Perspectives on pedagogical change: instructor and student experiences of a newly implemented undergraduate engineering dynamics curriculum*

Engineering education has been slow to adopt research-based educational innovations. Few prior works on such adoption have investigated the combined classroom experiences of instructors and students when such innovations are being implemented. Therefore, this work focuses on the lived experiences of an instructor and her students when adopting an active, blended, and collaborative learning environment, known as Freeform, in a second-year dynamics course. Weekly reflections from the instructor were processed alongside student interviews using Thematic Analysis to discern prominent themes in their perspectives for comparison and discussion. The results indicate that the instructor navigated internal tensions between her previous instructional preferences and the philosophy and resources of Freeform. Similarly, students had to adapt to this new philosophy and suite of resources that were uncommon for their institution. Ultimately, this work highlights the contextual natures of teaching and learning, and how situational factors can influence educational innovation.     

The relationship between teachers’ emotional intelligence and classroom discipline management

One of the fundamental problems of educational systems in many countries is related to classroom discipline. This reflects one of the worst problems faced by teachers. Classroom discipline management strategies play an effective role in creating positive teacher‐student relationships. One of the factors that influence behavior management in a classroom is emotional intelligence. Therefore, this study analyzing how teachers emotional intelligence influences the management of discipline in a classroom and the relationship between gender, academic formation, and service time of teachers with their emotional intelligence. Its sample comprises 559 basic and secondary school teachers. An Emotional Competence Questionnaire, a Scale of Teacher Efficacy in Classroom Management, and a personal and professional data inquiry have been used as instruments. Results show that teachers who have more capacity to deal with emotion demonstrate a greater management of discipline in the classroom. Most of the relationships in the model are statistically significant.     

A Model-Based Inquiry Sequence as a Heuristic to Evaluate Students’ Emotional,Behavioural, and Cognitive Engagement

Research in Science Education - In this study we address the need to promote student engagement with school science and the need to measure a more comprehensive conception of engagement considering...     

Artificial intelligence in education: evolution of the teaching—learning relationship

In this paper some of the implications of the exploitation of Artificial Intelligence techniques in the educational field are presented, and the evolution of the changing quality of interaction between student and teacher is illustrated. Such historical changes are presented as a consequence of the introduction of new technologies in education. Particular aspects of Intelligent Educational Systems are presented, pointing out the innovative features of such systems compared with traditional applications.     

The Italian adaptation of courage measure

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This project developed and examined the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Courage Measure, the reduced version...     

Elimination of lipaemic interference by high-speed centrifugation

IntroductionIn order to deliver high quality results, detection and elimination of possible analytical interferences, such as lipaemia, is crucial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of high-speed centrifugation in eliminating lipaemic interference and to define own lipaemic index (LI) for the studied biochemical analytes.Materials and methodsEvaluated analytes were: albumin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine-aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate-aminotransferase (AST), calcium, creatinine, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), glucose, phosphates, total proteins, urea and total bilirubin. Those analytes and LIs have been analysed in duplicate in the Roche Diagnostics-c8000 analyser in samples centrifuged at 3000 rpm/10 minutes in the SL16 (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, USA) centrifuge and according to an own high-speed centrifugation protocol (12,900 rpm/15 minutes) in the MicroCL17R (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, USA) centrifuge. Lipaemia has been measured in each sample. The efficiency of high-speed centrifugation is verified by the Wilcoxon test (P < 0.05). In cases where significant differences are observed, our own LI is calculated. For ALT and AST, it is verified by McNemar test (P < 0.05). For creatinine, both Wilcoxon and McNemar test were applied.ResultsThere were statistically significant differences in analyte concentration before and after high-speed centrifugation for: albumin, creatinine, GGT, glucose, phosphates, urea and total bilirrubin. Own LI is calculated. McNemar test shows statistically significant diferences in the proportion of delivered results before and after high-speed centrifugation in ALT, AST and creatinine.ConclusionsThis study confirms the efficacy of high-speed centrifugation protocol for all the considered analytes, excepting calcium, alkaline phosphatase and total proteins.