of groups of learners using a multimedia CD-ROM research tool called Galapagos. This tool was developed to enable us to observe groups of learners interacting with different versions of the same multimedia content
Brain: Our Sense of Self
Helps middle school students understand basic scientific principles related to the brain and nervous system. Five lessons examine the structure and specialized regions of the brain, its diverse functions, how the body receives and delivers information through the nervous system, factors that affect learning, and our sense of self. Interactive web activities are included.
An Intelligent SQL Tutor on the Web
The paper presents SQLT-Web, a Web-enabled intelligent tutoring system for the SQL database language. SQLT-Web is a Web-enabled version of an earlier, standalone ITS. In this paper we describe how the components of the standalone system were reused to develop the Web-enabled system. The system observes students' actions and adapts to their knowledge and learning abilities. We describe the system's architecture in comparison to the architectures of other existing Web-enabled tutors. All tutoring
Adaptive and Intelligent Web-based Educational Systems
daptive and intelligent Web-based educational systems (AIWBES) provide an alternative to the traditional “just-put-it-on-the-Web” approach in the development of Web-based educational courseware (Brusilovsky & Miller, 2001). AIWBES attempt to be more adaptive by building a model of the goals, preferences and knowledge of each individual student and using this model throughout the interaction with the student in order to adapt to the needs of that student. They also attempt to be more intelligen
Looking Ahead to Select Tutorial Actions: A Decision-Theoretic Approach
We propose and evaluate a decision-theoretic approach for selecting tutorial actions by looking ahead to anticipate their effects on the student and other aspects of the tutorial state. The approach uses a dynamic decision network to consider the tutor’s uncertain beliefs and objectives in adapting to and managing the changing tutorial state. Prototype action selection engines for diverse domains – calculus and elementary reading – illustrate the approach. These applications employ a rich mod
The Logic-ITA in the classroom: a medium scale experiment
This paper presents the experiment and consequent evaluation of introducing the Logic-ITA in a second year tertiary undergraduate class. The Logic-ITA is a web-based Intelligent Teaching Assistant system, aimed at alleviating some of the problems caused by large classes or distance learning. Its domain of application is the construction of formal proofs in logic. The system acts as an intermediary between teacher and students: on one hand, it provides students with an environment to practice for
Améliorer un dispositif pédagogique par l'intégration de nouveaux canaux de communication
LÂ’analyse des résultats de lÂ’expérimentation dÂ’un dispositif pédagogique instrumenté par les TIC pour un apprentissage de savoir faire par projets a mis en évidence des ruptures dans la communication. Ces ruptures sont liées à la difficulté dÂ’accès à Internet dans certaines situations (alternanceÂ…). Face à ce constat, nous avons décidé dÂ’introduire un nouveau canal de communication, a priori disponible en masse chez les étudiants : le téléphone mobile. Cette publication prÃ
Origins
Lets us look over the shoulders of scientists and glimpse the often-unseen moments of investigation. Take virtual field trips to eight observatories -- Arecibo, where astrobiologists search for signs of life beyond the solar system; Las Cuevas, a research station in Central America's largest remaining rainforest; and others. See interviews, photos, and broadcasts that explore the origins of matter, the universe, and life itself.
Microscope Imaging Station
This site shows what blood is, what happens when the immune system goes awry, what are stem cells are, and more. See videos exploring cell structure and function, cell development and motility, plankton, plants, and protozoa. Learn how the sea urchin helps us understand genes, reproduction, and cancer.
Cas d'utilisation d'ontologies hétérogènes dans les EIAH
La compréhension d'un texte documentaire par cent vingt élèves du CM2 (5e année primaire) a été évaluée dans quatre conditions expérimentales, en faisant varier d'une part le type de notes d'aide (notes explicitant la « base de texte » vs. notes aidant à construire le « modèle de situation »), d'autre part le support (présentation sur papier vs. présentation hypertextuelle sur ordinateur). La condition où des notes « modèle de situation » sont proposées sur écran d'ordinat
Scripting argumentative knowledge construction in computer-supported learning environments
Argumentative knowledge construction in computer-supported collaborative learning
environments is often weak. This experimental study analyzes two collaboration scripts, which should facilitate argumentative knowledge construction. One script aims to support the construction of argumentation sequences and the other script aims to support the argument construction. These scripts should facilitate the argumentative knowledge construction on both the micro- and macrostructure of argumentation durin
TALAT Lecture 3206: The Feeding of Castings
This lecture provides an introduction to the techniques used to compensate for the solidification shrinkage of castings. The students will be able to understand the basic principles of how to design a feeder system to produce a shrinkage-free casting. Basic knowledge of castings production, basic physics and metallurgy background is assumed.
The evolution of research on collaborative learning
For many years, theories of collaborative learning tended to focus on how individuals function in a group. More recently, the focus has shifted so that the group itself has become the unit of analysis. In terms of empirical research, the initial goal was to establish whether and under what circumstances collaborative learning was more effective than learning alone. Researchers controlled several independent variables (size of the group, composition of the group, nature of the task, communication
Functioning in the Wireless Classroom
Code It! fosters mathematics learning environments where pre-algebra students use handheld technologies to explore and learn about functions. The resources developed - server-based and handheld software and paper-based student and teacher texts - were packaged as a 20-session unit on code making and breaking and designed to boost students' understanding of functions and their facility with the multiple representations of tables, graphs and symbols. We field tested the wireless system with two te
CML - The ClassSync Modeling Language.
The ClassSync Modeling Language (CML) addresses the problem of creating a controlling overlay to classroom learning activities, or e-leaming workflows. Our aim is to allow authors and teachers to generate a mapping from activity design to its implementation in a wirelessly networked classroom with ubiquitous use of handheld computers for information exchange. CML models e-learning workflows with three major components: actors, data objects, and interaction networks. Actors are the diverse perfon
The greenhouse effect visualizer: a tool for the science classroom
The Greenhouse Effect Visualizer (GEV) is designed to help students visualize data sets related to the earth's energy balance. This work was inspired by the benefits scientific visualization have provided to scientists in discovering patterns and presenting the results of their work to broad communities. The hope is that scientific visualization can provide equal assistance to students trying to learn science. The philosophy underlying this approach links learning with practice. Hence, students
‘Hole-In-The-Wall’ Computer Kiosks Foster Mathematics Achievement - A comparative study
Earlier work at unsupervised playground computer kiosks in rural India, popularly called 'hole-in-the-wall', showed that children exposed to these kiosks learn to use computers on their own and that they are able to clear school examinations in computer science, without any classroom teaching for it. Extending this, our recent research work examines the possible impact on attainments in other curricular subjects, arising from self-directed use of these kiosks. This paper investigates the impact
Medical Response to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Mustard Gas
This presentation discusses exposure to vesicant vapors, such as the chemical mustard, mechanisms of action, disease manifestations, how to diagnose and treat exposure. This Web-based course combines Medantic Technology's didactic presentations and Medulator virtual patient cases delivered via a custom learning management system. Originally published for Medantic Technology by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, the course was co-developed with subject matter expertise provided by the Uniformed Serv
