Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

Data Mining - Concepts and Techniques.

How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Random graphs

The organization of behavior: A neuropsychological theory

This article describes learning with media as a complementary process within which representations are constructed and procedures performed, sometimes by the learner and sometimes by the medium It reviews research on learning with books, television, computers, and multimedia environments These media are distinguished by cognitively relevant characteristics of their technologies, symbol systems, and processing capabilities Studies are examined that illustrate how these characteristics, and the instructional designs that employ them, interact with learner and task characteristics to influence the structure of mental representations and cognitive processes Of specific interest is the effect of media characteristics on the structure, formation, and modification of mental models Implications for research and practice are discussed

Learning with Media

This article addresses the position taken by Clark (1983) that media do not influence learning under any conditions. The article reframes the questions raised by Clark to explore the conditions under which media will influence learning. Specifically, it posits the need to consider the capabilities of media, and the methods that employ them, as they interact with the cognitive and social processes by which knowledge is constructed. This approach is examined within the context of two major media-based projects, one which uses computers and the other, video. The article discusses the implications of this approach for media theory, research and practice.

Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate

In two experiments, we examined how professional chemists (i.e., experts) and undergrad- uate chemistry students (i.e., novices) respond to a variety of chemistry representations (video segments, graphs, animations, and equations). In the first experiment, we provided subjects with a range of repre- sentations and asked them to group them together in any way that made sense to them. Both experts and novices created chemically meaningful groupings. Novices formed smaller groupings and more often used same-media representations. Experts used representations in multiple media to form larger groups. The rea- sons experts gave for their groupings were judged to be conceptual, while those of novices were judged to be based on surface features. In the second experiment, subjects were asked to transform a range of rep- resentations into specified alternative representations (e.g., given an equation and asked to draw a graph). Experts were better than novices in providing equivalent representations, particularly verbal descriptions for any given representation. We discuss the role that surface features of representations play in the un- derstanding of chemistry, and we emphasize the importance of developing representational competence in chemistry students. We draw implications for the role that multiple representations—particularly linguis- tic ones—should play in chemistry curriculum, instruction, and assessment. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 949-968, 1997. The expansion of the universe, tectonic plate drift, evolution of the species, and molecular structure and reactivity are all scientific phenomena that are not available to direct experience. Whether the phenomenon is cosmological, geological, biological, or chemical, our window on the world is really very small. But perhaps more than other sciences, understanding chemistry relies on making sense of the invisible and untouchable. Much of what is chemistry exists at a molecular level and is not accessible to direct perception. Whereas the experiments used in classroom demonstrations are carefully selected to denote chemical processes by changing col- or, precipitating a solid, or giving off heat, most chemical reactions in the real world occur at rates that are so fast or slow, or their products are so dispersed, colorless, or odorless, as to make them difficult to detect.

Multimedia and understanding: Expert and novice responses to different representations of chemical phenomena

http://www.compassproject.net/sadhana/teaching/readings/kozma_learning_instruction.pdf

The material features of multiple representations and their cognitive and social affordances for science understanding

This chapter examines the role that representations and visualizations can play in the chemical curriculum. Two types of curricular goals are examined: students’ acquisition of important chemical concepts and principles and students’ participation in the investigative practices of chemistry—“students becoming chemists.” Literature in learning theory and research support these two goals and this literature is reviewed. The first goal relates to cognitive theory and the way that representations and visualizations can support student understanding of concepts related to molecular entities and processes that are not otherwise available for direct perception. The second goal relates to situative theory and the role that representations and visualizations play in development of representational competence and the social and physical processes of collaboratively constructing an understanding of chemical processes in the laboratory. We analyze research on computer-based molecular modeling, simulations, and animations from these two perspectives and make recommendations for instruction and future research.

Robert Kozma

Papers

Learning with Media

Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate

Multimedia and understanding: Expert and novice responses to different representations of chemical phenomena

The material features of multiple representations and their cognitive and social affordances for science understanding

Students Becoming Chemists: Developing Representationl Competence