Student Interviews Research Articles

Cultivating Care in the Classroom: Bridging Cultural Approaches in Malaysian and UK Higher Education

This paper investigates the role of care in the classroom by examining the impact of a care-infused virtual drama approach on English as a Second Language (ESL) learners at two Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), incorporating teacher reflections and insights from student interviews. Due to the prevalence of power imbalances (Nawi, 2014) and authoritarian practices (Tee et al., 2018) in Malaysia, this paper further explores the perspectives of three Malaysian Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) at the University of Warwick to understand their experiences and understanding of the notion of care within the context of a UK higher education institution. Through one-on-one semi-structured and pair interviews conducted online via Microsoft Teams, these GTAs shared how they manifest care and provide support for their learners at the University of Warwick. The insights from Malaysia and the UK accentuate the significance of fostering care in diverse educational environments, revealing its potential to enhance students’ engagement and well-being across cultural and institutional settings.

Flexible Approach In English Language Learning Curriculum Design: Optimizing Teaching In Merdeka Curriculum

The Merdeka Curriculum implemented in Indonesia aims to create an education system that is more adaptive and responsive to local and global needs. In English language teaching, curriculum flexibility allows teachers to adjust learning materials to students' local contexts, thus encouraging student engagement in the learning process. This study aims to explore the application of flexibility in English curriculum design under the Merdeka Curriculum in five junior high schools in Solok City, West Sumatra. A qualitative approach with a case study method was used, with data collected through in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and student interviews. The results showed that flexibility in the preparation of teaching materials and teaching methods allowed teachers to adjust teaching to local needs. However, teachers faced challenges in balancing local materials with national competency standards and limited resources. This flexibility increased student engagement, although some students struggled without adequate guidance. In conclusion, support in the form of guidance, training, and additional resources are needed to optimize the implementation of curriculum flexibility

Research on Education for Sustainable Development with Design-Based Research by Employing Industry 4.0 Technologies for the Issue of Single-Use Plastic Waste in Taiwan

The social impacts of prevailing circular economy (CE) strategies remain under-researched despite the considerable attention that CE has received from scholars and in industry. Existing CE indicators primarily focus on business models from a decision-making standpoint, overlooking consumer engagement and alternative solutions. Boasting one of the highest recycling rates globally, Taiwan faces challenges in optimizing collected resources. This study delves into recycling plastic waste by integrating consumer behavior within CE strategies, leveraging open-source resources and additive manufacturing technologies to align with the United Nations Agenda 2030, particularly Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 (Quality Education), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). These resources facilitate the transformation of plastic waste into reusable materials. Employing an exploratory and participatory action research approach, this research uses the Precious Plastic Universe (PPU) database to identify potential resources from post-consumer polymer waste. Subsequently, it explores tools for converting collected waste into usable polymers. Lastly, the study investigates integrating collected polymer waste into student design projects to enhance creativity and problem-solving skills for sustainable development, employing additive manufacturing tools at the National Taiwan Normal University Department of Design. Thematic analysis of the data revealed several recurring patterns, including the role of consumer behavior in plastic waste generation, the development of creativity and problem-solving skills among students, and the challenges of working with recycled materials. These themes were observed in quantitative data (collected single-use polymers) and qualitative insights from student observations and interviews. Through thematic analysis, the study highlights key factors contributing to successful CE integration, providing a model for future educational and industrial applications of sustainable design.

Is social interaction a catalyst for digital environments? Exploring affordances of synchronous delivery in online CLIL

ABSTRACT Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has emerged as a pedagogical approach integrating foreign language learning with subject content. Nevertheless, its foray into the online environment, where courses are commonly delivered in two modes: asynchronous and synchronous, remains unexplored. By integrating synchronous delivery into an asynchronous-only online CLIL course, this study aims to probe how synchronous delivery affects students’ learning performances (learning behaviors and outcomes), and investigate learners’ perspectives on synchronous delivery as affordances for enhancing these performances. The study involved 969 learners and two teachers, with data collected from six sources for triangulation: tracking data from social media chat logs, website learning records, course scores, teachers’ reflective narratives, observation of synchronous learning, and student interviews. The findings unveil the effectiveness of synchronous delivery in promoting learning performances, evident in students’ proactive time management and interactive behaviors, as well as elevated learning outcomes. Three affordances – pedagogical, technological, and social – are offered by synchronous delivery for promoting learning performances. Particularly noteworthy are the social affordances, which significantly enhance learning behaviors and outcomes by fostering efficient interactions, cordial interpersonal relationships, and a learning community.

Gender Inequality in STEM Education in Pakistan: A Case Study of Female Students

Emphasis on STEM education has gained the attention of activists to promote gender equality in the education field in the last few years. The objectives of the present research paper are: Why is there a need to address gender inequalities in STEM education in Pakistan? The second objective of the research is to highlight the obstacles that restrict women’s access to STEM education in Pakistan. This research is qualitative in nature and based on the interviews of students enrolled in the faculty of humanities at the BS level in AIOU. Research gives directions to policymakers on how to increase women’s enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

DEVELOPING MOBILE-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING (MALL) MATERIALS TO LEARN DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

The current study aimed to develop MALL materials for descriptive texts to support students’ learning outside classroom hours as supplementary materials. The researcher applied the ADDIE model to carry out the research. The study participants were 17 students of SMPN 4 Satu Atap Sejangkung. Students used the developed product outside school hours as supplementary materials to support what they have learned at school. Interviews for students’ needs and opinions and experts’ judgments were used to collect the research data. The study revealed the students’ needs for MALL materials, the MALL materials were applicable according to the experts, and students had positive opinions towards the MALL materials. Overall, the study was successful in developing MALL materials as supplementary materials to support 7th-grade students of SMPN 4 Satu Atap Sejangkung in learning descriptive texts.

Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students

BackgroundIrrational drug use has become a global problem threatening human health. As future health professionals, medical college students’ medication literacy (ML) is critical. Their mastery of medication-related knowledge will directly affect public medication safety in the future.MethodsThe initial scale was developed through a literature review and was modified through expert consultation and student interviews to form the initial scale with 14 items. In 2020, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students in a medical college for item analysis, reliability test, validity test and other analyses.ResultsThe total Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.826 and split-half reliability was 0.852. The Cronbach’s α coefficients for functional medication literacy, communicative medication literacy, and critical medication literacy were 0.901, 0.858, and 0.851, respectively. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) ranged from 0.833 to 1.000 (≥ 0.78). Factor analysis of 14 items showed that KMO = 0. 852(> 0.7) and Bartlett’s spherical test p < 0.001, indicating that the data are very suitable for factor analysis. Three principal axis factors were extracted by principal component analysis, and the total variance interpretation rate was 69.031% (> 40%). The confirmatory factor analysis identified a three-factor model and showed goodness of fit indices for the scale: The χ²/df = 2.623, The Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.905, The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.950, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.922, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.938, and The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.078.ConclusionA new scale for evaluating the medication literacy of Chinese medical college students was preliminarily developed, demonstrating good reliability and validity. Itcan be used as a preliminary measurement tool for assessing medical students’ medication literacy. However, due to the limitations of this study, the practical application of the scale needs to be further examined in a larger sample and should be refined in future studies.

Effectiveness of Computer Assisted Instruction on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Biology: A Case Study in Samtse Dzongkhag

This study investigated the effectiveness of the use of Computer Assisted Instruction as an innovative instructional approach in enhancing students’ achievement in Biology. Study was conducted at two Bhutanese secondary level schools under Samtse district in southwest Bhutan. Sample size consisted of a total of 120 students and four Biology teachers. The study employed mixed methods since this method is particularly useful in understanding any contradictions between quantitative and qualitative findings. Quantitative data was collected based on test-retest approach (quasi-experiment) to establish a cause-and-effect of the interventions while qualitative data was collected based on semi-structured interview for both biology teachers and students. The simulation and animation were used as a mean of intervention for biological concepts teaching for the experimental group while the traditional method was applied for teaching the control group. Findings were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Study revealed that Computer Assisted Instruction has positive impacts on students’ performance, evidenced by the findings that the students who were exposed to Computer Assisted Instruction (Experimental Group) have significantly outperformed the students who were taught using the Traditional teaching method (Control Group). The findings on gender difference revealed no significant difference in terms of academic performance in CAI. Further, both the teachers and students showed positive perceptions towards the use of CAI in teaching Biology. Therefore, the findings of this study would encourage Biology teachers to use CAI to enhance students’ achievement.

English Acquisition using Multiple Intelligences Supported Project-based Learning and ICT: The Role of Cognitive Factors

This paper has explored critical cognitive determinants affecting students’ English learning process in context of blended learning based on information and communication technologies, especially through project-based teaching; it also identifies how these identified cognitive determinants contribute to the formation of students’ cognitive profiles. Moreover, it has help designed a student-centred ICT-enabled English language learning/teaching process, and give the impact of blended learning based on information and communication technologies on student learning outcomes. In this paper, qualitative method was used to answer the research questions. The data used in this study are mainly derived from interviews of teachers and students in Chinese bilingual schools. The results identified several cognitive factors influenced students’ learning outcomes in a blended learning environment, such as attention, memory, metacognition, and motivation. Moreover, the study identified four distinct cognitive profiles based on learner characteristics, covering attentive learner, memory-reliant learner, metacognitive learner, and motivated learner. Attentive learners benefit from highly interactive and graphical interfaces, such as virtual reality simulations or instantaneous quizzes. Results also indicate that co-design approach involving teachers and students was pivotal in creating a student-centered learning framework. Effective integration of ICT in education requires continuous professional development, peer mentoring, and access to online resources for teachers. Effective teacher training ensures educators are well-equipped to use ICT tools to enhance teaching and learning. The results show that employing multimedia elements and providing interactive activities introduced more significant learning experiences while enhancing language retention and learning. The outcome of project-based learning activities enhanced the problem-solving and analytical skills of the students.

Resilience and mental and physical health of higher and lower educated youth during COVID-19

Abstract Background COVID-19 had a considerable impact on the mental and physical health of youth. To limit the impact of this crisis on their health, resilience was required. This study aims to discover how resilient, in terms of mastery, emotional reactivity and social support, groups of youth with different SES were during COVID-19, and what risk and protective factors they experienced. Methods Two qualitative datasets were analyzed. One dataset included 10 interviews of university students during April-May 2020, and the other dataset included 8 interviews with pre-vocational secondary education adolescents during October 2021 to March 2022. Interviews were held in person or online. Data were analyzed with thematic analysis in Atlas.ti. Results In general, university students displayed resilience despite the tumultuous beginning of the pandemic, and their mental and physical health was positive. Protective factors that helped them during COVID-19 were spending time with friends and family, being healthy and having a healthy lifestyle, and being able to avoid stressful situations. Risk factors that impacted their resilience were loneliness, COVID-19 anxiety, and missing stability and routine. Adolescents receiving pre-vocational secondary education showed mixed resilience later in the COVID-19 period, and they made negative observations about their health. Protective factors that helped them were achieving good results in school, hobbies, and avoiding stressful situations. Risk factors they experienced were lack of motivation and having difficulties at school. They experienced worry about school progress during COVID-19. Conclusions University students and lower educated adolescents seemed to have differing resilience during the impactful stages of COVID-19, possibly due to differences in their psychological development. To protect their well-being, it is important that policy makers consider the protective and risk factors that impact the health of youth during crises. Key messages • Resilience differs among the two different age groups and education levels. • Policy makers should consider the protective and risk factors that impact the health of youth during crises.

Secondary School Students’ Enacted Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in a Computer-Based Writing Task–Insights from Digital Trace Data and Interviews

AbstractStudying in digital learning environments highlights the skills needed to regulate one’s own learning. In youth, students are acquiring and developing these skills, but for many students, effectively self-regulating their learning is challenging. To design support in this regard, an in depth understanding of how and why their self-regulated learning (SRL) is enacted is needed. This study focuses on secondary school students’ enacted SRL strategies in a computer-based, multi-source writing task to detect and explain differences between high- and low-performing students. To address this aim, the students’ SRL processes during the task were captured using digital trace data (N = 50, navigational log, mouse, and keyboard data) and supplemented with stimulated recall interviews (n = 17). Raw trace data were parsed by implementing an existing theory-based process library that automatically detects the SRL processes. The durations and network properties of and transitions between the SRL processes of students in the highest and lowest essay score tertiles were investigated, involving the novel application of network metrics, and a qualitative content analysis for the stimulated recall data was performed. The results show that successful students differed from less successful ones regarding the time they allotted for the SRL processes, the number of distinct transitions between them, as well as transition probabilities. The successful students expressed a larger proportion of and different cyclical patterns of SRL processes during the task. The student interviews contextualise these findings and complement them by revealing qualitative differences in students’ monitoring of learning. This study provides novel insights into SRL among young students in computer-based writing task and suggests approaches for designing effective, personalised support for students’ adaptive learning strategies, which can be useful in developing educational technology and teacher education.

Fostering Inclusive Learning and 21st‐Century Skills: Creating Translanguaging Spaces in University Content and Language Integrated Learning Courses

ABSTRACTContent and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is an innovative educational approach applicable to diverse settings. CLIL promotes 21st‐century skills, including logical and critical thinking, problem‐solving, creativity, collaboration, and cross‐cultural awareness. In Asia, particularly Japan, CLIL has predominantly focused on English language acquisition, often overshadowing its broader goal of developing other skills. Accordingly, a new language course has been developed to enhance both language proficiency and 21st‐century skills among Japanese and English learners at an international university in Japan. This study presents findings from a larger case study that examines student and teacher experiences within the new CLIL framework, leveraging translanguaging pedagogy. Analyzing student reflections and interviews, this study highlights the role of translanguaging in enhancing 21st‐century skills such as leadership, critical thinking, and collaboration, particularly in group projects. However, deeply ingrained monolingual beliefs pose challenges to students fully embracing translanguaging methods, despite their educational value. This study provides insights for educators and policymakers advocating innovative language programs, particularly in fostering global citizenship and diverse skillsets essential in contemporary contexts. It also highlights the importance of integrating language learning with broader skill development in multicultural educational environments.

Learning Outcomes, Benefits, and Challenges of International Research Experiences for Students (IRES): An Exploratory Study of an IRES Program in China

Despite the increasing number of international programs targeting students’ learning of research and intercultural skills, there has been limited holistic investigation of students’ experiences employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. In this study, we incorporated several measures to explore students’ experiences in an International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program, which benefited from the existing partnership between Virginia Tech in the U.S. and Shandong University in China. We examined students’ intercultural competence and interdisciplinary research skills and explored students’ stories of their lived experiences across three cohorts, each with five students, who completed the IRES program. Both open-ended survey responses and interview data demonstrate that the experience allowed students to learn skills involving the various tools, methods, and processes needed to conduct experiments and solve interdisciplinary problems. In particular, qualitative data further demonstrated the influence of the program on students’ desire to pursue graduate degrees and navigate the research process. While the behavioral dimension of cultural intelligence did not show a major improvement, student interviews suggested enhanced student abilities in interpersonal interactions, including non-verbal and verbal means for effective communication. We provide explanations for the differences between quantitative and qualitative results. Reflecting on the results, we elaborate on the importance of structural elements necessary for creating international experiences for students and the need to examine students' learning processes using different means of data collection.

디자인 씽킹을 접목한 중학교 인성교육 프로그램 개발 연구

Objectives This study aimed to structure the content framework of a middle school character education curriculum by grafting design thinking and to develop a character education program. Methods The developed program was applied within the school and supplemented by receiving feedback, and the effectiveness of the program was verified using a paired-sample t-test in a single group pre- and post-test. Through this, the degree of students' character literacy development and the adequacy of the program were evaluated. In addition, we analyzed the opinions collected through opinion surveys and personal interviews of students who participated in each character education strategy. Results The detailed results of research and development are as follows. (1) Construction of middle school character curriculum content system grafting design thinking, (2) Establishment of middle school character curriculum types grafting design thinking, (3) 9 programs of middle school character education grafting design thinking, (4) The design content of the middle school character education program grafting design thinking, (5) The degree of character literacy cultivation. In these five aspects, the validity and effectiveness of the middle school character education program graftin design thinking was confirmed. Conclusions Firstly, a curriculum for systematic and comprehensive character curriculum is needed for the holistic growth of students. Secondly, combining character education and design thinking creates a synergistic effect. Thirdly, character education must be strengthened through cooperation between schools, families, and communities. Fourthly, policy support and improvement of the educational environment are essential.

ʻĀina as resilience: mapping community networks and collaborative care in Hawaiʻi

This article examines the growth of Indigenous grassroots community groups across Hawaiʻi, whose efforts are pivotal to place-based climate change resilience and community well-being. Instead of focusing on specific ecosystem resilience actions, it highlights the people and places that make this movement of community organizations resilient, leveraging both social and cultural strengths to adapt to climate impacts. For many Indigenous peoples, climate change is not new; adaptation has already been integral to relationships between environment and culture. These changes require culturally responsive approaches, not short-term engineering solutions such as coastal hardening or stream channelization. A collaboration between a grassroots artist mapping initiative (‘ĀINAVIS) and a university’s community-based research project (‘ĀINA KUPU), this study utilizes a novel data index compiled using publicly available information to inform a series of in-depth student interviews with community groups across Hawai‘i whose mission, vision, and work are dedicated to caring for ‘āina. We find that these “ʻĀina Organizations” articulate climate resilience in multi-faceted and culturally grounded ways, maintaining reciprocal and mutual relationships with ʻāina, the Hawaiian term for land meaning “that which feeds.” Facing various challenges and needing different systems of support, our work maps the dynamic adaptability of ‘āina expressed through community networks of collaborative care with emphasis on the importance of intergenerational knowledge and genealogical connection to place shared and passed onto future generations. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of working on ‘āina as an exercise of Indigenous sovereignty, expanding climate resilience with cultural practice and social justice as both outcome and process of climate change adaptation.

AI-CiciBot as Conversational Partners in EFL Education, focusing on Intelligent Technology Adoption (ITA) to Mollify Speaking Anxiety

This study examines the role of AI-CiciBot as a conversational partner in mitigating speaking anxiety among Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The aim is to explore the integration of intelligent technology adoption (ITA) into classrooms to enhance language learning and reduce anxiety during speaking activities. The primary gap addressed in this research is the lack of technology-based solutions for oral language practice in Indonesia, where traditional curricula emphasize reading and writing over speaking. This study aims to fill the gap by introducing AI-CiciBot, a novel AI-powered conversational tool that provides a supportive, low-pressure environment for students to practice speaking English. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data from pre-test and post-test scores and qualitative insights from student interviews. The research tools include a questionnaire and an AI-CiciBot platform for speaking practice. IBM SPSS Statistics analyzed the data, focusing on students' speaking performance and anxiety levels before and after using AI-CiciBot. Findings in this study show a significant improvement in students' speaking skills and a reduction in anxiety. The mean score for pre-tests was 49.17, which increased to 90.47 in post-tests, indicating AI-CiciBot's effectiveness. Interviews revealed that students initially hesitant to engage in speaking activities due to fear of judgment became more confident and willing to participate after practicing with the AI bot. This study contributes to the field of EFL education by demonstrating the potential of AI-driven tools like AI-CiciBot to address speaking anxiety and improve oral proficiency. It also highlights the importance of ITA in encouraging students to embrace AI-based learning solutions. To maximize learning outcomes, future research should investigate the long-term impact of AI-CiciBot on students' speaking proficiency and its integration with human instructors.

Integrating unplugged and plugged activities for holistic AI education: An embodied constructionist pedagogical approach

AbstractThere is a growing consensus that AI literacy requires a holistic lens, including not only technical knowledge and skills but also social and ethical considerations. Yet, providing holistic AI education for upper-primary students remains challenging due to the abstract and complex nature of AI and a lack of pedagogical experiences in schools. Against this backdrop, this study employs a design-based research (DBR) methodology to develop pedagogical solutions and theoretical knowledge. Drawing upon theories about AI literacy and learning sciences, this study proposes a novel pedagogical approach, namely, the embodied constructionist approach. This approach, by integrating embodied analogies and constructionist making, forges a cyclical understand–make–reflect process. Through this process, students gradually comprehend the conceptual, technical, and ethical dimensions of AI, towards holistic development in AI literacy. This approach was implemented and fine-tuned in authentic classrooms with 107 sixth graders over two years. During the implementation, a variety of qualitative data were collected from classroom observation, video-recording, student interviews and artifacts, and debriefings with the teacher. Using a case studies method, this study uncovered the overall learning progress demonstrated by the class in AI knowledge, skills, and ethical and critical reflections, as well as the reflections and struggles experienced by individual students. This study offers an age-appropriate pedagogy to promote inclusive, holistic AI education in the crucial, yet under-examined upper primary context. It highlights the potential of integrating AI literacy and computational thinking (CT) in K-12 education, while contributing to theoretical knowledge about embodied cognition and constructionism in the context of AI education.

How Important are Employability Skills to Business Students?

Research has indicated that educational institutions and the job market are facing many challenges, one being the required employability skills of graduates upon recruitment. This study aimed to explore how important employability skills are to business students. The research method used a sample of 123 questionnaires and 20 interviews of business students from one Saudi Arabian university. The main findings indicated that the participants considered all the mentioned employability skills highly to very highly important according to the students’ academic year and choice of future job but with no significant differences. However, Sophomore year students indicated a high positive significant difference in considering leadership as the most important skill over their junior and senior year counterparts. The findings further indicated the communication and leadership skills of high importance which contradicts the findings in the literature where life-long learning, tolerance, and language skills are considered of high importance. Additionally, the interview responses showed insufficient knowledge on the part of the students to develop their own skills to meet the market needs and maintain sustainable employment. Implications of the present study show that there is a need for urgent collaboration between educational institutions and job markets to identify, orient, and train students in needed employability skills. Future research on matching stakeholders’ employability skills is recommended.

ChatGPT's quality: Reliability and validity of concept inventory items.

The recent advances of large language models (LLMs) have opened a wide range of opportunities, but at the same time, they pose numerous challenges and questions that research needs to answer. One of the main challenges are the quality and correctness of the output of LLMs as well as the overreliance of students on the output without critically reflecting on it. This poses the question of the quality of the output of LLMs in educational tasks and what students and teachers need to consider when using LLMs for creating educational items. In this work, we focus on the quality and characteristics of conceptual items developed using ChatGPT without user-generated improvements. For this purpose, we optimized prompts and created 30 conceptual items in kinematics, which is a standard topic in high-school level physics. The items were rated by two independent experts. Those 15 items that received the highest rating were included in a conceptual survey. The dimensions were designed to align with the ones in the most commonly used concept inventory, the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). We administered the designed items together with the FCI to 172 first-year university students. The results show that ChatGPT items have a medium difficulty and discriminatory index but they overall exhibit a slightly lower average values as the FCI. Moreover, a confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a three factor model that is closely aligned with a previously suggested expert model. In this way, after careful prompt engineering, thorough analysis and selection of fully automatically generated items by ChatGPT, we were able to create concept items that had only a slightly lower quality than carefully human-generated concept items. The procedures to create and select such a high-quality set of items that is fully automatically generated require large efforts and point towards cognitive demands of teachers when using LLMs to create items. Moreover, the results demonstrate that human oversight or student interviews are necessary when creating one-dimensional assessments and distractors that are closely aligned with students' difficulties.

Playing to Collaborate: Using Cooperative Board Games to Experience and Reflect on Collaboration in Upper Secondary Education

There is a growing interest among researchers in using board games for supporting learning in school contexts. Co-op board games is a relatively new and promising type of games, which seems well-suited for improving students’ collaboration skills. In this paper, we explore how two groups of Danish high school students interact when playing two different co-op games, The Mind and Forbidden Island, and how they reflect upon their shared game experiences. The data collection is based on video observations of group interaction and student interviews, which use stimulated video recall. In this way, we are able not only to describe the students’ perceived outcomes of the gaming activities, but also their in-game practices. Our data analysis is informed by microsociological perspectives (Goffman and Collins), which are used to map the group interaction rituals and social norms of the students’ gaming encounters. Based on the data analysis, we identify two analytical themes, which concern the students’ use of verbal and non-verbal communication practices as well as their socialisation processes. The findings suggest that co-op games may be used as a valuable educational tool for qualifying high school students’ collaboration skills as well as strengthening their group relations. The students especially valued playing The Mind, which they tried playing for multiple game rounds. Based on these findings, we discuss recommendations for the further use and study of co-op board games in educational settings.