Real Classroom Settings Research Articles

From Knowing-About To Knowing-To: Development Of Engineering Pedagogical Content Knowledge By Elementary Teachers Through Perceived Learning And Implementing Difficulties

The present study sought to reveal how elementary teachers develop their engineering pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) after leaving professional development programs to practice engineering teaching in real classroom settings. Participants of this study were the elementary teachers who received one-week training of engineering education provided by EfF (a P-12 Engineering teaching and learning institute in a Midwestern university). Data of this study were collected from these elementary teachers through face-to-face interviews and an online open-ended survey. Based on a phenomenological research method and a constructivist ELC (engineering instruction, learners, and contexts) framework developed by the researchers to investigate engineering PCK development, this study explored the elementary teachers’ lived engineering teaching experiences following the procedures of inductive qualitative data analysis. Findings yielded in this study revealed that the elementary teachers developed their knowledge about engineering teaching and learning situations through their engineering teaching practice. But such knowledge was the knowledge of knowing-about and it did not automatically transfer into the elementary teachers’ engineering PCK or knowing-to knowledge allowing them to act effectively and responsively to engineering teaching and learning situations at hand. In their engineering teaching practice, the elementary teachers engaged themselves in a dynamic and evolving trial-failure-success process. It was in this process that the elementary teachers made sense of new engineering teaching and learning situations and transformed their knowing-about into engineering PCK responsive to these situations.

Development and Validation of an Argumentation based Multimedia Science Learning Environment: Preliminary Findings

Technology based settings have variety of assets and possibilities for learning elementary level science. This study has designed and developed a computer based environment, Argümantaryum. It provides virtual experiment facilities, visually rich multi representations of contents, video and simulations at which students may base their arguments and learn some elementary level science units. It has also a built-in discussion forum and an instant messaging component both contain argumentation sentence-openers. Following the implementation, the system was tested in real classroom settings under different study schemes for different learning units. When the system is used in the mode of a peer collaboration supported by a teacher (compared to individual use without a teacher support), it helps students to make progress in terms of both scientific discussion skills and knowledge of the learning units accommodated in the platform. Though, similar results were obtained when the same usage scheme is followed for another learning unit, we could not entirely confirm the previous finding. Further, the system performance in supporting collaborative work with teacher guidance was compared to lecture based learning. Although both collaborative use of the system under teacher guidance and the lecture based activities significantly helped their students to develop knowledge of the learning unit, the lecture based activities helped to develop better scientific discussion skills. The students who used the system individually without teacher guidance could not benefit from the system as much as collaborative groups who also received teacher guidance. Finally, the report provides a discussion and a set of recommendations on how to further test the platform facilities.

Bender – A General-Purpose Social Robot with Human-Robot Interaction Abilities

The main goal of this article is to describe Bender, a general-purpose social robot with human--robot interaction capabilities, and to report and analyze its applicability in three different natural environments: (i) home settings, (ii) school classrooms, and (iii) public places. Evaluation of the robot's performance is based on its ability to detect and identify humans in those settings, its ability to express emotions, and its ability to interact naturally with humans. The obtained results, although preliminary, indicate that the robot has great acceptance from expert and non-expert human users alike, and that it is able to interact successfully with humans using human-like interaction mechanisms, such as speech and visual cues (particularly facial information). It is remarkable that the robot even has the potential to teach children in a real classroom setting. Further experiments will be conducted in order to better assess the robot's potential.

Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Anxieties toward Teaching Mathematics in Real Classroom Settings

Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Anxieties toward Teaching Mathematics in Real Classroom Settings

Übersetzen als komplexes Problemlösen

AbstractProfessional translation is an excellent example of complex problem-solving processes. Current teaching theory in tertiary education in general and translation teaching in particular has established a systematic competence approach that allows teachers and trainers to apply new methodologies and strategies in translator training. The effectiveness of a competence-based approach has been shown in a number of graduate development statistics. But how can competence-oriented teaching approaches be developed and tested for the real classroom setting as embedded in a specific teaching context (consisting of educational system and institutions, university programme, exam regulations, curriculum and course system, target group and personalities, etc.)?This paper presents the results of an experiment testing such an adapted sub-competence-oriented teaching approach in the BA Translation programme at IALT (University of Leipzig). It compares two groups of students in an introductory course on LSP translation; one group is taught according to an established methodology and one group is taught using a sub-competence-oriented methodology. The paper presents observations on teaching methods, student motivation and activity, and analyses their test results at the end of the semester. The competence-oriented group showed slightly better results, validating the teaching method in principle. However, the experiment has certain limitations and the results will have to be re-obtained to clarify these. The experiment can be used as a basis for developing further methods for testing the applicability of the competence approach and for exploring different approaches for different educational settings.

A Semantic Web-based authoring tool to facilitate the planning of collaborative learning scenarios compliant with learning theories

When the goal of group activities is to support long-term learning, the task of designing well-thought-out collaborative learning (CL) scenarios is an important key to success. To help students adequately acquire and develop their knowledge and skills, a teacher can plan a scenario that increases the probability for learning to occur. Such a scenario defines pedagogically sound structures that prevent off-task behavior and engage students in more meaningful interactions. The main difficulty in designing effective CL scenarios is transforming the teacher's intentions into elements that constitute the learning scenario. This problem is frequently observed when novice teachers attempt to improve the quality of learning and instruction by blending collaborative activities with individual activities without careful planning. With the goal of helping teachers in planning collaborative scenarios, we have developed an intelligent authoring tool referred to as CHOCOLATO using Semantic Web technologies (e.g. ontologies) in order to represent knowledge about different pedagogies and practices related to collaboration. Through the use of this knowledge, CHOCOLATO can provide intelligent guidance that helps teachers to create theory-based CL scenarios which has proven to be effective in a variety of situations. We evaluated it by conducting two experiments. We were interested in verifying whether the recommendations given by CHOCOLATO help novice teachers to design pedagogically sound CL activities, and if these activities help students to learn collaboratively in real classroom settings. The first experiment had the participation of 58 pre-service teachers that created CL scenarios with and without our authoring tool and the second experiment was carried out in a Brazilian public school together with 218 students. The results suggest that the guidance provided by CHOCOLATO do help novice teachers plan, understand and share CL scenarios more easily. They also suggest that the continuous utilization of well-designed theory-based CL activities create favorable conditions for students (particularly less knowledgeable ones) to improve their overall performance throughout the school year.

A cross-national comparison of test anxiety in Swedish and Finnish grade 3 pupils: Measured by the CTAS

The education systems in Sweden and Finland have different formal and informal testing traditions. A recognised possible adverse effect of testing is test anxiety among pupils and students which may have a negative impact on examination performance. Research into which factors of testing practice affect the levels of test anxiety in younger pupils in real classroom settings is a neglected area internationally yet holds great importance for school practitioners. A cross-national study was conducted to determine whether there are any differences in test anxiety between groups of young pupils in Sweden and Finland, as measured by the Children’s Test Anxiety Scale (the CTAS), and whether these differences are ‘real’ differences or a result of differential item functioning. The dimensionality of the CTAS construct is further examined. Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyse the data obtained. Partial measurement invariance with respect to nationality and gender was achieved, demonstrating that the CTAS accurately measures latent constructs such as thoughts, autonomic reactions and off-task behaviours in boys and girls, and Swedish and Finnish pupils. No differences were found in the levels of test anxiety experienced by Swedish and Finnish pupils. Girls reported higher levels of autonomic reactions related to test anxiety, but no gender differences in thoughts and off-task behaviours were identified. Methodological limitations and the future implications of the results obtained are discussed.

Developing a Reading Concentration Monitoring System by Applying an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm to E-Books in an Intelligent Classroom

A growing number of educational studies apply sensors to improve student learning in real classroom settings. However, how can sensors be integrated into classrooms to help instructors find out students' reading concentration rates and thus better increase learning effectiveness? The aim of the current study was to develop a reading concentration monitoring system for use with e-books in an intelligent classroom and to help instructors find out the students' reading concentration rates. The proposed system uses three types of sensor technologies, namely a webcam, heartbeat sensor, and blood oxygen sensor to detect the learning behaviors of students by capturing various physiological signals. An artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization approach is applied to the data gathered from these sensors to help instructors understand their students' reading concentration rates in a classroom learning environment. The results show that the use of the ABC algorithm in the proposed system can effectively obtain near-optimal solutions. The system has a user-friendly graphical interface, making it easy for instructors to clearly understand the reading status of their students.

Supporting students’ strategic competence: a case of a sixth-grade mathematics classroom

Mathematics education research has documented several classroom practices that might influence student self-regulation. We know little, however, about the ways these classroom practices could be structured in real classroom settings. In this exploratory case study, we purposefully selected a sixth-grade mathematics teacher who had participated in a professional development program focussed on NCTM standards and SRL in the mathematics classroom for extensive classroom observation. The purpose was to explore how and to what extend she structured classroom practices to support strategic competence in her students. Four features of classroom practices were found as evidence for how strategic competence was potentially supported in this classroom: (a) allowing autonomy and shared responsibility during the early stages of learning, (b) focusing on student understanding, (c) creating contexts for students to learn about strategic learning and to exercise strategic behaviour, and (d) helping students to personalise strategies by recognising their ideas and strategic behaviours.

Exploring the educational beliefs of primary education student teachers in the Chinese context

Teacher educational beliefs may be largely shaped by culturally shared learning experiences and social values. The main purpose of this study is to explore educational beliefs of Chinese student teachers. An adapted version of the Teacher Beliefs Scale (TBS)—developed in a Western context (Woolley et al. in Educational and Psychological Measurement, 64: 319–331, 2004)—was validated in this study, and the profiles of student teacher educational beliefs were analyzed. The research participants consisted of 727 Chinese student teachers from four different teacher education universities. A factor analysis of the Chinese version of the TBS supported the dimensions of the original instrument, but some items had to be discarded to less consistent factor loading. The ANOVA results showed that there were significant differences in constructivist teaching beliefs with respect to gender, study year, and majoring subjects. But no significant differences in the adherence to traditional teaching beliefs were observed. The results also show that the first year student teachers hold stronger constructivist beliefs as compared to senior student teachers. This can be linked to the latter larger teaching and learning experiences in real classroom settings. Implications are drawn for further research in teacher education contexts.

An interactive whiteboard student survey: Development, validity and reliability

The interactive whiteboard (IWB) has become a popular technology for instructors over the last decade. Though research asserts that the IWBs facilitate learning in different ways, there is a lack of studies examining actual IWB use in classroom settings based on learners' perspectives by means of valid instruments. The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable interactive whiteboard student survey in order to evaluate the IWB use based on perceptions of students who have been taught with IWBs. In establishing the theoretical base of the survey, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and constructivist learning theories were considered. In addition, with respect to IWB use in classrooms, a number of studies emanated from countries such as the UK, the USA, and Australia were examined, and similar research questionnaires and findings and also reflections of students about IWBs were utilized to create an item pool. A 39-item survey was conducted among middle school students (N = 263) from the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Collected data was exposed to exploratory factor analysis and resulted in a 26-item, three-factor survey, whose factors were named as the perceived efficiency of IWB, perceived learning contribution and motivation, and the perceived negative effects of IWB. The results of the analyses illustrated that this new IWB student scale, which explains 50% of the total variance with a good level of Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (0.93) is a valid and reliable instrument designed specifically for measuring the use of IWBs in real classroom settings. Besides, theoretical foundations of interactive whiteboard use, the development process of the instrument, and results of validity and reliability analyses were discussed in detail.

An evaluation study of the use of a cognitive tool in a one-to-one classroom for promoting classroom-based dialogic interaction

An evaluation study was conducted to investigate the effect of the use of a computer-supported cognitive tool (CT) in the one-to-one classroom setting on student engagement, attainment and perceptions in learning common fractions. Two Primary 4 classes with 68 students participated in this study based on 11 teaching sessions lasting 455 min in total. The students in the experimental group learned the target topic with the use of CT in a one-to-one classroom, while the students in the control group learned the target topic under the traditional teaching approach. The results of a time allocation analysis showed that the use of CT in a one-to-one classroom enhanced student engagement in terms of time-on-task for learning exploration during class time. The results of the post-attainment test indicated that students in the experimental group performed better than those in the control group. Moreover, the questionnaire survey results indicated that students liked to learn the target topic with the use of CT in a one-to-one classroom. This study reveals the potential of the use of CT in a one-to-one classroom to promote classroom-based dialogic interaction in mathematics lessons. It also implies a need for a longitudinal study to investigate suitable pedagogical designs for the use of CT for promoting knowledge transfer in learning challenging mathematics topics. ► This study aimed at promoting mathematics learning through understanding. ► A learning environment was created to enhance student engagement in learning. ► A computer-supported cognitive tool was used in the one-to-one classroom setting. ► Impact of the learning environment was evaluated in the real classroom setting. ► This study laid a foundation for promoting classroom-based dialogic interaction.

Perceptions of Texas Public School Superintendents Regarding Online Teacher Education

This study examined Texas public school administrator perceptions of online teacher education. Of primary concern were superintendent perceptions of online teacher education as it exists today. Data for the study were collected through the use of a survey questionnaire. The survey consisted of nine items where participants were asked to respond to a Likert scale format and one open-ended question in which respondents were asked to provide comments or suggestions regarding online teacher education. The researcher used regular and electronic mail to survey a random sample of one-hundred-fifty public school superintendents in the state of Texas. Seventy-two superintendents responded to the survey which represented a response rate of forty -seven percent. Based on the limitations of the study the following conclusions were made: Superintendents within the state of Texas apparently had negative opinions and perceptions regarding the use of online courses to train future teachers. A large majority of the superintendents did not fully agree that online courses or programs would fully prepare future teachers for conditions that would be faced within the public schools. Specific areas such as classroom management and the social aspects of teaching were not viewed as being positive in terms of online preparation. Other areas such as the theories and principles of teaching were viewed in a neutral light by the superintendents. Several of the administrators noted that online courses and programs would not be adequate without an abundance of field experiences and student teaching. Superintendents appeared to be very concerned that many of the teachers prepared online would possibly not endure the rigors of the classroom without having real classroom experience. Several administrators noted that future teachers needed to be taught by mentors in a real classroom setting in order to enhance modeling. Texas public school administrators appear to be open-minded to this new methodology but appear to be unconvinced that it will prepare teachers for the challenges that teachers face. Results agree with earlier results in two different regions of the country.

Detecting stereotypical motor movements in the classroom using accelerometry and pattern recognition algorithms

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) frequently engage in stereotyped and repetitive motor movements. Automatically detecting these movements using comfortable, miniature wireless sensors could advance autism research and enable new intervention tools for the classroom that help children and their caregivers monitor, understand, and cope with this potentially problematic class of behavior. We present activity recognition results for stereotypical hand flapping and body rocking using accelerometer data collected wirelessly from six children with ASD repeatedly observed by experts in real classroom settings. An overall recognition accuracy of 88.6% (TP: 0.85; FP: 0.08) was achieved using three sensors. We also present pilot work in which non-experts use software on mobile phones to annotate stereotypical motor movements for classifier training. Preliminary results indicate that non-expert annotations for training can be as effective as expert annotations. Challenges encountered when applying machine learning to this domain, as well as implications for the development of real-time classroom interventions and research tools are discussed.

Impact analysis of the in-service teacher training programmes of the Testing and Evaluation sub-committee of the ELTR Project in Pakistan

The study seeks to explore the perception of the concerned EL teachers (trainees) on the in-service training programmes conducted by the Testing and Evaluation sub-committee of the English Language Teaching Reforms (ELTR) Project of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. The researchers administered a questionnaire to gauge the overall effectiveness of programmes of the target sub-committee. The study brought to light a few gaps between the training objectives and their realization in real classroom settings mainly owing to the problem (of the lack of resources) faced by the trainees at their workplaces. The researchers felt the need for making merit or need-based selections/nominations of the trainees, devising a fool-proof mechanism for the follow-up of the trainees and for providing facilities to the trainees for implementation of the training input. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Assessing changes in performance and monitoring processes in individual and collaborative tests according to students' metacognitive skills

This study assessed students' test performances and metacognitive processes in real classroom settings. Psychology undergraduates were categorised according to their metacognitive skills (high vs. low) and had their test performances and monitoring processes in two different types of tests (multiple-choice and short-answer tests) compared in individual and collaborative test conditions. Students' test preparation practices, attributions, and regulatory processes during test-taking were also compared by using open-ended questions. In the collaborative tests, three types of metacognitive pairings were made (high/high vs. high/low vs. low/low). Results showed that: (1) in individual tests, high-metacognitive students presented better performance and higher confidence levels due to their more effective test preparation practices and regulatory skills; (2) Differences in performance and confidence levels due to metacognitive skills disappear when students take tests collaboratively; (3) Over time, collaborative testing had particular positive effects on the low/low metacognitive pairings. Results are discussed focusing on their educational implications.

The Teaching Brain

Animals cannot teach as humans do. Therefore, we lack the experimental support of animal studies that are so important to understand the evolution of our basic learning skills but are useless to explore the development of the teaching skills, unique to humans. And most important: children teach! We have at least two new challenges in our Mind, Brain, and Education program regarding the teaching brain. First, to implement new methods to process online the way children teach in the digital environment since the first grade of schooling with the help of computers. Second, we may also explore the teaching brain of children and adults, with the help of wearable brain image technologies in a real classroom setting. Both projects may interact in a dynamic way in neuroeducation.

Investigating development of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge through a school practicum course

This study investigates pre-service elementary mathematics teachers’ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through a school practicum course. Four components of PCK were determined and used for the design of the school practicum course. A case study was designed to investigate two pre-service teachers’ PCK development with regard to number patterns. Data indicated that observations in real classroom settings and discussions of these observations resulted in considerable improvement in pre-service teachers’ PCK especially with regard to the knowledge of student difficulties.

Confidence judgments in real classroom settings: Monitoring performance in different types of tests

During testing, students have a valuable opportunity to exercise and improve their self-regulatory skills. However, the extent to which they profit from those experiences may vary according to some personal, test-related, and environmental factors. This study investigated the effects of metacognitive skills and test types on students' test performances, confidence judgments, and on the accuracy of those judgments. A sample of 129 psychology undergraduate students (50 men and 79 women, mean age = 18.9 years) were categorized according to their metacognitive skills (high vs average vs low) and had their test performances and monitoring processes in two different types of tests (i.e., multiple-choice and short-answer tests) compared throughout one academic term. Their test preparation practices, along with their attributional and regulatory processes during test-taking, were also compared by using open-ended questions. The results showed that: (1) high-metacognitive students presented more effective test preparation practices, better test performances, and superior attributional, regulatory, and monitoring processes than their counterparts; (2) differences in performance and judgment accuracy were significantly larger in the short-answer tests than in the multiple-choice tests; and (3) over time, students' performances and confidence levels varied in specific patterns according to the type of test being taken. The results are discussed, focusing on the educational implications of the interactions observed and on how they may determine what students can learn from test-taking experiences. In addition, based on the results obtained, specific suggestions on how to increase the metacognitive awareness of university students through instruction and on how to improve their academic assessment are provided.

Retina

It is difficult for instructors of CS1 and CS2 courses to get accurate answers to such critical questions as "how long are students spending on programming assignments?", or "what sorts of errors are they making?" At the same time, students often have no idea of where they stand with respect to the rest of the class in terms of time spent on an assignment or the number or types of errors that they encounter. In this paper, we present a tool called Retina , which collects information about students' programming activities, and then provides useful and informative reports to both students and instructors based on the aggregation of that data. Retina can also make real-time recommendations to students, in order to help them quickly address some of the errors they make. In addition to describing Retina and its features, we also present some of our initial findings during two trials of the tool in a real classroom setting.