David F. Treagust: congenial soul, science educator, and international research leader

For almost a half century David F. Treagust has been an exemplary science educator who has contributed through his dedication and commitments to students, curriculum development and collaboration with teachers, and cutting edge research in science education that has impacted the field globally, nationally and locally. A hallmark of his outstanding career is his collaborative style that inspires others to produce their best work.     

The Meaning-Based Adult Day Care Program Managed by Nurses for Filipino Older Persons

The study aimed to develop a meaning-based adult day care program managed by nurses for Filipino older persons. Meaning-based nursing care is intended to serve as a guide in creating meaningful, focused, and structured activities for nurses in adult day care.

A mixed methods research design was used in the study. This method involved the development of a training module, meaning-based nursing care, training of registered nurses, training evaluation of nurses, and referral for interdisciplinary team meetings and consultations. Meaning-based care was approaches that address the meaning of experiences for older persons in the process of conducting adult day care services.

The study gave evidences to the ability of nurses to manage a program for older persons. Thus, the study recommends the use of the nursing model developed to prescribe guidelines in the conduct of meaning-based adult day care programs and services.     

The decline in breaktimes and lunchtimes in primary and secondary schools in England: Results from three national surveys spanning 25 years

Breaktimes are ubiquitous in English schools. Research suggests they have social value for children, but school staff often have a range of concerns about breaktimes and tend to undervalue them. However, there is little understanding about these times, not least because data are not collected about their organisation and characteristics. This paper brings together data from three national surveys undertaken in 1995, 2006 and 2017 of head teachers of primary and secondary schools to provide an understanding of the nature, organisation and staff attitudes towards breaktimes and how they have changed over 25 years. At each survey point, completed questionnaires were received from representative random samples of over 1000 primary and secondary schools. Results showed marked reductions in the average total amount of time for breaks, the virtual abolition of afternoon breaks and a decline in time available for lunchtime breaks. The reductions were largely for behavioural reasons and to increase time for learning. Results also show variations in the length of breaktimes across school types and in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage, and changes to the amount of supervision provided by schools. Attitudes towards breaks varied across primary and secondary phases, and the withholding of breaks was used by schools to address poor pupil behaviour and disengagement. Schools continued to have concerns about the management of behaviour during breaktimes, even when breaks had already been shortened. It is suggested that staff undervalue the potential contribution that breaktimes afford the development and wellbeing of children and young people in school.     

Advanced,Analytic, Automated (AAA) Measurement of Engagement During Learning

It is generally acknowledged that engagement plays a critical role in learning. Unfortunately, the study of engagement has been stymied by a lack of valid and efficient measures. We introduce the advanced, analytic, and automated (AAA) approach to measure engagement at fine-grained temporal resolutions. The AAA measurement approach is grounded in embodied theories of cognition and affect, which advocate a close coupling between thought and action. It uses machine-learned computational models to automatically infer mental states associated with engagement (e.g., interest, flow) from machine-readable behavioral and physiological signals (e.g., facial expressions, eye tracking, click-stream data) and from aspects of the environmental context. We present 15 case studies that illustrate the potential of the AAA approach for measuring ensgagement in digital learning environments. We discuss strengths and weaknesses of the AAA approach, concluding that it has significant promise to catalyze engagement research.     

How Are Curiosity and Interest Different? Naïve Bayes Classification of People’s Beliefs

Educational Psychology Review - Researchers studying curiosity and interest note a lack of consensus in whether and how these important motivations for learning are distinct. Empirical attempts to...     

Off-Campus Term: A setting for therapeutic intervention

Experiential education has served as a setting for therapeutic intervention in treatment of a communications handicapped young adult. This paper reports how newly learned communications skills were successfully applied in an off-campus setting and were subsequently carried over to campus and home.