Video game learning dynamics: Actionable measures of multidimensional learning trajectories

Valid, accessible, reusable methods for instructional video game design and embedded assessment can provide actionable information enhancing individual and collective achievement. Cyberlearning through game‐based, metaphor‐enhanced learning objects (CyGaMEs) design and embedded assessment quantify player behavior to study knowledge discovery and application. CyGaMEs is grounded by analogical reasoning theory, cognitive task analysis and knowledge representation. A construct representation argument for validity using evidence‐centered design warrants CyGaMEs, its web‐based learning environment, Selene: A Lunar Construction GaME, its embedded assessment, and a learning dynamics approach to student, measurement and statistical models. Two studies (US volunteers, Study 1: n = 267, mean (M)_age = 15; Study 2: n = 90, M_age = 12) cross‐validate learning dynamics (learner progress, rate of progress and changes in that rate) for Selene's multidimensional goals while players learn and apply standard‐based science about fundamental geology and space science concepts. Gameplay data analyzed using regression, calculus and hierarchical linear modeling exhibit overall relatively high standardized rates of progress toward each goal statistically higher than zero. For example, adjusting for nesting within individual players, average rate of progress toward the goal of accreting lunar mass is a z‐score of 1.4 (99% confidence interval = 1.40_lower, 1.48_upper) or 1.4 standard deviations above zero.     

Pre-service teacher training in health and well-being in England: the state of the nation

This paper presents findings from a survey of pre-service teacher training institutions in England with regard to the provision of health and well-being education. It examines factors affecting the inclusion of health and well-being, and explores educational implications in light of the changing landscape of pre-service teacher education in England. Provision of health and well-being education is noticeably variable across institutions, and many course leaders are unclear about the coverage in their partner schools. Course leaders regard health and well-being as an important part of the curriculum, but the focus is usually on generic health-related themes such as child protection and behaviour management, which address Government priorities, rather than on specific topics such as education about diet, drugs, alcohol, smoking, sex and relationships and physical activity. The paper argues that these aspects should be addressed for pre-service teachers to have an increased sense of self-efficacy and become capable health promoters.     

Parental perspectives and challenges in inclusive education in Singapore

Relatively little work has focused on inclusive education in Singapore. This study examines the experiences and perceptions of parents whose children with disabilities are attending mainstream secondary schools in Singapore. Data was drawn from interviews with 13 parents of children with mild disabilities. Our findings reveal that parental perspective on inclusive education in Singapore is not only about classroom support but also reflects a deeper concern about whether their children with disabilities will emerge from school as contributing individuals in society. While parents strive to effectively include their children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, there were dichotomies in their (1) understanding of disabilities, (2) expectations of school support, and (3) expectations for their child with disabilities. Given that academic and social prowess is a critical prerequisite to have a shot at entering the meritocratic Singapore society, the tension parents experience is to gauge a reasonable amount of pressure to exert on their children, the school and themselves as they assert their children's educational entitlements within an imperfect but evolving state of inclusion.     

Research on teaching practicum – a systematic review

The aim of the present study is to conduct a systematic review research which focuses on research studies into the school practicum. In order to identify the main issues and also to provide a contemporary picture of practicum, 114 studies published on the topic are reviewed and analysed in terms of: (i) aims, (ii) main participants, (iii) methodology used and (iv) the main outcomes emerging. Many of the reviewed studies take pre-service teachers as their main participants. The review also shows that many practicum studies are relatively small-scale studies since they are mainly qualitative focused and findings derived from a relatively small sample. This suggests that more large-scale studies are needed in the field in order to provide greater insight into teaching practicum. Finally, this systematic review provides some food for thought in the area of practicum research and promotes further studies in this complex field.     

The impact of a natural disaster: under- and postgraduate nursing education following the Canterbury,New Zealand,earthquake experiences

While natural disasters have been reported internationally in relation to the injury burden, role of rescuers and responders, there is little known about the impact on education in adult professional populations. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake affected the Canterbury region of New Zealand on 4 September 2010 followed by more than 13,000 aftershocks in the three years to September 2013. As part of a larger study, a mixed method survey was used to explore factors impacting nurses engaged in education through polytechnic and university courses. This paper presents factors that were self-identified by students as supporting their ability to continue with education. Participants were recruited from three nursing settings: undergraduate nursing students, Registered Nurses (RNs) engaged in post-registration education and RNs engaged in postgraduate courses. A total of 290 participants took part in the study. A number of factors identified by participants could be addressed in pre-disaster course planning and curriculum design; through education and support of both students and staff; and the active promotion of personal, professional and institutional resilience.     

The Sum Is Greater Than the Parts: Deconstructing Homemade PowerPoint Games

Homemade PowerPoint games are a low-tech alternative for using game design in classrooms. To date, much of the research examining the games has not shown an improvement in performance. This has led some to question whether the games are properly aligned with the instructional strategies researchers have used as justifications to support using them. This study examined how increasing the structure of the game design project affected student performance when compared to control groups, as well as those who created games in previous iterations of the study. In addition, we examined the effects of student performance when two of the instructional strategies (microtheme writing and question writing) were tested in isolation. Most of the comparisons showed no statistical difference in performance; however, results from the final iteration yielded significant gains when compared to the control group.     

THE BULLYING DYNAMIC: PREVALENCE OF INVOLVEMENT AMONG A LARGE‐SCALE SAMPLE OF MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH WITH AND WITHOUT DISABILITIES

Bullying has been the topic of much debate and empirical investigations over the past decade. Contemporary literature contends that students with disabilities may be overrepresented within the bullying dynamic as both perpetrators and victims. Unfortunately, prevalence rates associated with the representation of students with disabilities is limited due to measurement, disability status identification, and definition issues. The present study attempted to address these issues by assessing the prevalence rates of specific subgroups of students with disabilities in a large‐scale cross‐sectional study with 13,325 students without disabilities and 1,183 students with disabilities in Grades 6 through 12. Results suggest that overall, students with disabilities reported proportionally higher rates of bullying, fighting, relational aggression, victimization, online victimization, and relational victimization than did their peers without disabilities. These findings suggest that schools must begin to establish targeted interventions to support skill development based on characteristics associated with specific disability identification.     

The Efficacy of Using Diagrams When Solving Probability Word Problems in College

Previous experiments have shown a deleterious effect of visual representations on college students’ ability to solve total- and joint-probability word problems. The present experiments used conditional-probability problems, known to be more difficult than total- and joint-probability problems. The diagram group was instructed in how to use tree diagrams to solve conditional probability problems; the equation-only group was instructed only in the formulation of equations. Results indicated that the diagram group outperformed the equation-only group on a posttest of 10 near- and far-transfer problems given immediately and as long as 1 week later (Experiment 2). In addition, when rating their experience with the training phase the equation-only group reported significantly higher levels of frustration and lower levels of perceived success than the diagram group.     

Past/forward policy-making: transforming Chinese engineering education since the Reform and Opening-up

Although engineering education has played important roles in China’s growing power and influence on the world stage, engineering education policy since the Reform and Opening-up in the late 1970s has not been well documented in current English-language scholarship. Informed by historical and sociological studies of education, engineering and engineering education, this paper attempts to address this scholarly gap by relating contemporary Chinese engineering education policy-making to its broader historical, cultural and ideological contexts. Based on analysis of policy documents and reports released by the Chinese government and engineering schools, and drawing on prior scholarship of Chinese (engineering) education policy, this paper employs the concept of ‘past/forward’ as an analytic lens to interpret and understand four major areas of engineering education policy change in contemporary China: institutional reform, disciplines and majors, training objectives, and curriculum reform.