The effect of augmented reality on the astronomy achievement and interest level of gifted students

The purpose of the current study was to determine the effect of teaching astronomy through augmented reality (AR) on the achievement and interest level of gifted students and their opinions about AR applications. The current study was conducted in line with the explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. The study group of the current research was comprised of 51 gifted students (26 in the control group and 25 in the experimental group) attending a Science and Arts Centre (B?LSEM). In the application process, the astronomy teaching activities supported with AR were used in the experimental group while the astronomy teaching activities suggested in the official science curriculum of the middle school 7th grade were used. The data of the study were collected by using an Astronomy Achievement Test and the Scale of Interest in Astronomy as a pretest and posttest and an AR Interview form administered only to the experimental group students at the end of the application. The statistical analyses of the quantitative data revealed that before the experimental application, the experimental and control groups were equal in terms of astronomy achievement and interest in astronomy. After the completion of the application, however, significant differences were found for both the experimental and control groups in favor of the posttest. Moreover, significant differences were also found in the posttest in favor of the experimental group in terms of both astronomy achievement and interest in astronomy. In other words, AR-supported astronomy teaching activities positively affected the experimental group students’ astronomy achievement and interest in astronomy. Furthermore, the experimental group students expressed many positive opinions about the AR applications within the categories of technical features and cognitive and affective features. The experimental group students wanted the use of AR applications in the teaching of other science subjects and other courses.

     

Are teachers techno-optimists or techno-pessimists? A pilot comparative among teachers in Bolivia,Brazil, the Dominican Republic,Ecuador, Finland,Poland, Turkey,and Uruguay

The aim of the article is to highlight the key elements related to the implementation of new technologies in education from the perspective of the opinions and experiences of educators in the field in Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Poland, Turkey, and Uruguay. The text compares issues related to attitudes towards the use of new media in education, experiences with different forms of e-learning, and the level of restrictions on the use of smartphones in school. These variables are juxtaposed with the self-assessment of digital competence and how cyberspace is used. The survey was conducted using a standardised survey questionnaire translated into the relevant national languages in the first half of 2019, and involved a sample of 873 teachers representing eight countries. On the basis of the pilot studies it was noted that: 1) Teachers from LAC and EU like to use digital media - this is a constant trend independent of geographical location; 2) Teachers note that new technologies are not always better than analogue didactic aids; 3) Teachers from selected countries (the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Turkey, and Uruguay) have much greater techno-optimism in themselves than teachers from Bolivia, Poland, Finland and Turkey in terms of the impact of ICT on student motivation and engagement; 4) In all countries teachers prefer free online courses (the different forms of e-learning are used most often by those in the Dominican Republic, and the least often in Bolivia and Poland); 5) In each country teachers who highly value their own digital competences and have a positive attitude towards new media use ICT much more actively; 6) There is also a global trend in that the extensive use of cyberspace (typical e-services) appears in combination with the extensive use of various forms of e-learning; 7) Teachers from Ecuador are most likely to want to ban the use of smartphones in schools. The most liberal approach in this respect is taken by the Uruguayans; 8) The knowledge of the conditions related to restricting the use of smartphones goes beyond the analyses related to the style of use and attitude towards new media. This article is the result of pilot studies conducted within the framework of the SMART ECOSYSTEM FOR LEARNING AND INCLUSION project carried out in selected Latin American, Caribbean (LAC) and European (EU) countries.

     

Embodiment and the Risk of Reading

In this article, Anders Öhman discusses Gert J. J. Biesta's concept of the risk of education and what it could mean for the study of literature in the classroom. The article's point of departure is Bakhtin's theory of the utterance. The utterance, for Bakhtin, has to be embodied, that is, it has to be governed by a purpose: it must be uttered by someone, or at least the reader or listener must imagine that it is uttered by someone that speaks with an intent. A grammatical sentence that is not an utterance has no author and no direction or intention; it is therefore abstract and belongs to no one. Reading on the Internet, or digital reading, often consists of short passages or text fragments for which it is difficult to identify an author. These fragments are not embodied and thus the reader does not feel addressed by the text. Although Biesta does not reckon with Bakhtin's theory, his critique of “strong education” provides an analysis that runs along similar lines. According to Biesta, the notion of strong education and what he calls the “language of learning” regard knowledge as free of values thus rendering it abstract. In bringing together Bakhtin's and Biesta's analyses, Öhman concludes that in order for knowledge to elicit valuation, it must first become embodied; this process, in turn, is important to creating the conditions necessary for a dialogue to occur between the content of teaching and the students.     

An Alternative Method for Anatomy Training: Immersive Virtual Reality

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of immersive three-dimensional (3D) interactive virtual reality (VR) on anatomy training in undergraduate physical therapy students. A total of 72 students were included in the study. The students were randomized into control (n = 36) and VR (n = 36) group according to the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, sex, and Purdue Spatial Visualization Test Rotations (PSVT-R). Each student completed a pre-intervention and post-intervention test, consisting of 15 multiple-choice questions. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, sex, Kolb Learning Style Inventory distribution, and the PSVT-R (P > 0.05). The post-test scores were significantly higher compared to pre-test scores in both the VR group (P < 0.001) and the control group (P < 0.001). The difference between the pre-test and post-test results was found to be significantly higher in favor of the VR group (P < 0.001). In this study, anatomy training with a 3D immersive VR system was found to be beneficial. These results suggest that VR systems can be used as an alternative method to the conventional anatomy training approach for health students.     

A psychometric evaluation of the career transition inventory with Turkish participants

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This study examined the psychometric properties of the Career Transition Inventory after translation into Turkish (TR). A sample of...     

Transactive Teaching in a Time of Climate Crisis

This article discusses three problems that need to be tackled when the climate crisis becomes ‘a sustainability issue’ to be taught in schools. The article highlights, first, how knowledge concerning sustainability in schools risks being reduced and made into knowledge about ‘things’. Secondly, it also discusses how students in such a context risk being treated as instruments for ways of being in the world, rather than being subjects with ethical and political concerns for the world in which they live ‘here and now’. Thirdly, as we explore through some empirical examples, such reduction and instrumentalism objectifies both students and nature, which makes an adequate response to the crises obsolete. As an alternative, the article develops a notion of grievability and its importance for adequately responding to all living beings within a project of sustainability. To this end, it develops suggestions for a transactive teaching approach in a time of climate crisis.     

Institute notes

International Review of Education -     

Teaching,Freedom and the Human Individual

The essay represents teaching as the coming to be of the human individual. In order to do so, it reflects on the character of human life by which it is knowledge of itself. Being knowledge of itself, human life is self-determining or free. Therefore generality and particularity come together in the human being in a distinctive way: a human being is not an exemplar, instance or specimen of a species, nature or life-form. Rather, she is her own principle. This is captured in the idea of the human being as an individual. The essay reveals teaching to be the form of coming to be which is proper to what is an individual in this sense. In this way, the essay shows teaching to be internal to human freedom.