Contribution: This study incorporates competition-based learning (CBL) into machine learning courses. By engaging students in innovative problem-solving challenges within information competitions, revealing that students’ participation in online problem-solving competitions can improve their information technology, and showcase competitions can enhance their competition ability. Background: The CBL model seamlessly integrates project-based learning and competition, placing a strong emphasis on both collective learning and outcomes. This approach cultivates motivation among team members, driving them to enhance their learning and translate knowledge into practical experience. Research Questions: The objective is to examine the disparities in the development of theoretical knowledge, information technology, AI practical ability, and competition ability among students participating in online problem-solving competitions and showcase competitions, and discusses the potential moderating effect of competition type on the relationships between variables in the hypothetical model. Methodology: The study involved 74 students enrolled in machine learning course at a university. The students were given theoretical knowledge and information technology pretests and posttests in the 2nd and 17th weeks, respectively. In the 18th week, the students presented their projects using slideshows and were graded by judges while also submitting their final competition proposal and slides. Findings: Students in online problem-solving competitions can enhance their information technology, while those participating in showcase competitions can improve their competitive ability. Moreover, the competition type was found to moderate the relationships among theoretical knowledge, information technology, and AI model accuracy. The findings suggest that incorporating CBL into machine learning courses effectively cultivates students’ AI practical and competitive abilities.
{"title":"Applying Competition-Based Learning to Stimulate Students’ Practical and Competitive AI Ability in a Machine Learning Curriculum","authors":"Hui-Tzu Chang;Chia-Yu Lin","doi":"10.1109/TE.2024.3350535","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2024.3350535","url":null,"abstract":"Contribution: This study incorporates competition-based learning (CBL) into machine learning courses. By engaging students in innovative problem-solving challenges within information competitions, revealing that students’ participation in online problem-solving competitions can improve their information technology, and showcase competitions can enhance their competition ability. Background: The CBL model seamlessly integrates project-based learning and competition, placing a strong emphasis on both collective learning and outcomes. This approach cultivates motivation among team members, driving them to enhance their learning and translate knowledge into practical experience. Research Questions: The objective is to examine the disparities in the development of theoretical knowledge, information technology, AI practical ability, and competition ability among students participating in online problem-solving competitions and showcase competitions, and discusses the potential moderating effect of competition type on the relationships between variables in the hypothetical model. Methodology: The study involved 74 students enrolled in machine learning course at a university. The students were given theoretical knowledge and information technology pretests and posttests in the 2nd and 17th weeks, respectively. In the 18th week, the students presented their projects using slideshows and were graded by judges while also submitting their final competition proposal and slides. Findings: Students in online problem-solving competitions can enhance their information technology, while those participating in showcase competitions can improve their competitive ability. Moreover, the competition type was found to moderate the relationships among theoretical knowledge, information technology, and AI model accuracy. The findings suggest that incorporating CBL into machine learning courses effectively cultivates students’ AI practical and competitive abilities.","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 2","pages":"256-265"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10443953","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Contribution: The experiences of three students in a co-curricular project-based design experience are explored. The objective is to characterize authentic and inauthentic (performative) forms of engagement and its potential impact on learning within an authentic experience. We consider these cases in supporting an argument for extensive reflection to reinforce learning and to disrupt forms of engagement that may undermine students’ professional preparation. Background: This work is motivated to understand how students might bring inauthentic forms of engagement often found in the classroom to learning experiences that occur outside of classroom structures. Research Questions: Two research questions drive the methodological approach in this study: 1) What values, attitudes, and beliefs (VABs) do students express and display about a co-curricular project experience? and 2) What might students’ VABs tell us about the authenticity of their engagement? Methodology: Two forms of reflection—written reflections and mock job interviews—were analyzed using a VAB coding scheme. The alignment of students’ VABs with four facets of authenticity as defined in the literature is used as an interpretative lens for evaluating the authenticity of each students’ engagement. Findings: Analysis revealed three levels of engagement: 1) Jeff’s engagement appeared authentic and potentially transformative; 2) Adam’s engagement appears inauthentic and focused on a transactional experience; and 3) Lillian’s engagement appears to be mixed with potential to drive change in the future.
{"title":"Exploring Engineering Students’ Engagement Through Alignment of Values, Attitudes, and Beliefs","authors":"Andrew Olewnik","doi":"10.1109/TE.2024.3355893","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2024.3355893","url":null,"abstract":"Contribution: The experiences of three students in a co-curricular project-based design experience are explored. The objective is to characterize authentic and inauthentic (performative) forms of engagement and its potential impact on learning within an authentic experience. We consider these cases in supporting an argument for extensive reflection to reinforce learning and to disrupt forms of engagement that may undermine students’ professional preparation. Background: This work is motivated to understand how students might bring inauthentic forms of engagement often found in the classroom to learning experiences that occur outside of classroom structures. Research Questions: Two research questions drive the methodological approach in this study: 1) What values, attitudes, and beliefs (VABs) do students express and display about a co-curricular project experience? and 2) What might students’ VABs tell us about the authenticity of their engagement? Methodology: Two forms of reflection—written reflections and mock job interviews—were analyzed using a VAB coding scheme. The alignment of students’ VABs with four facets of authenticity as defined in the literature is used as an interpretative lens for evaluating the authenticity of each students’ engagement. Findings: Analysis revealed three levels of engagement: 1) Jeff’s engagement appeared authentic and potentially transformative; 2) Adam’s engagement appears inauthentic and focused on a transactional experience; and 3) Lillian’s engagement appears to be mixed with potential to drive change in the future.","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 2","pages":"292-305"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Contribution: A problem-solving approach (PSA) model derived from major computational thinking (CT) concepts. This model can be utilized to formulate solutions for different algorithmic problems and translate them into effective active learning methods. Background: Different teaching approaches for programming are widely available; however, being able to formulate an algorithmic solution computationally and then transform it into code is essential for students. Research Questions: What are the effective teaching approaches for fostering the development of problem-solving and programming skills? How do CT concepts contribute to the formulation of a PSA model for programming problems and its translation into an effective teaching method? How can an effective teaching method that utilizes the PSA model be identified and distinguished from other approaches? Methodology: A preliminary study pointed out the difficulties experienced when teaching programming, inspiring the formulation of a PSA model that used CT concepts. An experimental study on problem-based and game-based programming workshops that utilized the PSA model through sorting algorithms was performed on experimental groups consisting of 30 students each. A syntax-based programming workshop consisting of 30 students was used as the control group. All the participants were recruited through a pretest that incorporated basic programming questions. The participants had to answer a posttest after the workshop. Findings: The results showed that the participants exhibited no significant difference between the pretest and posttest for the syntax-based learning (SBL). However, there is a significant difference between the pretest and posttest of both the problem-based learning (PBL) and the game-based learning (GBL) workshops. There was no significant difference significant difference for the pretest scores of all three workshops. The analysis of the posttest further confirmed that the experimental groups (PBL and GBL) exhibited significant difference in the scores compared to the control group. However, the posttest results did not differ significantly between the experimental groups (PBL and GBL).
{"title":"Modeling a Problem-Solving Approach Through Computational Thinking for Teaching Programming","authors":"Zebel-Al Tareq;Raja Jamilah Raja Yusof","doi":"10.1109/TE.2024.3354425","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2024.3354425","url":null,"abstract":"Contribution: A problem-solving approach (PSA) model derived from major computational thinking (CT) concepts. This model can be utilized to formulate solutions for different algorithmic problems and translate them into effective active learning methods. Background: Different teaching approaches for programming are widely available; however, being able to formulate an algorithmic solution computationally and then transform it into code is essential for students. Research Questions: What are the effective teaching approaches for fostering the development of problem-solving and programming skills? How do CT concepts contribute to the formulation of a PSA model for programming problems and its translation into an effective teaching method? How can an effective teaching method that utilizes the PSA model be identified and distinguished from other approaches? Methodology: A preliminary study pointed out the difficulties experienced when teaching programming, inspiring the formulation of a PSA model that used CT concepts. An experimental study on problem-based and game-based programming workshops that utilized the PSA model through sorting algorithms was performed on experimental groups consisting of 30 students each. A syntax-based programming workshop consisting of 30 students was used as the control group. All the participants were recruited through a pretest that incorporated basic programming questions. The participants had to answer a posttest after the workshop. Findings: The results showed that the participants exhibited no significant difference between the pretest and posttest for the syntax-based learning (SBL). However, there is a significant difference between the pretest and posttest of both the problem-based learning (PBL) and the game-based learning (GBL) workshops. There was no significant difference significant difference for the pretest scores of all three workshops. The analysis of the posttest further confirmed that the experimental groups (PBL and GBL) exhibited significant difference in the scores compared to the control group. However, the posttest results did not differ significantly between the experimental groups (PBL and GBL).","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 2","pages":"282-291"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139951197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thiago Costa Caetano;Camila Cardoso Moreira;Mikael Frank Rezende Junior
Contribution: This work seeks to ascertain the validity of a remote-controlled experiment of the Physics Remote Lab in the educational context, specifically among students from engineering courses. Background: In 2012, it has been started the development of the Physics Remote Lab at the Federal University of Itajubá, Brazil, a laboratory with a collection of didactical remote-controlled experiments. For a while since then, efforts have been directed mainly to technical matters and so, many questions regarding the effectiveness of these experiments as a teaching resource have not been satisfactorily answered yet. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic have provided suitable conditions to assess the effectiveness of this kind of resource. Research Questions: There are two points to be addressed. The first refers to whether remotely controlled experiments can be regarded as a valid didactical tool. The second seeks to ascertain the effectiveness of these digital objects in a very atypical scenario. Methodology: A pretest-intervention-posttest design was chosen, with three groups that totaled 145 students from engineering courses. The groups were submitted to interventions based on a remote-controlled experiment, video analysis, and simulation on kinematics. Nonparametric statistical tests were applied to check for biased groups and to compare the results before and after the intervention. Findings: The results show that all three interventions had a significant impact on the groups and the established I-index suggests that the effects were positive in all of them, despite the peculiar circumstances regarding the pandemic. Compared to other groups, the results for the remote-controlled experiment group showed that it can be as effective as a simulation or a video analysis and the students in this group achieved a better understanding of the concepts as compared to their performance on the pretest.
{"title":"Computer-Aided Experiments (CAE): A Study Regarding a Remote-Controlled Experiment, Video Analysis, and Simulation on Kinematics","authors":"Thiago Costa Caetano;Camila Cardoso Moreira;Mikael Frank Rezende Junior","doi":"10.1109/TE.2023.3349092","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2023.3349092","url":null,"abstract":"Contribution: This work seeks to ascertain the validity of a remote-controlled experiment of the Physics Remote Lab in the educational context, specifically among students from engineering courses. Background: In 2012, it has been started the development of the Physics Remote Lab at the Federal University of Itajubá, Brazil, a laboratory with a collection of didactical remote-controlled experiments. For a while since then, efforts have been directed mainly to technical matters and so, many questions regarding the effectiveness of these experiments as a teaching resource have not been satisfactorily answered yet. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic have provided suitable conditions to assess the effectiveness of this kind of resource. Research Questions: There are two points to be addressed. The first refers to whether remotely controlled experiments can be regarded as a valid didactical tool. The second seeks to ascertain the effectiveness of these digital objects in a very atypical scenario. Methodology: A pretest-intervention-posttest design was chosen, with three groups that totaled 145 students from engineering courses. The groups were submitted to interventions based on a remote-controlled experiment, video analysis, and simulation on kinematics. Nonparametric statistical tests were applied to check for biased groups and to compare the results before and after the intervention. Findings: The results show that all three interventions had a significant impact on the groups and the established I-index suggests that the effects were positive in all of them, despite the peculiar circumstances regarding the pandemic. Compared to other groups, the results for the remote-controlled experiment group showed that it can be as effective as a simulation or a video analysis and the students in this group achieved a better understanding of the concepts as compared to their performance on the pretest.","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 2","pages":"245-255"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates the challenges faced by second-year undergraduate engineering students in understanding Stokes’ theorem in vector calculus, focusing on the misconceptions found in interconnected concepts that form its foundation. Stokes’ theorem involves the application of line integrals, surface integrals, the curl of a vector field, and the flux of a vector field, which are essential for a thorough understanding of the theorem. This article reports on a study conducted to identify these misconceptions through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the test papers from 47 students at the University of Cape Town who were studying vector calculus. The results reveal difficulties in grasping line integrals, curve parametrization, vectors, curl of a force field, and the projection factor in surface integrals. Our study concludes that proficiency in these underlying concepts is crucial for students to effectively understand Stokes’ theorem, highlighting the need for targeted teaching approaches that address these known difficulties.
{"title":"Students’ Understanding of Stokes’ Theorem in Vector Calculus","authors":"Thabiso Khemane;Padayachee Pragashni;Shaw Corrinne","doi":"10.1109/TE.2024.3349921","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2024.3349921","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the challenges faced by second-year undergraduate engineering students in understanding Stokes’ theorem in vector calculus, focusing on the misconceptions found in interconnected concepts that form its foundation. Stokes’ theorem involves the application of line integrals, surface integrals, the curl of a vector field, and the flux of a vector field, which are essential for a thorough understanding of the theorem. This article reports on a study conducted to identify these misconceptions through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the test papers from 47 students at the University of Cape Town who were studying vector calculus. The results reveal difficulties in grasping line integrals, curve parametrization, vectors, curl of a force field, and the projection factor in surface integrals. Our study concludes that proficiency in these underlying concepts is crucial for students to effectively understand Stokes’ theorem, highlighting the need for targeted teaching approaches that address these known difficulties.","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 4","pages":"550-561"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139951275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mathematics education is compulsory in most secondary curriculums around the globe and is a critical discipline among the STEM subjects. Therefore, as a subject that is highly practical in multiple fields and curriculum subjects, developing mathematical instructional approaches that enhance mathematics education is necessary. This study investigated the influence of mathematical Internet memes in secondary mathematics education. The mixed method research approach was applied, and data collection techniques used were observation, achievement tests, questionnaires, and focus groups. The results revealed that integrating mathematical Internet memes in mathematics classrooms enhances students’ motivation and engagement. Moreover, the study revealed that mathematical Internet memes provide similar feedback as traditional formative assessment and, therefore, a viable alternative tool for formative assessment. The study further showed that integrating mathematical Internet memes has no significant impact on learners’ performance in mathematics. However, results from the focus group indicate that students believe that integrating mathematical Internet memes in mathematics classrooms can potentially improve their performance in mathematics.
{"title":"Integration of Mathematical Internet Memes a Multimedia Resource Into Kenya Secondary Mathematics Education","authors":"Dominic Mutuku Mutua;Waweru Mwangi","doi":"10.1109/TE.2023.3346990","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2023.3346990","url":null,"abstract":"Mathematics education is compulsory in most secondary curriculums around the globe and is a critical discipline among the STEM subjects. Therefore, as a subject that is highly practical in multiple fields and curriculum subjects, developing mathematical instructional approaches that enhance mathematics education is necessary. This study investigated the influence of mathematical Internet memes in secondary mathematics education. The mixed method research approach was applied, and data collection techniques used were observation, achievement tests, questionnaires, and focus groups. The results revealed that integrating mathematical Internet memes in mathematics classrooms enhances students’ motivation and engagement. Moreover, the study revealed that mathematical Internet memes provide similar feedback as traditional formative assessment and, therefore, a viable alternative tool for formative assessment. The study further showed that integrating mathematical Internet memes has no significant impact on learners’ performance in mathematics. However, results from the focus group indicate that students believe that integrating mathematical Internet memes in mathematics classrooms can potentially improve their performance in mathematics.","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 6","pages":"829-835"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"IEEE Transactions on Education Information for Authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TE.2024.3356153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2024.3356153","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 1","pages":"C3-C3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10423575","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139700468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Contribution: This research illuminates information entropy’s efficacy as a pivotal educational tool in programming, enabling the precise quantification of algorithmic complexity and student abstraction levels for solving P problems. This approach can provide students quantitative, comparative insights into the differences between optimal and student implemented solution, and allowing educators to offer targeted feedback, thereby optimizing the learning and abstraction processes in algorithm design through deliberate practice. Background: Abstraction is considered one of the most impor11 tant skills in problem solving. Many studies in programming have shown that higher abstraction capability can significantly simplify problems, reduce program complexity and improve efficiency. However, it is difficult to develop criteria to measure the level of abstraction, and there is still a lack of relevant systematic research. Research Questions: 1) How can students’ abstraction ability in programming be effectively measured? 2) How to develop programming education and training methods based on the measurement of abstraction ability? Methodology: Forty-six grade 10 students participated in the experiment, divided into two groups for programming train23 ing using information-entropy-based assessment and traditional learning methods. Their level of computational thinking, algo25 rithmic efficiency improvements, and test scores were used to measure performance and to analyze the effectiveness of the training methods. Findings: Through empirical research, this article finds that information-entropy-based assessment can reflect the differences in problem solving among students possessing varying capa31 bilities. Information entropy can be crucial for evaluating and improving students’ abstraction performance and algorithm efficiency.
{"title":"Utilization of Information Entropy in Training and Evaluation of Students’ Abstraction Performance and Algorithm Efficiency in Programming","authors":"Zengqing Wu;Huizhong Liu;Chuan Xiao","doi":"10.1109/TE.2024.3354297","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TE.2024.3354297","url":null,"abstract":"Contribution: This research illuminates information entropy’s efficacy as a pivotal educational tool in programming, enabling the precise quantification of algorithmic complexity and student abstraction levels for solving P problems. This approach can provide students quantitative, comparative insights into the differences between optimal and student implemented solution, and allowing educators to offer targeted feedback, thereby optimizing the learning and abstraction processes in algorithm design through deliberate practice. Background: Abstraction is considered one of the most impor11 tant skills in problem solving. Many studies in programming have shown that higher abstraction capability can significantly simplify problems, reduce program complexity and improve efficiency. However, it is difficult to develop criteria to measure the level of abstraction, and there is still a lack of relevant systematic research. Research Questions: 1) How can students’ abstraction ability in programming be effectively measured? 2) How to develop programming education and training methods based on the measurement of abstraction ability? Methodology: Forty-six grade 10 students participated in the experiment, divided into two groups for programming train23 ing using information-entropy-based assessment and traditional learning methods. Their level of computational thinking, algo25 rithmic efficiency improvements, and test scores were used to measure performance and to analyze the effectiveness of the training methods. Findings: Through empirical research, this article finds that information-entropy-based assessment can reflect the differences in problem solving among students possessing varying capa31 bilities. Information entropy can be crucial for evaluating and improving students’ abstraction performance and algorithm efficiency.","PeriodicalId":55011,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Education","volume":"67 2","pages":"266-281"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139950966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}