Lessons For Research Research Articles

Smart Tree: An Architectural, Greening and ICT Multidisciplinary Approach to Smart Campus Environments.

At present, climate change, pollution, and uncontrolled urbanism threaten not only natural ecosystems, but also the urban environment. Approaches to mitigate these challenges and able to provide an alternative for the use of the space are deemed to be multidisciplinary, combining architecture, vegetation integration, circular economy and information and communications technologies (ICT). University campuses are a key scenario to evaluate such solutions as their student and research community is intrinsically willing to support these experiences and provide a wide knowledge on the fields necessary for their design and implementation. However, the creation of areas combining usability and sustainability is commonly lacking a multidisciplinary approach combining all these different perspectives. Hence, the present work aims to overcome this limitation by the development of a novel integrated approach for campus spaces for co-working and leisure, namely a “Smart Tree”, where novel architecture, furniture design, flora integration, environmental sensoring and communications join together. To this end, a survey of the literature is provided, covering related approaches as well as general principles behind them. From this, the general requirements and constraints for the development of the Smart Tree area are identified, establishing the main interactions between the architecture, greening and ICT perspectives. Such requirements guide the proposed system design and implementation, whose impact on the environment is analyzed. Finally, the research challenges and lessons learned for their development are identified in order to support future works.

Improving Food Systems: A Participatory Consultation Exercise to Determine Priority Research and Action Areas in Viet Nam

With increased burden of malnutrition on global health, there is a need to set clear and transparent priorities for action in food systems at a global and local level. While priority settings methods are available for several adjacent domains, such as nutrition and health policies, setting priorities for food system research has not been documented and streamlined. The challenges involve food systems' multisector, multi-stakeholder and multi-outcome nature. Where data exists, it is not easy to aggregate data from across food system dimensions and stakeholders to make an informed analysis of the overall picture of the food system, as well as current and potential food system trade-offs to inform research and policy. Once research priorities are set, they risk staying on paper and never make their ways to concrete outputs and outcomes. In this paper, we documented and assessed the inclusive process of setting research priorities for a local food system, taking Vietnamese food systems as a case study. From this exercise, we examined how priority setting for food systems research could learn from and improve upon earlier priority setting research practices in other domains. We discussed the lessons for research and policies in local food systems, such as the need for a concrete follow-up plan accompanying the priority setting process.

Analysis of the Dynamic Landscape of Scientific Innovation in the Chip Domain

Chip is the core of the electronic information industry, and its current "neck" phenomenon is rooted in the failure to keep up with basic research. This study aims to provide a clear landscape of the dynamics of scientific innovation in the chip domain. Specifically, this study uses bibliometrics, social network analysis, and SPLC algorithm-based master path analysis to analyze spatial and temporal trends, collaboration characteristics, knowledge flows, and mainstream research paths through the global output of scientific paper in the field of the chip. The results show that the scientific output in this field has grown significantly, the network size is expanding, a few countries/regions and organizations are in the main position of chip science innovation, and the research themes on the mainstream research paths are concentrated in chip manufacturing. The study can provide lessons for researchers, policymakers, and research funders.

After the collapse: Evaluating undone science in the wake of a global environmental crisis

This study deepens our understanding of environmental knowledge production under varying political-economic regimes. While the extant scholarship on undone science, that is the systemic non-production of knowledge, is largely based in liberal democracies in the US and Europe, it elides important differences in the making and unmaking of science elsewhere. Using the case of Peru’s left-leaning military dictatorship (1968–1980), I show how undone science contributed to the 1973 collapse of the world’s largest fishery and one of the most studied fisheries on the planet: the anchoveta (Engraulis ringens). In an effort to reconstruct the fishery and resolve undone science, I also demonstrate how the state collapsed established boundaries by brokering research between previously antagonistic scientific fields and enabling South-South coalitions across Latin America. The evidence presented here illustrates how, during times of crisis, states can nationalize fisheries science, meaning they promote novel scholarship from domestic data sources, among local scientists, and between endemic research institutions. Thus, the main drivers of epistemic change, in this case, are state actors exercising “conventional” practices, undermining the assumption that only bottom-up and “contentious” pressure can do so. This research offers important lessons for future research on state-science relations in the Global South.

What Open Source Software Research Can Teach Us About Public Blockchain(s)?—Lessons for Practitioners and Future Research

Peer-to-peer governance of blockchain technology reemerges a number of interesting practical and theoretical questions. This article aims to bridge current research on blockchain technology to earlier research on open source software (OSS) and to suggest a number of concepts from OSS research that are useful in discussing governance of blockchain systems. Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide a theoretically oriented review of some of the earlier concepts and discuss their applicability in a novel context. Bridging these extending literatures and concepts accelerates theoretical development in the area of governance of technology, opening fertile avenues for future research and offering a variety of insights to both practitioners.

Understandings of perimeter and area mobilized with an exploratory approach in a lesson study

Background: Exploratory teaching, a theme increasingly investigated in mathematics education, has been examined as a pedagogical approach underlying the research lesson in lesson studies. Objective: The purpose of this article is to present and discuss the understandings of area and perimeter mobilized by 8th-grade elementary school students based on an exploratory approach, which was the basis for the research lesson in the lesson study. Design: The research was qualitative and interpretive, based on content analysis. Setting and participants: The activities were conducted in two classes, of two hours each, in which the students were invited to resolve an exploratory task about the topic “area and perimeter”, which was prepared by a group of teachers participating in a cycle of a lesson study. The students were asked to explain their strategies, results, and conclusions. Data collection and analysis: The analysis was based on empirical material composed of the materials related to the solutions presented by the students and transcriptions of audio recordings of the students’ discussions as they solved the tasks and of group discussions (the final moments of the research lesson). Results: The analysis presents aspects related to understandings of the topics area and perimeter, mobilized by the exploratory approach, which comprise the following categories: measure, mathematical operation and geometric property. Conclusion: The exploratory approach, underlying the research lesson, favored a deepening of understandings about area and perimeter, because it gave students the opportunity to explore and confront these concepts from different representations mobilized in an open task and to communicate their mathematical ideas and conclusions.

Exploring teacher learning process in Chinese lesson study: a case of representing fractions on a number line

PurposeThis paper presented the learning process of a group of primary mathematics teachers who participated in two iterations of lesson design, enactment and reflection in a Chinese Lesson Study.Design/methodology/approachAn expansive learning theory was employed to examine the teachers’ learning process in lesson study (LS) on representing fractions on a number line. The evolution of a germ cell was utilized to feature the transformation of the object of activity from abstract to concrete through resolving contradictions among LS members. The videos of lesson planning, research lessons (RLs) and debriefing meetings were collected and analyzed to reveal the expansive learning process.FindingsThe analysis showed that the teachers expanded their learning through transforming the object from diffuse to concrete and expanded through consciously articulating the germ cell. The outcomes of object-oriented activity include improving the enacted lesson which promoted students’ conceptual understanding.Originality/valueThis study made a unique contribution to understanding the learning process of teachers in Chinese LS from the perspective of expansive learning.

Design Mathematical Activity in Mathematics Classroom: Decimal Number

The research was aimed to investigate six-lesson study team members in designing mathematical activities to develop students’ mathematization using Open Approach in the second step of the Lesson Study process in teaching decimal numbers. A total of 16 Grade 4 students participated as the target group. Three instruments were used namely lesson plans, student worksheets, and observation field notes. Researchers employed ethnographic research design to study how the mathematical activities could assist students to develop their mathematical ideas from the real world to the mathematical world through a flow of lessons over the four stages of the Open Approach along with the Lesson Study process. The research results revealed that a series of five research lesson plans encompassing various mathematical activities were successfully encouraging students to elaborate their ideas and transmitting their ideas from the real-world to the mathematical world using semi-concrete aids. Moreover, the results of using the Open Approach have been proved to be relevant as students demonstrated their mathematization in fostering their mathematical thinking to transform their ideas smoothly. Therefore, designing mathematical activities is important to cultivate students’ mathematical thinking in problem-solving instantaneously. A limitation of the research was identified when the Lesson Study team members were reflecting on the teaching practice. This is because they found that the unclear illustration in the student worksheets has raised confusion. In conclusion, the overall results of this research have contributed significantly to our recognition of the practicality of Open Approach treatment in the Lesson Study process in developing students’ mathematization through their participation in mathematical activities.

Using a franchise structure to scale affordable housing internationally

Capital investment as high as US$16 tn is required to address the shortage of adequate and affordable housing worldwide. Market-driven housing approaches that produce quality units, reduce dwelling costs, and provide access to a range of capital sources can help to solve this challenge. This article describes the experience of a social enterprise in Mexico that is taking its proven, market-driven housing solution to countries in Africa using a joint venture franchising company to execute a master franchising strategy. Its experience and the innovative approach it used to scale internationally offer useful insights and lessons for housing practitioners, policymakers, and researchers.

From competition to collaboration: Unraveling teachers’ lesson study experiences

<span>Lesson study is a professional development program among teachers. It reciprocates teachers’ development to students’ outcomes. It is also an act of leveraging classroom practices, enriching teachers’ content knowledge, and process skills and beliefs. This study explored the experiences of a group of science secondary school teachers that implemented the lesson study in their classes. Qualitative data were gathered from the informants’ interview during the implementation of the lesson study. Data were processed through document trail among the informants to ascertain the veracity of the transcribed responses, reflections, and observations. Thematic analysis revealed five themes on the experiences of the teachers in implementing the Lesson Study: developing a culture of oneness, crafting teachers’ competence through synergism, boosting teachers’ morale and confidence, refining the quality of the research lesson, and scheming avenues for critical thinking. It is, therefore, suggested that lesson study be implemented by all teachers across all subject-areas in the division and introduced among pre-service teachers to further discover its efficacy towards teachers’ development and students’ outcomes. Furthermore, it is strongly suggested that knowledgeable others be involved in the implementation of the lesson study as their presence were found significant in ensuring its success as most of the teachers are not specialized in the field that they are teaching.</span>

Solving the Puzzle of Global Health Inequity: Completing the Picture Piece by Piece by Piece.

Achieving health equity is an ongoing priority for the global community. Understanding, supporting, and addressing the challenges that face health workers is a critical component of the solution to this problem. The University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda has established the Institute of Global Health Equity Research (IGHER) to contribute to the generation of new knowledge through high-quality research and research training that seeks to improve our understanding of the important issues that influence the distribution of health and healthcare globally. With an unrelenting emphasis on increased impact by prioritizing implementation research, IGHER is particularly interested in amassing a compendium of important research lessons to increase the likelihood that effective implementation strategies will be employed to enhance healthcare service provision. IGHER organizes research according to five foundational research questions, which address different elements that are pivotal to a comprehensive approach to appreciating the nuanced realities of effective healthcare service provision. UGHE outputs for 2020 indicate that: appropriate resourcing of healthcare services is critical for the eradication of global health inequities; policy reform is required for many healthcare innovations and initiatives to be implemented adequately; and high-quality research that is applicable to different contexts is essential for eradicating global health inequities. Furthermore, reimagining healthcare delivery will benefit from an intentional, ongoing, bidirectional influence between evidence-based pedagogy (methods and practices of teaching, education, and instruction) and supporting research activity such that education and instruction inform the research conducted and research findings are fed back to the classroom to help improve education and instruction. As IGHER continues to grow, the valuable insights afforded by high-impact implementation research will increase. These insights will help to inform the development and use of evidence-based implementation strategies for the adoption, scaling, and sustainability of equitable, effective, and efficient health services globally.

Lesson Study as an Intervention to Develop Prospective English Language Teachers' Classroom Management Skills

This study investigated six pre-service ELT teachers' engagement of collaborative Lesson Study, Japanese professional development model, and intended to explore its impact on their classroom management skills. The qualitative research design was used as the methodological foundation of the study since the Lesson Study experience of the participants was thoroughly observed in its natural context through research lesson applications. The large volume of data collected using a variety of data collection tools was analyzed using Atlas. Ti qualitative software. The study revealed that Lesson Study intervention impacted the participants' classroom management skills in various dimensions at varying degrees, especially in increasing awareness about the observation of student learning, giving instructions, and lesson planning aspects. The study further presented that Lesson Study provides a reformist professional development opportunity for pre-service teachers to practice various classroom management strategies in various actual classroom settings.

Youth vaping: a review and update on global epidemiology, physical and behavioral health risks, and clinical considerations.

Worldwide, youth electronic cigarette use (vaping) has risen significantly over the past decade. This public health concern has spurred many high-quality studies characterizing country-specific prevalence, risk factors, physical and behavioral health complications, and optimal methods of assessment and counseling for youth vaping. Clinicians remain underexposed to this recent work, limiting translation of evidence into higher quality patient care. This review aims to provide pediatricians and other clinicians working with youth a clinically focused survey of key research findings and considerations based on recent evidence. This narrative review surveys emerging trends in EC use across different countries, reasons for youth vaping, characteristics of vaping materials that promote youth use, associations with combustible cigarette use, relation with cannabis and other illicit substances, physical and behavioral health risks associated with vaping, and methods of assessment, counseling, and intervention for problematic vaping in youth. Since vaping remains a relatively new phenomenon, long-term health consequences remain unknown.Conclusion: Youth vaping is an increasingly well-studied phenomenon with both physical and behavioral health risks. Pediatricians and other youth-focused clinicians can apply the lessons of recent research in work with youth and their families. What is Known:• Youth vaping is an increasingly prevalent public health concern.• Recent research demonstrates physical and behavioral health risks associated with vaping as well as methods for assessment, counseling, and intervention.What is New:• The current review summarizes the latest evidence in a clinically focused framework to facilitate translation of emerging knowledge to practice.

Joy in Collaboration: Developing Early Childhood Teacher Professionalism through Lesson Study

ABSTRACT Early childhood professionals are sometimes referenced as caregivers and other times as educators. In order to empower them as professionals, it is important to provide professional development opportunities that deepen teachers’ knowledge. This qualitative case study explores the impact of Lesson Study on four early childhood teachers with no prior Lesson Study experience. Participants’ teaching experience ranged from a first-year teacher to a 20-year veteran. The professional development approach engaged teachers in conversations to collaborate, plan, observe instruction, and focus on students. Group meetings were audio recorded and transcribed, and observational notes were collected during teacher meetings and during the research lesson. At the conclusion of the experience, participants wrote a personal reflection paper and individual interviews were conducted. Findings suggest that Lesson Study supported the development of early childhood teachers’ professionalism through sharing of varied perspectives during student-focused collaboration. Another powerful finding is that teachers felt joy in this collaboration. They found pleasure in thinking deeply together and warmly described the trust that developed among them as they engaged in the process of improving practice through Lesson Study. Our findings suggest Lesson Study could empower a workforce that is in need of a unified professional identity.

Measuring Educational Neuromyths: Lessons for Future Research

ABSTRACTEducational neuromyths are incorrect ideas about the brain and learning. These ideas pose a risk if they impact learner outcomes. The concern about neuromyths has spurred global research, including teacher surveys about their identification. If such research leads to corrective strategies, the potential beneficiaries are teachers, students, and the field of educational neuroscience itself. This research relies on accurate neuromyth measures, and yet the topic of measurement has been largely ignored. In this review, we focus on key measurement issues surrounding the assessment of neuromyths, and we consider measurement improvements. We show that the framing of items, both the fact and neuromyth, must be improved in future research. These changes are vital to realize the potential benefit of educational neuromyth research.

Give Us More Credit! Recommendations for Young and Adult Researchers on Conducting Adolescent-Led Research

Youth participatory action research, child-led research, and child-led activism are being increasingly employed to counter adultism in social work and development contexts, in a way to break down barriers for young people to have their voices heard on issues and decisions about their lives. This commentary comprises 2 open letters from a young researcher and advocate for children’s well-being and rights in Romania. The first letter is addressed to fellow young people and shares the journey of learning about and subsequently researching the issue of sexual violence, as well as a call to young people to stand up and use their voice to bring attention to issues important to them. The fear and anxiety of doing something new, that is usually in an adult space, cedes to empowerment and confidence found through the process. The second letter is addressed to adult researchers and practitioners and shares the methodology and findings of the child-led research project, lessons learned, and recommendations for adults engaging in child-led research. A key recommendation is for adults to support child researchers without manipulating the process, and to give young people more credit in commonly adult-held spaces.

Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll.

Although increasing public spending on health worker (HW) recruitments could reduce workforce shortages in sub-Saharan Africa, effective strategies for achieving this are still unclear. We aimed to understand the process of transitioning HWs from President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to Government of Uganda (GoU) payrolls and to explore the facilitators and barriers encountered in increasing domestic financial responsibility for absorbing this expanded workforce. We conducted a multiple case study of 10 (out of 87) districts in Uganda which received PEPFAR support between 2013 and 2015 to expand their health workforce. We purposively selected eight districts with the highest absorption rates (‘high absorbers’) and two with the lowest absorption rates (‘low absorbers’). A total of 66 interviews were conducted with high-level officials in three Ministries of Finance, Health and Public Service (n = 14), representatives of PEPFAR-implementing organizations (n = 16), district health teams (n = 15) and facility managers (n = 22). Twelve focus groups were conducted with 87 HWs absorbed on GoU payrolls. We utilized the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to guide thematic analysis. At the sub-national level, facilitators of transition in ‘high absorber’ districts were identified as the presence of transition ‘champions’, prioritizing HWs in district wage bill commitments, host facilities providing ‘bridge financing’ to transition workforce during salary delays and receiving donor technical support in district wage bill analysis—attributes that were absent in ‘low absorber’ districts. At the national level, multi-sectoral engagements (incorporating the influential Ministry of Finance), developing a joint transition road map, aligning with GoU salary scales and recruitment processes emerged as facilitators of the transition process. Our case studies offer implementation research lessons on effective donor transition and insights into pragmatic strategies for increasing public spending on expanding the health workforce in a low-income setting.

What’s the story, allegory?

ABSTRACT If ever a literary genre were made for consumer research, that literary genre is allegory. The word comes from the Ancient Greek allegoreo, meaning to speak of the other in the marketplace. Building on the pioneering research of Barbara B. Stern, this article considers the character and characteristics of allegorical storytelling. It does so by means of an empirical study of a richly storied apparel brand, Hollister (HCo), whose sudden rise and rapid fall contains allegorical lessons for retailers and researchers alike. Part of a project to promote literary criticism, it identifies three key themes that typify allegories – Life, Location and Language – all of which figure prominently in a sizeable introspective study of HCo consumers.

Mathematics Educators’ Perspective on Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Competencies

This research was designed to study pre-service mathematics teachers' professional competencies to assist student learning by using Lesson Study and Open Approach innovations from mathematics educators' perspectives. A total of 35 mathematics educators have more than three years of experience not only in terms of utilizing the Lesson Study and Open Approach innovations but also in providing training to the pre-service mathematics teachers were selected. The researchers employed three data collection methods, namely document analysis, a survey using a questionnaire, and interviews. The obtained data from three sources was designed with the principle of triangulation. The findings of this research were presented under the three steps of the Thailand Lesson Study Model. In the first step, “Collaboratively Design Research Lesson Plan”, pre-service teachers can create problem situations that associated with the students' real world, can analyze the context of the problem situations, can analyze keywords that initiate students' ideas, can anticipate students' ideas, and can prepare teaching materials to support students' ideas. This is followed by the second step as “Collaboratively Observe Research Lesson”. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers can observe students’ ideas when their students were solving mathematical problems, can notice students’ difficulties in their learning, can give feedback using words that match with students’ proficiency level, give students opportunities to show how to think and present their ideas, listen to and accept students’ opinions, and taking notes on students’ ideas or pieces of learning evidence. The findings of the final step namely “Collaboratively Reflect on Teaching Practice” showed that pre-service teachers could reflect the learning outcomes by correlating students’ ideas with the instructions.

Internal coherence matters: Lessons for nutrition and dietetics research.

AimInternal coherence in research refers to the alignment between ontology (nature of reality), epistemology (nature of knowledge), axiology (values), methodology and methods and is an important but often overlooked element of research quality. We therefore aimed to illustrate the concept of internal coherence in nutrition and dietetics research, and its importance beyond individual elements of study quality.MethodA targeted literature search in Nutrition and Dietetics was used to identify research illustrating one example of three main approaches to research (scientific, interpretive and critical inquiry) published between November 2017 and November 2020. Studies were included if they related to education research based on the expertise of the authors, and illustrated diverse points about internal coherence. The authors independently critiqued included studies for internal coherence and synthesised their findings.ResultsFrom 76 manuscripts, 14 were identified as describing education research. Of the three selected studies that were critiqued, all had elements of internal coherence, in particular alignment between epistemology and methodology. However, each had elements of misalignment too, specifically between epistemology, axiology and method. The results point to the profession's historical groundings privileging the scientific approach, showing how this can yield misalignments, particularly when describing the limitations of interpretive and critical inquiry approaches.ConclusionThis review demonstrates the importance of internal coherence as a marker of quality, over and above existing quality assessment checklists for qualitative and quantitative methodologies. As such, it can help authors, reviewers and editors to improve the quality of nutrition and dietetics research and its reporting.