Effectiveness of multimedia‐based instruction that emphasizes molecular representations on students' understanding of chemical change

The present study makes use of the capabilities of computerized environments to enable simultaneous display of molecular representations that correspond to observations at the macroscopic level. This study questions the immediate and long‐term effects of using a multimedia instructional unit that integrates the macroscopic, symbolic, and molecular representations of chemical phenomena. Forty‐nine eighth graders received either multimedia‐based instruction that emphasized molecular representations (n = 16), or regular instruction (n = 33). Students who received multimedia‐based instruction that emphasized the molecular state of chemicals outperformed students from the regular instruction group in terms of the resulting test scores and the ease with which they could represent matter at the molecular level. However, results relating to the long‐term effects suggest that the effectiveness of a multimedia‐based environment can be improved if instruction includes additional prompting that requires students to attend to the correspondence between different representations of the same phenomena. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 317–337, 2004     

A challenging educational reform: politics of history textbook revision in North Cyprus

History education has been continually challenged by political competition in Cyprus. The education systems on both sides of the divide reflect the ongoing ethnic conflict and suffer from ethnocentrism. In particular, the history textbooks are used to convey and legitimise official narratives and reinforce identities defined vis-à-vis the other. As a result of the political debates in the early-2000s, a challenging process of educational reform and revision of history textbooks started in North Cyprus. This paper provides a historical perspective on the changes in the Cypriot history textbooks, and undertakes an in-depth comparative analysis of the old, revised and re-revised Cyprus history textbooks that have been used in schools from 1971 until the present day. The data was collected from document analysis of the textbooks used in lower- and upper-secondary schools both before and after the education reform.     

The impact of political factors on international student mobility

International student mobility contributes to a knowledge-based economy and forms an important component of a highly educated migration. This paper aims to identify how far political factors—including political discrimination, restrictions, freedom, UK migration policies and social cultural norms and policies—enhance or inhibit individuals' capabilities to become mobile. It offers a novel conceptualisation of mobility, drawing on structuration theory and the capability approach, to reveal the link between structure, capability and agency in the mobility process. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 40 PhD students, two professors from Turkey in the United Kingdom and three international education experts. A capability list established shows how mobility occurs when students' capabilities (freedoms) fail to flourish and they lose their power (capacity) to influence society due to the political environment in the home country. ‘Impo-mobility’, derived from the word ‘imposed’, is proposed to refer to highly educated people having to become mobile as a result of impositions placed upon them by home and host-government political practices. An appealing political environment is necessary if Turkey is not to lose highly educated individuals and the United Kingdom is to remain a global player in international higher education.     

The effects of the cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligence theory on Turkish elementary students’ mathematics achievement

In the present experimental study, the effects of the cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligence theory (CLMI) on elementary school fourth grade students’ academic achievement and retention towards the mathematics course were investigated. The participants of the study were 150 students who were divided into two experimental (used CLMI) and two control groups (used traditional method). “Mathematics Achievement Test,” “Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligences” and “Personal Information Form” were used as the measurement instruments of the study. The findings of this research have indicated that CLMI has a more significant effect on academic achievement than the traditional method. Yet, regarding the retention scores, CLMI has not significant effect on retention.     

Effectiveness of Computer-Based Chemistry Instruction in Enhancing the Learning of Content and Variable Control Under Guided Versus Unguided Conditions

Computerized learning environments offer several possibilities that can be used to improve the teaching of content along with the process. Research indicates that students benefit from additional guidance, particularly when computer-based instruction requires active construction of knowledge. This study examines the relative effectiveness of guided versus unguided computer-based instruction with respect to regular instruction in improving content knowledge and process skills among students with low and high chemistry achievement levels. The results indicate that the effectiveness of computer-based instruction increases when learning is supported by teacher-directed guidance. Computer-based instruction (with or without guidance) was observed to be more effective than regular instruction in improving process skills particularly for students with high chemistry achievement. However, although the students who received regular or guided computer-based instruction showed significant gains in content knowledge, students under unguided condition failed to construct the expected content knowledge.     

The Efficacy of Multimedia Stories in Preschoolers’ Explicit and Implicit Story Comprehension

Oral language provides a foundation for reading comprehension. Story comprehension is a fundamental oral language skill; it covers making inferences, identifying main ideas, monitoring, perspective-taking, and applying working memory capacity. Complex reasoning and perspective-taking are key factors in deep reading comprehension. Preliterate children’s deeper story comprehension skills can be initial indicators of their later reading comprehension. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate preliterate preschool children’s story comprehension skills in detail. This study focuses on the additional multimedia features of digital storybooks and whether they hinder or promote young children’s explicit and implicit comprehension in a small group reading activity. The findings revealed that (a) children in the multimedia-enhanced storybook group outperformed the print storybook group in terms of both explicit and implicit story comprehension, (b) explicit story comprehension was higher than implicit story comprehension for both groups, and (c) the children recalled significantly more story elements and the length of the story retellings was greater with the aid of animated illustrations. The findings indicate that a digital storybook provides close temporal contiguity of text and visuals and may enhance story understanding by concretizing the narration. The study provides evidence that multimedia stories can foster children’s implicit story comprehension and inferential thinking about the content of the story.     

Does the amount of on-screen text influence student learning from a multimedia-based instructional unit?

The present study examines how changes in the amount of on-screen text will influence student learning from a multimedia instructional unit on basic concepts of coordinate geometry. The relative effectiveness of two different versions (short-text and whole-text) of the instructional unit was examined for students who differed in terms of their ability to remember symbolic units, symbolic systems and symbolic interpretations. A total of 101 seventh graders were randomly assigned to work with either the whole-text or the short-text version. Student gains were analyzed using pre-test, post-test and retention test scores. Memory ability was assessed by the sub-tests of the Structure of Intellect-Learning Abilities Test. Results indicated no significant differences between groups who worked with short-text and whole-text versions. However retention scores of high and low memory groups who worked with the whole-text version showed significant differences. The whole-text version was observed to favor students with high memory for symbolic implications. Results suggest that workability of design principles for multimedia instruction may depend on the nature of the task and characteristics of the learner.     

Counselling International Students in Turkish Universities: Current Status and Recommendations

In the present study, the current status of international students and counselling services provided at Turkish universities is addressed. Firstly, a brief history of counselling and counselling services in Turkish universities is examined, leading to a consideration of the current status of international students and counselling services. Finally, key elements for working effectively with international students are presented and a long-term orientation model that might be applicable for Turkish university counselling centers is proposed.     

Modeling of an instructional design process based on the problem-based learning approach in three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments

Education and Information Technologies - In this study, the instructional design process in three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments (3D MUVEs) based on a problem-based learning approach...