Creating Microworlds for Exploring Mathematical Understandings in the Early Years of School

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Yelland
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Mathematical Activity ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Computer Microworld ◽  
High Level ◽  
Active Exploration ◽  
Computer Tasks

This article will describe the strategies and interactions of pairs of Year 2 children (average age 7 years 4 months) while they worked on novel tasks in a computer microworld embedded in a mathematics curriculum. The curriculum encouraged the active exploration of ideas in both on and off computer tasks, which complemented each other. Observations of the children supported the notion that the active construction of knowledge in a computer supported collaborative learning context, enabled the children to engage with powerful ideas and use metastrategic strategies. Further their spontaneous comments and persistence with tasks indicated a high level of interest and enthusiasm for these tasks in preference to those that traditionally characterize mathematical activity.

scholarly journals Pre-university informal engagement with mathematical activities and the decision to study mathematics at university

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 10-22
Author(s):  
Katie Steckles ◽  
Peter Rowlett ◽  
Angharad Ugonna
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Career Choice ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mathematical Activity ◽  
Online Videos ◽  
High Level ◽  
Watching Tv ◽  
Mathematical Activities

A survey was created to investigate the experiences of mathematics undergraduates with informal mathematical activity prior to starting university, and links these with the decision to study mathematics. A questionnaire was completed by a small sample of first-year undergraduates at two UK universities. Generally, incoming undergraduates are shown to have a high level of enjoyment of mathematics and engagement with informal mathematical activity. Popular activities included mathematical puzzles and games, and online videos about maths. Students were often engaged with family or via social media, playing computer, tablet or phone games, watching TV game shows with mathematical aspects and participating in organised competitions. Only around half engaged via talks or workshops organised through school and watching more structured documentaries or videos of lectures. Few participated in organised clubs. It seems there was greater engagement with ‘fun’ aspects of mathematics than with activities which demonstrate mathematics linked to career choice. The link to goals of outreach and similar initiatives is discussed, with further research indicated.

scholarly journals The State-of-the-Art of Collaborative Technologies for Initial Vocational Education: A Systematic Literature Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41
Author(s):  
Beat A. Schwendimann ◽  
Bram De Wever ◽  
Raija Hämäläinen ◽  
Alberto A. P. Cattaneo
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Education ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ◽  
Collaboration Skills ◽  
Vocational Learning

Future workplaces require collaboration skills in which members of different work communities use technologies to solve complex problems. Vocational education and training (VET) programs need to meet the challenge to prepare students to be part of a competent workforce. Particularly initial vocational education is under pressure to develop learners’ collaboration skills and abilities. To date, however, no attempt has been made to perform a comprehensive review of the use of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) technologies across different vocational education settings to account for contextual factors of VET. In this systematic review, 26 published studies were analyzed with respect to their demographics, research methodology, use of technology, and measured outcomes. This review illuminates that research on CSCL still leaves the vocational learning context as an under-represented field of study. At the same time, technologies offer a range of new types of learning possibilities for vocational education. As the direct result of that development, vocational education is increasingly taking place in new technology-enhanced learning settings. Education can benefit from the opportunities of CSCL technologies, but on the other hand, such technologies create new challenges for facilitating vocational learning. Therefore, this review also identifies three topic areas specific to vocational learning (collaborative writing-to-learn, simulations and game-like solutions, and tangible objects) and enumerates desirable lines for future research.

Symbolizing as a Constructive Activity in a Computer Microworld

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie P. Steffe ◽  
John Olive
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Activity ◽  
Constructivist Teaching ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
Computer Microworld ◽  
Mathematical Symbols ◽  
Teaching Episode ◽  
Numeral Systems ◽  
Mental Operations

In the design of computer microworlds as media for children's mathematical action, our basic and guiding principle was to create possible actions children could use to enact their mental operations. These possible actions open pathways for children's mathematical activity that coemerge in the activity. We illustrate this coemergence through a constructivist teaching episode with two children working with the computer microworld TIMA: Bars. During this episode, in which the children took turns to partition a bar into fourths and thirds recursively, the symbolic nature of their partitioning operations became apparent. The children developed their own drawings and numeral systems to further symbolize their symbolic mental operations. The symbolic nature of the children's partitioning operations was crucial in their establishment of more conventional mathematical symbols.

Distance Education Teaching Methods in Childcare Management

2011 ◽  
pp. 1168-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Wiesner-Steiner ◽  
Heike Wiesner ◽  
Petra Luck
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
New Media ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Cd Rom ◽  
Employment Sector ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Predominantly Female ◽  
High Level

The cultural and technical history of e-learning scenarios can be traced back to traditional forms of distance studies, CD-Rom learning programmes, audio-programmes or educational TV. But other than these forerunners, two closely related myths often shape policy towards ICT and education: the irresistible power of globalisation and the determining effect of technology. Both views present the success of e-learning throughout the education system as inevitable. The space left for practitioners in higher education is either to embrace the new media or to watch its inevitable unfolding. In this paper we take a critical stance towards that perspective and suggest that the shape and learning effect of new media in higher education is contested and evolves in communities of practice. No technologies are neutral and it is more appropriate to speak of economic, technological and societal features as interactively fostering the importance of e-learning through distributed actions (Rammert, 2002). From such a perspective, e-learning is perceived as a co-product of didactically and technically situated features (Wiesner-Steiner, Wiesner, & Schelhowe, 2006) that foster and enable but don`t determine human learning through the use of digital technologies. Main characteristics are: • Interactive and multimedial design of content • Learning via digital networks • Netbased communication The EU-Leonardo-project “European Enhancement of Early Years Management Skills—EEEYMS” (http://www. eeeyms.org/) was intended to enhance employability of people employed in the Early Years Childcare management sector by providing access to a high level qualification in line with the emerging industry requirements. This was achieved by developing distance learning materials available via the World Wide Web and other forms of media including CDRom` s, specific to the employment area which is also aligned to a degree pathway, and will be available within Europe. It was further achieved by the creation of a European network association for childcare to ensure sustainability after the project is complete. EEEYMS provides an accredited route for the attainment of a relevant degree level qualification for careers and managers within the childcare sector, and assist in attracting suitable people into this employment sector to meet the childcare demand over the next 10 years. With ODL materials, the project enhances employment opportunities and career status for a still predominantly female workforce. Research suggests that the increased status and professionalisation obtained through the availability of a high level qualification will make the industry more attractive to male employees. EEEYMS thus provided higher level qualification to people disadvantaged in the labour market and those who faced discrimination in accessing training due to disability, geographical location or family commitments. The use of ICT systems was thus thought to enhance knowledge and learning experience and the employability factors, as the knowledge will be directly transferable to the work environment.

Explaining the Politics of Security: Syrian Refugees in Turkey and Lebanon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sefa Secen
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Benign Neglect ◽  
The Media ◽  
High Level

Abstract Under what conditions do governments view and respond to the arrival of refugees primarily as a security threat? Comparatively analyzing the securitization of Syrian refugees in two host countries, Turkey and Lebanon, this paper proposes a domestic political context–based theory and typology of securitization. Based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the media data including mainstream national Turkish and Lebanese newspaper articles, this research first differentiates between different levels of securitization and finds that moderate securitization in Lebanon during the early years of the refugee crisis (2013–2014) coincided with an open border policy, inaction, legal ambiguity, and benign neglect. From 2015, a marked increase of securitization in Lebanon coincided with controlled borders, restrictive policies, and heightened tension. Securitization of Syrian refugees has followed a somewhat different trajectory in Turkey, where the state switched from non-recognition (2013–2014) to recognition (2014–2016) and then from recognition to integration (2016–present), while a decrease in securitization mapped onto this policy trajectory despite the opposition's and the public's increasing discontentment with the presence of refugees. Then, this paper argues that the low level of securitization in Turkey is an outcome of the incumbent party's Islamist political ideology that motivates transnational religious solidarity, whereas the high level of securitization in Lebanon is a consequence of elite divisions and the country's unique historical experiences with Palestinian refugees that engender competing security perspectives and agendas on Syrian refugees. Overall, this study demonstrates how contextual or domestic factors are key to explaining government attitudes toward refugee groups and contributes to our understanding of the sources and processes of securitization.

scholarly journals Capturing the dynamic and cyclical nature of regulation: Methodological Progress in understanding socially shared regulation in learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Järvelä ◽  
Hanna Järvenoja ◽  
Jonna Malmberg
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ◽  
In Situ Data ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Made In ◽  
Socially Shared Regulation

AbstractSelf-regulation is critical for successful learning, and socially shared regulation contributes to productive collaborative learning. The problem is that the psychological processes at the foundation of regulation are invisible and, thus, very challenging to understand, support, and influence. The aim of this paper is to review the progress in socially shared regulation research data collection methods for trying to understand the complex process of regulation in the social learning context, for example, collaborative learning and computer-supported collaborative learning. We highlight the importance of tracing the sequential and temporal characteristics of regulation in learning by focusing on data for individual- and group-level shared regulatory activities that use technological research tools and by gathering in-situ data about students’ challenges that provoke regulation of learning. We explain how we understand regulation in a social context, argue why methodological progress is needed, and review the progress made in researching regulation of learning.

Collaborative learning and the joint construction of knowledge and understanding

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Burkert
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Joint Construction ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Teaching Learning

AbstractThis article reports on a small-scale study conducted among first and second-year students of English at the University of Graz in the winter semester 2013–2014. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which students in their peer-group interactions were using language efficiently as a means of thinking and learning together. To this end, audio-recordings were made of pairs and groups of students working collaboratively on various tasks in three different English language classes. The article begins by briefly reviewing previous work on the joint construction of knowledge and understanding via learner-to-learner talk. Although this work pertains to collaborative learning in learners’ L1, the participants in the study, most of whom were future teachers of English, communicated in the target language at B2 level and thus seemed to constitute a group of learners to whom the literature equally applied. The next part of the article describes the teaching/learning context and the pedagogical approach followed, which is guided by the principles of learner autonomy. This is followed by an analysis of three transcripts of audio-recordings, and the article concludes by considering the implications for future practice of the insights gained.

scholarly journals Inclusão de Crianças com Paralisia Cerebral nos Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental / Inclusion of Children with Cerebral Palsy in the Early Years of Elementary School

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (58) ◽  
pp. 304-312
Author(s):  
Michele Vivia Da Silva Nascimento ◽  
Verônica Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Education Professionals ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Children With Cerebral Palsy

Resumo: Esse trabalho irá mencionar assuntos bastante relevante, e que faz parte do nosso dia a dia em quando profissional da educação, como também formadores de cidadãos, falar de inclusão não é fácil, e principalmente colocá-la em prática. Mas é de suma importância, pois a educação é um direito de todos, e dever do Estado assegurar esse direito as crianças, jovens e adolescentes. Incluir ou inserir crianças diagnosticadas com Paralisia Cerebral no ambiente educacional é uma tarefa, um pouco complicada, pois requer um olhar diferenciado. Com isso, a escola precisa da ajuda da família nesse processo, como também da contribuição da comunidade em geral, pra trazer essas crianças pra esse ambiente, e assim desperta o conhecimento e as habilidades delas em questão cognitivo, emocional e afetivo, como também, o social. A visão que esse trabalho trará em seus pontos fundamentais e essenciais, na construção do saber e do fazer, uma educação inclusiva e acessiva de todos para todos; cabe os órgãos garantir formações específicas aos profissionais de educação, como os de apoios de sala de aula, sendo que, essas formações têm que abordar temas ligados a realidade do aluno que foram diagnosticados com tal deficiência.Palavras-Chave: Inclusão, Habilidades, Família, Direitos Deficiência Paralisia Cerebral. Abstract: This work will mention very relevant issues, which are part of our daily lives as education professionals, as well as citizen educators, talking about inclusion is not easy, and especially putting it into practice. But it is of paramount importance, as education is a right for all, and the State’s duty to ensure this right for children, young people and adolescents. Including or inserting children diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy in the educational environment is a task, a little complicated, as it requires a different look. With this, the school needs the help of the family in this process, as well as the contribution of the community in general, to bring these children to this environment, and thus awaken their knowledge and skills in cognitive, emotional and affective matters, as well as, the social. The vision that this work will bring in its fundamental and essential points, in the construction of knowledge and action, na inclusive and accessible education from all to all; it is up to the bodies to guarantee specific training for education professionals, such as classroom support, and these trainings have to address issues related to the reality of the student who has been diagnosed with such a disability.Keywords: Inclusion, Skills, Family, Rights Disability Cerebral Palsy.

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