Digital technologies for promoting “student voice” and co-creating learning experience in an academic course

“Student voice” (SV) refers to listening to and valuing students’ views regarding their learning experiences, as well as treating them as equal partners in the evaluation process. This is expected, in turn, to empower students to take a more active role in shaping their learning. This study explores the role played by digital technologies in creating a space for SV in academia. The qualitative study was conducted in an academic course, which combines face-to face, synchronous lessons with a variety of asynchronous self-directed and group learning activities. The participants were 54 Master’s students in education. We analyzed the pedagogical design of the course, as well as interpretations of teaching, learning, assessment, and the role of technology as experienced and presented by the students. The findings demonstrated that students functioned as co-designers of the course content, co-creators of teaching and of their own learning experience. Students perceived the requirements of active learning, teamwork, and community participation (i.e., an advanced way of conveying SV—leadership; Mitra International handbook of student experience in elementary and secondary school, Springer Publishers, The Netherlands, 2007), as both challenges related to overload and stress, and benefits related to the gains of meaningful learning, innovative pedagogical design, and diverse instructional methods. The equalization effect of the digital environment, which diminishes status cues changed the power dynamic, promoted students’ active participation and their pedagogical partnership with the instructor. Based on the findings, our conceptualization of SV and its implications for academia includes: (1) co-design of content, (2) co-teaching, (3) co-creation of learning experience and outcomes, and (4) embedded co-assessment for learning.     

How to stay becoming – living up to the code of conduct in a sports class

In this article we show how a hybridisation of elite sport and school in lower-secondary education in Denmark produces a particular kind of learning subject with dual tracks for development, and we ask what kind of actions the students apply in order to stay becoming along both tracks. We apply theoretical conceptions of ‘becoming’ inspired by Brembeck and Johansson that allow us to understand how the sports students live up to the code of conduct of the sports classes. The article is based on an ethnographic study carried out in four schools located in four regions of Denmark. We argue that the hybrid obliges students to follow a narrow developmental track with an ambitious goal of performing in both sport and school, and that the hybrid is threatened when a sports student prioritises either sport or school while he/she is still enrolled in the class.     

Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds − 0.31–0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.     

Are we all in this together?: mathematics teachers’ perspectives on equity in remote instruction during pandemic

Educational Studies in Mathematics - The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented situation that influenced all aspects of society, including education. Millions of students found themselves adjusting...     

Exemplarity,expressivity, education

ABSTRACT

This article proposes that Catherine Elgin and Nelson Goodman’s work on exemplification is relevant for discussions within moral philosophy and moral education. Generalizing Elgin and Goodman’s account of exemplification to also cover ethics, the article develops a two-factor account of moral exemplarity. According to this account, instantiation and expressivity are individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for someone or something to function as a moral exemplar. Applying this two-factor account of exemplarity to discussions within the philosophy of moral education the article then argues that it is the expressive aspect of moral exemplars, which explains and justifies the educational significance of such exemplars. The article concludes by discussing the similarities and differences between the expressivity account and the transparency criterion formulated by Michel Croce and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza in a recent paper.     

Technological,pedagogical and content knowledge in one-to-one classroom: teachers developing “digital wisdom”

One-to-one (1X1) laptop initiatives become prevalent in schools aiming to enhance active learning and assist students in developing twenty-first-century skills. This paper reports a qualitative investigation of all 7th graders and their 15 teachers in a junior high-school in Northern Israel gradually implementing 1X1 model. The research was conducted during a second year of 1X1 implementation at the school level, which was a first year of teaching and learning with laptops for all study participants. The study triangulates non-participant lessons’ observations and semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers. The data were collected twice: at the beginning and toward the end of the 2011–2012 academic year – in total, 30 observations and 30 interviews were conducted. The results were examined through phenomenological research techniques and discussed in terms of the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) and “digital wisdom” approaches. The teachers showed significant increase of technological knowledge. However, only moderate connections between technology and pedagogy as well as between technology and content were found. Some of the teachers functioned as moderators, scaffolding students and supporting their individual or collaborative learning. However, many teachers struggled with effective management of 1X1 classroom. Neither conjunction of teacher TPACK nor facilitation of student digital skills was observed. The paper suggests an overlap of the TPACK framework and the digital wisdom approach and provides implications for curriculum developers and educational policy-makers.     

Whatever happened to STS? Pre-service physics teachers and the history of quantum mechanics

If issues in the history and philosophy of science and those related to science, technology and society are generally accepted in policy, how ought these be handled in practice? Mandate in policy does not guarantee implementation in practice. Indeed, HPS and STS have for decades been marginalized in the curriculum. Subject areas designated to teach components of HPS and STS, such as design and technology, social studies and science, seem preoccupied with other aspects of the curriculum and rarely get around to HPS and STS. This study aimed at eliciting pre-service physics teachers’ perspectives on using HPS to address quantum mechanics and scientific literacy. Through questionnaires, observation of and participation in a physics methods class, 16 pre-service teachers were asked to identify topics they considered problematic to teach or learn. They were challenged to identify those topics that could effectively be taught or learned from HPS. The pre-service teachers agreed that HPS and STS were more appealing for teaching some topics, such as quantum mechanics, which is the focus of this article. This intervention in physics teacher education demonstrates the importance of using specific methods in physics instruction to demonstrate the value of HPS in scientific literacy.     

混合插值法求解Navier-Stokes方程

利用算子分裂法将粘性不可压流体Navier-Stokes方程表述的物理过程分解为扩散和对流2个过程,建立起它们的有限元方程.采用9节点四边形等参元中的形函数描述单元中流体的速度场,而利用这种单元的4个顶点节点构成的插值函数描述单元中流体的压力场,通过有限元生成系统(FEPG)进行Navier-Stokes方程的单元子程序的生成,得到求解不可压粘性流体Navier-Stokes方程的有限元程序,并用它对粘性不可压流体的挠圆柱流动问题进行了数值模拟,分析结果与试验结果吻合.     

How important is it to my parents? Transmission of STEM academic values: the role of parents’ values and practices and children’s perceptions of parental influences

The success of science education in classroom and out-of-school settings can be influenced by parents’ behaviours and STEM-related values. The present study investigated pathways in parent-to-child transmission of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) values by examining at same time parents’ values and behaviours, along with their children’s perceptions of these parental influences. The study included 1071 students (M_age?=?12.15) and the same number of their parents. Path analysis revealed that children’s importance value of the STEM school fields was best explained by their perceptions of parental values and behaviours in STEM. On the other hand, parents’ self-reported values and behaviours had a weak effect in predicting children’s values, which can be explained by inaccurate children’s perceptions of their parents. The results suggest that parents more easily convey beliefs about the utility than the attainment value of STEM. Namely, parents’ utility value had a larger effect in predicting children’s value, partly mediated through children’s perception of parents’ encouragement of STEM interests. The study highlights the role of children’s perceptions of their parents’ beliefs and behaviours and the importance of communicating STEM-related values within the family. Practical implications for parents and science educators are discussed.     

Science Teachers’ Meaning-Making When Involved in a School-Based Professional Development Project

A group of teachers?? meaning-making when they are collaboratively analyzing artifacts from practice in local science classrooms in a school-based professional development (PD) project is examined through repeated interviews and represented as meaning-making maps. The interpretation of the teachers?? meaning-making includes both their reference to outcomes from the project and their expressed ideas about teaching and learning of science. All four teachers refer to experiences from experimenting in their classrooms and interpret the collected artifacts in relation to students?? learning. Furthermore, they all felt encouraged to continue collaboration around science. During the interviews, the teachers emphasize various elements apparently connected to concrete challenges they each experience in their professional work. Implications in relation to the design of PD are discussed.