A Systematic Review of Remote Laboratory Work in Science Education with the Support of Visualizing its Structure through the <Emphasis Type="Italic">HistCite</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">CiteSpace</Emphasis> Software

Laboratory work, particularly the latest remote laboratories (RLs), has been assumed to have a general positive effect on science education because practical work can provide diverse learning experiences and enhance thinking skills suitable for the 21^st century. However, there has not been a synthesis of the science education research to support this assumption. The objective of this study is to systematically review the growth of educational research on laboratory work, particularly in RLs, utilizing a series of review processes with innovative software for visualizing structural relationships. The combined use and support of HistCite and CiteSpace software enabled the visualization of the citation structure and history of articles. The findings revealed that RLs were a state-of-the-art subset of laboratory work and a new way of conducting laboratory work that has gained fairly wide research attention in engineering education over the past two decades. Thus, this innovative literature review process has established a solid background for future research and development efforts on RLs in science education dealing with scientific and engineering practices.     

Supporting Student Teachers' Professional Learning with Standards‐Referenced Assessment

Professional standards in teaching are developed in many education systems, with professional learning and quality assurance being the central purposes of these standards. This paper presents an initiative in developing a professional development progress map (hereafter, progress map) within a learning‐oriented field experience assessment (LOFEA) framework. The article examines the use of a progress map to support professional learning in teaching supervision in the field experience of a teacher education programme. Views of users, including 16 tertiary supervisors and 21 teacher participants of the in‐service programmes, were collected. Issues relating to supporting student teachers' professional learning with standards‐referenced assessment, are discussed around four themes, namely intention, instrumentation, interpretation and implementation.     

The teacher's role in supporting a learner-centred learning environment: voices from a group of part-time postgraduate students in Hong Kong

This study outlines what 29 part-time adult learners perceive as effective teacher (tutor/instructor/lecturer) practice in supporting their learning. The positive characteristics of teacher support from the students' perspective are first examined, and then what they found to be disappointing. Finally, the underlying themes that emerge are considered and the data is subjected to a holistic interpretation. Overall, the study confirmed the usefulness of a framework developed from a consideration of literature on learner-centred education and students' conceptions of learning. The investigation was able to reveal both key differences between and key similarities among the groups of students. The differences relate to conceptions of the roles and responsibilities of both students and teachers, while the similarities relate to the relationships between the parties in the teaching and learning environment. The implications for tutors/lecturers in improving their support to their students are highly significant. However, the most challenging task in establishing a learner-centred context is to influence students' learning conceptions and help them take a more active role in their learning.     

Peer and Teacher Assessment of the Oral and Written Tasks of a Group Project

Undergraduate students, and their class teachers, assessed the performance of their peers in three oral and written tasks as part of a group project. The two sets of marks awarded by peers and teachers were subsequently compared to find out whether the students were competent to assess their peers alongside their class teachers and whether this competence, or lack of it, was partly determined by the nature of the task being assessed. A number of statistical tests were run to establish the levels of agreement, the ranges, differences and relationship between peer and teacher assessments. The results have led us to conclude that the peer assessments are not sufficiently reliable to be used to supplement teacher assessments. Students’ competencies in peer assessment do not appear to be dependent on the nature of the task being assessed, but there is some evidence that practical experience of assessing a particular task type can lead to an improvement in students’ assessment skills when they assess a similar task. The paper also discusses possible improvements in peer assessment procedures based on the experiences gained.     

An exploratory investigation into the factors related to EdTech use among Kenyan girls

This paper contributes to the scarce literature on factors affecting EdTech use in households. These factors were considered through exploratory mixed-methods analyses of cross-sectional data on Kenyan girls and caregivers, captured during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative analysis of the child dataset (n = 544) suggested the importance of both structural factors—such as technology hardware availability—and non-structural factors—including caregiver permission. Findings were supported by a thematic analysis of interview data from girls' caregivers (n = 58), which emphasised the role they play in girls' use of EdTech. Interviews also highlighted numerous caregiver concerns with EdTech, related to the relevance and rigour of educational content, the possibility of children accessing age-inappropriate material and child health (especially eyesight). Policy makers could alleviate these concerns by providing guidance on EdTech use and clearly signalling their approval of verified initiatives.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• EdTech can benefit girls' education, yet there are various barriers to it being used.
• Existing research shows clearly that EdTech use can be impeded by structural factors (eg, hardware ownership).
• However, we find insufficient empirical evidence on the role of non-structural or behavioural factors.

What this paper adds

• This paper addresses this gap, using a mixed-methods approach to explore the influence of 33 different measures (including non-structural factors) that could affect the number of hours girls spend using EdTech at home.
• Findings from a quantitative sample of girls (n = 544) and a qualitative sample of girls' caregivers (n = 58) highlighted the importance of non-structural factors, especially caregiver permission.
• The variable most strongly associated with girls' EdTech usage in our selected quantitative model concerned whether this was sanctioned by their caregivers.
• Our qualitative data suggested why caregiver permission to use EdTech might be withheld: caregivers emphasised perceived concerns about the risks and rigour of EdTech.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Our findings suggest the viability of policy interventions that provide EdTech guidance to caregivers.
• Caregivers uncertain about EdTech could be reassured of the appropriateness of verified initiatives, while those already convinced might be aided in their attempts to support EdTech learning.
• Such guidance could provide a low-cost means of further exploiting the benefits that household EdTech learning can provide.