Making refers to the hands-on practice of creating technology-based artifacts that typically involves things like electronics, programming, and 3D printing. Practices in Making have been spearheaded ...by the rise of the Maker movement, resulting in the spread of Makerspaces for both young people and adults worldwide. However, Making is also being increasingly incorporated into school settings. This is despite the fact that little research has evaluated the potential consequences of Making in schools. We present a two-year longitudinal study investigating the effects of integrating Making into existing school curricula at a public elementary school that primarily serves students from underrepresented groups in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). We focused on whether engaging in Making led to changes in self-efficacy, interest, and identification with both Making and science. We further examined more distal potential changes in STEM career interest and STEM possible selves. Results showed that students exposed to a Making-based science curriculum evidenced significant increases in four of the eight dependent variables tested (Making self-efficacy, science self-efficacy, science identity, and STEM possible selves). These findings demonstrate the utility of curriculum-aligned Making, particularly in terms of fostering self-efficacy, science identity, and possible selves among students from underrepresented groups.
•Making-based science curriculum deployed for two years in a public elementary school.•Significant increases in Making and science self-efficacy, and STEM possible selves.•Utility of Making in science curricula on identity among underrepresented students.
Simulation games are widely used to teach negotiation skills in political science education. However, existing studies focus on the impact of simulation games on students' knowledge gains and ...affective changes and largely ignore skill assessment and development in the gaming environment. This study aimed to understand the process of student groups practicing negotiation skills in a collaborative simulation game through social network analysis (SNA). We proposed a conceptual framework to assess negotiation skills by identifying different negotiation skillsets based on participatory roles in collaborative learning, investigated the skill development through the change of the skillsets over time, and examined the relationship between the negotiation skillsets and achievement. The results showed that the majority of student groups practiced more complex negotiation skillsets towards the end of the game, and the complexity of skillsets was positively related to the negotiation outcomes in the simulation game. The study demonstrated the possibilities of using SNA as an analytical tool to measure negotiation skills and explore dynamic skill development in a collaborative simulation game. It has also shown the potential of integrating SNA in a collaborative gaming environment for automated analysis of a large volume of data concerning interactions.
Practitioner notes
What is already known about this topic
Simulation games are widely used to teach negotiation skills in political science education to improve the connection between theoretical knowledge and skill practice.
Existing studies focus on the impact of simulation games on learners' knowledge gains and affective changes but ignore the skill assessment and development in the gaming environment, especially in the collaborative simulated gaming environment.
What this paper adds
The study investigated the process of student groups practicing negotiation skills in a collaborative simulation game through Social Network Analysis (SNA).
We proposed a novel conceptual framework to measure negotiation skills by identifying different negotiation skillsets through connecting them to learners' participatory roles that emerged during the collaborative gameplay.
The study demonstrated learners' dynamic and evolutionary process of practicing negotiation skills in the game.
The results showed that there was a positive relationship between the complexity of negotiation skillsets and negotiation outcomes in the game.
Implications for practice and/or policy
The study demonstrates the possibilities of using SNA as an analytical tool to measure negotiation skills and explore dynamic skill development in a collaborative gaming environment.
The results can guide teachers to identify risky game moves and students in need and provide personalized feedback to help improve students' negotiation skills.
The findings can help teachers optimize the game design to ensure students' equal and active participation in the game.
The study highlights the potential of integrating SNA in collaborative gaming environments for automated analysis of a large volume of data concerning interactions.
Genetically modified (GM) foods are often met with harsh public opposition, though little research has attempted to understand why this is. The research that does exist has focused on identifying the ...role of immutable beliefs, such as morality and politics, which are difficult to change. Therefore, research may benefit from identifying mutable predictors of science rejection—predictors which can be modified through interventions—so efforts can be made to increase public support for scientific advancements. Here we present four studies in which we investigate a lack of domain-specific science literacy—literacy of GM technology—as a strong and unique predictor of GM food skepticism. Results from Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that knowledge of GM technology is a unique predictor of GM food attitudes above general science knowledge and demographic controls. Study 3 (preregistered) demonstrates that the unique predictive value of GM-specific knowledge replicates in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands. In Study 4, we sought to overcome this lack of knowledge by teaching people the basic science behind GM technology using a five-week, longitudinal experimental design. Results showed that learning about the science behind GM technology leads to more positive explicit attitudes towards GM foods, greater willingness to eat GM products, and lowered perceptions of GM foods as risky. Thus, the present results provide some support for the deficit model of science attitudes within the context of GM foods. These results also provide a relatively simple mold for future interventions to overcome GM skepticism, suggesting that researchers and scientists may wish to focus on communicating the basic science behind GM technology and increasing science literacy.
•Knowledge of GM technology is a unique predictor of GM food attitudes above general science knowledge and demographic controls.•The unique predictive value of GM-specific knowledge replicates in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands.•Teaching people about the science of GM foods increased positive attitudes.•Teaching people about the science of GM foods increased willingness to eat GM products.•Teaching people about the science of GM foods lowered perceptions of GM foods as risky.
Background: Medical student wellness, including physical health, emotional health, and levels of perceived stress, appears to decline during training, with students reporting high levels of ...depression, anxiety, and burnout as early as the first year of medical school. The impact of curricular changes on health and stress remains unclear, and a modified curriculum that compresses training of the foundational sciences and its effect on wellness has not been studied. Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine has recently instituted a unique competency-based model, which provides an important opportunity to assess the effects of curricular change on student wellness.
Objective: Assess the effects of curricular change on student wellness.
Design: Medical students at a single institution were administered the SF-8, an 8-item health-related quality of life survey, as well as the Perceived Stress Scale, a 10-item scale that measures the degree to which life situations are appraised as stressful, at baseline (matriculation) and at the end of Year 1, 2 and 3. Individual variables were assessed over time, as well as a trend analysis of summary domain scores over the 4 time periods.
Results: Physical, emotional, and overall health were highest at baseline and lowest at the end of Year 1, after which they improved but never again reached baseline levels. Physical health declined less than emotional health. Perceived stress levels did not change over time but remained moderately high. There were no differences in health or perceived stress based on demographic variables.
Conclusions: In a competency-based curriculum, physical, emotional and overall health significantly worsened during Year 1 but improved thereafter, while perceived stress remained unchanged. Early in training, stress and poor overall health may be related to concerns about self-efficacy and workload. Although advanced students show improved wellness, concerns remained about emotional difficulties, such as anxiety and irritability, and feeling a lack of control.
With the availability of low‐cost high‐quality head‐mounted displays (HMDs) since 2013, there is a growing body of literature investigating the impact of immersive virtual reality (IVR) technology on ...education. This meta‐analysis aims to synthesize the findings on the overall effects of IVR using HMDs compared to less immersive desktop virtual reality (DVR) and other traditional means of instruction. A systematic search was carried out on the literature published between 2013 and 2019. Thirty‐five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi‐experimental studies were identified. We conducted an analysis using the random effects model (REM) to calculate the pooled effect size. The studies were also coded to examine the moderating effects of their characteristics, such as learner stage, learning domain, learning application type, testing format, control group treatment and learning duration, on the outcome measure. The results showed that IVR using HMDs is more effective than non‐immersive learning approaches with a small effect size (ES = 0.24). The key findings of the moderator analysis were that HMDs have a greater impact (a) on K‐12 learners; (b) in the fields of science education and specific abilities development; (c) when offering simulation or virtual world representations; and (d) when compared with lectures or real‐world practices. The meta‐analysis also suggested that HMDs can improve both knowledge and skill development, and maintain the learning effect over time.
The aim of this research is to determine the effects of Scratch and Alice tools and programming teaching practices on student engagement, reflective thinking and problem-solving skills and ...computational thinking (CT) comparatively. A quasi-experimental design was used in the research and patterns with pretest–posttest control group were chosen for the variables. The study group was compromised of 110 students at 5th grade in 2016 spring semester. 1st and 2nd groups of Computing Technologies Course have been assigned objectively. Alice programming tool was preferred in the learning process of the 1st experimental group, whereas, Scratch programming tool was utilised in the 2nd study group during application process which lasted for 8 weeks. Results of the research show that programming teaching with Scratch has affected engagement and reflective thinking skills of the students for problem solving more positively than Alice. It has been stated that teaching with Alice affects skills related to CT of the students positively. Furthermore, some recommendations have been made for the future researches.
Teaching Statistics and Data Analysis with R Tucker, Mary C.; Shaw, Stacy T.; Son, Ji Y. ...
Journal of statistics and data science education,
01/2023, Letnik:
31, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We developed an interactive online textbook that interleaves R programming activities with text as a way to facilitate students' understanding of statistical ideas while minimizing the cognitive and ...emotional burden of learning programming. In this exploratory study, we characterize the attitudes and experiences of 672 undergraduate students as they used our online textbook as part of a 10-week introductory course in statistics. Students expressed negative attitudes and concerns related to R at the beginning of the course, but most developed more positive attitudes after engaging with course materials, regardless of demographic characteristics or prior programming experience. Analysis of a subgroup of students revealed that change in attitudes toward R may be linked to students' patterns of engagement over time and students' perceptions of the learning environment.
The purpose of this study is to review empirical research articles regarding game-based science learning (GBSL) published from 2000 to 2011. Thirty-one articles were identified through the Web of ...Science and SCOPUS databases. A qualitative content analysis technique was adopted to analyze the research purposes and designs, game design and implementation, theoretical backgrounds and learning foci of these reviewed studies. The theories and models employed by these studies were classified into four theoretical foundations including cognitivism, constructivism, the socio-cultural perspective, and enactivism. The results indicate that cognitivism and constructivism were the major theoretical foundations employed by the GBSL researchers and that the socio-cultural perspective and enactivism are two emerging theoretical paradigms that have started to draw attention from GBSL researchers in recent years. The analysis of the learning foci showed that most of the digital games were utilized to promote scientific knowledge/concept learning, while less than one-third were implemented to facilitate the students' problem-solving skills. Only a few studies explored the GBSL outcomes from the aspects of scientific processes, affect, engagement, and socio-contextual learning. Suggestions are made to extend the current GBSL research to address the affective and socio-contextual aspects of science learning. The roles of digital games as tutor, tool, and tutee for science education are discussed, while the potentials of digital games to bridge science learning between real and virtual worlds, to promote collaborative problem-solving, to provide affective learning environments, and to facilitate science learning for younger students are also addressed.
The primary recommendation of the 2010 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report on K-12 education was to inspire more students so that they are motivated to study science. ...Scientists' visits to classrooms are intended to inspire learners and increase their interest in science, but verifications of this impact are largely qualitative. Our primary goal was to evaluate the impact of a longstanding Brain Awareness classroom visit program focused on increasing learners understanding of their own brains. Educational psychologists have established that neuroscience training sessions can improve academic performance and shift attitudes of students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Our secondary goal was to determine whether short interactive Brain Awareness scientist-in-the-classroom sessions could similarly alter learners' perceptions of their own potential to learn. Teacher and student surveys were administered in 4(th)-6(th) grade classrooms throughout Minnesota either before or after one-hour Brain Awareness sessions that engaged students in activities related to brain function. Teachers rated the Brain Awareness program as very valuable and said that the visits stimulated students' interest in the brain and in science. Student surveys probed general attitudes towards science and their knowledge of neuroscience concepts (particularly the ability of the brain to change). Significant favorable improvements were found on 10 of 18 survey statements. Factor analyses of 4805 responses demonstrated that Brain Awareness presentations increased positive attitudes toward science and improved agreement with statements related to growth mindset. Overall effect sizes were small, consistent with the short length of the presentations. Thus, the impact of Brain Awareness presentations was positive and proportional to the efforts expended, demonstrating that short, scientist-in-the-classroom visits can make a positive contribution to primary school students' attitudes toward science and learning.
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