Series Of Lessons Research Articles

Analysis of institutional factors in the implementation of the action research methodology: lessons learned in a case study

The growing need for academic research to generate a tangible social impact has increased the relevance of collaborative methodologies. Among them, the "Action Research" method stands out for its application in the field of business organization. This is especially relevant in the field of Operations Management as it involves close collaboration with organizations.This study aims to examine the key institutional factors that influence the success of the implementation of the "Action Research" methodology in the business context. Through a case study, two main contributions are made to the "Action Research" literature. First, six key institutional factors are identified to consider in the implementation of an Action Research project: external and internal environment, leadership, strategy, communication, and organizational resources and capabilities. Second, the analysis provides a series of lessons learned that cover the influence of aspects related to company's environment; alignment of objectives; participation of employees; clear definition of roles; training; adaptation and support of work team member; an adequate technological infrastructure; how to promote the participation of external agents; and the influence of communication channels.The identification and analysis of these factors and the lessons learned serve as a reference framework for researchers who are considering carrying out an "Action Research" project to transfer it to the company with which they are going to collaborate, and thus determine if the right conditions are in place to carry out the study.

Designing Dialogic Peer Feedback in Collaborative Learning: The Role of Thinq Tank

As technology continues to reshape education, the integration of peer feedback (PF) is increasingly recognized as a key element in promoting student collaboration and learning. This design study tracks the development and implementation of the Thinq Tank tool, which is aimed at facilitating dialogic PF within computer-supported collaborative-inquiry learning (CSCiL) environments. The research was conducted through three design iterations, comparing two key experimental conditions: one contrasting non-dialogic PF with dialogic PF, and another comparing dialogic PF with scripted dialogic PF featuring dynamic sentence-starters and defined roles. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, we assessed the overall impact on scientific (collaborative) learning outcomes, students’ perceptions of PF, and the composition and elements of PF dialogues. The findings suggest that the integration of dialogic PF within a CSCiL lesson series helps to boost scientific collaborative learning outcomes and increases student receptivity to PF. The study demonstrates that integrating structured support mechanisms within PF tools promotes PF dialogues in which students critically evaluate each other’s work and collaboratively think about ways to improve quality. These insights illustrate that structured, technology-supported PF can significantly advance inquiry outcomes and foster deeper collaborative learning in secondary STEM education.

IMITASD: Imitation Assessment Model for Children with Autism Based on Human Pose Estimation

Autism is a challenging brain disorder affecting children at global and national scales. Applied behavior analysis is commonly conducted as an efficient medical therapy for children. This paper focused on one paradigm of applied behavior analysis, imitation, where children mimic certain lessons to enhance children’s social behavior and play skills. This paper introduces IMITASD, a practical monitoring assessment model designed to evaluate autistic children’s behaviors efficiently. The proposed model provides an efficient solution for clinics and homes equipped with mid-specification computers attached to webcams. IMITASD automates the scoring of autistic children’s videos while they imitate a series of lessons. The model integrates two core modules: attention estimation and imitation assessment. The attention module monitors the child’s position by tracking the child’s face and determining the head pose. The imitation module extracts a set of crucial key points from both the child’s head and arms to measure the similarity with a reference imitation lesson using dynamic time warping. The model was validated using a refined dataset of 268 videos collected from 11 Egyptian autistic children during conducting six imitation lessons. The analysis demonstrated that IMITASD provides fast scoring, takes less than three seconds, and shows a robust measure as it has a high correlation with scores given by medical therapists, about 0.9, highlighting its effectiveness for children’s training applications.

The Pedagogical Tipiṭaka: OER & the Three Baskets of Ancient Language Instruction

Ancient languages present a unique teaching challenge: for spoken languages, common pedagogy recommends engaging students via dialogue; for ancient languages, no speakers survive with whom to practise. This paper highlights how the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin has approached this challenge by creating the Early Indo-European OnLine (EIEOL) collection, an online educational resource whose lesson series present early languages directly through original, unsimplified ancient texts. Currently accessed by over 20,000 users per month, EIEOL spans 18 languages, from Greek and Latin to Old Church Slavonic, Sanskrit, and other important languages of ancient Asia such as Hittite, Classical Armenian, Avestan, and Tocharian. Each series presents extensively annotated excerpts of original texts in the target language, with accompanying modules explaining grammar and context. The text-centred approach affords learners a direct path to understanding that suits a variety of experience levels and minimises the conceptual grammatical apparatus necessary to begin interpreting original texts. This format fosters theoretical flexibility, adaptable to different approaches and grammatical descriptions of ancient languages. It is also useful for languages whose grammatical structures have shifted dramatically over their history, like Tocharian, or remain hotly debated or under-described by experts. Finally, it facilitates applications to typologically diverse languages and language families, with early Mesoamerican, Semitic, and Sino-Tibetan language series already under development. The EIEOL infrastructure therefore provides a robust platform for free, text-centred, self-paced introductions to ancient languages from a variety of language families.

Het didactiseren van bewuste taalvaardigheid

Various contextualized and cross-linguistic approaches of grammar teaching have yielded significant transfer effects on both metalinguistic knowledge and proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in the first and second languages. Nevertheless, a similar approach is absent in language teaching in the Netherlands, perpetuating the discrepancy between the intended, implemented, and attained objectives. This study endeavors to remedy this discrepancy by examining the effective characteristics of teaching materials promoting language awareness. To this end, a contextualized, cross-linguistic lesson series on the concept of ‘syntactical function’ was designed, targeting upper secondary students (aged 15-16) drawing from four design principles and an analysis of the Dutch, the English and the German language. Subsequently, the lesson series underwent expert consultation, focus group interviews and various impact measurements, yielding a significant positive influence on students’ motivation and language awareness in all three languages. This underlines the potential value of teaching materials promoting language awareness.

Gravitational time dilation in a high school lesson

Abstract In almost all countries, the Ministry of Public Education has introduced the topics of special and general relativity into the high school curriculum. For example, in Italy the teaching of so-called modern physics (quantum mechanics and relativity) was introduced in the last year of high school. The students are approximately 18 years old and, although the arguments are addressed in an introductory and qualitative way, they are also a topic for the final exam. Einstein’s theory fascinates young students, but it is not always easy to explain the revolutionary effects it predicts. For this reason, we have organized a series of in-depth lessons trying to derive the space-time distortions in a way suitable for the young age of the students. In this frontline we summarize a derivation, suitable for high school pupils, regarding gravitational time dilation.

More than Steepness: Introducing Slope Quantitatively with Interactive Dynamic Representations

We report on a long-term collaboration with ninth-grade mathematics teachers at a linguistically diverse high school in which we examined the intersection between mathematics and language, and how language and mathematical thinking can be developed together in a multilingual setting. We co-designed lessons that promoted conceptual understanding, increased students’ access to grade level mathematics and created opportunities for students who are classified as English learners to participate in discussions. Our content focus was linear and exponential rates of change. In this article, we focus on linear rate of change and its connection to slope. After identifying three distinct meanings for and uses of slope in a ninth-grade mathematics textbook: (a) slope as steepness, (b) slope as rate of change, and (c) slope as a property of collinearity (presented in this order) and observing student interactions around slope concepts, we considered whether it may be more beneficial for students, particularly emergent multilingual students, to develop a robust quantitative understanding of slope first, then introduce the other two meanings of slope as an application of rate of change. To achieve this, we created a series of lessons incorporating dynamic interactive technology and mathematical language routines. We share three of these lessons in this article and include a classroom vignette illustrating the classroom interactions that were achieved through using our first Desmos activity.

THE CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING (CLIL) METHODOLOGY AT ENGLISH LESSONS IN GENERAL SECONDARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF UKRAINE

Methodology of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a gradual replacement of cramming and sometimes unconscious repetition. The principle of integration and functional contextual mastering of a foreign language have become extremely popular in the world, and have also made it possible to determine the advantages and problems of implementing the content and language integrated learning method into the educational process in many countries of the world. The given article is devoted to the issue of using the methodology of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) at each educational level of the Ukrainian education system, its methodological tasks are considered at each structural stage. Attention is paid to the main conditions for the successful implementation of the method of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in Ukrainian secondary education institutions. The general principles of lesson planning and a series of English language lessons in Ukrainian secondary schools are considered.

Building mathematical micro-identities through supporting productive struggle

ABSTRACT We designed a series of lessons that adopted supporting productive struggle practices, and explored how mathematical micro-identities emerged in the moments of productive struggle and what connections exist across micro-identities and productive struggle. We found that the low-achieving students had moments of both mathematically capable and incapable micro-identities, when offered, which reciprocally created moments of productive struggle and no struggle; and that the positions a teacher takes, between supporting productive struggle or not, directly impact the formation of micro-identities. The results suggest that supporting productive struggle strategies could be an avenue to develop mathematically capable micro-identities.

Using Roblox to Explore Natural Selection

This is part of a series of biology lessons that teach 9th to 12th graders about natural selection and uses the Roblox game to engage students. This lesson begins with a reminder to students about expectations and rules regarding appropriate use of technology, which can provide opportunities to explore scientific concepts in the virtual environment of Roblox. Students are expected to explore the Darwin postulates of natural selection using the examples provided. Then they discuss their findings with fellow students. This discussion is followed by an activity where students model evolution using previously created Roblox games. Next, students create their own Roblox game. This lesson concludes with students exchanging their finished games for others to explore.

Effects of socioscientific issues-based teaching on attitudes: Students’ resources as moderator

Engagement with socioscientific issues (SSI) is seen as an important citizenship goal of SSI-based science education. In this experimental study, Dutch students (age 8 to 13) participated in lesson series in which they learned about and discussed SSI, such as issues related to the textile industry and wastewater. Attitudes toward SSI indicating engagement were measured among relatively large experimental (n = 236) and control (n = 192) groups prior to and after the intervention. Multilevel analyses showed a positive effect of SSI-based teaching on collective efficacy and no effects on the other seven attitude components. Furthermore, we investigated whether the effects depended on students’ SSI-related resources. Students’ profiles for use of sources of knowledge (USK) moderated the effect of condition on self-efficacy and—depending on analysis type—on personal relevance, positive feelings, and collective efficacy. The positive impact occurred mainly for students with low USK. We discuss implications thereof for SSI education.

A hands-on activity to introduce the structure of NV-center quantum bits in diamond

For the start of a secondary school level lesson series on quantum computing, we designed a hands-on modeling activity where students construct a model diamond lattice with a nitrogen vacancy (NV) defect. NV centers find application as qubits and sensitive magnetometers. This activity aims to help students visualize the structure of such NV centers within the diamond lattice, making the subject matter more tangible. The activity has proven to be challenging but feasible. It features both collaborative and competitive elements thereby surely creating an energizing buzz in the classroom.

Refining a design thinking-based requirements elicitation process: Insights from a focus group

Requirements elicitation processes have a series of challenges and limitations in terms of business process focus, system transparency, and dealing with the complexity resulting from interdependence. The Design Thinking approach, which focuses on people and on understanding the context of problems, can contribute to solving them. For this reason, a requirements elicitation process based on Design Thinking has been defined, consisting of three activities: Empathise, Synthesise, and Ideate. For refining this process, a focus group discussion with experts was conducted. The experts provided feedback, specifically on the role of empathy in the process, its domain of application and activities. The results analysed from the focus group confirm the usefulness of the process and generate a series of lessons learned that allowed us to continue refining it. This paper presents the cited process, the main characteristics and results of the focus group and the refined process.

Prototypes all the way Down

This paper examines enactments of prototyping in a recent experimental effort to introduce ‘Technology Comprehension’ (TC) as a mandatory school subject in the Danish Public School. The overall concern of the programme was to educate young people to become not only users, but makers and analysts of the digital technological society. We adopt a social-theoretical view of prototyping that suggests it has moved well beyond design, and has become part of a broader cultural repertoire. We explore the capacity of prototyping as a site of social knowledge-production, illuminating prototypes as instruments of experimentation, epistemic negotiation, and civic participation. We analyse two prototypes: 1) an artefact that was the outcome of a pupil’s work in a TC lesson; 2) an experimental lesson plan called ‘App Design’ put to use by a teacher in a series of 5th grade TC lessons. Attending to how prototyping is performed in the pupils’, teachers’, and subject matter experts’ making, demoing, testing, and iterating on ‘first type’ tangible and material artefacts–prototypes. Prototyping in the trial programme can be understood as the rehearsal of chaotic conditions, in the teacher-pupil relation, and in the pupil-world relation. Prototyping can absorb the seeming impossibility of bridging ‘theoretical’ and ‘practical’ knowledges, and make new social and material agencies arise. The trial of TC seems in this light as much as an experiment in rendering social relations and knowledge-making, open-ended and experimental as it is an experiment in cultivating that exact attitude towards technology, but also towards societal affairs and knowledge-production.

Navigating the dilemmas of mutual aid: International student organising in Sydney during the COVID‐19 pandemic

AbstractIn 2020, thousands of international students found themselves stranded in Sydney, Australia, with the suspension of international travel and closure of borders. While many lost their livelihoods due to lockdowns, the Australian government excluded international students and other temporary visa holders from all forms of income support and disaster relief—resulting in food and housing insecurity and social isolation. This article describes and analyses the forms of mutual aid and support that international students organised to address their situation. In providing an account of their efforts, we consider them as forms of care infrastructure and draw particular attention to the institutional relationships that were involved: interfaces with faith, community and labour organising; confrontations with state agencies and the higher education sector; and institutionalisation into a formalised and state‐funded community organising initiative—the Oz International Student Hub. We examine the evolution of these relationships as responses to a series of strategic dilemmas, as students sought simultaneously to care for one another and to confront the forces that produced their precarity and isolation. And we draw out a series of lessons we can learn from their efforts about how mutual aid can avoid the pitfalls of charity and state welfare, while institutionalising more durable political spaces that do not have to be invented anew with each fresh crisis.

Computational Thinking in Secondary Mathematics Education with GeoGebra: Insights from an Intervention in Calculus Lessons

Nowadays, mathematics teachers in K–12 strive to promote their students‘ mathematical knowledge and computational thinking (CT) skills. There is an increasing need for effective CT-embedded mathematics learning material and a better understanding of students’ views toward them. In this work, we present the results of a research study, which included the design of a six-lesson learning activity aimed at fostering 16- to 17-year-old secondary students’ CT skills in calculus lessons using the dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra. Our goal was to investigate how students experienced the CT-embedded calculus lessons with GeoGebra and what challenges they faced during their interaction with the learning material and software. We collected and analyzed data from students’ code in GeoGebra, workbooks, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires. Our findings suggest that most students mastered using CT concepts in calculus activities to a satisfactory degree and could reason about their computational solutions using GeoGebra and the generated graphs. Students’ understanding of the mathematical content knowledge introduced was essential to complete the lesson series successfully and unnoticed gaps in prior knowledge emerged. Our study shows that students appreciate the CT-embedded calculus lessons and GeoGebra’s exploratory approach to mathematics problems when provided with appropriate support. We conclude that an integrated approach to mathematics education and CT is viable and can contribute not only to fostering CT but also to increasing interest in mathematics.

Особенности использования интерактивных видеоматериалов при формировании иноязычной социокультурной компетенции младших школьников

The aim of the study is to theoretically substantiate the possibility of forming foreign language sociocultural competence among younger schoolchildren during English language lessons in primary school with the use of interactive video materials. The paper examines the features of the use of interactive video materials in teaching foreign languages, including with the purpose of forming foreign language sociocultural competence among primary school pupils. The scientific novelty of the study lies in creating a methodology for using interactive video materials in order to form foreign language sociocultural competence among primary school pupils. As a result of the study, a series of lessons / extracurricular activities on sociocultural topics were developed, including methodological recommendations, lesson notes and thematic interactive video materials themselves, which can be used by teachers during lessons or extracurricular activities in order to form foreign language sociocultural competence among primary school pupils.

Promoting hEalthy Diet and Active Lifestyle (PEDAL): a protocol for the development and feasibility study of a multicomponent intervention among primary school children in Singapore

BackgroundSetting healthy lifestyle habits during the formative years of childhood is critical as habits can track to adulthood and help prevent obesity and chronic disease risks in later life. While multicomponent interventions have been shown to be effective in changing the lifestyle behaviours of children, there is a limited understanding of the feasibility of such interventions in primary schools in Singapore. A multiphase mixed method study was conducted to develop and examine the feasibility of a theory-based multicomponent school-based intervention—Promoting hEatlthy Eating and Active Lifestyle (PEDAL).MethodsUnderpinned by Kincaid’s ideation model, the PEDAL intervention was developed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease sedentary behaviours among children. This study consists of three phases. Phase 1 details the development of PEDAL, which consists of four components: (A) a series of interactive health education lessons, (B) actionable home activities to support habit formation, (C) parental/guardian engagement, and (D) optimising the school environment. In Phase 2, components A and B of PEDAL were implemented in two public, co-educational primary schools among Primary 5 students (aged 10–12 years) in Singapore. Data was collected quantitatively using questionnaires and qualitatively using focus group discussions (FGDs) with students and teachers. The feasibility dimensions of components A and B, including recruitment capability, data collection, social validity, and practicality were examined, and ideation on healthy eating and physical activity was explored. In Phase 3, the full PEDAL intervention was pilot-tested in two other public, co-education primary schools with the same target population, using a concurrent mixed method quasi-experimental study design. Feasibility dimensions and potential effectiveness of the intervention will be assessed.DiscussionThis study will provide insights into the feasibility of PEDAL and inform its refinement. Findings from the pilot test will guide the planning of a larger-scale definitive trial.Trial registrationRegistered with ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN16114046) on 16 October 2022.

Constructing a game engine: A proposed game engine architecture course for undergraduate students

This paper presents a structured series of lessons for teaching undergraduate computer science or game development students how to construct a game engine using C++ and standard graphics APIs such as OpenGL or DirectX. Our proposed course content discusses rendering topics, game object management, scene management, and rigid body physics where learners are tasked to incorporate them into a fully functional prototype scene editor. By incorporating actual coding into the course, students can gain a better understanding of low-level engine features and also hone their programming skills. In addition to the learning content, we provide recommended assessment methods. We include discussions about our teaching experience in handling a game engine architecture course, titled GDENG03, which 36 students have passed. Our paper stands out from related works by providing a framework for interested educators on how to write a 3D game engine and how to teach the same in class. Based on our actual delivery of GDENG03, all 36 students achieved high scores of >80% out of 100 which demonstrates the effectiveness of our learning content. We received positive student feedback, such as a better appreciation of game engines, while suggestions for course improvement were raised, such as using simpler terminologies and better workload management. Based on student scores and feedback, we can attribute the success of our students’ learning to our inclusion of practical coding examples and discussions, highlighting their relevance to mainstream game engines. The learning materials and accompanying source code can be accessed in the following link: .

Working with digital textbooks or printed materials: A study with boys and girls on conditional probability

The integration of dynamic visualisations, feedback formats and digital tools is characteristic of state-of-the-art digital mathematics textbooks. Although there already is evidence that students can benefit from these technology-based features in their learning, the direct comparison between the use of a comparable digital and printed resource has not yet been sufficiently investigated. We address this research gap by contrasting the use of an enriched digital textbook that includes these features and comparable printed materials without them. To do so, we investigate the achievement of 314 students in a pretest-posttest control group design in a five-hour series of lessons on conditional probability. Using the Rasch model and mixed ANOVA, the results indicate that students can benefit from digital textbook features, especially compared to the use of comparable printed materials. In line with other studies on mathematical achievement and the use of digital resources, our study also shows differences between boys and girls. It seems that particularly girls benefit from the use of the digital textbook, whereas, for the boys, it does not seem to make a difference what kind of resources they use. The group and gender differences are discussed against the background of other studies considering that, especially in Bayesian situations, the way statistical situations are visualised can be decisive for a student’s performance.