Classroom Project Research Articles

“A pocket of possibility”: Silence in creative Australian music teaching and learning

Silence defines sound, framing it and giving it meaning. Contemporary music engagements with silence have infiltrated Australian school music education practices through the work of three seminal composer-educators. This selective historical sweep is infused by the personal. I was an inspired early adopter of exploratory creative approaches permeated by silence. I adopt an autoethnographical approach punctuating history with first-hand vignettes. In 1939 provocative American modernist composer John Cage (1912-1992) published Silence, an extended manifesto. In 1952, he created and performed the iconic work “4’33” in which performers are instructed not to play. Twenty-years later, I was one such performer. Silence became the focus of listener experience. Once legitimised, intentional silence infiltrated composition and music education. In 1967 George Self (1921-2001) devised ensemble improvisations suitable for schools, the first being “Sound/silence.” In 1970 another prolific British composer/educator John Paynter (1931-2010) published (with Peter Aston) the revolutionary Sound and Silence, which comprised increasingly complex classroom projects in creative music. The first attends to instrumental sounds punctuated by deep silences. Canadian composer/educator R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021) asserted the silence is a container for musical events, it is valuable, increasingly lost, and a focus of modern composers. Evocatively he described silence as “a pocket of possibility.” As a young music educator, I embraced these provocative, inspirational ideas. Murray Schafer toured Australia, speaking charismatically to a crowd including me. His ideas, bolstered by those of Cage, Self and Paynter, gradually permeated Australian school music practice. I was a witness to this, becoming a disciple and practitioner of creative compositional approaches to music teaching and learning.

Belonging in the Law Classroom: Preliminary Reflections from a South Australian Case Study

This article reports the findings of the Belonging in the Law Classroom Project (Belonging Project) – a qualitative research project undertaken during 2022 with the support of an UniSA Early Career Researcher Teaching and Learning Grant. The Belonging Project aims to improve the experience and retention of first-year Law students by better understanding and fostering their sense of belonging in the online or physical classroom. The idea that students can and need to belong to a higher education community has become engrained within higher education policy and practice. Past studies have identified a strong causal link between students’ sense of belonging at University and student retention. This has led to a sustained focus on developing institutional strategies to improve student engagement, largely focused on extra-curricular supports or activities, but less focus on what happens in the classroom to foster student belonging. By focusing on student belonging in the classroom, and enacting dialogic approaches to provide students with opportunities to talk and explore within the classroom setting, as well as connecting with their life worlds and funds of knowledge to help students identify the existing skills and resources that they bring to the law studies, the Belonging Project provides a fresh perspective for teaching staff to understand student retention and engagement This article will explore some of the practical frameworks, exemplars and resources complied during the Belonging Project to provide first year law teachers with building blocks that they can utilise to foster student belonging in their classroom.

Promoting narrative competence and media literacy in early childhood education through digital storytelling. A research instrument for analysing digital stories

The Erasmus+ STORIES research project ("Fostering early childhood media literacy competencies", 2015-2018) pursued the general objective of defining and disseminating guidelines and best practises for media education in early childhood education through digital storytelling, based on theoretical and empirical research. The research design mapped this general objective to the different dimensions of media education and assigned a prominent role to narrative competence. Thus, digital storytelling was placed in the context of broader school or classroom projects dealing with narrative languages and asking children generative questions about the idea of story and storytelling and the possibilities of digital storytelling. Consequently, among the various criteria for evaluating multimodal productions, the coherence of the narrative discourse plays a central role: the question arises as to what are the most salient features of the practises associated with the best crafted stories, i.e. the most complete and narratively organised. This paper focuses on a research instrument developed and validated within the project, which can also be used in other contexts to obtain comparable research data.

Student Decision-Making: A Survey on the Potential Use of the Harvard Project in the Social Studies Classroom

Student Decision-Making: A Survey on the Potential Use of the Harvard Project in the Social Studies Classroom

The U.D.C.A. on the Road to Environmental Sustainability in Its Infrastructure and Environment

The Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales U.D.C.A. has been walking a path from Sustainable Development to Environmental Sustainability, which is evidenced through initiatives in infrastructure and its environment, according to the Institutional Educational Project, which recognizes the Campus as a Living Classroom. In this opportunity, the process that is being advanced in terms of infrastructure and environmental management with three initiatives will be presented: 1. The U.D.C.A. environmental memory trail, an ecological trail under construction, which allowed articulating teaching, research, and social projection from a research seedbed of Environmental History, which collects environmental information related to biological, ecological and cultural aspects of the species of fauna and flora that are present on Campus. 2. The Tingua Refuge, an emblematic site of the UniversityUniversity recognized for its conservation of wild species such as Tinguas and ducks, where classroom projects are being developed with students of the Environmental Analysis Technology program to measure the quality of the water as a first step for its ecological restoration process, to turn it into a bio-indicator of environmental health for the UniversityUniversity. 3. The development of infrastructure as an axis of change toward the environmental sustainability of the University is part of the University's Infrastructure Master Plan, which defines the conditions under which the U.D.C.A. advances the necessary actions in environmental, urban, rural, and architectural aspects to adapt the academic spaces.

Flipped Classroom in the Czech Republic

The Flipped Classroom approach, advocated since the 1990s by scholars such as Alison King, Eric Mazur, Maureen J. Lage, Glenn J. Platt, and Michael Treglia, involves students independently learning theoretical content before class via e-learning resources like video recordings and self-directed programmes. This allows educators to use class time for discussions and scaffolding as students engage in problem-solving tasks individually and in groups. Notable milestones include the establishment of Khan Academy in 2004, MEF University's adoption of flipped teaching in 2011, the founding of the Flipped Learning Network in 2016, and the extensive use of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines implementing a flipped classroom project in environmental education in the Czech Republic. In 2018, three academics from different universities initiated the flipping of environmental education courses. The research, framed as combined action research, employed a questionnaire as the primary tool. Data were collected twice: in 2021, at the end of mandatory online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2024, after three years of regular education. Responses from 288 students were analysed using standard statistical methods, while open-ended responses from 82 students and interviews with four university lecturers were qualitatively assessed. The findings underscore the benefits of electronic materials, particularly students’ appreciation for interactive elements, time flexibility, and the ability to review content multiple times. Students' willingness to watch digital lectures at home decreased post-pandemic, and the perceived efficacy of this method was higher among students during the pandemic. Although students find the flipped classroom method effective, they favour its combination with traditional teaching methods. Educators, cognisant of the method's potential, interpret these results as indicative of “virtual environment fatigue”, noting students’ reluctance to prepare in advance as a significant barrier. They advocate for the widespread implementation of the flipped classroom model across faculties to optimise instruction and eliminate the need for switching between traditional and flipped approaches. This study offers a practical example and insights for educators seeking to integrate the flipped classroom methodology with e-learning tools into their teaching practices.

Analyzing The Impact of Project-Based Learning STEAM Flipped Classroom on Computer Architecture and Organization Courses in Higher Education

This study examines the differences in students' creative thinking skills between the project-based learning STEAM Flipped Classroom and the direct learning STEAM Flipped Classroom model by paying attention to the role of academic self-efficacy as a moderator variable. The research population consists of students in informatics engineering study programs in the Denpasar area of Bali. The study used a quasi-experimental 2 x 2 factorial design. Data collection is carried out through questionnaires and test instruments. Data analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as analysis of covariance. The results showed a significant difference in students' creative thinking skills between those who learned with the STEAM Flipped Classroom project learning model and the STEAM Flipped Classroom direct learning model. In addition, there are differences in students' creative thinking skills based on the level of academic self-efficacy. The empirical application of the STEAM Flipped Classroom project model is proven to help students generate new ideas, develop ideas, and improve their thinking skills. However, the findings suggest that flexible thinking skills must be further enhanced. Students with high self-efficacy tend to be more proactive in providing constructive ideas in project-based learning activities. This research implies that it is necessary to actively motivate and share experiential stories with students who have low self-efficacy. In the future, I suggest that universities adopt the innovative learning model of project-based learning STEAM flipped Classroom to improve the creative thinking skills of informatics engineering students at the college level.

Fostering Critical Thinking Skills: Comparative Creative Projects in General Education Humanities and Social Science Classrooms

According to both post-secondary educational advocates and employers, critical thinking is a vital skill for students to learn during their university education. It is not a skill, however, that students can be introduced to once and then expected to independently apply. Instead, critical thinking skills should be integrated and practiced throughout a student’s degree program. Including project-based learning (PjBL) in general education classes can serve a dual purpose for the general education instructor: first, well-designed project-based assignments allow students to practice many of the cognitive and metacognitive skills associated with critical thinking, and, second, they enable students to connect the material in the general education classroom to their own experiences, making it a more robust learning opportunity while at the same time providing students choice. This essay reflects on the PjBL assignment “Thinking Outside the Essay” to illustrate one potential avenue for humanities and social and behavioral science faculty to facilitate practice in critical thinking, provide student choice, and connect course content to students’ lived experiences.

XÂY DỰNG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH CÁC DỰ ÁN NGHỆ THUẬT HỘI HOẠ ỨNG DỤNG VÀO LỚP HỌC THEO MÔ HÌNH GIÁO DỤC MONTESSORI

Establishing a curriculum for painting art projects within the Montessori education model is imperative for fostering objective practice conducive to social development. Through this investigation, we employ theoretical research methodologies to scrutinize the contextual nuances, program dynamics, and influential factors shaping the implementation of art projects in early childhood classrooms catering to children aged 3 to 6, harmonizing with the Montessori educational ethos. Utilizing the collaborative autoethnography method (Chang et al., 2014), we delve into experiential insights from practical educational pursuits. Preliminary findings indicate the efficacy of art education for this age group, underscored by key aspects including 1) The harmonization of theory and practice throughout program development and implementation; 2) the formulation of precise program framework implementation strategies; 3) the provision of comprehensive providing assistance and direction in selecting art projects and activities for preschool educators. These research outcomes offer a novel perspective on the symbiotic relationship between theory and practice, thus fostering the adoption of innovative methodologies in preschool education within the Vietnamese context. Keywords: Curriculum; project; painting art; children aged 3-6; Montessori education model.

A WAY TO COMPENSATE PHD STUDENTS' INSUFFICIENT EFL PROFICIENCY: FLIPPED CLASSROOM APPROACH

Background. The shift in standards in Russian education has led to certain changes on the tertiary level of higher education. Most notably the consequences have concerned the aspect of teaching a foreign language to postgraduate students. In particular Samara State University of Economics now does not have language entrance exams anymore and foreign language class time has been rather limited. Nonetheless the level of final exam requirements is yet quite high. The article is relevant due to the need to find a possible remedy to overcome a problem of a fairly low level of previous language training among a certain category of postgraduate students. Purpose. The research purpose was to determine the effectiveness of a flipped classroom strategy as a way to compensate insufficient level of English mastering among the students of postgraduate courses. Materials and methods. Flipped classroom acts as a well-proven approach that could solve the problem. The results of summative assessment are presented in this paper. The methodology adopted in this study is based on the needs analysis, mathematical statistics and content inspection of students' interviews. The range of students, whose needs to improve their language level were determined at the first stage of the experiment then took part took part in a flipped classroom project. At the final stage of the experiment the students were examined for their language performance. Results. The results of the experiment prove the effectiveness of the proposed format for teaching a foreign language for postgraduate students in a non-linguistic university as it increases the efficiency of mastering the skills for the successful exam pass. This study suggests that flipped classroom approach could be an effective remedy to overcome the challenges that teachers and students at postgraduate level are facing today.

Extended Writing Project: An Experimental Study On How to Encourage Students to Work Collaboratively

This paper reports students’ involvement in a classroom project, called extended writing project (EWP), to help undergraduate students write their first essay. The EWP aimed at encouraging the students to work collaboratively with their peers and teacher, give and respond to feedbacks, and work independently outside the classroom. During the process of EWP, we equipped the students with a mini book to help them record the whole activities and monitor their progress. We involved 20 first year undergraduate students enrolled in a writing course, which was a compulsory course to prepare the students for writing their research project and thesis in the final year of their degree program. We used several instruments such as pre-posttest to know the students’ writing improvement, open-ended questionnaire to obtain their perceptions toward the EWP, the mini book to obtain a comprehensive understanding on the students’ activities including kinds of feedbacks provided by their peers, and an informal interview to know how they dealt with the feedbacks. The results indicated that EWP positively affected the students’ writing skill. Furthermore, in term of writing components (fluency, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and content), EWP was able to improve all those aspects but spelling. The open-ended questions informed that the students felt that EWP was able to increase their confidence and motivation to write. The redundancy of writing draft, however, exhausted them all the time.

Deepening Divides or Inciting Change? Ongoing Impacts of COVID-19 on Teaching and Teacher Education in the United States

Through the lenses of teaching and teacher education, this article explores the evolving impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. Challenges associated with COVID-19 in schooling, learning, teaching, and teacher education are highlighted to showcase ongoing systemic inadequacies and emerging opportunities for change. Cultural assets are presented as a theoretical framework for bridging gaps between individualistic and collective approaches to learning. Specific classroom projects that foster cultural assets are connected with a larger educational movement for Ethnic Studies in public education in the United States to provide examples of ways that education can evolve in more equitable ways into the future.

Educating through commons-based pedagogical practices

This paper explores the transformative potential of primary education pedagogy to instill the logic and ethics of the commons, emphasizing a paradigm shift away from competitive or individualistic learning frameworks towards those fostering care, reciprocity, and mutual support. Through a year-long action research project in a sixth-grade classroom, this study examines the transfer of Educational commons elements into formal schooling. It argues that such integration requires pedagogical practices that cultivate distinct cognitive and operational modes, enabling students to engage in self-organization of the school classroom and collective knowledge management. The research details the development and operationalization of what is termed as “commons-based pedagogical practices”. These practices are designed to encourage a learning environment that is inclusive and collaborative, characterized by peer learning, co-creation of knowledge, assemblies. peer dialogue and peer accountability. The study juxtaposes theoretical frameworks with practical applications, providing insights into how these pedagogical approaches can be effectively implemented to transform educational settings. The emphasis is placed on creating a classroom dynamic that supports the collective exploration and negotiation of diverse educational concepts, thereby fostering an atmosphere conducive to communal learning and ethical engagement.

M-learning and autonomous education: the impact of the Moroccan digital classroom project on science subject’s learning

The widespread adoption of pedagogical digitalization and its integration into teaching practices has been proposed in response to the global health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. This suggestion, aimed at ensuring inclusivity and equal opportunities among learners, has profoundly influenced education. In 2021, the Moroccan Minister of National Education for Preschool and Sport announced a significant step forward by launching the digital classroom project, combining distance and face-to-face learning models with digital tools to guarantee the continuity of educational systems in Moroccan institutions. The project specifically aims to strengthen the learning of science subjects (Mathematics, Life and Earth Sciences, and Physics) to secure ongoing education in the face of potential future disruptions. This digital pedagogical revolution has emerged as a highly suitable learning method for diverse social groups (such as people with disabilities and refugees) and various challenging circumstances (natural disasters, wars, pandemics…). The research outlined in this context seeks to assess the impact of combining the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital classrooms on the performance of science subjects in the Rabat Sale Kenitra region, providing insights into the evolving educational landscape.

How ethical areas of post-normal science can invigorate mathematics education

Future experts, decision-makers, stakeholders and future citizens – they all go to school, which could be a place to prepare students to facing post-normal problems in their future roles. While the literature on mathematics and science education shows increased interest in post-normal science to critically understand contemporary problems, mathematics is still generally taught as a neutral subject with either correct or wrong answers. In this paper, I lean on post-normal science literature and the slowly growing literature on ethics and mathematics education to develop a framework for identifying how mathematics education can prepare students for ethical aspects of post-normal problems. Three areas of ethics associated with post-normal problems are explored through concepts from ethics and mathematics education: ethical perspectives of the problem, ethical perspectives embedded in knowledge, and ethics in interpersonal care in discussions and care for students’ self-esteem in participatory processes. This framework is used to analyse and discuss three classroom projects to provide examples of what these areas may contain. The projects partly align with post-normal science, and are about clothing and sustainability, traffic safety, and argumentation related to open an offshore area to oil exploitation. The ethical areas are discussed in terms of ethical awareness and democratic practices.

Literacy Alley: Efforts to Enhance Literacy Passion Among Students at Kanisius Demangan Baru Yogyakarta Elementary School

This study aims to explore and evaluate the efforts made in increasing literacy love in students of Kanisius Demangan Baru Elementary School (SD) in Yogyakarta. Literacy plays a crucial role in students' intellectual and social development, and an understanding and appreciation of literacy can enrich their educational experience. This research method involves collecting qualitative data through classroom observation, interviews with teachers and students, as well as analyzing documents related to literacy programs that have been implemented, and finally drawing conclusions. The results showed that efforts to increase love for literacy involve innovative teaching strategies and integrating literacy into the curriculum. Teachers actively promote students' interest in reading through activities such as book discussion groups, story and storytelling performances, library visits, promoting literacy corner projects in classrooms, and enlivening school walls and hallways with student literacy works. In addition, science literacy programs can also improve students' knowledge of nature, and storytelling teacher programs can improve teachers' and students' abilities with literary appreciation. The evaluation results showed a positive increase in students' reading interest and literacy understanding. The findings may provide insight for other schools looking to increase the love of literacy at the primary level, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between teachers, students, and parents in creating an educational environment that supports children's literacy development.

Marking group projects in a large classroom: a case study in the Introduction to Project Management course

The "Introduction to Project Management" is a core online graduate course in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Calgary. During the Fall 2022 semester, 373 students enrolled in this course, and the course grade mainly depended on a group project report. The marking task was split between two Teaching Assistants (TAs), which could affect the marking consistency and fairness of grades. This study presents an approach for grade consistency in such large classrooms with multiple markers. For this, TAs and an instructor marked the same 10% of the submissions using a pre-defined rubric and discussed any differences in their marks. If there was a significant mark discrepancy, markers marked an additional few submissions and reconvened. Afterwards, the TAs marked the remaining submissions, and the final marks were validated for any remaining bias. Discussion on the implementation issues of this marking scheme can provide lessons learned for other instructors.

Intelligent solutions in education: How inclusive the Moroccan Digital Classrooms project is for different social groups

<p>The global changes caused by the health crisis of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic have significantly impacted education all over the world. Schools today have had to adopt distance learning models using digital tools to ensure the continuity of educational systems in different circumstances. For this reason and to ensure the continuity of education even in the event of future disruptions in Morocco (war, pandemic, natural disaster...). The Minister of National Education for Preschool and Sport has unveiled an initiative to establish digital classrooms within the educational institutions of the Kingdom. This innovative pedagogical approach, grounded in the utilization of digital tools, is specifically designed to bolster the instruction of science subjects, (Mathematics, Physics, and Life and Earth Sciences). This digital educational transformation has emerged as a highly suitable mode of learning, catering to a diverse array of social groups, including individuals with disabilities and refugees. The primary objective of this research is to assess the influence of digital classrooms on the performance of science educators operating within the Rabat Sale Kenitra region. The intention is to gauge how this technological implementation has affected their teaching methods and overall effectiveness. Furthermore, this study seeks to gauge the progression of this educational transformation and advocate for the wider adoption of digital pedagogy, extending its incorporation into the instructional strategies of other subjects. The ultimate goal is to promote inclusivity and level the playing field for all learners, ensuring equal educational opportunities for every student.</p>

La neurociencia como base para la mejora de las TIC educativas

The construction of gender identity in childhood is a topic of great importance, since it influences the personal and social development of boys and girls. Several investigations have shown that gender stereotypes present in society have a great influence on the construction of children's gender identity. In this sense, different aspects that can influence the formation of stereotypes have been analyzed, such as classic stories, children's advertising, television consumption, gender roles in play, toys and cartoons. In addition, social factors such as family and school have been identified that can influence the modification of gender stereotypes. Different strategies and classroom projects have been proposed to promote gender equality, foster education in values and avoid the transmission of gender stereotypes in children's education. Children's and young people's literature has also been analyzed as a means for theconstruction of gender identity in children, and educational proposals have been proposed to work on the elimination of gender stereotypes in children's and young people's literature. In general, it can be concluded that it is necessary to continue working on the elimination of gender stereotypes in education and society in general, in order to promote a more egalitarian and respectful education of gender differences.

Innovation in Education a Project Based Learning Implemented in Engineering using Global Classroom Methodology

Nowadays, strategies have been developed to enable online international and multicultural collaboration experiences. The Global Classroom (GC) project represents an advanced educational strategy that promotes international online collaboration. This experience brought together students of Biotechnology Engineering from the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico with students of Chemical Engineering from the Universidad EAN in Colombia. These groups participated jointly in the Analytical Chemistry with Product and Process Design courses during the semesters from August to December 2020 and from February to June 2021, in two cohorts. At the heart of this collaboration was the implementation of online Project-Based Learning (PBL), designed to deepen students’ intercultural and technical educational experience. The core project involved an experimental study of the heat of reaction in the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using an enzyme extracted from avocados at different stages of ripening. To evaluate the effectiveness of the GC program, three evaluation instruments were used: written reports, oral presentations, and anonymous surveys. The results of this assessment indicated a notable enrichment in several key competencies. Among them, teamwork stood out, where students learned to collaborate effectively despite cultural and location differences; problem-solving, encouraged by the challenging nature of the projects; and the exchange of ideas, which was enhanced by the diversity of perspectives and academic contexts. In addition, students showed an increase in the acquisition of new knowledge, successfully applied what they learned in previous scenarios, and optimized the use of computational and digital tools.