Greek High School Research Articles

Is Immersion in 3D Virtual Games Associated with Mathematical Ability Improvement in Game-Based Learning?

Previous studies have found positive effects of Game-Based Learning for mathematics. While most studies assume that this effect is explained by the presence of flow/immersion during games, this has not yet been established. The aim of the current study is to verify if immersion indeed is associated with mathematical skills improvement when using a Game-Based Learning intervention. This was tested among 59 Greek high school students, using authentic design. After having received a traditional education module, the students were tested and then engaged for four weeks in a desktop-based 3D Virtual Learning Environment where they could play mathematic minigames. They were subsequently re-tested to verify if they showed a significant increase in mathematical skills. The students showed an improvement in their mathematical skills (Cohen’s d = 1.26), with significant results for functions, geometry, and thinking skills and methods. On the individual level, about half of the students showed a 10% increase in one of the domains (numbers & calculations, functions, geometry, thinking skills and methods, and algorithms and number theory). Immersion was found to be reflected by engagement and presence, but neither one of these aspects was associated with mathematical achievement after the intervention. It is concluded that Game-Based Learning is an effective approach to increasing mathematical skills, yet the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood. The authors discuss several alternative mechanisms based on the literature that can be verified in future studies.

MOTIVATING STUDENTS IN THE BIOLOGY CLASSROOM VIA GAMES

In recent decades, the increased use of digital games by students at all education levels has attracted the attention of many researchers interested in the effect games used in the classroom have on learning. Despite the strong interest internationally in the use of educational games in the teaching of Biology, in Greece the degree of corresponding research is limited. The purpose of our research is to examine the effect that games have on Greek high school students’ acquisition and retention of knowledge relating to genetics concepts. The sample consisted of 32 K-9 students, who were divided into two groups. In the first group, the chosen teaching approach was based on the traditional teaching method, while in the second group, it was based on the use of an educational genetics card game. All students completed the same assessment test both before and immediately after the teaching interventions. Based on the results, it was found that both approaches yielded statistically similar learning outcomes, with students in the group taught by the game-teaching approach performing better on average than those in the control group.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0048/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Self-(Re)Presentations in the EFL Classroom

To self-present in the EFL classroom is a key productive skill for an EFL learner whether beginner or advanced. To self-represent is an empowerment option for the student who would rather ward off arbitrary identity attribution judgements. Given the critical role played by the EFL classroom as host to a complicated network of cultural backgrounds, identity acknowledgment does not have to be solely commensurate with curriculum-related obligation disclosures in an ELT context. The following ethnography in TEFL was conducted at a Greek High School in a town of a border island with the object of observing how languaculture interferes with peer interaction. The EFL teacher-inquirer via walk-through observation monitored how students negotiated their linguistic profile in conformance with Trompenaars’ five-dimension cultural framework. The outcomes show that interactants created what they perceived as a “third space” where a choir of voices laid the foundations for the rapprochement of different cultures.

How can we help a student with Asperger syndrome to avoid the illusion of linearity?

The choice of appropriate educational materials, visual or physical, for teaching mathematics to children on the autism spectrum, is an important topic in the context of inclusive education. In this article we first focus on some theoretical issues concerning the manipulative material, on the teaching of proportional quantities in the Greek high school and the difficulties it presents, as well as on the Asperger syndrome. We present the design, the implementation and the basic results of a teaching intervention conducted in a 14-year-old student with Asperger syndrome studying in the 8<sup>th</sup> grade of a high school in Greece on the use of manipulative materials for solving authentic real-world and word mathematical problems. The research showed that the student understood the differences between the real analogy and the illusion of linearity inherent in the problems he was given to solve using manipulatives. The paper concludes with suggestions, perspectives and limitations for teaching proportion problems and the tackle of the illusion of proportionality using manipulatives.

An Effective Local Particle Swarm Optimization-Based Algorithm for Solving the School Timetabling Problem

This paper deals with the school timetabling problem. The problem was formulated as encountered in a typical Greek high school. A local version of the particle swarm optimization algorithm was developed and applied to the problem at hand. Results on well-established benchmark instances showed that the proposed algorithm achieved the proven optima provided from an integer programming method presented in earlier research. In almost all cases, the current algorithm beat the integer programming method, either concerning the lower bound yielded or the execution time needed.

Living Happily in the Era of COVID-19: Philosophical and Positive Psychology Intervention in Secondary Education

In the coronavirus pandemic crisis, the mental well-being of adolescents was significantly burdened and, in this context, an innovative school intervention program was applied and its effect was investigated. The program involved a structured 11-weeks-long psycho-educational intervention on a sample of 11 Greek high school students (aged 16-17 years), combining principles of Epicurean and Stoic Philosophy with Positive Psychology techniques, aiming at promoting their mental well-being and the effective management of the psychological effects of the pandemic crisis. A qualitative methodology was used for data collection, including triangulation and data enrichment, self-referential demographic questionnaires, focus group and group interviews, semi-structured individual oral interviews and written descriptions and narratives. Before the intervention, the students’ needs and expectations were investigated through written narratives and, after the intervention, semi-structured individual oral interviews and group interviews recorded their personal experiences and evaluative judgments. The application of positive techniques of meaning in life, optimism, gratitude and the development of positive relationships, combined with a cognitive reconstruction based on the principles of Epicureanism and Stoicism, had beneficial effects on the participating students, including emotional state improvement, mental well-being enhancement, and improved aspects of quality of life, such as subjective health, cognitive and school performance, family and interpersonal relationships. The highlight of the study was the emergence of the supporting role of Philosophy in the effectiveness of the applied techniques of Positive Psychology in the management of the psychological and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementation and Evaluation of a School-Based Educational Program Targeting Healthy Diet and Exercise (DIEX) for Greek High School Students.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a school-based health education program promoting healthy diet and exercise, named DIEX, implemented on adolescents. The program is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and is supported by life skills training. The recipients of the program were high school students (n = 367; 168 boys and 199 girls) from 14 schools in Greece who attended 10 1 h sessions implemented by their schoolteachers. Data were collected before and after the program implementation through online questionnaires for: a. attitude, intention, subjective norms, and PBC toward healthy eating; b. knowledge about healthy eating; c. exercise behavior and attitude toward the DIEX program; and d. satisfaction with the DIEX program (only post-program). The results showed that there were significant differences among the pre- and post-measures of students' knowledge and behavior about healthy diet, as well as attitudes and satisfaction toward the program's application. The results show that the DIEX program may have improved nutrition behavior variables. Conclusively, a theory-based behavioral intervention with skills training may result in positive behavioral changes for young students during health education in school settings with the assistance of new technologies.

Computer-based screening test of Dyslexic High School Students in Greece

The diagnosis of dyslexia is made by mainly taking into account the reading skills of the child. Screening for dyslexia, on the other hand, is an initial useful indicator before diagnosis. Recently, various types of software have been created in order to screen Dyslexia. The main advantage of this kind of software is the creation of a pleasant environment for the user, while they achieve more accurate results in less time, in contrast to the classic clinical trials. The aim of this study was to create, for the first time, an online software for screening dyslexia in Greek High School Students. For that purpose, the software «DysCreTe» was created, which consists of nine tests that assess children in reading, spelling, arithmetic and cognitive skills. Our research design consists of random sampling and application to both typical developed and dyslectic children in order to analyze the results and investigate if children with dyslexia will show significant differences both in the mean scores and also in the time of completion of all tests. According to our results, students with dyslexia lagged significantly compared to the typical developed ones. Consequently, the online software «DysCreTe» is a useful tool to screen dyslexia in Greek High School Students.

Greek High School Teachers' Homonegative Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Parent Families

Greek High School Teachers' Homonegative Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Parent Families

A Study of the Understanding of Key Concepts of Electromagnetism of 11th Grade Greek High School Students

This study is set in the context of teaching and learning about electromagnetism in Greek high schools. Drawing from constructivism theory, the study aspires to explore students’ understandings of key concepts on both electric and magnetic field as well as electromagnetic induction. For this purpose, an experimental investigation was conducted with 80 11nth grade high school students. Empirical data was collected through a questionnaire which was developed on the basis of test subjects used on past exams in Greek high schools in electromagnetism area. Research findings suggest that students face difficulties in dealing with qualitative tasks in electric and magnetic field. In addition, they seem to confront severe difficulties in conceptualizing the notion of induction of emf.

Aspects Affecting the Use of Digital Technologies in Greek Schools

This paper is analyzing feedback collected from Greek high school teachers, in order to answer questions regarding the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as part of their teaching practices in Greek schools. Various hypothesis tests are presented, in order to focus on perceptions, look into possible problems and see how teachers of different profile and specializations apply ICT in their teaching. A special focus is placed on philogists, as the most populous but also less technology-related subject, content-wise. In particular, an online survey was prepared, aiming at collecting information regarding the use of ICT in Greek schools. This information is analyzed across various demographic and profession-related variables concerning teacher’s age, gender, specialization, type of technology used, familiarization with ICT, motivations. A total of 309 respondents reacted to the questionnaire, over a period of about two months in 2019. The questionnaire consisted of 31 questions in total. The analysis that follows is both descriptive and statistical, while it intends to provide answers and correlations regarding the most striking questions and hypotheses.

Symptom Checklist-90-Revised: A structural examination in relation to family functioning.

The accurate assessment of psychopathological behaviours of adolescents and young adults is imperative. Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) is one of the most comprehensive and widely used scales addressing this purpose internationally. Interestingly, associations between the different SCL-90 symptoms and family functioning have been highlighted. Nevertheless, the scale’s factorial structure has often been challenged. To contribute in this area, this study scrutinizes the psychopathological dimensions of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) in a large cohort of high school students (Mean age = 16.16; SD = .911) from Greece. It addresses this aim by: a) using first order and bi-factor confirmatory factor analysis, and exploratory structural equation models and; b) investigating the factors’ associations with family functioning. A total of 2090 public Greek High School students completed the SCL-90-R and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale IV (FACES-IV) covering family functioning, satisfaction and communication. Six different solutions, yielded by separate permutations of CFA, ESEM, and bifactor models, were evaluated. Based on global fit, the clarity, reliabilities and the family functioning links of the dimensions in the models, the ESEM oblique model with the theorized nine factors emerged as the optimum. This model had adequate fit, and symptom dimensions were well defined. Also six of the nine factors demonstrated external associations with family functioning, satisfaction and communication. The clinical assessment benefits of these results are discussed.

Cultural Semiospheres in Contact in Foreign Language Teaching

ABSTRACT This paper probes into the many facets of Europe, through the course book ‘English for General High School 2’ and attempts to answer to questions such as, which is Europe’s identity today? How do the texts deal with the influx of illegal immigrants from the east, human rights, and the phenomenon of xenophobia? What cultural aspects of Europe are depicted in the books? How is the ‘post-crisis Europe’ depicted in the coursebook? We focus on the coursebook which is used in the third class of Greek senior high school, as this grade level is considered to be a very important language level, especially in English as a foreign language. At this language level and grade students are on the verge of graduating from senior high school and are moving on to either further their studies in tertiary education or are preparing to find a job. The study of the aforementioned coursebook yields two basic semiotic conclusions. The first is that a selection of signs have been made which obey the principles of binary opposition. The second is that students in Greece will learn aspects of the American culture, a lot better, if exposed to them through a coursebook - even if that is an English as a foreign language coursebook.

The Level of ICT Infrastructure as a Factor of ICT Integration in Greek High School Science Teaching

This paper examines the extent to which the level of technological equipment affects the integration of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Greek high school science teaching. The limited ICT infrastructure environment, with only one computer‑projector system available and access to the internet (“PC‑VP” environment), is compared to the high level ICT environment (“1:1” environment) where, in addition to the computer‑projector system, each student has access to a computer and the internet. It is a study relying on a relatively small dataset derived from student answers to a questionnaire aiming to determine the degree to which some of the “expected” ICT benefits reach the students. The level of ICT integration is judged by the degree to which the ICT benefits reach the students. That is, the more the ICT benefits reach the students, the better – or the greater ‑ the ICT integration is. The participants were eighty‑nine, 14‑year‑old students who belonged in four different classes and the teacher who taught Physics in those classes. The SPSS non‑parametric "Man‑Whitney U Test" test was used to compare the statistical distributions of student answers. The results show that, when the applied teaching approach is used, the ICT integration is equally successful in both environments. This questions the idea of investing in “1:1" environments in the Greek public schools where less student centered and inquiry oriented teaching approaches are the norm. It also highlights the importance of the specific teaching approach as an ICT integration tool in “PC‑VP” environments that still exist in most Greek schools.

Αssessment of Greek High School Students towards Distance Learning, during the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemia induced dramatic consequences worldwide bringing also enormous changes and trends in the field of education. Teachers and students were found quite unprepared with the arrival of the first COVID-19 wave, in March, April, May 2020 in Greece, as regards the immediate and obligatory implementation of distance learning through modern/advanced net technologies. Aim: To study and analyze statistically the assessment of secondary school students, on how they received distance learning, during the first outbreak of COVID-19 pandemia. Method: We conducted a quantitative research with a properly structured questionnaire which was filled in by 462 high school and senior high school students (both in general and vocational education sectors) after the school’s “reopening”. The proposed questionnaire was focused on three different groups of project questions. Following the reduction of factor variables by using factor analysis, the important parts were further looked into, with the help of the chi-square method. Results: 33.5% of the students were very satisfied with the distance learning. 18.2% of this group was interested in modern distance learning (P P P P P ≤ 0.05). A 13% of the students wished future implementation of distance learning. Of those, only 6.9% were satisfied with digital education (P d that conventional teaching can be enhanced in the future with distance learning (P Conclusions: The majority of students were not satisfied with the distance learning, believing that they had not received the degree of the expected benefit in terms of knowledge and skills. Therefore, distance learning seems, for the time, being not favored, by them, for its future implementation.

μNet: Towards the first array of educational air shower detectors in Greece

We report on the design and the pilot phase of the [Formula: see text]Net project that aims for the active involvement of Greek high school students in the experimental procedures of astroparticle physics and especially in cosmic ray physics. Through the anticipated educational program, the students from the geographical area of Peloponnese will construct and operate educational cosmic ray telescopes deployed at their school laboratory and/or perform distant educational activities utilizing the extensive air shower array and the relevant remotely operated experimental setups of the Hellenic Open University Physics Laboratory.

Promoting educational work using modern educational assessment tools: Creating and implementing rubrics for assessing projects and the cultivation of 21st-century skills

The purpose of this study is to highlight the effectiveness of the use of rubric as a modern technique for teaching and assessing educational work. More specifically, our purpose is to explore the benefits of the implementation of the rubric for the project assessment in comparison with other traditional assessment techniques as far as the development of skills and the improvement of the educational work is concerned. The analytical rubric that was created and employed in the study included the following criteria (each with pre-determined quality levels): content completeness, structure and organisation, creativity, development of skills and cognitive concepts. This processing tool automatically quantifies the gradient of the criteria and automatically completes the final descriptive evaluation. It has a modern pedagogical scientific approach and flexibility, which gives impetus to creative projects in school. Six teachers of a Greek high school in Athens participated in the study. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview. The nature of the study was qualitative. The results revealed that the rubric can replace any other traditional technique. The tool allowed the students to evaluate their efforts, thus allowing them to realise the usefulness of the rubric as a self-assessment tool. Moreover, by using the rubric the students and the teachers had the chance to communicate constructively. The teachers and the students assessed the rubric in a positive way as the students were led to self-assessment processes through reflection and feedback and the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills.
 Keywords: Authentic assessment project, rubric, assessment criteria, reflection, 21st-century skills.

Cultivation of 21st-century skills: Creating and implementing rubrics for assessing projects

The purpose of this study is to highlight the effectiveness of the implementation of the rubric for the project assessment in comparison with other traditional assessment techniques. The development of skills and the improvement of educational work are concerned. This processing tool automatically quantifies the gradient of the criteria and automatically completes the final descriptive evaluation. It has a modern pedagogical scientific approach and flexibility, which gives impetus to creative projects in school. Six teachers of a Greek high school in Athens participated in the study. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview. The results revealed that the rubric can replace any other traditional technique. The tool allowed the students and the teachers to communicate constructively. Teachers assessed the rubric in a positive way as the students were led to self-assessment processes through reflection and feedback and the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills.
 Keywords: Authentic assessment, project, rubric, assessment criteria, reflection, 21st-century skills.

Prevalence and Gender Differences in Worry and Social Anxiety among Greek High School Adolescents

Prevalence and Gender Differences in Worry and Social Anxiety among Greek High School Adolescents

Effect of math-specific self-efficacy on math literacy: Evidence from a Greek survey

Prior research has suggested a strong link between student-level psychological constructs such as self-efficacy and achievement in academics. In this study, we looked at the relationship between math self-efficacy and mathematics literacy using a large-scale survey from Greece. Our analytical results show that there is a strong association between math self-efficacy and math literacy among Greek high school students, and that this association persists even after controlling for student-level differences such as age, grade, gender, parental education, parental occupation, family wealth, cultural possessions, and availability of educational resources at home, and school-level differences such as school type, school size, student–teacher ratio, and school-level socioeconomic status.