Education Sciences

Climate change is a complex topic and hence makes teaching climate change a demanding task. This is especially because climate change still represents a (socially) controversial topic and students may be confronted with misrepresentations and misinformation about climate change in their daily lives. Therefore, it is important that science teachers are equipped with skills to properly respond to or “debunk” climate change misinformation, and to train their students on how to identify and respond to misinformation. To address this, we developed an intervention based on inoculation theory and known debunking techniques to foster physics pre-service teachers’ debunking skills as well as their self-efficacy to confront climate misinformation. Through the intervention, we showed that the participants increased their debunking skills and they showed more accurate assessments of their own skills. We conclude that this approach is promising to foster pre-service teachers’ perceived competence to teach the demanding topic of climate change. Finally, our approach generally shows potential in preparing future teachers to teach other controversial topics where misinformation is abundant. Full article

In educational systems that make their first attempt to incorporate STEAM concepts in their teaching, educational robotics is typically the place to start; robotics kits are purchased, and a small group of pupils is typically selected to develop a project and perhaps to also take part in some local or national robotics competition. Whilst this can be a very stimulating and rewarding experience for the participating pupils, it does little to introduce STEAM to the rest of the pupils in the school. In this article, we present our work towards a more fair and socially just approach to educational robotics. Compared with the conventional approach to educational robotics, our work introduces the following novelties: (A) shorter educational programs so that equipment can be re-used, (B) out-of-school implementation so that the programs are accessible to pupils from all schools, even from those schools that do not have teachers willing to be involved in STEAM programs and (C) scaling via the training of teachers who then act as multipliers of our action. The approach was applied, before being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, in a specially developed innovation hub, and the initial results are reported herein. Based on those findings, the potential of our approach to achieve a broader societal impact is highlighted. Full article

The objective of this diagnostic research was to identify the perceptions of indigenous communities regarding the digital divide and government proposals for their inclusion in formative processes. For this purpose, the Indigenous Leadership School was developed at the University of Atacama in 18 months. The hierarchical segmentation, classification and regression (CART) method was applied to identify and select the determining variables of ICT management, and once the variables were selected, the associations between them were determined with the multivariate method of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the probability of presenting poor ICT management according to the variable selected as the most determinant of this characteristic, which corresponded to age, dichotomized into those under 46 and those over 45 years of age. Finally, univariate analysis of descriptive statistics of quantitative and categorical variables, centralization, dispersion, histogram and bar graph statistics were estimated. One of the strong conclusions indicates that those older than 45 years of age are about three times more likely to show poor ICT skills than those younger than 46 years of age. Full article

Homebound Education in Italy is based on one-to-one teaching conducted by teachers who visit the sick student at home. This modality does not include interactions between homebound students and classmates, thus inhibiting the educational aspect of peer relationships. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent dispositions of the Ministry of Education regarding remote education and integrated digital didactic (DID), new opportunities became available for homebound students. In this research, we applied and tested in the context of homebound education a model of hybrid inclusive classroom developed in a previous project ((TRIS), addressing homebound students that could not permanently attend school and followed lessons remotely. The present study involved two homebound students affected by chronic and acute diseases. During the 2020/21 school year, the model was proposed to the two school councils (22 teachers in all) and the trial monitored; at the end of the school year, semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and transcriptions analyzed using a deductive approach based on the model. Results confirm some findings of the TRIS project, while new aspects emerged linked to the specific context. Overall, the implemented hybrid classroom seems to have positively affected both the learnings and students’ inclusion. Full article

The purpose of this article is to present the results of the ongoing study of the University digital transformation on the basis of a comprehensive theoretical model. The article describes a conceptual model of the University digital transformation formed based on the comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of potential ecosystem participants in line with the requirements of changing external conditions. The authors list the current results of the transformation and strategic plans considering any achievements adjustment. The National University of Science and Technology “MISiS” (NUST MISiS) has been used as an experimental basis for the research. The key achievement of NUST MISiS such as a digital ecosystem is described in this article. The digital environment of NUST MISiS considers the needs of the University staff and students and contributes to achieving the strategic goals. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic situation in 2020 forced educational institutions worldwide to fully adopt online learning for both teaching and assessment. However, this change may lead to less satisfactory learning outcomes, if the online technologies used have not been adequately applied. This study compares student engagement and performance through online continuous assessment in a one-semester structural analysis course for undergraduate architecture students before and after the pandemic outbreak. Online continuous assessment assignments had already been deployed and validated in the course evaluation system before the outbreak, and they were further leveraged during the online course. These assignments consisted of three weekly Moodle questionnaires throughout each of the fifteen course weeks, which determined the continuous assessment score. More than 200 students participated in each period. The results showed that shifting to online education affected continuous assessment outcomes very little in terms of participation rates and student performance. The possible underlying causes for the slight differences found between the two academic years are also discussed. The results highlight the robustness of the continuous assessment method used and emphasize the importance of having developed and validated online learning procedures to broach learning activities if contingency situations are required. Full article

(1) The aim of this study is to investigate the psychological climate in first-year students’ academic groups in Russia after they experienced the period of distance learning at the initial stage of university studies (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and to find out how different it is compared with the academic groups of first-year students whose university studies were not influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: Mixed quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to collect data using A. N. Lutoshkin’s questionnaire with closed-ended questions. The questionnaire determines the psychological climate in students’ academic groups. (3) Results: The results of the study reveal considerable differences in the psychological climate of the investigated groups. The findings suggest that the students whose university studies were not influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic considered their academic groups to have more mutual understanding, a greater desire to cooperate with other teams, a better mood in the team, a greater desire to participate in the joint affairs, etc., in comparison with the students who experienced a period of distance learning at the initial stage of their studies. (4) Conclusions: The transition to distance learning allows students to continue their studies under epidemiological restrictions. However, the factors affecting the speed of the adaptation of first-year students in distance learning and the determination of the degree of their influence on the socio-psychological state of the students remain insufficiently studied. This study contributes to the field by defining the peculiarities of the psychological climate in first-year students’ academic groups after they experienced a period of distance learning at the initial stage of university studies. It also specifies how the psychological climate is different from the academic groups of first-year students who were taught in a traditional format. As psychological climate plays a crucial role for EFL instruction, measures must be taken to ease the first-year students’ adaptation process while studying online. Full article

The present paper focuses on digital storytelling in education, emphasizing the teachers’ needs for familiarization with the new technological conditions. A transmedia integration approach is deployed to make productive, blended learning values while utilizing the availability of tools and reusable media assets in a component-based software engineering kind of framework. The topic is inspired by social studies and humanities, which seem to be marginalized, usually failing to make effective technological facilities, benefits, and contemporary findings. It is, therefore, necessary to modernize the approach to literary things and integrate digital means into the educational process, even in cases where a sole educator on humanities and social studies lacks multidisciplinary support in multimedia authoring and software engineering. This modernization can be made possible by introducing user-friendly tools into the process, representing not just a fashion of the time but mostly a renewal trend, aiming at revitalizing the course to attract and engage learners. Undoubtedly, today’s pupils have grown up with technological means, becoming familiar with their use so their implication causes undiminished interest in most daily activities, including schooling. In this high-tech generation, it is absurd to address the transmission of knowledge and values in outdated ways. Apart from adapting to the timely students’ needs, lesson plans on transmedia storytelling practices can also satisfy tutors, triggering their inspiration and co-creation potentials. Overall, the project aims to attract the trainees’ interest with the help of digital tools, which will be embodied in the educational processes by teachers without technical know-how, while continuously adapting to the audience’s needs. Research hypothesis and questions are formed as part of the deployed human-centered interactive design, aiming at modeling best practices for teaching classical topics, such as the “Odyssey.” Full article

As a result of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, North Carolina, like many other states, has created standards and yearly student assessments for K-12 students. Student and school yearly assessments are reported via the North Carolina School Report Cards. Based on the North Carolina School Report Cards, there are several low-performing and failing schools at all levels; schools designated by the State of North Carolina as D or F in the Report Card. This study centered on two research questions: (a) Is there a relationship between incoming readiness and school performance in NC public middle schools? (b) Is there a relationship between economically disadvantaged students and school performance in NC public middle schools? Data was collected from the North Carolina School Report Cards (SRC) datasets (NCDPI, 2019). SRCs are offered for each public school in NC. NC public schools get a report card with their individual school performance score, in addition to other pertinent information, such as teacher and student characteristics. The analysis sample contains two years of data, namely for 2018 and 2017. The dataset includes 850 observations for 425 middle schools. The analysis and results are presented as follows: First, the frequencies of particular performance grades earned by NC middle schools are presented. Second, descriptive statistics are provided and data visuals for the variables associated with the specific research questions a and b, followed by the hypotheses. Third, the hypotheses are tested with the results from the linear regression and ordered logit. Analysis showed evidence of a relationship between incoming student readiness and school performance in NC public middle schools. Larger shares of incoming students considered ready significantly predicts school performance. It is possible to find evidence of a relationship between economically disadvantaged students and school performance in NC public middle schools. Having larger shares of economically disadvantaged students significantly predicts school performance. Based on these findings, a recommendation would be that teachers and schools work to get students ready for middle school in order to improve student performance. Full article

Sound foundational knowledge improves disease conceptualization and clinical diagnosis. Vertical integration (VI) is an appealing educational strategy to refresh relevant pre-clinical information during clinical rotations. However, an optimal learning approach for this has not yet been established. We hypothesized that a small group collaborative discussion format might serve as an appealing learning method to deliver integrated material and increase retention. During AYs 2018/2019 and 2019/2020, our multidisciplinary team utilized a Colorectal Cancer workshop incorporating pre-clinical material for Y3 students on Surgical Clerkship. In search of an optimized way to deliver vertically integrated content, we alternately presented the workshop material either in a small group (SG) case-based collaborative format or as a standard-sized group (StdG) exercise. We achieved this by testing immediate and late (4-week post-event) recall and assessing student satisfaction with the VI strategy in both physical settings (StdG and SG). A total of 93% of participants considered VI-based training worthwhile, 96% reported an increased knowledge base and 93% would welcome similar VI events in the curriculum. Significantly more SG students than StdG (52% vs. 31%, p = 0.014) enthusiastically endorsed their event and would prefer to have future VI events delivered in the format they experienced (88% for SG vs. 42% for StdG) (p < 0.0001). Combined (immediate + late) recall scores were significantly better in SG versus StdG (p = 0.007), while the rate of attrition at 4 weeks did not differ significantly (p = 0.81). VI strategy successfully reactivated pre-clinical concepts, achieving both high content retention and learner satisfaction during this workshop. Students endorsed future VI events, especially when delivered in a case-based, interactive SG setting. Although resource intensive, a VI strategy employing a small-group collaborative learning method may be considered for broader curricular use in undergraduate medical education. Full article

This paper examines implementing a unique way of observing children’s play through an empowerment framework; considering children’s choices, decisions, and interactions through an empowerment lens. The study considers the different ways children are empowered through their play environments using participation, voice, and ownership as three guiding themes and the challenges of recording children’s empowerment for practitioners. Five nested case studies in two different UK-based childcare environments form the basis of the research. Thematic analysis scrutinised the data that were generated from observations of children’s play, interviews with practitioners and a focus group with both settings. A phenomenological theoretical framing allowed a layered picture of empowerment to emerge. Practitioners made subjective yet informed judgements about children’s empowerment in their observations, drawing on knowledge and understanding of children’s personalities. Empowering experiences were recorded under prompt questions focusing on the way in which and the influences of how children were experiencing empowering moments. Observing through an empowerment framework has changed practice and the way practitioners think about the opportunities provided for children in their play environment. The main challenges for practitioners relate to anxiety around moving away from outcome-based observations and time limitations on producing meaningful narratives around children’s empowerment. Full article

Students in the twenty-first century are accustomed to using technology in all aspects of their lives and have never known a world without it; the classroom is no exception. Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that bridges the virtual and physical worlds to make learning more engaging and enjoyable. In this paper, we present a mobile application aimed at novice learners that makes use of technology for the teaching and learning of computer system engineering concepts. Currently, students typically learn about finite-state machine (FSM) concepts from lectures, tutorials, and practical hands-on experience combined with commercial timing simulation tools. We aimed to enhance these traditional, lecture-based instruction and information delivery methods. We developed an AR-based FSM visualization tool called AR4FSM to help students more easily grasp concepts through immersion and natural interaction with an FSM. We used a blend of multimedia information, such as text, images, sound, and animations superimposed on real-world-state machine diagrams, presenting the information in an interactive and compelling way. An experiment with 60 students showed that the app was perceived positively by the students and helped to deliver FSM-related concepts in a way that was easier to understand than traditional, lecture-based teaching methods. This instruction methodology not only engaged the students but also motivated them to learn the material. The findings of this study have inspired us to use this application to teach FSM topics in the classroom. Full article

This paper examines and evaluates Virtual Laboratories (VLabs) in consideration of technology design, educational pedagogy, and outcome in tertiary education context for ICT courses. There is a growing demand for VLabs in tertiary education to support remote, flexible, and equitable learning. Most of the universities in Australia offer distance education to students who do not attend on-campus classes. On-line labs allowing access via an internet connection can offer learners the required infrastructure to complete their lab tasks without attending physical lab facilities. The onset of COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has seen further spike in demand for VLabs as accessing online lab facilities to undertake hands on activities from anywhere and anytime was imperative during lockdown periods. Despite their benefits, it is complex to choose an appropriate VLab design or type that ensures effective and improved learning process. This paper presents two case studies using commercial and custom-made VLabs that are analyzed through the lens of learning theories. The outcome of the analysis informs the readers that the teachers’ support (human mediator) and VLabs (teaching tool) are interlinked together in a dialectical way which is an important consideration to achieve successful learning outcome. This study will help educators to make an informed decision in choosing an appropriate VLab design for their teaching content to ensure effective learning outcome. Full article

It is hard to attract young persons to engineering and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of education in Sweden. Factors, such as interest and ability, are affecting the educational orientation of students, and many studies suggest that there are gender related differences in students’ perceptions regarding different subject areas. Nevertheless, it is not fully evident why students’ make their educational choices. In this paper, Swedish upper secondary school students’ perceptions of interest and self-efficacy are studied in the form of a questionnaire survey to gain deeper understanding on the choices that are made. Open-ended questions regarding subject interest, as well as questions connecting STEM-related situations with perceived emotions were included, in addition to direct questions regarding interest and self-efficacy. Differences were seen both with respect to educational orientation and to gender, which confirms previous studies. Male students were interested in subjects that are accurate, logical, and scientific, while the female students emphasized the analytical and challenging aspects, in the sense that the subjects forced them to think. Interest and future opportunities affected the choice of program, while the student’s own perceived ability seemed less important. Results with respect to emotions showed that the female students in this study felt insecure and scared in STEM-related situations to higher degree than male students did. Students on the social science program were bored and uninterested, while natural science and technology program students were more interested and confident in STEM-related scenarios. These findings help us to understand how students approach STEM situations, and how to take necessary measures to equalize these situations using a norm-critical approach. Full article

The focus of this paper is to examine the desegregation of hyper-segregated schools in Sweden. In this paper, our focus is on the practice(s) of desegregation in four Swedish municipalities. This study is based on interviews with municipal school politicians, school headmasters, and municipal school officials. Theoretically, the study departs from the theory of steering. This study shows that the municipalities use a strong belief in the peer effect to legitimise their decisions to desegregate hyper-segregated schools. Their decisions ignore a substantial research body that could lead to the development of different types of pedagogies that are relevant for these types of schools. Full article

Every year, students around the globe embark upon their higher education journey, making the onboarding of these students a critical task for colleges and universities. Combined with the growth in distance learning and the rapid development in technologies, the onboarding process occurs increasingly in the digital setting. For this reason, the objective of this scoping review was to report and map interventions, which are used in digital onboarding of first-year students in higher education institutions and explore the digital settings that characterized these interventions. The PRISMA-ScR Guidelines and the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis guided this investigation, which included researching four databases and screening the resulting titles and abstracts to identify the 17 sources of evidence included in the final analysis. According to our results, digital and virtual onboarding interventions were categorized into four onboarding dimensions: information interventions, socialization interventions, counseling interventions, and self-study interventions. Examples of the purposes and outcomes of these onboarding interventions included the transfer of information and the socialization of incoming students. Of the five onboarding settings that were also identified in the categorization, telecommunication software and virtual environments predominated. An independently developed onboarding tool could combine the identified onboarding settings and dimensions in the future. Full article

Many previous studies have revealed that people’s decision-making may differ depending on message framing—whether the same content is presented with an emphasis on gain or loss. However, almost nothing is known about preschooler responses according to message framing. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of the message framing effect in preschoolers and to examine the influence of age, issue involvement, and delivery method on this effect. A total of 180 participants ranging from 3–5 years of age were randomly assigned to one of four conditions with different combinations of frame types and delivery methods. The attitudes and behavioral intentions of the children toward the messages were measured via questionnaire. The results showed that the effect of persuasive messages increased with age (p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.14) and was higher when the messages were more relevant to children (p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.15). Furthermore, loss-framed messages were more effective than gain-framed messages for issues delivered verbally with pictures, while the opposite was true for issues delivered only verbally (p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.06). These results enable developmental and theoretical discussions of the framing effect in children and provide practical data for improving the persuasion efficacy of message delivery in children. Full article

This study explored the perceptions and practices of teacher educators in integrating information and communication Technology (ICT) in teacher education programs. The study adopted a phenomenological design under the qualitative research approach that included eighteen selected participants from a teacher education university college. Data collection employed semi-structured interviews, observations, and documentary reviews. The authors adopted the Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis model for data analysis. The findings showed that while young and inexperienced teachers showed readiness to use ICT, some teacher educators do not understand the logic behind using technology and hence question the rationale for applying it to their teaching. At the same time, equipment challenges, large teaching burdens, and time limits were the critical barriers to integration. Again, the findings revealed that teacher educators use different software and learning platforms, use social media, gather online information, and access learning materials through journal subscriptions to enhance preservice teachers’ learning. Thus, integrating ICT during teacher training is paramount, and teacher educators should be assisted and encouraged to develop positive attitudes in learning and to apply ICT in their teaching practices. Concomitantly, equipping preservice teachers with ICT-based pedagogical skills, not only through specialized ICT courses, but also through observing how teacher educators use it, has a significant impact on transforming teaching practices in their future classrooms. Full article

Learning by doing (LBD) and team coaching are experiential learning methods that can be used to enhance the depth of learning, motivation, and engagement in tourism education. This study explores the combined use of the two methodologies and reports on the experience of 42 students who participated in a practical case dealing with the strategic planning for sustainable tourism in a small town in Spain as a part of their undergraduate tourism education. The results obtained after the project evaluation confirm that LBD combined with team coaching is considered a valuable strategy for enhancing learning. Regarding the LBD method, students especially valued the opportunity to work within professional realities and exchange ideas with their classmates. Participants perceived team coaching as a valuable tool for enhancing team performance, communication, self-awareness (and that of others), conflict management, and problem-solving during project development. Professors and agents from public institutions involved in the project reported that students’ proposals were highly applicable and close to reality, and they agreed that the combination of LBD and team coaching improved the quality of the course assignments. Full article