Understanding the “Pathway” Towards a Searcher’s Learning Objective

Search systems are often used to support learning-oriented goals. This trend has given rise to the “search-as-learning” movement, which proposes that search systems should be designed to support learning. To this end, an important research question is: How does a searcher’s type of learning objective (LO) influence their trajectory (or pathway ) toward that objective? We report on a lab study (N = 36) in which participants gathered information to meet a specific type of LO. To characterize LOs and pathways , we leveraged Anderson and Krathwohl’s (A&K’s) taxonomy [ 3 ]. A&K’s taxonomy situates LOs at the intersection of two orthogonal dimensions: (1) cognitive process (CP) (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create) and (2) knowledge type (factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge). Participants completed learning-oriented search tasks that varied along three CPs (apply, evaluate, and create) and three knowledge types (factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge). A pathway is defined as a sequence of learning instances (e.g., subgoals) that were also each classified into cells from A&K’s taxonomy. Our study used a think-aloud protocol, and pathways were generated through a qualitative analysis of participants’ think-aloud comments and recorded screen activities. We investigate three research questions. First, in RQ1, we study the impact of the LO on pathway characteristics (e.g., pathway length). Second, in RQ2, we study the impact of the LO on the types of A&K cells traversed along the pathway. Third, in RQ3, we study common and uncommon transitions between A&K cells along pathways conditioned on the knowledge type of the objective. We discuss implications of our results for designing search systems to support learning.

Exploiting organisational vulnerabilities as dark knowledge: conceptual development from organisational fraud cases

Purpose This paper aims to assert that knowledge of organisational weaknesses, vulnerabilities and compromise points (here termed “dark knowledge”), is just as critical to organisational integrity and hence, must also be managed in a conventional knowledge management sense. However, such dark knowledge is typically difficult to identify and accordingly, few studies have attempted to conceptualise this view. Design/methodology/approach Using a background of fraud diamond theory, the authors examine this dark knowledge using a case study analysis of fraud at a large Asia-Pacific telecommunications provider. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the firm’s fraud unit. Findings The authors identify six components of dark knowledge, being artefactual knowledge, consequential knowledge, knowledge of opportunity, knowledge of experimentality, knowledge of identity and action and knowledge of alternativity. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to identify a knowledge type based on organisational compromises and vulnerabilities. The paper shows that accounts of organisational weakness can yet provide knowledge insights.

Sequential consumer choice as multi-cued retrieval

Fulfilling goals in open-ended tasks like grocery shopping requires sequential navigation of countless options. When deciding what to choose next, we propose that past choices cue retrieval of subsequent options from memory. Moreover, each past choice may function as a cue to multiple knowledge sources, such as episodic, semantic, and hierarchical relationships involving the item. We evaluate this account of open-ended sequential choice on the purchase sequences of over 100,000 online grocery shoppers. Consistent with our account, we find that consumer choices are predicted by their similarity with their previous choice, suggesting that past choices cue retrieval of subsequent options. Products that co-occurred in the same episode, were nearby in semantic space, or neighbours in a semantic hierarchy were most likely to be chosen, suggesting that consumers queried multiple types of long-term knowledge. We evaluated a wide array of formal models and found that the one that best accounted for people's choices included retrieval cues for all three knowledge types. Models fits to individuals allowed us to assess how much they relied upon each knowledge type. The type of knowledge that people most relied upon determined the type of errors they made; more episodic retrievals predicted fewer forgotten items and more semantic retrievals predicted more items being added to one's basket that they didn't otherwise need. Our results demonstrate how basic retrieval mechanisms shape sequential choices in real-world, goal-directed tasks.

Teacher Education: study on professional development in Productions published on the CAPES journals portal

This study aimed to identify and analyze scientific publications related to training that address professional development. It was based on the selection of articles from the CAPES Journal Portal database, in which 12 references were analyzed. Among the main authors that supported this work, choose: (Garcia, 1999), (André, 2017), (Alarcão, 2014), (Gatti & Barreto, 2009) who have a great contribution in research on teacher professional development. The methodology used, according to (Morosini & Fernandes, 2014), stands out as a review of the literature, of the state of knowledge type. The results show that it is necessary for the teacher to develop professionally, always renewing his knowledge, overcoming the difficulties present in the school context, introducing new instruments and mechanisms so that the classes have more meanings and senses and consequently a solidification in relation to the - students' learning, thus contributing to the existence of comprehensive training.

The effect of knowledge type and culture on arts audiences’ propensity for experience-sharing

PurposeThis study examines the effect of both objective knowledge (i.e., what arts audience members actually know about art) and subjective knowledge (i.e., what arts audiences members think they know about art) on their propensity for experience-sharing (i.e., the tendency to share art-related experiences with other individuals). In addition, the study examines the role of culture (i.e., whether arts audiences belong to an individualistic or collectivistic culture) on the above-mentioned relationship.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered through a field survey at a large contemporary art museum in Italy, conducted via a structured questionnaire and analyzed using multiple regression analysis.FindingsResults indicate that both subjective and objective knowledge positively affect arts audiences’ propensity for experience-sharing, such as talking to others about a visit to an art gallery. Moreover, such effects appear to vary depending on culture: objective knowledge seems to positively influence experience-sharing when audiences belong to collectivistic cultures, whereas subjective knowledge seems to positively influence experience-sharing when they belong to individualistic cultures.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings could motivate arts managers to emphasize the implementation of international communication strategies aimed at reinforcing arts audiences’ subjective and objective knowledge since these variables are positively associated with their propensity for experience-sharing with others.Originality/valueThis is the first study to assess the effects of objective and subjective knowledge, alongside the cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism, on arts audiences’ propensity for experience-sharing.

Aspectos da natureza da ciência nas pesquisas sobre controvérsias sociocientíficas

Resumo: A literatura aponta que as controvérsias sociocientíficas (CSC) podem ser utilizadas para facilitar a compreensão da natureza da ciência (NDC). Com base nesta premissa, o objetivo desta investigação é analisar se a NDC é contemplada e, quando presente, quais aspectos desta são mais abordados nas pesquisas que versam sobre as CSC. Para tal, realizou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa do tipo estado do conhecimento. Os dados foram constituídos no Catálogo de Teses e Dissertações da CAPES e interpretados por meio da Análise Textual Discursiva. Os resultados indicaram que a NDC é pouco contemplada em trabalhos sobre CSC. Entretanto, mesmo quando a NDC não faz parte do objetivo central das atividades envolvendo CSC, aspectos da ciência aparecem nas discussões, dentre eles, o mais comum é a influência de fatores externos na ciência. Tendo em vista estes resultados, argumentamos que o potencial das CSC para a compreensão da NDC precisa ser mais explorado.Palavras-chave: Questões Sociocientíficas; Epistemologia da Ciência; Educação Científica. Aspects of the nature of science in research on socioscientific issuesAbstract: The literature indicates that socioscientific issues (SSI) can facilitate the understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Based on that, the objective of this investigation is to analyze whether NOS is contemplated and, when present, which aspects of it are most addressed in the research that deals with SSI. For this end, a qualitative research of the state of knowledge type was carried out. The data was constituted in the CAPES Theses and Dissertations Catalog and interpreted through the Discursive Textual Analysis. The results indicated that the NOS is little considered in works on SSI. However, even when NOS is not part of the central objective of activities involving SSI, aspects of science appear in the discussions, among them, the most common is the influence of external factors in science. In view of these results, we argue that the potential of SSI for understanding NOS needs to be further explored.Keywords: Socioscientific Issues; Epistemology of Science; Science Education.

Computational Characterization of Activities and Learners in a Learning System

For a technology-based learning system to be able to personalize its learning process, it must characterize the learners. This can be achieved by storing information about them in a feature vector. The aim of this research is to propose such a system. In our proposal, the students are characterized based on their activity in the system, so learning activities also need to be characterized. The vectors are data structures formed by numerical or categorical variables such as learning style, cognitive level, knowledge type or the history of the learner’s actions in the system. The learner’s feature vector is updated considering the results and the time of the activities performed by the learner. A use case is also presented to illustrate how variables can be used to achieve different effects on the learning of individuals through the use of instructional strategies. The most valuable contribution of this proposal is the fact that students are characterized based on their activity in the system, instead of on self-reporting. Another important contribution is the practical nature of the vectors that will allow them to be computed by an artificial intelligence algorithm.

Understanding knowledge threatened by declining wild orchid populations in an urbanizing China (Sichuan)

SummaryWith rapid urbanization worldwide, most people now live in cities, but the effects of urbanization on knowledge about the natural environment is not well studied. Due to the importance of Cymbidium to Chinese traditional culture, we tested how urbanization influences the distribution of orchid knowledge across various knowledge domains at risk of loss due to declining orchid populations. Participants in the Cymbidium trade were interviewed in three distinct urbanization-level jurisdictions in Sichuan, China: Puge (low urbanization), Huili (moderate urbanization) and Chengdu (high urbanization). Using photographic cue-cards of nine Cymbidium taxa, we assessed aggregate and specific knowledge held by 91 orchid collectors/traders across the urbanization gradient. Contrary to expectations, we found that urbanization and orchid knowledge were positively related, but this varied by knowledge type, with moderate urbanization showing significantly higher knowledge in two domains. Our findings suggest that a generalizable understanding of how urbanization affects knowledge must account for differences in knowledge types and geographic/cultural scales, with implications for biocultural diversity conservation in an increasingly urban world.