Betty Love

Student Learning and Perceptions in a Flipped Linear Algebra Course.

The traditional lecture style of teaching has long been the norm in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, but an innovative teaching model, facilitated by recent advances in technology, is gaining popularity across college campuses. This new model inverts or ‘flips’ the usual classroom paradigm, in that students learn initial course concepts outside of the classroom, while class time is reserved for more active problem-based learning and practice activities. While the flipped classroom model shows promise for improving STEM learning and increasing student interest in STEM fields, discussions to date of the model and its impact are more anecdotal than data driven – very little research has been undertaken to rigorously assess the potential effects on student learning that can result from the flipped classroom environment. This study involved 55 students in 2 sections of an applied linear algebra course, using the traditional lecture format in one section and the flipped classroom model in another. In the latter, students were expected to prepare for the class in some way, such as watching screencasts prepared by the instructor, or reading the textbook or the instructor’s notes. Student content understanding and course perceptions were examined. Content understanding was measured by the performance on course exams, and students in the flipped classroom environment had a more significant increase between the sequential exams compared to the students in the traditional lecture section, while performing similarly in the final exam. Course perceptions were represented by an end-of-semester survey that indicated that the flipped classroom students were very positive about their experience in the course, and particularly appreciated the student collaboration and instructional video components.

Simple multi-attribute rating technique for renewable energy deployment decisions (SMART REDD):

In the effort to provide electrical power service and the sustaining fuel required to run generators at forward-deployed bases in Afghanistan and Iraq over more than 10 years, the US military spent billions of dollars and a paid a heavy toll in terms of human casualties. The green energy linear program for optimizing deployments (GELPOD) proof-of-concept model showed that a linear program could be used to optimize combat deployment of energy generation systems to minimize cost and casualties. Results indicated that reduction in both cost and casualties for renewable energy sources was highly dependent on fuel cost and deployment length. Neglected in the decision making process, however, were factors that impact the operational success of the mission. When deploying combat units, commanders must not only consider potential costs and casualties, they must also contend with battlefield mobility requirements, maintenance capability (or lack thereof), weather, and anticipated hostile action that could affect operational performance. This paper leverages the simple multi-attribute rating technique (SMART), pioneered by Edwards, to attempt to address this deficiency. The resulting simple multi-attribute rating technique for renewable energy deployment decisions (SMART REDD) model allows commanders to take mission attributes into consideration when making decisions on which energy source is most appropriate for the mission as well as providing information on operations costs, expected transportation requirements, and expected casualties.

Creating an Environment in which Elementary Educators Can Teach Coding

Across the globe, there is an increasing push to incorporate coding into the entire K-12 curriculum -- a shift which entails enormous challenges. This paper presents preliminary findings of an approach we are developing which addresses a key challenge associated with teaching coding, namely how to enable teachers with minimal coding backgrounds to effectively teach coding. The model we are developing provides online real-time tech support to teachers, thereby lowering the technical barriers to coding instruction. The genesis of this approach emerged from a year-long after school coding club run by the authors for elementary school students. This was followed by a pilot study involving gifted students in multiple elementary schools.

Bricklayer: Elementary Students Learn Math through Programming and Art

As computer science becomes more prevalent in the K-12 world, elementary schools are increasingly adopting computing curricula. Computer scientists have recognized the connection between math and computer science, but little work has demonstrated how and whether computer science can support improved learning in math. This paper reports on a project in which elementary students in a gifted program used Bricklayer, a functional programming environment that supports artistic and mathematical expression. A pre- and post-test design demonstrates significant learning gains in coordinate graphing and visual-spatial skills.

Delphi: A source-code analysis and manipulation system for bricklayer

Delphi is a source-code analysis and manipulation system being developed to analyze and transform Bricklayer programs. The information obtained from Delphi analysis can be used to generate problemspecific text in the form of a mini-lecture. This opens the door to the automated integration of such texts with commercial animation software and textto-speech (TTS) tools. The result is a scalable infrastructure capable of providing formative feedback to students in the form of an animated cartoon whose information is personalized (e.g. male/female actors, use of slang and dialects) and problem-specific. This feedback can be provided in a timely fashion and can ease technical burdens on educators that teach coding across the K-12 spectrum.