Enhancing project-oriented learning by joining communities of practice and opening spaces for relatedness

This article describes an extension to project-oriented learning to increase social construction of knowledge and learning. The focus is on: (a) maximising opportunities for students to share their knowledge with practitioners by joining communities of practice, and (b) increasing their intrinsic motivation by creating conditions for student's relatedness. The case study considers a last year capstone course in Mechanical Engineering. The work addresses innovative practices of active learning and beyond project-oriented learning through: (a) the development of a web-based decision support system, (b) meetings between the communities of students, maintenance engineers and academics, and (c) new off-campus group instances. The author hypothesises that this multi-modal approach increases deep learning and social impact of the educational process. Surveys to the actors support a successful achievement of the educational goals. The methodology can easily be extended to further improve the learning process.     

Experiences on the Design,Creation, and Analysis of Multimedia Content to Promote Active Learning

In an educational context, multimedia content can be created by the students, by the faculty, or by a third party. With the aim of improving the lab work, motivation, and active learning in introductory electronics courses, several innovative technologies and instructional strategies were considered involving these three possibilities: real-time screen capture, video recording with smartphones, and technical analysis of science fiction films. Factors such as ease of use, fast production, or no need of expensive tools were critical for the choice of these technologies, which were introduced on activities (lab sessions, collaborative work) where traditional strategies required too much time or could not be applied properly due to a large number of students and/or time constraints. We found that video lab reports made by the students using smartphones are a very adequate and straightforward assessment method, combining the advantages of oral assessment and written reports. The technical analysis of science fiction films proved to be helpful to reinforce the motivation of some students towards the subject, although it requires some degree of maturity to reach this end. Video tutorials made with screen capture technology proved to be easy to record and produce, and they constitute a fast and convenient way to produce new multimedia resources adapted to the specific needs of the subject.

     

A systematic review on small-sided games in football players: Acute and chronic adaptations

Small-sided games (SSG) are played on a small pitch, often using modified rules and involving a smaller number of players. This article aimed to critically analyse the literature to determine how small-sided games affect the performance of football players in the short- and long term. Electronic databases were searched for literature dating from January 2000 to July 2018. The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated using the modified Downs and Black Quality Index (cross-sectional studies) and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale (intervention studies). Fifty-three studies, 44 cross-sectional and 9 intervention studies, met the inclusionary criteria for review. Most of the cross-sectional studies focused on describing the differences between SSG protocols, whereas 4 studies focused on making a comparison between “interval” and “continuous” SSG training regimes. On the other hand, intervention studies focused on making a comparison between SSG-based protocols and high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT)-based running protocols, in addition to determine the effect of a SSG-based training programme alone. SSG-based football plans (2 to 4 SSG sessions per week) show athletic performance improvements in football players by improving sprint, repeated sprint ability (RSA) and change of direction (COD) along with muscular and physiological adaptation.     

Minecraft and machinima in action: development of creativity in the classroom

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies show the positive effects of introducing video games into learning contexts. These instruments help develop twenty-first-century skills, such as creativity, from a dual perspective: (i) the students’ perspective, since they develop skills and competencies that allow them to find innovative solutions to the challenges posed by games, and to become digital culture producers; and (ii) the education professionals’ perspective, to use these instruments in schools and thereby change the way students learn. Using a sample of 85 first-year secondary school students, this study aims to provide empirical evidence about the development of creativity through the introduction of video games in the classroom. To do this, an eight-week pedagogical workshop was developed in which the Minecraft video game was introduced in the subject of technology. To assess the results of the workshop, the participants’ creativity was analysed using a pre-test/post-test design through the CREA Creative Intelligence Test, as well as the evaluation of the students’ machinima productions by their teachers. Results show a significant increase in creativity and high scores for machinima productions, highlighting the opportunity to introduce these tools in classrooms in order to develop innovative educational contexts where creative processes and products are the protagonists.     

Family-school partnership in the Spanish education system

Abstract

The benefits of positive, active relationships between families, schools, and the community (not only in the academic outcomes of the children, but also in the family’s and school’s wellbeing) have, up to now, had plenty of supportive evidence. Nevertheless, experience shows that there are many difficulties involved in making participation a reality. Education regulation acknowledges the importance of family participation at school, but neither implementation methods nor the concept of participation are clearly defined. Spanish initial teacher education curriculum programmes include, only in a marginal form, competences and skills that would prepare teachers to become involved in a collaborative relationship with families and the community. This article addresses the training of professionals in education from the perspective of the competences, skills, and knowledge demanded to engage in collaborative work with families and the community. It was conducted through a comparative analysis of the curriculum programmes of Spanish Universities, with a special focus on curriculum content and competences, and on the formal organisation of the initial training of pre-service teachers.     

Cross-linguistic analysis of vocabulary in young children: spanish, dutch, French, hebrew, italian, korean, and american english

The composition of young children's vocabularies in 7 contrasting linguistic communities was investigated. Mothers of 269 twenty-month-olds in Argentina, Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, the Republic of Korea, and the United States completed comparable vocabulary checklists for their children. In each language and vocabulary size grouping (except for children just learning to talk), children's vocabularies contained relatively greater proportions of nouns than other word classes. Each word class was consistently positively correlated with every other class in each language and for children with smaller and larger vocabularies. Noun prevalence in the vocabularies of young children and the merits of several theories that may account for this pattern are discussed.     

When everything is under control: Chronicling the affective containment experiences of Filipino elderly in institutionalized settings

Affective Containment has been recognized as a means to manage negative experience by projecting emotions to others. To date, there are no known literatures on the process of affective containment in the elderly context; hence, this grounded theory investigation. This study aims to describe the process by which affective containment is experienced by a select group of institutionalized Filipino elderly. To achieve the overall intent of this study, Strauss and Corbin’s Grounded Theory design was employed. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were carried out among 20 institutionalized Filipino elderly. Field texts were subjected to thematic analysis involving open, axial, and selective coding. The overall validity of the findings was ensured through member checking procedure. An interesting set of phases emerged relative to the layer of experience, namely: Holding-up, Gearing-up, and Opening-up; collectively known as the 3-Stage Analogy of Elderly Affective Containment. Said model describes how emotions can be contained to other individuals through interactions inside the institution. The study has eidetically described and examined the process of affective containment among the institutionalized Filipino elderly. Findings of the study invite nurses to put premium to nurse–patient relationship and provide timely interventions with a view to improving emotional health.