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Full-Text Articles in Education
Student Understanding Of Kinematics: A Qualitative Assessment, Andrew Cashman, Tom O'Mahony
Student Understanding Of Kinematics: A Qualitative Assessment, Andrew Cashman, Tom O'Mahony
Publications
In engineering, kinematics is widely regarded as a fundamental topic with the literature agreeing that students possess a wide range in understanding of the topic. This study aims to take a second-order approach by understanding and exploring the qualitatively different ways in which students approach solving kinematics problems. Phenomenography was used to collect data through ten semi-structured interviews with early-stage mechanical engineering students. Following data analysis, four distinct categories of students’ approaches were identified; unstructured, framing the problem, strategic, and conceptual. It was found that these categories could be arranged in a hierarchy and were also supported by secondary epistemic …
Developing Communities Of Practice In Tertiary Education: Improving Teaching And Learning, Aileen Cotter, Rose Leahy, Michele Mcmanus, Mary Oldham, Nollaig O'Sullivan
Developing Communities Of Practice In Tertiary Education: Improving Teaching And Learning, Aileen Cotter, Rose Leahy, Michele Mcmanus, Mary Oldham, Nollaig O'Sullivan
Dept. of Marketing & International Business Conference Material
There is considerable evidence that the development of Communities of Practice (CoP) in education results in improvements in teaching and learning. The reality far too often, however, is that academics remain isolated in their practice with a culture of individualism rather than collaboration the norm. Adopting a case study approach, this research explores the perspectives of academic staff in one department in Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) on CoP. Specifically, the research explores how communities of practice might develop in a third level teaching environment; the type and nature of communities of practice that might develop and if those communities …