Inclusivity,participation and collaboration: Learning in interactive groups

ABSTRACT

Background: Interaction, participation and collaboration are thought to be important factors for supporting successful second or foreign language learning. The use of Interactive Groups (IGs) is regarded as helpful in creating the conditions in which interaction, participation and collaboration are increased to create effective dialogic learning. However, there is limited understanding of the role of IGs in supporting second or foreign language learning.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to explore the opportunities that IGs generated for supporting interaction, participation and collaboration in a situation where students were learning English as a foreign language.

Method: A communicative methodology was used to collect and analyse observational and interview data from three classrooms where teaching and learning was organised through IGs, each in a different school in Spain involved in Schools as Learning Communities: Successful Educational Actions (SEAs). Across the three classrooms, there were 58 students, three teachers and 14 volunteers, whose role was to support and encourage communication. The schools served low SES communities. We conducted eight classroom observations and 17 semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed qualitatively.

Findings: The thematic analysis suggested that, in the classrooms that were studied, there was evidence that participants and observers felt that IGs promoted effective conditions for the inclusive participation of all learners, created a favourable climate for collaborative interactions regarding the target language and raised learning expectations for all students. In addition, the contribution of the volunteers was identified as crucial to the successful functioning of the IGs.

Conclusion: This small scale, qualitative study highlights the potential for IGs to create favourable conditions for the learning of English and other languages as a foreign language. More extensive studies are needed to determine the best way to use IGs for the teaching and learning of foreign languages in other contexts.     

Portraits of PBL: students' experiences of the characteristics of problem-based learning in physiotherapy,computer engineering and psychology

The present study is part of acomprehensive research project with the generalaims of comparing how problem-based learning isrealised in three different professionaleducational programmes. The specific aims ofthis study are to describe and analyse howstudents in the three different programmesconceive of the meaning of problem-basedlearning and how they experience their studieswithin a problem-based learning programme. ThePBL programmes are a Bachelor's programme inPhysiotherapy, a Master's programme inPsychology, and a Master's programme inComputer Engineering. Data were analysedqualitatively. The results reveal differencesin how the students in the three programmesconceive of their autonomy as learners,co-operation with their counterparts and theauthenticity of the learning task. The findingspossibly also reflect the taken-for-grantedperspectives of knowledge, embedded in thecultures of the professional practices and thescientific disciplines to which the programmespertain.     

Investigating Computer Application Technology Teachers’ Procedural Knowledge and Pedagogical Practices in ICT- Enhanced Classrooms

Helping beginner and veteran teachers to develop technological knowledge and skills in how to use new information and communications technologies (ICTs) to teach is a critical component of teacher preparation in this digital age. This article reports on a study in which 117 beginner and veteran (experienced) Computer Application Technology (CAT) teachers at 11 government Further Education and Training (FET) colleges in Gauteng, South Africa, completed a 65-item questionnaire. The questionnaire addressed 13 knowledge constructs, using a 5-point scale which addressed the nature and context of CAT teachers’ procedural, functional and pedagogical content knowledge (PrFPACK) in an ICT-enhanced classroom. Additional data was solicited using classroom observation and interviews to understand CAT teachers’ PrFPACK and e-skills in the use of ICT resources. The data was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and thematic analysis. The research findings revealed a number of significant differences in beginner and veteran CAT teachers’ PrFPACK. The results of the study confirmed that professional development of beginner and veteran teachers in the use of new ICTs in the digital age should be an ongoing effort in all educational institutions. It is imperative to train both beginner and veteran CAT teachers in an innovative method of teaching with ICT resources.     

Youth in the context of chronic unemployment in Spain and Brazil

ABSTRACT

The article argues that chronic unemployment has become the main context of youth policies in Spain and Brazil. Our point is that the current structural crisis of the capitalist system eventually provokes chronic unemployment. To be precise, both business and international organisations have endorsed structural adjustments and austerity policies that have destroyed productive forces through expropriation and exploitation in many countries, thus expanding chronic unemployment despite youth policies claiming otherwise. In Spain, two public policies try to circumvent the adverse situation of many youth, namely: the Quality of Education Act (LOMCE) and the Youth Guarantee Scheme. Brazil follows the same logic of these policies through initiatives such as the High School reform and Projovem program. However, in both countries the structural crisis threatens the future of young generations despite these fashionable policies exclusively targeted to them.     

Adaptive Behavior,Social Adjustment,and Academic Achievement of Regular and Special Education Children

The purpose of the present study was to compare the adaptive behavior, social adjustment and academic achievement of educable mentally retarded, learning disabled, behavior disordered, and regular class children. A sample of 120 children, aged 7 through 9 years, was selected from class rolls on the basis of group membership, race and sex. Significant differences were found in adaptive behavior, social adjustment, and academic achievement among the four groups; none of the instruments, however, was able to differentiate among all four categories of children. Adaptive behavior and academic achievement differentiated EMR and regular class children from the other two groups, while social adjustment appeared to be the most effective variable in differentiating BD children from the other three categories. Findings of this study support the notion that measures of these abilities provide information of use to teachers, psychologists, and placement committees in their attempts to provide the most appropriate and meaningful education for students with special needs.     

Parents’ past experiences as a mediational tool for understanding their child’s current mathematical learning

This article explores the ways in which parents use their own past experiences as a mediational tool for understanding their child’s current school learning. Following a sociocultural approach parents’ past experiences were examined drawing on the notions of (1) heterochronicity, which looks at the partially overlapping histories of the individual and society and (2) prolepsis whereby the imagined future mediates and constrains the world of the present. The analysis draws on 22 interviews with parents whose children were from three primary multiethnic schools in a town in the Southeast of England. The findings brought to light the means by which parents can either intentionally or unintentionally use the past to inform their current representations and practices. Thus at times they use their past experiences to mediate internalisation (reproduction of the experience), at other times they use them to promote externalisation (change brought about by the experience). It is within this process that parents projected a future ideal for their child, which was either congruent or discordant with their own past.     

Invisibly at risk: Low‐income students in a middle‐ and upper‐class world

Women's studies programs, multicultural centers, and organizations to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students are campus fixtures. Few now question diversity's contribution to the education of all students. Jennifer Duffy suggests that it's time to acknowledge, support, and celebrate one more form of diversity that is mostly hidden: social class.     

Effect of high-intensity interval training in adolescents with asthma: The eXercise for Asthma with Commando Joe's® (X4ACJ) trial

BackgroundHigher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with reduced asthma severity and increased quality of life in those with asthma. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 6-month high-intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention in adolescents with and without asthma.MethodsA total of 616 adolescents (334 boys; 13.0 ± 1.1 years, 1.57 ± 0.10 m, 52.6 ± 12.9 kg, mean ± SD), including 155 with asthma (78 boys), were recruited as part of a randomized controlled trial from 5 schools (4 control and 1 intervention). The 221 intervention participants (116 boys; 47 asthma) completed 6 months of school-based HIIT (30 min, 3 times per week, 10–30 s bouts at >90% age-predicted maximum heart rate with equal rest). At baseline, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up, measurements for 20-m shuttle run, body mass index (BMI), lung function, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Paediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire, and Asthma Control Questionnaire were collected. Additionally, 69 adolescents (39 boys (of the 36 with asthma there were 21 boys)) also completed an incremental ramp test. For analysis, each group''s data (intervention and control) were divided into those with and without asthma.ResultsParticipants with asthma did not differ from their peers in any parameter of aerobic fitness, at any time-point, but were characterized by a greater BMI. The intervention elicited a significant improvement in maximal aerobic fitness but no change in sub-maximal parameters of aerobic fitness, lung function, or quality of life irrespective of asthma status. Those in the intervention group maintained their BMI, whereas BMI significantly increased in the control group throughout the 6-month period.ConclusionHIIT represents an effective tool for improving aerobic fitness and maintaining BMI in adolescents, irrespective of asthma status. HIIT was well-tolerated by those with asthma, who evidenced a similar aerobic fitness to their healthy peers and responded equally well to a HIIT program.     

Proportional-integral-derivative control of nonlinear half-car electro-hydraulic suspension systems

This paper presents the development of a proportional-integral-derivative (PID)-based control method for application to active vehicle suspension systems (AVSS). This method uses an inner PID hydraulic actuator force control loop, in combination with an outer PID suspension travel control loop, to control a nonlinear half-car AVSS. Robustness to model uncertainty in the form of variation in suspension damping is tested, comparing performance of the AVSS with a passive vehicle suspension system (PVSS), with similar model parameters. Spectral analysis of suspension system model output data, obtained by performing a road input disturbance frequency sweep, provides frequency response plots for both nonlinear vehicle suspension systems and time domain vehicle responses to a sinusoidal road input disturbance on a smooth road. The results show the greater robustness of the AVSS over the PVSS to parametric uncertainty in the frequency and time domains.