Educational Strategies Research Articles

Evaluating Educational Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis of Tutoring Institutes and Formal Schools

Background and Aims: A comparative analysis of tutoring institutes and formal schools is essential because it identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each educational setting, guiding improvements in teaching methods and resource allocation. This understanding informs policymakers, educators, and parents about how to improve educational strategies to help students succeed. This paper analyzes the educational outcomes of tutoring institutes and formal schools. Methodology: The methodology effectively combines various data sources and structured analysis tools to compare educational outcomes in tutoring institutes and formal schools. By combining detailed document reviews and thematic analysis, the study provides a thorough understanding of how these educational settings compare to one another. Results: the finding found that the comparative analysis demonstrates that formal schools provide a broad, structured educational framework, whereas tutoring institutes provide personalized support that improves individual academic outcomes. Formal schools benefit from a comprehensive curriculum and standardized assessments, but they may lack flexibility in meeting specific needs. Tutoring, on the other hand, excels at personalized instruction and immediate feedback, even though it can increase costs and stress for students and families. Conclusion: The findings show that formal schools provide a broad, structured education, whereas tutoring institutes provide tailored support that improves individual academic performance. Although formal schools provide a consistent curriculum, tutoring's personalized approach, despite the potential for additional costs and stress, frequently results in more targeted outcomes.

Dissecting neuromyths in education: an analysis of educators, students, and parents in Taiwan

ABSTRACT The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations (SANE) causes individuals tend to believe in information that claims to have support from neuroscience evidence, even when such information does not provide explicit sources of evidence. Consequently, citizens may harbour a significant proportion of neuromyths, which could potentially lead to behavioural biases. The present study explored neuromyths and their origins among preservice teachers, in-service teachers, students, and students’ parents. In addition, this study analyzed correlations among participants’ age, belief in neuromyths, their understanding of neuroscience, attitudes toward neuroscience, and intention toward the choice of educational strategy. Both neuromyths and attitudes toward neuroscience were associated with behavioural intention. Efforts should be made to enhance citizens’ neuroscience literacy, promote positive attitudes toward neuroscience, and foster media literacy through both formal and informal education. This will enable individuals to critically assess information from various media platforms.

Enhancing combat readiness via evidence-based pedagogical innovations in National Guard of Ukraine officer training

This study examines the effectiveness of innovative pedagogical conditions in enhancing combat readiness among future officers of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU). Utilising a quasi-experimental design, we implemented and evaluated a set of pedagogical interventions integrating recent combat experience into officer training at the Kyiv Institute of the National Guard of Ukraine. The study involved 74 trainee officers divided into experimental (n=35) and control (n=39) groups. Results demonstrated significant improvements in the experimental group across functional, psychological, and reflective components of combat readiness, with increases of 43%, 25%, and 32%, respectively, in high-level readiness. These findings underscore the importance of rapidly integrating field experiences into military education, offering valuable insights for enhancing officer training in dynamic conflict environments. The study contributes to the broader understanding of adaptive military education strategies and provides a framework for implementing evidence-based training reforms in military institutions globally.

A New Method Based on Belief Rule Base with Balanced Accuracy and Interpretability for Student Achievement Prediction

In the field of education, the accurate prediction of students’ future performance is essential for personalized instruction and efficient allocation of resources. Such predictions not only help education professionals develop targeted educational strategies but also identify students’ learning needs at an early stage so that timely interventions and support can be provided. To gain the trust of educational experts and ensure the practical application value of the prediction results, the prediction methods used must be highly interpretable. However, there are two problems with the current belief rule base (BRB) applied to student performance prediction. First, there is a current lack of effective strategies for enhancing the interpretability of the optimization process. Second, BRB models that overemphasize accuracy tend to exhibit characteristics of black-box models. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a new method based on BRB with balanced accuracy and interpretability (BRB-Bai) for student achievement prediction. First, an attribute selection method is proposed to filter out important features associated with student performance. Then, expert knowledge credibility is calculated, and four interpretability strategies are proposed to ensure the interpretability of the model and to achieve a balance between interpretability and accuracy on the basis of expert knowledge credibility. The effectiveness of the proposed model is demonstrated by conducting experiments on the student achievement dataset.

The effect of interprofessional education on the surgical team members' self-efficacy perception of interprofessional communication in the healthcare system.

The current study aimed to assess the effect of interprofessional education on participants' self-efficacy perception of interprofessional communication at different levels of a healthcare system (relationships in the interpersonal, interprofessional, and administration levels). This is a sequential explanatory mixed-method study. Learners include surgical residents, surgical technology nurses, and anesthesia nurses (n = 130) who participated in the intervention and control groups. The quasi-experimental study was conducted in the first step. The educational strategy was interprofessional education and the main teaching method was case-based learning. The self-efficacy perception of the participants was assessed by a 26-item questionnaire before and 1 month after the intervention. The descriptive tests (mean, SD, percentage), student t-tests, and ANOVA were analyzed. The participants' experiences were explored through semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content was analyzed by Lundman and Graneheim's approach. The results showed that the scores of the learners in the intervention group (4.05 ± 0.31) improved significantly compared to the control group (3.35 ± 0.37) (p = 0.0001). In the present study, the experiences of the participants were categorized into a theme "explicit and implicit confrontations with perceived distrust in the system" which includes two categories "failure to internalize professionalism among team members" and "dominance of a paternalistic culture within the health care system". The results showed the positive impact of interprofessional education interventions on participants' self-efficacy perception of interprofessional communication. The results showed that interprofessional education, with the participation of different professionals and managers at different levels of a healthcare system, improved the participants' perception of self-efficacy regarding interprofessional communication. The results showed the improvement in the participants' communication with team members and managers required to solve the perceived explicit and implicit confrontations in the surgical departments. The implementation of an interprofessional education strategy focused on interprofessional professionalism and collaboration principles in clinical activities, formal and informal education in the surgical department is recommended.

Generative AI Applications in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction: Trends, Implications for Practice, Education & Imperatives for Upskilling—A Review

This study investigates the current landscape of generative AI and LLM applications in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), focusing on trends, practical implications, educational strategies, and imperatives for upskilling. Employing a six-stage systematic review sourced from Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science, 120 papers were analyzed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of these technologies in shaping the future of the AEC industry. By addressing these objectives, the research contributes to enhancing knowledge about the potential impacts of generative AI and LLMs on the AEC industry and provides insights into strategies for leveraging these technologies effectively. This study underscores the transformative impact of AI and advanced technologies on the AEC sector and education. By enhancing learning experiences and optimizing construction processes, AI fosters personalized education and efficient project management. The study’s significance lies in its identification of necessary skills and competencies for professionals, ensuring effective AI integration. Implications include the need for continuous professional development, formal education, and practical training to leverage AI’s potential fully. This paves the way for sustainable, intelligent infrastructure and accessible, adaptive learning environments, driving innovation and efficiency in both fields.

A Study of the Application of Educational Psychology to Educational Practice

The application of educational psychology in educational practices aims at enhancing the process of education through integrating psychological concepts with the teaching environment. Such a stance holds the practical relevance of improving the quality of instruction and learning as essential and timely. When these elements are understood, educational strategies can be designed to take into account these different learning profiles and hence enhance the chances of the learning achievement for overall students ability and for the presence of Inclusive Education. These research themes are important as they serve as a guideline in an effort to determine the nature of students learning, the conditions that prompt these changes in learning, and how technology can be incorporated into the learning process. Altogether, in pursuance of the present paper, a literature review and search have been performed, and the focus is on offering realistic recommendations for educators. The study provides a theoretical and empirical foundation for educational practice to help teachers to carry out conclusive teaching strategies. Therefore, sustaining and building this scholarship bridges theory and practice toward achieving progressive educational strategies that are supportive for all students and enhance the overall quality of education. Based on the findings, this study can provide useful recommendations for a range of issues, including the strategies for creating individual learning profiles for learners, the possible ways for dealing with the learning styles, and the guidelines for employing technologies to enhance learning. Furthermore, the paper also underlines the need to effectively update teachers professional experience and knowledge in the sphere of educational psychology.

Reimagining higher education: The impact of learner outcome metrics in Ireland and beyond

AbstractA college is an institution that exists to provide instruction. Subtly but profoundly, we are shifting to a new paradigm: a college is an institution that exists to produce learning (Barr & Tagg, 1995, p. 13). This paper traces the evolution of learner outcomes, from their progeny as a diagnostic tool in accurately measuring learning gains and facilitating institutional self‐improvement, to their present distorted incarnation, in propagating “governance by numbers”. The paper proceeds in a number of steps. Firstly, it begins with a brief contextualization of the topography of higher education. It then moves to explore the OECD influences regarding quantifying outcomes and aligning them with performance metrics. From here, it looks to EU deliberations in the shape of the Bologna Process with its enduring iterations, the purpose of which benchmarks HEIs' (higher education institutions) success against the successful achievement of learner outcomes. To conclude, taking the example of the Irish funding and strategy, Hunt Report (National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030), I provide an explanatory account detailing how this “learning outcomes race” and its association with “success metrics” within the higher education landscape is mistaken and harmful.

Concrete Manifestations of Equity in Education, Using Finland as an Example

With the development of the economy and the times, education equity is receiving increasing attention. Educational equity in China has been gradually developed and improved in the optimization of policies, including the universalization of compulsory education, etc. However, in the context of rapid economic development, the problem of educational resource distribution has increased the difficulty for the complete realization of educational equity. In solving their own problems, they can learn from other countries' excellent education methods and strategies to create various possibilities for their own optimization. Therefore, this paper chooses Finland as a case study of education research, and based on the study of educational equity in Finland, it uses qualitative analysis and literature review to explore the problems China encounters in realizing educational equity. The ideas in this paper can help the government to alleviate the problem of educational inequity and make more people understand educational equity.

Argumentation and Knowledge Construction in Higher Education: A Vygotskian Perspective

Empirical research indicates that the utilization of argumentation as an educational strategy fosters the acquisition of argumentation skills and disciplinary knowledge. Furthermore, there is evidence to show that argumentation skills development mediates the effect of oral argumentation on disciplinary knowledge. However, studies have also shown that argumentation is scarce in higher education and that although lecturers see argumentation as a relevant pedagogical goal, they think that students need to first acquire knowledge in order to develop argumentation skills. Therefore, a crucial pedagogical resource to promote scientific knowledge in higher education is being overlooked. This paper is aimed at shedding light onto argumentation as a key practice in higher education teaching, disputing the idea that to argue, students first need to acquire knowledge. We elaborate further on Vygotsky’s notion of scientific concepts, highlighting their dialectic structure, which accounts for the epistemic potential of argumentation. This paper extends an invitation to higher education lecturers to prompt argumentation in classrooms as a form of disciplinary learning. Limitations and implications are discussed throughout the paper

Podcasts and Informal Learning: Exploring Knowledge Acquisition and Retention

This study explores how podcasts’ accessibility fosters learning, examining listener engagement, content preferences, and the unique educational opportunities they offer. With the rise of digital audio platforms, podcasts have emerged as a significant medium for acquiring knowledge outside formal educational settings. Using an online survey, data were collected from 605 respondents, who were predominantly young and well educated, to understand their podcast listening habits and the extent of informal learning. The study categorizes informal learning into self-directed, incidental, and tacit learning. Results show that more than half of respondents engage in self-directed learning, while a third participate in incidental learning, indicating that podcasts serve as effective tools for intentional and unintentional knowledge acquisition. ANOVA analysis reveals that self-directed learners exhibit higher information retention and critical evaluation skills compared to tacit learners. Additionally, trust in podcast content is significantly higher among educated listeners. The study concludes that while podcasts are valuable for learning and professional development, there is a need for enhanced digital literacy to improve critical appraisal skills among listeners. These findings provide insights into the cognitive processes involved in podcast-based learning and suggest practical strategies for educators and content creators to enhance the educational impact of podcasts.

Effectiveness of gamification-based teaching in approach to eye trauma: a randomized educational intervention trial

IntroductionOphthalmology education is evolving with the use of new teaching approaches. Teaching based on gamification is one of the new developments in health professions education. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of gamification-based virtual reality on the learning outcome of students regarding the highly important topic of approach to eye trauma.Materials and methodsThis randomized educational intervention trial with a control group was conducted at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS). A total of 10 ophthalmology residents and 60 medical students were recruited in this study (each group comprised 5 residents and 30 medical students). Individuals were randomly divided into two teaching groups gamification method (intervention group) and lecture-based method (Control group). Data were collected through questionnaires and tests and analyzed by SPSS-26 software using descriptive and analytical statistics.ResultsResidents and medical students evaluated the usability of this method to be favorable (132.72 ± 10.17). In resident students (16.80 ± 2.58, 13.60 ± 1.14, P ≤ 0.05) and medicine students (17.27 ± 4.50, 15.20 ± 0.71, P ≤ 0.05), the mean score of learning outcome score in the intervention group was higher than the control group.ConclusionGamification-based teaching is an effective educational strategy that can be used as a complementary educational tool for teaching ophthalmology residents and medical students.

Special Issue on Informatics Education: Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center Education Strategy: To Infinity and Beyond!

The Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC) is based in the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) and operates across Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt University (VU) with a goal of enabling and supporting clinical informatics research and practice. VCLIC supports several types of applied clinical informatics teaching, including teaching of students in courses, professional education for staff and faculty throughout VUMC, and workshops and conferences that are open to the public. In this paper, we provide a detailed accounting of our center and institution's methods of educating and training faculty, staff, students, and trainees from across the academic institution and health system on clinical informatics topics, including formal training programs and informal applied learning sessions. Through a host of informal learning events, such as workshops, seminars, conference-style events, bite-size instructive videos, and hackathons, as well as several formal education programs, such as the Clinical Informatics Graduate Course, Master's in Applied Clinical Informatics, Medical Student Integrated Science Course, Graduate Medical Education Elective, and Fellowship in Clinical Informatics, VCLIC and VUMC provide opportunities for faculty, students, trainees, and even staff to engage with Clinical Informatics topics and learn related skills. The described programs have trained hundreds of participants from across the academic and clinical enterprises. Of the VCLIC-held events, the majority of attendees indicated through surveys that they were satisfied, with the average satisfaction score being 4.63/5, and all events averaging a satisfaction score of greater than 4. Across the 20 events VCLIC has held, our largest audiences are DBMI, HealthIT operational staff, and students from the medical and nursing schools. VCLIC has created and delivered a successful suite of formal and informal educational events and programs to disseminate clinical informatics knowledge and skills to learners across the academic institution and healthcare system.

Assessment of environmental attitudes and behavior of secondary school students in Sri Lanka

Implementing effective environmental education strategies in schools is essential for nurturing young individuals with a sense of responsibility for sustainability. Knowledge regarding environmental attitudes and behaviour of school-aged children in Sri Lanka is limited. This study aimed to assess the level of environmental awareness, attitudes towards recovery and recycling, environmental behaviour, and overall awareness, alongside evaluating the impact of demographic parameters on these variables of secondary school students in Sri Lanka. A questionnaire-based survey with a quantitative approach (using a 35-item scale) was used in assessing 972 Sri Lankan secondary school students. The study revealed that students exhibit a moderate level of EA, attitude, and behavior, with greater familiarity when taught in school. Gender, school environment society membership, and student grade/type of school significantly affected the investigated socio-environmental aspects. Family income and residence type had no notable impact. The findings of this study offer important insights for creating focused interventions and educational strategies aimed at fostering a more sustainable, environmentally responsible younger generation within the distinct socio-cultural landscape of Sri Lanka.

Teaching and learning clinical reasoning skill in undergraduate medical students: A scoping review.

Clinical reasoning involves the application of knowledge and skills to collect and integrate information, typically to arrive at a diagnosis, implement appropriate interventions, solve clinical problems, and improve the quality of health care and patient outcomes. It is a vital competency that medical students must acquire, as it is considered the heart of medicine. This scoping review aimed to identify and summarize the existing literature on learning and teaching strategies for improving clinical reasoning skill in undergraduate medical education. We conducted electronic searches in Scopus, PubMed/Medline (NLM), Web of Science (WOS), and ERIC to retrieve articles published between January 1, 2010, and March 23, 2024. We also performed hand searches by scanning the reference lists of included studies and similar reviews and searching three key journals. After removing duplicates, two reviewers independently extracted data from primary articles using a standard data extraction form. The authors used Arksey and O'Malley's framework. Among the 46581 retrieved records, 54 full-text articles were included in the present review. We categorized the educational strategies based on their aspects, focus, and purpose. Included studies used various educational strategies for improving clinical reasoning skill in undergraduate medical education by serial cue or whole clinical cases that presented as process-oriented or knowledge-oriented. This scoping review investigated various dimensions of educational intervention for improving clinical reasoning skill in undergraduate medical education. There is a need for more precision studies with larger sample sizes, designing studies according to randomized controlled trials standards, determining MCID, or performing meta-analyses to acquire robust and conclusive results.

Emerging Topics, Challenges, and Strategies for Library and Information Science Education

Emerging Topics, Challenges, and Strategies for Library and Information Science Education

Mental imagery in education: What impact on the relationships with visuospatial processing and school performance in junior high school students?

This study examined the relationship between mental imagery, visuospatial processing, and academic performance among junior high school students. The influence of these variables on learning outcomes in Italian, mathematics, art, and music was also investigated. Third-year students were tested using the Mental Imagery Test and Raven's Progressive Matrices. Gender differences were explored, revealing no significant differences in mental imagery and visuospatial processing. Higher mental imagery correlated with better academic performance, particularly in Italian and mathematics. Visuospatial processing mediated the relationship between mental imagery and academic performance in Italian and mathematics, suggesting its significant role in these subjects. However, this mediation was not significant for music and art, suggesting the involvement of alternative cognitive mechanisms. These findings highlight the importance of mental imagery and visuospatial processing in academic success, particularly in abstract subjects, and advocate for educational strategies targeting these cognitive domains to enhance not only student performance but also creativity and thinking skills.

DESAFIOS NA ADESÃO MEDICAMENTOSA SOB A PERSPECTIVA DOS PROFISSIONAIS DE SAÚDE DA ATENÇÃO PRIMÁRIA

This study explores the factors influencing medication adherence among patients of the Family Health Strategy (ESF) in Embu das Artes/SP, based on the perspectives of healthcare professionals. The qualitative research, which involved semi-structured interviews and a literature review, identified low health literacy among patients as the primary barrier. Adherence to treatment is influenced by internal factors, such as patient perception and motivation, as well as external factors, including socioeconomic status and cultural aspects. The lack of understanding regarding the importance of medications and the chronic nature of diseases exacerbates the problem, leading to elevated risks such as mortality and hospital readmission. Professionals reported challenges such as fear of side effects and confusion over medication schedules. These issues underscore the need to enhance healthcare professionals' training to develop educational strategies aimed at providing health literacy and achieving more effective treatment adherence.

Examining the personal growth of college teacher educators through the lens of human development ecology: An approach utilizing artificial neural networks (ANNs) modeling

College teacher educators play a crucial role in improving teaching quality and have a significant impact on educational development. They must engage in a process of self-growth to achieve personal development, considering the interaction between individuals and their environment. This process involves deep exploration of their knowledge, skills, and attitudes, as well as an understanding of the broader institutional and cultural contexts. Through self-reflection and continuous learning, college teacher educators can foster personal growth by acquiring new teaching strategies, developing effective communication and interpersonal skills, and cultivating a reflective and adaptive teaching practice. Collaboration with colleagues, engagement with professional communities, and involvement in educational research and innovation are also essential aspects of personal growth. Creating supportive environments that facilitate the continuous development of college teacher educators is crucial for enhanced teaching quality and educational advancement. In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) was employed to estimate the impact of changes in knowledge and skill development and reflection and continuous learning on the acquisition of new educational strategies, development of communication and interpersonal skills, and reflective and adaptive practice. The ANN's predictions indicate that increasing reflection and continuous learning has a more positive impact on acquiring new educational strategies compared to increasing knowledge and skill development alone. Additionally, when both knowledge and skill development and reflection and continuous learning are combined, it results in substantial growth in the development of communication and interpersonal skills and reflective and adaptive practice. The accuracy of the neural network's predictions was evaluated using linear regression, showing an acceptable level of error when compared to the experimental results.

TEACHING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY TO UPPER-SECONDARY STUDENTS HASN’T BEEN EASY: A CONVERSATION WITH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ON BARRIERS

A lot more students’ difficulties in learning organic chemistry, as a component of upper secondary chemistry, have been reported in the literature. Some reasons have been assigned to these students’ learning difficulties in organic chemistry. Hence, in this research, we explored the barriers to effective teaching of organic chemistry in upper-secondary schools, through a phenomenological qualitative method. In this phenomenological research, we explored participants' understanding, perceptions, and experiences of barriers to effective teaching of organic chemistry. In phenomenology, 14 students and nine chemistry teachers were purposely sampled for conversations to share their experiences regarding barriers to effective teaching of organic chemistry. That is, data were collected using Organic Chemistry Students’ Interview Guide and Organic Chemistry Teachers’ Interview Guide. The qualitative data were thematically analysed. The barriers identified were self-tuition challenge, concept overload, pace of teaching, teacher support, introduction to organic chemistry, experiment materials, student attitude, and lack of opportunity. The implications for further research, practice, policy, and decision making were made. Keywords: chemistry teachers, educational strategies, learning organic chemistry, qualitative methods, teaching organic chemistry