scholarly journals Enhancing the Quality of Learning and Understanding of First Year Mathematics for Computer Science Related Majors

10.28945/2635 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Suraweera
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Discrete Mathematics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Classroom Situation ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Mental Operations ◽  
Over Time

Most courses on Discrete Mathematics are designed to emphasize problem solving, in general. When the goal is to cover the content, the learning and understanding takes a second place. Over time, the students’ understanding will have large gaps of knowledge that leads to non-enjoyment of the course and a great deal of anxiety. Given the choice, most first year students would not do the Discrete Mathematics course. It is not an easy course to teach because of the opposing expectations of the instructor and students. However, as instructors, we all share a common goal: we would like our students to acquire the skills to perform complex mental operations so that they will be successful in the classroom as well as their future careers. In this paper, we present a way to enhance the learning and understanding of Discrete Mathematics whether it is offered in a distance learning mode or a traditional classroom situation.

scholarly journals New Physics Curriculum

2016 ◽  
pp. 17-21
Author(s):  
Lynn Moran
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Undergraduate Teaching ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
The University ◽  
Physics Curriculum

Developing the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of students as rapidly as possible is a key requirement in improving learning outcomes at every stage of their degree. The Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool has entirely redeveloped years 1 and 2 of the undergraduate degree with a focus on students becoming independent learners as early as possible. The aims are to better integrate the undergraduate teaching provision and to complete the Institute of Physics core curriculum in years 1 and 2, in order to focus on research led teaching and independent projects in years 3 and 4. This new programme, entitled New Physics, starts in Welcome Week with the Undergraduate Physics Olympics and continues through the Year 1 Project (Mission to Mars) in the first week of semester one. The aim is to set the standard for collaborative achievement and introduce students to the way that physicists think. Innovative problem solving classes incorporating active learning such as peerassessment,group learning and exemplars designed to improve these skills andenhance the quality of learning among its first-year students have been introduced.

Study time, glasses utilization and age affect quality of life among senior first-year Chinese myopia students

2021 ◽  
pp. 112067212098252
Author(s):  
Ziqian Zhu ◽  
Yan He ◽  
Jiezheng Yang ◽  
Qiaoli Li ◽  
HuanHuan Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Study Time ◽  
First Year ◽  
Normal Vision ◽  
First Year Students

Purpose: To compare the quality of life of senior first-year students with normal vision and myopia, and to explore the risk factors related to quality of life in students with myopia. Methods: In this study, 1103 senior first-year students were enrolled in ten high schools. These students were divided according to the diopter degree, with 916 myopia students and 187 normal vision students. Visual function indexes, such as naked eye vision, were measured and recorded, and social demographic indexes and the National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) was used. The differences in quality of life between the two groups were compared. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the possible risk factors for quality of life in myopia students. Results: In the NEI VFQ-25, the total quality of life scores of myopia students (77.06 ± 15.66) were lower than those of normal vision students (85.49 ± 12.37). The difference was statistically significant ( p = 0.007). In the correlation analysis, the total scores of quality of life in myopia students were positively correlated with wearing glasses ( p = 0.049), and were negatively correlated with study time ( p = 0.029). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that study time, wearing glasses and age were risk factors affecting quality of life in myopia students. Conclusion: Our results show that senior first-year myopia students have lower quality of life scores than students with normal vision. Study time, wearing glasses and age are risk factors for quality of life in senior first-year myopia students.

Criteria and indicators associated with adaptation to the educational process of first-year students at the university

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-93
Author(s):  
Evgeniya N. Popova
Keyword(s):  
Research Topic ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
Higher Education Research ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Self Development ◽  
The University

The issue of adaptation of modern first-year students to the educational process at the university is one of the current pedagogical tasks. Successful adaptation significantly affects the quality of received education, the degree of formation of personal and professional qualities, contributes to the development of motivation, self-education, and self-development. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the criteria, indicators, and levels of adaptation of first-year students to the learning process at the university. The material for the study was the domestic scientific sources of studying the peculiarities of the adaptation process of students to educational activities in higher education. Research methods: analysis and generalization of psychological-pedagogical and educational-methodical literature on the research topic. We determine as the main criteria for the adaptation of first-year students to the university, the adaptive potential and professionally important qualities of students, consider these concepts, their structure, and their basic properties. On the basis of the analysis and generalization of the existing indicators of the implementation of the adaptive potential, we formulate the author's indicators for determining the level of its development. The degree of formation of professionally important qualities of students are low, medium, and high levels of development of emotional intelligence, negative communicative attitude, intellectual lability, and stress tolerance.

scholarly journals Sourcebook update: intestinal smooth muscle contractility and autonomic control

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D. Langton
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
Smooth Muscle Contractility ◽  
Gut Motility ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Authentic Inquiry ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Functional Antagonism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Design Experiments

This laboratory practical requires first-year students to anticipate the effects of drugs active at cholinergic and adrenergic receptors on gut motility in order to design experiments during an authentic inquiry exercise. Rather than specifying a strict sequence of drug additions that aim to provide ideal demonstrations of pharmacological and physiological antagonism, I have instead designed switches into the drugs provided and set students, working in small teams, the task of identifying the switched drugs, an inquiry activity. To extend the teamwork aspect, laboratory reports were submitted by the student teams rather than individual students. Staff observed that discussions within the teams were stimulated by the inquiry-led nature of the practical. The quality of the laboratory reports submitted by teams were substantially improved over the individual reports submitted in previous years. (Students previously worked in teams, but simply followed a list of prescribed experiments and wrote individual reports.) Although, in conversation, teams of students had an improved understanding of the regulation of gut motility by the parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system and could readily distinguish between pharmacological and functional antagonism, no attempt was made to evaluate learning because the revision was triggered by the observed effect of a technical error and was not otherwise planned. It is likely that laboratory practicals, in general, would benefit from inclusion of inquiry.

scholarly journals Emotional Intelligence and Stress Coping Strategies Among Students of Physical Education and Sport Study Programs

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (115) ◽  
Author(s):  
Romualdas Malinauskas ◽  
Tomas Saulius ◽  
Giedrius Kaufmanas
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
First Year ◽  
Stress Coping ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Study Programs ◽  
Stress Coping Strategies

Background. Studies of various scholars confirm the relation between the application of stress coping strategies and emotional intelligence, but there is a lack of research about the relationship between individual coping strategies and emotional intelligence levels among the first- and the fourth-year students. The aim of the research was to reveal peculiarities of emotional intelligence and stress coping strategies of undergraduate students of physical education and sport study programs.Methods. The Shutte Self-Assessment Questionnaire was used to measure the level of emotional intelligence of the participants (Schutte & Malouff, 1999). The questionnaire composed by Grakauskas and Valickas (2006) was used to identify the stress coping strategies. It consists of four factors: social support factor, problem-solving factor, emotional discharge factor and avoidance factor. The research was based on the following ethical principles: confidentiality, anonymity, impartiality and privacy. The first- and the fourth-year students of the Lithuanian Sports University and Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, Physical Education and Sports Programs were surveyed. The research sample consisted of 123 participants. Male participants comprised 66.7% of the sample, and the female participants comprised 33.3%. of the sample. The first-year undergraduates made up 57.7% of the sample, and the fourth-year undergraduates made up 42.3% of the sample.Results. Analyzing the data on the stress coping strategies according to the participants studying experience, it was found that the fourth-year students used the social support strategy more frequently in comparison with the first-year students. In addition, the fourth-year students applied emotional discharge and avoidance strategies more often than the first-year students. Comparing stress coping strategies and emotional intelligence according to the gender of participants, no statistically significant differences were found. There was a statistically significant relationship between the stress coping strategy and the ability to evaluate and express one’s emotions.Conclusions. Comparing emotional intelligence of the first- and the fourth-year students of physical education and sports study programs, no statistically significant differences were found. Comparison of stress coping strategies applied by the first- and the fourth-year students of physical education and sports degree programs revealed that the fourth-year students tended to use social support, emotional discharge and avoidance strategies more frequently than the first-year students. Comparison of stress coping strategies and emotional intelligence according to gender did not show any statistically significant differences. However, there was a statistically significant relationship between stress coping strategies and emotional intelligence, though it was a weak, but significant difference between emotional intelligence components such as the ability to express and manage emotions and problem-solving focused stress coping strategy.Keywords: stress, stress management strategies, emotional intelligence.

Learning styles of medical students change in relation to time

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erol Gurpinar ◽  
Hilal Bati ◽  
Cihat Tetik
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Integrated Curriculum ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Curriculum Models ◽  
Hybrid Curriculum ◽  
Over Time

The aim of the present study was to investigate if any changes exist in the learning styles of medical students over time and in relation to different curriculum models with these learning styles. This prospective cohort study was conducted in three different medical faculties, which implement problem-based learning (PBL), hybrid, and integrated curriculum models. The study instruments were Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and a questionnaire describing the students' demographic characteristics. Sample selection was not done, and all first-year students ( n = 547) were targeted. This study was designed in two phases. In the first year, the study instruments were delivered to the target group. The next year, the same instruments were delivered again to those who had fully completed the first questionnaire ( n = 525). Of these, 455 students had completed the instruments truly and constituted the study group. The majority of the students were assimilators and convergers in both the first and second years. A change in learning style was observed between 2 yr in 46.9% of the students in the integrated curriculum, in 49.3% of the students in the hybrid curriculum, and 56.4% of the students in the PBL curriculum. The least and most changes observed between the learning style groups were in assimilators and divergers, respectively. Curriculum models and other independent variables had no significant effect on the change between learning styles. The learning styles of medical students may change over time. Further followup studies in larger groups are needed to clarify this relation.

By Measure: Creativity in Design

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 353-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad Hokanson
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
First Year ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Creative Problem Solving ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Design Students ◽  
Creative Problem

Specific training may be required to develop creativity in design students. At the very least, training is valuable in developing creativity in first-year students. Creativity is a skill that can be examined, used and taught - and it is one that is central to designing. This paper presents the results of empirical research from a class in creative problem solving for design students. The nature of creativity and the structure of the class are described, and this is followed by an outline of the research methodology and the use of the verbal Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Creativity, as measured through the test, significantly increased.

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