Background
Teaching climate change is difficult. Its complexity spans many subjects, often taught disjointedly. Many climate change effects are not immediately observable, making it hard for students ...to connect to it personally.
Aim
This study investigates how we can spark high school students’ interest in learning about climate change using educational computer games.
Method
We adopted a qualitative case research design to understand how games boost students’ drive and their role in motivating them. We selected a high school teacher and her eight students as our subjects, interviewing them in person. We analyzed their responses were using Keller’s ARCS Theory of Motivation Model and blending deductive and inductive methods.
Results
The findings were encouraging: games positively impacted students’ interest in climate change. They transformed the learning atmosphere into a concentrated, captivating space where the content was seen as tough yet enjoyable. Moreover, the games helped students make real-world connections, enhancing their understanding and appreciation of the topic.
Conclusion
Educational games are a powerful tool in motivating students to learn about climate change science. Hence, educators should be ready to harness the games’ power to create immersive, fun, and stimulating learning environments.
Stay-at-home orders and quarantines have not only shifted traditional face-to-face learning to online learning, but have also led to greatly increased consumption of digital devices during the ...coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Thus, many students who were new to online learning were forced into a new environment. The purpose of this two-wave longitudinal study is to investigate the effects of internet addiction on online students’ learning satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of two hundred and forty-nine undergraduate-level students from 51 of the 81 cities in Turkey completed an online questionnaire. The data used cross-lagged structural equation modeling. The results indicated that internet addiction at Time 1 decreased online students’ learning satisfaction at Time 2. The results also revealed that online students’ learning satisfaction (Time 1) did not affect internet addiction (Time 2). It is concluded that internet-addicted students had lower learning satisfaction in online learning environments. Thus, it is essential for institutions to provide effective online instruction, psychological coping tools, and social and behavioral support, which may help reduce internet addiction and minimize its negative impacts on online learning environments during the pandemic.
The purpose of this study is to explore high school students’ perceptions of learning climate change science through educational computer games. Further, it is aimed to investigate what roles ...educational computer games play in motivating students to learn climate change science. A qualitative case research design is used in this research to better understand and describe how educational computer games influence students’ perceptions of learning the climate change science and what roles these games play in motivating them to learn climate change science in the learning environment. A purposefully selected a high school teacher and her eight students are the study participants. A series of student and teacher interviews are used as a main source of data. Both deductive and inductive approaches are used to analyze the data using Gee’s principles about how games teach and Keller’s ARCS Theory of Motivation Model. The analysis of the data revealed that the educational computer games increased the students’ perceptions of learning climate change science. The findings also showed that the games have different characteristics to improve the students’ perceptions to learn climate change science. Interactivity, providing different learning styles, role playing, challenging, creating a realistic environment, and providing visual experiences to learn were the specific characteristics of the games used in this study. In addition, the analysis of the data revealed that the educational computer games increased the students’ motivation to learn climate change science. The findings showed that the games play various roles in motivating the students to learn. These roles were creating an engaging, interesting, focused learning environment; providing real-world connections and worth knowing information; and presenting the content in a challenging, but a fun way.
We explored how computer games developed as part of an innovative set of climate change education materials helped students learn and gain interest in global climate change (GCC) science by making it ...personally relevant and understandable. This research was conducted in a public school district in the southeastern United States. The curriculum, Climate Change Narrative Game Education (CHANGE), used a local, place-based approach using scientific data gathered from the Gulf of Mexico coast and incorporated (a) computer games, (b) a scientifically web-based science fiction novel about future Gulf coast residents, and (c) hands-on laboratory activities. This paper focuses on how the computer games affected students’ learning, validity of their beliefs about GCC, and understanding of the effects of GCC on the region’s sea level and storms. The data collected included students’ exam scores, and surveys about student perceptions of climate change science and perceptions of the materials. On exam questions related to GCC science, students who participated in the CHANGE curriculum scored significantly higher than their peers who did not. Also, their beliefs about GCC increased in validity. The nature and design of the computer games had a strong impact on students’ understanding of sea level rise and storms.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the early effects of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) on myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and ...ultrastructural findings in rats after spinal cord injury (SCI). We also compared the effects of G-CSF and methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS). Wistar rats were divided into four groups: control, SCI alone (50 g/cm weight drop trauma), SCI + MPSS (30 mg/kg), and SCI + G-CSF (50 μg/kg). Administration of G-CSF and MPSS significantly decreased LPO ( p < 0.05) and MPO activity ( p < 0.05) in the first 24 hours. MPSS was more effective than G-CSF in reducing LPO ( p < 0.05) and in minimizing ultrastructure changes. The results of this study indicate that G-CSF exerts a beneficial effect by decreasing MPO activity and LPO and may reduce tissue damage in the first 24 hours after SCI. Our findings do not exclude the possibility that G-CSF has a protective effect on spinal cord ultrastructure after the first 24 hours following SCI.
After acute spinal cord injury (SCI), a large number of axons are lost by a cascade of pathophysiological events known as a secondary injury. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the ...potential neuroprotective effects of curcumin on lipid peroxidation (LPO), neurological function, and ultrastructural findings after SCI.
Forty adult Wistar albino rats were randomized into five groups: control, SCI alone (50 g/cm weight drop), methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) (30 mg/kg), curcumin + dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (300 mg/kg), and DMSO alone (0.1 mg/kg).
Administration of curcumin significantly decreased LPO in first 24 hours. However, there were no differences in the neurological scores of injured rats between the medication groups and the control group. Curcumin was more effective than DMSO and MPSS in reducing LPO, whereas DMSO was more effective than curcumin and MPSS in minimizing ultrastuctural changes. The results of this study indicate that curcumin exerts a beneficial effect by decreasing LPO and may reduce tissue damage.
Since ultrastructural and neurological findings does not support biochemical finding, our findings do not exclude the possibility that curcumin has a protective effect on the spinal cord ultrastructure and neurological recovery after SCI. A combination of curcumin with other vehicle may also have a considerable synergy in protecting spinal cord.
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