“iRobiQ”: the influence of bidirectional interaction on kindergarteners’ reading motivation,literacy, and behavior

This study focused on an intelligent robot which was viewed as a language teaching/learning tool to improve children’s reading ability, reading interest, and learning behavior. The iRobiQ, with its multimedia contents, was employed to encourage children to read, speak, and answer questions. Fifty-seven pre-kindergarteners participated in this study, and they were divided into an experimental group (30 children using iRobiQ) and a control group (27 children using a tablet-PC). After 2 months of experiments, the reading ability of the experimental group was better than that of the control group. It was found that using iRobiQ as a learning tool had many advantages, for example, the enhancement of learners’ reading literacy, in comparison with the use of tablet-PC. In this study, there were three interesting findings: (1) iRobiQ is a more effective learning companion as compared to tablet-PC; (2) iRobiQ is a bidirectional interactive toy; and (3) iRobiQ can foster and promote the peer collaboration and competition because it has intriguing characteristics, particularly its communicative and interactive functions. The bidirectional interactive robots allow pre-kindergarten teachers to create more active and interactive learning environment for children and provide the children with more various learning contents.     

Leadership of vocational high school principals in curriculum reform: A case study in Taiwan

This research attempts to comprehend the traits and behaviors of vocational high school principals in implementing curriculum reform. In-depth interviews with experienced principals of three vocational high schools sought to identify the leadership roles and tasks that led to successful curriculum reform for vocational high school programs.     

The influence of a gesture-based learning approach on preschoolers’ learning performance,motor skills,and motion behaviors

This study developed a gesture-based learning approach to build a virtual interactive learning environment for preschoolers by combining a gesture-based computing device and a game-based learning model. Using sequential analysis, this study investigated how this approach influenced children’s learning performance, motor skills, and motion behaviors. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 142 kindergarten-level-3 preschoolers. The results showed that the gesture-based learning approach improved the students’ learning performance and motor skills compared with the traditional activity-based learning approach. The main learning pattern showed that the preschoolers controlled their body motion behaviors and movements to learning cognitive knowledge, which achieving a flow state that improved preschoolers’ learning performance and motor skills. In addition, the main motion pattern showed that the preschoolers interacted with the game by coordinating their body movement with the projected human skeleton’s movement, which improved their motor skills.     

Effects of 6E-oriented STEM practical activities in cultivating middle school students’ attitudes toward technology and technological inquiry ability

ABSTRACT

Background: STEM education has become a focus of research and teaching interest in recent years. However, not all scholars agree on the definition and purpose of STEM education. This paper summarizes related past research and suggests that, according to the requirements of Taiwan’s educational environment, STEM education should focus on the cultivation of middle school students’ attitudes toward technology and their ability to engage with technological inquiry.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of STEM education on attitudes toward technology and technological inquiry abilities of middle school students, this study used the 6E Learning byDeSIGN? model proposed by the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association in the US to design a 6E-oriented STEM practical activity.

Sample: The sample of the study consisted of 139 seventh-grade students from six different classes who participated in a practical activity related to egg protection devices.

Design and methods: To achieve this research purpose, a quasi-experimental design was used, with pre-treatment and post-treatment evaluations of each group. Both the experimental and control groups participated in the activity; however, the experimental group students were guided through the activity using a 6E teaching strategy, whereas the control group students were guided using a problem-solving teaching strategy.

Results: The results showed that a 6E teaching strategy had a positive effect on middle school students’ attitudes toward technology and technological inquiry abilities, but these effects were not statistically different from the effect on the control group with problem-solving teaching strategy.

Conclusions: This study indicates there is no significant advantage in using a 6E process over a problem solving approach. Technology teachers aiming to improve students’ attitudes toward technology and their technological inquiry abilities consider refining the 6E-oriented STEM practical activity process, and students may demonstrate better performance in these two areas.     

Effects of a dementia dietary educational program on nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behavior of family caregivers

ABSTRACT

Family caregivers play a critical role in dietary care and the nutritional status of people with dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a family care-based dementia dietary educational program (DDEP) on family caregivers’ nutritional knowledge, healthy eating behavior and nutritional status of people with dementia. A total of 57 pairs of participants completed this longitudinal experimental study. Group A received routine care. Group B received the DDEP. Three outcomes were measured at pretest (T1), posttest (T2) and follow-up test (T3). Generalized estimating equations and regression were used to analyze the data. The scores of the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge significantly increased after receiving the DDEP in group B, and this increase was better than in group A. The posttest and follow-up test scores of healthy eating behavior were significantly higher than the pretest scores in both groups. The scores of nutritional status in group B increased from the pretest to the follow-up test, although there was no significant difference between the two groups. Some demographic factors played significant roles in the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behavior. In sum, the DDEP improved the caregivers’ nutritional knowledge and healthy eating behavior for dementia. The demographic factors of family caregivers should be considered when providing nutritional information to enhance the nutritional status of people with dementia. The DHPDEP should be incorporated into the in-service education and training courses for nurses or dietitians who work with people with dementia.     

The development of a questionnaire to measure students' motivation towards science learning

The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire that measures students' motivation toward science learning (SMTSL). Six scales were developed: self‐efficacy, active learning strategies, science learning value, performance goal, achievement goal, and learning environment stimulation. In total, 1407 junior high school students from central Taiwan, varying in grades, sex, and achievements, were selected by stratified random sampling to respond to the questionnaire. The Cronbach alpha for the entire questionnaire was 0.89; for each scale, alpha ranged from 0.70 to 0.89. There were significant correlations (p?<?0.01) of the SMTSL questionnaire with students' science attitudes (r?=?0.41), and with the science achievement test in previous and current semesters (r ^p?=?0.40 and r ^c?=?0.41). High motivators and low motivators showed a significant difference (p?<?0.01) on their SMTSL scores. Findings of the study confirmed the validity and reliability of the SMTSL questionnaire. Implications for using the SMTSL questionnaire in research and in class are discussed in the paper.     

Integrated dynamic wet spinning of core-sheath hydrogel fibers for optical-to-brain/tissue communications

Hydrogel optical light-guides have received substantial interest for applications such as deep-tissue biosensors, optogenetic stimulation and photomedicine due to their biocompatibility, (micro)structure control and tissue-like Young''s modulus. However, despite recent developments, large-scale fabrication with a continuous synthetic methodology, which could produce core-sheath hydrogel fibers with the desired optical and mechanical properties suitable for deep-tissue applications, has yet to be achieved. In this study, we report a versatile concept of integrated light-triggered dynamic wet spinning capable of continuously producing core-sheath hydrogel optical fibers with tunable fiber diameters, and mechanical and optical propagation properties. Furthermore, this concept also exhibited versatility for various kinds of core-sheath functional fibers. The wet spinning synthetic procedure and fabrication process were optimized with the rational design of the core/sheath material interface compatibility [core = poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate-co-acrylamide); sheath = Ca-alginate], optical transparency, refractive index and spinning solution viscosity. The resulting hydrogel optical fibers exhibited desirable low optical attenuation (0.18 ± 0.01 dB cm⁻¹ with 650 nm laser light), excellent biocompatibility and tissue-like Young''s modulus (<2.60 MPa). The optical waveguide hydrogel fibers were successfully employed for deep-tissue cancer therapy and brain optogenetic stimulation, confirming that they could serve as an efficient versatile tool for diverse deep-tissue therapy and brain optogenetic applications.     

Unfolding polyelectrolytes in trivalent salt solutions using dc electric fields: A study by Langevin dynamics simulations

We study the behavior of single linear polyelectrolytes condensed by trivalent salt under the action of electric fields through computer simulations. The chain is unfolded when the strength of the electric field is stronger than a critical value. This critical electric field follows a scaling law against chain length, and the exponent of the scaling law is −0.77(1), smaller than the theoretical prediction, −3ν∕2 [R. R. Netz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 128104 (2003)], and the one obtained by simulations in tetravalent salt solutions, −0.453(3) [P.-Y. Hsiao and K.-M. Wu, J. Phys. Chem. B 112, 13177 (2008)]. It demonstrates that the scaling exponent depends sensitively on the salt valence. Hence, it is easier to unfold chains condensed by multivalent salt of a smaller valence. Moreover, the absolute value of chain electrophoretic mobility increases drastically when the chain is unfolded in an electric field. The fact that the mobility depends on electric field and on chain length provides a plausible way to impart chain-length dependence in free-solution electrophoresis via chain unfolding transition induced by electric fields. Finally, we show that, in addition to an elongated structure, a condensed chain can be unfolded into a U-shaped structure. The formation of this structure in our study is purely a result of the electric polarization, not of the elastohydrodynamics dominated in sedimentation of polymers.     

The impact of SSCI and SCI on Taiwan’s academy: an outcry for fair play

The increasing importance of the competition in global university ranking has resulted in a paradigm shift in academic governance in East Asia. Many governments have introduced different strategies for benchmarking their leading universities to facilitate global competitiveness and international visibility. A major trend in the changing university governance is the emergence of a regulatory evaluation scheme for faculty research productivity, reflected by the striking features of the recent changing academic profile of publication norms and forms that go beyond the territories of nation-states in the East and West. With the expansion of the Taiwanese higher education system in the last two decades, the maintenance of quality to meet the requirements for international competitiveness has become a key concern for policy makers. Since 2005, the Ministry of Education has introduced a series of university governance policies to enhance academic excellence in universities and established a formal university evaluation policy to improve the competitiveness and international visibility of Taiwanese universities. In so doing, the government has legalized a clear link between evaluation results and public funding allocation. Research performance is assessed in terms of the number of articles published in journals indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index and in terms of citation rates and associated factors. Therefore, evaluation has taken on a highly quantitative dimension. Despite the efforts of concerned parties to encourage academic excellence, the abovementioned quantitative evaluation indicators have resulted in bitter complaints from the humanities and social sciences, whose research accomplishments are devalued and ignored by the current quantitative indicators. In this paper, the authors describe the recent petition for collective action initiated by university faculty to protest the privileging of SSCI and SCI publications as critical indicators for academic performance regardless of faculty discipline and specialization. The article concludes its argument with a group petition calling for more diverse and reliable indicators in recognizing the research of different natures and disciplines while creating culturally responsive evaluation criteria for social sciences and humanities in the Taiwanese academe. The article not only sheds light on academic evaluation literature, especially on the uncertain paradox of globalization and market economy, but also proposes alternatives to the evaluation system for humanities and social sciences in higher education.     

Science Learning Outcomes in Alignment with Learning Environment Preferences

This study investigated students’ learning environment preferences and compared the relative effectiveness of instructional approaches on students’ learning outcomes in achievement and attitude among 10th grade earth science classes in Taiwan. Data collection instruments include the Earth Science Classroom Learning Environment Inventory and Earth Science Learning Outcomes Inventory. The results showed that most students preferred learning in a classroom environment where student-centered and teacher-centered instructional approaches coexisted over a teacher-centered learning environment. A multivariate analysis of covariance also revealed that the STBIM students’ cognitive achievement and attitude toward earth science were enhanced when the learning environment was congruent with their learning environment preference.