Clay-Based Modeling in the Anatomist's Toolkit: A Systematic Review

Anatomical education has suffered from reduced teaching time and poor availability of staff and resources over the past thirty years. Clay-based modeling (CBM) is an alternative technique for teaching anatomy that can improve student knowledge and experience. This systematic review aimed to summarize and appraise the quality of the literature describing the uses, advantages, and limitations of CBM compared to alternative methods of teaching human gross anatomy to students or qualified healthcare professionals. A systematic search of Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases was conducted, and the Medical Education Research Quality Instrument (MERSQI) was used to assess study quality. Out of the 829 studies identified, 12 papers met the inclusion criteria and were eligible for this review. The studies were of high quality, with a mean MERSQI score of 11.50/18. Clay-based modeling can be used to teach all gross anatomical regions, and 11 studies demonstrated a significant improvement in short-term knowledge gain in students who used CBM in comparison to other methods of learning anatomy. Eight studies that included subjective assessment showed that CBM is rated highly. However, some studies showed that students viewed CBM as juvenile and experienced difficulty making the models. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that CBM improves long-term knowledge. Clay-based modeling is an effective learning method for human gross anatomy and should be incorporated into the anatomists' toolkit. In the future, more randomized controlled studies with transparent study designs investigating the long-term impact of CBM are needed.     

Towards climate resilient urban energy systems: a review

Climate change and increased urban population are two major concerns for society. Moving towards more sustainable energy solutions in the urban context by integrating renewable energy technologies supports decarbonizing the energy sector and climate change mitigation. A successful transition also needs adequate consideration of climate change including extreme events to ensure the reliable performance of energy systems in the long run. This review provides an overview of and insight into the progress achieved in the energy sector to adapt to climate change, focusing on the climate resilience of urban energy systems. The state-of-the-art methodology to assess impacts of climate change including extreme events and uncertainties on the design and performance of energy systems is described and discussed. Climate resilience is an emerging concept that is increasingly used to represent the durability and stable performance of energy systems against extreme climate events. However, it has not yet been adequately explored and widely used, as its definition has not been clearly articulated and assessment is mostly based on qualitative aspects. This study reveals that a major limitation in the state-of-the-art is the inadequacy of climate change adaptation approaches in designing and preparing urban energy systems to satisfactorily address plausible extreme climate events. Furthermore, the complexity of the climate and energy models and the mismatch between their temporal and spatial resolutions are the major limitations in linking these models. Therefore, few studies have focused on the design and operation of urban energy infrastructure in terms of climate resilience. Considering the occurrence of extreme climate events and increasing demand for implementing climate adaptation strategies, the study highlights the importance of improving energy system models to consider future climate variations including extreme events to identify climate resilient energy transition pathways.     

Parents' Attitudes Towards Science and their Children's Science Achievement

Although countries worldwide are emphasizing the importance of science education for technological development and global economic competition, comparative findings from standardized international student assessments reveal a huge gap in science scores between developed and developing countries. Certain developed economies too have made little progress in raising science achievement over the past decade. Despite school improvement being placed high on the policy agenda, the results of such actions have been poor. Therefore, there is a need to explore additional ways in which science achievement can be enhanced. This study focuses on the family and examines whether parents' attitudes towards science (how much they value science and the importance they place on it) can influence their children's science achievement. Individual- and school-level data are obtained from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 survey for 15 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD countries. Hierarchical linear modelling is employed to estimate the equations. The findings indicate that parents' attitudes towards science have a positive and statistically significant effect on science achievement, after controlling for other important student- and school-level variables. Moreover, students from poor backgrounds appear to benefit from more positive parental science attitudes as much as students from high socioeconomic status, such that equality of student achievement is not affected. This study recommends that schools and teachers encourage parents to play a more pro-active role in their children's science education, as well as educate parents about the importance of science and strategies that can be adopted to support their children's science learning.     

Exploring students’ competence,autonomy and relatedness in the flipped classroom pedagogical model

This study aimed at identifying the differences between a flipped classroom and a non-flipped classroom instructional model, based on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This study employed a mixed-method research approach, using post-tests, questionnaires and focus group interviews during the data collection process. Sixty-one students were the respondents involved in a non-randomised experiment with a control group design, while 10 representative students participated in a focus-group discussion. The results reported that post-test 1 showed no significant difference between the two groups of flipped and non-flipped classroom instruction (t = 1.68, p = .474), while post-tests 2 and 3 were significantly different (t = 5.54, p = .007 < .05) and (t = 10.17, p = .001 < .05). This finding shows that students in the flipped learning environment were more competent handling online tasks and activities, and were able to control their learning outcomes. The survey results showed that the flip-class setting fostered better peer interaction and autonomous learning skills among the students. The flip-class environment had also a positive influence on students’ intrinsic motivation. The qualitative findings from the students’ interviews revealed that students were motivated by the video-recorded lectures, self-regulated learning environments, engagement in class activities and peer interaction. Conclusions from this study showed that the flip-class setting had successfully established the basic psychological needs of SDT, namely: competency, autonomy and relatedness in a flipped classroom model.     

Impact of teachers’ career adaptability and family on professional learning

Teachers’ engagement in professional learning is vital to the profession’s sustainability. Their professional learning is influenced by the demands of balancing work, family, and the strain of balancing the two. This challenge is addressed through the notion resilience, operationalized as career adaptability. In a sample of teachers (N = 193), the present research explored the relations between career adaptability, family-to-work conflict (time-based and strain-based), and engagement in professional learning. Structural equation modelling revealed that time-based conflict mediated the relation between career adaptability and strain-based conflict. Strain-based conflict, in turn, negatively predicted engagement with professional development studies. It is recommended that strategies for teachers’ professional learning are inclusive of contextual factors, such as family-to-work conflict, and focused on enhancing their career adaptability.     

Factors that influence the decision of Spanish faculty members to retire

Recent reports confirm that the European Higher Education Area is conditioning the satisfaction of Spanish faculty members, resulting in a greater number of early retirements. The present study, framed within the context of the research, development and innovation project ‘Fuga de Talentos: Un estudio sobre los motivos que han condicionado a profesores universitarios con experiencia a abandonar la profesión docente. Diseño de una propuesta (EDU2012-37068)’, intends to understand the factors that influence their decision to retire early. This study is based on the mixed sequential explanatory strategy, using logistic regression analysis techniques with a sample of 311 faculty members. The results showed differences in the factors that influence the decision-making of active faculty members who are near (aged 51–60) or approaching (aged 61–65) retirement. Their professional satisfaction, feelings and the reasons for retiring influence their decision about retiring, explaining the culture of early retirement and the loss of human capital in Spanish universities.     

From autopsy to biopsy: A metacognitive view of lesson planning and teacher trainees in ELT

Lesson planning and implementation of those plans are complex and cognitively demanding for English Language Teacher trainees preparing for the profession. Many find it difficult to develop a lesson holistically and to maintain alignment across aims, procedural steps, and evaluation when planning and implementing a lesson. We attempted to address this problem by establishing a model of trainees’ action that included their deliberate metacognitive structuring of a lesson both in planning and review phases. Data from a first exploration of student thinking elicited by the model indicate positive shifts in trainees’ holistic thinking and a student-centeredness in the critical perspectives they took in both planning and review.     

TESOL professional standards in the “Asian century”: dilemmas facing Australian TESOL teacher education

Australian teacher education programmes that prepare teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) are confronting the nexus of two facets of globalization: transformations in the Asian region, captured in the notion of the “Asian century”, and shifting conceptions of professionalism in TESOL in non-compulsory education. In booming Asian economies, English language learning is integral to the demand for high-quality education. This has produced increases in TESOL Teacher Education Programme (TTEP) enrolments of both domestic Australian students and international students from Asia. Growth in demand for TTEPs has necessitated that they cater to student diversity, and the intended contexts of practice. This demand has coincided with a concurrent movement towards professional standards for TESOL that, we argue, confronts complexities around quality, accountability, and professional identity and achieving conceptual and contextual coherence. Drawing on discourses of managerialism and performativity, this paper explores tensions between increased student demands for TTEPs, professional standards discourses which are part of the global policy discourses on teacher quality, and the achievement of programmatic conceptual and contextual coherence from the perspective of Australian TTEPs.