Group Activity to Enhance Student Collaboration, Graph Interpretation, and Peer Evaluation of Ecological Concepts in a Large-Enrollment Class.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Shofner MA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5976055 | biostudies-literature | 2017
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Group Activity to Enhance Student Collaboration, Graph Interpretation, and Peer Evaluation of Ecological Concepts in a Large-Enrollment Class.
Shofner Marcia A MA Marbach-Ad Gili G
Journal of microbiology & biology education 20171215 3
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Project description:Education competitiveness is a key feature of national competitiveness. It is crucial for nations to develop and enhance student and teacher potential to increase national competitiveness. The decreasing population of children has caused a series of social problems in many developed countries, directly affecting education and com.petitiveness in an international environment. In Taiwan, a low birthrate has had a large impact on schools at every level because of a substantial decrease in enrollment and a surplus of teachers. Therefore, close attention must be paid to these trends. In this study, combining a whale optimization algorithm (WOA) and support vector regression (WOASVR) was proposed to determine trends of student and teacher numbers in Taiwan for higher accuracy in time-series forecasting analysis. To select the most suitable support vector kernel parameters, WOA was applied. Data collected from the Ministry of Education datasets of student and teacher numbers between 1991 and 2018 were used to examine the proposed method. Analysis revealed that the numbers of students and teachers decreased annually except in private primary schools. A comparison of the forecasting results obtained from WOASVR and other common models indicated that WOASVR provided the lowest mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) for all analyzed datasets. Forecasting performed using the WOASVR method can provide accurate data for use in developing education policies and responses.
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Project description:IntroductionPersonal relationships have long been a concern in education. Most studies indicate that good personal relationships are generally positively correlated with academic performance. However, few studies have compared how different types of personal relationships correlate with academic performance, and the conclusions of existing studies are inconsistent. Based on a large sample, the current study compared how the three closest types of personal relationships among students (with parents, teachers, and their peers) compared with their academic performance.MethodsCluster sampling was used to issue questionnaires to students in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China in 2018 (Study 1) and in 2019 (Study 2). The actual sample size included 28168 students in Study 1 and 29869 students in Study 2 (both studies, Grades 4 and 8), thus totaling 58037 students. All students completed a personal relationship questionnaire and several academic tests.ResultsThe results showed that: (1) the quality of personal relationships significantly and positively correlated with academic performance; (2) Among the three types of relationships tested, the quality of student-peer relationships was the most closely associated with academic achievement.DiscussionThis study gives insights into future research directions in this field and also reminds educators to pay attention to the personal relationships among their students, especially peer relationships.
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Project description: Not available
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