Education Sciences

Research

11 pages, 3636 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Acquisition of Computational Thinking through Mentoring: An Exploratory Study

by Núria Cervera, Pascual D. Diago, Lara Orcos and Dionisio F. Yáñez

Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(8), 202; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10080202 - 7 Aug 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 7085

Educational robotics are commonly present in kindergarten and primary school classrooms, particularly Bee-bot. Its ease of use allows the introduction of computer programming to young children in educational contexts from a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) perspective. Despite this rise, there [...] Read more.

Educational robotics are commonly present in kindergarten and primary school classrooms, particularly Bee-bot. Its ease of use allows the introduction of computer programming to young children in educational contexts from a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) perspective. Despite this rise, there are still few investigations that collect evidence on the effectiveness of robotic interventions. Although mentoring experiences with robotics had been carried out in educational contexts, this work explores their effect on the acquisition of computational thinking skills through mentoring. Participants from the second grade, aged seven through eight years, were exposed to two sessions of robotics with Bee-bot in order to promote hands-on experimentation. The sessions were conducted by nine students of the fourth grade (the mentors), aged 10 to 11 years. A descriptive case-study methodology was employed for the analysis of the mentoring intervention. The effect of the mentoring experience was assessed in terms of motivation and computational thinking skills. Mixed quantitative and qualitative results show two important findings: (i) Mentoring is a powerful tool to be considered for improvement of the motivation and cooperation of students in their teaching–learning process, and (ii) computational thinking skills can be acquired by second-grade students through a mentoring process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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10 pages, 426 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards Lean Teaching: Non-Value-Added Issues in Education

by Silvia Martínez Sanahuja

Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(6), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10060160 - 12 Jun 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5940

Abstract

Lean Thinking is a methodology based on improving the efficiency of productive processes by removing non-value-added issues. This methodology was firstly applied in the manufacturing industry, but it has also been applied to many service companies, bringing very good results. In the last [...] Read more.

Lean Thinking is a methodology based on improving the efficiency of productive processes by removing non-value-added issues. This methodology was firstly applied in the manufacturing industry, but it has also been applied to many service companies, bringing very good results. In the last decade, some works have tried to research the adaptation of Lean principles and practices to teaching, especially in technology and other STEAM subjects. In this sense, the aim of this work is to deepen this new trend by establishing what issues are non-value-added (waste) ones in education and classifying these kinds of waste in order to be able to analyze how to eliminate them. For this purpose, we adapt the classification made in other kinds of processes and extend other authors’ findings regarding this topic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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12 pages, 1670 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Undergraduates Interested in STEM Research Are Better Students than Their Peers

by Nate Bickford, Elizabeth Peterson, Philip Jensen and Dave Thomas

Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(6), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10060150 - 26 May 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5451

Abstract

In Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), undergraduate research experiences provide students with invaluable opportunities to improve scientific skills. However, less is known about its impact on higher-order thinking skills. Therefore, we sought to determine if engagement in undergraduate research would improve academic [...] Read more.

In Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), undergraduate research experiences provide students with invaluable opportunities to improve scientific skills. However, less is known about its impact on higher-order thinking skills. Therefore, we sought to determine if engagement in undergraduate research would improve academic performance in students engaged in research compared to those that were not. To accomplish this, biology majors were enrolled in courses that taught research methodology and techniques. Results indicated that students who were selected for the research program outperformed their peers in their other classes during the research program, based on t-test statistics. However, these students had also outperformed their peers during the previous fall semester, prior to receiving additional instruction. Furthermore, students who merely applied for inclusion in the program had significantly higher grades than students who did not apply. In addition, writing samples from research and non-research students were significantly different. Taken together, these data suggest that while undergraduate research may indeed enhance a student’s academic performance and interest in science, a student’s personal interest and drive for research may themselves indicate superior academic performance. Further, science departments aiming to offer research early in their curricula may benefit from such a self-selection strategy, especially in cases where there are limited resources available for undergraduate research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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15 pages, 814 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Creativity in STEAM Modules Intervenes with Self-Efficacy and Motivation

by Cathérine Conradty, Sofoklis A. Sotiriou and Franz X. Bogner

Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10030070 - 13 Mar 2020

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 11199

Abstract

Many current curricula, in going beyond traditional goals, increasingly foster creativity in science classrooms, declaring creativity a core skill of the 21st century. For enhancing creativity in science classrooms, the subject Arts is considered to offer a potential way from STEM (Science, Technology, [...] Read more.

Many current curricula, in going beyond traditional goals, increasingly foster creativity in science classrooms, declaring creativity a core skill of the 21st century. For enhancing creativity in science classrooms, the subject Arts is considered to offer a potential way from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to STEAM (STEM with Arts)). The Horizont-2020 project Creations prepared more than 100 creativity-enhancing STEAM modules based on the 5E instructional model. STEM subjects were mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry or technology, and often interdisciplinary for different school and class levels between the ages of nine and nineteen. All modules provided a social environment fostering creativity where students imagine, explore, experiment, test, manipulate, and speculate. Exemplarily, five modules including physics, math, and biology, were selected, for monitoring motivation and creativity. The first was measured on the level of career-motivation and self-efficacy, the latter focused on two sub-constructs: active cognition such as idea processing (Act), and a mental state of creative immersion (Flow). Subjects were a sample of 995 students (9–18 years). In summary, no gender impact or age effect appeared in any of the monitored variables. Participation intervened with Self-Efficacy and Act, while Career Motivation or Flow did not. Act as a cognitive variable associated with creativity might be more sensitive to changes, whereas Flow as a parameter measuring a state of mind related to emotion appears more stable. Path analysis supported the role of creativity for Career-Motivation by promoting Self-Efficacy. Conclusions for appropriate educational settings to foster STEAM environments are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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16 pages, 3151 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Makerspaces in First-Year Engineering Education

by Pooya Taheri, Philip Robbins and Sirine Maalej

Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10010008 - 27 Dec 2019

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7039

Abstract

Langara College, as one of the leading undergraduate institutions in the province of British Columbia (BC), offers the “Applied Science for Engineering” two-year diploma program as well as the “Engineering Transfer” two-semester certificate program. Three project-based courses are offered as part of the [...] Read more.

Langara College, as one of the leading undergraduate institutions in the province of British Columbia (BC), offers the “Applied Science for Engineering” two-year diploma program as well as the “Engineering Transfer” two-semester certificate program. Three project-based courses are offered as part of the two-year diploma program in Applied Science (APSC) and Computer Science (CPSC) departments: “APSC 1010—Engineering and Technology in Society”, “CPSC 1090—Engineering Graphics”, and “CPSC 1490—Applications of Microcontrollers”, with CPSC 1090 and CPSC 1490 also part of the Engineering Transfer curriculum. Although the goals, scopes, objectives, and evaluation criteria of these courses are different, the main component of all three courses is a group-based technical project. Engineering students have access to Langara College’s Makerspace for the hands-on component of their project. Makerspaces expand experiential learning opportunities and allows students to gain a skillset outside the traditional classroom. This paper begins with a detailed review of the maker movement and the impact of makerspace in higher education. Different forms of makerspace and the benefits of incorporating them on first-year students’ creativity, sense of community, self-confidence, and entrepreneurial skills are discussed. This paper introduces Langara’s engineering program and its project-based design courses. Langara’s interdisciplinary makerspace, its goals and objectives, equipment, and some sample projects are introduced in this paper in detail. We then explain how the group-project component of APSC 1010, CPSC 1090, and CPSC 1490 are managed and how using makerspace improves students’ performance in such projects. In conclusion, the paper describes the evaluation of learning outcomes via an anonymous student survey. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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13 pages, 254 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Proportions of Women in STEM Leadership in the Academy in the USA

by Laura McCullough

Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10010001 - 18 Dec 2019

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 10905

Abstract

A considerable body of research exists on women in leadership and likewise, on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields. However, the intersection of the two is terra incognita: women in leadership in STEM. At the most fundamental level, we do not [...] Read more.

A considerable body of research exists on women in leadership and likewise, on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields. However, the intersection of the two is terra incognita: women in leadership in STEM. At the most fundamental level, we do not even have a solid idea of how many women hold leadership positions in STEM. This study determined the proportion of women in leadership positions in several academic STEM areas via a sampling of institutions across the United States. In every area studied, women held fewer leadership positions than the proportion of female PhDs in those fields. The proportion of women in non-STEM specific top academic leadership roles was also examined to see what proportion of those individuals leading academic institutions might have background in a STEM discipline and how that compares to men in the same positions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

41 pages, 15827 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Educing AI-Thinking in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Education

by Meng-Leong How and Wei Loong David Hung

Educ. Sci. 2019, 9(3), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9030184 - 15 Jul 2019

Cited by 59 | Viewed by 13755

Abstract

In science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics are useful as educational scaffolds to educe (draw out) the students’ AI-Thinking skills in the form of AI-assisted human-centric reasoning for the development of knowledge and competencies. This paper demonstrates [...] Read more.

In science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics are useful as educational scaffolds to educe (draw out) the students’ AI-Thinking skills in the form of AI-assisted human-centric reasoning for the development of knowledge and competencies. This paper demonstrates how STEAM learners, rather than computer scientists, can use AI to predictively simulate how concrete mixture inputs might affect the output of compressive strength under different conditions (e.g., lack of water and/or cement, or different concrete compressive strengths required for art creations). To help STEAM learners envision how AI can assist them in human-centric reasoning, two AI-based approaches will be illustrated: first, a Naïve Bayes approach for supervised machine-learning of the dataset, which assumes no direct relations between the mixture components; and second, a semi-supervised Bayesian approach to machine-learn the same dataset for possible relations between the mixture components. These AI-based approaches enable controlled experiments to be conducted in-silico, where selected parameters could be held constant, while others could be changed to simulate hypothetical “what-if” scenarios. In applying AI to think discursively, AI-Thinking can be educed from the STEAM learners, thereby improving their AI literacy, which in turn enables them to ask better questions to solve problems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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13 pages, 1737 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Student Assessment of the Use of Kahoot in the Learning Process of Science and Mathematics

by Marta Curto Prieto, Lara Orcos Palma, Pedro Jesús Blázquez Tobías and Francisco Javier Molina León

Educ. Sci. 2019, 9(1), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9010055 - 12 Mar 2019

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 15712

Abstract

One of the main objectives in education is to increase the motivation of the students to achieve meaningful learning. The use of technologies in classrooms which students are familiarized with such as the smartphone or the tablet, is a way to achieve this [...] Read more.

One of the main objectives in education is to increase the motivation of the students to achieve meaningful learning. The use of technologies in classrooms which students are familiarized with such as the smartphone or the tablet, is a way to achieve this goal. On the other hand, it has been proven that the inclusion of scenarios supported by games and competition enhance the active participation of students. Therefore, in this work we present the results of a study based on of the application Kahoot with students of secondary education, in the subjects of mathematics, biology & geology and physics & chemistry, during the academic year 2017/2018. This tool allows students to answer to on-line questionnaires created by the teacher, through mobile devices, and check their results in a few seconds as well as those of their classmates. The results obtained on the assessment of the tool by students, in terms of the benefits in the learning process, have been very positive and help us to examine the potential of the use of on-line questionnaires in the classrooms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends in STEM Education)

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