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One of the essential goals of science learning is to lead students to master scientific concepts or ideas and apply them to explain relevant everyday phenomena. Such mastery should help students to work with various representations. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Learning Cycle Multiple Representation (LCMR) model in students' mastery of concepts in plant physiology. This research was done using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design involving 62 students as the respondents. The concept mastery instrument consisted of 11 essay tests. The instrument met the value of validity and reliability. The data analysis was done using the one-way analysis of covariant set at a significance level of 5%. The results show that the LCMR model significantly affected students' mastery levels. The students who learned using the LCMR model showed significantly better mastery of the tested concept than the ones who used the LC model. The mastery score for the student learned using the LCMR model was 80.67, significantly higher (p=0.00 <[alpha]) than that obtained from the LC model of 54.00. Apart from enhancing mastery in plant physiology, the LCMR method can be expanded for other topics, and its effectiveness can be evaluated in future studies.

Numerous studies have found that selective attention affects category learning. However, previous research did not distinguish between the contribution of focusing and filtering components of selective attention. This study addresses this issue by examining how components of selective attention affect category representation. Participants first learned a rule-plus-similarity category structure, and then were presented with category priming followed by categorization and recognition tests. Additionally, to evaluate the involvement of focusing and filtering, we fit models with different attentional mechanisms to the data. In Experiment 1, participants received rule-based category training, with specific emphasis on a single deterministic feature (D feature). Experiment 2 added a recognition test to examine participants' memory for features. Both experiments indicated that participants categorized items based solely on the D feature, showed greater memory for the D feature, were primed exclusively by the D feature without interference from probabilistic features (P features), and were better fit by models with focusing and at least one type of filtering mechanism. The results indicated that selective attention distorted category representation by highlighting the D feature and attenuating P features. To examine whether the distorted representation was specific to rule-based training, Experiment 3 introduced training, emphasizing all features. Under such training, participants were no longer primed by the D feature, they remembered all features well, and they were better fit by the model assuming only focusing but no filtering process. The results coupled with modeling provide novel evidence that while both focusing and filtering contribute to category representation, filtering can also result in representational distortion.

The evolution of concept mapping has benefitted from the robust theoretical basis provided by Ausubelian learning theory. However, for concept mapping to maintain its relevance and to keep pace with the evolutionary changes in the educational context, it is vital that educational researchers and classroom practitioners can augment this theoretical base with contemporary learning theories that will help to improve the application of concept mapping and increase the likelihood that the goal of meaningful learning will be achieved in practice. This involves shifting the focus of concept mapping from product to process and the role of the learner from 'being' to 'becoming.' The act of concept mapping needs to be viewed as a way of mastering learning rather than of mastering specific content. We propose the consideration of the explicit role of semantic waves as an improvement from simplistic knowledge representation towards the development of more complex knowledge modelling as a way of developing powerful knowledge structures.

This study aims to investigate the process of designing infographics through participants' knowledge construction in the assessment and evaluation process of IB Educator Certificate (IBEC) educational technologies education. The study, in which the case study method was used, was conducted with 12 participants who attended the educational technologies and material design course in IBEC education. 7 infographic assignments were given in 14 weeks and 42 hours of online training and analyzed according to the relevant analytical rubric. To measure the development in the training process, pre-test and post-test were measured with the Web 2.0 tools usage competencies scale. At the end of the training, the participants' views on the effect of infographics on their learning processes and its use in education were analyzed by descriptive analysis. Accordingly, it was observed that the participants produced designs with effective content in their infographic assignments during the process. At the end of the training, there was a significant increase in their use of web 2.0 tools, which is the scope of the course, in support of this. According to the participants' views, results such as facilitating learning, permanent learning and having fun while learning were also obtained.

International research in the field of education focuses on the approach and use of mental knowledge-related mechanisms. In the educational research in Romania, we see the absence of studies focused on revision, analysis, and summary of the literature on the concept of representation and a shortage of studies tackling issues concerning creation of quality representations in primary school pupils. The aim of the study is to analyse teachers' opinions on nine different themes of interest in the lexical field of representation, explored throughout three standard interviews. The interviewees are teaching staff, a professor and two pre-university teachers. The data collected are presented in tables and analysed by manual codification. The results are significant in relation to the theoretical substantiation. The main conclusion of the study is: representations constitute a premise for the optimal functioning of the intellect. Some predictors favourable to creation of quality representations in pupils are the use of previous cognitive experiences, the accessibility and monitoring of learning as well as the quality of educational aids. By using suitable didactic resources, which reproduce the reality in a simplified manner or bring about elaborated abstractions, the teacher facilitates learning.

Concept mapping, a tool originally developed to facilitate student learning by organizing and visualizing key concepts and their relationships, can also be used to represent the composition of the knowledge contained in a course. In this paper, the authors describe a specific application of concept mapping to help instructors and students visualize the knowledge contained in an introductory programming course of an undergraduate Computer Information Systems program. The authors show how representing the knowledge structure of a course using a concept map can enable the faculty to assess the breadth and depth of the knowledge imparted through the course. The authors discuss how a concept map that depicts the composition of a course can function as a useful instructional tool to assess and improve the quality of instruction that may enable meaningful learning among students.

In intelligent e-learning systems that adapt a learning and teaching process to student knowledge, it is important to adapt the system as quickly as possible. However, adaptation is not possible until the student model is initialized. In this paper, a new approach to student model initialization using domain knowledge representative subset is described. The approach defines which concepts from domain knowledge should be included in the initial test so the system can make conclusions about what students truly know about domain knowledge. This representative subset of domain knowledge is defined using non-semantic mathematical approach based on graph theory. The initial test, created over a domain knowledge representative subset, guarantees encompassing all concepts that are relevant to domain knowledge. A two-level case study is conducted on what would be the representative subset of one selected domain knowledge. It compares semantically selected domain knowledge representative subsets (semantical analysis was done by domain area experts) to a non-semantical, mathematically selected domain knowledge representative subset. The results of the case study show that problems of inequality of semantically selected domain knowledge representative subsets are easily overcome using the presented approach.

Thinking is the essence of human existence, unquestionably the highest product of human evolution. Yet it is not possible to convey coherently to students the sum and attainment of all humanity's knowledge. Students would be incapable of absorbing such an enormous quantity of knowledge (corresponding to current developments in individual academic disciplines), as this is often highly abstract. Therefore educational content must be selected, to the extent that it presents a representative selection of knowledge. One of the most effective selection methods could be the use of conceptual mapping in the educational process. In this study the authors focus on the issue of structured teaching material and its relational association with creating students' mental representation, and have several objectives. The first is to analyze constructivist-oriented teaching processes; the authors also give attention to basic theses by which it is possible to delineate the main pillars of constructivist-oriented teaching. Attention is also given to learning strategies. No less important is the analysis of non-linear structured teaching material and its specific types, with an emphasis on conceptual mapping and its role in the teaching process -- in the empirical part the effect of non-linear material in recording topical unit meaningfulness in students' mental representation. In the research undertaken, the methods of conceptual mapping experimenting and testing were used. The consistency of the conceptual maps was evaluated through the relational method using ordinal variables: meaningfulness of conceptual maps. The authors assessed the quality of the conceptual maps with the aid of IRT theory, specifically the latent correlations model. The research sample comprised 96 respondents. Analysis of results showed that the use of non-linear structured teaching material improved students' results in the experimental groups in the researched operationalization parameter.

This article addresses some fundamental issues of concept mapping relevant to discipline-based education. The focus is on manufacturing knowledge representation from the viewpoints of both human and machine learning. The concept of new-generation manufacturing (Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, and connected factory) necessitates learning factory (human learning) and human-cyber-physical systems (machine learning). Both learning factory and human-cyber-physical systems require semantic web-embedded dynamic knowledge bases, which are subjected to syntax (machine-to-machine communication), semantics (the meaning of the contents), and pragmatics (the preferences of individuals involved). This article argues that knowledge-aware concept mapping is a solution to create and analyze the semantic web-embedded dynamic knowledge bases for both human and machine learning. Accordingly, this article defines five types of knowledge, namely, analytic a priori knowledge, synthetic a priori knowledge, synthetic a posteriori knowledge, meaningful knowledge, and skeptic knowledge. These types of knowledge help find some rules and guidelines to create and analyze concept maps for the purposes human and machine learning. The presence of these types of knowledge is elucidated using a real-life manufacturing knowledge representation case. Their implications in learning manufacturing knowledge are also described. The outcomes of this article help install knowledge-aware concept maps for discipline-based education.

Extension concept mapping is a technique to connect prior existing concept maps with new knowledge structures. It offers advantages in each stage of the knowledge-integrating process and encourages learners to improve their performance. While previous studies have confirmed that the extended kit-build concept map outperformed the extended scratch-build approach in terms of comprehension test scores and map size, they have yet to evaluate the quality of concept maps and students' perceptions. Although the size of the concept map components could represent the breadth of personal knowledge, it does not constantly describe the good knowledge structure. In addition, the student's degree of acceptance after the concept mapping demonstrates their intention to use systems in the future. The present study aims to compare the effect of extended scratch-build and extended kit-build on the students' quality of knowledge structures and perceptions. Fifty-five second-year university students were involved and divided into two groups: control and experimental. The control group utilized the extended scratch-build map, while the experimental group used the extended kit-build concept mapping tool. Quality of propositions and structural map scores as learning outcomes were used to measure the students' knowledge structures. The possibility of a relationship between quality scores was expressed using the Spearman correlation. This study involved the Technology Acceptance Model to confirm the students' perceptions of extension concept mapping tools. The perceived ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, and behavioral intention constructs were used to investigate users' intentions. The findings suggest that the quality of propositions and structural map scores in the experimental group were significantly higher than in the control group. This study also found that the extended kit-build method achieved better perceptions scores than the extended scratch-build.

Analysis of principles knowledge representation in information systems led to the necessity of improving the structuring knowledge. It is caused by the development of software component and new possibilities of information technologies. The article combines methodological aspects of structuring knowledge and effective usage of information resources which are designed for the scientific and methodological study of practical recommendations in Digital learning implementation. It is shown at the paper that one of the most important problems, which face the processing of knowledge or construction systems, is knowledge representation. The main idea of the paper is increasing the efficiency at the university learning process on the basis of a possible applications and rational structuring knowledge. The proposed concept of using information resources of Digital Learning is based on the idea of using the principles of abstraction, encapsulation, modularity, hierarchy, typing, concurrency preservation and implementation in such stages of this process as algorithmic support of knowledge structuring and structured transfer of knowledge to students. The topic of the article is unique as we try to see Digital learning in multidisciplinary aspects: education, mathematics, and statistics. The article combines a theoretical approach to structuring knowledge that is based on the integrated usage of fuzzy semantic network, theory of predicates, Boolean functions, theory of complexity of network structures and practical aspects and ways of construction Digital Learning Systems at the University

STEM instruction often uses visual representations. To benefit from these, students need to understand how representations show domain-relevant concepts. Yet, this is difficult for students. Prior research shows that physical representations (objects that students manipulate by hand) and virtual representations (objects on a computer screen that students manipulate via mouse and keyboard) have complementary advantages for conceptual learning. However, physical and virtual representations are often embedded into different social classroom contexts, which may affect social mechanisms through which students construct connections between concepts and representations. Therefore, this paper focuses on the social events that precede concept-representation connections. Twelve high-school students worked collaboratively with physical and virtual representations of chemistry. Frequent pattern mining of discourse data was used to identify social events that often preceded concept-representation connections. Qualitative analysis investigated social mechanisms through which these events may enhance concept-representation connections. Results show that students construct concept-representation connections incrementally. Further, meta-cognitive strategies and instructor prompts often preceded concept-representation connections. Finally, differences between physical and virtual representations were mainly due to different social supports being available in the context in which the representations were embedded. I discuss contributions to literature on learning with multiple representations and to interventions that blend representation modes.

The purpose of the current study is to determine the effect of talking drawings on Turkish preschool children's mental models of the water cycle. The study was conducted in the city of Kastamonu, located in the north-west of Turkey. A total of 40 five-year-old preschool children participated in the study in the spring term of the 2015-2016 school year. Within the context of the study, prior to the initiation of the experimental process, the children were asked to illustrate their opinions about the water cycle through drawings. At the end of the experimental process, they were asked once more to draw pictures to depict the water cycle, after which the code differences between the drawings were determined. At the end of the study it was found that, before the initiation of the experimental process, the codes used by the children most frequently within the framework of the water cycle could be presented in rank order as follows: rain (f = 42, 95.4%), cloud (f = 36, 81.8%) and human (f = 24, 54.5%); after the completion of the experimental process, the same rank order was found: rain (f = 39, 88.6%), cloud (f = 39, 88.6%) and human (f = 28, 63.6%). On the basis of the post-test results, the Mann-Whitney U Test was conducted and revealed a significant difference in the children's drawings in favor of the experimental group (U = 28, z = -5.531, p = 0.000, r = 0.8). Thus, it was concluded that the technique of talking drawings had a positive effect on the children's mental models of the water cycle. In light of this finding, it can be stressed that the technique of talking drawings built on both student-student and teacher-student dialogues, and we recommend that a great emphasis be placed on group work in early childhood science education.

The study aimed to know how does mind-map software assess the representation of learners' knowledge and how brain tester software assess the performance of left, right, auditory, and visual lobes of the brain to represent information. It also aimed to study the differential effectiveness of audio, visual, and audio-visual information to represent knowledge. Mind map tool used to know the students' knowledge representation in science, and for that purpose, different audio, visual, and audio-visual tools used to know how learners process cognitive information; those were experienced in the study. There was no hypothesis to draw inferences but three working hypotheses or the research questions framed to find out the result. Every individual has an independent information processor in left, right, auditory, and visual lobe of brain to represent information. It was also resulted that audio-visual information was more effective to process and represent knowledge than audio and visual information.

Students try to understand many abstract concepts by using mental models they have created by thinking and imagining. Students must have a functional and dynamic atomic model in their minds in order to understand the atomic and atomic concepts. In this study; it was aimed to determine the models of science student candidates using the analogy of atomic concepts by using analogies. The study carried out in the spring semester of 2016-2017 academic year; 47 science teachers were involved with the undergraduate students studying in the second grade. In the study, it was desired to establish an analogy of the atomic concept and to explain this analogy in order to determine the atomic models in the minds of the prospective teachers. Subsequently, in the course of modern physics, the students were told about the atom and atom modeling, and they were asked to establish an analogy with the atomic concept. First of all, their characteristics were examined by analyzing the types of analogies, origin, relationship and similarity that teacher candidates established. Then the answers given by the teacher candidates were separated by categorized by qualitative analysis method and the frequency values were obtained. It has been determined that prospective teachers use daily information in their analogies and use concrete concepts to establish analogies. It is also seen that teacher candidates often try to establish similarities in their analogies in their constructs. Teacher candidates have established similarities in the analogies of atoms such as shape, orientation, disintegration. The analogies used by the prospective teachers initially represented Dalton, Thomson and Bohr atom models; and modern atomic theory, Bohr and Rutherford atomic models. It has been determined that the students do not represent any atomic model of the analogy established by the 7th modern physics lesson before 19th.

Many recent technologies provide the ability to dynamically adjust the interface depending on the emerging cognitive and collaborative needs of the learning episode. This means that educators can adaptively re-design the learning environment during the lesson, rather than purely relying on preemptive learning design thinking. Based on a three-semester design-based research study this paper explores how adaptive learning design can be used to provide learning environments that enable more effective collaboration and representation of information. The analysis culminates in a framework for adaptive learning design of a web-conferencing environment that depends on the type of knowledge being represented and the nature of interaction anticipated. Heuristics for adaptive learning design in synchronous multimodal environments are presented, and the potential role of students as co-designers is also discussed.

The education of architectural designers begins by learning drawing and digital modelling following the notion that students learn these new modes as instruments of thinking in design process. Curricular arguments persist about which mode should follow the other. Difficulties occur when one mode replaces the other. Students uninitiated to design seem to prefer the more immediate volumetric visualization of digital modelling over plans, sections, and elevations, representational views resulting from the un-real "viewpoint" of the section-cut, a means only drawn out of reality through a way-of-looking NOT natural-to-experience. Therefore, the primary difficulty in learning to think through drawings is their abstraction from, rather than connection to, realness--a needless initiating ordeal that confuses rather than clarifies. Digital modelling offers virtual three-dimensional images that seem to students, by contrast, not quite as abstracted from natural experience, albeit framed by non-physical, seductive, machine "otherness". This paper proposes drawing pedagogy that learns from digital modelling by making connections rather than distinctions that more seamlessly connect abstract to actual. Projects will be demonstrated that manipulate three-dimensional forms to initiate drawing learning experiences. Drawing and its abstractions can thus more readily be drawn out of experience and made ultimately more concrete for design thinking.

Knowing what skills underlie college success can allow students, teachers, and universities to identify and to help at-risk students. One skill that may underlie success across a variety of subject areas is structure building, the ability to create mental representations of narratives (Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990). We tested if individual differences in structure-building ability predicted success in two college classes: introductory to psychology and introductory biology. In both cases, structure building predicted success. This effect was robust, with structure building explaining variance in course grades even after accounting for high school GPA and SAT scores (in the psychology course) or a measure of domain knowledge (in the biology course). The results support the claim that structure building is an important individual difference, one that is associated with learning in different domains. [This article was published in "Applied Cognitive Psychology," v30 n3 p454-459 May-Jun 2016.]

Mobile applications are rapidly growing in importance and can be used for various purposes. They had been used widely in education. One of the educational purposes for which mobile applications can be used is learning the right way to read and pronounce the verses of the Holy Quran. There are many applications that translate the Quran into several languages. In addition, there are applications that help users to read the Quran, and search for a particular word or phrase in the text as well as listening to verses of the Holy Quran. This research aims to study the relationships of behavioral factors and perceived usefulness of using the mobile application "Say Quran" for learning Quran on students' perceived performance, satisfaction and behavior. In this research a group of 118 students of the Computer Sciences and Information Systems College at Al Imam Muhammed Bin Saud Islamic University who are studying the Holy Quran course had been asked to use the application to help them on studying the Quran, then a survey had been distributed in order to collect the data. The results from this study provide evidence that there is a positive relationship between mobile application "Say Quran" and students' perceived performance, satisfaction and behavior while engaged in studying the Holy Quran.

Schema is one of the most common terms used for classifying and constructing knowledge. Therefore, a schema is a pre-planned set of concepts. It usually contains social information and is used to represent chain of events, perceptions, situations, relationships and even objects. For example, Kant initially defines the idea of schema as some natural structures that enable us to comprehend nature. According to the perspective of Kant who is a strong nativist, the provided opportunities of human mind help us to comprehend temporal relations and their components. In the 1930s, a content of schema idea similar to Kant's was represented again in a more planned and intentional way by Bartlett from Cambridge University in his study "Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology (1932/reprint,1950)" Therefore, it is vital for readers to compute information using textual or discourse-related means and integrate their background information in the boundaries of textual content and context. Although it is related to the past, Bartlett's approach "[s]chema is an active organization of past experience and reactions. Environmental stimulus contribute to these organized schema" is successful to protect its effects even in today thanks to abstraction of linguistic ideas (cognitive psychology and language), language processing and examination of memory in its natural context. Considering that children who attend elementary school constantly live in close contact with "verbal or written discourse products", the only certainty for all these efforts to comprehend is that it is necessary to continue to produce data for all grade levels until a more integrated approach, supported by more comprehensive and reliable data, is developed. Considering that the research on text interpretation processes have not yet provided an applicable, stand alone alternative, it is evident that such an alternative must benefit from a versatile and interdisciplinary network of information. Furthermore, it is known in the literature on the subject that countless discussions have been and will be held around the scope in question. For instance, despite all the scientific discussions, no assumptions on the nature and processes of text interpretation independent of statements of other fields can be developed.

The aim of this research is identify the effectiveness of a multiple representation-based learning model, which builds a mental model within the concept of atomic structure. The research sample of 108 students in 3 classes is obtained randomly from among students of Mathematics and Science Education Studies using a stratified random sampling technique. The same number of students formed the control group. In the experimental class, the learning was conducted by using multiple representations, whereas the control classes undertook conventional learning. Result of the research shows that (1) Learning with multiple representations is more effective in constructing students' mental models in understanding the concept of atomic structure compared with the conventional learning; (2) Learning with multiple representations is suitable for lessons in classes where the students have low capability level to keep up with those who have a medium and high capability level. These findings indicate that lessons, which involve the macro-sub-micro-symbolic phenomena using multiple representations, may improve their mental model and effectiveness of atomic structure studies. The learning model is discussed as an alternative in class lessons in order for the students with initially low capability to keep up with those of medium and high capability in constructing their mental models.

Knowledge of the appropriate technologies for sustainable development projects has encouraged grass roots development, which has in turn promoted sustainable and successful community development, which a requirement is to share and reuse this knowledge effectively. This research aims to propose a tutorial ontology effectiveness modeling on organic rice farming as an appropriate technology based on sustainable development projects for non-science and technology educated farmers using knowledge engineering approach, using Phrao District in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand as a case study. The effective tutorial ontology model focuses on social science and technology ontologies based on Thai's curriculum of lower secondary school which provides biology, chemistry, math and physics concepts in order to effectively represent knowledge of the organic rice farming. The additional social science ontology knowledge developed in this research provides such a support to vocational learning and used by rural community in the case study to effectively navigate and utilize the appropriate technological knowledge of the sustainable development project knowledge to enhance their communities. The effectiveness of tutorial social science ontology in learning process was measured by counting and validating the average throughput of organic rice farming domain knowledge in learning process in terms of practicing domain knowledge, appropriate domain knowledge with their community and acquiring knowledge by themselves in both control and experimental groups. This study concludes by emphasizing the benefits of effective tutorial ontology modeling on organic rice farming for supporting knowledge transfer technique for non-science and technology educated farmers using knowledge engineering in the community of the case study to enhance their vocational lifelong learning. Ultimately, the tutorial ontology modeling in appropriate technology provides a knowledge transfer for non-science and technology educated farmers effectively.

This journal article discusses Advanced Mathematical Thinking (AMT) and how to enhance it. AMT is ability in representing, abstracting, creative thinking, and mathematical proving. The importance of AMT ability development in accord with government expectation who realize about the importance of mathematical competency mastery for student's life. The advantage in developing AMT among others are: 1) student capable to deliver idea which is possessed in verbal, symbol, table, graphic and diagram. 2) Find deep connection among mathematic branches, 3) know the outcome in one of branch which can trigger conjecture in branch which is related, 4) technique and method from one branch can be applied to prove the outcome in branch which is related, 5) capable to find new idea in problem solving, and 5) capable to understand and construct the proof. One of theory which not only enhance student's learning outcome but also can construct knowledge through student's mental activity, enhance creativity, create class atmosphere which is enjoyable and challenging, and capable to enhance student's AMT ability is APOS approach.

This study aims to explore pre-service elementary teachers' understandings of the environment. A survey method was carried out in this study. A close-ended questionnaire and Draw-An-Environment Test (DAET) are administered to pre-service teachers (N = 255) after instruction of an Environmental Education course. A rubric (DAET-R) is used for assessing the mental models or images of the environment held by preservice teachers. Results of this study suggest that the participants' mental models of the environment are incomplete. Majority of participants' drawings reflect biotic and abiotic environment. Few drawings include human beings as a part of the environment. The results shows that mean scores do not differ regarding to gender, environmental education background, high school type, parental education level, parental occupation, and monthly family income.

This installation is one of a series made and being made while the author writes a life-long poem chronicle, "thecanadaproject." The photographs were taken as the author sifted through her personal archive--a collection that is at once intimate and filled with fragments from a public repository: that of the bombing of an airplane in 1985, in which her aunt and uncle were passengers. The author began a process of writing about the bombing in 2009, and that process led her to the work of Angela Failler, and in conversation with her, to the ideas of R. I. Simon. The current photo series explores the idea of a "transactional space" where private grief meets public memory-history, as unsettled and ongoing--where objectification is toyed with, that which is inherent in record-keeping, in news gathering, and in all forms of representation.

This study (Note 1) investigates potential differences in language use between genders, by applying a modified model of thought representation. Our hypothesis is that women use more direct forms of thought representation than men in modern spoken British English. Women are said to favour "private speech" that creates intimacy and nearness through discourse, which involves direct forms of speech, and thought, representation. Men are said to prefer a more distancing "public speech" style, in order to maintain independence and to hold and negotiate status, which often involves the display of skill and knowledge. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we examine a slightly modified form of the Lancaster SW & TP Spoken corpus, which has been tagged for the full spectrum of the primary categories of thought representation. The results of this study prove our thesis to be correct, there are statistically highly significant differences between the genders' use of direct forms of thought representation. British women use the direct forms more than their male counterparts. This greater use of direct thought categories in their daily discourse depicts a lucidity and consciousness, supposedly faithfully repeating the actual thoughts of the speaker, and it often occurs in a moment of heightened emotional or cognitive state. Therefore, because women seem to be able to express their emotions more lucidly then men, and are more inclined to express their thoughts in more detail, they tend to use more direct forms of thought representation than men in daily discourse.

This theoretical paper introduces a new way to view and characterize learning astronomy. It describes a framework, based on results from empirical data, analyzed through standard qualitative research methodology, in which a theoretical model for a vital competency of learning astronomy is proposed: "reading the sky," a broad description under with various skills and competencies are included. This model takes into account not only "disciplinary knowledge" but also "disciplinary discernment" and "extrapolating three dimensionality." Together, these constitute the foundation for the competency referred to as "reading the sky." In this paper, these competencies are described and discussed and merged to form a new framework vital for learning astronomy to better match the challenges students face when entering the discipline of astronomy.

Discussion forums in learning management systems (LMS) have been shown to promote student interaction and contribute to the collaborative practice in the teaching-learning process. By evaluating the postings, teachers can identify students with learning difficulties. However, due to the large volume of posts that are generated on a daily basis in these environments, manual analysis becomes impractical. This article proposes a mechanism to support teaching through the thematic relevance analysis of the posts made by students in discussion forums. For this, text mining and metrics from network science were used to process and extract characteristics of the texts. Then, the processed texts were classified through supervised learning algorithms. The results show that the use of these techniques may generate potentially useful indicators for teachers to help them improve their pedagogical practices.

The term "cognitive tool" has been used in many areas of academic specialisation, where it has taken on multiple connotations. In this historical and systematic review, we investigate the conceptualisation of cognitive tools in the learning sciences and educational technology. First, the theory of cognitive tools vis-à-vis learning and development is traced from Vygotsky and Soviet psychology through to its use in current educational technology and learning design. Second, we present a systematic review of cognitive tools in peer-reviewed research literature. We found the term cognitive tool was often used vaguely or with extreme generality. When used more specifically, it referred to communication methods such as visualisations, metaphors, symbols, and hypermedia; or interactive interfaces and environments such as templates, databases, simulations, games, and collaborative media. We offer a definition of software-based cognitive tools founded on the attributes of "representation," "interactivity," and "distributed cognition," which commonly feature in the work of influential theorists; and we explain implications of the definition for designing, evaluating, and researching learning technologies.

The representation of knowledge is a process widely used in education for its potential to generate deep learning, metacognition, and also in mapping the student's cognitive structure while developing a broad spectrum of thinking skills. Notwithstanding the above mentioned benefits, the development and evolution of new digital ecologies of learning is still an unexplored field for knowledge representation systems. As part of a larger study, this article shows the process and results of a systematic review of literature on knowledge representation systems, with the purpose of identifying the foundations and main applicable instruments of digital educational environments. Among the most representative findings of this review is that despite the existence of a large number of educational experiences that have incorporated both physical and digital knowledge representation tools, their use has been restricted almost entirely to the understanding of concepts and the assessment of learning in non-collaborative environments. These findings suggest the relevance of studying the representation of knowledge in digital collaborative contexts that facilitate the development of thinking skills for the digital age, and the need for co-creation and transformation of knowledge. Together these suggest a new perspective on knowledge representation for digital ecologies of learning.

Adult developmental mathematics students often work under great pressure to complete the mathematics sequences designed to help them achieve success (Bryk & Treisman, 2010). Results of a teaching experiment demonstrate how the ability to reason can be impeded by flaws in students' mental representations of mathematics. The earnestness of the subject's efforts and the frequent detours his learning took create a vivid portrait of what happens in the lives of students for whom "the dream stops" at developmental mathematics (Bryk & Treisman, 2010, p. 19). Results provide teachers with a clearer picture of what is needed to help their students build mathematical understanding.

Learning organization and entrepreneurship are the most important issues that are focused on different themes in management. The purpose of present research was to study the relationship between learning organization elements and entrepreneurship among academic faculty members of the West Azarbaijan State Universities. The research method was descriptive-survey. Research instruments were two questionnaires. The first one, learning organization elements' questionnaire, which was built by Park (2008), and the second survey questionnaire collected information on the entrepreneurship that was built by Kordnaiej et al. (2005). Both questionnaires validities were confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. The research results indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, the systems thinking, and the entrepreneurship. Along with these findings, some key practical suggestions are proposed: Creating a learning atmosphere and a safe environment for creative scientific competition, considering the issues and their various applications in relationship with each other and systematically that causes a deep relationship between the university academic faculty members which leads to the entrepreneurship.

This case study describes an "out of field" teacher's use of the Internet to teach a range of mathematical topics in a modified Year 8 mathematics class. It highlights the importance of three factors for implementing a discernible web-based teaching strategy: appropriate choice of web objects, effective "virtual" pedagogy, and technical support and expertise. Based on these findings, a framework is suggested for constructing an effective teaching strategy to support the use of virtual resources in the actual mathematics classroom. (Contains 4 figures.)

We present a new software, called Goluca (Godinho, Luengo, and Casas, 2007), based on the technique of Pathfinder Associative Networks (Schvaneveldt, 1989), which produces graphical representations of the cognitive structure of individuals in a given field knowledge. In this case, we studied the strategies used by teachers and its relationship with the perception expressed about their own abilities for mental calculation. First of all, the participants, 14 primary teachers, were asked what opinions they had about their own capabilities of mental calculation, classifying them as good, bad or moderate. Using the software Goluca, representations were obtained in the form of Pathfinder Associative Networks and the cognitive structure of these teachers concerning to the mental calculation strategies they used and calculated the consistency of such networks, denoted as "coherence". The results obtained allowed to identify which were the main strategies used by teachers and specify that teachers, who feel they have good skills in mental calculation, have more consistent cognitive structures. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)

Introduction: The objective of this study is understand the information needs that businesses have while seeking Library and Information Science professionals and analyse how they formulate those needs. Method: The analysis is performed by examining the professional skills and capabilities demanded in job offers published. A total of 1,020 job offers collected from a Spanish employment agency Website have been analysed for the period between 2006 and 2008. Analysis: Knowledge representation techniques using thesauri have been used for the automatic content analysis based on natural language processing. Data extracted from the corpora have been analysed statistically. Results: Results of this study indicate a demand for skills related to technological advances and the management of electronic resources as well as to technical aspects associated with the Informatics domain. The knowledge of languages and the possession of an academic title represent essential factors in the job offers. Conclusions: This method permits the identification of changes in the information needs and the contexts inherent to the profession. The advantage of using thesauri permits other research groups to reproduce the results. The re-use of semantic categories, common to other fields, facilitates the reproduction of this method with other occupational groups or social roles. (Contains 4 tables and 10 figures.)

This study examines the specificity of information provided by structural assessment of knowledge (SAK). SAK is a technique which uses the Pathfinder scaling algorithm to transform ratings of concept relatedness into network representations (PFnets) of individuals' knowledge. Inferences about individuals' overall domain knowledge based on the similarity between their PFnets and a referent PFnet have been shown to be valid. We investigate a more fine grained evaluation of "specific links" in individuals' PFnets for identifying particular strengths and weaknesses. Thirty-five undergraduates learned about a computer programming language and were then tested on their knowledge of the language with SAK and a problem solving task. The presence of two subsets of links in participants' PFnets differentially predicted performance on two types of problems, thereby providing evidence of the specificity of SAK. Implications for the formative use of SAK in the classroom and in computer-based environments are discussed. (Contains 6 figures and 4 endnotes.)

During the past two decades, the popularity of computer and video games has prompted games to be a source of study for educational applications (Dickey, 2007). The most distinguishing characteristic of games is their capability to engage and motivate their players (Kiili, 2005). Educators started to explore game-based learning by testing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games in the classrooms directly and by developing educational games through mimicking the constructions of some popular massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs). These educational explorations of games, however, all tended to highlight their educational purposes and content, which unintentionally diminished their ability to engage and motivate players. This paper suggests the concept of domain knowledge transparency (DKT). This concept indicates that instead of emphasizing the educational content and purposes, domain knowledge should be integrated into games naturally and invisibly to keep the nature of games fun and playful. In addition, the technologies used in modern games have pushed many computer games beyond the boundaries of game genres. Therefore, this article suggests the replacement of game genres with a feature list to identify a game. Finally, this article uses a popular Chinese game, Mai-fang-zi, to illustrate these two ideas.

People use external knowledge representations (KRs) to identify, depict, transform, store, share, and archive information. Learning how to work with KRs is central to be-coming proficient in virtually every discipline. As such, KRs play central roles in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. We describe five key roles of KRs in assessment: (1) An assessment is itself an KR, which makes explicit the knowledge that is valued, ways it is used, and standards of good work; (2) The analysis of any domain in which learning is to be assessed must include the identification and analysis of the KRs in that domain; (3) Assessment tasks can be structured around the knowledge, relationships, and uses of domain KRs; (4) "Design KRs" can be created to organize knowledge about a domain in forms that support the design of assessment; and (5) KRs in the discipline of assessment design can guide and structure the domain analyses (re #2), task construction (re #3), and the creation and use of design KRs (re #4). The third and fourth roles are developed in greater detail, through an "evidence-centered" design perspective that reflects the fifth role. Recurring implications of technology that leverage the impact of KRs in assessment are highlighted, including task design supports and automated task construction and scoring. Ideas are illustrated with "generate examples" tasks and simulation tasks for computer network design and troubleshooting. (Contains 16 figures and 2 tables.)

In the present article, we articulate three assumptions underlying theories proposing that restructuring processes play a key role in insightful problem solving: representational difficulty, representational change, and discontinuity in solution processes. We argue that these assumptions need empirical validation to justify the proposition of restructuring mechanisms that are unique from those involved in classic information-processing theories of problem solving. To this end, we review some theoretical and methodological obstacles that are inherent in the investigation of the existence and nature of restructuring processes. We then offer some recommendations on how to overcome or avoid these obstacles in future studies. Finally, we discuss some questions to help motivate new research.

The object of this study is to model the level of a question difficulty by a differential equation at a pre-specified domain knowledge, to be used in an educational support system. For this purpose, we have developed an intelligent tutoring system for mathematics education. Intelligent Tutoring Systems are computer systems designed for improvement of learning and teaching processes in the domain knowledge. The developed system, which is called as MathITS, is based on conceptual map modeling. The Mathematica Kernel is used as an expert system and knowledge representation is based on "LaTeX" notation in MathITS. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.)

Abstract electronics concepts are difficult to develop because the phenomena of interest cannot be readily observed. Visualisation skills support learning about electronics and can be applied at different levels of representation and understanding (observable, symbolic and abstract). Providing learners with opportunities to make transitions between these representations and levels can enhance learning. This case study research explores the use of multiple representations in the development of electronics concepts. It focuses on the close observation of learning in context and draws on the findings from semi-structured interviews. The findings show that applying appropriate modelling and simulating strategies enhance the procedures of learning through the learner's active agency. Four emergent cognitive profiles, which were shown to characterise learning, describe the different ways participants understood electronics concepts.