How training on exact or approximate mental representations of number can enhance first-grade students’ basic number processing and arithmetic skills

Theories of psychology and mathematics education recommend two instructional approaches to develop students’ mental representations of number: The “exact” approach focuses on the development of exact representations of organized dot patterns; the “approximate” approach focuses on the approximate representation of analogue magnitudes. This study provides for the first time empirical evidence for the specific effects of these approaches by implementing them in a highly controlled learning environment. 147 first-graders were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups that used an “exact”, an “approximate”, or both versions of the same computer game, or to a control group. Performance on tasks requiring exact or approximate number processing as well as achievement in arithmetic were measured before and after the intervention. Results show that performance improved on tasks related to the exact or approximate number aspect trained, but there was no crossover effect. Achievement in arithmetic increased for the experimental groups and tended to be higher after only exact or only approximate training. Implications for teaching and learning in the classroom are discussed.     

An IRS-facilitated collective issue-quest approach to enhancing students’ learning achievement,self-regulation and collective efficacy in flipped classrooms

Flipped classrooms have been recognized as a potential approach that enables students to have flexible time to learn before the class as well as more opportunities to apply knowledge and to interact with peers and the teacher in the class. On the other hand, researchers have pointed out the challenge of engaging students in self-regulated learning and active participation in flipped classrooms. In this study, an Instant Response System (IRS)-facilitated collective issue-quest strategy is proposed for engaging students in active and self-regulated flipped learning. Moreover, a quasi-experimental design was conducted with undergraduate students in an internet marketing course in northern Taiwan to investigate the impacts of the proposed approach on the students’ learning achievement, self-regulation, learning satisfaction and collective efficacy. The experimental results revealed that the learning achievement, collective efficacy and satisfaction of the students who learned with the proposed approach were significantly better than those of the students learning with the conventional flipped classroom approach. Moreover, in the “environment,” “task strategies” and “help seeking” dimensions of self-regulation, the former had significantly higher ratings than the latter. This study contributes analysis results that highlight the benefits of implementing the IRS-facilitated collective issue-quest approach in the flipped classroom. The results of this research may provide a valuable reference for future studies and practice in the field.     

Implementation and Assessment of Food Safety Educational Materials for Secondary and Postsecondary Education

Previous studies have reported on the inadequacy of youth knowledge and practice of food safety principles. The formal high school science classroom environment presents an opportunity to stimulate interest and increase knowledge in food safety with potential benefits to students in improved science literacy, development of life skills, and greater awareness of career opportunities. Previously developed educational materials, Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigations for Food Safety Education, were evaluated for instruction by high school and community college science educators of various subject matters including foods, microbiology, disease, and chemistry courses. Educator feedback was favorable on measures of quality, implementation ease, and student engagement, with ratings greater than 3 on a 5‐point scale corresponding to “good” to “excellent.” A positive change in familiarity with food safety concepts for 4 groups of students, representing approximately 77% of the participants, was demonstrated by an overall increase, ranging from 4% to 14%, in correct responses to a test administered before and after exposure to the materials. There was variation in degree of change and the topics positively impacted for student groups by subject matter.     

“翻转课堂”模式在学前教育专业中的应用——以“儿童文学”课程为例

“翻转课堂”教学模式实现了学生从学习过程中的“配角”到“主角”的转变,充分激发了学生学习的主观能动性,最大程度地发掘了学生的学习潜力。分析学前教育专业采用“翻转课堂”教学模式背景和可行性,探索“翻转课堂”教学模式在学前教育专业中的实施路径。以“儿童文学”课程为例,阐述了“翻转课堂”教学模式在学前教育专业中的实施方案,以及“翻转课堂”教学模式的缺点和解决策略。     

理实一体化课堂有效教学行为模式研 究简

理实一体化课堂教学的核心理念是“教、学、做三合一”,课堂教学以学习任务为纽带,贯穿课堂导入－建构探索－建构实施－评价提高四个教学环节,实施岗位目标、技能训练、合作帮扶、多层次多任务因材施教、环境诱导、个别指导、理论实用、激励等行为策略,指导学生自主建构课程知识和岗位技能．实践表明：以建构主义理论作指导的理实一体化课堂教学模式是一种有效教学行为模式．     

The benefits of a challenge: student motivation and flow experience in tablet-PC-game-based learning

Advances in technology have led to continuous innovation in teaching and learning methods. For instance, the use of tablet PCs (TPCs) in classroom instruction has been shown to be effective in attracting and motivating students' interest and increasing their desire to participate in learning activities. In this paper, we used a TPCs game – an iPad app called Motion Math: Hungry Fish – to help young students learn to theoretically understand and practically implement the mathematical concepts of addition and subtraction. Based on findings from a pilot study, we categorized the game's 18 levels of difficulty into “challenging” (experimental group) and “matching” (control group) games. We aimed to investigate whether challenging games were more able than matching games to improve the students' motivation, flow experience, self-efficacy for technology, self-efficacy for science, feelings about the TPC game, and satisfaction with the learning approach. The findings showed that the students in the experimental group achieved better flow experience, learning performance, and satisfaction.     

构筑体育课内外一体化教学模式——以福州职业技术学院为例

目前不健康的生活娱乐方式正侵蚀着学生的体质健康,学生的体质健康状况不容乐观。为了更好地实现《全国普通高等学校体育课程教学指导纲要》的总体目标,为了切实提高学生的全面素质,丰富和发展学生个性,促进学生健康的发展,我院实施了体育课内外一体化教学改革实验,开始探索构筑适合我院的体育课内外一体化教学模式。改革建立在我院实际教学工作的基础上,在“靠指导、为核心、依策略、建体系”的总体架构上,主要从“指导思想、教学目标、教学策略、组织管理策略、课程体系、评价体系”等方面着手进行了相应的尝试,取得了较好的效果,为教学改革的进一步深入打下了良好的理论、实践基础。     

以辩论游戏提升大学生批判性思维能力--以新闻传播学课堂实践为例

辩论教学具有游戏性和可学性,其目标是培养批判性思维。通过比较实验组班级和控制组班级的数据,本研究证实辩论游戏可以改善学生的批判性思维能力,提高学生对学术观点的包容性,给予学生挑战常识的机会,引导学生理性地表达,并重新认识自我,因此辩论游戏课堂体验受到学生欢迎。而教师的课堂把控能力至关重要,只有传授学生“思维的弹性边界”才能使辩论游戏教学策略产生积极的效果。     

Curriailum Animation

Twenty-five teachers with reputations for artistry in curriculum planning were interviewed about their “curriculum animation” plans or how they ensured their curriculum was brought to life. Their statements indicated that much of their planning is informal and intuitive, and that the criteria they use for their curriculum includes: (1) it is academically sound; (2) it is an enjoyable experience; (3) it fits well with a multitude of characteristics of their particular students; (4) it has variety, active participation, and a flow of energy; and (5) it is consistent with a personalized vision of education that goes far beyond the classroom. “Until a curriculum comes to life in the classroom, it remains only a plan and cannot affect what students learn” (Walker 1990, 343).     

外语教学中学生评判性思维能力的培养

在21世纪新时代背景下,外语教学既是一门语言课程,又是一门加强学生评判精神、培养学生创新能力的教育课。外语教学与教育学相融合,语言技能的培养与评判性思维能力的培养相结合,已日显重要。要培养学生的评判性思维能力,造就创新人才,必须实现教学观念的转变、教学方法的改进,构建民主和谐的课堂氛围和“多维度”的教学评估模式,引导和鼓励学生“换位思考”、“对比思考”、“设疑思考”。     

An examination of the roles of the teacher and students during a problem-based learning intervention: lessons learned from a study in a Taiwanese primary mathematics classroom

The benefits of problem-based learning (PBL) to student learning have prompted researchers to investigate this pedagogical approach over the past few decades. However, little research has examined how PBL can be applied to mathematics learning and teaching, especially in countries like Taiwan, where the majority of teachers are accustomed to lecture methods and students are used to this style of teaching. This study examines the actions of a teacher and her class of 35 fifth-grade students (10–11-year-olds) as they tried to take on and respond to the demands of their new roles as “facilitator” and “constructors”, respectively, during a one-year PBL intervention in a Taiwanese mathematics classroom. Our findings provide insights into classroom participants’ role transition, from a customary role to a new role, when engaging with PBL. We identify an interrelationship between the teacher and student roles and discuss implications for the implementation of PBL at the primary education level.     

Positioning participation in the NGSS era: What counts as success?

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) strives to shift science learning from the teacher as a single cognitive agent, to a classroom community in which participants are working together in directing the classroom's communal knowledge to figure out questions about how phenomena occur, and building, testing, and refining their ideas to address those questions. To achieve this type of classroom environment, teachers should attend to students' knowledge and ideas and pay attention to how students are located within teacher-led interactions, such as being positioned as active discussants or designated listeners. In this study, we explore if and how this is occurring in the NGSS era. We used a naturalistic inquiry to explore how an experienced first-grade teacher used a new NGSS-aligned unit that called for students to use the science and engineering practices (SEP) to build content knowledge. We used a macro-analytic lens to answer the research question “how are class discussions shaped to address the SEP”? We used a micro-analytic lens to answer the research question “how are students positioned during these science discussions in this classroom?” Evidence suggests that the teachers' whole class discussions incorporated and involved the SEP which were specified in the unit lessons for content learning. However, on a micro-analytic level, we found that few students were positioned as active discussants. The teacher heavily relied on those students who could provide succinct and clearly relevant answers while positioning the remainder of the students as silent spectators. Implications from this research suggest that not only new NGSS curriculum materials need to focus on what students should know and do but they also need to address heuristics for teachers that show them how to position all of their students as active doers of science so all students have opportunities to build deeper, core science knowledge.     

The Effects of a Flipped Classroom Model of Instruction on Students’ Performance and Attitudes Towards Chemistry

This study establishes the effects of a flipped classroom model of instruction on academic performance and attitudes of 66 first-year secondary school students towards chemistry. A pre-test and post-test experimental design was employed to assign students randomly into either the experimental or control group. In order to assess the suitability of using flipped model of instruction, students were divided in two groups. For the first group called the experimental group, a “flipped classroom” was used in which the students were given video lessons and reading materials, before the class to be revised at home. On the other hand, the second group followed traditional methodology, and it was used as control. The rate of reaction knowledge test and the chemistry attitude scale were administered. In addition, the researcher documented classroom observations, experiences, thoughts and insights regarding the intervention in a journal on a daily basis in order to enrich the data. Students were interviewed at the end of the research in order to enrich the qualitative data also. Findings from this study reveal that the flipped instruction model facilitates a shift in students’ conceptual understanding of the rate of chemical reaction significantly more than the control condition. Positive significant differences were found on all assessments with the flipped class students performing higher on average. Students in the flipped classroom model condition benefited by preparing for the lesson before the classes and had the opportunity to interact with peers and the teacher during the learning processes in the classroom. The findings support the notion that teachers should be trained or retrained on how to incorporate the flipped classroom model into their teaching and learning processes because it encourages students to be directly involved and active in the learning.     

Effects of ICT: Do we know what we should know?

Many decades after the introduction of ICT into classrooms there are still unanswered questions about the impact of technology in the long and short term on students’ learning, and how it has affected simple and complex learning tasks. These are important for (a) forming government policies; (b) directing teacher education programmes: (c) advancing national curricula; (d); designing or reforming classroom implementation and (e) analysing costs and benefits. While a plethora of studies has been conducted on the effects of ICT in education, major policy and methodological problems have precluded an unambiguous answer to such questions as:—“Does the way in which ICT is implemented have a major/minor impact on students’ knowledge and understanding?” and “Does the impact affect the surface or deep structure of students’ thinking and acting?” To date we have had no large-scale longitudinal studies of ICT’s impact in education such as we have in the form of studies of earlier major curriculum development projects. Nor have we had many comprehensive studies of the complex interactions between various types of ICT implementation and the effects of other factors such as school-based interventions, socio-economic status and school expenditures which have been shown to have a greater impact on education compared with other previous innovations in education. Furthermore we do not know if previous research studies have used research methods that matched learning objectives to instruments/procedures. Many previous studies are vague as to the actual measures used but we can infer that standardized tests were a frequent measure. In other instances, ad hoc analyses, with criteria that may have varied from analyst to analyst and were not “blind” analyses were certainly used to measure “success.” All of these limitations and uncertainties and many more point to the need for a thorough, rigorous, and multifaceted approach to analysing the impact of ICT on students’ learning. This paper draws on previous research evidence to identify relevant research strategies to address the gaps in our knowledge about ICT and students’ learning explained above.     

Performance and Perception in the Flipped Learning Model: An Initial Approach to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a New Teaching Methodology in a General Science Classroom

“Flipped classroom” teaching methodology is a type of blended learning in which the traditional class setting is inverted. Lecture is shifted outside of class, while the classroom time is employed to solve problems or doing practical works through the discussion/peer collaboration of students and instructors. This relatively new instructional methodology claims that flipping your classroom engages more effectively students with the learning process, achieving better teaching results. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the effects of the flipped classroom on the students’ performance and perception of this new methodology. This study was conducted in a general science course, sophomore of the Primary Education bachelor degree in the Training Teaching School of the University of Extremadura (Spain) during the course 2014/2015. In order to assess the suitability of the proposed methodology, the class was divided in two groups. For the first group, a traditional methodology was followed, and it was used as control. On the other hand, the “flipped classroom” methodology was used in the second group, where the students were given diverse materials, such as video lessons and reading materials, before the class to be revised at home by them. Online questionnaires were as well provided to assess the progress of the students before the class. Finally, the results were compared in terms of students’ achievements and a post-task survey was also conducted to know the students’ perceptions. A statistically significant difference was found on all assessments with the flipped class students performing higher on average. In addition, most students had a favorable perception about the flipped classroom noting the ability to pause, rewind and review lectures, as well as increased individualized learning and increased teacher availability.     

基于“课程思政”背景下的专业课程教学研究——以“生态保护与可持续发展”课程为例

生态保护与可持续发展课程属于环境专业的一门基础前导课程。结合生态保护与可持续发展课程的自身课程环境专业属性特点,将“思政元素”纳入“生态保护与可持续发展”专业课程教学体系,实现在专业知识技能传授中培养提升学生良好的环保意识、职业素养、文化素养等综合素质的教育教学目标。以“思政融入专业课程”为主线,挖掘思政元素在环保教学过程中的有效融合方式;设计“生态保护与可持续发展”课程思政融入的教学方案;评价、反思思政进课堂的效果。利用专业课堂教学实践主渠道,充分发挥思政元素引领作用,提高学生的德育水平已成为当前生态文明建设的重要思想保障。     

公共管理类课程案例教学的探索与实践--以内蒙古师范大学为例

案例教学法改变了传统“填鸭式”教学灌输式、封闭式、学生被动地接受知识、缺乏体验与反思的状况,使学生从被动学习转变为积极主动参与课堂教学,在体验中提升能力、掌握知识。案例教学法精髓主要表现为变被动式学习为主动式学习、“集中轰炸式”培训、“唯一”不受欢迎、案例教学是成本最低的“社会实践”。在探索过程中呈现出来“三个一”教学法、“体验、讨论参与、分享式”课堂教学方法等独具创新的方法,在公共管理类课程教学实践中取得了良好的效果。     

Responses of Academe to Quality Reforms in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of England and Sweden

Higher education institutions in the UK are required, by law, to make anticipatory reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities. Inclusive teaching practice, if adopted across the sector, would ensure that the needs of students with disabilities are considered and provided for, before they even arrive on campus. This paper sets out the background and key findings from an institutional research project at a UK university that aimed to discover if academic staff's attitudes would be problematic or conducive to the implementation of inclusive teaching practice. The paper concludes that there is little evidence of widespread “resistance” but rather, the research discovered a prevailing belief in the rights of students with disabilities to education, albeit a belief which is limited in its practical application in the classroom. The paper also reports on a number of recommendations made to the case study university as a result of this research.     

The impact of technology on the enactment of “inquiry” in a technology enthusiast's sixth grade science classroom

This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of “inquiry” in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology‐enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several “inquiry” activities were completed, some of which were supported with the use of technology. Non‐participant observation, classroom videotaping, and semi‐structured and critical‐incident interviews were used to collect data. The results indicated that the technology in use worked to restrict rather than promote “inquiry” in the participant classroom. In the presence of computers, group activities became more structured with a focus on sharing tasks and accounting for individual responsibility, and less time was dedicated to group discourse with a marked decrease in critical, meaning‐making discourse. The views and beliefs of teachers and students in relation to their specific contexts moderate the potential of technology in supporting inquiry teaching and learning and should be factored both in teacher training and attempts to integrate technology in science teaching. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach     

“So,we kind of started from scratch,no pun intended”: What can students learn from designing games?

Much research attention has been focused on learning through game playing. However, very little has been focused on student learning through game making, especially in science. Moreover, none of the studies on learning through making games has presented an account of how students engage in the process of game design in real time. The present study seeks to address that gap. We report an exploratory embedded case study in which three groups of students in one classroom created a computer game designed to teach peers about climate science, while drawing on scientific knowledge, principles of game design, and computational thinking practices. Data sources were student design sheets, computer video, and audio screen capture while students created their game, and interviews after completing the curriculum unit. A theme-driven framework was used to code the data. A curricular emphasis on systems across climate systems, game design, and computational thinking practices provided a context designed to synergistically supported student learning. This embedded case study provides a rich example of what a collaborative game design task in a constructionist context looks like in a middle school science classroom, and how it supports student learning. Game design in a constructionist learning environment that emphasized learning through building a game allowed students to choose their pathways through the learning experience and resulted in learning for all despite various levels of programming experience. Our findings suggest that game design may be a promising context for supporting student learning in STEM disciplines.