Supporting Learners Appropriation of a Web-Based Learning Curriculum
This article presents an approach and tools that can help learners appropriate a Web-based learning curriculum and become active participants in their learning. The approach is based on a detailed modeling of the curriculum and intends to equip the learners with different computer-based tools facilitating a multiple point of view perception of the curriculum, while promoting self evaluation and self regulation of the learners curriculum performance. The proposed architecture is generic and can
Using mobile technologies for multimedia tours in a traditional museum setting
Mobile technology was used to deliver learner-centred experiences to visitors at a geology museum without compromising the museums aesthetic appeal. Two Flash-based multimedia tours were developed for the Hypertag Magus Guide system and trialled with 25 visitors in November 2005. Trial participants found the system fun and easy to use, though they requested headphones in order to hear the audio clearly. Several suggestions were provided to improve the tours including creating stronger links b
Δραστηριότητες Μοντελοποίησης με χρήση Η/Υ στη Βθμια
Η εργασία αυτή επιχειρεί να αναδείξει την επιστημολογική αξία των μοντέλων, το
ρόλο των Η/Υ στη σύγχρονη επιστημονική μοντελοποίηση και τις δυνατότητες διδακτικής
αξιοποίησής τους. Σημειώνεται η έλλειψη σαφούς ανάδειξης της έννοιας του μοντέλου στη
διδασκαλία των θετικώ
When less is sometimes more: Optimal learning conditions are required for schema acquisition from mu
While it is usually claimed that multiple examples for the illustration of problem categories are a necessary prerequisite for schema acquisition, there is a lack of conclusive empirical evidence supporting this claim. Moreover, there are findings indicating that carefully designed one-example conditions may allow for profitable processes of example comparison as well. In line with this reasoning, we present an experiment that builds up on a series of studies conducted by Quilici and Mayer (1
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The latest Federal Funds for Research and Development publication was recently released from the National Science Foundation. The report presents data on federal funds for research and development by character of work, performer of research and development, geographic location, field of science for research, and more. The document is offered in both HTML and Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats.
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The Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California "is actively involved with all aspects of tsunami research; inundation field surveys, numerical and analytical modeling, and hazard assessment, mitigation and planning." The website supplies interactive maps and chilling images of the destruction caused by the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Visitors can find out the latest tsunami news and research. Students and educators can view animations of seismic activity, lan
Physics learning with a computer Algebra systems: Towards a learning environment that promotes enhan
To become proficient problem-solvers, physics students need to form a coherent and flexible understanding of problem situations they are confronted with. This is important both for solving problems and for interpreting solutions. Still, many students have only a limited representation of the problems they are working on. Therefore, we devised an instructional approach to promote students' understanding of these problems, and to support them in forming associations between problem features and so
Combining heuristics and formal methods in a tool for supporting simulation-based discovery learning
This paper describes the design of a tool to support learners in simulation-based discovery learning environments. The design redesigns and extents a previous tool to overcome issues that came up in a classroom learning setting. The tool focuses on supporting learners with experimentation to identify or test hypotheses. The aim is not only to support learning domain knowledge, but also learning discovery learning skills. For this purpose the tool uses heuristics and formal methods to assess the
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Dartmouth College's introductory chemistry course program has a Web site that is worth a look by students and professors of chemistry at other institutions. Visitors to the site can ignore the exam and grading sections and head straight to the Java applets. With these nine, nifty mini-tutorials, students can create a custom periodic table, play fill-in-the-blank periodic table puzzles, run virtual labs on anions and cations, construct a visible spectrum, practice least-squares regressions, and m
Designing integrative scripts
Scripts structure the collaborative learning process by constraining interactions, defining a sequence of activities and specifying individual roles. Scripts aim at increasing the probability that collaboration triggers knowledge generative interactions such as conflict resolution, explanation or mutual regulation. Integrative scripts are not bound to collaboration in small groups but include individual activities and class-wide activities. These pre- and poststructuring activities form the dida
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Southern Florida contains some of the most unique landscape and biology in the US. The US Geological Society and Southern Florida Information Access (SOFIA) maintains the South Florida Virtual Tour in hopes of sharing the beauty of the area and promoting its protection. Visitors can tour sixteen areas (e.g., the Everglades and the Florida Keys); view images (still and 360 degree), illustrations, and maps; and read simple but informative descriptions about the landscape and biota. The site is eas
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Eco-Index, a project of the Rainforest Alliance, is "a searchable almanac of current and past conservation projects in Mesoamerica, with project descriptions, goals, achievements, lessons learned, and more." With current, well-presented features covering a range of biodiversity conservation issues, Eco-Index offers an excellent way for conservation researchers and practitioners to keep abreast of activity in their field. Users are encouraged to add their own project descriptions to the Eco-Index
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From PBS-American Field Guide, this website offers seventh- through ninth-grade teachers a downloadable unit comprised of four activities exploring the ocean's intertidal zone. The unit encourages students to consider the lives of marine organisms in this dynamic oceanic zone. The brief activities include links to video segments about several different tide pools, and a beach habitat as well. The longest activity requires 45 minutes, while the rest can be done in 30 minutes or less. The concise
Supporting Effective and Useful Web-based Distance Learning
Learners interacting in a Web-based distance learning environment produce a variety of information elements during their participation; these information elements usually have a complex structure and semantics, which makes it rather difficult to find out the behavioral attitudes and profiles of the users involved. User modelling in on-line distance learning is an important research field focusing on two important aspects: describing and predicting students actions and intentions as well as ada
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This Topic in Depth explores the field of surface chemistry. First, the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry publicizes its members initiatives to "investigate the interaction of surfaces with fluids having molecular densities spanning the range from liquids to ultra-high vacuum" (1). Researchers can find out about upcoming meetings, awards, and membership opportunities. The second website presents Chalmers University of Technology's research activities in
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Long Ashton Research Station -- part of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK) -- will close in March 2003, but its online resource Plant-Hormones will continue to provide general information and references on gibberellins, auxins, cytokinins, and other hormone groups. Additionally, this Web site provides a link to a listserver for plant hormone scientists, a discussion forum "intended to promote communication between professionals in the plant hormone field." Plant-Horm
Toward Computer-Based Support of Meta-Cognitive Skills: a Computational Framework to Coach Self-Expl
We present a computational framework designed to improve learning from examples by supporting self-explanation ö the process of clarifying and making more complete to oneself the solution of an example. The framework is innovative in two ways. First, it represents the first attempt to provide computer support to example studying instead of problem solving. Second, it explicitly coaches a domain-general, meta-cognitive skill that many studies in cognitive science have shown to greatly improve le
Valdosta State University's Virtual Museum of Fossils
Valdosta State University's Virtual Museum of Fossils offers information on animals since the Precambrian era. The website offers two navigation options. In the Find an Animal section, users can view fossils by clicking on different areas of the geologic timescales for Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, Invertebrates, and Vertebrates. In the Choose a Time section, students can learn about the major characteristics of each era. For each period, this link also offers a map of the world, the characteristics
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GeoVRML is an official Working Group of the Web3D Consortium (http://www.web3d.org/) and its goal is to develop tools and recommended practice for using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to represent geographical data. The idea is that geo-referenced data (maps and 3-D terrain models) can be viewed over the web using a standard VRML plugin. GeoVRML Working Group has a mailing list where discussions and developments are posted. Specifications, source code, examples, tools and the accom
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
