Curriculum Unit Research Articles

Viana Do Castelo: Stucco Art and Artists

This project describes an Art Project carried out at the Higher School of Education of Viana do Castelo Polytechnic Institute, Northern Portugal, in a class of the 2nd year of the Basic Education course within the curriculum unit "Artistic and Cultural Animation Techniques" in the academic year 2020/2021. The main aim of this article is to disseminate a project that combines cultural and artistic animation with the promotion of cultural heritage and, in particular, with the valorization of an artistic tradition from Alto Minho that tends to disappear – the stucco art. Methodologically, the action research method was used in combination with the service-learning model, using the interview as a research technique to collect data on the problems that affect this hiddenstream art form. A number of games were developed to address the art of stucco for 1st cycle primary education children, as well as a video recording on the history of stucco. The imaginative and innovative responses of the university students help to highlight the need for the protection and appreciation of such a tradition in the general population and among 1st cycle children.

Buds of collectivity: student collaborative and system-oriented action towards greater socioenvironmental sustainability

This qualitative study explores how middle school students in the Western United States participated in a curricular unit that focused on action for socioenvironmental sustainability. Using inductive coding and building on prior research, I examined actions that students took during this sustainability unit and how students talked about action after the unit concluded. I developed a visual tool for analyzing action in terms of scale: the action scale framework. I used this tool to examine students’ enactment of action and ideas about action on a continuum from individual to collaborative changemaking and the intended outcome of action as directed at behavior transformation or system transformation. Action across scale is necessary for addressing socioenvironmental challenges more justly. These findings suggest possibilities and challenges for designing action-oriented learning environments that support heterogeneous outcomes and more collective action.

An Integrated Cybernetic Awareness Strategy to Assess Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviours in School Context

Digital exposure to the Internet among the younger generations, notwithstanding their digital abilities, has increased and raised the alarm regarding the need to intensify the education on cybersecurity in schools. Understanding of the human factor and its influence on children, namely their attitudes and behaviors online, is pivotal to reinforce their awareness towards cyberattacks, and to promote their digital citizenship. This paper aims to present an integrated cybersecurity and cyberawareness strategy composed of three major steps: (1) Cybersecurity attitude and behavior assessment, (2) self-diagnosis, and (3) teaching/learning activities. The following contributions are made: Two questionnaires to assess risky attitudes and behaviors regarding cybersecurity; a self-diagnosis to measure students’ skills on cybersecurity; a lesson plan addressing cyberawareness to be applied on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and citizenship education curricular units. Cybersecurity risky attitudes and behaviors were evaluated in a junior high school population of 164 students attending the sixth and ninth grades. The assessment focused on two main subjects: To identify the attitudes and behaviors that raise the risk on cybersecurity among the participating students; to characterize the acquired students’ cybersecurity and cyberawareness skills. Global and individual scores and the histograms for attitudes and behaviors are presented. The items in which we have observed significant differences between sixth and ninth grades are depicted and quantified by their corresponding p-values obtained through the Mann–Whitney non-parametric test. Regarding the results obtained on the assessment of attitudes and behaviors, although positive, we observed that the attitudes and behaviors in ninth grade students are globally inferior compared to those attained by sixth grade students. The deployed strategy for cyberawareness was applied in a school context; however, the same approach is suitable to be applied in other types of organizations, namely enterprises, healthcare institutions and public sector.

Collaborative Musical Creativity between Students and Adults: The Sonorous Paella

Abstract While creativity is a key element of contemporary curriculum frameworks around the world, it is still insufficiently fostered in formal education settings. This study analyzes a project for collaborative musical creativity, entitled The Sonorous Paella. Participants (N = 12) were eight Year 4 secondary students, two professional musicians, an artist-in-residence, and a music teacher. Drawing on a graphic musical score, the participants worked together for 1.5 months to produce a group composition and performance. They were provided with various sound producers (instruments, everyday objects, technological devices) and were encouraged to flexibly utilize the physical space to maximize collaborative participation. Field notes and pictures taken during working sessions and rehearsals, audio recordings from the final concert, and individual interviews with all participants were qualitatively analyzed. In response to the three study objectives, we conclude that: (1) the design of this collaborative project was consistent with current research-based creativity discourses; (2) drawing on the quality and originality of the final concert, the project fostered the musical creativity of the group; and (3) participants’ perceptions of and opinions about their creativity learning processes were unanimously positive. Our final aim is to inspire music teachers in designing curriculum units that foster collaborative musical creativity.

Needs for a Curricular Change in Primary and Secondary Education From the One Health Perspective: A Pilot Study on Pneumonia in Schools.

This is the first pilot study on alternative conceptions and obstacles pertaining to pneumonia in adolescents of different school vulnerability indexes. Countries with low socioeconomic levels are disproportionately affected, with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) being the second-most affected area in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa. In spite of this fact, pneumonia is not included as an important component within the contents of the microbiology curriculum unit in the natural science school program. Therefore, we wanted to study how students knew about this topic by putting One Health into action by building and validating qualitative and quantitative questionnaires, put together by different experts in pedagogy, didactics, microbiology, and veterinary to find out what students knew about pneumonia and their misconceptions about it. A total of 148 students (in 8th and 9th grade) participated in this survey. The results reveal that no statistically significant differences between the different scholar grades (p = 0.3360 Pearson chi∧2) or genders (p = 0.8000 Fisher's exact test) presented higher or lower School Vulnerability Index (SVI). Regardless of the social stratum or the level of vulnerability of the students, they have heard about this disease primarily through their family/relatives, maintaining a superficial notion of the disease, learning wrong ideas about microorganisms and treatments that can contribute to the risk to public health.

Detecting and avoiding plagiarism in an academic context

É apresentada a proposta de um projeto de intervenção de combate ao plágio académico desenvolvida numa unidade curricular de um curso de graduação em Ciência da Informação, em que é adotado o ensino baseado em projetos (project based learning). A contextualização teórica do trabalho fundamenta-se numa revisão da literatura sobre o conceito de plágio e sobre ferramentas digitais de deteção de plágio. É descrita a metodologia e os objetivos do projeto de deteção e combate ao plágio, além de serem apresentados os outputs resultantes da sua implementação. É dada ênfase especial à identificação, análise e avaliação de 10 ferramentas digitais de deteção de plágio, com base numa grelha de critérios definidos para o efeito. Deste procedimento resultou a seleção das três melhores ferramentas (PlagScan, Urkund e Plag.pt), as quais são apresentadas com mais detalhe. Adicionalmente, são apresentados os materiais concebidos para usar numa estratégia de combate ao plágio numa comunidade académica. Fundamenta-se a relevância do trabalho no relato de experiência de práticas didáticas inovadoras na formação graduada em Ciência da Informação, através do recurso ao ensino baseado em projetos, e na divulgação e avaliação de ferramentas de deteção de plágio, enquadradas numa estratégia mais lata de combate ao plágio em ambiente académico.

Preparing student pharmacists to care for patients exposed to intimate partner violence

IntroductionIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem. Little is known about pharmacists' IPV knowledge and awareness. This study assessed student pharmacists' knowledge, attitudes, and awareness of IPV and examined the impact of a brief curricular unit on these factors. MethodsThe Physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey was adapted for use with student pharmacists and administered at two pharmacy schools, one private (n = 88) and one public institution (n = 104). Students at one institution were exposed to a curricular unit on IPV tailored for pharmacy practice and completed a post-assessment. ResultsStudents at both institutions had low levels of IPV-related knowledge, answering <60% of items correctly. Students reported low levels of perceived knowledge and preparation. After exposure to the educational intervention (n = 60), knowledge scores increased on a matched post-assessment. Students across both institutions (n = 29) provided comments indicating that they believed IPV is an important issue, that this topic was novel and that pharmacists should address IPV, that pharmacists should be trained on IPV and a desire for training, and that there are barriers to addressing IPV in the pharmacy setting. ConclusionsPreparing student pharmacists to care for patients exposed to IPV may improve patient outcomes and positively impact the lives of the patients they serve. A brief educational intervention improved students' knowledge about IPV and confidence in screening patients for IPV.

‘Stream and Learn’: An Experiment to Reconnect Design Students with Theoretical Contents during the Pandemic

As most GenZ and Millenial students now study at home, young people have shifted their media content consumption, with streaming platforms being among GenZ and Millenials favorites since the first lockdown. Could ‘Netflix and chill’ be turned into a creative learning activity for design students? As theoretical online learning is often associated with unliteral conference calls with no participation from students, we propose an experiment where joining an activity related to relaxation or even procrastination is the basis for a group assignment for design students. We will first address the curricular unit itself and how the pandemic ensued a new organisation around a specific assignment to motivate students on a multidisciplinary level by exhibiting their work online. We will then assess the results obtained in a satisfaction inquiry of the design students (N=70). Results show that online theoretic learning can incorporate multidisciplinary content and interactivity through existing platforms.

Improving NGSS focused model-based learning curriculum through the examination of students’ experiences and iterated models

ABSTRACT Background It is crucial to support students in better understanding water and sustainability issues because water plays a vital role in maintaining global ecosystems, including human life. A wide range of curricular and instructional supports like those embodied in model-based learning (MBL) are necessary for teachers to engage students in the core epistemic commitments of the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Purpose The main purpose of this study is to inform theory about students’ early attempts to engage in the complex kinds of sensemaking experiences inherent in the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the NGSS. Sample Data for this study was collected from 74 10th grade students in a high school in the Northwest region of the New England state. Design and Methods An explanatory sequential mixed-method research design was used to examine students’ learning outcomes, and to better understand these outcomes in connection to their experiences engaging in modeling in the MBL curriculum unit. Results The results indicated that students’ model scores, the number of concepts in models, and the coherence and sophistication of models improved between their initial and final models. Additionally, the following patterns emerged related to ways in which students engaged in the practice of modeling: (1) students attempted to directly represent what they observed, (2) they struggled to pictorially express complex patterns or mechanisms, and (3) students experienced difficulties representing models from a diverse range of perspectives. Conclusion The patterns identified across student models, as well as their reports of experiences related to the MBL unit implementation, provided insight into student experiences with models, while also providing meaningful implications for the refinement of the MBL curriculum unit investigated in this research specifically, while informing approaches MBL curricular units aimed at supporting NGSS implementation efforts more generally.

A project‐based learning approach to promote innovation and academic entrepreneurship in a master's degree in food engineering

AbstractEntrepreneurship brings several benefits, such as fostering innovation and productivity, competitiveness, and socioeconomic development. The search for professionals with different skills to overcome the current and foreseen challenges is relevant in the agri‐food sector. Problem‐based learning (PBL) is described as an instructional approach, which promotes interdisciplinarity and critical thinking, with the potential to meet current challenges. This article describes how PBL, aligned with an innovation program and contest, has been integrated into a master's degree in food engineering to promote academic entrepreneurship. The alignment of the PBL with the program and contest allowed the development of innovative products with a view to solving problems faced by the agri‐food sector. The PBL strategy allowed students to mobilize knowledge from several curricular units of food studies for the development of different deliverables to participate in the innovation program and contest. This participation allowed students, supported by business mentors, to demonstrate their products to stakeholders. This way, it was possible to promote innovation in the agri‐food sector, stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit among higher education students, and understand its potential for replication and mobilization of skills acquired in different food study courses.

High School Teachers’ Perspectives on Shifting towards Teaching NGSS-Aligned Project Based Learning Curricular Units

ABSTRACT To meet the demands of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), teachers need to reconsider their current instructional practices, shifting from learning about scientific ideas to making sense of phenomena and solving problems using three-dimensional learning components. Project-Based Learning (PBL) provides a framework for creating NGSS-aligned curricular materials that supports this shift. In this study, high school chemistry and physics teachers collaborated with science education researchers to develop PBL-aligned units that were later enacted in their classrooms. Results found several emerging concepts regarding shifting toward PBL: (i) the units helped students build toward the NGSS 3-dimensional learning goals, (ii) using the driving questions was important in providing lessons with coherence and relevance, (iii) students were meaningfully using scientific practices, mostly the practice of developing and using scientific modeling, (iv) students collaborated and shared ideas to make sense of phenomena, and (v) students’ artifacts contributed to their learning and to the assessment of their learning by the teachers. Teachers reported encountering several challenges when shifting to PBL, mostly for those of which it was their first interaction with the PBL approach and the NGSS. These ideas were further supported with students’ data, obtained from real-time reports, indicating students’ increased engagement in the modeling practice and increased opportunities to collaborate and share ideas with other students during most of the PBL units. This study demonstrates that engaging teachers and students with PBL curricula can support successful integration of the NGSS learning goals, as perceived by the teachers and reported by students.

Mestrado em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária na ESELx: Percurso, Formação e Investigação

In the last decades, we have seen a considerable path of institutionalizing Social Education (SE) as a scientific field and professional area. In this article, we intend to analyze the SE from five analytical dimensions: i) identify the main historical events of the socio-historical path of SE in Portugal to understand the reconfiguration of its assumptions, profiles, roles and functions of its professionals; iii) characterize the training offer in higher education in Portugal; iv) to characterize the Master in Social Education and Community Intervention (MESIC) of the Lisbon Higher School of Education, namely, its study plan, the curricular units that constitute it, the profile of its students; and, v) map the research produced at MESIC, between 2017-2019. The documentary and content analysis of the 15 projects enabled the identification of the following categories: scope of the investigation or intervention; the categories in which the research or intervention is located; the nature of the intervention, the audiences and the contexts; the methodology and ethical procedures adopted.

An Examination of Elementary Classroom Dialogue: Implicit and Explicit Use of the NGSS Crosscutting Concepts in an Integrated STEM Unit

ABSTRACT Recent national reforms focus on learning disciplinary core ideas through engaging in science and engineering practices. These reforms also call for students and teachers to use crosscutting concepts (CCCs), or analytical lenses, that support scientific sensemaking and connections across disciplines. The Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012) posits that CCCs must be made explicit to provide students with access to scientific sensemaking processes. This study analyzes class dialogue during the implementation of an NGSS-aligned curricular unit that integrates science, engineering, and computational modeling for fifth-grade students. The analysis focuses on the implicit and explicit use of CCCs to support student learning. Findings show that although the CCC of systems and system models was the focus of the unit and professional development, systems appeared in the class dialogue much less frequently than other CCCs, and teachers used all of the CCCs at some point during the unit. With the exception of patterns, all references to CCCs were implicit within the classroom dialogue. This study provides evidence that the CCCs play an important part in classroom conversation that focuses on integrating disciplinary core ideas with science and engineering practices. This work has implications to help teachers, teacher educators, and researchers identify the set(s) of CCCs that may have the most explanatory value for particular DCIs anad SEPs, as well as highlights the need for professional learning experiences to promote explicit use of CCCs by teachers and students within classrooms.

Considering discussion types to support collective sensemaking during a storyline unit

AbstractA key goal of recent reforms in science education has been to support students' collective sensemaking, in which they work together to understand a natural phenomenon. This work is often done during class discussions, but facilitating those discussions is challenging. In this study, we used a framework of three discussion types to investigate how classroom discussions differ throughout a storyline curricular unit: initial ideas discussions aim to surface students' ideas about a phenomenon; building understandings discussions aim to construct claims based on an investigation or data; and consensus discussions aim to bring together multiple claims over time to explain a phenomenon or event. We used this framework to analyze the idea work and turns taken in classroom discussions from one highly skilled middle school teacher. This analysis resulted in three takeaways. First, we found the teacher consistently worked to surface and clarify his students' ideas. This is as an important step in collective sensemaking that comes before the construction and critique of those ideas and can support a sense of belonging for students who typically do not identify with science. Second, we characterized a distinct talk pattern closely associated with surfacing and clarifying ideas across all three discussion types: the Propose–Probe–Clarify–Restate (PPCR) sequence. PPCR is distinct from previously identified talk patterns in the teacher's use of clarifying and restating to honor the ideas students bring to a discussion and to restate them to ensure they are accepted into a public record. Finally, we found that each discussion type required a distinct set of teacher moves to achieve its goal. Surfacing and clarifying ideas is necessary but insufficient to support collective sensemaking. Therefore, different talk moves, such as asking for evidence and evaluating claims for their connection to the phenomenon of interest, are required in building understandings and consensus discussions.

We The People: Immigration Counter-Narratives in the High School Visual Arts Classroom

Immigrant students are deeply impacted by the xenophobic dominant narratives about immigration in the United States today, and are at risk of developing a deficit mindset about their own cultures. Our classrooms can serve as spaces of resistance to anti-immigrant and neo-nativist values by intentionally raising student critical consciousness about these oppressive forces, and centering our student’s lived experiences and funds of knowledge in the curriculum. This article looks at one high-school arts curriculum unit prompting students to critically analyze the dominant narratives about immigration, interview real immigrants in their lives, and create a counter-narrative art work for public display. The aim for this project was to give immigrant students a space to process, analyze, and counter the xenophobic narratives surrounding them. Summary of the unit plan, student work samples, classroom culture, and alumni testimonials are included.

Qualifications and Competence to Prescribe Dietary Supplements: Perception of Fitness Instructors

This research aims to understand fitness instructors and personal trainers’ perception of their qualifications and competence to prescribe dietary supplements. To this end, a questionnaire was applied to 154 fitness instructors and personal trainers with professional functions in health clubs/gyms. The results obtained show that the sale of these products in gyms is seen as stimulating their consumption and that most fitness professionals consider professionals in this area do not have competence to prescribe this type of service. The lack of confidence about knowledge of dietary supplements; degree courses with a weak curriculum in this domain; and the shortage of curricular units related to dietary supplements are possible reasons for these professionals not feeling sure about giving advice on this matter. Regarding ways of updating knowledge, although these professionals consider academic journals, conferences, congresses and nutrition courses as the most reliable sources of information, they resort more frequently to the Internet, despite considering this source as the least reliable. These results can have direct implications for various stakeholders, particularly for consumers to be more informed about the risks involved in consuming dietary supplements without due orientation; for fitness professionals who have little knowledge about this type of substance; for gym managers who need to understand the implications of selling this type of product in their establishments; for teaching institutions, who should reflect on, and organize their academic curricula in order to provide sufficient grounding for fitness professionals to feel safe and confident about their knowledge in this area; and for the producers of these products, in order to improve information about, and the safety of the substances they put on the market.

Developing and Testing a Design-Based Learning Approach to Enhance Elementary Students’ Self-Perceived Computational Thinking

Computational Thinking (CT) is regarded as a crucial competency for all children in the 21st century. There are misconceptions about CT which confounds CT skills with programming skills. However, CT skills and programming skills are not the same. CT is a broader skillset of cognitive thinking that is integral to complex problem solving. Teaching and assessing CT should not only focus on computer programming. In this project, a new design-based learning (DBL) approach was proposed to improve elementary school students’ CT. This approach not only included programming skills, but also integrated CT practices with authentic real-life contexts. Corresponding to recent conceptions of CT, we also assessed CT in a more comprehensive manner. A quasi-experiment study was carried out to assess how the intervention was associated with students’ self-perceived CT skills using both quantitative and qualitative methods. In the treatment group, twenty-three fourth graders engaged in three curriculum units to create artifacts that solve specific real-world problems using LabPlus electronic kits and Scratch programming software. The control group took a traditional computer science class. Results revealed that students’ self-perceived CT skills increased to a greater extent in the treatment group compared to the control group. In addition, we observed and interviewed three student cases in the treatment group to understand the potential learning effects of our new DBL approach. This study contributes to research in CT instruction, its application in STEM education in particular, and how it can be used in elementary level education in general.

Immersive construction detailing education: building information modeling (BIM)–based virtual reality (VR)

PurposeThis research proposes a virtual reality (VR) platform for construction detailing that provides experiential learning in a zero-risk environment. It builds on integrating VR technology as a medium and building information modeling (BIM) as a repository of information and a learning tool.Design/methodology/approachThis work discusses the proposed environment curricular unit prototype design, implementation and validation. The validation of the VR environment was conducted in three phases, namely, piloting, testing (system usability and immersion) and learning gain validation, each of which has its aim and outcomes and has been assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively.FindingsAfter considering the feedback, the VR environment prototype is then validated on the level of learning outcomes, providing the evidence that it would enhance students' engagement, motivation and achievement accordingly. The results indicated 30% learning progress after experiencing the VR environment vs. 13.8% for paper-based studying.Originality/valueIn reference to building construction education, construction site visits provide students with real-life practical experience which are considered an extension for classroom. Nevertheless, it is challenging to integrate construction site visits regularly during the academic semester with respect to the class specific needs. The research at hand adopts integrating VR and BIM in AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) education by proposing a system that can work as a mainstream complementary construction detailing learning method for architecture students. The proposed VR system facilitates a virtual construction site that meets the learning needs where students can explore and build in a real scale environment.

Signos e Persuasão: Análise Semiótica de Um Outdoor Político e de Um Cartaz de Propaganda

Within the scope of the Curricular Unit on Rhetoric and Argumentation, of the second year of the Bachelor Degree in Business Communication, we were asked to analyze, comparatively, a Political Outdoor and a Propaganda Poster. For that, we took into account the three authors studied in the scope of this same Curricular Unit: Roland Barthes, Jacques Durand and Martine Joly. Thus, we will make a tripartite analysis in which we will address the most relevant aspects of both images, providing a theoretical framework and relating them to each other.

Assessing the Impact of a Pilot Nutrition Curriculum on Students' Confidence and Ability to Perform Nutritional Assessments on Overweight Dogs and Cats for Use in a Veterinary Outreach Program.

Obesity is a growing concern for dogs and cats. Although veterinary input is critical to prevent and manage obesity, conversations addressing overweight pets are challenging and require training to perform effectively. This study assessed the impact of a nutrition curriculum developed for use in a veterinary outreach program on student confidence and ability to perform nutritional assessments, particularly on overweight pets. The curriculum was developed by students and a Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionist focusing on (1) performing nutritional assessments and (2) discussing the findings with owners. Initial implementation and evaluation occurred with 32 students. Pre-study and post-study surveys were conducted asking students to rank their confidence in 14 aspects related to nutritional assessments, determine opportunities for change from a case summary, and describe their experience using the materials. Five students in the outreach program performed an additional nutritional assessment and developed a plan for a hypothetical case. Results were analyzed for significance via the likelihood ratios Chi-square and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Students showed significant increase in confidence for 11 of the 14 questions and significant improvements at determining opportunities for change (p < .05). Feedback was positive and supported the feasibility of using the materials with the outreach program. Overall, the findings support that the curriculum provides a positive learning experience and prepared veterinary students for performing nutritional assessments and creating management plans for obese pets. This article introduces the curriculum as a successful model for providing access to additional self-paced curricular units to veterinary students.