An MRI Study on Effects of Math Education on Brain Development Using Multi-Instance Contrastive Learning

This paper explores whether mathematical education has effects on brain development from the perspective of brain MRIs. While biochemical changes in the left middle front gyrus region of the brain have been investigated, we proposed to classify students by using MRIs from the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) region that was left untouched in the previous study. On the cropped IPS regions, the proposed model developed popular contrastive learning (CL) to solve the problem of multi-instance representation learning. The resulted data representations were then fed into a linear neural network to identify whether students were in the math group or the non-math group. Experiments were conducted on 123 adolescent students, including 72 math students and 51 non-math students. The proposed model achieved an accuracy of 90.24 % for student classification, gaining more than 5% improvements compared to the classical CL frame. Our study provides not only a multi-instance extension to CL and but also an MRI insight into the impact of mathematical studying on brain development.

Assessing Entrepreneurial Types and Goals With Diverse Student Groups

Students should clearly understand that different types of entrepreneurship exist. It is effective to connect the diversity of entrepreneurial form with students from a multidisciplinary scope of knowledge in the form of engaged learning. This learning innovation exercise helps diverse student bodies such as science, technology, engineering, arts, and math students (STEAM), to apply their knowledge of entrepreneurship basics and each entrepreneurship type and to be prepared to verbally defend their decisions in the presence of other future entrepreneurs. Although this exercise follows Steve Blank’s categorization of entrepreneurship types (i.e., small business entrepreneurship, scalable startup entrepreneurship, large company entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship), educators adopting this exercise can readily replace or add other entrepreneurship types that are more relevant to a specific course or that (s)he wishes for students to more fully understand. This learning innovation is intended for implementation at the undergraduate level in medium sized introduction to entrepreneurship courses that includes students from STEAM. Students will gain experience in analyzing and problem solving related to the different types of entrepreneurship. Students will also be provided the space for group discussion and personal decision making thus fostering the development of crucial entrepreneurial skills necessary after graduation.

Same-age Tutoring in Maths using ICT: From Computational Math Students to Chemistry Students

En este trabajo exponemos un proyecto educativo basado en la tutorización por pares entre estudiantado de la misma edad (same-age tutoring) que cursan la asignatura de Matemáticas I pero en dos grados diferentes como son el grado en Matemática Compu- tacional y el grado en Química. Los contenidos de la asignatura son los mismos en los dos grados pero tanto el estudiantado como los propios grados tienen características completamente distintas. Por tanto, el estudiantado del grado en Matemática Computacional ejercerá de estudiantado tutor y el del grado en Química de estudiantado tutorizado. En las sesiones de tutorización utilizamos el aprendizaje semipresencial (blended learning) y se introducen las herramientas TIC en un doble sentido; con el fin de gestionar la comunicación, distribuir materiales docentes y realizar trabajo cooperativo, y con el objetivo de introducir un programa de cálculo simbólico que ayude a la comprensión de conceptos matem ́aticos abstractos.

ANALISIS KETERAMPILAN GEOMETRI SISWA DALAM MENYELESAIKAN MASALAH TRANSFORMASI DAN KESEBANGUNAN GEOMETRI RUMAH ADAT OSING

This research aims to determine the geometry ability of class XI students in solving transformation problems and geometric building problems of the Osingese traditional house. The subjects of this study were 6 students of class XI MIPA 4 SMAN 1 Tegaldlimo. Students are given questions of geometric transformation skills and geometric building problems tests, followed by interviews. This type of research is a qualitative descriptive study. The results obtained in the transformation of skills are students with high math scores first have all skills, students with low math scores first have all skills except applied skills, students with medium mathematics scores first only have drawing skills and applied skills, and students with moderate math scores second and second low math score students only have drawing skills. As for geometric building problem skills, almost all students have all skills. The second moderate math score students and first low math students had all skills except, applied skills.

The Responses of Mathematics Pre-Service Teachers Toward Online Lectures in the Covid-19 Era

Covid-19 pandemic had affected in paradigm changing of learning from face-to-face to online learning. It was not easily adapted by educators or students. This study aims to assessed responses from mathematics pre-service teachers about online lectures during the covid 19 outbreak. The research was a descriptive survey design that was conducted on 75 selected semester II-VI of math students in IAIN Kendari. Responses were obtained by questionnaires and interviews that further were collected, sorted, and categorized base on an online lecture platform. Our finding reveals that WhatsApp becomes the most entry and frequently platform that used in lectures (65.3%), followed by Google Classroom (18.7%), YouTube (2.7%), e-mail (2.7%), Facebook (1.3%), and a combination of several media (9.3%), while Zoom in the least preferred. The obstacles faced by students during online learning were poor internet connection, internet quota requirements, and limited online lecturing equipment. However, the possibility to study anywhere (home, garden, beach, etc.) and flexible learning time is the ease gained by the students in these methods. Meanwhile, in terms of effectiveness, we found some different responses including very effective (1.3%), effective (12%), less effective (78.7%), ineffective (2.7%), and very ineffective (5.3%). Generally, most mathematics students (60%) responded they want to meet face to face, and only 2.7% of them want online learning, and (37.3%) want blended learning. Based on these results, blended learning could be a choice in the lecture by more attractive online media. Abstrak. Pandemi covid-19 berdampak pada perubahan paradigma belajar dari tatap muka menjadi pembelajaran online. Hal ini tidak mudah diadaptasi oleh pendidik maupun peserta didik. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memperoleh tanggapan calon guru matematika tentang perkuliahan online di era pandemi covid-19. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian survey deskriptif dengan sampel dipilih secara purposive sebanyak 75 mahasiswa tadris matematika IAIN Kendari semester II-VI. Data diperoleh dengan menggunakan angket dan wawancara. Analisis data dilakukan dengan cara mengumpulkan, mengurutkan, dan mengkategorisasi. Berdasarkan data tersebut diperoleh bahwa platform online yang sering digunakan dalam perkuliahan diera covid-19 adalah WhatsApp (65,3%), google clasroom (18,7%), YouTube (2,7%), e-mail (2,7%), facebook (1,3%), dan kombinasi beberapa media (9,3%), dengan WhatsApp sebagai media online yang paling disukai dan Zoom yang tidak disukai. Hambatan yang dihadapi mahasiswa selama pembelajaran online yaitu jaringan internet yang terbatas, membutuhkan quota internet yang banyak, dan perangkat perkuliahan online yang minim, sedangkan kemudahan yang diperoleh yaitu dapat belajar dimana saja (rumah, kebun, pantai, dll) serta waktu belajar yang tidak terbatas. Keefektifan perkuliahan online yaitu sangat efektif (1,3%), efektif (12%), kurang efektif (78,7%), tidak efektif (2,7%) dan sangat tidak efektif (5,3%). Secara umum, mahasiswa tadris matematika memberikan tanggapan bahwa ketika pandemi covid-19 berakhir (60%) mahasiswa menginginkan tatap muka, (2,7 %) menginginkan online, dan (37,3%) mengingikan blended learning. Berdasarkan hasil tersebut maka blended learning bisa menjadi alternatif pilihan dalam proses perkuliahan dengan mempergunakan media online yang lebih menarik.

Bringing Botany into Focus: Addressing Plant Blindness in Undergraduates Through an Immersive Botanical Experience

Undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math students (STEM) are usually not attuned to the intricacies of plant life histories or to the dynamic role plants play in ecosystems and human society, a phenomenon termed plant blindness. Botany education has declined in the past decades, whereas career paths that need and benefit from a workforce with botanical knowledge have increased. Consequently, there is a need to reduce plant blindness among undergraduate students, regardless of their career trajectories. We provide evidence that participation in a botanical experience as part of a general biology course can positively shift undergraduates’ perception of botany, the study of plants. Students participating in the botanical experience showed significant positive shifts in their ability to connect botany to their college major and future careers. In addition, we show qualitative data indicating a new respect for plants and a new appreciation for the diversity among plants.