scholarly journals Students’ Development of a Logarithm Function in Python Using Taylor Expansions: A Teaching Design Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odd Petter Sand ◽  
Elise Lockwood ◽  
Marcos D. Caballero ◽  
Knut Mørken

We present here the lessons learned by iteratively designing a tutorial for first-year university students using computer programming to work with mathematical models. Alternating between design and implementation, we used video-taped task interviews and classroom observations to ensure that the design promoted student understanding. The final version of the tutorial we present here has students make their own logarithm function from scratch, using Taylor polynomials. To ensure that the resulting function is accurate and reasonably fast, the students have to understand and apply concepts from both computing and mathematics. We identify four categories of such concepts and identify three design features that students attended to when demonstrating such understandings. Additionally, we describe seven important take-aways from a teaching design point of view that resulted from this iterative design process.

Author(s):  
Lyndia Stacey ◽  
Andre Unger ◽  
Marios Ioannidis ◽  
Steve Lambert

There is a need in engineering education toimprove the connection between design and engineeringscience. Students should be provided more opportunitiesto practice applying both science and design to a singleproblem in order to be better prepared for challengesthey will face when they enter the workforce. For thisreason, an instructor of a first year engineering sciencecourse was motivated to improve its connection to theCanadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)Attributes, specifically the Design attribute. The goal wasto revise the course such that the students would berequired to integrate quantitative methods that weretaught during the term through the means of design. Itwas decided that an effective pedagogical tool that couldaccomplish this was a case study, since it would providecomplexity and context using a real-world issue thatrelated to several course concepts. The methodology forcase development, implementation strategy, future steps,lessons learned, as well as the instructor’s observationswill be discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 608-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kay Duncan ◽  
Cynthia Anast Seguin

This case study of a first-year woman principal in a small, rural school district describes succession effects from the perspectives of the female principal, some faculty members, a parent, and another administrator in the district. Open-ended interviews with the participants revealed a number of conflicting perceptions. The new principal perceived that she was successful in bringing about changes in the school on behalf of children. However, most of the faculty members considered the principal to be unsuccessful because she did not value their expertise or listen to their point of view. Some members of the community and the school board adopted the teachers’ perceptions. In the middle of her second year, the principal was terminated. Implications drawn from this case study may be of value to school leaders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-509
Author(s):  
Sharon Chang

Abstract This qualitative case study explores how raciolinguistic ideology of Chinese heritage is collectively shaped in first-year non-heritage Mandarin classes in one US university, but individually told by two minoritized (ethnolinguistically marginalized) heritage learners and two non-heritage learners. Their experiences in learning Mandarin Chinese as a non-heritage language elucidate how Chinese language learners negotiate their ethnolinguistic identities in the transnational world. The stories of four Chinese language learners demonstrate how their raciolinguistic ideology is collectively shaped by a complex racialization process while negotiating their race, ethnicity, culture, language, and transnationality. The present study challenges the raciolinguistic ideologies of the institutionalized norms of defining heritage and non-heritage learners as learner-trait terms. Implications for researchers and practitioners of Language Learning Centers beyond US higher education are drawn.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Derar Eleyan ◽  
Muath Sabha ◽  
Amna Eleyan ◽  
Jaafar Abu Saa

This paper introduces a conceptual platform for bringing students and teachers together in a social media consortium. The results extracted from the questionnaire used in this paper exhibits that the majority of the students support and are eager to see this idea live and willing to play an active role and show full commitment. This consortium encompasses students and teachers from both school and university. This platform prepares the students, fosters and enables them to a smooth transition from school to university, as well as improving the students’ communication skills and academic performance by using mentoring, tutoring and coaching techniques. As a case study of social media, Facebook was used as a communication and interactive tool amongst group members. The theme behind this platform is to construct academic group from final year school students with first year university students to exchange experience and transfer knowledge. This group has school teachers as well as university teachers. Each group has a mentor, coach and tutor. Each of them will play a specific role throughout the group, which will be highlighted in this paper. The outcomes were useful and interesting for students, their parents and teachers involved. It was a great experiment and recommended to widen it to involve more students and teachers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Laura Costello

A Review of: Carrico, S.B., Cataldo, T.T., Botero, C., & Shelton, T. (2015). What cost and usage data reveals about e-book acquisitions: Ramifications for collection development. ALCTS, 59(3). Retrieved from https://journals.ala.org/lrts/article/view/5752/7199 Abstract Objective – To compare e-book cost-usage data across different acquisitions styles and disciplines. Design – Case study. Setting – A public research university serving an annual enrollment of over 49,000 students and employing more than 3,000 faculty members in the Southern United States. Subjects – Cost and usage data from 15,006 e-books acquired by the Library through packages, firm orders, and demand-driven acquisitions. Methods – Data was collected from publishers and vendors across the three acquisitions strategies. Usage, cost, and call number information was collected for the materials purchased via firm order or demand driven acquisitions and these were sorted into disciplines based on the call number assigned. Discipline, cost, and use were determined for each package collection as a whole because information on individual titles was not provided by the publishers. The authors then compared usage and cost across disciplines and acquisitions strategies. Main Results – Overall, e-books purchased in packages had a 50% use rate and an average cost per use of $3.39, e-books purchased through firm orders had a 52% use rate and an average cost per use of $22.21, and e-books purchased through demand driven acquisitions had an average cost per use of $8.88 and 13.9 average uses per title. Package purchasing was cost effective for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) materials and medicine (MED) materials. Demand driven acquisition was a particularly good strategy for humanities and social sciences (HSS) titles. Conclusion – There are differences between the acquisitions strategies and disciplines in cost and use. Firm orders had a higher cost per use than the other acquisitions strategies.


Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Petri Sormunen ◽  
Timo Kärki

Thermoplastic composites manufacturing could be a potential end-of-life option for separated construction and demolition waste. This study aims to find out how well the established ecodesign methodologies support the choice of recycled composite materials in new product design, and what challenges these materials offer to the designer. A product design case study was conducted by applying the ecodesign methodologies Environmental Quality Function Deployment and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, to identify the main promoting and demoting factors from the designer’s point of view. The rate of recycled material is the main promoting factor, but biodegradability, recyclability, and the mixing of materials are usually demoting the composite use. The use of multiple criteria analysis techniques can work in favor of the composite, as the mechanical and physical properties are taken into consideration. The paper discusses the potential challenges the designer faces when evaluating the feasibility of using recycled material composites. The design suggests that new uses for waste that previously went to landfill, such as mineral wool, can be found with composite solutions.


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