The paper focuses on the parallels, which are rooted in the simultaneous development of mathematics and informatics. Both mathematics and informatics are based on problem-solving. However, the approaches to determining problems, solution techniques and interpretation of results are different. The paper shows different approaches of mathematics and informatics for solving a simple problem from the informatics competition. It was presented for students, who would be future informatics teachers, and it has become the beginning of the discovery of unexpected relationships and rules' chain, the source of successive tasks, and various methods of their solution. The paper brings the results of the constructivist teaching of students in the form of a fictional interview of mathematician and informatician. Fictional cooperation of a mathematician and an informatician in analysing and solving problems will allow for a detailed analysis and comparison of both fields, which will lead to determining both common and different elements.
The management of contemporary software projects is unfeasible without the support of a Project Management (PM) tool. In order to enable the adoption of PM tools in practice, teaching its usage is important as part of computer education. Aiming at teaching PM tools, several approaches have been proposed, such as the development of educational PM tools. However, such approaches are typically limited with respect to content coverage and instructional support. In this context, an important technique is the provision of instructional feedback, which is essential in order to help the students to learn based on the evaluation of their own actions. In order to take advantage of this technique, this article proposes its employment in an Instructional Unit, being integrated into the PM tool dotProject+, providing automated feedback based on the project plan being developed with the tool. This technique has been evaluated through a series of case studies.
With the advance of information and communications technologies, new teaching tools are becoming more pervasive. These tools can be utilized in a variety of ways to improve and enhance math teaching. Considering the integration of technology in teaching mathematics, it is clear that the replacement of board and chalk with digital presentation material does not cover all the aspects of the mathematic subjects. One of the important prerequisites for quality of integration technology into mathematics teaching is the teacher's personality, i.e. knowledge, willingness and desire to improve his/her lessons bringing mathematics closer to the present generations of pupils.
GeoGebra as a dynamic mathematics software allows users to explore multiple representations of mathematics concepts. The paper deals with the problem of deployment of GeoGebra in Lithuanian's primary math education and the main purpose of this study is to investigate reasons/factors affecting teachers' decision to utilize GeoGebra and learning objects prepared by it in their teaching process. With a view to evaluate GeoGebra's suitability to primary education an expert opinion poll was conducted and results of that exploratory study are presented.
Reflective practice is considered to play an important role in students' learning as they encounter difficult material. However, students in this situation sometimes do not behave reflectively, but in less productive and more problematic ways. This paper investigates how educators can recognize and analyze students' confusion, and determine whether students are responding reflectively or defensively. Qualitative data for the investigation comes from an upper-level undergraduate software engineering and design course that students invariably find quite challenging. A phenomenological analysis of the data, based on Heidegger's dynamic of rupture, provides useful insight to students' experience. A comparison between that approach and a sampling of classic sources in scholarship on learning, reflectiveness, and defensiveness has implications for teaching and education research in software design - and more generally. In addition, a clearer understanding of the concepts presented in this paper should enable faculty to bring a more sophisticated analysis to student feedback, and lead to a more informed and productive interpretation by both instructor and administration.
The article aims at raising the problem of culture in the context of globalisation, at characterising influence of globalisation and globalisation culture on human values and relation as expression of their spiritual world. In this context, a question of intermediary communication influence on individual's spiritual becoming is also raised. On the basis of own research data, the author defines peculiarities of internalisation level of upper secondary learners' spiritual values, observed in 1998, 2001 and 2005. On the basis of comparison, information regarding cognitive, emotional and behaviour level of internalisation and tendencies of its changes are analysed. The possibilities of teaching process, as a relevant factor of education, internalising values are concretised and the role of mathematics in this process is defined.