An Investigation of University Students’ Collaborative Inquiry Learning Behaviors in an Augmented Reality Simulation and a Traditional Simulation

The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare students’ collaborative inquiry learning behaviors and their behavior patterns in an augmented reality (AR) simulation system and a traditional 2D simulation system. Their inquiry and discussion processes were analyzed by content analysis and lag sequential analysis (LSA). Forty university students were divided into dyads and then randomly assigned into AR group and traditional 2D group to collaboratively conduct an inquiry task about elastic collision. The results of the content analysis and LSA indicated that both systems supported students’ collaborative inquiry learning. Particularly, students showed high frequencies on higher-level inquiry behaviors, such as interpreting experimental data or making conclusions, when using these two simulations. By comparing the behavioral patterns, similarities and differences between the two groups were revealed. The AR simulation engaged the students more thoroughly in the inquiry process. Moreover, students in both groups adopted the same approaches to design experiments. Due to the line of AR research is in its initial stage, suggestions for future studies were proposed.     

The Use of Video Cases in a Multimedia Learning Environment for Facilitating High School Students’ Inquiry into a Problem from Varying Perspectives

This study investigated the connection between the use of video cases within a multimedia learning environment and students’ inquiry into a socio-scientific problem. The software program was designed based on principles from the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) and incorporated video cases of experts with differing perspectives. Seventy-nine 10th-grade students in an urban high school participated in this study. After watching the expert videos, students generated investigative questions and reflected on how their ideas changed over time. This study found a significant correlation between the time students spent watching the expert videos and their ability to consider the problem’s perspectives as well as their ability to integrate these perspectives within their questions. Moreover, problem-solving ability and time watching the videos were detected as possible influential predictors of students’ consideration of the problem’s perspectives within their questions. Although students watched all video cases in equivalent ways, one of the video cases, which incorporated multiple perspectives as opposed to just presenting one perspective, appeared most influential in helping students integrate the various perspectives into their own thinking. A qualitative analysis of students’ reflections indicated that many students appreciated the complexity, authenticity, and ethical dimensions of the problem. It also revealed that while the majority of students thought critically about the problem, some students still had naïve or simplistic ways of thinking. This study provided some preliminary evidence that offering students the opportunity to watch videos of different perspectives may influence them to think in alternative ways about a complex problem.     

Why do All the Study Abroad Students Look Alike? Applying an Integrated Student Choice Model to Explore Differences in the Factors that Influence White and Minority Students’ Intent to Study Abroad

Despite substantial efforts across postsecondary education to increase minority participation in study abroad, the homogeneity of study abroad participants remains largely unchanged (Dessoff in Int Educ 15(2):20–27, 2006; Shih in , 2009). This study applies an adaptation of an integrated student choice model (Perna in Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, 2006; Salisbury et al. in Research in Higher Education 50:119–143, 2009) to identify differences between white and minority (African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American) students across measures of human, financial, social, and cultural capital previously shown to influence aspirations to study abroad (Salisbury et al.). Analysis of data from 6,828 students at 53 institutions participating in the Wabash National Study on Liberal Arts Education suggests numerous differences between racial groups with considerable implications for institutions, scholars, and policymakers.     

What does it mean to be a boy? Implications for girls’ and boys’ schooling experiences in Lesotho rural schools

A doctoral study on constructions of gender in Lesotho rural primary schools has found that meanings attached to children’s identities play a role in undermining gender equality in schools. The study employed the social constructionist paradigm as its theoretical framework. Drawing from ethnographic data (conversations, observations and informal discussions), this article discusses boys’ constructions of gender and their implications for gender in/equality in the schools. Analysis shows that being a boy was closely linked to certain qualities that every boy had to perfect. Boys’ strivings to attain these qualities was the source of gender-based violence. Boys’ failure to attain these qualities was the source of anguish and embarrassment for them. Gender inequality in the schools could be traced to forms of masculinities that boys were encouraged and pressured to perform. The conclusion provides strategies that Free Primary Education could employ to address the scourge of gender inequality in Lesotho schools.     

What (more) can,and should,assessment do for learning? Observations from ‘successful learning context’ in Singapore

Singapore has earned accolades as one of the leading education systems in the world, based on its record in international assessments, including TIMMS and PISA. This has contributed to the entrenchment of ‘assessment’ becoming an institutional authority of standards, teaching (performativity) and classroom learning. It is against, and amidst such contexts, that this article traces how the notion and discourse of formative assessment and Assessment for Learning (AfL) are widely introduced and used formally across all Singaporean schools, particularly after a recent introduction of new ‘Holistic and Balanced Assessment’ policies. We argue that the very institutional authority of successful high-stake examination results, which served as critical standards of performativity of teaching and learning in the classroom, is being challenged. The changing assessment context of Singaporean schools, therefore serves as an interesting case study site for studying how formative assessment and AfL can be adapted and understood when ‘learning’ is already seen to be successful.     

“They Think They Know What’s Best for Me”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Inclusion and Support in High School for Vision-impaired Students with Albinism

The challenges of social inclusion and access to the curriculum facing students with visual impairment in schools are well documented. The refreshed UK Vision Strategy (2013 UK Vision Strategy. (2013). Outcome 3. Retrieved from http://www.vision2020uk.org.uk/UKVisionstrategy/page.asp?section=289&sectionTitle=Outcome+3 [Google Scholar]) seeks to improve education for students with vision impairment. In order to do this, it is important to understand how students with visual impairment experience education. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine and understand the way in which two vision-impaired students with albinism experienced inclusion and support in high school. The students, aged 16 and 15, had approximately 10% functional vision, stable from birth and had a record of additional support needs at their respective schools. They were interviewed using a simple schedule of open questions to explore their perceptions of inclusion and of using low-vision aids in school. The two main themes that emerged from the interviews were experiencing low vision in school and experiencing additional support in school. A negative cycle of inclusion was identified based on the students’ internalised feelings of difference. Discrepancy was identified between the low-vision aid priorities identified by experts and those identified by students. Recommendations are made to address these issues.     

Oh,do not ask ‘What is it?’An explication of the PhD through Creative Practice and its implications for the Teaching of English

The PhD through Creative Practice is becoming increasingly popular in Britain's universities. However it is little understood outside the immediate context of post-graduate Creative Writing study. In this paper I am sharing my experiences of studying at this level and considering their relevance to my English teaching.     

Na?ve Students’ Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course

This research involved na?ve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students’ conceptions relating to sound and wave motion. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elucidate: (1) how their conceptions developed from everyday conceptions to unclear scientific conceptions to scientific conceptions, and (2) their beliefs of physics knowledge. Despite efforts to enable these students to learn physics, the findings showed that only two out of ten students developed acceptable physics conceptions during the course that would enable them to pursue the subject to a higher level. Also, students’ conceptual development was found to be related to their cognitive understanding and to epistemological beliefs of physics. Therefore, to facilitate na?ve physics learners’ success in a general physics course, in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge, explicit emphasis needs to be placed on the nature of physics knowledge.