Passive Knowledge Research Articles

Public engagement with science: a novel researcher-led collaboration with a major UK science centre

ABSTRACT Science communication is a key component of the academic process. Science centres provide researchers with an opportunity to convey their findings directly to the public, who in turn can be sure that they are receiving information from a trusted source. Therefore, this paper focuses on a new researcher-led public engagement project situated within a major UK science centre. The project utilises three freestanding digital touchscreen kiosks that provide visitors with the opportunity to learn about science through active participation (e.g. interactive research studies) as well as through more traditional knowledge exchange routes (e.g. static images with text), and it tested the effectiveness of onscreen QR codes as a means for maintaining public engagement beyond the initial kiosk experience. Data collected from nearly 10,000 visitor interactions demonstrated a preference for the interactive activities (5,000 complete datasets were collected) over the more traditional passive knowledge exchange content, and the QR codes were shown to provide a promising route to continued engagement. We recommend this approach to scientists, educators, and designers, seeking to develop an effective, practical, updatable, and cost-effective public engagement exhibit within a public science space.

From grassroots literacy to transliteracies in the educational context of the Moldavian Csángó

ABSTRACT This paper investigates literacies in the Moldavian region of Romania, where bilingual speakers produce writings in a contested language they call the ‘Csángó mode of speaking’. The speakers sometimes define their language as collateral both with Standard Hungarian and Romanian. Our research question is the following: How are locally constructed collateral literacy practices transformed or neglected in standardising educational contexts? The theoretical question we raise in this article is whether Blommaert’s concept of grassroots literacy or the newer transliteracies framework is better suited to describe the process of a collateral language becoming literate. The collateral language, the Csángó mode of speaking, is no longer passed onto children by the parents, who still might use it among themselves, thus the children still might acquire a passive knowledge of it. Since 2001, a relatively popular educational programme teaching Standard Hungarian literacy has evolved. As our data, we use texts produced by c. 100 participants of the Moldavian Csángó Hungarian Educational Programme from eight villages. Our contribution is to investigate how transliteracies can constitute a resource not only for local ways of speaking, but also for the development of general literacy skills instead of skills bound to a single language.

The Influence of Learning Media and Competence on Teacher’s Professionalism

A teacher’s professionalism is based on their unique competencies and skills in teaching science. High professionalism reflects their commitment to improving professional quality through various methods and strategies. Creativity in learning is essential for the teaching and learning process, covering cognitive, psychomotor, and affective aspects. Teachers must use appropriate media in learning to stimulate students’ thoughts, feelings, attention, and interest. In Lubuk Besar District, Central Bangka Regency, there is a lack of media and educational teaching aids, with many teachers lacking degrees and arriving late. Less varied teaching methods and an old learning paradigm result in passive knowledge delivery. This research focuses on Tk/Paud teachers in Lubuk Besar District, Central Bangka Regency, using quantitative research with a descriptive approach. The results show that learning media has a partial and significant effect on teacher professionalism, with a t value of 17.227 and a significance level of 0.000. Teacher competency also has a partial and significant effect on teacher professionalism, with a t value of 3.970 and a significance level of 0.000. In conclusion, learning media and teacher competency have a simultaneous and significant effect on teacher professionalism, with a t value of 17.227 and a significance level of 0.000.

Selective Memory Recursive Least Squares: Recast Forgetting Into Memory in RBF Neural Network-Based Real-Time Learning.

In radial basis function neural network (RBFNN)-based real-time learning tasks, forgetting mechanisms are widely used such that the neural network can keep its sensitivity to new data. However, with forgetting mechanisms, some useful knowledge will get lost simply because they are learned a long time ago, which we refer to as the passive knowledge forgetting phenomenon. To address this problem, this article proposes a real-time training method named selective memory recursive least squares (SMRLS) in which the classical forgetting mechanisms are recast into a memory mechanism. Different from the forgetting mechanism, which mainly evaluates the importance of samples according to the time when samples are collected, the memory mechanism evaluates the importance of samples through both temporal and spatial distribution of samples. With SMRLS, the input space of the RBFNN is evenly divided into a finite number of partitions, and a synthesized objective function is developed using synthesized samples from each partition. In addition to the current approximation error, the neural network also updates its weights according to the recorded data from the partition being visited. Compared with classical training methods including the forgetting factor recursive least squares (FFRLS) and stochastic gradient descent (SGD) methods, SMRLS achieves improved learning speed and generalization capability, which are demonstrated by corresponding simulation results.

Implementation of the Bamboo Dancing Learning Model to Enhance Learning Outcomes of Grade V Students in Akidah Akhlak Subject at MI Nurussalam Ngawi

Akidah Akhlak, a subject in Islamic religious education at MI Nurussalam, often presents challenges in student engagement due to its perceived monotony. In this study, the Bamboo Dancing learning model was implemented to address this issue, aiming to foster teamwork, concentration, communication among peers, and cognitive development. Students formed groups and moved in a clockwise manner while posing questions to their peers, enhancing their learning experience. The choice of the Bamboo Dancing learning model for the Akidah Akhlak subject was intentional, as it aimed to inject enthusiasm and interactivity into the learning process, which typically involves passive knowledge transfer from teacher to student. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of this model in improving students' learning outcomes. Classroom Action Research (CAR) was employed as the research methodology. Results from the first cycle showed that 60% of students scored above 60, which increased to 80% in the second cycle. This indicates that the Bamboo Dancing learning model effectively enhances students' engagement and overall learning outcomes.

Virtual reality technology in the field of education

Virtual Reality (VR), the technology has been around for years, are now developing rapidly since 2010s, VR game facilities can often be seen in shopping malls and the conception. Metaverse are now mentioned and are put into practise. Moreover, from word-of-mouth through books, blackboards, and ultimately multimedia, the educational approach has consistently developed. But in the process of practice, it has been proved that conventional education is predicated on teacher-cantered instruction, and students frequently wind up being passive knowledge carriers who are unable to fully acquire, interpret, and apply knowledge. In this paper, the new form of education which combined with VR technology will be discussed, and the analysis of positive effect of applying VR on education will be find out. The education of VR is divided into three parts to discuss, school safety education, subject education and vocational education. This paper will conduct a targeted analysis based on the respective attributes of these three types of education. With the knowledge of VR on education, people can carry out more in-depth cooperation and development on future VR and education based on these advantages.

Using a Variety of Interactive Learning Methods to Improve Learning Effectiveness: Insights from AI Models Based on Teaching Surveys

The last decade has brought far-reaching changes in higher education, leading institutions to shift some or all instruction online. This shift to distance learning has contributed to a more significant need for active learning: changing students from passive knowledge consumers into proactive knowledge producers using interactive teaching practices. The present study joins an emerging body of literature examining the relationship between active learning, the online environment, and students’ performance. In this study, we examined the effect of four interactive learning methods (combined with technology) on students’ overall assessments of the class, the clarity of the teaching, and the perceived effectiveness of online distance learning. The data source for the research is teaching evaluation surveys filled out by undergraduate and master’s students. In total, we analyzed ~30,000 surveys completed by ~4,800 students from 23 departments, covering 1,265 classes taught by 385 lecturers. We used both classic statistical and AI-based methods. Our findings suggest associations between high use of interactive learning methods and higher student evaluation scores, higher perceived effectiveness of distance learning, and clearer course teaching. A more interesting finding indicates that not only the extent of use, but also use of a variety of interactive learning methods significantly affects the perceived clarity of teaching and learning effectiveness. Based on the findings, we recommend that academic staff integrate a variety of interactive teaching methods, and especially short knowledge tests, in their courses (both online and frontal). Beyond these results, the prediction model we built can be used to examine what mix of different interactive learning methods might improve students’ evaluations of any given course.

How Chinese Teachers and Learners Realize Role Change in the Background of Artificial Intelligence

The integration of artificial intelligence technology and education has brought great opportunities and major challenges to international Chinese education. As the main body in the process of international Chinese education and teaching activities, the role of Chinese teachers and learners is also changing quietly. Chinese teachers have changed from traditional knowledge teaching to guides of learning resources and knowledge accumulation to technology application and learning process managers to companions of students' growth. Students from passive knowledge recipients to active participants and learners, the audience into the teaching process of innovators and explorers, independent inquiry into cooperation, to realize their role change, Chinese teachers need to master the relevant intelligent knowledge and technology, and timely adjust the teaching strategies and methods, learners should have good learning motivation and information processing ability, subjective initiative, active use of artificial intelligence technology auxiliary learning, so as to obtain Chinese knowledge to improve Chinese expression ability.

Ethnobotanical research under the COVID-19 pandemic: assessing a remote method for documenting Indigenous plant-related knowledge

Background: In response to the limitations on fieldwork imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we describe and assess a remote method for documenting plant-related knowledge, using smartphones that requires no in-person interaction between an on-site Indigenous community and off-site researchers. Methods: The on-site team identified the Indigenous taxa, created equivalents of photo vouchers, and recorded their names and uses as voice messages using a smartphone, thereby learning about plants from one another. They then sent the data using WhatsApp messages to the off-site team, who identified the botanical names of the taxa, and analyzed the plant-related knowledge. Results: We assess the remote, collaborative, and transdisciplinary quality of the method, factoring in communication, audiovisual documentation, species identification, knowledge exchange, logistics, and ethics. Despite the problems we experienced with identifying taxa growing in high forest and translation issues that complicated the documentation of plant uses, the method was on the whole a success. It allowed the on-site team to activate their passive knowledge of their language and share their knowledge with their relatives. The off-site team identified 57% of the recorded 54 taxa to species level and documented their names and uses as primary audio data, which keep on enhancing the quality of the documentation. Conclusions: Smartphones can be used as research tools during periods of restricted physical access, but also to extend research beyond the fleeting field visits and to elevate the empirical standard of ethnobotany when it comes to language data. We see such remote research solutions not as replacements for in-person collaborations, but as valid and dynamically evolving research methods in their own right. Keywords: smartphones, empiricism, photo vouchers, Taruma, Wapichan, Guyana

The Nexus Among Transformational Leadership and Firm Performance: Testing the Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the mediating roles of active and passive knowledge sharing (KS) in the relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and specific aspects of firm performance namely operational and financial performance. The paper used Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to investigate the influence of TL and knowledge sharing (KS) on aspects of firm performance using data from a survey of 235 manufacturers and suppliers in Vietnam. The empirical findings show the significant and positive influence of TL, and KS activities in supply chain networks on firm performance. It highlighted the key role of active and passive KS in linking the effect of TL on firm’s operational and financial performance. Especially, this study reveals that TL has a greater effect on financial performance compared to its effects on operational performance. Especially, active KS has a greater effect on both firm’s operational and financial performance compared to the influence of passive KS. The paper has extended the theory of leadership, knowledge management and organizational performance by clarifying the critical roles of TL practice and processes of KS in the supply chain in improving firm’s operational and financial performance.

University female students' perception and prospective practice of female genital mutilation in Umudike, Southeast Nigeria.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) under the guise of female circumcision is still practiced across wider communities in Nigeria despite various dangers associated with it and several efforts to curtail the practice. This study investigated the prevalence of and personal disposition towards female genital mutilation in 345 university undergraduate students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), South east Nigeria using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The major inclusion criteria for the face-to-face interview were being a female student of MOUAU and consented approval. Associations between various variable were tested with Chi square and statistical significance was established at P < 0.05. There was no association (P = 0.165) between place of birth and circumcision status, whereas state of circumcision had a significant association (P = 0.00001) with willingness to carry out circumcision in daughter in the future. Also, the belief that non-circumcised girls are prone to prone to promiscuity in adulthood had a significant (P = 0.00001) association with prospective circumcision of daughters. The prevalence of circumcision is high in this population (30.1%) with a reasonable number (16.8%) seeing no ills in the practice and expressed willingness to sustain it. Therefore, a strategy to curtail this practice has to focus on creating awareness at correcting this misconception as a learning theme at the tertiary level of education system rather than an assumption of passive knowledge. Further studies involving many universities in the study area and South-eastern Nigeria in particular are suggested to validate the results of this study.

Embodiment in directive sequences: The case of triadic interactions in a Polish-English bilingual family

Aims: This study provides a multimodal conversation analytic account of directive sequences used in the presence of a child aged 1;8-2;4 growing up in an English-dominant environment and acquiring Polish as a heritage language. Design: The video recorded data are drawn from naturally occurring interactions, in which the child is present when one caregiver produces a directive turn (request, proposal, or suggestion) and another one carries it out in an embodied fashion. Analysis: The analysis focuses on the sequential unfolding of the triadic interactions, the two adults’ and child’s verbal turns, gaze direction, manual actions, and handling of objects. Findings: Although the child is not always verbally active in the directive sequences, she observes them and sometimes takes part, either through bodily actions or verbal utterances. The multimodal analysis also shows that even if the child’s verbal activity might indicate understanding a prior turn and responding to it, the child may not actually be orienting to the conversation. Observing adults carrying out heritage language directive sequences is only possible when the child is interacting with two speakers of her heritage language, or a speaker of that language and a person who has some passive knowledge of it. Seeing adults’ mutual social actions offers the child a social environment, in which she can get a rich linguistic model and also observe the benefits of using the heritage language in everyday interactional situations. Originality: This is the first study to offer a multimodal conversation analysis of directive sequences in which one adult produces the directive and another adult responds to it in the presence of a child acquiring a heritage language.

Languaging dynamics in interactive lecturing: exploring an embodied approach to deep learning in L2 higher education contexts

ABSTRACT The present study aims to explore an embodied approach to students’ deep learning; specifically, how deep learning is interactively achieved through teachers’ languaging dynamics and multimodal representations in interactive lecturing in L2 higher education (HE) contexts. The purpose is to understand how an instructor’s embodied and multimodal pedagogical practices of interactive teaching facilitate students’ active classroom engagement in lecture sessions that are often considered a form of passive knowledge transmission. The case study focuses on the languaging dynamics mobilised by the target teacher participant, who has been recognised as a representative of teaching excellence due to an international background and rich localised teaching experience. Aligned with the theoretical underpinnings of an embodied approach to learning from a constructivist perspective, this study focuses on the multimodal repertoire employed by the teacher’s use of gestures to stimulate students’ responses to the pedagogically designed high-order questions. We argue that this complementarity encourages thinking and active learning in the knowledge transfer. Further, this embodied interactive teaching mode with the affordances of gestures not only supports learning potential for information transmission but also affords action potentials for cognitive thinking and projected interaction for knowledge transformation in the active learning process.

Народная этимология наименований целебных трав в Тешинской Силизии: очерк современного состояния

Folk etymology is an interesting source of the information for understanding the world view by users of the language. It can be assumed that the conception of nomination, e.g. the names of medical plants would follow the changes in the society. The questionnaire survey conducted across three generations of contemporary users of the regional dialect in 13 villages all over the Těšín Silesia explored active and passive knowledge of dialectic names of the medical plants and their etymology. The survey has shown that contemporary speakers of the language are no longer aware of mythological justification in those names. They find motivation for naming mainly in the effect or use of the herb, or in its external resemblance to objects or animals, etc. Today's inhabitants of the whole Těšín Silesia region are already largely free from the traditional mythological perception of the world. If they know it, they perceive it with great reserve as part of an outdated tradition, but no longer as a valid part of reality they experience. We find that the active and passive knowledge of folk names of medicinal plants, as well as the mythological background associated with formerly commonly used names, was irretrievably lost in Těšín Silesia under the influence of education, lifestyle changes, industrialization, and urbanization of the environment during the 20th century.

Pioneers in Dermatology and Venereology: An Interview with Professor Danilo V. Stevanovic.

Pioneers in Dermatology and Venereology: An Interview with Professor Danilo V. Stevanovic.

Co-creation of knowledge in agroecology

The co-creation of knowledge is gaining recognition and use within the science, practice, and movement of agroecology. Knowledge co-creation fosters participatory learning and development, which differs from passive knowledge sharing. This approach can bridge the real and perceived gaps across diverse forms of knowledge, including what is often distinguished as farmers’ traditional, Indigenous, tacit, or local knowledge and experts’ scientific, western, or generalizable knowledge. Formal academic documentation of processes and outcomes related to knowledge co-creation is limited; therefore, we bring in examples of published research, drawing from fields of agroecology, participatory action research, and science and technology studies, along with a firsthand farmer perspective on co-creation. Combined, these frameworks offer insight into the potential benefits of knowledge co-creation in agroecology. Many of these challenges, such as navigating power dynamics, may be addressed through mindful research and community practices, including strong communication and transparent expectations and goals. Co-creation processes have traditionally and continually taken place between farmers and throughout communities without academic acknowledgment and/or interpretation of such. We reinstate the invaluable role of farmer-centered inquiry, understanding, and application, which offer benefits to individual farmers and their extended communities of practice and research, in addition to holding spiritual and cultural significance. The co-creation of knowledge in agroecology presents a compelling, adaptive approach and outcome for the increasingly complex challenges facing farmers and the agrifood system.

Eyes Toward Tomorrow Program Enhancing Collaboration, Connections, and Community Using Bioinspired Design.

The goal of our Eyes Toward Tomorrow Program is to enrich the future workforce with STEM by providing students with an early, inspirational, interdisciplinary experience fostering inclusive excellence. We attempt to open the eyes of students who never realized how much their voice is urgently needed by providing an opportunity for involvement, imagination, invention, and innovation. Students see how what they are learning, designing, and building matters to their own life, community, and society. Our program embodies convergence by obliterating artificially created, disciplinary boundaries to go far beyond STEM or even STEAM by including artists, designers, social scientists, and entrepreneurs collaborating in diverse teams using scientific discoveries to create inventions that could shape our future. Our program connects two recent revolutions by amplifying Bioinspired Design with the Maker Movement and its democratizing effects empowering anyone to innovate and change the world. Our course is founded in original discovery. We explain the process of biological discovery and the importance of scaling, constraints, and complexity in selecting systems for bioinspired design. By spotlighting scientific writing and publishing, students become more science literate, learn how to decompose a biology research paper, extract the principles, and then propose a novel design by analogy. Using careful, early scaffolding of individual design efforts, students build the confidence to interact in teams. Team building exercises increase self-efficacy and reveal the advantages of a diverse set of minds. Final team video and poster project designs are presented in a public showcase. Our program forms a student-centered creative action community comprised of a large-scale course, student-led classes, and a student-created university organization. The program structure facilitates a community of learners that shifts the students' role from passive knowledge recipients to active co-constructors of knowledge being responsible for their own learning, discovery, and inventions. Students build their own shared database of discoveries, classes, organizations, research openings, internships, and public service options. Students find next step opportunities so they can see future careers. Description of our program here provides the necessary context for our future publications on assessment that examine 21st century skills, persistence in STEM, and creativity.

“Blackness is not just a single definition”: multimodal composition as an exercise for surfacing and scaffolding student theorizing in a Black Studies classroom

PurposeThis study aims to investigate multimodal composition as an exercise or tool for teaching students theory building. To illustrate, an analysis of artifacts comprising a student’s multimodal composition, which was created in response to a multipart literacy assignment on theorizing Blackness, is analyzed.Design/methodology/approachAfrocentricity served as both theoretical moor and research methodology. Qualitative case study, focusing on the case of an individual student, was the research method used.FindingsMultimodal composition was an effective exercise for surfacing the multidimensionality of a student’s complex knowledge while simultaneously placing the student in the powerful position of theorist. The process of composing multimodally integrated reading, writing and speaking skills while revealing the focal student’s need for targeted writing intervention.Practical implicationsThe study evidences multimodal composition as a useful exercise for capturing students’ nuanced interpretations or students’ critical theorizing as well as meaningfully incorporating and assessing students’ literacy skills.Originality/valueExposure to preexisting theory alone relegates students to the realm of passive knowledge consumers. This undermines the emancipatory and justice-oriented objectives of critical education, which ideally contributes to social change by challenging dominant power structures and distorted perspectives of marginalized persons. To be empowered agentic learners, students need to be both taught how to theorize and engaged as theorists. This study shows how multimodal composition can be used as a liberatory literacy tool for those intertwined pedagogical purposes.

INTEGRATING QUIZLET INTO AVIATION ENGLISH COURSE

The research aims to study and experimentally verify the effectiveness of the use of the Quizlet computer-based flashcard program for teaching future air traffic controllers (ATCs) profession-related vocabulary. In this research, we applied a mixed-method research design. The sample of the experiment participants was 57 first-year students majoring in “Aviation transport”. To evaluate the efficiency of Quizlet incorporation into aviation English learning, we used tests, speaking activities, observations, and questionnaires (the former two to assess passive and active vocabulary knowledge and the latter to evaluate the students` engagement and motivation). The empirical data proved Quizlet to be an effective vocabulary learning tool that positively influences students` proficiency in speaking skills and interest in learning aviation English. Based on the obtained findings, we claim vocabulary acquisition to be the basis for foreign language learners` general language proficiency contributing to the development of voice communication skills. An important conclusion is made on the need to include in aviation English courses the intentional vocabulary learning component implying explicit vocabulary teaching, which then should be complemented with speaking practice and incidental vocabulary acquisition techniques. The research findings can be implied in aviation English and foreign language teaching presenting an experimental verification of computer-based flashcard program efficiency in the language learning process.

Application of the ontology of the choice of selection to describe the processes of interaction of subjects of military communication management

The ways of improving the mechanisms of information and analytical support of the command control system in the state of emergency are analyzed. The approach to the application of the ontology of the choice problem for decision-making in the field of law enforcement management using the procedure of integration of information resources based on the binary partial order relation is used. The purpose of the article is to increase the efficiency of decision-making in the management system of the military command in a state of emergency by applying the ontology of the choice problem based on a set of semantically significant results. Results of the research. Analysis and processing of large arrays of information in the field of military command management in a state of emergency should be carried out in an automated mode on the basis of a distributed software environment based on the principles of ontologies. Ontological systems, as a result of the inverse mapping of natural systems, provide the correct aggregation of various thematic processes through the formation of a structured set of information objects-concepts of the subject area, which are defined as a single type of data. The ontological representation of the contexts of units-concepts provides their integrated use in the process of solving complex tasks by the governing bodies of the command in a state of emergency. One of the constructive ways to integrate information resources as passive knowledge systems is to activate their concepts based on the process of forming thematic ontologies and combining these ontologies by building an ontology of the choice problem over them. The uniqueness of the ontology of the choice problem to any homotopy type allows to build the procedure of integration of information resources on the basis of a binary partial order relation. The partial order relation allows to reflect in an integrated way interaction of contexts of the notion-concepts defining subjects of information resources. The contradiction between the increase in the amount of information needed for decision-making in the field of management of interdepartmental critical systems and the constant requirement to reduce the time for its processing in the information-analytical systems has been resolved.