Search results for: pedagogical knowledge

Authors: Zeynep Guler

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Argumentation and the production of scientific arguments are essential components that are necessary for helping students become scientifically literate through engaging them in constructing and critiquing ideas. Incorporating argumentation into science classrooms is challenging and can be a long-term process for both students and teachers. Students have difficulty in engaging tasks that require them to craft arguments, evaluate them to seek weaknesses, and revise them. Teachers also struggle with facilitating argumentation when they have underdeveloped science practices, underdeveloped pedagogical knowledge for argumentation science teaching, or underdeveloped teaching practice with argumentation (or a combination of all three). Thus, there is a need to support teachers in developing pedagogy for science teaching as argumentation, planning and implementing teaching practice for facilitating argumentation and also in becoming more agentic in this regards. Looking specifically at the experience of agency within education, it is arguable that agency is necessary for teachers’ renegotiation of professional purposes and practices in the light of changing educational practices. This study investigated how science teachers develop pedagogy for argumentation both individually and with their colleagues and also how teachers become more agentic (or not) through the active engagement of their contexts-for-action that refer to this as an ecological understanding of agency in order to positively influence or change their practice and their students' engagement with argumentation over two academic years. Through educational design study, this study conducted with three secondary science teachers (key stage 3-year 7 students aged 11-12) in the UK to find out if similar or different patterns of developing pedagogy for argumentation and of becoming more agentic emerge as they engage in planning and implementing a cycle of activities during the practice of teaching science with argumentation. Data from video and audio-recording of classroom practice and open-ended interviews with the science teachers were analysed using content analysis. The findings indicated that all the science teachers perceived strong agency in their opportunities to develop and apply pedagogical practices within the classroom. The teachers were pro-actively shaping their practices and classroom contexts in ways that were over and above the amendments to their pedagogy. They demonstrated some outcomes in developing pedagogy for argumentation and becoming more agentic in their teaching in this regards as a result of the collaboration with their colleagues and researcher; some appeared more agentic than others. The role of the collaboration between their colleagues was seen crucial for the teachers’ practice in the schools: close collaboration and support from other teachers in planning and implementing new educational innovations were seen as crucial for the development of pedagogy and becoming more agentic in practice. They needed to understand the importance of scientific argumentation but also understand how it can be planned and integrated into classroom practice. They also perceived constraint emerged from their lack of competence and knowledge in posing appropriate questions to help the students engage in argumentation, providing support for the students' construction of oral and written arguments.

Keywords: argumentation, teacher professional development, teacher agency, students' construction of argument

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Authors: Shenghui Wu, Patricia Chalela, Amelie G. Ramirez

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Background: Cervical cancer (CC), colorectal cancer (CRC), and breast cancer (BC) are diseases that can be prevented/detected through early test. Through educational programs, individuals can become better informed about these cancers and understand the importance of screening and early detection. A community-based educational program was developed to improve knowledge and awareness toward the screening of the three cancer types in a South Texas underserved population. Methods: Residents living in Laredo, Texas were invited to participate in the present study. From January 2020 to April 2021, participants were recruited using social media and flyer distributions in general community. Participants received a free live web cancer education presentation delivered by bilingual community health educators, and online pre- and post-education surveys for CC, CRC, and BC separately. Pre-post changes in knowledge for individual items were compared using McNemar’s chi-squared tests. Results: Overall, participants demonstrated increases in CC (n=237), CRC (n=59), and BC (n=56) screening knowledge and awareness after receiving the cancer screening education (Ps<0.05). After receiving the cancer screening education, 85-97% of participants had an intent to talk to a healthcare provider about CC/CRC/BC screening, 88-97% had an intent to get a CC/CRC/BC screening test in the next 12 months or at the next routine appointment, and 90-97% had an intent to talk about CC/CRC/BC with their family members or friends. Conclusion: A community-based educational program can help increase knowledge and awareness about cervical, colorectal, and breast cancer screening, promote positive changes in population's knowledge and awareness about the benefits of cancer screening.

Keywords: cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, educational program, health knowledge, awareness, Hispanics, screening, health education

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Authors: Hamad Aldosari

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of sexism, or gender discrepancies, in current pedagogical and curricular practices in EFL learning higher education settings. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of both course contents and pedagogies in Saudi higher education institutions are to be discussed with reference to female/male topic presentation in dialogs and reading passages, sex-based activity types, stereotyped sex roles and the masculine generic conceptions of male superiority subliminally related in EFL curriculum and pedagogical practices, as well as the causes and effects of segregated language education practices in Saudi Arabia from a holistic vantage point of analysis. Analysis findings show that language educational practices including educational settings and segregation are gender-biased in attitude, but with regard to curriculum, sexism has not been traced. Findings also show that sexism is rampant due to socio-cultural aspects of language education rather than to religious reasons: a finding that seems to mirror the institutionalized unfair sex discrimination to the disadvantage of women in the Arabian societies at large.

Keywords: genderism, sex segregation, Saudi Arabia, EFL

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Authors: Solehah Yaacob

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The study focuses on revisiting the effectiveness of Critical Thinking in human mind capability as a major faculty in human life. The tool used as a measurement of this knowledge ability consists of several processes including experience and education background. To emphasize the `Overview` concept, the researcher highlights two major aspects of philosophical approach, they are; Divine Revelation Concept and Modern Scientific Theory. The research compares between the both parties to introduce the Divine Revelation into Modern Scientific theory. An analytical and critical study of the both concepts become the methodology of the discussion.

Keywords: critical thinking, knowledge, intellectual, language

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Authors: José Carlos Rodríguez, Mario Gómez

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The aim of this paper is to get insight on the nature of university-industry technology transfer (UITT) and technology transfer offices (TTOs) activity at universities in the case of emerging economies. In relation to the process of transferring knowledge/technology in the case of emerging economies, knowledge/technology transfer in these economies are more reactive than in developed economies due to differences in maturity of technologies. It is assumed in this paper that knowledge/technology transfer is a complex phenomenon, and thus the paper contributes to get insight on the nature of UITT and TTOs creation in the case of emerging economies by using a system dynamics model of knowledge/technology transfer in these countries. The paper recognizes the differences between industrialized countries and emerging economies on these phenomena.

Keywords: university-industry technology transfer, technology transfer offices, technology transfer models, emerging economies

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Authors: Nan Hu, Wujun Wang

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In the ever-changing digital arena, augmented reality (AR) applications have transitioned from technological enthusiasm into business endeavors, signaling a near future in which AR applications are integrated into daily life. While practitioners in the design industry continue to explore AR’s potential for innovative communication, educators have taken steps to incorporate AR into the curricula for design, explore its creative potential, and realize early initiatives for teaching AR in design-related disciplines. In alignment with recent advancements, this paper presents a pedagogical model for a hybrid studio course in which students collaborate with AR alongside 3D modeling and graphic design. The course extended students’ digital capacity, fostered their design thinking skills, and immersed them in a multidisciplinary design process. This paper outlines the course and evaluates its effectiveness by discussing challenges encountered and outcomes generated in this particular pedagogical context. By sharing insights from the teaching experience, we aim to empower the community of design educators and offer institutions a valuable reference for advancing their curricular approaches. This paper is a testament to the ever-evolving landscape of design education and its response to the digital age.

Keywords: 3D, AR, augmented reality, design thinking, graphic design

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Authors: Nicolas Peyret, Sylvain Courtois, Gaël Chevallier

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This article outlines the development of the Project Based Learning (PBL) at the level of a last year’s Bachelor’s Degree. This form of pedagogy has for objective to allow a better involving of the students from the beginning of the module. The theoretical contributions are introduced during the project to solving a technological problem. The module in question is the module of mechanical dimensioning method of Supméca a French engineering school. This school issues a Master’s Degree. While the teaching methods used in primary and secondary education are frequently renewed in France at the instigation of teachers and inspectors, higher education remains relatively traditional in its practices. Recently, some colleagues have felt the need to put the application back at the heart of their theoretical teaching. This need is induced by the difficulty of covering all the knowledge deductively before its application. It is therefore tempting to make the students 'learn by doing', even if it doesn’t cover some parts of the theoretical knowledge. The other argument that supports this type of learning is the lack of motivation the students have for the magisterial courses. The role-play allowed scenarios favoring interaction between students and teachers… However, this pedagogical form known as 'pedagogy by project' is difficult to apply in the first years of university studies because of the low level of autonomy and individual responsibility that the students have. The question of what the student actually learns from the initial program as well as the evaluation of the competences acquired by the students in this type of pedagogy also remains an open problem. Thus we propose to add to the pedagogy by project format a regressive part of interventionism by the teacher based on pedagogy by example. This pedagogical scenario is based on the cognitive load theory and Bruner's constructivist theory. It has been built by relying on the six points of the encouragement process defined by Bruner, with a concrete objective, to allow the students to go beyond the basic skills of dimensioning and allow them to acquire the more global skills of engineering. The implementation of project-based teaching coupled with pedagogy by example makes it possible to compensate for the lack of experience and autonomy of first-year students, while at the same time involving them strongly in the first few minutes of the module. In this project, students have been confronted with the real dimensioning problems and are able to understand the links and influences between parameter variations and dimensioning, an objective that we did not reach in classical teaching. It is this form of pedagogy which allows to accelerate the mastery of basic skills and so spend more time on the engineer skills namely the convergence of each dimensioning in order to obtain a validated mechanism. A self-evaluation of the project skills acquired by the students will also be presented.

Keywords: Bruner's constructivist theory, mechanisms dimensioning, pedagogy by example, problem based learning

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Authors: Tomas Kos

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An increasing body of research has explored patterns of interaction and peer support among young learners. Although some studies suggest that young learners can collaborate and support each other, other studies indicate that young learners may lack the ability to work together and support one another when interacting on classroom tasks. Moreover, despite the claims that peer collaboration is conducive to learning, studies have not paid enough attention to the “how” to enhance peer collaboration on classroom tasks. To fill this gap, this “how-to” article proposes that teaching young learners how to work together is a powerful pedagogical tool that can greatly improve collaborative behavior and a sense of mutuality among young learners. This article will pay particular attention to primary schools and the context of English as a foreign language. It will first review literature related to patterns of interaction and peer support conducted in the cognitive and sociocultural framework. It will then address what it actually means to collaborate. At the heart of the article, it will discuss some practical pedagogical ideas for language teachers, which entail teaching collaborative principles and strategies that will help their students to support each other and engage in communication with each other.

Keywords: young learners, peer collaboration, peer interaction, peer support, patterns of interaction

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Authors: Hanafizan Hussain

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This study shows that several projects will be conducted at the workshop in which using the conceptual model for knowledge sharing approach to create an idea for mobile application. The sharing idea has been done through the collaborative activity in which a group of different field sought to define the mobile application which will lead to new media approach of using social media platform. The collaborative activity will be provided and implemented in the form of one day workshop to determine the approach towards the theme given. The activity later will be continued for four weeks for the participant to prepare for the pitch day workshop. This paper shows the pitch of idea including the interface and prototype for the said products. The collaboration between the members with different field of study shows that social media influenced the knowledge sharing model and its creation or innovations. One of the projects supported a collaborative activity in which a group of young designers sought to define the knowledge sharing model of their ability in creating idea for mobile applications.

Keywords: mobile application, collaborative activity, conceptual knowledge sharing model, social media platform

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Authors: H. S. Niroshani, W. M. Ediri Arachchi, R. Tudugala, U. J. M. A. L. Jayasinghe, U. M. U. J. Jayasekara, P. B. Hewavithana

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Mammography is used as a screening tool for early diagnosis of breast cancer. It is also useful in refining the diagnosis of breast cancer either by assessment or work up after a suspicious area in the breast has been detected. In order to detect breast cancer accurately and at the earliest possible stage, the image must have an optimum contrast to reveal mass densities and spiculated fibrous structures radiating from them. In addition, the spatial resolution must be adequate to reveal the suffusion of micro calcifications and their shape. The above factors can be optimized by implementing an effective QA programme to enhance the accurate diagnosis of mammographic imaging. Therefore, the radiographer’s knowledge on QA is greatly instrumental in routine mammographic practice. The aim of this study was to assess the radiographer’s knowledge on Quality Assurance and Quality Control programmes in relation to mammographic procedures. A cross-sectional study was carried out among all radiographers working in each mammography setting in Sri Lanka. Pre-tested, anonymous self-administered questionnaires were circulated among the study population and duly filled questionnaires returned within a period of three months were taken into the account. The data on demographical information, knowledge on QA programme and associated QC tests, overall knowledge on QA and QC programmes were obtained. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistical software (version 20.0). The total response rate was 59.6% and the average knowledge score was 54.15±11.29 SD out of 100. Knowledge was compared on the basis of education level, special training of mammography, and the years of working experience in a mammographic setting of the individuals. Out of 31 subjects, 64.5% (n=20) were graduate radiographers and 35.5% (n=11) were diploma holders while 83.9% (n=26) of radiographers have been specially trained for mammography and 16.1% (n=5) have not been attended for any special training for mammography. It is also noted that 58.1% (n=18) of individuals possessed their experience of less than one year and rest 41.9% (n=13) of them were greater than that. Further, the results found that there is a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the knowledge of QA and overall knowledge on QA and QC programme in the categories of education level and working experience. Also, results imply that there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the knowledge of QC test among the groups of trained and non-trained radiographers. This study reveals that education level, working experience and the training obtained particularly in the field of mammography have a significant impact on their knowledge on QA and QC in mammography.

Keywords: knowledge, mammography, quality assurance, quality control

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Authors: Arfaoui Emna, Nouira Mariem

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Background and aims: Breastfeeding is the reference feeding for a child, especially during the first months of life. It is not widespread in many countries due to many factors. There has been a decline in exclusive breastfeeding (EB) practice, particularly in the middle- and low-income countries, i.e., Tunisia. The aim of our study was to describe the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of a sample of Tunisian mothers toward breastfeeding. Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted during the year 2022 over a period of two months in three health structures in the north of Tunisia among mothers of infants aged 2 to 18 months. Levels of mothers’ knowledge (low/moderate/high) were determined using a score ranging from 0 to 11 points. EB was defined as the proportion of infants who were exclusively breastfed during the first six months of life. Results: A total of 180 women with a mean age of 33±4.9 years were included. The average knowledge score was equal to 6.4 ±1.5 points, with extremes ranging from 3 to 11 points. Most of the respondents had a moderate knowledge level (44.4%). More than half of surveyed mothers (66.1%) thought that breastfeeding deforms breasts, and 16.7% thought that breastfeeding is specific to women who do not work. Breastfeeding experience during the first week of life was considered difficult in 70% of cases. The prevalence of EB up to 6 months of age was equal to 16.4% [10.8-23.2]. The main reported obstacles during breastfeeding practice were having an insufficient quantity of breast milk (18.3%) and child difficulties with sucking (12.8%), and having pain in the breast while breastfeeding (12.80%). Conclusion: Our results highlighted the insufficient level of knowledge and a low prevalence of EB in our study population. Improving mothers’ knowledge and promoting EB practice is needed. Implementing health education strategies involving healthcare workers, who represent a main actor in education and breastfeeding promotion, is very important to reach a satisfactory frequency for EB.

Keywords: breastfeeding, practices, knowledge, Tunisia

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Authors: Said Ettaieb, Kamel Hamrouni, Su Ruan

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This paper presents a new method based both on Active Shape Model and a priori knowledge about the spatio-temporal shape variation for tracking deformable structures in medical imaging. The main idea is to exploit the a priori knowledge of shape that exists in ASM and introduce new knowledge about the shape variation over time. The aim is to define a new more stable method, allowing the reliable detection of structures whose shape changes considerably in time. This method can also be used for the three-dimensional segmentation by replacing the temporal component by the third spatial axis (z). The proposed method is applied for the functional and morphological study of the heart pump. The functional aspect was studied through temporal sequences of scintigraphic images and morphology was studied through MRI volumes. The obtained results are encouraging and show the performance of the proposed method.

Keywords: active shape model, a priori knowledge, spatiotemporal shape variation, deformable structures, medical images

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Authors: Ashraf Ibrahim Awad

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It is important to formulate suitable learning environments ca-pable to be customized according to value perceptions of the university. In this paper, light is shed on the concepts of integration between knowledge management (KM), and e-learning (EL) in the higher education sector of the economy in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE). A discussion on and how KM and EL can be integrated and leveraged for effective education and training is presented. The results are derived from the literature and interviews with 16 of the academics in eight universities in the Emirate. The conclusion is that KM and EL have much to offer each other, but this is not yet reflected at the implementation level, and their boundaries are not always clear. Interviews have shown that both concepts perceived to be closely related and, responsibilities for these initiatives are practiced by different departments or units.

Keywords: knowledge management, e-learning, learning integration, universities, UAE

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Authors: Diyaolu Babajide Olufemi, Oyerinde Oyewole Olusesan

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This study examined the effect of sex education training programs on the knowledge and practice of sexual risk behavior among secondary school adolescents in Ibadan North Local Government area of Oyo State. A total of 105 students were sampled from two schools in the Local Government area. Seventy students (70) constituted the experimental group while thirty-five (35) constituted the control group. Pretest-Posttest control group quasi-experimental design was adopted. A self-developed questionnaire was used to test participants’ knowledge and practice of sexual risk behavior before and after the training (α=.62, .82 and .74). Analysis indicated a significant effect of sex education training on participants’ knowledge and practice of sexual risk behavior, a significant gender difference in knowledge of sexual risk behavior but no significant age and gender difference in the practice of sexual risk behavior. It was thus concluded that sex education should be taught in schools and emphasized at homes with no age or gender restrictions.

Keywords: early adolescent, health risk, sexual risk behavior, sex education

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Authors: Ahmad A. Kader

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In the principles of Microeconomics course taught during the Fall Semester 2019, 158out of 179 students participated in the completion of two questionnaires and a survey describing their demographic and academic profiles. The two questionnaires include the 29 items of the Rotter Locus of Control Scale and the 52 items of the Schraw andDennisonMetacognitive Awareness Scale. The 52 items consist of 17 items describing knowledge of cognition and 37 items describing the regulation of cognition. The paper is intended to show the combined influence of locus of control, metacognitive knowledge, and metacognitive regulation on student performance. The survey covers variables that have been tested and recognized in economic education literature, which include GPA, gender, age, course level, race, student classification, whether the course was required or elective, employments, whether a high school economic course was taken, and attendance. Regression results show that of the economic education variables, GPA, classification, whether the course was required or elective, and attendance are the only significant variables in their influence on student grade. Of the educational psychology variables, the regression results show that the locus of control variable has a negative and significant effect, while the metacognitive knowledge variable has a positive and significant effect on student grade. Also, the adjusted R square value increased markedly with the addition of the locus of control, metacognitive knowledge, and metacognitive regulation variables to the regression equation. The t test results also show that students who are internally oriented and are high on the metacognitive knowledge scale significantly outperform students who are externally oriented and are low on the metacognitive knowledge scale. The implication of these results for educators is discussed in the paper.

Keywords: locus of control, metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive regulation, student performance, economic education

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Authors: Vahid Bairami Rad

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Extracting knowledge from spatial data like GIS data is important to reduce the data and extract information. Therefore, the development of new techniques and tools that support the human in transforming data into useful knowledge has been the focus of the relatively new and interdisciplinary research area ‘knowledge discovery in databases’. Thus, we introduce a set of database primitives or basic operations for spatial data mining which are sufficient to express most of the spatial data mining algorithms from the literature. This approach has several advantages. Similar to the relational standard language SQL, the use of standard primitives will speed-up the development of new data mining algorithms and will also make them more portable. We introduced a database-oriented framework for spatial data mining which is based on the concepts of neighborhood graphs and paths. A small set of basic operations on these graphs and paths were defined as database primitives for spatial data mining. Furthermore, techniques to efficiently support the database primitives by a commercial DBMS were presented.

Keywords: spatial data base, knowledge discovery database, data mining, spatial relationship, predictive data mining

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Authors: Teklu Urgessa, Wookjae Maeng, Joong Seek Lee

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Application of five implementations of three data mining classification techniques was experimented for extracting important insights from tourism data. The aim was to find out the best performing algorithm among the compared ones for tourism knowledge discovery. Knowledge discovery process from data was used as a process model. 10-fold cross validation method is used for testing purpose. Various data preprocessing activities were performed to get the final dataset for model building. Classification models of the selected algorithms were built with different scenarios on the preprocessed dataset. The outperformed algorithm tourism dataset was Random Forest (76%) before applying information gain based attribute selection and J48 (C4.5) (75%) after selection of top relevant attributes to the class (target) attribute. In terms of time for model building, attribute selection improves the efficiency of all algorithms. Artificial Neural Network (multilayer perceptron) showed the highest improvement (90%). The rules extracted from the decision tree model are presented, which showed intricate, non-trivial knowledge/insight that would otherwise not be discovered by simple statistical analysis with mediocre accuracy of the machine using classification algorithms.

Keywords: classification algorithms, data mining, knowledge discovery, tourism

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Authors: Habibollah Mashhady, Behruz Lotfi, Mohammad Doosti, Moslem Fatollahi

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An exploration of the related literature reveals that all instruction methods aim at training autonomous learners. After the turn of second language pedagogy toward learner-oriented strategies, learners’ needs were more focused. Yet; the historical, social and political aspects of learning were still neglected. The present study investigates the notion of autonomous learning and explains its various facets from a pedagogical point of view. Furthermore; different elements, fields and scopes of autonomous learning will be explored. After exploring different aspects of autonomy, it is postulated that liberatory autonomy is highlighted since it not only covers social autonomy but also reveals learners’ capabilities and human potentials. It is also recommended that learners consider different elements of autonomy such as motivation, knowledge, confidence, and skills.

Keywords: critical pedagogy, social autonomy, academic learning, cultural notions

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Authors: Loghman Ansarian, Teoh Mei Lin

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In an attempt to increase oral proficiency of Iranian EFL learners, the researchers compared the effect of problem-based mobile-assisted language learning with the conventional language learning approach (Communicative Language Teaching) in Iran. The experimental group (n=37) went through PBL instruction and the control group (n=33) went through conventional instruction. The results of quantitative data analysis after 26 sessions of treatment revealed that PBL could positively affect participants' knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, spoken fluency, and pronunciation; however, in terms of task achievement, no significant effect was found. This study can have pedagogical implications for language teachers, and material developers.

Keywords: problem-based learning, spoken intelligibility, Iranian EFL context, cognitive learning

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Authors: Ajay Das, Sandip Basu

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Introduction: There is increasing recognition that diverse streams of knowledge can often be recombined in novel ways to generate new knowledge. However, knowledge recombination theory has not been applied to examine the effects of collaborator diversity on the quality of knowledge such collaborators produce. This is surprising because one would expect that a collaborative team with certain aspects of diversity should be able to recombine process elements related to knowledge development, which are relatively tacit, but also complementary because of the collaborator’s varying backgrounds. Theory and Hypotheses: We propose to examine two aspects of diversity in the environments of collaborative teams to try and capture such potential recombinations of relatively tacit, process knowledge. The first aspect of diversity in team members’ environments is geographical. Collaborators with more geographical distance between them (perhaps working in different countries) often have more autonomy in the processes they adopt for knowledge development. In the absence of overt monitoring, such collaborators are likely to adopt differing approaches to knowledge development. The sharing of such varying approaches among collaborators is likely to result in greater quality of the common collaborative pursuit. The second aspect is diversity in the work backgrounds of team members. Such diversity can also increase the potential for knowledge recombination. For example, if one or more members are from a manufacturing center (versus all of them being from a purely R&D center), such members will provide unique perspectives on the implementation of innovative ideas. Again, knowledge that has been evaluated from these diverse perspectives is likely to be of a higher quality. In addition to the above aspects of environmental diversity among team members, we also plan to examine the extent to which individual collaborators are in different environments from the primary innovation center of their employing firms. Proposed Methods: We will test our model on a sample of firms in the semiconductor industry. Our level of analysis will be individual patents generated by these firms and the teams involved in the generation of these. Information on manufacturing activities of our sample firms will be obtained from SEMI, a proprietary database of the semiconductor industry, as well as company 10-K reports. Conclusion: We believe that our results will represent a preliminary attempt to understand how various forms of diversity in collaborative teams impact the knowledge development process. Our dependent variable of knowledge quality is important to study since higher values of this variable can not only drive firm performance but the broader development of regions and societies through spillover impacts on future innovation. The results of this study will, therefore, inform future research and practice in innovation, geographical location, and vertical integration.

Keywords: innovation, manufacturing strategy, knowledge, diversity

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Authors: Reyhan Tekin Sitrava

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Teachers should have robust and comprehensive content knowledge for effective mathematics teaching. It was explained that content knowledge includes knowing the facts, truths, and concepts; explaining the reasons behind these facts, truths and concepts, and making relationship between the concepts and other disciplines. By virtue of its importance, it will be significant to explore teachers and prospective teachers’ content knowledge related to variety of topics in mathematics. From this point of view, the purpose of this study was to investigate prospective mathematics teachers’ content knowledge. Particularly, it was aimed to reveal the prospective teachers’ knowledge regarding the definition of limit and derivate. To achieve the purpose and to get in-depth understanding, a qualitative case study method was used. The data was collected from 34 prospective mathematics teachers through a questionnaire containing 2 questions. The first question required the prospective teachers to define the limit and the second one required to define the derivative. The data was analyzed using content analysis method. Based on the analysis of the data, although half of the prospective teachers (50%) could write the definition of the limit, nine prospective teachers (26.5%) could not define limit. However, eight prospective teachers’ definition was regarded as partially correct. On the other hand, twenty-seven prospective teachers (79.5%) could define derivative, but seven of them (20.5%) defined it partially. According to the findings, most of the prospective teachers have robust content knowledge on limit and derivative. This result is important because definitions have a virtual role in learning and teaching of mathematics. More specifically, definition is starting point to understand the meaning of a concept. From this point of view, prospective teachers should know the definitions of the concepts to be able to teach them correctly to the students. In addition, they should have knowledge about the relationship between limit and derivative so that they can explain these concepts conceptually. Otherwise, students may memorize the rules of calculating the derivative and the limit. In conclusion, the present study showed that most of the prospective mathematics teachers had enough knowledge about the definition of derivative and limit. However, the rest of them should learn their definition conceptually. The examples of correct, partially correct, and incorrect definition of both concepts will be presented and discussed based on participants’ statements. This study has some implications for instructors. Instructors should be careful about whether students learn the definition of these concepts or not. In order to this, the instructors may give prospective teachers opportunities to discuss the definition of these concepts and the relationship between the concepts.

Keywords: content knowledge, derivative, limit, prospective mathematics teachers

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Authors: Neli P. Zlatareva

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Ontology validation is an important part of web applications’ development, where knowledge integration and ontological reasoning play a fundamental role. It aims to ensure the consistency and correctness of ontological knowledge and to guarantee that ontological reasoning is carried out in a meaningful way. Existing approaches to ontology validation address more or less specific validation issues, but the overall process of validating web ontologies has not been formally established yet. As the size and the number of web ontologies continue to grow, the necessity to validate and ensure their consistency and interoperability is becoming increasingly important. This paper presents a validation technique intended to test the consistency of independent ontologies utilized by a common application.

Keywords: knowledge engineering, ontological reasoning, ontology validation, semantic web

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Authors: Madara Apsalone

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Knowledge management and innovation is key to competitive advantage and sustainable business development in advanced economies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have lower capacity and more constrained resources for long-term and high-uncertainty research and development investments. At the same time, SMEs can implement organizational innovation to improve their performance and further foster other types of innovation. The purpose of this study is to analyze, how socio-cultural factors such as shared values, organizational behaviors, work organization and decision making processes can influence knowledge management and help to develop organizational innovation via an empirical study. Surveying 600 SMEs in Latvia, the author explores the contribution of different socio-cultural factors to organizational innovation and the role of knowledge management and organizational learning in this process. A conceptual model, explaining the impact of organizational team, development, result-orientation and structure is created. The study also proposes insights that contribute to theoretical and practical discussions on fostering innovation of small businesses in small economies.

Keywords: knowledge management, organizational innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, socio-cultural factors

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Authors: Hamid Reza Nikkhah, Abbas Toloei Eshlaghi, Hossein Ali Momeni

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One of the most important services of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) is collaboration service which plays a decisive role in organization efficiency. Cloud computing as one of the latest IT technologies has brought a new paradigm in delivering services and communications. In this research, we evaluate the impact of cloud computing on the collaboration service of KMS and for doing so, four variables of cloud computing and three variables of the collaboration service were detected to be assessed.It was found that cloud computing has a far-fetching direct impact on the collaboration service.

Keywords: cloud computing, collaboration service, knowledge management systems, cloud computing

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Authors: Ola Jon Mork, Irina Emily Hansen

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The European Growth Strategy Program calls for more efficient methods for knowledge creation and innovation. This study contributes with new insights into the Singapore Innovation System; more precisely how knowledge processes are facilitated. The research material is collected by visiting the different innovation locations in Singapore and depth interview with key persons. The different innovation actors web sites and brochures have been studied. Governmental reports and figures have also been studied. The findings show that facilitation of Knowledge Processes in the Singapore Innovation System has a basic structure with three processes, which is 1) Idea capturing – 2)Technology and Business Execution – 3)Idea Realization. Dedicated innovation parks work with the most promising entrepreneurs; more precisely: finding the persons with the motivation to 'change the world'. The innovation park will facilitate these entrepreneurs for 100 days, where they also will be connected to a global network of venture capital. And, the entrepreneurs will have access to mentors from these venture companies. Research institutes parks work with the development of world leading technology. To facilitate knowledge development they connect with industrial companies which are the most promising applicators of their technology. Knowledge facilitation is the main purpose, but this cooperation/testing is also serving as a platform for funding. Probably this is cooperation is also attractive for world leading companies. Dedicated innovation parks work with facilitation of innovators of new applications and perfection of products for the end- user. These parks can be specialized in special areas, like health products and life science products. Another example of this is automotive companies giving research call for these parks to develop and innovate new products and services upon their technology. Common characteristics for the knowledge facilitation in the Singapore Innovation System are a short trial period for promising actors, normally 100 days. It is also a strong focus on training of the entrepreneurs. Presentations and diffusion of knowledge is an important part of the facilitation. Funding will be available for the most successful entrepreneurs and innovators.

Keywords: knowledge processes, facilitation, innovation, Singapore innovation web

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Authors: Farhad Shafiepour Motlagh, Narges Salehi

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between inspirational leadership style and perceived social capital through the mediation of organizational knowledge resource development. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population consisted of all 3537 secondary school teachers in Isfahan. Sample selection was based on Cochran's formula volume formula for 338 people and multi-stage random sampling. The research instruments included a researcher-made inspirational leadership style questionnaire, a perceived social capital questionnaire (Putnam, 1999), and a researcher-made questionnaire of perceived organizational knowledge resources. Kolmogorov statistical tests, Pearson correlation, stepwise multiple regression, and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. In general, the results showed that there is a significant relationship between inspirational leadership style and the use of perceived social capital at the level of P <0.05. Also, the development of organizational knowledge resources mediates the relationship between inspirational leadership style and the use of perceived social capital at the level of P <0.05.

Keywords: inspirational leadership style, perceived social capital, perceived organizational knowledge

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Authors: Juliette MacDonald, Jun Li, Wenji Xiang, Mingwei Zhao

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Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation (SCF) was created as a result of a collaborative partnership agreement between the University of Edinburgh and Donghua University. The College provides two programmes: Fashion Innovation and Fashion Interior Design and the overarching curriculum has the intention of developing innovation and creativity within an international learning, teaching, knowledge exchange and research context. The research problem presented here focuses on the multi-national/cultural faculty in the team, the challenges arising from difficulties in communication and the associated limitations of management frameworks. The teaching faculty at SCF are drawn from China, Finland, Korea, Singapore and the UK with input from Flying Faculty from Fashion and Interior Design, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), for 5 weeks each semester. Rather than fully replicating the administrative and pedagogical style of one or other of the institutions within this joint partnership the aim from the outset was to create a third way which acknowledges the quality assurance requirements of both Donghua and Edinburgh, the academic and technical needs of the students and provides relevant development and support for all the SCF-based staff and Flying Academics. It has been well acknowledged by those who are involved in teaching across cultures that there is often a culture shock associated with transnational education but that the experience of being involved in the delivery of a curriculum at a Joint Institution can also be very rewarding for staff and students. It became clear at SCF that if a third way might be achieved which encourages innovative approaches to fashion education whilst balancing the expectations of Chinese and western concepts of education and the aims of two institutions, then it was going to be necessary to construct a framework which developed close working relationships for the entire teaching team, so not only between academics and students but also between technicians and administrators at ECA and SCF. The attempts at co-construction and integration are built on the sharing of cultural and educational experiences and knowledge as well as provision of opportunities for reflection on the pedagogical purpose of the curriculum and its delivery. Methods on evaluating the effectiveness of these aims include a series of surveys and interviews and analysis of data drawn from teaching projects delivered to the students along with graduate successes from the last five years, since SCF first opened its doors. This paper will provide examples of best practice developed by SCF which have helped guide the faculty and embed common core values and aims of co-construction regulations and management, whilst building a pro-active TNE (Trans-National Education) team which enhances the learning experience for staff and students alike.

Keywords: cultural co-construction, educational team management, multi-cultural challenges, TNE integration for teaching teams

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Authors: Adedeji W. Oyediran, Yekini N. Asafe

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Mechatronics is synergistic integration of mechanical engineering, with electronics and intelligent computer control in the design and manufacturing of industrial products and processes. Automobile (auto car, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor) is a mechatronic system which served as major means of transportation around the world. Virtually all community has a need for automobile. This makes automobile issues as related to diagnostic and repair interesting to all communities. Consequent to the diversification of skill in diagnosing automobile faults and approaches in solving some problems and innovation in automobile industry. It is appropriate to say that repair and diagnostic of automobile will be better enhanced if community has opportunity of sharing knowledge and idea globally. This paper discussed the desirable elements in automobile as mechatronics system and present conceptual framework of virtual community model for automobile users.

Keywords: automobile, automobile users, knowledge sharing, mechatronics system, virtual community

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Authors: Pimporn Thongmuang

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The import value of antimicrobial drugs reached approximately fifteen million Baht in 2010, considered as the highest import value of all modern drugs, and this value is rising every year. Antimicrobials are considered the hazardous drugs by the Ministry of Public Health. This research was conducted in order to investigate the past knowledge of drug use and Antimicrobial drug use behavior. A total of 757 students were selected as the samples out of a population of 1,800 students. This selected students had the experience of Antimicrobial drugs use a year ago. A questionnaire was utilized in this research. The findings put on the view that knowledge gained by the students about proper use of antimicrobial drugs was not brought into practice. This suggests that the education procedure regarding drug use needs adjustment. And therefore the findings of this research are expected to be utilized as guidelines for educating people about the proper use of antimicrobial drugs. At a broader perspective, correct drug use behavior of the public may potentially reduce drug cost of the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand.

Keywords: drug use knowledge, antimicrobial drugs, drug use behavior, drug

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Authors: Ivan Stanev, Maria Koleva

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Described are challenges to the Bulgarian e-Customs (BeC) related to low level of interoperability and standardization, inefficient use of available infrastructure, lack of centralized identification and authorization, extremely low level of software process automation, and insufficient quality of data stored in official registers. The technical requirements for BeC are prepared with a focus on domain independent common platform, specialized customs and excise components, high scalability, flexibility, and reusability. The Knowledge Based Automated Software Engineering (KBASE) Common Platform for Automated Programming (CPAP) is selected as an instrument covering BeC requirements for standardization, programming automation, knowledge interpretation and cloud computing. BeC stage 3 results are presented and analyzed. BeC.S3 development trends are identified.

Keywords: service oriented architecture, cloud computing, knowledge based automated software engineering, common platform for automated programming, e-customs

Procedia PDF Downloads 352