How effective are early grade reading interventions? A review of the evidence

It is imperative that students learn to read in the early grades, yet many fail to do so in developing countries. Early Grade Reading (EGR) interventions have emerged as a common means to address this problem. We present a definition of EGR interventions as programs that aim to strengthen core reading skills in grades 1 through 4 by training teachers to teach reading using simplified instruction and evidence-based curricula, and by employing a combination of complementary approaches. We also clarify the theoretical reasons for why these interventions should improve literacy. Furthermore, we summarize evidence from 15 EGR interventions—11 from sub-Saharan Africa, two from Middle East and North Africa, and two from East Asia and the Pacific—and find that EGR interventions are not a guaranteed means to improve reading, and they rarely lead to fluency in the short term, but they are a mostly reliable means to make substantial improvements in reading skills over a short period of time, across a variety of contexts, with average effects equating to about three years of schooling.     

Community Consultation and Intervention: Supporting Students Who Do Not Access Counseling Services

Although the severity of psychological problems among college students and the demand for campus counseling services has increased, many students who could benefit from mental health services still do not access them. This article describes Community Consultation and Intervention, a program designed to support students who are unlikely to access professional help despite the best efforts of traditional counseling center outreach. Community Consultation and Intervention reaches into the campus community to intervene by advising faculty and staff who may be the only contact for a distressed student, taking on a nontraditional “student support” role in direct interactions with students, offering advocacy when university systems or other environmental stressors precipitate psychological problems, and providing case management and crisis intervention services on behalf of the university when troubled students are especially concerning and disruptive to their communities. The most novel element of the program—the student support role—is distinct from conventional counseling in that it privileges problem solving, support, advice, and advocacy over focusing on emotions and other traditional mental health interventions. Case studies and programmatic challenges are described.     

Dissociations, developmental psychology, and pedagogical design

Although dissociations in children's responses are sometimes about "getting it right" for an experimenter, they might also often reflect differences between conscious and subconscious processing that are not geared to correct performance. Research with adults also reveals many cases of dissociation, and adults can more easily be subjected to neuroimaging methods that might help shed light on dissociation. Finally, much of the research on dissociations shows that human cognition is optimized in some contexts over others. School environments often correspond to less optimizing contexts. Research on dissociation could be used to inform pedagogical design.     

Wonder and Moral Education

Many authors have claimed a moral and educational significance for wonder. In this article Anders Schinkel assesses these claims in order to address the question whether we do indeed have reason to stimulate the sense of wonder and to provoke experiences of wonder in education with a view to its moral effects or importance. Are there moral effects of wonder — or does wonder have a moral significance — that give us a (further) reason to promote children's sense of wonder and to attempt to elicit the experience of wonder in children? And if so, will any experience of wonder do, from a moral perspective, or do only some experiences of wonder — in specific contexts, or with a specific object — have the desired effect? Schinkel argues that, although there is certainly a case to be made for wonder's moral (educational) importance, it needs to be made cautiously. Wonder coheres more easily with some emotions and attitudes than with others, but in the end its moral significance depends to a large extent on how we interpret or make sense of our wonder and what we wonder at. In moral education, therefore, the value of wonder depends on how it is framed and morally charged.     

Are serious video games something more than a game? A review on the effectiveness of serious games to facilitate intergenerational learning

Aging diversity in organizations creates potential challenges, particularly for knowledge management, skills update and skills obsolescence. Intergenerational learning (IGL) involves knowledge building, innovation and knowledge transfer between generations within an organization (Ropes 2011). Serious games refer to the use of computer games in raising awareness about educational topics, acquiring new knowledge and skills by enabling learners to engage and participate in situations that would otherwise be impossible to experience (Corti 2006). Although learning with the use of serious games is similar to traditional learning in several cognitive respects, there are noted differences in the learning style and structure of learning using serious games. The success of learning using serious games lies in the actual involvement of a participant playing the game, which in turn, creates increased cognitive links with real-life situations allowing the individual to make relevant associations, to use mnemonic strategies with the facilitation of multi-dimensional educational aids (e.g., visual, auditory). Some of the beneficial aspects of learning with the use of serious games include the elevation of several cognitive skills, which are directly or indirectly implicated in the learning process. Among them are attention and visuo-spatial abilities, memory and motor skills. However, several barriers have been noted that fall into two general categories: a) health issues (e.g., cognitive strain, headaches) and b) psychological issues (e.g., social isolation, emotional disturbances). Since the training conditions are learner-centered and highly determined by the individual, there is increased need for evaluating the learning outcomes using specific success indicators. Examples of games that are designed to facilitate IGL are scarce, while there are no examples of IGL games in most EU countries. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the current literature of theories on learning through serious games in adults and the elderly with reference to the cognitive mechanisms implicated, benefits and barriers in learning using new technologies in different generations. Secondly, this paper reviews the existence of serious games designed to facilitate IGL in Europe, as well as the characteristics of serious games in raising awareness that could be used to facilitate IGL. In doing so, specific focus is placed on the development of success indicators that determine the effectiveness of serious games on raising awareness on IGL.     

Free the sheep: improvised song and performance in and around a minecraft community

Recent work around the use of virtual world video games in educational contexts has conceptualised literacies as communal processes, whilst considering complex notions of collaboration through participants' multiplicity of presence in hybrid virtual / physical locations. However, further research is necessary in order to help us understand how the complex interactions afforded by such spaces influence ‐ and are influenced by ‐ children's social relationships. This article draws upon data from a year‐long ethnographic study, investigating a group of ten and eleven year old children's engagement with the video game ‘Minecraft’ as they collaborate to build a ‘virtual community’. With a particular focus on the children's improvised singing and use of song during the club, I examine how their creative practices ‐ drawing on a wide range of self‐selected resources, played out both in and out of the virtual world ‐ help to fundamentally shape the nature of the space around them. Furthermore, through examination of one particular performance, I demonstrate the importance of ensuring that such details are not written out of accounts of children interactions around technology, if we are to understand the true potential of such environments.     

A meta-framework for conducting mixed methods impact evaluations: Implications for altering practice and the teaching of evaluation

Educational interventions are becoming increasingly more complex, far-reaching, and high-stakes. Thus, there is a need for an evaluation meta-framework that is comprehensive, flexible, and meets enhanced complexity. Therefore, we provide a new and comprehensive definition of impact evaluations—what we call a comprehensive impact evaluation—that draws out the importance of collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, thereby resulting in a rigorous approach that can allow for strong inferences. Further, we provide an overview of impact evaluation designs that can be used in comprehensive impact evaluations along with a rationale for using both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. This leads to the central purpose of the article: to provide a meta-framework for conducting what we call a Mixed Methods Theory-Based Impact Evaluations, wherein mixed methods techniques are used at every phase of the process. Building on White’s (2009) work, we outline an 8-phase Mixed Methods Theory-Based Impact Evaluation.     

Knowledge Navigators and Lifelong Learners: Producing graduates for the information society

In recent years, there has been considerable attention, at least at the policy level, to the need for graduates to be ‘lifelong learners’. Although this concept means different things in different cultural contexts, there is more or less general agreement that graduation really only marks the beginning of the graduate's need for continuing personal and professional learning, and, moreover, that it is the responsibility of universities and other institutions of higher education to equip their graduates with the skills and attitudes to help them to continue learning throughout their lives. The emergence of an information-rich ‘knowledge society’ has made this even more of an imperative. The rapid and pervasive spread of information and communication technologies, coupled with increasing globalisation, the democratisation of knowledge production—once assumed to be largely the preserve of universities—and what has been dubbed the ‘information explosion’ collectively mean that most citizens of advanced industrialised countries are, or will soon become, ‘knowledge workers’. Accordingly, many graduates, whether they work in educational or other contexts, are likely to be involved in ‘knowledge-intensive’ activities, for which they need to be prepared. But what does this mean in practice, and what are we to do about it? In 1990, the late Dr Ernest Boyer, in his book Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, proposed a fourfold division of academic work into what he labelled the scholarship of discovery; the scholarship of application ; the scholarship of integration ; and, finally, the scholarship of teaching . The paper suggests that each of these four aspects of scholarship has a direct counterpart outside the university, and that, accordingly, they might be taken as a way of considering the attributes of graduates as well as of academics. The paper suggests a necessary symmetry between the teaching and other scholarly work carried out within the university and the development of such abilities and predispositions in graduates from a variety of fields who might not otherwise consider themselves to be destined for ‘scholarly’ work.     

Evolutionary stable strategy

Every behaviourally responsive animal (including us) make decisions. These can be simple behavioural decisions such as where to feed, what to feed, how long to feed, decisions related to finding, choosing and competing for mates, or simply maintaining ones territory. All these are conflict situations between competing individuals, hence can be best understood using a game theory approach. Using some examples of classical games, we show how evolutionary game theory can help understand behavioural decisions of animals. Game theory (along with its cousin, optimality theory) continues to provide a strong conceptual and theoretical framework to ecologists for understanding the mechanisms by which species coexist.     

《旅游规划与开发》课程教学中游戏法的必要性及运用探析

从哲学的层面上,现代的游戏说其实已敞开了最大的维度:存在就是游戏。游戏在我们的求知过程中非常重要,但在大学课堂教育中却是比较缺失的。旅游就是游戏,旅游规划与开发是为了游客更好地实现旅游,而《旅游规划与开发》课程所涉及的知识结构复杂、综合性较强,因此在课程教学中使用游戏方法是必要的。如这门课程中最重要的一章"旅游规划与开发的主题定位与功能分区"的课堂教学,通过运用才艺展示、小品扮演、道具应用方法,可以编织出诗意的物我偕忘世界。     

Indigenous cultural contexts for STEM experiences: snow snakes’ impact on students and the community

Opportunities for American Indian youth to meaningfully engage in school-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiences have historically been inadequate. As a consequence, American Indian students perform lower on standardized assessments of science education than their peers. In this article we describe the emergence of meaning for students—as well as their community—resulting from Indigenous culturally-based STEM curriculum that used an American Indian tradition as a focal context. Specifically, the game of snow snakes (Gooneginebig in Ojibwe) afforded an opportunity for STEM and culturally-based resources to work in unison. A case study research design was used with the bounded case represented by the community associated with the snow snake project. The research question guiding this study was: What forms of culturally relevant meaning do students and the community form as a result of the snow snake game? Results indicate evidence of increased student and community engagement through culturally-based STEM experiences in the form of active participation and the rejuvenation of a traditional game. Implications are discussed for using culturally-based contexts for STEM learning.     

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

Modern evolutionary theory is both a central theory and an integrative framework of the life sciences. This is reflected in the common references to evolution in modern science education curricula and contexts. In fact, evolution is a core idea that is supposed to support biology learning by facilitating the organization of relevant knowledge. In addition, evolution can function as a pivotal link between concepts and highlight similarities in the complexity of biological concepts. However, empirical studies in many countries have for decades identified deficiencies in students’ scientific understanding of evolution mainly focusing on natural selection. Clearly, there are major obstacles to learning natural selection, and we argue that to overcome them, it is essential to address explicitly the general abstract concepts that underlie the biological processes, e.g., randomness or probability. Hence, we propose a two-dimensional framework for analyzing and structuring teaching of natural selection. The first—purely biological—dimension embraces the three main principles variation, heredity, and selection structured in nine key concepts that form the core idea of natural selection. The second dimension encompasses four so-called thresholds, i.e., general abstract and/or non-perceptual concepts: randomness, probability, spatial scales, and temporal scales. We claim that both of these dimensions must be continuously considered, in tandem, when teaching evolution in order to allow development of a meaningful understanding of the process. Further, we suggest that making the thresholds tangible with the aid of appropriate kinds of visualizations will facilitate grasping of the threshold concepts, and thus, help learners to overcome the difficulties in understanding the central theory of life.     

Teaching students to estimate complex probabilities of board game events through simulation

Students are typically introduced to probability through calculating simple events like flipping a coin. While these calculations can be done by hand, more complex probabilistic events, both in class and in the real world, require the use of computers. In this paper, we introduce a new tool—an R shiny web app and associated CRAN package based on the board game “CamelUp”—to help students explore these probability calculations through simulation in a fun context. Through this app and in conjunction with the board game Camel Up, we present some sample activities for helping students better understand and make in-game probabilistic decisions.     

Minecraft and machinima in action: development of creativity in the classroom

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies show the positive effects of introducing video games into learning contexts. These instruments help develop twenty-first-century skills, such as creativity, from a dual perspective: (i) the students’ perspective, since they develop skills and competencies that allow them to find innovative solutions to the challenges posed by games, and to become digital culture producers; and (ii) the education professionals’ perspective, to use these instruments in schools and thereby change the way students learn. Using a sample of 85 first-year secondary school students, this study aims to provide empirical evidence about the development of creativity through the introduction of video games in the classroom. To do this, an eight-week pedagogical workshop was developed in which the Minecraft video game was introduced in the subject of technology. To assess the results of the workshop, the participants’ creativity was analysed using a pre-test/post-test design through the CREA Creative Intelligence Test, as well as the evaluation of the students’ machinima productions by their teachers. Results show a significant increase in creativity and high scores for machinima productions, highlighting the opportunity to introduce these tools in classrooms in order to develop innovative educational contexts where creative processes and products are the protagonists.     

The Effects of Two Mindset Interventions on Low-Income Students’ Academic and Psychological Outcomes

Abstract

This study examined two widely available light-touch, writing-based mindset interventions: one that targeted students’ purpose for learning and one that aimed to increase students’ growth mindset. In order to examine the potential mechanisms underlying previously reported effects of mindset interventions, we analyzed these interventions’ effects on low-income, ethnic minority adolescents’ academic outcomes, task persistence, task-relevant anxiety, critical motivation, and sense of belonging. Results indicated that the purpose for learning intervention had a small negative impact on students’ self-reported grades the following year, and null results for the other outcomes. The growth mindset intervention was administered one year following the purpose for learning intervention and we found no evidence of treatment impacts on any outcomes. Analyses of treatment impact moderation suggested that certain student characteristics, such as student gender and race could play a role, but most of these tests also presented null results. The primarily null results of both interventions suggest that further study is needed to determine the effectiveness of one-time, self-administered mindset interventions across a variety of contexts and student populations.     

Why autonomy-supportive interventions work: Explaining the professional development of teachers’ motivating style

Carefully designed interventions consistently help K-12 teachers learn how to implement a more autonomy-supportive classroom motivating style. In the present study, we investigated what resources teachers acquired during these interventions that explained why they are so able to successfully upgrade the quality of their motivating style. We randomly assigned 91 full-time teachers to participate or not in a year-long autonomy-supportive intervention program (ASIP), and we longitudinally assessed autonomy support and three hypothesized mediating resources—gains in need satisfaction during teaching, gains in teaching efficacy, and a greater adoption of intrinsic instructional goals. The ASIP did increase teachers’ autonomy support, as expected, and the two resources that explained this professional developmental achievement were intervention-enabled gains in teaching efficacy and intrinsic instructional goals.     

Transferring motivation from educational to extramural contexts: a review of the trans-contextual model

Students?? self-determined or autonomous motivation in educational contexts is associated with adaptive educational and behavioural outcomes including persistence on educational tasks and academic performance. A key question for educators is whether promoting autonomous motivation toward activities in an educational context leads to increased autonomous motivation toward related activities in extramural contexts. In this article, we present a trans-contextual model that demonstrates the processes by which autonomous motivation is transferred from educational to extramural contexts. Using an integrated, multi-theory approach including self-determination and planned behaviour theories, we propose a motivational sequence in which perceived support for autonomous motivation for a given activity leads to autonomous motivation in educational contexts but also to autonomous motivation toward activities in extramural contexts. Autonomous motivation toward the activity in extramural contexts is proposed to be associated with attitudes, perceived control, and intentions to perform the activity in future and actual behaviour. We review recent prospective and intervention research that has applied the model to explain the transfer of autonomous motivation toward physical activity from a physical education context to a leisure time context. We also outline how the model can be applied in other educational contexts such as the transfer of motivation for science and language activities in educational contexts to motivation toward assignments in these subjects in extramural contexts. The applicability of the model as a basis for educational interventions to promote motivational transfer across contexts is discussed.