Classroom Learning Activities Research Articles

Cross-cultural social contexts: a comparison of Chinese and US students’ experiences in active learning classrooms

ABSTRACT Active learning classrooms (ALCs) have been demonstrated to have significant and positive impacts on student learning experiences, student learning outcomes, and instructor and student behavior compared to traditional classrooms. The social context of a classroom – levels of student–student and student–instructor interaction – has been demonstrated to partially explain the effects ALCs have on students and instructors. This research is the first attempt to extend social context research beyond the US higher education classroom by comparing levels of social context of Chinese and US students taking courses in ALCs. We find that formal student–instructor relations in the US and China are not the same, that general student–student relations, informal student–instructor relations, and students as instructors are quite similar for Chinese and US students, but that these relationships express themselves at different levels. We believe that some of the variation observed can be attributed to cultural differences but are hopeful that the similarities observed lend themselves to expanding learning space research on social context to other countries and advancing cross-cultural research on learning spaces.

BUILDING CHARACTER OF ALTRUISM PRAXIS IN ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT MAN KARAWANG

This study aimed at investigating the altruism praxis in English teaching and learning classroom activities in Senior High School. This study employed a case study and conducted in MAN Karawang. The data in this study were the occurence of altruism aspects in English teaching and learning classroom activities. This study employed two instruments in collecting data, namely observation and interview. This study revealed that three aspects of altruism, empathy; prosocial behavior and aversive-arousal reduction appeared in English teaching and learning classroom activities and the most dominant is prosocial behavior. In other words, it can be concluded that MAN Karawang has contributed in altruism praxis in English teaching and learning classroom activities. The contribution is shown by habituating and maintaining the behaviors that represent aspects of altruism, such as Student follows teacher`s instruction; Student lends others stuffs they do not have and student uses positive language during discussion.

Creating Virtual Exchanges: Promoting Intercultural Knowledge When Study Abroad Is Not Possible

ABSTRACT This article describes how to create virtual exchanges during times when study abroad, in its original state, cannot be accomplished, such as during the COVID pandemic. It discusses how two professors from a liberal arts institution in the US American South used two virtual exchange projects with universities in Spain and Egypt to debunk stereotypes and fight national narrow-mindedness while promoting intercultural knowledge. Focusing on recognizing our own biases through active learning classrooms, promoting twenty-first-century skills, and using digital technologies have the potential of not only rethinking stereotypes, but also combating the notion of “West as best.” Developing relationships among U.S college students and university students from the countries they are studying, in this case Spain and Egypt, with virtual exchanges help all learners to empathize, understand, and stretch their perspectives. Building empathy and expanding perspectives can be transformational and ultimately help students become more inclusive, global citizens.

Analisis Kemampuan Literasi Matematika Siswa Kelas XI SMA Bahrul Maghfiroh Malang

Mathematical literacy is the individual's ability to formulate, apply, and interpret mathematics in various contexts. This ability includes mathematical reasoning and the ability to use mathematical concepts, procedures, facts and mathematical functions to describe, explain and predict a phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to describe the Analysis of Mathematical Literacy Ability for Class XI Students of SMA Bahrul Maghfiroh Malang. The approach used in this study is a qualitative approach. The subjects studied were 6 students of class XI IPA who were active, passive and moderate. The data collection techniques used were 1) Observation, 2) Written Test, 3) Interview and 4) Documentation. The research instruments used were 1) test question sheets, 2) interview tools and 3) documentation. The validity of the data used was Source Triangulation. Subjects 1 and 2 were passive students so they were unable to complete the test questions correctly. Subjects 3 and 4 were active students so that the subjects were able to complete the test questions perfectly. Subjects 5 and 6 are ordinary students so that the subject can answer the test questions correctly even though the work is not perfect. The conclusion is that students who are active in participating in classroom learning activities have better mathematical literacy skills.

Changing classrooms bring new questions: environmental influences, self-efficacy, and academic achievement

In recent years, considerable attention has been given to how the physical structure of active learning classrooms affects academic performance, but little is known about how these spaces influence learners’ personal capability beliefs. The purpose of this study was to investigate how students’ beliefs and performance varied in two physical learning environments. Students (N = 372) enrolled in an entry-level undergraduate statistics course at a large public university that was taught in either a technology-enhanced, group-configured classroom or a traditional, forward-facing lecture classroom. Using surveys administered during the first and last week of the semester, students evaluated the importance of the learning environment and their self-efficacy for regulating their learning (e.g. focus, motivation) and for doing statistics. Between-groups analyses revealed that students in the two settings rated the importance of the physical environment similarly. Self-efficacy for self-regulation decreased across the semester in both settings. Within-group analyses showed that statistics self-efficacy decreased in the technology-enhanced classroom but increased in the traditional classroom. Statistics self-efficacy significantly predicted course grades in both classroom types. The effect of classroom environment on self-efficacy was moderated by student gender. This research provides initial insights about how physical classroom environments are related to personal capability beliefs in undergraduate education.

Anxiety and verbal learning in typically developing primary school children: Less efficient but equally effective.

Despite evidence that high levels of anxiety can impair Working Memory (WM) functioning, little is known about how anxiety is associated with classroom learning activities, which make high demands on verbal WM. To investigate the association between anxiety and learning on a task which makes high demands on verbal WM. Participants were 119 typically developing, Australian elementary school children (M age=9.25years; SD=7.6months). In individual testing sessions, measures of trait anxiety (Spence Childhood Anxiety Scales) and state anxiety (Visual Analogue scale) were made. The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which makes similar demands on WM to many classroom activities, was administered. Neither trait nor state anxiety alone was associated with mean recall across trials, however their interaction showed a significant effect. In children high on both measures of anxiety, learning followed a different trajectory. They learned more slowly on the first three trials than less anxious peers, then caught up on the remaining trials. While their mean recall scores across trials were significantly lower than those of less anxious peers, they retained as many words on the delayed learning trial. In a group of typically developing children, learning on the early, more demanding learning trials of a verbal learning task was vulnerable to heightened anxiety. However, the extra opportunities to learn on later trials enabled more anxious children to learn as much as their less anxious peers. While they learnt less efficiently, they learnt equally effectively.

Discussion on Ideological and Political Education in Pathology Education in Medical Colleges

With the advent of the new era, teachers in colleges and universities have actively combined the teaching content with ideological and political education under the guidance of the ideological and political philosophy of the course. I hope that students can ensure professional literacy through the participation of classroom learning activities. Under the rapid promotion of patriotic spirit, dialectical spirit, humanistic spirit, rule of law spirit and scientific spirit, it can grow into a new type of talent that meets the requirements of social and political development. This article starts from different perspectives and introduces specific methods of ideological and political education when teaching medical pathology teachers in medical colleges, hoping to provide references for other medical educators.

EDUKASI “ADVENTURE OF UNITY-CHAN” UNTUK PEMBELAJARAN FISIKA KELAS 10 SMK

As the development of technology can cause various positive and negative influences, one of the negative effects is that many people are addicted to gadgets and games. Playing games is fine, but usually the stigma in society is children who play games too often, so they tend to forget and ignore their education and prioritize games where it is feared that it will affect their academic performance. At present many developers apply the educational element to the games they make, in contrast to games that have recently become popular, the educational game can be an additional lesson for students in addition to the material obtained from school. Because using educational game media is more attractive to students to learn, the author intends to create an Educational Game Adventure of Unity-Chan for Physics Learning Class 10 of Vocational School, which is expected to be used as an alternative learning media so that classroom teaching and learning activities do not experience saturation.

Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL): Students’ Perception and Problems towards Mobile Learning in English Language

Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is the latest learning way in the language education where applications or websites are used to facilitate students learning activities. Mobile phone has been studied years by researchers in its connection with education-related activities. This research will focus on its main purposes, they are: 1) students’ perceptions in using mobile phone in English language learning classroom activities; 2). the problem of using mobile phone to support classroom activities, especially in English language learning. The method of the research was quantitative method which used 70 students as research object. The data were collected through a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire. The research found; first, the students’ majority had positive perception on the usage of MALL to support classroom activities, especially in learning English language. Second, the problem in internet connectivity is the biggest problems that students faced in terms of using MALL in English language classroom. But, It is hoped that MALL will be used as one of the teaching aids that could assist students in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) more effectively.

Student and Instructor Perceptions of a First Year in Active Learning Classrooms

This article presents evaluation of an active learning classroom (ALC) initiative at the University of Ottawa. Preliminary results indicate three broad trends to inform future practice and classroom design: 1) Despite advances in educational technology, there remains a strong appetite for low-tech, interactive learning opportunities. 2) Instructors feel that consistent institutional support is necessary to foster innovation in the classroom, particularly for course redesign. 3) a collaborative strategy, bringing together multiple institutional stakeholders, is necessary to ensure a whole-of-university approach to optimal use of the ALCs. This article briefly reviews ALC research, outlines the methodology of the program-evaluation protocol, discusses the three central findings, and concludes with potential directions in ALC research.
 
 Nous examinons ici une initiative, menée à l’Université d’Ottawa, de classe d’apprentissage actif (CAA). Les résultats préliminaires permettent de dégager trois tendances qui permettront d’orienter les pratiques et la configuration de la classe : 1) malgré les avancées dans les technologies éducatives, l’intérêt pour les méthodes simples et pour l’apprentissage interactif ne se dément pas; 2) Les enseignants croient que l’innovation en classe, et tout particulièrement la refonte des cours, sont tributaires d’un soutien institutionnel constant; 3) pour utiliser toutes les ressources de l’université et ainsi faire un usage optimal des CAA, il doit y avoir une stratégie de collaboration regroupant différents intervenants de l’établissement. Dans notre article, après avoir survolé la recherche au sujet des CAA et défini la méthodologie du protocole d’évaluation de programme, nous présentons les trois résultats principaux et nous proposons, en guise de conclusion, trois avenues possibles pour la recherche sur les CAA.

Interactive Worksheets for Teaching Atmospheric Aerosols and Cloud Physics

AbstractStudent-centered active learning pedagogies improve learning outcomes and increase the engagement of underrepresented groups. Implementing such pedagogies requires interactive tools for students to manipulate inputs and use the outputs to construct knowledge. This work introduces interactive worksheets for teaching about atmospheric aerosol and cloud physics and describes the toolchain to create and deliver the content. The material is appropriate for upper-level undergraduate and graduate instruction with pedagogy based on process-oriented guided inquiry learning. Students playfully interact with physical relationships and atmospheric models. Two examples are the interaction with an aerosol–cloud parcel model for simulating the early stage of cloud formation and the interaction with the Bowen model for simulating the formation of rain by coalescence. Photos, text, figures, and software associated with the project are free to be shared and free to be adapted. In addition to focusing on discipline-based learning objectives, the worksheets emphasize interacting with real-world data and practicing graph comprehension. Hosting the content in the cloud ensures reliable and scalable delivery to any device with a browser and Internet access. The worksheets are designed to be used in a student-centered active learning classroom but can also be used in an online setting.

Investigating Learner Engagement in Flipped English as a Foreign Language Classroom

Flipped classroom is an innovative instructional method. Recent technological developments have given rise to the popularity of flipped classroom. This study reports the findings of a questionnaire survey that investigates learners’ perceptions of flipped EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom, with a particular focus on their self-perceived learner engagement. The results of the study indicate that the learners generally have positive and favorable attitudes toward flipped classroom. Seventy-five percent of them consider flipped classroom useful in boosting their confidence in learning English and 50.6% think that they have become more interested in the course. Yet, it is also found that only 30.1% agree that flipped method has helped them to understand the course content more clearly. In addition, as high as 71.6% of the respondents agree that the flipped method can increase their motivation to participate in classroom learning activities, but only 44.9% believe that their engagement has been raised. While the results show that the students tend to accept this new teaching method, their evaluation of the actual effects of it is not as expected, which may be due to the lack of guidance and the weak connection between online self-study and classroom activities. Future studies are needed to explore how to strengthen these areas.

Does it Matter Where You Teach? Insights from a Quasi-Experimental Study on Student Engagement in an Active Learning Classroom

Active learning has experienced a recent resurgence with the advent of specialized active learning classrooms. While the fundamental theory behind active learning is anything but new, a relatively recent finding is that active learning pedagogies thrive in suitable active learning classrooms. To date, studies of active learning have focused on outcomes such as student performance. The quasi-experimental study described in this article investigated self-ratings of student engagement as an outcome of active learning in active learning classrooms using a novel instrument that accounts for known factors of engagement in addition to the contribution of the learning environment—the classroom. We delineated the relative contributions of instructor, classmates, and classroom to self-rated student engagement through student surveys in both a traditional classroom and an active learning classroom in two highly similar courses with the same instructor. Our findings were that the configuration of the classroom had a direct influence on self-ratings of student engagement above and beyond instructor contributions. In this article, we describe these findings and how, with careful consideration of course design and a classroom that fits the instructor’s pedagogy, optimal levels of perceived student engagement can be achieved. This knowledge is important to future educational policy on construction and scheduling, as the resurgence of active learning in higher education increasingly reveals deficiencies in physical learning environments.

An Actionable Orchestration Dashboard to Enhance Collaboration in the Classroom

The orchestration of collaborative learning activities in technology-enhanced classrooms has become a nontrivial endeavor for educators. Depending on the behaviors and needs of students that emerge in real educational situations, educators may need to orchestrate activity adaptations on the fly. These adaptations may range from the provision of additional scaffolding by the educator (e.g., the educator's participation in a group discussion) to a change in the planned pedagogical scenario (e.g., the duration). This article aims to contribute to the orchestration of technology-mediated collaborative learning sessions in a classroom context. We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a teacher-facing dashboard that supports teachers in orchestrating scripted collaboration. Evaluation studies were conducted in 16 classroom sessions. The findings indicate that teachers found the information on the dashboard to be actionable and help facilitate just in time support to student groups.

Schooling Process: Is Schooling Experience and Its Outcome the Same for Girls and Boys?

The study examined if schooling experience and teacher’s classroom interaction is the same for senior secondary school adolescent girls and boys in Jigawa state, Nigeria. It also determined whether influence of students’ perceived level of personalisation of the teacher’s classroom behaviour and environment exist on their participation in the classroom learning activities. These were with a view to improving the teacher-student’s relationships and teacher’s classroom effectiveness. The study adopted a survey design. The population consisted of all male and female students in public Senior Secondary Schools in Jigawa state. The sample consisted of 370 Senior Secondary Classes Three (SS III) students. Of this number, 185 were boys and 185 were girls selected through stratified sampling procedure using sex as stratum. Their average age was 15.17 years. A self-developed instrument was used to collect relevant data in the study. Data collected were analysed using Independent t-test statistical method. The results showed that teachers do not significantly interact with girls and boys in the same manner in the classroom. However, there existed a significant influence of students’ perceived level of personalisation of the teacher’s classroom behaviour on their participation in the classroom learning activities. Also, there was a significant influence of students’ perceived level of personalisation of the classroom environment on their participation in the classroom learning activities. It was concluded that schooling experience is not the same for girls and boys respectively. Thus, appropriate interventionist strategies should be put in place to assist realising the objective of equal educational opportunity.

How drawing prompts can increase cognitive engagement in an active learning engineering course

AbstractBackgroundRecent engineering education research has found improved learning outcomes when instructors engage students actively (e.g., through practice problems) rather than passively (e.g., in lectures). As more instructors shift toward active learning, research needs to identify how different types of activities affect students' cognitive engagement with concepts in the classroom. In this study, we investigate the effects of prompting novice students to draw when solving problems, a professional practice of engineers.PurposeWe investigate whether implementing instructional prompts to draw in an active learning classroom (a) increases students' use and value of drawing as a problem‐solving strategy and (b) enhances students' problem‐solving performance.MethodWe compared survey data and exam scores collected in one undergraduate class that received prompts to draw in video lectures and in‐class problems (drawing condition) and one class that received no drawing prompts (control condition).ResultsAfter drawing prompts were implemented, students' use and value of drawing increased, and these effects persisted to the end of the semester. Students were more likely to draw when provided drawing prompts. Furthermore, students who received prompts outperformed students who did not on exam questions that target conceptual understanding.ConclusionsOur findings reveal how implementing drawing prompts in an active learning classroom may help students engage in drawing and solve problems conceptually. This study contributes to our understanding of what types of active learning activities can improve instructional practices in engineering education. Particularly, we show how prompts that foster authentic engineering practices can increase cognitive engagement in introductory‐level engineering courses.

Penerapan Model Student Teams Achievement Division dengan Utaku untuk Meningkatkan Aktivitas Siswa

Student’ activities play an important role in classroom learning activities. Student activities also affect student learning achievement, if the child is active then the possibility of achievement is also good. Unfortunately, not all students are active in learning activities. The problem of low student activity occurs at State Elementary School 2 of Medini. The lack of students who ask questions or express opinions showed the activities of students were classified as low. This problem may disturb learning process and can affect student achievement. The purpose of this study is to describe the improvement in student activity through the Student Teams Achievement Division model assisted by Utaku media. The research method used is classroom action research (CAR). The subjects of the study were the fourth grade students of State Elementary School 2 of Medini. The instrument used was a student activity observation sheet. The data analysis technique used is qualitative data analysis technique. The results showed an increase on students’ learning activities in the first cycle obtained an average value of 74 and in the second cycle increased to 85. Based on the results of CAR conducted in forth grade of State Elementary School 2 of Medini it can be concluded that the use of the STAD model assisted by Utaku media can increase student activity.

Bridging the Gap: Science and Technology Policy in the (Bio)Engineering Classroom.

Engineers and scientists have a key role to play in the creation and implementation of government policy. Policymakers need access to the technical expertise that is critical to our national progress and security; however, this need is often overlooked by engineering students, faculty, and professionals. Even though a substantial fraction of scientists and engineers end up pursuing jobs in government, engineering curricula do not usually provide any background in policy and for many, the policy-making process remains a black box. The good news is that there are some simple ways to make it more accessible and to encourage increased involvement. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the federal policy-making process and present a collection of classroom learning activities that link policy-making and implementation to science and engineering. These can easily be added to existing courses without wholesale curricular changes. We also suggest professional development activities for engineers at all stages of their careers and discuss ways for engineers to become involved in the policy process. Introducing learning and career development activities focused on science and engineering policy will better prepare engineers to provide needed technical expertise to policymakers. It may also encourage engineers to consider careers in local, state, and federal government.

Feats of Strength for Weak Utopianism: Giorgio Agamben, Educational Potentiality and the Studious Spatiality of the Active Learning Classroom

Feats of Strength for Weak Utopianism: Giorgio Agamben, Educational Potentiality and the Studious Spatiality of the Active Learning Classroom

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.