Drivers of teachers’ intentions to use mobile applications to teach science

Education and Information Technologies - Using mobile applications in science education has proven to be effective as it adds multiple benefits including learning gains, motivation to learn, and...     

The discourse of design: Patterns of TPACK Contribution during pre-service teacher learning design conversations

Education and Information Technologies - Analysing pre-service teachers’ learning design conversations in relation to Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework to...     

Algorithmic thinking development through physical computing activities with Arduino in STEM education

Education and Information Technologies - The need to benefit from information technologies in the twenty-first century digital age is increasing in all economies to overcome problems and...     

Effects of ‘Environmental Chemistry’ Elective Course Via Technology-Embedded Scientific Inquiry Model on Some Variables

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of ‘environmental chemistry’ elective course via Technology-Embedded Scientific Inquiry (TESI) model on senior science student teachers’ (SSSTs) conceptions of environmental chemistry concepts/issues, attitudes toward chemistry, and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) levels. Within one group pre-test–post-test design, the study was conducted with 117 SSSTs (68 females and 49 males—aged 21–23 years) enrolled in an ‘environmental chemistry’ elective course in the spring semester of 2011–2012 academic-years. Instruments for data collection comprised of Environmental Chemistry Conceptual Understanding Questionnaire, TPACK survey, and Chemistry Attitudes and Experiences Questionnaire. Significant increases in the SSSTs’ conceptions of environmental chemistry concepts/issues, attitudes toward chemistry, and TPACK levels are attributed to the SSSTs learning how to use the innovative technologies in the contexts of the ‘environmental chemistry’ elective course and teaching practicum. The study implies that the TESI model may serve a useful purpose in experimental science courses that use the innovative technologies. However, to generalize feasibility of the TESI model, it should be evaluated with SSSTs in diverse learning contexts.     

Exploring Interactive Writing as an Effective Practice for Increasing Head Start Students’ Alphabet Knowledge Skills

The current study used a pretest–posttest randomized control group design with 73 Head Start students, ages 3–5 years. The researcher served as the interactive writing teacher for the treatment group, rotating to five different classrooms in one Head Start center 3–4 days a week for 13 weeks. Children in the treatment group received a 10–15 min interactive writing lesson each day in small groups within their own classroom settings. Children in the control group received standard literacy instruction in small groups with their own classroom teachers. Child outcome data on upper case, lower case, and letter sound identification were collected before and after the intervention for both groups. Based on the large frequency of zeros on outcomes, zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses were performed. The results of the study showed that children receiving interactive writing identified more lower case and upper case letters at the end of the study relative to children in the control, but no differences were observed on letter sounds. While continued evaluation of the interactive writing strategy is needed in the preschool setting, the evidence from the current study shows encouraging trends in alphabet knowledge skill development as a result of this strategy.     

Experimental Evaluation of the Value Added by Raising a Reader and Supplemental Parent Training in Shared Reading

Research Findings: In an effort toward developing a comprehensive, effective, scalable, and sustainable early childhood education program for at-risk populations, we conducted an experimental evaluation of the value added by 2 family involvement programs to the Texas Early Education Model (TEEM). A total of 91 preschool classrooms that served minority populations of low socioeconomic status were randomly assigned to TEEM, TEEM plus Raising a Reader (RAR), or TEEM plus RAR augmented by Family Nights. Assessments of oral language and print knowledge were completed by more than 500 children at the beginning and end of the school year. Multilevel analyses of covariance controlled for classroom nesting and individual differences in age, ethnicity, and pretest scores. Although RAR alone demonstrated no added value, augmentation of RAR with Family Nights demonstrated significant impacts on measures of oral language (ts = 1.81–2.51, .05 < ps < .01) and print knowledge (t = 2.39, p < .01). Practice or Policy: Thus, parent training in shared reading practices appears to be necessary for children to benefit from programs that enrich the home literacy environment. That the combined program particularly benefited children who started preschool lagging behind in school readiness (ts = 1.64–2.49, ps < .05) suggests that this comprehensive model offers hope for closing the achievement gap.     

The influence of cognitive domain content levels and gender on designer judgments regarding useful instructional methods

Instructional theory is intended to guide instructional designers in selecting the best instructional methods for a given situation. There have been numerous qualitative investigations into how instructional designers make decisions and the alignment of those decisions with theoretical influences. The purpose of this research is to more quantitatively explore the question of how instructional designers actually use instructional planning theory to judge the usefulness of instructional methods. We asked 56 instructional designers to rate the usefulness of 31 instructional methods for six different cognitive domain content level conditions. The results show that content level has a statistically-significant influence on a designer’s judgments regarding the usefulness of an instructional method. A designer’s gender also has a statistically-significant influence on a designer’s judgments regarding methods, but a weak effect size limits this result. Overall, the results provide evidence that supports the core principles of instructional planning theory, specifically method generality. The results also provide instructional designers further guidance in selecting the most useful instructional methods for cognitive domain content levels.     

Exploring teacher and school resilience as a new perspective to solve persistent problems in the educational sector

In this paper, we will explore the relevance, meaning and perspectives of teacher, team and school resilience. The central research questions are: does the concept of teacher, team and school resilience offer new and promising perspectives on persistent problems in the educational sector? And secondly; how can resilience at individual, team and school level potentially be strengthened? After an insight into the context of the educational system in the Netherlands, we describe the current challenges in the educational system and sector both internationally and for the Netherlands based on a dialogue with stakeholders, scientific literature and data from the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey 2010. We propose that the educational field would benefit from a proactive approach that includes interrelated levels of actors (i.e. individual, team and school). We elaborate on this argument by making use of four resilience-related theories developed in a variety of areas: Resilience Engineering (focusing on four abilities for resilience), organizational mindfulness (focusing on signalling early warnings threatening resilience), the human resource management perspective on resilience (focusing on constraint vs. commitment of employees) and resilience as a social system (focusing on resilience as an interpersonal asset). Each of these theories points out that multilevel approaches for developing resilience are useful. Thereafter, four abilities (anticipation, monitoring, responding and learning) that seem vital for the process of developing resilience are described and discussed at individual, team and school level making use of practical examples based on stakeholders’ experiences. We discuss that the resilience perspective is promising and deserves (co-created) experimentation in the educational sector. Due to the theoretical nature of this paper, the findings could be useful to set agendas, but they need carefully evaluated pilot projects for future confirmation.     

Impact of accreditation on public and private universities: a comparative study

Based on two cycles of assessments for accreditation, this study assesses the differential impacts of accreditation on public and private universities in Ghana. Analysis of the evaluator reports indicates no statistically significant difference – improvement or deterioration – between the two cycles of evaluations for both types of institutions. A test comparing the two-cycle aggregated assessment scores between the two categories of universities, however, indicated a significant difference, with the public universities achieving better scores (improvements). Drawing on the evaluators’ reports and the opinions expressed by academics from both categories of institutions, the conclusion was that isomorphic pressures, largely faced by the private universities, accounted for their implementation of suggestions for improvement by the evaluators.     

The Components of Great Sex

Ubiquitous “sex tips” in popular media evidence an unquenchable public interest in learning how to experience “great sex,” and studies confirm that a great sexual relationship correlates to general relationship satisfaction, which in turn correlates to overall happiness. While studies of great sex or “optimal sexuality” are few, enough is known to conclude that the paths to great sex depicted in popular media are largely dead ends. This lesson plan will help educators (a) dispel inaccurate information about optimal sexuality disseminated in the popular media and (b) inform students about the components of optimal sexuality.