Hugh Burkhardt

Improving Educational Research:Toward a More Useful, More Influential, and Better-Funded Enterprise

Educational research is not very influential, useful, or well funded. This article explores why and suggests ways that the situation could be improved. Our focus is on the processes that link the development of good ideas and insights, the development of tools and structures for implementation, and the enabling of robust implementation in realistic practice. We suggest that educational research and development should be restructured so as to be more useful to practitioners and to policymakers, allowing the latter to make better-informed, less-speculative decisions that will improve practice more reliably.

Oscillations of recoil particles against mixed states

Some consequences of the oscillations of neutral kaons and neutrinos are discussed, in particular, the possibility of oscillations of particles recoiling against kaons or neutrinos from the production process. We show that there are no stationary oscillations of these recoil particles in any order, and that the apparent long-wavelength oscillations, which might appear to result when an earlier treatment of ours was taken to higher order, are spurious. We show that the recoil particles may show a travelling interference pattern. It may be possible to observe this pattern for

Computer aided teaching

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Teaching Style and Program Design.

s produced in a reaction, but there seems to be little hope of observing this for the case of neutrinos from muon decay.

Assessing Mathematical Thinking Via FLAG

In order to examine some of the problems and benefits of using a microcomputer as a classroom teaching aid, we observed 174 school lessons during which 17 teachers employed a microcomputer regularly with a chosen class for a whole term. It is argued that the ergonomic factors here differ considerably from those in other man/machine interactions. Problems of screen visibility were frequently noted and the inexperience of pupil and teacher operators caused a number of difficulties. Styles of computer use were very varied and these are discussed. Although educational performance was not measured by means of test scores, the range and quality of pupil activities suggests that the educational benefits are considerable. Recommendations are made to teachers, education authorities, software designers and hardware manufacturers.

The future of the microcomputer as a classroom teaching aid: An empirical approach to crystal gazing

Abstract We describe an analysis of the spectrum of possibilities open to the designer of class teaching materials based on the use of a microcomputer as a teaching aid. Program design and use are related to the facilities the computer offers, the aspects of teaching to which they contribute, and to the problems of making the materials easy to use. Checklists are put forward as a practical way of bringing essential points to the designers attention.

CONCLUSIONS FROM CALTASTROPHES

Teachers of undergraduate mathematics face a range of problems which include an increasing number of less well qualified students, and increasing academic diversity in the student population. Students face courses which are radically different from mathematics courses encountered in school; they often face assessment systems which are ill-aligned to course goals, and which use assessment methods likely to encourage a surface rather than a deep approach to learning. The paper describes materials developed by the MARS group for the US National Institute for Science Education for use on their FLAG Web site. Collections of assessment materials can be downloaded free of charge which assess a range of valuable process skills in mathematics — proof, reasoning from evidence, estimation, creating measures, and fault finding and remediation. They are designed to offer a wide repertoire of assessment styles, as part of a process of encouraging a broadening of teaching and learning styles.

Electronic Posters to Support Formative Assessment

Abstract A microcomputer can be a valuable teaching aid but its current use in secondary schools is so infrequent as to make it difficult to assess its future potential. We observed 174 school lessons during which 17 teachers employed a microcomputer regularly with a chosen class for a whole term. The aim was to provide a glimpse into the future when there will be better computer facilities and more expertise among teachers. During the term, we detected no drop in interest as the novelty diminished and lessons tended to improve as teachers became more experienced in using the medium. Two terms later the majority of teachers were still using a microcomputer regularly as a teaching aid and there was some spread of interest to other teachers in the same schools. The results suggest that, in subjects like mathematics, computer-aided teaching will be successfully adopted by the majority of teachers if the necessary resources are available. The computer appears to be a very versatile teaching aid and we found no grounds for strongly recommending any particular style of use.

TEACHING STYLE AND PROGRAM DESIGN

Abstract What are the barriers to the widespread introduction of computer aided teaching? Information is collected from a large scale observational study of over 150 lessons which involved CAL, together with reports from 30 teachers who look part in an in-service training course which introduced them to CAL. Examples of problems encountered are classified under five headings: acquiring a reliable computer, setting it up so the whole class can see it, choosing software, learning to drive it and integrating it into the lesson and the curriculum. Conclusions are drawn about how to overcome these problems, in the form of advice to teachers, advisors and LEAs, and lessons for software designers. CAL is not likely to become widespread unless we act on the lessons we have drawn from these observations, and indeed, unless those of us who are responsible for educational innovation set up a dialogue between teachers and software designers.

Modelling Examples and Modelling Projects – Overview

Formative Assessment is difficult to apply in real-world classrooms due to the requirement for extensive interaction between students and teachers. We have constructed a distributed system called FACT for in-class use that facilitates the use of popular Classroom Challenges (CCs) developed by the Mathematics Assessment Project. FACT lets students work on Android tablets equipped with styli, and enables a teacher to manage the class and to orchestrate the activities required by the CCs. In this work, we discuss the design of our system and our rationale for choosing its interaction metaphors.