Search Results (110)

This review synthesizes research from cognitive psychology and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to propose a new conceptual framework for understanding and fostering international student success. It argues that traditional EAP approaches, while effective in developing analytical intelligence—evidenced by a focus on critical reading, argumentation, and source-based writing—provide an incomplete model for the multifaceted demands of global academia. Drawing on Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence, this paper posits that “successful intelligence,” defined as the capacity to achieve one’s goals within a specific sociocultural context, is a more holistic and ecologically valid construct. It depends equally on creative intelligence (e.g., formulating novel research ideas, adapting to unfamiliar academic genres) and practical intelligence (e.g., navigating academic norms, acquiring tacit knowledge, demonstrating pragmatic competence in communication). This paper conducts a critical review of pedagogical practices within EAP that implicitly or explicitly cultivate these three interdependent intelligences. After providing a balanced overview of Sternberg’s theory, including its scholarly critiques, this review broadens its theoretical lens to incorporate complementary perspectives from sociocultural approaches to academic literacies. It systematically maps specific EAP tasks—such as source-based synthesis essays (analytical), research proposals for occluded genres (creative), and simulations of academic email communication (practical)—onto the components of the triarchic model. Drawing on this analysis, the paper concludes by proposing an integrated pedagogical framework, the “Triarchic EAP Model.” This model consciously balances the development of analytical, creative, and practical abilities through integrated tasks, explicit scaffolding, and a focus on transferability. It offers a more holistic approach to student support and strategically positions the EAP classroom as a unique environment for the cultivation and assessment of the multifaceted intellectual skills required for sustainable success in 21st-century global academia. Full article

Traditional lectures in veterinary anatomy often limit student engagement and higher-order thinking. The flipped classroom (FC) model shifts foundational content to independent study using interactive tools such as H5P^® and Wooclap^®, reserving classroom time for collaborative problem-solving. Objective: To evaluate the impact of the FC model on student engagement, preparation habits, and cognitive performance in veterinary anatomy, focusing on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Methodology: The intervention was implemented over two academic years (2023/24 and 2024/25) and included continuous assessment, cognitive-level evaluations based on Marzano’s taxonomy, platform analytics, and anonymous student surveys. Results: Platform data showed high engagement, with completion rates exceeding 90%. Students who prepared 2–3 days in advance performed better on application and integration tasks. Survey responses indicated a shift from passive video viewing to active learning strategies, such as structured note-taking and strategic time management. By 2024/25, 85% of students dedicated 30+ min to preparation, compared to 48% the previous year. Conclusion: The FC model fostered autonomy, spatial reasoning, and clinical contextualization. Aligned with constructivist principles, it supported Intended Learning Outcomes through adaptive scaffolding. Despite institutional challenges, the model proved scalable and pedagogically coherent, warranting further longitudinal research and broader curricular integration. Full article

While existing research highlights a positive association between computational thinking (CT) and self-regulation (SR) skills, limited attention has been given to the embodied and social processes within CT activities that support young children’s executive functions (EFs)—key components of SR. This study investigates how preschoolers develop basic and higher-order EFs, such as focused attention, inhibitory control, causal reasoning, and problem-solving, through their engagement with a tangible programming toy in teacher-guided small groups in a university-affiliated preschool. Informed by a we-syntonicity framework that integrates Papert’s concepts of body/ego syntonicity and Schutz’s “we-relationship”, we conducted a multimodal microanalysis of video-recorded group sessions. Our analysis focuses on two sessions, the “Obstacle Challenge” and “Conditionals”, featuring four excerpts. Findings reveal that children leverage bodily knowledge and empathy toward the toy—named Rapunzel—to sustain attention, manage impulses, reason about cause-effect, and collaborate on problem-solving. Three agents shape these processes: the toy, fostering collective engagement; the teacher, scaffolding learning and emotional regulation; and the children, coordinating actions and sharing affective responses. These findings challenge traditional views of SR as an individual cognitive activity, framing it instead as an embodied, social, and situated practice. This study underscores the importance of collaborative CT activities in fostering SR during early childhood. Full article

Collaborative design is recognized as a promising approach to strengthening preservice teachers’ digital competence, yet its potential when design tasks approximate the complexities of classroom practice remains underexplored. This mixed-methods study investigated a Synthesis of Qualitative Evidence (SQD)-aligned collaborative design course in which 23 final-year preservice secondary mathematics teachers, organized in six teams, spent ten weeks designing technology-enhanced lesson materials for authentic design challenges posed by in-service teachers. Using questionnaires and interviews, this study explored preservice teachers’ perceived digital competence development and their perceptions of the SQD-aligned course supports. Regarding competence development, participants indicated increases in self-assessed cognitive (technological knowledge, TPACK) and motivational (technology-integration self-efficacy, perceived ease of use) digital competence dimensions. Qualitative findings linked these perceptions to heightened technological awareness and confidence but noted limited tool mastery due to reliance on familiar technologies and efficiency-driven task division. Concerning course supports, authentic challenges enhanced motivation and context-sensitive reasoning, while layering scaffolds (guidelines, coaching, and microteaching feedback) supported navigating the open-endedness of the design task. Yet calls for earlier feedback and technology-related modeling underscore the need for further scaffolding to adequately support autonomy in technology selection and integration. Findings inform teacher education course design for fostering preservice teachers’ digital competencies. Full article

We investigated the impact of incorporating quantitative reasoning for deeper sense-making in a Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT) on students’ conceptual performance using a framework emphasizing integration of conceptual and quantitative aspects of quantum optics. In this investigation, we compared two versions of the QuILT that were developed and validated to help students learn various aspects of quantum optics using a Mach Zehnder Interferometer with single photons and polarizers. One version of the QuILT is entirely conceptual while the other version integrates quantitative and conceptual reasoning (hybrid version). Performance on conceptual questions of upper-level undergraduate and graduate students who engaged with the hybrid QuILT was compared with that of those who utilized the conceptual QuILT emphasizing the same concepts. Both versions of the QuILT focus on the same concepts, use a scaffolded approach to learning, and take advantage of research on students’ difficulties in learning these challenging concepts as well as a cognitive task analysis from an expert perspective as a guide. The hybrid and conceptual QuILTs were used in courses for upper-level undergraduates or first-year physics graduate students in several consecutive years at the same university. The same conceptual pre-test and post-test were administered after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts and after student engaged with the QuILT, respectively. We find that the post-test performance of physics graduate students who utilized the hybrid QuILT on conceptual questions, on average, was better than those who utilized the conceptual QuILT. For undergraduates, the results showed differences for different classes. One possible interpretation of these findings that is consistent with our framework is that integrating conceptual and quantitative aspects of physics in research-based tools and pedagogies should be commensurate with students’ prior knowledge of physics and mathematics involved so that students do not experience cognitive overload while engaging with such learning tools and have appropriate opportunities for metacognition, deeper sense-making, and knowledge organization. In the undergraduate course in which many students did not derive added benefit from the integration of conceptual and quantitative aspects, their pre-test performance suggests that the traditional lecture-based instruction may not have sufficiently provided a “first coat” to help students avoid cognitive overload when engaging with the hybrid QuILT. These findings suggest that different groups of students can benefit from a research-based learning tool that integrates conceptual and quantitative aspects if cognitive overload while learning is prevented either due to students’ high mathematical facility or due to their reasonable conceptual facility before engaging with the learning tool. Full article

Augmented Reality (AR) continues to generate interest as a pedagogical tool in contexts where English is a Foreign Language (EFL). However, its role in developing higher-order cognitive skills, such as inferencing, remains underexplored. This exploratory, mixed-methods study investigates whether AR can scaffold inference-making in advanced EFL learners. Forty-seven university students in XX were assigned to either a control group (CG) or an experimental group (EG). Both groups read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” in digital format. The CG received a conventional inference-based comprehension lesson, while the EG engaged with two interactive AR scenes developed using the Onirix Studio platform. Pre- and post-tests assessed inferential comprehension, and qualitative data were gathered through open-ended responses. While the CG demonstrated modest post-test gains and the EG showed a slight decline, neither change reached statistical significance. Notably, qualitative findings revealed that a salient AR element—a ticking clock—likely prompted misinterpretation in the EG, disrupting symbolic reasoning and contributing to schema misalignment. However, some learners exhibited metacognitive insight suggestive of productive struggle. These results suggest that AR may hold untapped potential for developing metacognitive reflection and critical literacy. Directions for future research are outlined. Full article

Following the significant disruption of traditional teaching by the COVID-19 pandemic, gamified education—an approach integrating technology and cognitive strategies—has gained widespread attention and use among educators and learners. This study explores how game-based learning, supported by situated learning theory and game design elements, can boost learner motivation and knowledge construction. Using 20,293 user comments from the Chinese video platform Bilibili, the study applies sentiment analysis and LDA to uncover users’ sentimental tendencies and cognitive themes. The analysis identifies four core themes: (1) The application of contextual strategies in language learning, (2) Autonomous exploration and active participation in gamified learning, (3) Progressive enhancement of logical thinking in gamified environments, and (4) Teaching innovation in promoting knowledge construction and deepening. Building on these findings, the study further develops a cognitive scaffolding model integrating “contextualization–procedural logic–active construction” to explain the mechanisms of motivation–cognition interaction in gamified learning. Methodologically, this study innovatively combines LDA topic modeling with sentiment analysis, offering a new approach for multidimensional measurement of learner attitudes in gamified education. Theoretically, it extends the application of situated learning theory to digital education, providing systematic support for instructional design and meaning-making. Findings enrich empirical research on gamified learning and offer practical insights for optimizing educational platforms and personalized learning support. Full article

This study interrogates whether Augmented Reality (AR) enhances vocabulary and content acquisition within Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), situating the question in the broader debate on how immersive, multimodal technologies shape achievement and engagement. This study’s novelty lies in its direct AR-versus-print comparison in a real CLIL classroom using markerless, smartphone-based technology. Using a mixed-methods, classroom-based experiment, we drew on a convenience sample of 129 secondary students (ages 16–18), assigning them to an AR intervention (n = 64) or a print-based control (n = 65). Both cohorts received parallel instruction covering identical objectives and materials; vocabulary attainment was gauged using matched pretest and post-test measures, while engagement, attitudes, and perceived usefulness were captured through paired pre- and post-surveys and open-ended prompts. Quantitative analyses compared change scores across conditions and were complemented by qualitative summaries of learner comments. Results indicate that exposure to AR exerted a positive influence on learners’ engagement and supported learning processes, with perceptible shifts in students’ views of AR between baseline and post-intervention; nevertheless, effects were heterogeneous across instruments, items, and subgroups, suggesting that benefits accrued in a targeted rather than uniform fashion. Compared to the print-based group, students using AR demonstrated greater gains on visually supported vocabulary and content items, while other items showed no significant differences between groups. We conclude that AR constitutes a promising pedagogical resource for CLIL, capable of scaffolding vocabulary/content development and motivating participation, while the observed variability underscores the need for principled, context-sensitive integration. Future work should specify boundary conditions—such as task type, prior proficiency, cognitive load, and technology familiarity—and employ robust mixed-methods designs to determine for whom, and under which instructional circumstances, AR yields the greatest and most sustainable gains. Full article

Loss of calcium homeostasis, a shared feature of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), activates enzyme-dependent cascades that promote protein misfolding, degrade synaptic architecture, impair axonal transport, and lead to neuronal death. Epidemiological studies identify TBI as a major risk factor for AD, yet the mechanistic basis for this association remains incompletely understood. Evidence from human and experimental studies implicate calcium dysregulation as a central link, triggering interconnected kinase, phosphatase, and protease networks that drive AD hallmark pathology, including amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation and tau hyperphosphorylation. The calcium-dependent protease calpain is a key node in this network, regulating downstream enzyme activity, and cleaving essential scaffolding and signaling proteins. Selective vulnerability of the hippocampus and white matter to calcium-mediated damage may underlie cognitive deficits common to both conditions. In preclinical TBI and AD models, pharmacological inhibition of calcium-dependent enzymes confers neuroprotection. Recognizing disrupted calcium signaling as an upstream driver of post-traumatic neurodegeneration may enable early interventions to reduce AD risk among TBI survivors. Full article

Background: While LLM chatbots are gaining popularity in medical education, their pedagogical impact remains under-evaluated. This study examined the effects of a domain-specific chatbot on performance, perception, and cognitive engagement among medical students. Methods: Twenty first-year medical students completed two academic tasks using either a custom-built educational chatbot (Lenny AI by qVault) or conventional study methods in a randomised, crossover design. Performance was assessed through Single Best Answer (SBA) questions, while post-task surveys (Likert scales) and focus groups were employed to explore user perceptions. Statistical tests compared performance and perception metrics; qualitative data underwent thematic analysis with independent coding (κ = 0.403–0.633). Results: Participants rated the chatbot significantly higher than conventional resources for ease of use, satisfaction, engagement, perceived quality, and clarity (p < 0.05). Lenny AI use was positively correlated with perceived efficiency and confidence, but showed no significant performance gains. Thematic analysis revealed accelerated factual retrieval but limited support for higher-level cognitive reasoning. Students expressed high functional trust but raised concerns about transparency. Conclusions: The custom chatbot improved usability; effects on deeper learning were not detected within the tasks studied. Future designs should support adaptive scaffolding, transparent sourcing, and critical engagement to improve educational value. Full article

The 4E Cognition paradigm offers a novel theoretical framework for understanding how acoustic environments influence cognitive processes in university learning spaces. This research integrates objective characterization of environmental parameters with comprehensive subjective evaluation of student experience to explore how aural conditions relate to cognitive processes and physiological stress responses in university learning environments. The study recruited 126 university students from the Engineering Faculty of “G. D’Annunzio” University, with final analysis including 66 valid responses from 28 participants in the acoustically treated classroom and 38 from the control condition. The results revealed modest associations between environmental conditions and cognitive performance measures, with small to moderate effect sizes (Cohen’s d ranging from 0.02 to 0.31). While acoustic treatment produced measurable improvements in speech intelligibility and acoustic quality ratings, differences in cognitive load and allostatic load indices were minimal between conditions. These findings provide preliminary empirical insights for applying the 4E Cognition framework to educational settings, suggesting that acoustic interventions may require extended exposure periods or more intensive treatments to produce substantial physiological and cognitive effects. This work contributes to the emerging field of cognitive architecture by introducing an innovative theoretical approach that reconceptualizes acoustic environments as potential cognitive extensions rather than mere background conditions. The findings offer initial evidence-based insights for integrating environmental considerations into educational facility design, while highlighting the need for longitudinal studies to fully understand how acoustic environments function as cognitive scaffolding in learning contexts. Full article

This study investigates how Spanish heritage language (SHL) learners, and second language (L2) learners cognitively and socially engage with texts through collaborative digital annotations. Conducted in two advanced online writing courses with forty students, the study employed Perusall, a social annotation platform, to examine reading behaviors and peer interactions. Quantitative analysis revealed both similarities and differences in strategy use: while both groups demonstrated equal levels of interaction, SHL learners favored Evaluating and Connecting strategies, suggesting reflective, experience-based engagement, whereas L2 learners more frequently used Questioning and Translating strategies, indicating a more analytical approach. Survey responses further highlighted perceived gains in vocabulary, motivation, grammar, and academic language awareness. These findings challenge deficit-based assumptions about SHL literacy and underscore the value of integrating culturally relevant, digitally mediated tasks in language instruction. The study affirms that collaborative annotation not only fosters cognitive engagement but also promotes social presence and academic identity development. It offers practical recommendations for grouping, scaffolding, and platform use, and contributes to a broader understanding of how digital tools can support inclusive, meaningful reading experiences for diverse learners in the twenty-first-century classroom. Full article

This article explores the manifestation of learner agency among primary school students within the context of competency-based education. Grounded in social cognitive theory and self-determination principles, the study examines how fourth-grade students set, implement, and reflect on personal learning goals through action research conducted in two Lithuanian schools. A total of 108 students participated by documenting their goals and reflections in journals, while teachers provided insights through interviews. The results reveal that students are capable of demonstrating agency through meaningful goal setting and reflective learning practices, especially when supported by a safe environment, constructive feedback, and opportunities for choice. However, the findings also highlight challenges—such as vague or overly ambitious goals, incomplete reflections, and concerning trends like excessive gaming or emotionally charged goals. The study underscores the critical role of teacher support in scaffolding goal-setting skills and fostering student motivation, while also emphasizing the need for early interventions in emotional literacy and digital well-being. It concludes that learner agency is a developable capacity requiring intentional pedagogical strategies and a reflective school culture. Full article

Narrative methods are increasingly recognized in science teaching for their potential to deepen conceptual understanding and foster meaningful connections to scientific content. This review explores their educational significance by examining three main formats—historical narratives, realistic fiction, and science fiction or fantasy—highlighting how each can render complex scientific principles more accessible and memorable. Special attention is given to chemistry education, a field where abstract, multilevel concepts often pose significant challenges for students. Furthermore, the review explores the integration of narratives into gamified environments, examining how storytelling functions as both a motivational engine and a cognitive scaffold to support deeper learning in science. Finally, the review proposes directions for future research, underscoring the need for empirically grounded narrative resources that balance imaginative appeal with scientific accuracy across diverse educational settings. Full article

Teacher education faces persistent challenges, including limited access to authentic field experiences and a disconnect between theoretical instruction and classroom practice. While virtual reality (VR) simulations offer an alternative, most are constrained by inflexible design and lack scalability, failing to mirror the complexity of real teaching environments. This study introduces TeacherGen@i, a generative AI (GenAI)-enhanced VR simulation designed to provide pre-service teachers with immersive, adaptive teaching practice through realistic GenAI agents. Using an explanatory case study with a mixed-methods approach, the study examines the simulation’s usability, design challenges, and instructional utility within a university-based teacher preparation course. Data sources included usability surveys and reflective journals, analyzed through thematic coding and computational linguistic analysis using LIWC. Findings suggest that TeacherGen@i facilitates meaningful development of teaching competencies such as instructional decision-making, classroom communication, and student engagement, while also identifying notable design limitations related to cognitive load, user interface design, and instructional scaffolding. This exploratory research offers preliminary insights into the integration of generative AI in teacher simulations and its potential to support responsive and scalable simulation-based learning environments. Full article