Article

Students' Interest in Their Misconceptions in First-Year Electrical Circuits and Mathematics Courses

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Abstract

Based on deployment throughout a term, this paper suggests the potential of a computerbased approach to promote learner awareness of their knowledge states. We consider in particular the extent to which students are interested in finding out about their misconceptions in the context of independent study. It was found that many first-year students held misconceptions in introductory electrical circuits and mathematics courses at some stage of their learning, and most viewed information about their misconceptions to assist them in identifying their problems. We suggest, therefore, that an approach of highlighting an individual's misconceptions can be found useful by students to help them recognise their knowledge, diffi culties and misconceptions to support selfassessment and facilitate their identifi cation of an appropriate focus of their efforts, to meet their learning needs.

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... Open learner models (OLM) -learner models that are visualised to the user in an understandable form -are increasingly used in Higher Education (e.g. Bull, Jackson and Lancaster (2010); Demmans Epp and McCalla (2011) ;Hsiao, Bakalov, Brusilovsky and Koenig-Ries (2011); Mitrovic and Martin (2007); Perez-Marin and Pascual-Nieto (2010)). The visualisations can take a variety of forms, e.g. ...
... The visualisations can take a variety of forms, e.g. skill meters (Bull, Jackson and Lancaster (2010), Mitrovic and Martin (2007)); concept maps (Mabbott and Bull (2006), Perez-Marin and Pascual-Nieto (2010)); hierarchical tree structures (Conejo, Trella, Cruces and Garcia (2011), Mabbott and Bull (2006)); treemap , Kump, Seifert, Beham, Lindstaedt and Ley, 2012). Aims of OLMs vary, but include promoting reflection by allowing learners to see representations of their knowledge or skills; facilitating planning; promoting collaboration; and helping teachers better understand student needs (Bull and Kay, 2007). ...
... When evidence is combined for different sources for the same grain (competency, activity, student are specified), this is done proportionally according to the volume of information associated with each source. The OLM draws evidence from a variety of sources: the 'usual' automated learner model data: an instance of OLMlets (Bull, Jackson and Lancaster, 2010) provides inferred data in some of the cases described in this paper; and manual input from teachers, students (self-assessments), and peers (peer assessments). Thus, the OLM is flexible in the data it comprises, and also in its use. ...
Article
This paper considers teacher adoption of an open learner model (OLM) constructed from automated and manual data. It shows OLM visualisations; how teachers, students and peers can provide data to an individual’s model; and an overview of how such manually-provided information is combined with automated data. Teacher experiences reveal the potential for OLMs of this type in classrooms, as well as some of the barriers to achieving this.
... Misconceptions in circuit analysis have been investigated by many researchers, and researchers have identified numerous issues: Conceptual [1] [2][3] [4], term confusion [5] [6], fundamental mathematical skills [7] [8], incomplete metaphor [9] [10], and diagnostics to identify such misconceptions [5] [11]. Further, researchers have investigated many aspects: Community college through research university levels, laboratory and lecture settings, and across different learning materials. ...
... For example, in physics, a misconception is related to charge as a property of matter. Specifically, some students thought that electrons carry positive charge [7] or that a voltage source provides charge [10]. To help decide which concept to focus on, we built a dependency graph, as shown in Figure 1. ...
... Physics * Charge as a property of matter : Electrons carry positive charge [7]; voltage source provides charge [10] * Conservation of charge : Charge is used up in a circuit [10]; current is used up in a circuit [23] [27]; voltage and current switch on and off, or positive and negative [9]; current and voltage are confused [26]; current/resistance are confused [26]; voltage is (or like) current that flows or moves [27]; voltage is measure of strength/ size/force of current [27]; voltage is pressure [27] * Incomplete metaphor : Current is like water that flows through a pipe [9][10] [27]; that metaphor yielded a particular misconception: current pools behind resistors [27] Math * Algebra manipulations : Incorrect solving of algebra equation [19][20] * Calculus manipulations : Believe sinusoidal means sine, calculating wrong cosine angles [7] Sequential reasoning Open and short circuits * Recognizing the effects of resistance [15][26] [28], voltage [24], and current [19] across open and closed circuits * Confusing open/closed as on/off [24] Kirchoff's circuit laws * Direction of mesh currents matter in mesh analysis [7] * Misapplication of Kirchoff's circuit laws [23] [29] AC circuits * Identifying what is alternating [9][17] * Interpreting characteristic phase behavior [9] Analysis of Methodologies [29], where students took a diagnostic exam, and then a few were selected to discuss their answers in depth. Bledsoe [27] only used interviews, asking students to solve circuits problems while explaining their reasoning. ...
... Teachers, therefore plays a critical role in not just restoring the already damaged, but also on putting some effective measures in place to eliminate misconceptions in children's learning 6 . When such inadequate and erroneous ideas are not properly attended in the early phase of the instruction, it may persistently settle in minds of the students during the entire course of their learning 11 . Thus, the most fundamental part in enhancing the capacity of children to learn is to assist them confront, restructure and redefine their preceding conceptions 11 . ...
... When such inadequate and erroneous ideas are not properly attended in the early phase of the instruction, it may persistently settle in minds of the students during the entire course of their learning 11 . Thus, the most fundamental part in enhancing the capacity of children to learn is to assist them confront, restructure and redefine their preceding conceptions 11 . ...
... Several studies have been conducted to investigate the prevalence of misconceptions regarding the simple electric circuits 5,10,11 . The most prominent misconceptions in understanding simple electric circuits were an assumption of a battery as a constant source of current 12 ; confusion of charge and energy 13 and closed circuit and electric current 14 . ...
Article
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The purpose of this study was to improve tenth grade students’ understanding of simple electric circuit using a learning cycle model. A research instrument that composed of fifteen-items multiple choice used by Wainwright (2007) to explore the persistent misconceptions of electricity was adapted for this study. Since improvement was at the heart of this study, an action research approach was employed for a period of over 8 weeks. Based on the idea of purposeful sampling (N=28), a multi-method approach such as observation techniques, questionnaire and focus group interview were used for the data collection. Using a data triangulation, the findings indicated that the students possessed limited conceptions of simple electric circuit. A majority of the students who revealed to have ‘no concept’ during the baseline data collection showed an astonishing shift to a category of having ‘full concept’ after the post-intervention of learning cycle model. A significant affirmative link between the observation and pattern of interview transcripts that were in support of the questionnaire data indicated the positive impact due to the learning cycle model in enhancing students’ understanding of simple electric circuit.
... We found 2 papers [18], [25] that utilized fading and feedback (FF) strategy. FF is an instructional program that systematically provides instruction to the students on how an engineering problem is solved. ...
... A proposition by Susan et.al. is to use a computer-based approach in promoting the learners' knowledge states, hence, the need for effective feedback. This approach is useful for students in their selfassessment processes when it comes to acknowledging their difficulties and misconceptions and what appropriate efforts to take to address these challenges [25]. ...
... These theories have been used in establishing instructional actions in accordance with how the engineering mind is constructed through active and experiential learning processes. These are the open-learner model [25], worked-example instruction [18], and variation theory. The relevance and significance of these guiding principles in teaching and learning circuit concepts using evidence-based approaches are briefly discussed in this section. ...
Conference Paper
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An educational strategy is evidence-based if objective evidence is used to inform the design of an academic program or guide the instructional practices. Studies show that the unsatisfactory performance of engineering graduates in competency-based examinations is due to a mismatch between teacher expectations and student learning. Since traditional lecturing is the most commonly used format for course delivery in electrical circuit courses, teaching and learning of abstract concepts such as electricity require the use of varied and efficient strategies aimed at encouraging students to engage with the material on a deeper level. In keeping with the need to actively engage the students while helping them understand electric circuits, instructors need to be creative and effective in their approach to teaching. The purpose of this systematic review is to survey and investigate the current research on evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) being done in teaching electrical circuits across undergraduate engineering education and science fields. We explore previous work on using EBIPs as an effective approach to teaching electrical circuits by trying to answer the questions "What evidence-based instructional practices have been reported to have the most impact on students' learning of circuit concepts? How are these practices implemented in engineering learning environments?" Also, common issues with the implementation of these strategies and continuous improvements were identified. Finally, a synthesis has been highlighted in this review that intends to provide a learner-centered, cognitive, flexible and varied approach to teaching electrical circuits with the use of existing instructional practices based on evidence of effective student learning.
... Aujourd'hui, il est largement accepté par le milieu enseignant que les étudiants arrivent en cours avec des préconceptions, que ce soit au niveau pré-universitaire ou universitaire, en particulier dans l'enseignement des sciences générales (Bull et al., 2010;Closset, 1992;Hammer, 1996;Michelet et al., 2007;Turgut et al., 2011). De nombreux auteurs définissent les préconceptions comme étant des structures cognitives stables pouvant initier des difficultés d'apprentissage et mettent en exergue la difficulté de leur traitement (Peşman, 2010;Hammer, 1996;Küçüközer et Kocakülah, 2007;Michelet et al., 2007;Turgut et al., 2011). ...
... De nombreux auteurs définissent les préconceptions comme étant des structures cognitives stables pouvant initier des difficultés d'apprentissage et mettent en exergue la difficulté de leur traitement (Peşman, 2010;Hammer, 1996;Küçüközer et Kocakülah, 2007;Michelet et al., 2007;Turgut et al., 2011). De plus, la persistance de ces préconceptions peut constituer un handicap significatif lors d'apprentissages futurs de théories nouvelles (Bull et al., 2010). ...
... État de l'art, identification et diagnostic Nous avons établi une liste de préconceptions en électricité et de leurs origines sur base des travaux d'auteurs ayant analysé le phénomène (Bagheri-Crosson et Venturini, 2006;Bull et al., 2010;Chang et al., 1998;Demirci et Çirkinoglu, 2004;Michelet et al., 2007;Andre et Ding, 1991;Turgut et al., 2011). Nous vous exposerons le fruit de ces recherches. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Cette communication traite des préconceptions présentes dans la structure cognitive d'étudiants universitaires dans le domaine des sciences, en particulier en théorie des circuits électriques. Une phase de diagnostic, via l'analyse de près de 800 copies d'examens, a révélé que nos étudiants sont sujets à des préconceptions rarement évoquées dans la littérature, ce qui nous a mené à caractériser des préconceptions d'un nouveau genre : les « préconceptions méthodologiques ». Ensuite, l'élaboration d'un modèle décrivant les préconceptions en termes de domaines de validité des objets cognitifs nous a dotés d'un formalisme approprié pour développer une stratégie d'apprentissage favorisant, par rupture cognitive, le dépassement de ces préconceptions de manière efficace. La phase d'expérimentation a consisté en l'implémentation de cette stratégie par la création de nouveaux matériels didactiques à destination d'une moitié de notre population étudiante (groupe B) alors que la seconde moitié (groupe A) suivait les séances habituellement dispensées. Enfin, une évaluation par inférence statistique a révélé globalement un niveau de maîtrise et une atteinte des objectifs pédagogiques significativement plus élevés au sein du groupe B qu'au sein du groupe A.
... Another cluster of common difficulties reported in the literature focuses on students reasoning "sequentially," that is, reasoning as though the direction of current and order of elements matter for what happens in the circuit (e.g., whether or not the bulbs light, how bright the bulbs are, or whether there are changes in the current or voltage in the circuit) [18][19][20][21]27,[30][31][32][33][34]. For example, Shipstone [21,33,34] characterizes sequential reasoning in terms of a model in which "current, as it progresses around the circuit, is influenced by each element that it encounters in turn" [33], rather than by the arrangement of the circuit as a whole. ...
... These responses-particularly to the order-of-elements question-emphasize instances where students are explicitly not using sequential reasoning. Sequential reasoning-where students reason as though the direction of current and order of elements matter for what happens in the circuit-is another common misconception reported by the literature [18][19][20][21]27,[30][31][32][33][34]. Our findings add nuance to the corpus of literature, suggesting that in at least one context (e.g., the order-of-elements question), students frequently consider how the arrangement of the circuit affects variables like current, voltage, and resistance. ...
Article
Full-text available
Physics Education Research has a rich history of identifying common student ideas about specific physics topics. In the context of electric circuits, existing research on students’ ideas has primarily focused on misconceptions, misunderstandings, and difficulties. In this paper, we take a resource-oriented approach to identifying common student ideas about circuits by characterizing ideas we see as generative “seeds of science” that could form the basis of more sophisticated understandings. Based on our analysis of 1557 university physics student responses to five conceptual questions, we identify four common resources for understanding circuits. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
... Fréquemment au cours de sa carrière un enseignant sera confronté à des erreurs et difficultés récurrentes chez ses étudiants. Partant de l'hypothèse que les étudiants construisent leur apprentissage sur des notions et concepts intégrés au préalable, il est possible dans certains cas que ces derniers entrent en conflit avec l'acquisition de nouveaux savoirs (Bull et al., 2010) ce qui cause un sérieux obstacle à l'apprentissage. Ces notions antérieures peuvent se présenter sous la forme d'idées ou théories issues de l'expérience quotidienne, d'une compréhension partielle d'un cours ou d'une formation précédente. ...
... Ces notions antérieures peuvent se présenter sous la forme d'idées ou théories issues de l'expérience quotidienne, d'une compréhension partielle d'un cours ou d'une formation précédente. Ces connaissances antérieures à l'enseignement sont appelées des préconceptions (Bell, 1993 ;Bull, Jackson, & Lancaster, 2010 ;Clement, 1982 ;Hammer, 1996 ;Holton, 2006 ;Vosniadou, 2012). Malgré l'enseignement dispensé, ces erreurs persistent et empêchent les étudiants concernés de maîtriser la nouvelle matière. ...
Conference Paper
Preconceptions are the subject of much research both in the field of pedagogy and in didactic spheres. They present a significant obstacle to the acquisition of new knowledge in many disciplines. Our work has enabled us to propose a formalism redefining each knowledge to be taught in a couple of elements: a model and a domain of validity1 (or DoV). This formalism suggests specific strategies to overcome preconceptions. Here we intend to explore the potential implications of using our formalism of domain of validity by providing answers to three questions: How does this formalism change the teachers’ perception on the subject they teach? How does this formalism modify the exchange between the teacher and the learner about the subject being taught, when both are aware of this tool? How does this formalism modify the student's apprehension of a new subject, even if the teacher of this new subject is unaware of the notion of domain of validity?
... Il est fréquent qu'un enseignant rencontre des erreurs et difficultés récurrentes auprès de ses étudiants. Ces erreurs peuvent être expliquées si l'on considère qu'un étudiant construit son apprentissage en s'appuyant sur des concepts antérieurs que l'on appelle préconceptions (Bell, 1993;Bull, Jackson, & Lancaster, 2010;Clement, 1982;Hammer, 1996;Holton, 2006;Vosniadou, 2012). Celles-ci sont susceptibles d'entrer en conflit avec l'assimilation de nouveaux savoirs (Bull et al., 2010) et de conduire à des blocages. ...
... Ces erreurs peuvent être expliquées si l'on considère qu'un étudiant construit son apprentissage en s'appuyant sur des concepts antérieurs que l'on appelle préconceptions (Bell, 1993;Bull, Jackson, & Lancaster, 2010;Clement, 1982;Hammer, 1996;Holton, 2006;Vosniadou, 2012). Celles-ci sont susceptibles d'entrer en conflit avec l'assimilation de nouveaux savoirs (Bull et al., 2010) et de conduire à des blocages. Plusieurs courants de recherche ont émergé pour développer cette notion complexe (Clement, 1993;Hammer, 1996;Sommeillier, Quinlan, & Robert, 2019;Vosniadou, 2011Vosniadou, , 2012. ...
Conference Paper
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Les préconceptions ont été activement étudiées en tant qu’élément-clé des difficultés d’apprentissage. Elles ont été rapportées dans une large palette de disciplines, dont l’électricité. Nous investiguons ici l’application d’une formalisation particulière de ce phénomène à l’enseignement de la théorie des circuits en école d’ingénieurs. Notre démarche se caractérise par une modélisation des préconceptions combinant deux éléments : l’explicitation du domaine de validité et l’inclusion de préconceptions méthodologiques. Au départ d’erreurs constatées dans les réponses écrites des étudiants, nous montrons que l’application des deux éléments précédents conduit d’une part à une relecture non triviale de la séquence d’enseignement des différentes méthodes de résolution des circuits, et d’autre part à la possibilité de cartographier les préconceptions méthodologiques individuelles des étudiants pour tenter d’y remédier. Mots-clés : Préconception, domaine de validité, préconception méthodologique, électricité, théorie des circuits.
... Today, it is widely acknowledged in the literature that students come to courses with misconceptions at both pre-university and university level, in particular in physics education (Bull et al., 2010;Closset, 1992;Hammer, 1996;Michelet et al., 2007;Turgut et al., 2011). Many authors define misconceptions as stable cognitive structures leading to learning impediments for students, and point out the difficulty to efficiently deal with them in class (Hammer, 1996;Küçüközer & Kocakülah, 2007;Michelet et al., 2007;Peşman & Eryılmaz, 2010;Turgut et al., 2011). ...
... Our framework for misconception and its overcomingFigure 2. Assessment methodologyMETHODWe have established a list of misconceptions in electricity on the basis of many authors having analysed the phenomenon of misconception(Bagheri-Crosson & Venturini, 2006;Bull et al., 2010;Demirci & Çirkinoglu, 2004;Michelet et al., 2007; ...
Conference Paper
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This communication deals with misconceptions in the cognitive structure of 2nd-year engineering students at university level, especially in Circuit Theory. An examination analysis of almost 800 students’ examination scripts confirmed that these students are prone to misconceptions. Moreover, it revealed the latter are rarely, if ever, addressed by the literature: students also seem to experience a lack of electrical circuit solving strategy, which we propose to express via “methodological misconceptions”. This diagnostic phase allowed us to develop a framework describing the misconceptions in terms of “domain of validity”, and to formalize the cognitive rupture process via simple models and representations. According to this framework, a misconception is not due to the use of an intrinsically false knowledge, but to a mismatch between the model used to understand real phenomena or to solve a problem, and the domain of validity associated by the student to this model. Based on this framework, we improved our teaching strategy: to help a student overcoming a misconception, the teaching sequence must lead him to raise doubts as to the limits of validity he associates to a model. This cognitive conflict will help the student to shrink the domain of validity of his initial model, while searching for a new more powerful model. This “shrinking operation” appears in our framework as the very nature of the cognitive rupture. This strategy has been implemented in two alternative exercises sessions. To compare the teaching efficiency of these sessions with the reference ones, students were separated into two groups (each following one session type) and a pre-/post-test assessment procedure was adopted. According to the results obtained by inferential statistics, we recommend applying this misconception counter-attack strategy in other physics fields. Keywords: Misconception, Teaching strategy, Circuit Theory
... Opening up such an internal knowledge base of a system to the user is commonly referred to as an open learner model [11] or system transparency [58,59,61]. Open learner models often take the form of a series of skill meters [10,38,39,57] and have been shown to help students to better regulate their efforts [10] or to improve their problem selection [63]. Transparency about system states has further been demonstrated to enhance trust in the system as a whole by making its behavior more understandable [58,59,61] and, therefore, reducing uncertainty in the user. ...
... Opening up such an internal knowledge base of a system to the user is commonly referred to as an open learner model [11] or system transparency [58,59,61]. Open learner models often take the form of a series of skill meters [10,38,39,57] and have been shown to help students to better regulate their efforts [10] or to improve their problem selection [63]. Transparency about system states has further been demonstrated to enhance trust in the system as a whole by making its behavior more understandable [58,59,61] and, therefore, reducing uncertainty in the user. ...
Article
Social robots are increasingly applied to support children’s learning, but how a robot can foster (or may hinder) learning is still not fully clear. One technique used by teachers is scaffolding, temporarily assisting learners to achieve new skills or levels of understanding they would not reach on their own. We ask if and how a social robot can be utilized to scaffold second-language learning of children at kindergarten age (4--7 years). Specifically, we explore an adapt-and-explain scaffolding strategy in which a robot acts as a peer-like tutor who dynamically adapts its behavior or the learning tasks to the cognitive and affective state of the child, and provides verbal explanations of these adaptations. An evaluation study with 40 children shows that children benefit from the learning adaptation and that the explanations have a positive effect especially for slower learners. Further, in 76% of all cases the robot managed to “re-engage” children who started to disengage from the learning interaction, helping them to achieve an overall higher learning gain. These findings demonstrate that a social robot equipped with suitable scaffolding mechanisms can increase engagement and learning, especially when being adaptive to the individual behavior and states of a child learner.
... Several assessment instruments have been designed in the past to check student's understanding of basic concepts [7], [8]. Research suggests that students feel the need to have access to and feedback on any identified misconceptions early so that they can plan on making a move to correct them [9]. Bull et al. (2010) used a computer-based method called the open learner model as a means of highlighting first-year introductory electrical circuits students' interest in acknowledging their misconceptions as a first move towards dealing with their difficulties in learning as opposed to just receiving general feedback. ...
... Research suggests that students feel the need to have access to and feedback on any identified misconceptions early so that they can plan on making a move to correct them [9]. Bull et al. (2010) used a computer-based method called the open learner model as a means of highlighting first-year introductory electrical circuits students' interest in acknowledging their misconceptions as a first move towards dealing with their difficulties in learning as opposed to just receiving general feedback. The early detection of errors in knowledge among students allows the instructors to be dynamic and proactive in strategizing instruction [10], [11]. ...
Conference Paper
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There has been a need to innovate instructors' ways of capturing and assessing student learning in order to align their teaching strategies with the learners' current understanding. The early detection of errors in knowledge among students allows the instructors to be dynamic and proactive in strategizing instruction. However, instructors presume that their own mental models are error-free. These presumptions need systematic validation to ensure that misconceptions do not propagate from learner to learner and to provide mutual benefit to both instructors and students as main participants of the learning process. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine prior and current knowledge in basic electric circuit concepts and to investigate the potential existence of shared misconceptions among teaching faculty and students. A 20-item concept inventory was designed and used in this study to methodically identify errors in fundamental electric circuit concepts as a means to inform instruction. This study addresses the following questions, "What misconceptions in fundamental electric circuits are potentially present in both instructors and students? How are these potential misconceptions shared between instructors and students?" The concept test that we developed was administered via Qualtrics, and semi-structured interviews were conducted among instructor and undergraduate student participants in electrical and electronics engineering departments. This study used thematic and comparative analyses to explain intersections and differences in responses among instructors and students through the concept instrument used. Results highlight how misconceptions associated with basic electric circuit concepts described in previous literature are manifested in the thought processes of instructors and students, such as the operation of a first-order circuit involving time constant, capacitor and inductor operations, and individual behaviors of electric devices in an AC circuit in steady-state conditions. This work has implications for educators, curriculum designers, and researchers who seek to improve student learning of difficult engineering concepts. The outcomes of this study will provide the opportunity for research to interrogate why these misconceptions continue to exist and how we can use instructional practices and curriculum design methodologies to uncover and repair these misconceptions.
... Roll suggests that an OLM is one method to prompt reflection to support co-regulation between the system and a user [42]. An OLM frequently takes the form of a series of skill meters [6,32,34]. Previous studies suggest that an OLM can help students better allocate efforts [6] and improve problem selection [35]. Self-assessment is the ability for a learner to accurately assess their knowledge and skills in relation to their actual performance; this ability is very important in learning [52]. ...
... An OLM frequently takes the form of a series of skill meters [6,32,34]. Previous studies suggest that an OLM can help students better allocate efforts [6] and improve problem selection [35]. Self-assessment is the ability for a learner to accurately assess their knowledge and skills in relation to their actual performance; this ability is very important in learning [52]. ...
Article
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Robots are increasingly being used to provide motivating, engaging and personalised support to learners. These robotic tutors have been able to increase student learning gain by providing personalised hints or problem selection. However, they have never been used to assist children in developing self regulated learning (SRL) skills. SRL skills allow a learner to more effectively self-assess and guide their own learning; learners that engage these skills have been shown to perform better academically. This paper explores how personalised tutoring by a robot achieved using an open learner model (OLM) promotes SRL processes and how this can impact learning and SRL skills compared to personalised domain support alone. An OLM allows the learner to view the model that the system holds about them. We present a longer-term study where participants take part in a geography-based task on a touch screen with adaptive feedback provided by the robot. In addition to domain support the robotic tutor uses an OLM to prompt the learner to monitor their developing skills, set goals, and use appropriate tools. Results show that, when a robotic tutor personalises and adaptively scaffolds SRL behaviour based upon an OLM, greater indication of SRL behaviour can be observed over the control condition where the robotic tutor only provides domain support and not SRL scaffolding.
... One of the tools used in an ITS to support SRL is an OLM. An OLM frequently takes the form of a series of skill meters [4,25,28]. Previous studies suggest that an OLM can help students better allocate efforts [4] and improve problem selection [29]. OLM used as a basis for reflective selfassessment activities can increase learning outcomes [25,30]. ...
... An OLM frequently takes the form of a series of skill meters [4,25,28]. Previous studies suggest that an OLM can help students better allocate efforts [4] and improve problem selection [29]. OLM used as a basis for reflective selfassessment activities can increase learning outcomes [25,30]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Robots are increasingly being used to provide motivating, engaging and personalised support to learners. Robotic tutors have been able to increase student learning gain by providing personalised hints or problem selection. However, they have never been used to assist children in developing self regulated learning (SRL) skills. SRL skills allow a learner to more effectively self-assess and guide their own learning; learners that engage these skills have been shown to perform better academically. This paper explores how personalised tutoring by a robot achieved using an open learner model (OLM) promotes SRL processes and how this can impact learning. It presents a study where a robotic tutor supports reflection and SRL processes with an OLM. An OLM allows the learner to view the model that the system holds about them. In this study, participants take part in a geography-based task on a touch screen with different levels of adaptive feedback provided by the robot. The robotic tutor uses an OLM to prompt the learner to monitor their developing skills, set goals, and use appropriate tools. Results show that, when a robotic tutor personalises and adaptively scaffolds SRL behaviour based upon an OLM, greater indication of SRL behaviour and increased learning gain can be observed over control conditions where the robotic tutor does not provide SRL scaffolding. We also find that pressure and tension in the activity increases and perception of the robot is less favourable in conditions where the robotic tutor makes the learner aware that there are issues but does not provide specific help to address these issues.
... Our selection of the studied visual variables was based on the percentage of use of the variables reported to effectively communicate uncertainty from an analysis of 50 visualisations [2]. Also, we took into account the design of the visual variables that could fit in OLMlets' skill meters [6]. These skill meters use colours for each level of knowledge (green is known, red is misconception and grey is unknown concepts). ...
... This was a forcedchoice task so no equal judgments were allowed. Applying Thurstone's Paired Comparison Method [6], a 6x6 matrix was constructed by assigning a score for each prefered method from the paired comparison data to the top row associated for the prefered visual variable. Data was then divided by the number of responses (1005) and normalised using z-transform. ...
Conference Paper
User preferences for indicating uncertainty using specific visual variables have been explored outside of educational reporting. Exploring students’ preferred method to indicate uncertainty in open learner models can provide hints about which approaches students will use, so further design approaches can be considered. Participants were 67 students exploring 6 visual variables applied to a learner model visualisation (skill meter). Student preferences were ordered along a scale, which showed the size, numerosity, orientation and added marks visual variables were near one another in the learner’s preference space. Results of statistical analyses revealed differences in student preferences for some variables with opacity being the most preferred and arrangement the least preferred. This result provides initial guidelines for open learner model and learning dashboard designers to represent uncertainty information using students’ preferred method of visualisation.
... OLM is used to show students' knowledge level and misconception [3], [4]. It allows students to inspect their model thereby facilitating self-reflection [5], [6], improving students' involvement in their own learning process [7]- [9] and hence helping students to acquire meta-cognitive skills [6], [10]. ...
... Their format can be in a simple form, such as a skill meter, or in a more complex form, such as a hierarchical tree structure [8]. Skill meters are used to present a student's progress on domain concepts as in [13] and to show students' knowledge level and misconception on a topic as in [9] and [14]. Smiley faces are used to present students' knowledge level [15], to display the development of learning for a specific concept which is known as pedagogical target [16] and to show students' competencies [17]. ...
... Open LMs (OLM) give access to the LM in a human-understandable way, e.g. skill meters [3], [4], concept maps [5], [6] and, recently, treemaps [7], [8]. The OLM therefore not only allows personalisation, but also offers itself directly to users to prompt metacognition (e.g. ...
... (iii) While not negotiated, OLMlets [3] was used with Facebook for university users to discuss their LMs [25], indicating willingness to critically consider understanding in an open-ended way. This is crucial for model negotiation between humans. ...
Article
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Negotiated learner models can help improve the accuracy of a learner model as well as promote metacognition. This paper defines directions for negotiating learner models based on multiple data sources, as the range of technologies and interaction types increases.
... There are three main reasons for the focus to be put on this: 1) electricity is a central area of the curriculum in science at all educational levels, from primary to University education; 2) many electricity concepts, such as current, voltage, energy, or charge, are particularly problematic due to their high complexity and interdependency; and 3) interaction with electricity in our day-to-day life makes us have our own conceptions about it. Despite the work done in the identification of MCs in DC electricity, teachers and lecturers continue struggling in their practice and the research is on-going [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29]. Some researchers have developed interesting interventions in order to overcome MCs and improve students' conceptual learning [25], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32]. ...
Article
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italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution: This article presents significant contributions in the field of understanding and addressing misconceptions (MCs) related to Ohm’s law. First, it provides a comprehensive list and detailed description of 16 MCs commonly observed among students, and identifies and emphasizes 11 good practices that educators can adopt to effectively address these MCs to promote conceptual understanding. Second, this article offers two conceptual maps, serving as a valuable guide for practitioners. Lastly, this work presents an in-depth analysis of a flipped classroom intervention aimed at both overthrowing students’ MCs and promoting students’ metacognition. Background: A deep understanding of Ohm’s law holds immense importance for first-year engineering students because it serves as a fundamental principle in electrical engineering and forms the basis for analyzing and designing electrical circuits. Research Questions: Which MCs prevent students from understanding Ohm’s law? Which are their prevalence and persistence? Does the classroom dynamics proposed in this research improve the understanding of Ohm’s law? Does it transform the students’ previous conception? and Do students retain the new conception? Methodology: Two student groups from different degrees were selected as participants in the study. Both student groups were assessed using the conceptual Test DIRECT 1.0 as a pretest and DIRECT 1.2 as a post-test and delayed post-test. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out to determine significant differences in learning outcomes before and after instruction. This study also provides rich insights into the underlying MCs and the effectiveness of the instructional approach in addressing them. Findings: The research findings contribute to the existing knowledge by identifying a new MC, introducing new good practices, developing a new conceptual map for power, showcasing the effectiveness of a classroom intervention, and deepening the understanding of the relationship between test DIRECT 1.0 and 1.2 and MCs. These findings have implications for educational practices, curriculum development, and instructional approaches, ultimately aiming at improving students’ understanding of Ohm’s law and related electrical concepts.
... Student ideas about electric circuits are among the most well-documented of all introductory physics topics. Much of this literature focuses on students' (mis)understanding of current [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], citing in particular that students often treat the battery as a constant source of current [6,7,9,13,14,16], or seem to believe that current is used up as it moves through circuit elements [8,9,13,15,18]. 1 A subset of this literature on student ideas about circuits represents students as having a relatively coherent, incorrect model of simple circuits: "There is a source, called the battery, of some substance, called the current, which is consumed by the device (e.g., the lamp) in the circuit" [22]. A particularly well-cited example of this is Shipstone's cookie monster model, where current is represented by cookies that are eaten by circuit elements (Fig. 1). ...
Article
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Literature on student ideas about circuits largely focuses on misunderstandings and difficulties, with seminal papers framing student thinking as stable, difficult to change, and connected to incorrect ontological categorizations of current as a thing rather than a process. In this paper, we analyzed 417 student responses to a conceptual question about electric circuits using a lens consistent with resources theory. We found that though indicators of substance-based reasoning about current are common in student responses, this reasoning is not predictive of other difficulties reported in the literature, such as “current is consumed” or “the battery is a constant source of current.” We also found that students use substance-based reasoning in resourceful ways, suggesting that substance-based reasoning may in fact be a productive starting place for instruction on circuits. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
... These hands-on experiences can be embedded in the forms of virtual experimentations or simulations where the students can experiment with different conditions. Research suggests that undergraduate engineering students prefer virtual experimentation over real experimentation given that the risks associated with making a mistake are literally non-existent [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Based on the same reason, even the engineers in the industry perform simulations as the first step of their design process to avoid the risks of failures and associated costs of real experimentation [12]. ...
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Engineering requires solid mathematical knowledge in addition to hands-on experience. At the same time, finding the right balance between mathematics and applications is challenging. This paper presents the implementation of virtual and real experiments in three math-heavy engineering courses at the University of Southern Maine. These courses were Communications Engineering, Antennas, and Plasma Engineering. Furthermore, the virtual experiments implemented were MATLAB R2022b simulations, HFSS simulations, and videos. The real experimentation included antenna building, a software-defined radio project, a 3D printing project, and a case study analysis. These virtual and real experiments were distributed between the aforementioned three courses. Based on student feedback, having these virtual and real experiments aided their learning process and students enjoyed having hardware experiments embedded in a course.
... Besides the misconceptions above, question form can also contribute to the obstacles experienced by students in completing integer operations. Revealed that the expression of questions starting from an unknown such as was considered more difficult for students than changing the problem to [46]. As many as 85% of students who became respondents in the study could not translate the information in the questions to formulate arithmetic procedures from the problem [26]. ...
Conference Paper
This study identified learning obstacles faced by students when studying integers that were synthesized from the findings of empirical studies using a Systematical Literature Review (SLR). Literature criteria used are journal articles or conference proceedings indexed by Scopus and Google Scholar published in the last 20 years. A total of 24 articles qualified for inclusion. The analysis process is carried out by synthesizing the findings of the empirical study in order to identify the learning obstacles encountered by the students during the research. An integer is a significant element that needs to be prepared to establish a strong foundation for students' mastery of algebra. Based on the data analysis from the kinds of literature, students have difficulty interpreting negative numbers and conducting operations that involve negative numbers. Doing this research can support the development of learning on integer topic and become a starting point for a better curriculum design in the future.
... However, the context in which the concepts are situated within the engineering area of expertise is often varied in terms of how abstract or clear they are for students, posing another layer of difficulty for novice instructors [2]. As much as it is crucial to examine inaccuracies in students' understanding of these concepts and the need for them to pinpoint these early on in their study [3], [4], [5], it is also important for instructors that they develop an awareness of their own conceptual knowledge of the content. Thus, a systematic inquiry [1] into this issue is necessary to give instructors, especially beginners, the mechanism to reflect and improve on their teaching strategies [6], [7]. ...
Conference Paper
Concept assessment instruments utilized in electrical engineering education are primarily designed for students by teaching faculty or assessors of the course. Due to the need for identifying inaccurate understanding early at the introductory level, creating a concept inventory that assesses not just students for their knowledge in fundamental electric circuits but also helps novice teaching faculty identify potential inaccuracies in their assumed correct conceptual understanding. This adaptive mechanism is deemed useful for teaching fundamental concepts effectively. Forty-four undergraduate students and teaching faculty from four academic institutions participated in this study. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical approaches: item-wise difficulty and discriminatory analysis, inter-item correlations, internal consistency reliability using Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) metric, and exploratory factor analysis. Initial findings from the analysis suggested that the instrument attained acceptable validity, yet its reliability could be further improved. The only significant predictor of the scores was the type of participant (faculty or student). In due course, the outcomes of this study will identify which of the test items significantly contribute to achieving the learning of the instrument's electric circuit concept groups and which of the items need to be improved and supplemented. The set of statistical methods selected for this study offers promising means to enhance concept inventories and make them valid and usable for improving the teaching of fundamentals of electric circuits.
... During the past years diverse adaptation processes in the architecture of an LMS have being built in different levels so as to achieve adaptations to the contents, activities, competences, navigation, evaluation, and services (e.g., forums, chats, etc.) (Brusilovsky & Millán, 2007;S. Bull, Jackson, & Lancaster, 2010;Carmona, Castillo, & Millán, 2007;Fontenla, Caeiro, & Llamas, 2009;Gaudioso, 2002;Graf, 2007;Gutierrez et al., 2009;Laroussi, 2001;Virvou & Tsiriga, 2001). In this sense, it worth noting that the BCDS group 1 has been involved in several research works on these processes achieving satisfactory results and a high research experience (Bald ...
Thesis
During the past years, the adoption of Learning Management System (LMS) to support an e-learning process has been continuously growing. Hence, a potential need and meaningful factor to provide a personalized support, within the context of these systems, has been the identification of particular characteristics of students to provide adaptations of the system’s elements to the individual traits. One particular characteristic that has been little studied in a personalized e-learning process are the learning disabilities (LD) of students. Dyslexia is a common LD in Spanish-speaking university students, which is specifically referred to the manifestation of different difficulties in reading. Dyslexia requires special attention by higher educational institutions to detect, assess, and assist affected students during their learning process. Thereby, an open challenge has been identified from this implication: How to include Spanish-speaking university students with dyslexia and/or reading difficulties in an e-learning process? In this dissertation, an approach to include the characteristics of these affected students with dyslexia in the context of an LMS is proposed and developed. To achieve this, as first step, it was detected students with or without a previous diagnosis of dyslexia that still show reading difficulties, it was detected the compensatory strategies that they could use to learn, and it was assessed the cognitive processes that they may have altered. Therefore, it was analyzed, designed and developed methods and tools for the detection and assessments of these students. Moreover, a learner model made up of demographics, reading profile, learning styles, and cognitive traits was defined. As second step, in our research work was the essential support and assistance to these students in overcoming their difficulties. To do so, it was necessary to create awareness in these students of their reading difficulties, learning styles and cognitive deficits. This awareness promotes learning reflection by encouraging students to view and self-regulate their learning. Furthermore, it was necessary to provide specialized recommendations to support such self-regulation of the students. Thus, methods and tools that can be used to assist these students were analyzed and developed, as well as adaptation processes to deliver learning analytics and specialized recommendations were defined. As third step, it was necessary to construct mechanisms to integrate these tools in an LMS to assist affected students during an e-learning process. Thus, a familiar environment that supports detection, assessment and assistance of these students is provided. Finally, in this dissertation several case studies that evaluate the validity of the methods and tools proposed were implemented. Experiments with pilot groups of students to test the functionality and usability, jointly with larger groups of students to test the usefulness and validity of the tools were conducted. Descriptive analysis as well as reliability and correlation analysis were performed.
... Dapatan kajian lepas mendapati bahawa pelajar sering mengalami masalah salah konsep dalam memahami topik elektrik (Bull et al., 2010;Chia-Hsing, 2007;Gaigher, 2014;Küçüközer & Kocakülah, 2007). Walaupun konsep mengenai litar siri dan selari ini telah dipelajari pada peringkat rendah lagi, namun sehingga peringkat pengajian tinggi juga masih menjadi masalah kepada pelajar dalam memahami topik litar siri selari ini (Caillot, 1992). ...
Article
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Topik litar siri dan selari merupakan topik yang penting dalam pembelajaran elektrik dan elektronik. Namun, topik ini sering dianggap sukar oleh pelajar-pelajar. Antara faktornya ialah teknik pengajaran yang berpusatkan guru. Kajian ini bertujuan mengeksplorasikan topik-topik sukar yang dihadapi pelajar kolej komuniti berdasarkan persepsi pensyarah dan juga dapatan Ujian Kefahaman Elektrik (UKE). Kajian ini juga mengenalpasti tahap kefahaman pelajar dalam topik asas litar elektrik dan juga teknik pengajaran yang diamalkan oleh pensyarah kolej komuniti. Kajian ini melibatkan 4 orang pensyarah dan 30 pelajar tahun 1 Prinsip Elektrik (PE). Dapatan mendapati pelajar masih lemah dalam topik asas litar siri dan litar selari. Keseluruhan tahap pelajar dalam kefahaman elektrik juga berada di tahap sederhana. Berdasarkan teknik pengajaran pensyarah kolej komuniti yang menggunakan kaedah tradisional yang berpusatkan guru, kajian ini menyarankan kajian akan datang mahupun kolej komuniti sendiri membina satu alat bantu mengajar bagi menambahbaik proses pembelajaran sekaligus meningkatkan tahap kefahaman pelajar dalam topik asas elektrik
... A wide range of OLMs have been deployed in various contexts in the last decades as reported in the literature [8,11,12,15,17]; for instance, in [8] the student and the platform negotiate the system's representation of the learner, while in [17] the student can access his/her Bayesian learner model visualization; in the intelligent tutoring systems field, an OLM can enhance student's reflection [12]. The OLM entails many forms of representation such as skill meters [6] or pie charts [13]. ...
Chapter
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An open learner model uses system’s representation of the student to support learning and reveal progress. The model contains information regarding learner’s characteristics such as level of knowledge, interests, involvement and other relevant cognitive aspects. The current paper presents an example of incorporating an open learner model in a peer assessment platform, more specifically LearnEval, and applying it in the context of a project-based learning scenario in a Web Applications Design course. The student is modeled based on several traits such as competence, involvement and assessment abilities. Furthermore, an aggregated overall score offers a general overview of the student capabilities. To incorporate the open learner model, a Scores module was integrated into LearnEval, offering intuitive, friendly and effective visualizations of the scores and a breakdown of the metrics composing them in the form of progress bars, gauges, column bars, trophies and medals. We offer a description of the context where the open learner model was put in practice as well as an example of how a learner could utilize it. An opinion survey regarding the experience with the open learner model was applied to the students at the end of the semester. The findings are encouraging, as the learners found the module easy to use, helpful and comprehensive and they examined it relatively often.
... RME also presented various models that could be developed a stronger conceptual understanding. Bull et al. (2010) stated that the best effective to detect student misconception was through modeling. The model required them to translate from informal experience or knowledge to formal concept. ...
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A number of national and international scale surveys showed that the mathematics achievements of Indonesian secondary school students were in the lower level. One of the indicators of this low achievement was the insufficient level of understanding of mathematical concepts of the students. Understanding of mathematical concepts could be integrated through Realistic Mathematics Education (RME). Therefore, the quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of Realistic Mathematical Education towards the conceptual understanding of linear programming. The study also investigated the relationship between conceptual understanding and mathematics achievement and investigated the misconceptions on linear programming. This study involved 65 students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 1 Pekanbaru, Indonesia. Test conceptual understanding programming topics had Cronbach's alpha reliability of 0.80. The data were collected by using a test question conceptual understanding of linear programming. Quantitative data analysis involved a descriptive and inferential analysis using SPSS 21.0. The descriptive analysis included the percentage, mean and standard deviation while inferential analysis involving independent t-test and Pearson correlation analysis. The results revealed that there were significant differences between the treatment and control groups toward conceptual understanding. There was a significant relationship between conceptual understanding and mathematics achievement of linear programming. Misconception toward linear programming for the treatment group was lower than the control group. The implications of this study were useful for educators to help their students to understand concept of mathematics through open and contextual questions so that the students though through the mathematics, not worked in the mathematics.
... OLM tools have been shown to improve learner meta-cognitive activities, including self-assessment, self-regulation, self-reflection and help users to take greater control over the learning process [10]. It facilitates student self-reflection [11,12], improves student engagement in the learning process [13][14][15] as well as encourage collaborative learning [16,17] and hence helps students to acquire meta-cognitive skills [12,18]. ...
... Etkili bir matematik öğretiminde, sıklıkla kullanılması gereken biçimlendirici değerlendirme öğrencilerde var olan kavram yanılgılarının ortaya çıkarılmasını sağlamaktadır (McIntosh, 1997;Wiliam, 1999). Basit matematiksel kavram yanılgıları tespit edilerek giderilmediği takdirde daha sonraki kavramların öğrenilmesi sürecinde problemlere yol açmaktadır (Bull, Jackson ve Lancaster, 2010). ...
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The purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service mathematics teachers’ views about using Kahoot! and Plickers in formative evaluation in mathematics teaching. The qualitative study is conducted with 15 pre-service mathematics teachers. Implementations towards using Kahoot! and Plickers in formative evaluation in mathematics took four weeks in a computer assisted mathematics instruction course. At the end of the implementations, qualitative data were gathered with an open ended questionnaire. Content analysis was used in data analyses. The views of preservice mathematics teachers revealed that these software have many advantages in formative evaluation such as being practical in formative evaluation of mathematics teaching, facilitating the evaluation, providing detailed and instant data analysis and saving time. According to the participants these software applications help them to develop positive attitudes using technology in mathematics instruction and gamify both the teaching and learning processes and the evaluation. The participants stated that by using these software, the engagement and motivation of students were increased significantly. Besides using the software provided competence of technology integration in education. It was reported that Kahoot!’s requiring technology infrastructure is an important limitation. Consequently, it is suggested that these software should be handled practically in pre-service mathematics teacher education and in service training of mathematics teachers.
... OLMlets identifies students' weaknesses, strengths or misconceptions. The learner model in OLMlets [20] is constructed based on students' responses to multiple-choice questions using the last five questions attempted. Student knowledge can change over time due to learning a new concept, revising previously learnt concepts or simply forgetting an old concept. ...
Conference Paper
Self-assessment is widely used in open learner models (OLMs) as a metacognitive process to enhance students’ self-regulated learning. Yet little research has investigated the impact of the visualisation when the OLM shows the conflict (i.e., uncertainty) between the system’s beliefs about student knowledge and students’ confidence in the correctness of their answers. We deployed such an OLM and studied its use. The impact of the uncertainty visualisation on student learning, confidence gains and actions was determined by comparing these measures across two treatment conditions and a control condition. Those who accessed the OLM performed significantly better on the post-test, and those in the treatment group who could see both sets of beliefs separately showed greater confidence gains and used the system more.
... While some of these studies do include comparisons of engineering student performance to the reported results for introductory physics students, the causes for any differences (or even whether or not the differences were statistically significant) were not a focus of these works. The DIRECT has also been used as an assessment tool to measure the impact of novel teaching methods [58] and to test for differences in the prevalence of specific "misconceptions" among freshman, sophomore, and senior Electrical Engineering Tech (EET) students [59]. ...
Article
Instruction in analog electronics is an integral component of many physics and engineering programs, and is typically covered in courses beyond the first year. While extensive research has been conducted on student understanding of introductory electric circuits, to date there has been relatively little research on student learning of analog electronics in either physics or engineering courses. Given the significant overlap in content of courses offered in both disciplines, this study seeks to strengthen the research base on the learning and teaching of electric circuits and analog electronics via a single, coherent investigation spanning both physics and engineering courses. This dissertation has three distinct components, each of which serves to clarify ways in which students think about and analyze electronic circuits. The first component is a broad investigation of student learning of specific classes of analog circuits (e.g., loaded voltage dividers, diode circuits, and operational amplifier circuits) across courses in both physics and engineering. The second component of this dissertation is an in-depth study of student understanding of bipolar junction transistors and transistor circuits, which employed the systematic, research-based development of a suite of research tasks to pinpoint the specific aspects of transistor circuit behavior that students struggle with the most after instruction. The third component of this dissertation focuses more on the experimental components of electronics instruction by examining in detail the practical laboratory skill of troubleshooting. Due to the systematic, cross-disciplinary nature of the research documented in this dissertation, this work will strengthen the research base on the learning and teaching of electronics and will contribute to improvements in electronics instruction in both physics and engineering departments. In general, students did not appear to have developed a coherent, functional understanding of many key circuits after all instruction. Students also seemed to struggle with the application of foundational circuits concepts in new contexts, which is consistent with existing research on other topics. However, students did frequently use individual elements of productive reasoning when thinking about electric circuits. Recommendations, both general and specific, for future research and for electronics instruction are discussed.
... I n the e-learning process, the development of Learning Management Systems (LMS) has been increasing, improving and being applied to support traditional face-to-face and distance learning processes, mainly because they are spaces to provide tools that enable the participation and interaction between students and teachers (Graf, 2007;Vélez, 2009;Vilches, 2007), and also because they have capabilities to allow the implementation of adaptations in order to achieve the personalization of learning. More specifically, some LMS can incorporate different user models that can be processed and inferenced so as to deliver different educational information tailored to the students' needs (Brusilovsky & Millán, 2007;Bull, Jackson, & Lancaster, 2010;Carmona, Castillo, & Millán, 2007;Fontenla, Caeiro, & Llamas, 2009;Gaudioso, 2002;Graf, 2007;Gutierrez et al., 2009;Laroussi, 2001;Virvou & Tsiriga, 2001). ...
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Rev.esc.adm.neg Dyslexia is a common learning disability in Spanish-speaking university students, and requires special attention from higher educational institutions in order to support affected individuals during their learning process. In previous studies, a framework to detect, assess and assist university students with reading difficulties related to dyslexia was developed. In this paper, the integration of this framework with a Learning Management System (LMS) is presented. Two case studies were performed to test the functionality and the usability of this integration. The first case study was carried out with 20 students, while the second one with four teachers. The results show that both students and teachers were satisfied with the integration performed in Moodle.ce, among others.
... One key challenge is to create an effective interface to present the learner model and to support user interaction [11]. Many representations have been adopted and adapted from information visualisation system to present OLMs such as skill meter [12], pie chart [13], tables [14] and many more. There is no empirical study on how useful these visualisations from the user perspective and if there are any preferred visualisations for presenting a learner model. ...
Conference Paper
Many higher education institutions have reformed their academic programmes to adopt unit learning outcomes. It is essential for effective learning management tools to support this fundamental transformation. We see the need for a tool that provides visualisations of Open Learner Models (OLM) and associated e-portfolio content to guide students in achieving intended learning outcomes, help evidence their learning and keep them engaged in their study. OLMs surface the relationship between learning activities and tasks, formative and summative assessment, and intended learning outcomes. We have developed and validated a set of candidate visualisations for such OLMs. We report key findings from our study in terms of potential users' feedback on our tool's support for tracking learning progress against learning outcomes. Our findings can inform and refine learning management systems.
... RME also presented various models that could be developed a stronger conceptual understanding. Bull et al. (2010) stated that the best effective to detect student misconception was through modeling. The model required them to translate from informal experience or knowledge to formal concept. ...
Article
Selling products in kit form to consumers benefits both manufacturers and consumers - provided the instructions enable the customer to assemble the components correctly and safely. Poor usability of some self-assembly instructions is a continuing cause of consumer complaints- but the subject of only occasional ergonomics research interest. Relevant studies are widely dispersed across the literature - and across decades - but their findings generally agree on what makes some self-assembly illustrations more effective than others. This has just not been consolidated in any formally recognised guidance. This study has produced a comprehensive review of published work on the usability of self-assembly instructions (which need to convey most information pictorially) and makes detailed recommendations for best practice in their presentation. The evidence for the recommended best practices discussed in this paper will be reflected in the publication of an international standard that which is currently in the final drafting stages.
Conference Paper
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Les erreurs récurrentes observées chez les étudiants peuvent parfois, voire souvent, être expliquées en exploitant l’idée de préconception selon laquelle un étudiant construit son apprentissage en s’appuyant sur des concepts antérieurs. Les préconceptions, parce qu’elles sont susceptibles d’entrer en conflit avec l’assimilation de nouveaux savoirs, peuvent constituer des obstacles parfois sévères à l’apprentissage. Plusieurs courants de recherche ont émergé pour développer cette notion complexe. En tentant de décrypter les erreurs commises dans un cours d’électricité de BAC2 en sciences de l’ingénieur à l’École Polytechnique de Bruxelles, nous avons été amenés à proposer une modélisation particulière de ce phénomène.
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Un concept bien connu en didactique des sciences est celui de préconception. Fondé notamment par Piaget et Bachelard au début du XXe siècle, son essence est de considérer que l’élève n’arrive pas vierge dans une séquence d’apprentissage : ses connaissances préalables peuvent entrer en contradiction avec les connaissances à enseigner, jusqu’à constituer un obstacle résistant sévèrement à l’apprentissage. Un enseignement efficace demande donc de prendre en compte ces préconceptions. Ce concept a souvent été étudié et approfondi. L’efficacité de son exploitation en didactique des sciences a été démontrée à de multiples occasions. Or force est de constater que dans la pratique de la classe, en primaire ou en secondaire comme dans l’enseignement supérieur, ce concept reste largement sous-utilisé voire ignoré.
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Each teacher can experience it every day: students come to science courses with prior knowledge which can act both as building blocks and as obstacles for new learning. It is widely acknowledged that preconceptions are present at both pre-university and university level, in particular in general physics education. These preconceptions may constitute important obstacles to learning since, successfully used in past experiences and contexts, they are considered as a priori ’always true’ by their owners and are then really difficult to overcome. As engineering teachers at university level, our practices in electricity, electromagnetism and electronics have offered many opportunities (questions in class, lab sessions, exam marking, etc) to realise that our specific context was not immune to this phenomenon. Despite our intuitive efforts and questionings about our teaching approach and material, we have been each year facing repetitive unexpected ‘mistakes’ from students in the context of electricity courses dedicated to second-year engineering students at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Frustrated that we were not able to get the messages across effectively to students and motivated by the scarcity of published works in our specific niche, we decided to investigate areas in science education related to the teaching situations and issues we used to face. This thesis was the opportunity to explore the field (model-based learning, conceptual change, epistemological obstacle and pre/misconception) with the aim to improve our understanding, practices and teaching material. One intuitive ’to-be-tested’ idea acted as a starting point: switching the focus from the models themselves, i.e. the substances and subjects we use to learn and teach, to another central concept around which this whole piece of research is gravitating: what we call the domains of validity associated with those models, i.e. the range of situations in which they can be appropriately used and applied regarding the related context and desired outcomes. By embracing a two-component view of knowledge (considered as the association of a model and a DoV), we propose a new theoretical framework: the Domain of Validity Framework (or DoV framework). This framework explains the obstacle to learning as an overgeneralised DoV. It is specifically designed for developing teaching strategies and for use in the field, with the aim of helping teachers to trigger the overcoming of students’ preconceptions. The instructional techniques derived from this practice-oriented framework confront students with a paradoxical situation so that the student realises the limits of the original DoV and subsequently both searches for a new model and reduces the domain of validity of the original model. This instructional model also emphasises the importance of teaching not just models, but their domains of validity and, then, also means being explicit about the two components of knowledge. A series of studies integrated to a mixed methods research design has been built to assess the usefulness and effectiveness of our ideas and new framework to help teachers both diagnosing students’ learning obstacles and conceiving teaching strategies, methods and tools to help students to overcome such obstacles. Those studies include analyses of past examinations (summative assessments) and lab tests (formative assessments), the conception and impact analysis of new exercises and lab sessions with pre/post-tests research design, a qualitative inquiry based on student’s interviews, a case study based on the history of Maxwell’s discoveries and an autonomous educational web app aiming to help students overcome their preconceptions in electricity and in basic mechanics. Wherever we tested it, the implementation of the DoV framework through studies have shown interesting results. Investigating the implications of the concept of Domain of Validity (or DoV) regarding the literature, we have demonstrated the integrative power of our theory in relation to other scientific constructs related to prior knowledge, firstly by resolving apparent oppositions between these constructs, and secondly by redefining (or at least linking with our model) known terms using a small set of precisely defined terms. We have shown that engineering students at university level make mistakes in electricity partly on account of preconceptions they experience in that field, but also highlighted that their preconceptions are mostly different than those provided by the literature. Characterised by its ability to help teachers develop new techniques, the DoV framework has also proven to be a useful and ready-to-use tool for teachers to diagnose difficult-to-overcome students’ learning barriers, to build effective teaching strategies and methods as well as to reconsider the chronological sequence of the contents to be taught. As experiences and results have been gained, the framework has continued to evolve through iterations and exchanges between the theoretical and on-the-field levels, progressively integrating incremental enhancements opening new doors, new understanding and new applications. It also unveiled some unexpected, interesting and surprising concerns and questions we tried to address, such as the transposition of the DoV framework from a conceptual to a methodological level or the seemingly high interconnectedness existing between our ease to overcome a learning obstacle and our ability to diversify and switch between different modes of representation we use to describe phenomena or situations. Although we claim that our theory has high integrative power and applicability, it has its own domain of validity like any other model. It does not address all the issues related to prior knowledge and conceptual change. While we have given an example from and tested the theory in our field of electrical engineering, further research is needed to demonstrate its broad applicability across fields of science, the effectiveness of different teaching strategies based on the theory, the relationship with other theories, and the socio-cultural, emotional and affective dimensions of overcoming DoV-based preconceptions.
Chapter
While setting up a Massive Open Online Course for Lifelong Learners, the choice of the most adequate Learner Model for this most current context is paramount: not all Learner Models are created equal, despite their overall added value to facilitate the learner’s follow-up, course content personalization and trainers/teachers’ practices in various Learning Environments. This systematic review of literature defines, compares, and highlights eight features of interest of Learner Models for Massive Open Online Courses from a Lifelong Learning perspective. It discerns 17 of the most-current, existing Learner Models out of 442 search results. It concludes on the four most adequate, and current Learner Models in this context. In addition, we study how they handle the learning experience personalization. This work is primarily dedicated to MOOC designers/providers, pedagogical engineers and researchers who meet difficulties to model and evaluate MOOC’s learners using Learning Analytics.
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The research area of Technology Enhanced Learning brings together the disciplines of learning sciences, pedagogy, and computer science in order to provide mechanisms and (digital) tools to support learning and teaching. The Go-Lab project aims to promote inquiry-based science education using online laboratories. It serves as a toolbox for teachers to create customized learning spaces for scientific experiments that includes a variety of applications that support the inquiry and knowledge construction processes. Research in the learning sciences has found group learning to be supportive for knowledge (co-) construction in inquiry-based learning. Particularly for group learning approaches, the terms heterogeneity and homogeneity have been stretched out in research and practice. It may be considered as common sense that heterogeneous learning groups have the highest knowledge gain. This leads to problematic policies: First, weaker learners benefit from the skills of the better performing students. Consequently, a heterogeneous grouping is almost only helpful for the weaker learners. Second, a stigmatization of weak learners leads to a less inclusive and unbalanced approach in learning and teaching. Moreover, stigmatizing learners prevents finding the reasons for the problems the learners are facing. Aronson (1978) developed the Jigsaw teaching technique to create a more inclusive learning situation, but with the goal criterion to deal with challenges of mixing ethnicities in the classroom due to the desegregation of public schools in the USA in the late 1950s. However, the formation of groups for Jigsaw relied on creating experts that have a distinct knowledge in a certain field. Managing and facilitating knowledge diversity and complementarity seems to be the key in order to create classrooms that are more inclusive. The work presented in this dissertation aims to create and convey methods that support learning and teaching in inquiry-based science education. Compared to traditional approaches, a more inclusive learning situation can be created by managing learners’ knowledge diversity. In order to create such support tools, computational methods and architectures from the field of learning analytics have been employed to create a technical infrastructure in Go-Lab. Using this learning analytics architecture, an analysis of the first two years of teachers and students using Go-Lab has been conducted. This analysis posed challenges and requirements for the design of support tools, which have to be integrated into the Go-Lab ecosystem. Based on this technical infrastructure, a general approach to support individual and group learning by facilitating knowledge complementarity has been developed and presented in this work. This framework uses automatic semantic extraction of concepts from learner-generated content to create a shared group knowledge model. Two Applications, which facilitate knowledge diversity and complementarity using this approach have been developed and presented. The “concept cloud app” serves as a cognitive scaffold that interactively visualizes the group knowledge as an open learner model. It uses semantic extraction of concepts from learning artifacts in order to create the model. Furthermore, the “semantic group formation” creates and uses such a shared group knowledge model to form groups with an optimal knowledge complementarity. Several empirical studies have been conducted in schools using Go-Lab and the support tools as a part of this work. As a first study, traditional approaches to form heterogeneous and homogeneous groups based on an operationalization of skills have been explored in the context of IBL. It turned out that, similar to other contexts, heterogeneous groups perform better with respect to the group result and the average learning gain. The subsequent studies have been used to explore the opportunities of knowledge-based approaches. In a second experiment, the concept cloud app has been presented to learners. The results have shown that this app is an effective cognitive scaffold, which supports the knowledge construction in conjunction with other production tools such as concept mapping. The final study aimed to evaluate the semantic group formation. In addition to the formation, the model and the results of the group formation have been presented to learners as a cognitive group awareness tool. The results indicate that the semantic group formation creates groups with a high knowledge diversity and a relatively even distribution of scores across the groups. Finally, the presentation of knowledge complementarity as a group awareness tool supports learners in structuring their collaboration and the communication when exchanging knowledge.
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Knowledge monitoring is a component of metacognition which can help students regulate their own learning. In adaptive learning software, the system’s model of the student can be presented as an open learner model (OLM) which is intended to enable monitoring processes. We explore how presenting alignment, between students’ self-assessed confidence and the system’s model of the student, supports knowledge monitoring. When students can see their confidence and their performance (either combined within one skill meter or expanded as two separate skill meters), their knowledge monitoring and performance improves, particularly for low-achieving students. These results indicate the importance of communicating the alignment between the system’s evaluation of student performance and student confidence in the correctness of their answers as a means to support metacognitive skills.
Chapter
Teaching and learning are increasingly being offered in distributed, online digital environments, often openly and at large-scale, traversing spatial and temporal boundaries. Within such environments, Learning Analytics technologies aim to provide the means for tracking and making sense of the multitude of educational data that is being generated, in order to inform educational and pedagogical decision making of different actors, such as learners, teachers, school leaders and parents. However, at the heart of Learning Analytics technologies in such distributed and open learning environments lies the Open Learner Model (OLM), that informs the data collection, processing and sense-making capabilities of the analytics technology. In this context the contribution of this chapter is to present a generic educational data-driven layered Open Learner Modelling framework, which can be used as a blueprint for the analysis (and design) of OLM instances. Furthermore, capitalizing on this framework, the chapter also performs a critical analysis of existing research in OLM works, in order to draw conclusions on the current status of this emerging field.
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This study view to analyse student misconceptions on integers in microteaching activities. This research used qualitative research design. An integers test contained questions from eight main areas of integers. The Integers material test includes (a) converting the image into fractions, (b) examples of positive numbers including rational numbers, (c) operations in fractions, (d) sorting fractions from the largest to the smallest, and vice versa; e) equate denominator, (f) concept of ratio mark, (g) definition of fraction, and (h) difference between fractions and parts. The results indicated an integers concepts: (1) the students have not been able to define concepts well based on the classification of facts in organized part; (2) The correlational concept: students have not been able to combine interrelated events in the form of general principles; and (3) theoretical concepts: students have not been able to use concepts that facilitate in learning the facts or events in an organized system.
Chapter
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This paper starts from the assumption that learning is promoted through confronting students with the inconsistencies entailed by their own beliefs. The issue is explored in the domain of electricity in the context of simple DC circuits. Previous work is used as the basis for the construction of a programme of work that is undertaken by a group of students. This programme entailed the development of a computer-based modelling environment called ELAB. The underlying design principle is that students should be able to model electrical circuits at a level which permits them to express some of their explicit (possibly mistaken) beliefs about relevant concepts. Other, implicit, beliefs should also be detectable through use of the system. The results derived from observation suggest that computer-based modelling facilities can provide advantages over approaches exploiting other media. In particular, such systems can be used to promote the kinds of intellectual conflict that are believed to be beneficial.
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A testing-based diagnosing system is implemented. The system has a problem library that collects some suitable problems and associated answers. The answers of each problem are related to misconceptions. Problem selector in the system provides some problems to test student. Based on the student's answers, the diagnoser in the system will discriminate the student's misconceptions. The problem selector and the diagnoser are implemented with matrix operations. For evaluating the performance of the system, the topic of basic DC electricity is used as the subject domain. There are nine types of misconceptions found in basic electricity. Based on the experimental results, the system has the satisfactory diagnosis.
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Java is becoming a popular first programming language for university students. One reason for its popularity is its power as an object-oriented language. This study examined beginning students' understanding of the construction and use of objects in Java. During tape-recorded interviews, students were asked to predict which programs from a collection of similar programs would work according to specification and which would not. This paper will discuss those interviews, including the most common false assumptions or “student-constructed rules” invoked by the students and the implications of the interviews for instruction.
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Abstract In this study, 364 first-year physics students were randomly assigned to one of four online multimedia treatments on Newton's First and Second Laws of Motion: (1) the ‘Exposition’, a concise lecture-style presentation; (2) the ‘Extended Exposition’, the Exposition with additional interesting information; (3) the ‘Refutation’, the Exposition with common misconceptions explicitly stated and refuted; or (4) the ‘Dialogue’, a student–tutor discussion of the same material as in the Refutation. Students were tested using questions from mechanics conceptual inventories before and after watching the multimedia treatments. Results show the Refutation and Dialogue produced the greatest learning gains, with effect sizes of 0.79 and 0.83, respectively, compared with the Exposition. Students with low prior knowledge benefited most, however high prior knowledge learners were not disadvantaged by the misconception-based approach. The findings suggest that online multimedia can be greatly improved, promoting conceptual change in students with all levels of experience, by including a discussion of misconceptions.
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We report on our ongoing investigation on student misconceptions and their origins within the signals and systems module taught in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Signals and Systems, as taught in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, consist of two parts. The first part, offered in the Fall semester, covers introductory linear circuits; the second part, offered in the Spring semester, covers the analysis of generic continuous-time linear time-invariant systems. During Fall 2002, we conducted clinical interviews to assess student understanding of introductory linear circuits. Fifty-four sophomore students enrolled in Signals and Systems volunteered to take part in this study. The interview transcripts were analyzed, physical and mathematical misconceptions were identified, and their sources were examined based on diSessa 's theory of intuitive knowledge, and Chi and Slotta 's ontological categorization. In this paper, we report on our results and suggest how this understanding can be used to develop more effective pedagogical instruments designed to enhance student learning.
Identifying Student Misconceptions in Introductory Materials Engineering Classes
  • S Krause
  • J C Decker
  • J Nisca
  • T Alford
  • R Griffin
Krause, S., Decker, J.C., Nisca, J., Alford, T. & Griffin, R. Identifying Student Misconceptions in Introductory Materials Engineering Classes, ASEE Annual Conf., Nashville TN (2003). http://www.foundationcoalition.org/publications/journalpapers/asee2003.
Representativeness in Statistical Reasoning: Identifying and Assessing Misconceptions
  • L S Hirsch
  • A M Donnell
Hirsch, L.S. & O'Donnell, A.M. Representativeness in Statistical Reasoning: Identifying and Assessing Misconceptions, J. of Statistics Education 9(2), (2001) http://www.amstat.org/ publications/jse/v9n2/hirsch.html.