Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Newgrange Skyscape In Stellarium, Frank Prendergast

Articles

Newgrange Skyscape in Stellarium is a new customised landscape planetarium model giving the user the unique ability to interrogate the dynamic sky above the Boyne Valley on any date of interest during the hours of daylight or darkness. Archaeological, astronomical and topographical points of interest are labelled in the model and visible even during the hours of darkness. These are summarily described in a short gazetteer appended at the end of the instruction document to encourage further exploration of the wonderful heritage found in the Boyne Valley and beyond.

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=aGPsVGBXkY4

Watch on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/493351576

Assessment And Evaluation Of Student Learning Through A Project-Based Assignment On Note By Note Cooking, Roisin Burke, Pauline Danaher

Articles

Many innovative teaching and learning methods are used in higher level education including projectbased learning (PBL). Since 2012 a PBL assignment project has been undertaken by master students of the Advanced Molecular Gastronomy module at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). The aim is to stimulate student learning and creativity by using Note by Note cooking in a PBL assignment while at the same time complying with the requirements of the annual International Note by Note contest which is held in Paris, France. Direct and indirect assessment methods were used to assign individual grades and to gather student feedback about the …

Asynchronous Assistance: A Social Network Analysis Of Influencing Peer Interactions In Peerwise, Tomas Shields, Geraldine Gray, Barry J. Ryan

Articles

This mixed methods, investigative case study explored student patterns of use within the online PeerWise platform to identify the most influencing activities and to build a model capable of predicting performance based on these influencing activities. Peerwise is designed to facilitate student peer-to-peer engagement through creating, answering and ranking multiple choice questions; this study sought to understand the relationship between student engagement in Peerwise and learning performance. To address the research question, various usage metrics were explored, visualized and modelled, using social network analysis with Gephi, Tableau and Python. These findings were subsequently analyzed in light of the qualitative survey …

Measuring The Mathematical Problem Solving And Procedural Skills Of Students In An Irish Higher Education Institution – A Pilot Study, Fiona Faulkner, Mark Prendergast, Cormac Breen, Michael Carr

Articles

In 2010 the Irish second level mathematics curriculum underwent a period of significant change when a new mathematics curriculum was introduced. Some preliminary research has been carried out into the impact, if any, that this mathematics curriculum is having on students mathematics performance which have suggested that students’ procedural skills are declining year on year however their problem solving skills may have improved (Treacy and Faulkner 2015). Additional research in this area also highlighted that students willingness to engage in problem solving activities may have improved (Prendergast et al 2017). However preliminary analysis on the impact of the reformed mathematics …

Investigating Secondary Students Beliefs About Mathematical Problem-Solving, Mark Prendergast, Cormac Breen, Aibhin Bray, Fiona Faulkner, Brian Carroll, Dominic Quinn

Articles

Many studies over the past thirty years have highlighted the important role of students’ beliefs for successful problem solving in mathematics. Given the recent emphasis afforded to problem solving on the reformed Irish secondary school mathematics curriculum, the main aim of this study was to identify Irish students’ (n = 975) beliefs about the field. A quantitative measure of these beliefs was attained through the use of the Indiana Mathematical Belief Scale, an existing thirty item (five scale) self-report questionnaire. A statistical analysis of the data revealed that students who were further through their secondary education had a stronger belief …

A Survey Of The Prior Programming Experience Of Undergraduate Computing And Engineering Students In Ireland, Glenn Strong, Catherine Higgins, Nina Bresnihan, Richard Millwood

Articles

It has become apparent that increasing numbers of students arriving into undergraduate computing and engineering degree programmes in Irish 3^rd-level institutions have prior experience of computer programming. As the extent of this prior exposure as well as its nature, origins, and usefulness is not known beyond anecdotal evidence, an annual survey of prior programming experience of freshman undergraduates who study programming as part of their degree has been designed and administered. This paper reports on the first two years of this survey in 2015 and 2016. It found that around one third had some prior experience of programming …

How Well Do Engineering Students Retain Core Mathematical Knowledge After A Series Of High Threshold Online Mathematics Tests, Michael Carr, Fiona Faulkner, Cormac Breen, Mark Prendergast

Articles

In the Technological University Dublin, high threshold core skills assessments are run in mathematics for third year engineering students. Such tests require students to reach a threshold of 90% on a multiple-choice test based on a randomised question bank. The material covered by the test consists of the more important aspects of undergraduate engineering mathematics covered in the first two years of the Honours degree programme and/or the three years of the Ordinary degree programme . Students are allowed to re-sit the assessment as frequently as required until they pass. In order to measure the effectiveness of such an exercise …

Maximizing The Impact Of Digital Supports In Mathematics Learning Support In Higher Education – An Overview Of The 9th Annual Imlsn Workshop, Cormac Breen, Anthony Cronin

Articles

In this article we give a short description of the 9th Annual Workshop of the Irish Mathematics Learning Support Network (IMLSN). The workshop theme was ‘Maximizing the impact of digital supports in Mathematics Learning Support in Higher Education’. We briefly describe the Irish Mathematics Learning Support Network (IMLSN) and outline the factors that motivated this workshop theme. We will also discuss the presentations, some of the issues that were raised during the workshop and we close with some brief conclusions on this very successful event.

Investigating The Engagement Of Mature Students With Mathematics Learning Support, Cormac Breen, Michael Carr, Mark Prendergast

Articles

The Maths Learning Support Centre (MLSC) in the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) provides free mathematical support to all DIT students. This support is primarily delivered through a drop-in service, where students can receive one-to-one tuition, without an appointment, in any area of mathematics. In the first semester of the 2013/14 academic year, a significant proportion of students that availed of this drop-in service were mature students enrolled in Engineering programmes. This is of particular interest as mature students constitute a relatively small proportion of the total student body, motivating a deeper study of the reasons for the high levels …

Now For The Science Bit: Implementing Community-Based Learning In Chemistry, Claire M. Mcdonnell, Patricia Ennis, Leslie Shoemaker

Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of student learning from community engagement by critically assessing the implementation of this pedagogical approach in the context of teaching and learning chemistry and also evaluating the role of personal development in student-community engagement.

Design/methodology/approach – A case study on the implementation since 2007 of community-based learning (also called service-learning) projects in an academic department in Ireland is presented. Analysis of assessment grades, student reflective accounts and evaluation questionnaires informs this work as does a recently completed self-assessment of our activities using Shumer’s Self-Assessment for Service Learning. …

The Implementation Of Pre-Lecture Resources To Reduce In-Class Cognitive Load: A Case Study For Higher Education Chemistry, Michael Seery, Roisin Donnelly

Articles

This case study describes an effective method to ameliorate the cognitive load caused by new terminology and concepts in lectures. Ten online pre-lecture resources whose design was underpinned by the principles of cognitive load theory were provided to a class of 49 first year university level chemistry students. Each resource introduced a number of key concepts to the forthcoming lecture and included a quiz for students to test understandings and identify misconceptions. The evaluation of the implementation of resources was measured by considering the difference in exam marks for in-semester test and end of module exam. These showed that the …

Trends In The Mathematical Competency Of University Entrants In Ireland By Leaving Certificate Mathematics Grade, Fiona Faulkner, Ailish Hannigan, Olivia Gill

Articles

This article reports on the mathematical competency of students entering third-level education in the University of Limerick (UL). Data from diagnostic testing, gathered on 5,949 students between the years 1998 and 2008, are used to demonstrate the changes in competency levels of students entering UL. There has been a significant decline in the performance of students in the diagnostic test over time.The performance, on average, of students with the same leaving certificate mathematics grade on entry into university has not changed significantly over time. However, the profile of the entrants has changed considerably and this is contributing to the overall …

Indirect Evaporative Cooling Potential In Air-Water Systems In Temperate Climates, Ben Costelloe, Donal Finn

Articles

Recent developments have prompted a review of evaporative cooling technology as an effective means of cooling modern deep plan buildings. Prominent among these developments is the success of high temperature sensible cooling systems, particularly, chilled ceilings, which require a supply of cooling water at 14–18 °C. Crucial to the success of evaporative cooling technology, as a significant means of cooling in modern applications, is the ability to generate cooling water, in an indirect circuit, at a temperature which closely approaches the ambient adiabatic saturation temperature (AST) or wet bulb temperature (WBT). Recent experimental research has demonstrated that it is technically …