Stacy Costa

This paper will explore research practices already being conducted in various institutions, strengthening this paper's position that puzzle-based learning is a foundational methodology which assists newly admitted undergraduate engineering students, how to best approach critical problem solving. Furthermore, this paper will provide recommendations for an introductory protocol to introduce the incorporation of puzzle-based learning into a seminar-style course for First Year Introductory Engineering, and as a component of the engineering degree. The paper results in an exploratory analysis of what could be a starting place for future studies or classes to be conducted.

One of the requirements of students' candidacy in the doctoral program is to pass the comprehensive, or qualifying, examinations. This paper shares some of the experiences of doctoral candidates who have recently completed these examinations as part of the Collaborative Specialization in Engineering Education at the University of Toronto, and the observed differences in these candidacy assessments. The pedagogical aim, or purpose, of these exams, and how candidates' experiences compare, on both an inter-and extra-disciplinary level is explored. The goal of this paper is to share some of what is in the literature, to investigate and outline the challenges from candidates' own experiences, and to offer suggestions for future comprehensive, or qualifying, examinations.

Mathematical understanding goes beyond grasping numerical values and problem solving. By incorporating visual representation, students can be able to grasp how math can be understood in terms of geometry, which is essentially a visual device. It is important that students be able to incorporate visual representations alongside numerical values to gain meaning from their own knowledge. However, it is also vital that students understand mathematical terminology, via a dialogical-rhetorical pedagogy that now comes under the rubric of “Math Talk,” which in turn is part of a system of teaching known as knowledge building, both of which aim to recapture, in a new way, the Socratic method of dialogical interaction. This chapter explores how knowledge building, as a methodology, can assist in furthering student understanding and how math talk leads to a deeper understanding of mathematical principles.

The goal of this study was to examine grade two Math Talk in geometry within a Knowledge Building community engaged in both face-to-face and computer-mediated discourse. Ontario Ministry of Education guidelines were used to identify grade two geometry concepts. Math vocabulary extracted from these guidelines was used, along with a content-based social network analysis tool, to explore the emergence of new domain-specific vocabulary in student discourse and to assess patterns of engagement surrounding use of those terms. A “Ways of Contributing” analytic framework was used to assess the nature of both teacher and student contributions to face to face and online discourse. Findings suggest that students as early as grade 2 can engage productively in Knowledge Building Math Talk in both face to face and online contexts.

1 Department of Civil Engineering 2 Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry 3 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering 4 Centre for Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 5 Engineering Communication Program Abstract – One of the requirements of students’ candidacy in the doctoral program is to pass the comprehensive, or qualifying, examinations. This paper shares some of the experiences of doctoral candidates who have recently completed these examinations as part of the Collaborative Specialization in Engineering Education at the University of Toronto, and the observed differences in these candidacy assessments. The pedagogical aim, or purpose, of these exams, and how candidates’ experiences compare, on both an interand extra-disciplinary level is explored. The goal of this paper is to share some of what is in the literature, to investigate and outline the challenges from candidates’ own experiences, and to offer su...

Elementary students in Ontario are bombarded with various mathematical classroom instructional methodologies, in order to assist them in improving their mathematical cognition. Children’s first formal years of schooling can determine a student’s awareness regarding their mathematical achievement, their math anxiety, and motivational stance regarding mathematics (Gunderson et al. 2018). While formal schooling is the most prominent way to disperse mathematical knowledge, children do discuss and embody math and its properties outside of the classroom environment. Mathematical knowledge can be acquired outside of formal school instruction and become a positive influence on mathematical performance throughout one’s lifetime (Brownell 1941). Ideas such as financial literacy, probability, and patterning are easy topics in which young students can encounter within their everyday lives. Nonetheless, students in Ontario are still experiencing difficulties when applying their understanding of ...

The complex nature of 21st century knowledge work is forcing a shift from singlesubject curriculum units to interdisciplinary perspectives. Knowledge Building pedagogy and technology aim to turn high levels of socio-cognitive control over to students to enable them to assume responsibility for functions typically assumed by the teacher. This exploratory study aims to assess the extent to which elementary-school students within Knowledge Building communities are able to criss cross science domains and, in doing so, contribute to the improvement of the community knowledge.

It seems certain that blended learning will be on the rise in higher education, with in-person meetings increasingly precious time, and online synchronous and asynchronous sessions used to complement them. This paper examines Knowledge Building in two graduate courses conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no in-person sessions; rather, synchronous Zoom sessions were combined with asynchronous work in a knowledge building environment–Knowledge Forum. Knowledge Forum is designed to make transparent and accessible means by which deep understanding and sustained creative work proceed. Accordingly, for example, rise-above notes and view rearrangement support synthesis and explanatory coherence, epistemic markers support knowledge-advancing discourse, and analytics support self-and group-monitoring of progress as work proceeds. In this report, we focus on these aspects of Knowledge Building, using a subset of analytics to enhance understanding of key concepts and design of pr...

  –Studies show that Knowledge Building discourses result in producing knowledge of value to others, and advancing the knowledge of the community. This explatory work in progress study aims to examine how knowledge building discourse on science can result exceeding expectations, so that not only the community knowledge about science advanced, but also students criss-cross STEM domains.

  – One of the requirements of students’ candidacy in the doctoral program is to pass the comprehensive, or qualifying, examinations. This paper shares some of the experiences of doctoral candidates who have recently completed these examinations as part of the Collaborative Specialization in Engineering Education at the University of Toronto, and the observed differences in these candidacy assessments. The pedagogical aim, or purpose, of these exams, and how candidates’ experiences compare, on both an inter- and extra-disciplinary level is explored. The goal of this paper is to share some of what is in the literature, to investigate and outline the challenges from candidates’ own experiences, and to offer suggestions for future comprehensive, or qualifying, examinations.

This paper will explore research practices already being conducted in various institutions, strengthening this paper's position that puzzle-based learning is a foundational methodology which assists newly admitted undergraduate engineering students, how to best approach critical problem solving. Furthermore, this paper will provide recommendations for an introductory protocol to introduce the incorporation of puzzle-based learning into a seminar-style course for First Year Introductory Engineering, and as a component of the engineering degree. The paper results in an exploratory analysis of what could be a starting place for future studies or classes to be conducted.

Emotions have a powerful effect on learning but results regarding the nature of the impact are inconsistent and little is known about effects with young students, as participants are usually university students. This study aims to explore the emotional and cognitive dynamics of young students in both online and offline Knowledge Building. Classroom transcripts and online discourse collected for 45 grade 1 and 2 students over seven to 8 weeks were analyzed. Based on the total number of spoken and written words, the participants were classified into high- and low-participation groups. Multimodal learning analytics including speech emotion analysis, sentiment analysis, and idea improvement analysis were used in a mixed method research design incorporating co-occurrence patterns of emotions and idea improvement of students at different participation levels. High-participation students expressed significantly higher frequencies of emotions recorded as neutrality, joy, curiosity, and confidence compared to low-participation students. High-participation students were more likely to elaborate reasons, describe relationships and mechanisms surrounding ideas they explored, and to introduce new ideas and concepts into community resources. Surprise, challenge, and neutrality can be beneficial since students tended to express these emotions when producing explanation-seeking questions, new ideas, explanations, and regulation. Personalized support to students with different participation levels is proposed, to create a more discursively connected community. Future directions include collecting more diverse data to better understand students’ emotions and to provide teachers and students with real-time data to support Knowledge Building as it proceeds.