Classroom Study Research Articles

Investigating Indoor Air Pollution Sources and Student’s Exposure Within School Classrooms: Using a Low‐Cost Sensor and Source Apportionment Approach

Indoor air quality is becoming one of the most important factors for public health, as people tend to spend more time indoors, either at home or at work. This paper combines the use of calibrated low‐cost particulate matter (PM) sensors with source apportionment algorithms to understand the factors that affect the indoor air quality within a typical UK school. Low‐cost optical particle counter (OPC) sensors were placed in three different classrooms within the school, measuring PM concentrations during a typical school week and the subsequent holiday period, to understand the role of occupancy within schools for air quality. When students were in attendance during school hours (09:00–15:30), the classroom with the greatest average PM levels had PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations of 14.4 and 51.0 μg/m3, respectively. During school hours, when students were present, all classrooms had average PM2.5 concentrations greater than 8.1 μg m−3 and average PM10 concentrations greater than 13.1 μg m−3. Notably, the English studies classroom exceeded the 24‐h WHO ambient PM10 guideline (45 μg m−3). Employing the non‐negative matrix factorization (NMF) algorithm for source apportionment revealed that between 93% and 98% of PM1 observed within classrooms derived from outdoor sources. This contribution diminished as particle size increased, with outdoor sources accounting for 74%–89% of PM2.5, and 19%–40% of PM10, respectively. The differences in classroom PM concentration and source percentages are attributed to differences in lesson activities, lesson frequency, flooring (carpeted versus hard flooring), location within the school, and proximity to outdoor sources such as roads. The approach described within the paper is easily translated to other indoor locations and could also be straightforwardly scaled due to its relatively low cost. Thereby, it allows for air quality management in locations crucial for the public health and educational outcomes of children.

Exploring barriers to the effective use of computer-based simulation in pharmacy education: a mixed-methods case study.

At the University of Tasmania (UTAS), pharmacy education traditionally relies on placements to provide students with hands-on experience. However, these placements have become increasingly limited due to logistical challenges and growing student numbers. Computer-based simulation (CBS) has the potential to offer a scalable, effective alternative to enhance learning and critical thinking. However, integrating CBS in pharmacy education faces several barriers that must be addressed for successful implementation. To gain insight into pharmacy educators' and students' views regarding the barriers, and potential solutions, to integrating CBS in pharmacy practice education. This mixed-methods case study involved semi-structured interviews with pharmacy educators and quantitative surveys with pharmacy students. The data underwent thematic coding for interview transcripts and statistical analysis for survey responses. The findings were integrated by examining convergence, complementarity, and discrepancy, revealing insights into how pharmacy students and educators perceive implementation barriers and improvement strategies for CBS. Ten interviews were conducted, and 75 survey responses were collected, with a 62.5% response rate. Key barriers to CBS integration included educators' heavy workload, scepticism about CBS's educational value, and general integration challenges. Students, however, showed high acceptance of CBS, with 70.7% agreeing that CBS could assess their knowledge, 69.3% emphasising its role in developing problem-solving skills, and 80% viewing CBS as a complement to classroom study. Proposed solutions for enhancing CBS uptake included additional institutional support by appointing dedicated simulation technicians, leveraging champions to advocate for CBS, and aligning CBS with educational objectives. A significant gap between students' readiness and educators' hesitancy to use CBS in pharmacy education was identified. While students are eager to adopt new technologies, educators expressed reservations, primarily due to workload concerns and uncertainties about the efficacy of CBS. The feedback from educators suggests that institutions may see improved uptake by employing dedicated support personnel and initiating targeted training programs. Future research should focus on exploring barriers and facilitators, using larger and more diverse samples, and gaining deeper insights into decision-makers' perspectives to enhance the integration and efficacy of CBS in pharmacy education.

Embracing Artificial Intelligence to Improve Self-Directed Learning: A Cybersecurity Classroom Study

Embracing Artificial Intelligence to Improve Self-Directed Learning: A Cybersecurity Classroom Study

Assessing the Impact of Gamification in STEM Education: A Case Study of Middle School Classrooms

This has a look at investigates the impact of gamification on middle faculty STEM training, focusing on pupil motivation, engagement, and information of complex concepts. Employing a qualitative case look at method, statistics were gathered thru interviews and observations for the duration of an 8-week gamification intervention. The consequences reveal a massive growth in pupil motivation and engagement, as well as an improved information of complex STEM standards. Collaborative studying and crew dynamics additionally emerged as remarkable results. The findings propose that gamification, while thoughtfully integrated into the curriculum, can beautify each affective and cognitive dimensions of learning. Despite diagnosed challenges, the have a look at advocates for the tailor-made implementation of gamification in STEM schooling, emphasizing inclusivity and ongoing expert development for educators.

A Comparative Study of Real and Virtual Environment via Psychological and Physiological Responses

Currently, immersive virtual environments (IVE) are widely used in fields such as architecture and environmental psychology. These simulated environments allow for a detailed evaluation of how different designs impact users’ perception and interaction with the built environment, under controlled conditions and without incurring high costs. The validity of these IVEs is related to their capacity to evoke a participant’s response similar to that of the space they are simulating. This paper presents a validation study of a virtual classroom with two phases: the analysis of the sense of presence in the generated IVE and the comparison of the psychological and neurophysiological response of subjects in the two environments (physical vs. IVE). The psychological response captures cognitive processes via the performance of attention and memory tasks. The physiological response records the subject’s activity monitored via electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram, and electrodermal activity. The results showed that the psychological and physiological responses in both environments (physical vs. IVE) were similar. This may be of interest to architecture researchers and professionals as they validate IVE systems as tools to study the effects of the built environment on users’ cognitive responses.

The Current Development of Flipped Classroom Research Publications in Indonesia: A Bibliometric Mapping

Due to the rapid spread of flipped classroom studies for the past few years, a literature study focusing on the trends and directions of its research become important. This article attempts to identify the current state and direction of Scopus-indexed publications regarding flipped classroom in Indonesia. Bibliometric analysis (Donthu et al., 2021) was utilized to examine 53 papers extracted from Scopus database that published from 2017 until 2023. By employing Harzing’s Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software, this study examined the trends in flipped classroom publication including the documents by year and citation structure, prolific author, most cited publications, document types, publication by source titles, publication by institution. Next, intellectual interactions illustrated by co-authorships, and co-occurrence were also identified. One of the significant findings revealed that there was the slowly increased of flipped classroom publication and the decrease of citations. The findings presented in the study may be a caution for researchers to continuously maintain and boost publication productivity, and explore research methodologies that have been unexplored.

The impact of flipped learning on students’ level of engagement in computer studies classroom, in Oyo State, Nigeria

This study investigates the impact of flipped learning on students' level of engagement in computer studies classrooms in Oyo State. The study employed a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, and control group design and tested two null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The sample consisted of 60 junior secondary school III computer studies students selected through a purposive sampling technique. The study utilized the Students' Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) (R=0.85) and Students' Engagement Observation Scale (SEOS)(R=0.80) as instruments for data collection. The data were analyzed using inferential statistics of ANCOVA and a chart. The study found that student's level of engagement in computer studies was significantly higher in the flipped classroom, but the level of engagement did not differ based on gender. The results of the study suggest that flipped learning can be used to increase the level of engagement of students in computer studies classrooms in Oyo State.

The effectiveness of a virtual learning companion for supporting the critical judgment of social media content

Social media usage has become a daily habit for the younger generation. It can have positive effects on educational processes, but it also raises concerns about harmful content, such as fake news or hate speech. Fake news is often distributed with the intention to manipulate the public opinion by propagating disinformation. This includes the manipulation of images taken from reputable news resources. In response to these concerns and manipulations, we developed a web-based learning environment with a virtual learning companion (VLC). The VLC is designed to assist students in developing their critical thinking skills while interacting with social media content. The VLC is incorporated into a controlled learning environment that resembles Instagram and contains real and manipulated content. The “Courage” companion communicates with the students through chat dialogue and knowledge-activating questions. It also links additional images from web sources discovered through reverse image search based on image similarity. Learners are provided with various textual descriptions and keywords and are prompted to reflect on this information. The system’s effectiveness and assistance in identifying real or manipulated images have been evaluated in an empirical classroom study in August 2022 with 22 high school students in Germany that generated 95 conversations around five images and their texts assisted by the companion. Users’ interactions with the companion in a controlled Instagram-like social media environment have been recorded in xAPI format and then analyzed using a research dashboard. The results of this evaluation demonstrate that guidance through the VLC, along with the provision of additional content sources containing similar images and their explanation through the companion, improves the learners’ judgment. This corroborates the claim that the tool can help enhance learners’ critical thinking, resilience, and sensitivity facing social media issues.

Visual resources and interaction in Grade 4 science teaching—Moving in and out of discourse when exploring concepts of evolution and adaption

AbstractAlthough visual aids are widely considered a valuable source of scaffolding, the nature and active utilization of these aids in current science classrooms are not well understood. This qualitative study explores interaction in the teaching of concepts related to evolution, with a specific focus on a teacher's use of different visual support material. Based on a classroom study in a linguistically diverse Grade 4 classroom, we employed the perspective of discourse‐bridging interaction to develop three broad categories of interactional examples, which we related to three kinds of visual support material used in the instruction: generic visual support images, naturalistic images, and disciplinary images showing examples of natural selection. The findings show that the interaction moved in and out of science discourse in a way that reflected the images' properties. A generic visual support image illustrated the concept of “adaption” as puzzle pieces fitting together, which promoted everyday and anthropomorphic examples of animals and people striving to fit in. When the teacher used naturalistic images, the discourse shifted between a range of perspectives, while visual aids and whiteboard drawings showing the classic examples of giraffes evolving (a disciplinary image) were employed to clarify the notion of natural selection. We discuss the study's implications for using visual support material in a planned way that supports disciplinary understanding.

A MULTICRITERIA METHOD TO IDENTIFY AND RANK IEQ CRITICALITIES: MEASUREMENTS AND APPLICATIONS FOR AN EXISTING SCHOOL BUILDING

This study proposes a method to obtain a ranking of the critical issues related to Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)in existing school buildings . A multi-criteria method for a comprehensive evaluation of IEQ in school buildings is described and discussed. The method includes data collection, field measurements, and subjective investigations. The novelty of the study does not lie in the single stages of which the method is composed (for example in the phase involving field measurements, there are consolidated procedures in the technical and scientific literature to conduct them), but rather in the collection and rationalization of a complete and articulated assessment process that can guide the technicians and managers in the decision making. To show the whole proposed evaluation method, the case study of the university classrooms of the School of Engineering of Pisa was studied. From the application of the evaluation method to the case study, a rank of the IEQ critical issues observed and a rank of the most IEQ critical environments was therefore obtained. The study also focused on the impact of weighting schemes of the IEQ assessment results. Then the results of the case study were discussed by evaluating the impact of alternative weighing schemes present in the scientific literature. The discussion shows that to identify the most critical environmental factors, the choice of the weighting scheme is extremely important although the greatest weight does not always correspond to the most critical environmental factor. The presented results can interest not only technical personnel involved in IEQ assessments and interventions for its improvement, but also researchers investigating IEQ that intend to compare methodologies and weighting schemes.

Team‐based learning in the biblical studies classroom: Utilizing the 4S application task to promote deep learning

AbstractThis article provides a brief overview of the instructional strategy known as team‐based learning (TBL). It then focuses specifically on the use of one of its integral components in a biblical studies classroom—namely, the “4S application task.” The 4S application task, which is one of the fundamental pieces of the learning experience in TBL, consists of the problems that small group teams of students need to solve or the decisions the teams need to reach in each class session. The title 4S refers to the fact that the problems must be characterized by the following: significant problem, same problem, specific choice, and simultaneous report. The main aim of this article is to share this engaging and generative pedagogical activity, but to do so effectively by providing some context as to how it is situated within the overarching flow and goals of a TBL approach.

Part of whose world? The Little Mermaid, fantasy media, and casting backlashes as racial projects for social studies classrooms

PurposeConversations around diversity, race and science fiction and fantasy films/television have sparked in response to recent casting decisions made in the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Star Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi (Deggans, 2022; Romano, 2022). Backlash against casting of actors of Color in these genres highlights racial projects where a cultural memory of whiteness comes up against multicultural change. The authors of this paper feel that there is great potential in using current-day racial issues around fantasy films/television to explore these racial projects with students in social studies classes (Omi and Winant, 2014).Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative textual analysis (Peräkylä, 2005), the authors examined online news media outlets addressing the casting of actors of Color in the aforementioned media pieces. After reviewing over twenty articles, the authors determined two major themes that would serve as the findings.FindingsIn this paper, themes of nostalgia for an imagined ‘way things were’ and future-based fears of how things will become emerged from the analysis, revealing a need for engaging students in the history of sci-fi and fantasy media, and the existing, diverse histories of storytelling featuring multiple races.Originality/valueThe authors argue that examining racial projects found in contemporary sci-fi and fantasy casting are chances for students to understand complex racial histories and how they blend into current-day cultural landscapes, and are opportunities to practice analysis of real-life racial histories and richly-imagined fantasy worlds, noticing how and why the two often collide when it comes to race.

From free‐for‐all (free‐for‐some?) to speakers' list: Using consensus‐based decision‐making practice to enhance student participation in the theological classroom

AbstractAlthough the goals of consensus‐based decision‐making (CBDM) and the academic theological classroom are quite distinct (most notably that in the classroom, there is no need to come to a group decision), both share the aim of honoring all voices and perspectives and ensuring that marginalized voices and experiences are elevated. It is an important tool for all to consider, particularly due to its benefits for students from different cultural backgrounds who may experience various forms of systemic inequality. This paper considers the strengths as well as limitations of CBDM‐related practices for facilitating conversation in a theological studies classroom, with specific emphasis on the speakers' list—a common CBDM tool.

L2 Vocabulary learning from reading: Effects of word-focused activity type, learner variables, and announcement

Classroom studies have shown that learning new vocabulary from reading can be enhanced if the reading task is followed by a word-focused activity, such as a fill-in-the-blank activity. However, little is known about: (1) whether a post-reading word-focused activity can also positively affect vocabulary uptake in out-of-classroom contexts when there is no instructor support, (2) whether vocabulary gains differ based on proficiency levels, and (3) whether awareness of an upcoming post-reading word-focused activity influences learning gains. The present study addresses these issues by having native (high-proficient) or nonnative (L2 high-intermediate) English speakers read a narrative containing 16 recurring non-word target items. Within each proficiency group, one subgroup of participants was instructed that they would be given the word-focused activity after they finished reading, another subgroup was not. Participants then engaged in a word-focused activity that involved either the non-word target items or real words from the narrative. Finally, all participants were given a vocabulary test. We found that, compared to the real-word activity, the target-item activity led to significantly greater vocabulary gains, especially for the L2 high-intermediate learners, regardless of whether or not participants were forewarned of an upcoming word-focused activity.

Impact of Online Education during COVID-19 Pandemic among the Pharm. D. Students, A Web - Based Survey

Aim and objective: The Novel COVID-19 is global pandemic and Lockdown and leads to revoked of Ward Round participation and all Practical subjects Due to online study. In the First as well as second wave of Novel COVID 19 The country had to forcefully impose a lockdown as a preventive measure and lockdown had serious impact on Education of Pharm.D students. The current study is addressed to distinguish the impact of Novel COVID-19 on Study. Methodology: This cross-sectional online survey study by the sharing of Google form gathered demographic as well as questions related to impact of online study is conducted from 31th July to 30 August 2021. The survey google form is circulated using What Sapp, Email, Linked in and other social media platforms. Result: Total 180 participants in which 69 male and 111 female involve in our study and their Response received in Google Drive. The majority of the participants in the survey, especially those in their 5th, (clerkship) and 6th year (Internship) of study, were reported that lack of interaction with patients. Clinical clerkships have been cancelled or postpone in many of the college. Conclusions: The impact of Novel COVID 19 on Pharm.D student’s education has been significant, particularly affecting the practical knowledge in those subject which practical study is not possible during online study. The perception of Pharm.D students is classes taken via online platforms {Meet, Zoom etc} as beneficial as the conventional classroom study. This pandemic condition was associatory with frustrate and irritating impact on online study among the pharm.d students. During online study via any platforms learning outcomes should be regularly and strictly monitoree of knowledge towards their syllabus is may beneficial for us.

Becoming an ally: Decolonising a New Zealand classroom

In this article, Holly Bodman shares the journey she embarked on as a fourth-generation middle-class Pākehā to decolonise her practice. Bodman began by reading the work of local scholars and educators to discover her unconscious bias, which led to deepening cultural relationships with her students, their whānau, and the community. Armed with a new level of conscientisation, Bodman transformed her practice within the context of her social studies classroom. Bodman acknowledges that this is a journey, not a destination, and shares her journey in the hope that it may resonate with other tauiwi educators.

Re-Imagining Peace Education: Using Critical Pedagogy as a Transformative Tool

Abstract Existing studies demonstrate that although peace and conflict studies (PCS) emerged from a deep connection between political activism and research, the field has increasingly moved toward promoting liberal ideals of peace that sustain the status quo. Amidst this trend, many scholars have pushed research and education programs to explore beyond a hegemonic liberal peace, for example by diversifying reading lists and drawing on decolonial frameworks. This paper adds to such efforts: through the case study of a higher education PCS classroom, we use narratives from two course conveners and a student to explore challenges and opportunities of realizing a critical pedagogy approach to peace education. This approach recenters the classroom not necessarily in terms of what students ought to think, but how; critical theory provides a basis for fostering curiosity, using query as a tool of learning, and focusing class structure on students’ needs. Our findings suggest that using critical pedagogy in PCS addresses calls for a greater understanding of peace beyond the absence of violence, fosters active envisioning of peace, and works toward decolonizing and demystifying peace work. Ultimately, we call for PCS classrooms to foster critical thinking and radical imagination for a pedagogy of peace praxis.

Films as emergent educational resources in Indian upper primary social studies classrooms: a multimodal inquiry

PurposeThis study explores the relevance of film texts in Indian social studies classrooms for students at the upper primary level. It examines how different types of visual texts can facilitate awareness, critical thinking, discussion and action.Design/methodology/approachUsing multimodal discourse analysis (MDA), this paper critically evaluates five selective films from regional cinemas in India and explores their teaching implications for social studies. The study argues that films are vital multimodal resources that can challenge the prevailing narratives in social studies pedagogy. It conveys how the suggestive revised taxonomy could benefit the students. It proposes a classification system for film analysis with discussion and states how films can bring out interrelated themes and encourage deeper, critical inquiry within the curriculum. The study finds discourse around the films and qualitatively stresses dialogue exchange with sentiment analysis using MAXQDA software. Developed by VERBI software, MAXQDA is a product whose name is inspired by the German Sociologist Max Weber, while the ‘QDA' stands for Qualitative Data Analysis.FindingsThe films act as multimodal texts, navigators, metaphors, communicative circuits and catalysts. The paper concludes that films can improve and expand multimodal learning of social studies in three ways: films help learners connect emotionally with the concepts, films make the learning process more appealing and extend it beyond classroom boundaries and films offer a unique insight into the socio-cultural subtleties that are often limited in textbooks.Originality/valueThis research pioneers an intersectionality-driven framework for film analysis in the curriculum for Indian upper primary social studies, offering innovative pedagogical tools to enrich Indian curriculum insights and bridge existing knowledge gaps.

Awareness of Enhancing Pragmatic Competence Via Movies and Effectiveness of Teaching Conversational Implicature Using Films

Rapid advancements in language technologies have created enormous opportunities for teaching and learning a second language. Using films as an aid is the best teaching method available to support students and also to enable them to study in a purposeful manner with fun and entertainment. Films are one of the infrequently used multimedia technologies. In this light this study focuses on the value of understanding the meaning behind the individual’s utterances, the complexity of speech in a language, and the knowledge of teaching and learning conversational implicature through movies. This research investigates the perception of implicature via a questionnaire to EFL learners in Saudi Arabia, where, as in East Asian countries, English is acquired as a foreign language. There were 441 respondents. Also this descriptive qualitative study lists the floutings of Paul Grice’s Cooperative Principle (1975) and the implicature in Plane Movie. In real life in queer situations if asked a personal question, to which they are reluctant to reply, 66.5% of the respondents chose to opt for flouting Maxim of Relevance, whereas 32.4% opted for flouting to the quality maxim Their responses to the question of whether language learning can be done through regular classroom studies ormovies, or both, came out in favor of both. In contrast to the 22.1% who said they could only acquire the language through studies and the 23.2% who said they could only learn it from movies, 54.7% of respondents said they could learn the language in both situations. The study suggests that in order to teach pragmatic concepts like conversational implicature, English curriculum should also contain visual aids like movies, and language teachers should use them while assigning homework or assignments. This study’s findings has significant repercussions that might be advantageous to EFL/ESL students, teachers, and curriculum designers.

Vastasaapuneet ja osallisuuden rakentuminen yhteisissä ja erillisissä luokkahuoneissa

This article examines the ways in which newly arrived pupils are integrated into the school community and how pupils are supported in adopting the language of instruction. We see language learning as a socialization process: language is for interaction, and through language we situate ourselves in social reality. The article draws on two data sources: a survey of preparatory education teachers in Finland and research project publications drawing on ethnographic data collected in preparatory classes. The survey responses indicate that in some schools, the basis for the integration of newly arrived pupils has been built into the school culture; in others, structures such as group size and spatial arrangement challenge the creation of functional practices. The classroom studies suggest that in the early stages of language learning, learners benefit the most from the linguistic model of their peers, while later, when learning subject- specific content, teachers’ support is crucial for them.