A Phenomenographic Analysis of College Students’ Conceptions of and Approaches to Programming Learning: Insights From a Comparison of Computer Science and Non-Computer Science Contexts

Programming learning has become an essential literacy for computer science (CS) and non-CS students in the digital age. Researchers have addressed that students’ conceptions of learning influence their approaches to learning, and thus impact their learning outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to uncover students’ conceptions of programming learning (CoPL) and approaches to programming learning (APL), and analyzed the differences between CS and non-CS students. Phenomenographic analysis was adopted to analyze 31 college students (20 CS-related, and 11 not) from northern Taiwan. Results revealed six categories of CoPL hierarchically: 1. memorizing concepts, logic, and syntax, 2. computing and practicing programming writing, 3. expressing programmers’ ideas and relieving pressure, 4. applying and understanding, 5. increasing one’s knowledge and improving one’s competence, and 6. seeing in a new way. Four categories of APL were also found, namely: 1. copying from the textbook, teachers, or others, 2. rote memory, 3. multiple exploration attempts, and 4. online or offline community interactions. Furthermore, we found that most CS students held higher level CoPL (e.g., seeing in a new way) than non-CS students. However, compared with non-CS students, CS students adopted more surface approaches to learning programming, such as copying and rote memory. Implications are discussed.

The impact of writing on academic performance for medical students

Background Writing is a useful learning activity that promotes higher-order thinking, but there are limited studies that prove its effectiveness. In previous research, researchers tested the effect of summary writing on students’ comprehension and found no significant difference from that of re-studying texts. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to expand previous findings and investigate the effect of two types of writing tasks on medical students’ academic performance, specifically in the transfer of knowledge. Methods An experiment was conducted with 139 medical students from Seoul National University College of Medicine. They were randomly assigned to three study conditions: self-study (SS), expository writing (EW), and argumentative writing (AW) group. Each group studied the given material by the method they were assigned, and they were tested on their comprehension and transfer of knowledge using rote-memory type items and transfer type items respectively. Results The results showed that the two writing groups displayed better performance than the SS group in transfer type items, while there was no difference in scores between the EW and AW group. However, the three groups showed no significant difference in their scores for rote-memory type items. Also, there was a positive correlation between the writing scores and transfer type item scores in the AW group. Conclusions This study provides empirical evidence for writing to be adopted in medical education for greater educational benefits. Our findings indicate that writing can enhance learning and higher-order thinking, which are critical for medical students.

The Impact of Writing on Academic Performance for Medical Students

Background: Writing is a useful learning activity that promotes higher-order thinking, but there are limited studies that prove its effectiveness. In previous research, researchers tested the effect of summary writing on students’ comprehension and found no significant difference from that of re-studying texts. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to expand previous findings and investigate the effect of two types of writing tasks on medical students’ academic performance, specifically in the transfer of knowledge.Methods: An experiment was conducted with 139 medical students from Seoul National University College of Medicine. They were randomly assigned to three study conditions: self-study (SS), expository writing (EW), and argumentative writing (AW) group. Each group studied the given material by the method they were assigned, and they were tested on their comprehension and transfer of knowledge using rote-memory type items and transfer type items respectively.Results: The results showed that the two writing groups displayed better performance than the SS group in transfer type items, while there was no difference in scores between the EW and AW group. However, the three groups showed no significant difference in their scores for rote-memory type items. Also, there was a positive correlation between the writing scores and transfer type item scores in the AW group.Conclusions: This study provides empirical evidence for writing to be adopted in medical education for greater educational benefits. Our findings indicate that writing can enhance learning and higher-order thinking, which are critical for medical students.

UNDERSTANDING GRECO-ROMAN DERIVATIVES: AN IMPLICATION FOR LEARNING ANGLICIZED CONCEPTS

Education in its true sense is not synonymous with literacy as the latter is much associated with collecting the information and applying to proffer effective solutions to the myriad problems of the global society. The intricate nature of studying science in particular and humanities in general demand a lot of efforts from students ranging from conducting practical, field trips, excursions, recordings to comprehending the derivatives and technical sense of terms as applied in various fields of study, with special reference to the unique nature of the Greco-Roman words which usually subjected students to rote memory and shallow understanding of the contextual meanings contrary to what such terms convey. This gulf culminates in student’s acquisition of lower levels of learning and deprivation of a reflective level of thinking, which the contemporary society demands. In this paper, an effort has been channeled to exploring the root derivatives in several concepts and their technical meanings as applied in a few of the various disciplines of science and humanities to facilitate a better understanding of the principles of technical terms.

The Impact of Writing on Academic Performance for Medical Students

Background Since the 1970s, writing has been widely used in classroom settings. Writing enhances learning, but there are limited studies that prove its effectiveness, especially in the medical education setting. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate the effect of writing on medical students’ academic performance. Methods An experiment was conducted with 139 medical students from Seoul National University College of Medicine. They were randomly assigned to three different groups: self-study (SS), expository writing (EW), and argumentative writing (AW) group. Each group studied the given material by the method they were assigned, and they were tested on their understanding and transfer of knowledge. We also tested students’ higher-order thinking ability using Remote Association Test (RAT). Results The results showed that the writing groups displayed better performance than the SS group in transfer type items, while there was no difference in scores between the EW and AW group. The three groups did not show any difference in rote-memory type items, but RAT scores have a positive correlation with rote-memory scores. Conclusions This study provides empirical evidence for writing to be adopted in classrooms for greater educational benefits, especially in medical education. These findings indicate that writing can enhance learning and higher-order thinking, which are critical for medical students.

An exploratory study on the role of foreign language aptitudes in instructed pragmatics learning in L2 Chinese

This study investigated whether and how foreign language (FL) aptitudes interacted with different instructional conditions to affect pragmatic gains in L2 Chinese. Fifty American learners of Chinese were randomly assigned to an (explicit) input-based treatment group, an (explicit) output-based treatment group, and a control group. Following a metapragmatic session, the two treatment groups practiced target request-making forms through their respective computer programs, while the control group did not practice. Gains in pragmatic performance were measured by a listening judgment test and an oral production test at immediate and delayed posttests. The participants also completed three foreign language (FL) aptitude tests assessing rote memory, grammatical sensitivity, and working memory. The results revealed different patterns of correlation between FL aptitudes and pragmatic gains. The input group showed positive correlations between working memory and reductions in judgment response times at both immediate and delayed posttests. The output group showed a positive correlation between grammatical sensitivity and gains in production speech rates at immediate posttest; a negative correlation was also found between rote memory and reductions in production planning times made at immediate posttest.

Aptitude and pedagogical conditions in the early development of a nonprimary language

ABSTRACTThe article summarizes results from a study investigating the role of aptitude on initial learning of Latin morphosyntax. The study includes two different computerized conditions: with or without metalinguistic information, provided during input-based practice with right/wrong feedback. Four aptitude measures were included: linguistic analytic ability, rote memory, working memory, and phonological short-term memory. The results revealed that linguistic analytic ability gave learners an advantage under the metalinguistic information condition when processing sentences for meaning, although only working memory (and rote memory to a lesser extent) had a role in development of grammatical sensitivity to the form. In contrast, except rote memory in immediate aural interpretation, none of the aptitude measures predicted learning under the nonmetalinguistic information condition.

Test-Enhanced Learning: The Potential for Testing to Promote Greater Learning in Undergraduate Science Courses

Testing within the science classroom is commonly used for both formative and summative assessment purposes to let the student and the instructor gauge progress toward learning goals. Research within cognitive science suggests, however, that testing can also be a learning event. We present summaries of studies that suggest that repeated retrieval can enhance long-term learning in a laboratory setting; various testing formats can promote learning; feedback enhances the benefits of testing; testing can potentiate further study; and benefits of testing are not limited to rote memory. Most of these studies were performed in a laboratory environment, so we also present summaries of experiments suggesting that the benefits of testing can extend to the classroom. Finally, we suggest opportunities that these observations raise for the classroom and for further research.