Description:
Reflects on the articles in this themed issue on reflective practice. Notes that these teacher/authors have been influenced by prior learning, past experience, feelings, attitudes, values, the school constraints on the learning environment, and their own assumptions about teaching. Describes how teachers have formed a learning community to increase awareness of reflective teaching.
Description:
The study of linear functions is important as it provides students with their first experience of identifying and interpreting the relationship between two dependent variables. This paper, which builds on previous research, reports a study undertaken with 64, year 9 students from two Australian schools. Linear functions were introduced to these students through a graphics calculator supported, functional approach to modelling contextual problems. The teaching was generally successful. Scrutiny of pre- and post-tests highlights the triple influence of the teaching on their progress in each element of Algebraic Expectation relevant to this stage.
Description:
The study of linear functions is important as it provides students with their first experience of identifying and interpreting the relationship between two dependent variables. This paper, which builds on previous research, reports a study undertaken with 64, year 9 students from two Australian schools. Linear functions were introduced to these students through a graphics calculator supported, functional approach to modelling contextual problems. The teaching was generally successful. Scrutiny of pre- and post-tests highlights the triple influence of the teaching on their progress in each element of Algebraic Expectation relevant to this stage.
Description:
This paper reports on the experiences of students who were learning mathematics with CAS for a second consecutive school year. Evidence presented shows that nearly all students managed the challenging task of mastering the technical aspects of using CAS well. It also shows that the level of technical difficulty and the degree to which it presents an obstacle to mathematical learning is not predictable from conventional mathematical ability. There is a complex interaction between cognitive and affective factors. Planning appropriate teaching for developing the effective use of CAS will require awareness and understanding of these individual differences.
Description:
This paper reports on the experiences of students who were learning mathematics with CAS for a second consecutive school year. Evidence presented shows that nearly all students managed the challenging task of mastering the technical aspects of using CAS well. It also shows that the level of technical difficulty and the degree to which it presents an obstacle to mathematical learning is not predictable from conventional mathematical ability. There is a complex interaction between cognitive and affective factors. Planning appropriate teaching for developing the effective use of CAS will require awareness and understanding of these individual differences.
Description:
Eligibility traces have been shown to substantially improve the convergence speed of temporal difference learning algorithms, by maintaining a record of recently experienced states. This paper presents an extension of conventional eligibility traces (compiled traces) which retain additional information about the agent’s experience within the environment. Empirical results show that compiled traces outperform conventional traces when applied to policy evaluation tasks using a tabular representation of the state values.
Description:
Through the experiences of refugees from Bosnia, Iraq and Sudan, this research sought to explore the role multicultural community organisations play in creating important informal networks and learning spaces that connect people from refugee backgrounds to the wider Australian community. In particular, the research sought to identify how such organisations assist refugees in their learning of English language and work skills.
Description:
The teaching of statistical techniques to people in industry, as part of quality control or process improvement programs, can be a rewarding but somewhat daunting process for academics. Whilst the spin-offs for undergraduate teaching are numerous, and will be explored in a future paper, the biggest gains include the co-operation between the specific industry and the academic institution concerned. This paper explores some of the requirements and conditions that go towards enhancing successful industrial consultancies involving statistically based training programs provided by academics.
Description:
The teaching of statistical techniques to people in industry, as part of quality control or process improvement programs, can be a rewarding but somewhat daunting process for academics. Whilst the spin-offs for undergraduate teaching are numerous, and will be explored in a future paper, the biggest gains include the co-operation between the specific industry and the academic institution concerned. This paper explores some of the requirements and conditions that go towards enhancing successful industrial consultancies involving statistically based training programs provided by academics.
Description:
At the University of Ballarat, pre-service teachers (PSTs) in their second year of the Bachelor of Education (P-10) are required to plan community-based teaching and learning in conjunction with school students, their teachers and schools along with community organisations. These requirements are in synergy with curriculum developments in schools and appear to be valued by them. While the transformative potential of community-based teaching and learning for teacher educators is acknowledged, there is a clear need for more research into the factors which underlie the success or otherwise of such approaches. In this paper, the implementation of community-based teaching and learning programs developed by pre-service teachers is examined for educational and organisational issues that shaped the outcomes for students. The paper highlights a number of consistent themes that throw light on factors that appear to affect the success of such pre-service courses. These insights contribute to the understanding of community-based pre-service teacher education curricula and pedagogies as an important and emerging area of interest.
Description:
At the University of Ballarat, pre-service teachers (PSTs) in their second year of the Bachelor of Education (P-10) are required to plan community-based teaching and learning in conjunction with school students, their teachers and schools along with community organisations. These requirements are in synergy with curriculum developments in schools and appear to be valued by them. While the transformative potential of community-based teaching and learning for teacher educators is acknowledged, there is a clear need for more research into the factors which underlie the success or otherwise of such approaches. In this paper, the implementation of community-based teaching and learning programs developed by pre-service teachers is examined for educational and organisational issues that shaped the outcomes for students. The paper highlights a number of consistent themes that throw light on factors that appear to affect the success of such pre-service courses. These insights contribute to the understanding of community-based pre-service teacher education curricula and pedagogies as an important and emerging area of interest.