Learning English through actions: a study of mobile-assisted language learning

This study investigated the impact of taking photos using mobile phones on the English phrase-learning performance of English as a second-language learners. A total of 116 students enrolled in a college in Central Taiwan participated in this study. The participants were divided randomly into two groups: a control group and an experimental group (EG). The control group was assigned an online phrase-reading activity for the purpose of phrase learning, whereas the EG was instructed to engage in phrase learning by taking photos using their mobile phones. The study primarily investigated the participants' daily encounters with newly acquired phrases through the use of photos taken using mobile phones, which were associated with the sentences they constructed. The results of the study indicated that the students in the EG significantly outperformed the control students on the delayed posttest, and the EG exhibited a significantly higher level of perception toward the phrase-learning activities compared with that of the control group.     

Effects of reflection prompts on learning outcomes and learning behaviour in statistics education

Starting from difficulties that students display when they deal with correlation analysis, an e-learning environment (‘Koralle’) was developed. The design was inspired by principles of situated and example-based learning. In order to facilitate reflective processes and thus enhance learning outcomes, reflection prompts were integrated into the learning environment. A total of 57 university students were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions: 28 students were prompted to give reasons for their decisions while working within the learning environment (EG 1); and 29 students dealt with Koralle without being prompted (EG 2). The control group consisted of 67 students who had already attended regular statistics lectures but had no access to the e-learning environment. EG 1 scored significantly higher in the posttest than EG 2, and the effect was practically relevant and sustainable. Reflection prompts did not influence time on task, task choices and motivational outcomes. Both experimental groups clearly outperformed the control group.     

Use of technology-assisted techniques of mind mapping and concept mapping in science education: a constructivist study

The study aims to investigate the effects of using mind maps and concept maps on students' learning of concepts in science courses. A total of 51 students participated in this study which used a quasi-experimental research design with pre-test/post-test control groups. The constructivist-inspired study was carried out in the sixth-grade science course unit of ‘Light and Sound’ in a primary school with two experimental groups and one control group. The intervention was held in the experimental group 1 by using technology-assisted technique of mind mapping, in the experimental group 2 by using technology-assisted technique of concept mapping, and in the control group by means of traditional classroom instruction. After the intervention in the experimental groups, concept tests and open-ended questions related to the unit were used as post-tests. According to the data obtained from concept tests, it was found out that all groups' understanding of concepts was equivalent. Significantly, students in the experimental group 2 reported positive opinions, stating that learning through concept maps was useful and engaging.     

Fostering students’ moderation competence: the interplay between social relatedness and perceived competence*

Using a longitudinal design, the present study examined whether two teaching concepts that varied in their capacity to foster students’ self-determination affected students’ sense of social relatedness and their perceived moderation competence, as well as the interplay between these two components and the students’ performance during a moderation exam. We conducted a quasi-experimental field study with university students (N?=?160), who were evenly distributed between an experimental (EG) and a control group (CG). The results of multi-group path analysis suggest that simultaneously fostering autonomy, competence, and relatedness (EG), in comparison to providing autonomy and competence support only (CG), leads to a stronger link between perceived competence and social relatedness. If students experience moderation competence, they in turn feel socially related to their teacher, which leads to an even higher competence perception thereafter. The crucial role of teachers’ behaviour, in particular relatedness support, in learning development is discussed.     

Investigating the synergy of critical thinking and creative thinking in the course of integrated activity in Taiwan

The relationship lying between critical thinking and creative thinking is opposite or complementary, results of previous relevant researches have not yet concluded. However, most of researches put the effort to compare the respective effect of the thinking methods, either the teaching of creative thinking or that of critical thinking. Less of them showed the interest to investigate the combined effect of these two thinking skills teaching, especially its synergy. Therefore, present study aimed to discuss the synergy of critical thinking and creative thinking, and investigated the joined effect of these two methods of thinking in the courses of ‘Integrated Activity courses’. Not only the separate influence but also the synergy would be our interests. Moreover, the outcome would also be compared with the learning result of single creative thinking skill teaching. Participants were 147 male students and 118 female students of ninth grade from 8 intact classes in a public middle school in Taiwan, the number of total participants were 265. Experimental design was ‘nonequivalent control group pretest/post-test quasi-experimental design’. Participants were assigned into three groups, three intact classes for creative thinking teaching group (EG1), three intact classes for ‘critical thinking and creative thinking combined teaching group (EG2)’ and two intact classes for regular teaching method group (watching video, control group). All participants took the assessment ‘The New Creative-Thinking Testing’ and ‘The Critical-Thinking Testing, Level 1’ after receiving the courses as post-test. Data were analysed statistically by one-way ANCOVA. The results showed that:

1. Regards to the performance in Integrated Activity courses, no significant difference was found among students in EG1 and those in EG2. However, the students in both experimental groups got higher scores than those in control group did.

2. As for the ability of critical thinking, students in EG2 got higher score than those in EG1 and CG did, but no difference was found among the students in EG1 and those in CG.

3. In respect of originality, students in EG2 got higher score than those in EG1 did, the influence of critical thinking was significant.

Theoretical and possible applications of the results were also discussed. Present study not only manifests the correlation between creative thinking and critical thinking, but also provides the empirical data for synergy in actual pedagogical situations.     

An integrated lecture,virtual instrumentation lab approach to teaching UV-Vis spectroscopy

In a chemistry instrumentation course, the teachers explain to students how instruments function and which their basic technical principles are. We integrated an interactive UV-Visible spectrophotometer simulator into a chemical instrumentation course in an attempt to improve the teaching procedure. The students were divided into two groups, the experimental group (EG) and the control group (CG). The students of EG participated in an instrumentation course in which we distributed to them the components of an old spectrophotometer and presented them with figures and animations about the component’s functions using Power-Point presentation. During the presentation a discussion took place and we posed questions to the students in order to make them think about the technical principles of the UV-Visible spectrophotometer. After the presentation, the students performed virtual experiments using UV-Vis spectrophotometer simulator on personal Computers and they shared measurements, observations and conclusions about their experiments using the LAN (local area network). In the students of CG we presented the spectrophotometer and its components following the traditional way, drawing the components’ function and the structure of instrument on the blackboard. Comparison of the two groups showed that the EG students valued the opportunity to collaborate with other peers during the lecture and also they found this teaching procedure useful. As a result they felt more confident to manipulate a real instrument and the EG students better understood the function and the technical principles of the instrument than the CG students.

Effectiveness of cooperative learning (jigsaw II) method in teaching English as a foreign language to engineering students (Case of Firat University,Turkey)

The present study compares the effects of the cooperative jigsaw II method and traditional teacher-centred teaching method on improving vocabulary knowledge and active–passive voice in English as a foreign language for engineering students and the students' attitudes towards learning English. Jigsaw is a cooperative learning model that involves small groups of 5–6 students teaching each other subject matter with success dependent upon student cooperation. Sixty-six engineering students participated in the study and a pre-test–post-test control group experimental design was employed. The students were randomly assigned into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group used cooperative Jigsaw II as an instruction method while the control group used traditional teacher-centred instruction. The groups were administered an achievement test, as a pre-, post- and delayed post-test. The results revealed statistically significant differences in favour of the experimental group on the dependent variables of improving vocabulary knowledge and learning active–passive voice in English. The attitude scale results showed that the cooperative learning experience had a significant positive effect on engineering students' attitudes towards learning English and promoted better interactions among students as well.     

Examining the Value of a Scaffolded Critique Framework to Promote Argumentative and Explanatory Writings Within an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach

This study investigated the value of using a scaffolded critique framework to promote two different types of writing—argumentative writing and explanatory writing—with different purposes within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. A quasi-experimental design with sixth and seventh grade students taught by two teachers was used. A total of 170 students participated in the study, with 87 in the control group (four classes) and 83 in the treatment group (four classes). All students used the SWH templates as an argumentative writing to guide their written work and completed these templates during the SWH investigations of each unit. After completing the SWH investigations, both groups of students were asked to complete the summary writing task as an explanatory writing at the end of each unit. All students’ writing samples were scored using analytical frameworks developed for the study. The results indicated that the treatment group performed significantly better on the explanatory writing task than the control group. In addition, the results of the partial correlation suggested that there is a very strong significantly positive relationship between the argumentative writing and the explanatory writing.     

The effectiveness of conceptual change texts in remediating high school students’ alternative conceptions concerning chemical equilibrium

This study investigated the effectiveness of conceptual change texts in remediating high school students’ alternative conceptions concerning chemical equilibrium. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. The subjects for this study consisted of a total 78 tenth-grade students, 38 of them in the experimental group and 40 of them in the control group. A questionnaire, the Alternative Conceptions about Chemical Equilibrium Test (ACCET), was developed and administered to students as a pretest and posttest. While the experimental group received a conceptual change text instruction, the control group received a traditional style instruction. The results of the study indicated that the students in the experimental group showed significantly greater levels of achievement than the students in the control group. Moreover, in both groups the percentages of students’ alternative conceptions decreased in the however the experimental group did better than the control group.     

Exploring the effects of online team-based learning and co-regulated learning on students' development of computing skills

As more and more educational institutions are providing online courses, it is necessary to design effective teaching methods integrated with technologies to benefit both teachers and students. The researcher in this study designed innovative online teaching methods of team-based learning (TBL) and co-regulated learning (CRL) to improve students' computing skills. The participants in this study were 124 undergraduates from three classes taking a compulsory course titled “Applied Information Technology: Data Processing.” There were three blended classes involved in this empirical study. The first group (EG1), which received the treatment of online TBL and CRL, and the second group (EG2), which received the treatment of online TBL only, were the experimental groups. The last group, which received the traditional teaching method, served as the control group. Before the experiment started, the author conducted a pretest to confirm that the differences of students' computing skills among the three groups were not significant at the beginning of the course. Based on the analysis of the post-test, the results indicate that students who received the intervention of online CRL had significantly better computing skills for using Excel by semester-end than those without. However, the intervention of online TBL did not contribute to better learning effects in this study. Based on the findings in this study, the author points out implications for teachers, schools, and educators, particularly for those responsible for courses focusing on solving ill-structured problems and those students who have typically received traditional didactic pedagogy for many years.     

The concept map as an advance organizer

The objective of this study was to determine if a concept map used as an advance organizer can improve the science achievement of eighth-grade students. Eighty-two eighth-grade students in four science classes participated in this study. The experimental group completed the concept map at the beginning of the science unit under the teacher's supervision. At the end of the two-week unit a science test was administered to the experimental and the control group. The results of a one-tailed t test indicated that there was a significant difference between the two groups. The effect size is 0.40. It appears that the concept map can provide the classroom teachers with a meaningful and practical structured approach for using advance organizers in their classes.     

Teaching Ecosystems and Matter Cycles with Creative Drama Activities

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of creative drama-based instruction on seventh graders’ science achievements in the ecology and matter cycles unit and their attitudes toward science. The study is an experimental study carried out in one of the public elementary schools in Turkey during 2005–2006 schooling year. An ecological concept achievement test was developed and administered to 45 students in two classes (as control and experimental group) of an elementary school before and after the treatment. The experimental group received creative drama-based instruction and the control group received traditional instruction. A guiding instruction material which contains six lesson plans in the subject was constructed for the teacher to administer creative drama-based instruction. The topics of ecosystems and matter cycles were taught to the both of groups for 3 weeks. A science attitude test was administered to both groups before and after the treatment. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the both groups with respect to achievement in the ecology concepts and median of the attitudes toward science in favour of the experimental group after the treatment.     

The effect of a new prelaboratory procedure on students' achievement in chemistry

The primary purpose of this study was to develop an alternative model, the Prelaboratory Preparation Period (PLPP), to be used to introduce freshman level students to weekly laboratories and to evaluate student academic achievement as the result of attending the Prelaboratory Preparation Period. The sample was composed of 233 students taking introductory chemistry at Auburn University. The data were collected over a four quarter period of time. A posttest-only control group design with five experimental and three control groups was used to investigate the effect of the Prelaboratory Preparation Period. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to determine if significant differences existed between academic achievement of the experimental and control groups. Results of the analysis indicated that a significant difference (α = 0.05) in academic performance existed between the two groups. It was concluded that the Prelaboratory Preparation Period increased the academic achievement of students enrolled in an introductory chemistry course.     

The Effectiveness of Interacting with Scientific Animations in Chemistry Using Mobile Devices on Grade 12 Students’ Spatial Ability and Scientific Reasoning Skills

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of interacting with animations using mobile devices on grade 12 students’ spatial and reasoning abilities. The study took place in a grade 12 context in Oman. A quasi-experimental design was used with an experimental group of 32 students and a control group of 28 students. The experimental group studied chemistry using mobile tablets that had a digital instructional package with different animation and simulations. There was one tablet per student. A spatial ability test and a scientific reasoning test were administered to both groups prior and after the study, which lasted for 9 weeks. The findings showed that there were significant statistical differences between the two groups in terms of spatial ability in favour of the experimental group. However, there were no differences between the two groups in terms of reasoning ability. The authors reasoned that the types of animations and simulations used in the current study featured a wide range of three-dimensional animated illustrations at the particulate level of matter. Most probably, this decreased the level of abstractness that usually accompanies chemical entities and phenomena and helped the students to visualize the interactions between submicroscopic entities spatially. Further research is needed to decide on types of scientific animations that could help students improve their scientific reasoning.     

Building an organized knowledge base: Concept mapping and achievement in secondary school physics

Direct teaching of problem-solving methods to high school physics students met with little success. Expert problem solving depended upon an organized knowledge base. Concept mapping was found to be a key to organizing an effective knowledge base. The investigation of the effect of the degree of concept mapping on achievement was the purpose of this study. Six intact high school physics classes, taught by this investigator, took part in the study. Two classes were control groups and received standard instruction. Four classes received six weeks of concept-mapping instruction prior to the unit under study. Two of these four classes were the low-level treatment group and were required to submit concept maps at the conclusion of the instruction. The other two classes were the high-level treatment group and were required to submit concept maps at the beginning and at the conclusion of the unit under study. One class from each treatment group took a pretest prior to instruction. An analysis of the posttest results revealed no pretest sensitization. A one-way analysis of covariance indicated a significant main effect for the treatment level at the p < 0.05 level. A pair of single-df comparisons of the adjusted treatment means resulted in significant differences (p < 0.05) between the control group and the average of the treatment means as well as between the two experimental groups. It can be concluded that for this sample (upper-middle-class high school physics students) mapping concepts prior to, during, and subsequent to instruction led to greater achievement as measured by posttest scores.     

Improving effectiveness of learners’ review of video lectures by using an attention-based video lecture review mechanism based on brainwave signals

Online video-based learning has been increasingly used in educational settings. However, students usually do not have enough cognitive capacity and metacognition skills to diagnose and record their attention status during learning tasks by themselves. This study thus presents an attention-based video lecture review mechanism (AVLRM) that can generate video segments for review based on students’ sustained attention status, as determined using brainwave signal detection technology. A quasi-experiment nonequivalent control group design was utilized to divide 55 participants from two classes of an elementary school in New Taipei City, Taiwan, into two groups. One class was randomly assigned to the experimental group, and used video lectures with the AVLRM support for learning. The other class was assigned to the control group, and used video lectures with autonomous review for learning. Analytical results indicate that students in the experimental group exhibited significantly better review effectiveness than did the control group, and this difference was especially marked for students who had a low attention level, were field-dependent, or were female. The findings show that AVLRM based on brainwave signal detection technology can precisely identify video segments that are more useful for effective review than those picked by student themselves. This study contributes to the design of learning tools that aim to support independent learning and effective review in online or video-based learning environments.     

Evaluating a Contextual-Based Course on Data Analysis for the Physics Laboratory

The interpretation of data and construction and understanding of graphs are central practices in science; therefore, an important skill needed in the undergraduate physics laboratory is the ability to analyze data obtained from experiments. Often students are not able to reach logical deductions based on data, acquired from the experiments that they conducted, because they lack appropriate analysis skills. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a short teaching unit developed for this purpose, among undergraduate students. Learning in context approach was implemented in building the unit. Also, both procedural and conceptual knowledge were given emphasis. The “data analysis” questionnaire was used to compare the results between the experimental group and control group. The findings indicate that students who participated in the teaching unit arrived at significantly better results in the data analysis questionnaire as compared to students in the control group. This study may contribute to those who wish to design a contextual-based learning environment for physics laboratory data analysis.     

Can the flipped classroom model improve students’ academic performance and training satisfaction in Higher Education instructional media design courses?

While “flipping” a classroom has gained attention in K-12 and Secondary school programs, there has been relatively no explicit focus on its effectiveness as a teaching method for instructional media design courses in Higher Education. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach to teaching instructional media design subjects by comparing students’ academic performance and training satisfaction in traditional lecture-based instruction with those in a flipped classroom. A total of 128 undergraduate students participated voluntarily and were divided into a control (n = 62) and an experimental (n = 66) group, respectively. The study findings indicated substantial differences in both academic performance and training satisfaction between the two groups, with the students in the experimental group performing significantly better. Specifically, the results showed some determining factors associated with training satisfaction that explain why students in flipped classes achieved notably higher mastery in the learning objectives than their control group peers. This study adds to the literature by providing evidence on how a flipped classroom can potentially benefit students’ academic performance, leading to higher training satisfaction and deeper disciplinary understanding in instructional media design courses.     

Black Studies Materials Do Make a Difference

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of relevant curriculum materials upon the self-concept, achievement, and school attendance of black students. Subjects for the study were black students enrolled in ten randomly selected inner-city schools in a large urban school system. Thirty-nine heterogeneously grouped classrooms were involved in the study-sixteen third grades and twenty-three sixth grades. A control group design was established. To measure the effects of relevant materials, three instruments were utilized: The How I Feel About Myself Inventory, The Metropolitan Reading Test, and The Attendance Form. There were positive statistically significant differences in the achievement and attendance of students in the experimental group. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the self-concept of students in the experimental and control groups as measured by The How I Feel About Myself Inventory.     

The Effectiveness of Integrated Training Programme (ITP) in Decreasing Female Students’ Test Anxiety: Moderating Effect of Mothers’ Perfectionism

This study examined the effectiveness of an integrated training programme (ITP) in reducing female students’ test anxiety with a view to the mothers’ perfectionism as a moderating factor. A total of 60 primary school students (30 mothers with perfectionism trait and 30 mothers without perfectionism) were randomly selected using multi-stage cluster sampling and screening methods. Spielberger’s Test Anxiety Scale and Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) were administered to the students and mothers, respectively. The participants were placed into four groups (two experimental and two control groups). The experimental groups received intervention in 14 sessions. The results suggested significant differences between experimental and control groups, but there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups (group 1: students with test anxiety and perfectionist mothers and group 2: students with test anxiety and non-perfectionist mothers). The moderating effect of mothers’ perfectionism was not statistically confirmed. Implications of the study are discussed.