Search Results (10)

Recent studies highlight the potential of modern board games (MBGs) to foster computational thinking (CT) skills in students. This research explored the impact of integrating MBGs into a primary education classroom through an embedded concurrent mixed-methods approach, with a pre-experimental design in its quantitative aspect and content analysis in its qualitative dimension, with 20 fourth-grade students from a school in Portugal. The students participated in 10 game sessions, each lasting 50 min, and their CT skills were assessed using Bebras tasks in both the pre-test and post-test phases. Statistical analysis, including the Shapiro–Wilk test for normality and paired sample t-tests, revealed significant improvements in key CT areas, particularly abstraction, algorithmic thinking, and decomposition. Descriptive statistics were also calculated, and content analysis using Nvivo software was conducted on field notes, corroborating the quantitative data. The results suggest that MBGs can serve as a valuable educational tool for developing CT skills in young learners. This study not only highlights the effectiveness of MBGs but also emphasises the need for further research using more robust experimental designs to enhance CT development in educational settings. Full article

This study aimed to analyze the latent profiles of burnout and engagement of learners and to investigate differences between these profiles regarding demographic and contextual variables and academic boredom. The findings have practical implications for educators and professionals in the fields of education and psychology. Grade 9 and 10 South African learners (N = 544) studying English and Mathematics as school subjects participated in the study. Five learner burnout and engagement profiles were identified: healthy engaged (10.66%), moderately balanced (27.57%), slightly disengaged (30.7%), moderately burned-out (20.4%), and burned-out (10.66%). Academic boredom in Mathematics and English was linked to burnout-engagement profiles. The healthy engaged and moderately balanced profiles exhibited significantly lower academic boredom levels in both subjects than the other profiles. Positive relationships with teachers and interest in the subject were crucial across all profiles to diminish academic boredom and enhance engagement, especially in English. Various demographic and contextual variables were associated with burnout-engagement profiles. Home study environments, nurturing positive teacher-learner relationships, and fostering intrinsic interest in subjects can enhance engagement and mitigate burnout in secondary school learners. Sustainable interventions could be created by teachers or researchers, implemented by schools, and taken up in important policies within South Africa, showcasing how the SGDs of improved health and well-being and delivering quality education could be achieved. Full article

The impact of climate change on agriculture in South Africa is a key factor that contributes to food insecurity. While this topic is covered in the Agro-ecology unit in Grade 10, it is important to determine the most effective way to teach it to learners. That is important because teaching methods utilized in Agricultural Sciences are envisaged to improve learners’ performance on the impact of climate change on food security. This study quantitatively compared teaching methods (i.e., Lecture, Demonstration, and Project-based) and their impact on learners’ performance in Agro-ecology. Each teaching method was tested on each group of 15 learners, which resulted in 45 learners per school, and the total number of participants was 180 when four schools were combined. A pre-experimental and post-test research design was employed to identify effective teaching methods for Agro-ecology among Grade 10 learners in Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces. Analysis of covariate was used to test the hypothesis that (1) learners’ content knowledge on climate change and food security would differ with teaching methods, (2) the project-based and demonstration teaching methods would improve learners’ content knowledge because the project-based and demonstration methods are more practical, and learners learn better through these methods. The results showed that learners in the project-based and demonstration groups had significantly higher scores than those in the lecture (p < 0.05). The findings suggest that incorporating project-based teaching methods in secondary schools can improve learners’ performance and skills in Agricultural Sciences. Full article

The aim of this study was to investigate the pedagogical actions of Physical Sciences teachers when enacting simulations in 5E inquiry-based science teaching for current electricity. Three grade 10 teachers from three high schools who were teaching at schools where ICT resources are available participated in this study. Data was collected by means of lesson observations and interviews. The lesson observation and interview transcripts were coded to generate themes. The results of this study showed that the simulations enable teachers to afford learners with opportunities to engage in hands-on inquiry based on the 5E model. The hands-on activities that students engage in on the simulation help them to explain phenomena from evidence and also allow them to acquire autonomy from the teacher. When students are hands-on, they get the chance to test their hypothesis and also to develop their understanding of the phenomenon that is investigated. Through the use of the simulated activity, teachers were able to support leaners to reflect on activities to reconcile their new knowledge with previous ideas. While it is acknowledged that PhET simulated activity is not a substitute for hands-on practical work in a laboratory, the findings show it can be a powerful tool for supporting inquiry learning. Full article

Despite the numerous health benefits of being physically active, children are not active enough. Various researchers have indicated that intervention programs improve physical fitness levels. Still, only a few have focused on improving physical fitness levels by incorporating technology. HOPSports Brain Breaks^® are designed and presented as physical activity solutions with online videos requiring the participants to imitate the movements. These videos are 2–5-min classroom activity breaks. This study determined the effect of a three-month HOPSports Brain Breaks^® intervention program on the physical fitness levels of Grade 6-learners. Physical fitness was measured with the EUROFIT test battery. The experimental group consisted of 79 children (26 boys and 47 girls) and the control group of 47 children (16 boys and 33 girls). The mean age for the entire group was 11.92 (±0.36) years. The results indicated that there was a statistically (p ≤ 0.05) and practically (d ≥ 0.20) significant difference between the experimental and control group for percentage body fat; stork balance; plate tapping; sit-and-reach; standing jump; sit-ups; and 10 × 5 m shuttle run and 20 m shuttle run between the pre-and post-test. Therefore, considering the results mentioned above, the HOPSports Brain Breaks^® intervention program can indeed contribute to the improvement of physical fitness, and motor skills of children. Therefore, future studies should be conducted to determine the effect of HOPSports Brain Breaks^® between genders as well as what impact it will have on academic performance. Full article

Fundamental movement skills (FMS), physical fitness (PF) and body fat percentage (BF%) are significantly related to socio-economic status (SES). However, it remains unclear why previous studies have had different findings regarding the direction of the association between SES and FMS, PF and BF%. A suggested explanation is that the direction of the link can be influenced by cultural experiences and traditions. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate links between SES and FMS, PF, BF% of Grade One learners from two different ethno-geographic areas in Cape Town, South Africa. Grade One children (n = 191) (n = 106 boys and n = 85 girls; age (6.7 ± 0.33)) from different socio-economic areas in Cape Town, South Africa, were selected to participate in the study. South African schools are classified into five different quintiles (1 = poorest and 5 = least poor public schools). For this study, two schools were selected, one from quintile 2 and the other from quintile 5. BF% was assessed according to Slaughter’s equation. FMS were measured using the Gross Motor Development Test-2 (TGMD-2) and PF via five tests: 1. dynamic strength of lower limb (broad jump); 2. dynamic strength of upper limb and trunk (throwing a tennis ball); 3. speed agility (4 × 10 m shuttle running); 4. cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle run endurance test (Leger test)) and 5. flexibility (sit and reach test). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) found that BF% and WHtR were significantly greater in children with higher SES (Z = 6.04 p < 0.001; Hedg = 0.54), (Z = 3.89 p < 0.001; Hedg = 0.32). Children with lower SES achieved significantly better TGMD-2 standard scores in the locomotor subtest, compared to their peers with higher SES. In the object control subtest, no significant SES-related difference was found. However, ANCOVA showed that girls performed better in FMS than boys. In PF, the main effect of SES was observed in dynamic strength of trunk and upper limb (throwing) and flexibility, where children with lower SES performed significantly better. No significant difference was found in cardiorespiratory performance (CRP) (Beep test), even though children with lower SES achieved better results. Results from the current study suggest that links between SES, PF, FMS and body fat percentage in children seem to be dependent on cultural and traditional experiences. These experiences should therefore be included as an important factor for the development of programmes and interventions to enhance children’s lifelong motor behaviour and health strategies. Full article

For most learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), there has long been a lack of effective opportunities to practice English writing skills. However, the recent development of social networking services (SNS) provides new possibilities for these learners to practice writing English in a meaningful way. Meanwhile, with the popularity of social media in language learning, writing is unnecessarily in the form of plain text, and multimodal composing based on text and additional modes such as audio, video or images has been a new form of writing activity instead. This study integrated SNS-based multimodal composing activities into secondary and higher education, with the aim of determining its effects on learners’ writing performance. Two classes in senior high school Grade 10 and four in college were recruited, three as the control groups without using SNS-based multimodal composing, and others as the experimental groups. While all classes’ writing performance improved between pretest and posttest, the gains in overall writing competence by experimental groups and the gains in three detailed aspects (readability, lexical complexity and syntactic complexity) by college students were significantly larger. Progress in detailed aspects, on the other hand, was different across different groups. These findings are discussed in relation to specific characteristics of multimodal composing and SNS-based learning that enables learners to improve writing performance. Full article

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) trajectory remains unknown, online learning (OL) has replaced face-to-face teaching strategies in education institutions. Research and training focus on harnessing educators, but less is understood at the students’ ends. This study examines the OL readiness components, self-regulation, enablers, and barriers to OL at home among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic through an explanatory mixed-method study. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 178 students and an in-depth interview with 10 students from a public medical school in Malaysia. We found that while all students owned at least one learning device, 22.5% of the students did not have a learning space at home. 21.9% students did not have Wi-Fi access, and 11.2% did not receive mobile broadband coverage at home. Despite these barriers, students had a suitable OL self-regulation level. Significantly higher self-regulation was observed among pre-clinical year students, students with higher grades, and students who had designated learning space at home. We found that high-immediacy and low-bandwidth applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram, and YouTube as the most accessible and easiest platforms to navigate in OL. Our qualitative findings yielded a conceptual model of OL enablers at learners, educators, and institution levels. This framework may serve as one of the guides in faculty development planning and policymaking, especially in promoting a more socially inclusive OL. Full article

The use of corrugated webs increases web shear stability and eliminates the need for transverse stiffeners in steel beams. Optimised regression learner techniques (ORLTs) are rarely used for calculating shear capacity in steel beam research. This study proposes a new approach for calculating the maximum shear capacity of steel beams with trapezoidal corrugated webs (SBCWs) by using ORLTs. A new shear model is proposed using ORLTs in accordance with plate buckling theory and previously developed formulas for predicting the shear strength of SBCWs. The proposed ORLT models are implemented using the regression learner toolbox of MATLAB software (2020b). The available data of more than 125 test results from different specimens prepared by previous researchers are used to create the model. In this study, web geometry and relevant web steel grades determine the shear capacity of SBCWs. Four regression methods are adopted. Results are compared with those of an artificial neural network model. The model output factor represents the ratio of the web vertical shear stress to the normalised shear stress. Shear capacity can be estimated on the basis of the resulting factor from the model. The proposed model is verified using two methods. In the first method, a series of tests are performed by the authors. In the second method, the results of the model are compared with the shear values obtained experimentally by other researchers. On the basis of the test results of previous studies and the current work, the proposed model provides an acceptable degree of accuracy for predicting the shear capacity of SBCWs. The results obtained using Gaussian process regression are the most appropriate because its recoded mean square error is 0.07%. The proposed model can predict the shear capacity of SBCWs with an acceptable percentage of error. The recoded percentage of error is less than 5% for 93% of the total specimens. By contrast, the maximum differential obtained is ±10%, which is recorded for 3 out of 125 specimens. Full article

Alcohol consumption is high among farm labourers in the Western and Northern Cape of South Africa. Excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy is common, resulting in a high prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) among children. FAS causes intellectual and behavioural problems, which create considerable obstacles to a child’s education. The aim of this study is to provide a prevalence estimate of FAS in a rural school and to examine the effects of FAS on learners’ educational outcomes. The study was conducted at a farm school near Clanwilliam in theWestern Cape of South Africa. The sample comprises 166 learners from Grades 1 to 4. Educational outcomes include class scores (Afrikaans home language and mathematics), reading ability, and classroom behaviour. A physician diagnosed FAS using a three-stage process. We find FAS prevalence of 127 per 1000 (12.7%). Children with FAS score significantly lower (at the 10% level) for home language and behaviour than children who do not have FAS. Large-scale interventions in rural areas of the Western and Northern Cape that specifically target females of child-bearing age, as well as children with FAS, are necessary Full article