Can narrative cutscenes improve home learning from a math game? An experimental study with children

Little is known about the instructional effects of narrative framing elements in child learning games. In this study, second and third graders (M_age = 8.24) played one of two versions of a successful, commercial mathematical learning game at home for 2 weeks (N = 95; between-subject design). The versions differed in the presence/absence of a background story conveyed through comic cutscenes at the beginning and the end of the game. Results showed that children played the game intensively in both conditions: despite not being forced to do so. Plus, they also learned from the game. As expected, children assigned to the cutscenes condition interfaced with the cutscenes. However, no between-group difference was detected in pre-post learning gains, parent-reported engagement, self-reported enjoyment, time spent with the game and the number of solved in-game tasks (all |ds| < 0.29). Altogether, no advantage or disadvantage from the narrative comic cutscenes was revealed.     

Emotional Dimensions of Watching Zoo Animals: An Experience Sampling Study Building on Insights from Psychology

Abstract There is little research about how visitors to zoos and aquariums respond emotionally to the animals they experience. The research that does exist has seldom been informed by current psychological literature on affect, which examines the nature and roles of sentiments, moods, emotions, and affective traits. Emotion is multidimensional: it focuses on a person's core goals; directs attention and interest; arouses the body for action; and integrates social group and cultural factors. It is thus a central component of meaning‐making. This article provides an overview of the literature on emotion as it applies to human emotional responses to animals. Informed by this literature, this paper presents results from a research study conducted at a zoo. Subjects (279 adults) were each electronically paged once while viewing one of three zoo animals (snake, okapi, or gorilla). Subjects completed scales on 17 specific emotions, seven items measuring evaluation and arousal, and other scales and responses to the animal. Four patterns of emotions emerged, ranging from “equal opportunity” emotions to “highly selective” emotions. The variables that were most important in influencing emotions were not demographic ones, but the kind of animal, subject's emotionality, relation to the animal, and other items predicted by emotion theory. Implications for biophilia, conservation, and the study of emotional responses to animals are discussed.     

Challenges in developing the academic profession in the Western Balkans

In this paper, we explore the developmental challenges facing the academic profession in Europe and especially in some Western Balkan countries, Croatia and Slovenia. First, we look at how the higher education environment determines key changes to the academic profession: expectations to demonstrate professional expertise, internationalisation, segmentation, and precarity. While these processes are mainly considered from the above perspective, we also examine the work of academics from within. Second, we discuss aspects of academic tasks, challenges of synchronising academic work with performance measures, intensification of work and expansion of bureaucratic tasks. Building on these perspectives, we introduce a qualitative pilot study that tests how these general trends described in the literature may be applied to given situations in five countries of former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo. Although these countries cover a relatively small geographical area, the differences among them with respect to the economy, society and politics are important. Our findings suggest that problems accumulating in academic work in Slovenia and Croatia were in almost all of the surveyed aspects less problematic than in the three other observed countries.     

Reliability and Validity of Finger Strength and Endurance Measurements in Rock Climbing

Purpose: An advanced system for the assessment of climbing-specific performance was developed and used to: (a) investigate the effect of arm fixation (AF) on construct validity evidence and reliability of climbing-specific finger-strength measurement; (b) assess reliability of finger-strength and endurance measurements; and (c) evaluate the relationship between finger flexor all-out test scores and climbing ability. Methods: To determine the effect of AF, 22 male climbers performed 2 maximal strength and all-out tests with AF (shoulder and elbow flexed at 90°) and without AF (shoulder flexed at 180° and elbow fully extended). To determine reliability, 9 male climbers completed 2 maximal strength tests with and without AF and an all-out and intermittent test without AF. Results: The maximal strength test without AF more strongly determined climbing ability than the test with AF (r² = .48 and r² = .42 for sport climbing; r² = .66 and r² = .42 for bouldering, respectively). Force and time variables were highly reliable; the rate of force development and fatigue index had moderate and low reliability. The maximal strength test with AF provided slightly higher reliability than without AF (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.94, ICC = 0.88, respectively). However, smaller maximal forces were achieved during AF (484 ± 112 N) than without AF (546 ± 132 N). All-out test average force had sufficiently high reliability (ICC = 0.92) and a relationship to sport climbing (r² = .42) and bouldering ability (r² = .58). Conclusion: Finger strength and endurance measurements provided sufficient construct validity evidence and high reliability for time and force parameters. Arm fixation provides more reliable results; however, the position without AF is recommended as it is more related to climbing ability.     

Political preferences and public funding of tertiary education during the economic crisis

This article analyses how political preferences, which are co-determined by the beliefs of decision-makers and influences of interest groups and the general public, affect the decisions to maintain or cut public funding for tertiary education during the economic crisis. Our sample included 29 European countries which we divided into two groups depending on the level of public funding for tertiary education before the crisis, which we used as a measure of revealed political preferences. We then observed the differences in changes in public tertiary education funding during the crisis between these two groups of countries using five different indicators. Three of the five indicators show that countries with a stronger political preference for tertiary education public funding cut their spending on tertiary education to a lesser extent (or even increased spending) during the economic crisis.     

The Bat'a Company in Zlín: a shoe company or a school company?

The first part of the study focuses on the characteristics and analysis of Zlín as an example of a company town. Life in the company town is characterised as a means of forming ‘a new man’ in Bat'a’s Zlín. The second section analyses the aims of worker education in Bat'a’s Zlín (in the so-called Bat'a school of work) and highlights the methods and conditions of education for young men and women, focusing on the area of company education. The third part deals with the question of rationalisation (or scientific management) – an extended concept in the production, social and economic areas of interwar Czechoslovakia – in the context of Bat'a’s Zlín. Attention is given to the technocratic movement and to the problems of psycho-technology and its application in the production process and employee selection in the Bat'a Company.     

Evaluation of mobile assessment in a learning management system

This article discusses the problem of using and delivering educational content from the Moodle learning management system to mobile devices. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the students' habits, motivations and technical possibilities in order to incorporate mobile‐learning activities in the e‐learning process. A mobile quiz has been chosen as an activity to be delivered on mobile devices. The developed mobile quiz application was integrated into Moodle. The application interface was tailored to various types of mobile devices aiming to foster mainstreaming of mobile technologies in e‐learning. For the purposes of the evaluation, an experiment was conducted within the e‐learning system at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, the University of Belgrade. Data were obtained from the students who attended e‐learning courses in the area of e‐business. Research findings have shown that integration of the mobile quiz application into Moodle improves students' results and increases satisfaction and motivation for using mobile devices in their learning process.     

A Journal from the South: Lithuanian Papers

The Australian peer-reviewed journal Lithuanian Papers has been published since 1987 in Hobart, Tasmania. The editor summarizes its history and invites readers to subscribe.     

Encounters with action research in the african context: a case study in the school curriculum in lesotho

This article is based on an action research study undertaken in the African context, in Lesotho. It illustrates understandings and insights that developed in this context about action research by reference to the factors that influenced the comprehension and implementation of the method, reflections of the research team on the method, and the potential of the method to improve practice. It is argued that the method had potential to improve practice in this context, and that the contextualisation of action research by reflection on the method was essential.