Summer School Program Research Articles

Elementary students' argumentative and explanatory mathematical writing about fractions

AbstractMathematical writing (MW) is an important yet underutilized form of mathematics discourse. Given the lack of attention to MW, there are few resources to support the implementation and assessment of MW. This study responds to the lack of resources by describing a MW unit focused on fractions that was implemented during a summer school program to support rising fourth grade students with explanatory and argumentative writing. Findings from the study revealed that students used different forms of reasoning about fractions to compose their mathematical argument and explanation. We also identified five categories that captured how students communicated a mathematical argument and explanation: writing organization, precise mathematical vocabulary, mathematics content, mathematical representation, and characteristics specific to a mathematical argument/explanation. The five categories led to the development of an analytic rubric for argumentative and explanatory writing.

Sometimes I still do not see myself as a computer scientist: Negotiating a computer science identity as a Latina undergraduate and youth mentor

This study puts forth the counternarrative of the first author Gislaine, a first-generation undergraduate student, Latina, and computer science major. Gislaine participated in a research internship and STEM mentorship program led by the second author, Meredith. Through this program, Gislaine designed and taught CS lessons to predominantly low-income, African-American middle school students over an 8-day urban summer school program. By analyzing Gislaine’s written account of her journey to CS, as well as planning documents and written reflections on her daily experiences mentoring youth, we explore how Gislaine’s intersecting social identities shape her experiences both as a CS learner and as a mentor to youth. Gislaine’s counternarrative illuminates the systems of oppression present in schools and the CS field, while also highlighting Gislaine’s transformative approaches to mentoring students in CS. Gislaine’s narratives emphasize the importance of humanizing CS and leveraging students’ strengths to promote equitable access to CS education. Through her experiences, she underscores the significance of recognizing and addressing systemic barriers, while also advocating for inclusive and empowering educational practices.

Effects of summer schools: Who benefits the most?

This study investigates whether publicly funded summer school programs in secondary education are of substantive meaning for the math performance of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. More specifically, we explore whether this is the case when the summer programs are not explicitly aimed at low-SES students. In this context, we investigate whether summer schools in the Netherlands can decrease inequalities of opportunities in education. We use administrative data from Dutch secondary schools. To analyse the effect of the intervention we apply a Difference-in-Difference analysis in combination with matching estimation techniques. The results indicate that there is an overall modest effect of participation in a summer school. When analysing the SES groups separately, we observe a positive effect of participation for all three SES groups. However, the effect seems less strong for participants in the lowest and middle SES group compared to the highest SES group.

Free books to close the reading achievement gap

Richard Allington reviews the nature of the reading achievement gap between students from low-income and high-income families, concluding that the limited access to children’s books experienced by children from low-income families lies at the base of the problem. The fact that children from low-income families lose reading achievement every summer largely explains summer reading loss. Allington and his colleagues completed two large-scale studies assessing the impact of giving free books of their choice to students from low-income families for them to read over the summer. After three years of summer books, the children gained almost a year in reading achievement compared to the students who did not receive books. The summer books project cost far less than a summer school program and produced greater achievement gains than having low-income children attend summer school programs.

Summer School on Circular Economy for Sustainable Manufacturing: A Case Study and Lessons Learned

The Circular Economy Action Plan is the main building block of the European Green Deal, Europe's new agenda for sustainable growth. Businesses need new technologies, new methods and new industrial organization either to create new businesses or to transform their products, processes and business models. They also need new talents to innovate, create businesses and new jobs, and transform society into a more sustainable one. Circular economy has grown significantly in recent years as a topic taught in engineering curricula. The purpose of this paper is to present the design, implementation and evaluation of a summer school program dedicated to the development, transformation and implementation of circular economy systems and new business models in manufacturing. The program was designed in collaboration with three university partners during a European project and relied on contributions from industrial companies, including start-ups and innovative companies. At the end, some lessons are drawn in order to show the main added value based on the evaluation of this summer school and to identify recommendations for the design and implementation of similar summer schools.

Neurosurgical Summer Course for Overseas Students: A Step toward Better Dialogue with the Future Working Teams.

The 12-year collaboration between Greifswald and Cairo Universities in Neurosurgery has recently reached stable steps in post-graduate education represented in the bi-institutional fellowship of Neuro-endoscopy. We present our new experience of upgrading the level of bi-institutional collaboration to serve for highly skilled undergraduate training. we started a summer school program for the Egyptian medical students, with the target of allowing better orientation with the specialty Results: 10 candidates (6 males and 4 females) were selected to participate in the program. All candidates successfully finished the summer school and stated they would recommend this activity to their colleagues. We recommend the summer school activities either within the host university or abroad in a collaborate university to the students that would be preselected to fit in the planned program. It is our opinion this would assist the young generations in choosing the suitable career and help in improving the quality of the working teams in Neurosurgery in the future.

Astrobiology eXploration at Enceladus (AXE): A New Frontiers Mission Concept Study

The Saturnian moon Enceladus presents a unique opportunity to sample the contents of a subsurface liquid water ocean in situ via the continuous plume formed over its south polar terrain using a multi-flyby mission architecture. Previous analyses of the plume’s composition by Cassini revealed an energy-rich system laden with salts and organic compounds, representing an environment containing most of the ingredients for life as we know it. Following in the footsteps of the Cassini-Huygens mission, we present Astrobiology eXploration at Enceladus (AXE), a New Frontiers class Enceladus mission concept study carried out during the 2021 NASA Planetary Science Summer School program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. We demonstrate that a scientifically compelling geophysical and life-detection mission to Enceladus can be carried out within the constraints of a New Frontiers-5 cost cap using a modest instrument suite, requiring only a narrow angle, high-resolution telescopic imager, a mass spectrometer, and a high-gain antenna for radio communications and gravity science measurements. Using a multi-flyby mission architecture, AXE would evaluate the habitability and potential for life at Enceladus through a synergistic combination of in situ chemical analysis measurements aimed at directly detecting the presence of molecular biosignatures, along with geophysical and geomorphological investigations to contextualize chemical biosignatures and further evaluate the habitability of Enceladus over geologic time.

Teacher Perspectives on Primary-Secondary School Transition Projects During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Opportunity areas are primarily selected to improve the social mobility of citizens using education. This paper explores teachers' perspectives on school transitions, particularly emphasizing the role of school transition intervention activities in supporting students' resilience, behavior, academic understanding, and positive parental involvement. Informed by Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions (MMT) theory, the paper focuses on the outcomes of school transition intervention activities applied to new Year 7 students in a UK opportunity area. Data was collected through document review, teacher survey, and semi-structured interviews. As a result, 14 interventions were identified, such as a summer school program, peer mentoring, and interschool visits, aiming to make primary to secondary school transition smoother. However, the findings suggested that many schools did not employ some of the school transition intervention projects. Moreover, the data indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the implementation of many of the school transition projects. The paper contributes to understanding the impact of school transition projects on students' confidence, wellbeing, and academic achievement.

Reimagining summer school: Science and engineering enrichment for middle school students in the wake of COVID-19

The COVID-19 global pandemic significantly impacted both the academic and social and emotional development of middle school students. This article describes the benefits of implementing an interdisciplinary, project-based summer school program to support middle school students as they adapted to in-person learning after school closures due to the global pandemic. Findings show that participation in the summer program contributed to students’ engagement and interest in science and engineering activities and their social-emotional growth through peer collaboration and relational mentor support.

Pre-service teachers’ attitudes about teaching and learning in multilingual classrooms. Insights from the Austrian-wide summer school programme in 2021

ABSTRACT COVID-19-related school closures have caused educational disadvantages for school children around the world. Against this background, many countries have introduced catch-up programmes to counteract the growing educational inequality. The Austrian summer school was offered as such a supportive measure and primarily targeted learners with learning gaps, lower language skills, and German as an additional or second language (L2). In addition, pre-service teachers (PSTs) were, and still are, mainly involved in teaching during summer school. This study examines the extent to which PSTs believe they have the requisite knowledge and skills concerning linguistically and culturally responsive approaches to teach in multilingual classrooms to support students in catching up with potential learning losses. For this purpose, an online survey study was conducted during the nationwide implementation of the Austrian summer school 2021. Altogether, 109 PSTs in Western and Northeastern Austria were surveyed before and after participating in the summer school. The results show that despite their lack of knowledge and skills around linguistically responsive teaching approaches, PSTs experienced the summer school as a positive learning opportunity that improved their understanding of multilingualism and, according to their own assessments, supported their teaching skills in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts.

UNDERGRADUATES’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS DISTANCE EDUCATION AND PERCEPTIONS OF READINESS FOR E-LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic, which suddenly took the whole world under its influence, also radically affected the educational environments. This research aimed to examine the attitudes of undergraduates towards distance education, their perceptions of readiness for e-learning, and the relationship between these two variables during the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of which are also felt in higher education. Thus, quantitative research paradigm and correlational design were used in the study. Data were collected online in two weeks via the Attitude Scale towards Distance Learning (ASDL) and E-Learning Readiness Self-Assessment Instrument (ERSI). Using the convenient sampling method, 1422 undergraduate students enrolled in a summer school program at a state university in Turkiye were included in the sample. The findings of the research indicate that the participants’ attitudes towards distance education are moderate, and their perceptions of readiness for e-learning are high-level during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a moderate positive correlation between these two variables. There are also positive, moderate, or strong correlations between the ASDL and some subscales of the ERSI. The findings of the study provide useful information about the distance education carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychiatry training goes virtual: the experience of the first online edition of the EPA Research Summer School

IntroductionThe European Psychiatric Association (EPA) Summer School allows psychiatric trainees and early career psychiatrists (ECPs) from all over Europe to meet, network, and learn together. After the 2020 edition being cancelled due to COVID-19, the 10th edition in 2021 focused for the first time on research and was conducted remotely.ObjectivesTo provide an overview and feedback about the first Virtual EPA Research Summer School as a new way to encourage international networking during COVID-19.MethodsThe School was organized by the EPA Secretary for Education, and 4 Faculty members. It started with a “breaking the ice session” one week before and then a two-days meeting on 23-24 September 2021 using an online video-platform. This was preceded by all the 21 participants (from 18 different countries) recording a short 4-minute video presentation, which was uploaded and shared with other participants and Faculty.ResultsParticipants were divided on a voluntary basis into three working groups: 1) “Drug repurposing: overcoming challenges in pharmacoepidemiology” 2) “Psychopathological research in psychiatry”; 3) “How to conduct a cross-sectional survey?”. The Summer School program was composed of plenary sessions with lectures by the Faculty members, discussion sessions, and working groups time. At the end, each group presented a summary of the work done to the rest of the participants.ConclusionsAlthough the remote format limits social interactions during the Summer School, overall participants’ high satisfaction and productivity indicate that not only online formats, but also the topic of research might be covered in future editions.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Building heritage communities online: The experience of the Summer School Program ‘Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage’

The summer school program entitled ‘Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage’ was held from 21 June to 5 July 2020, as part of the Executive Leadership Development in Heritage Management Workshops organized yearly by the Heritage Management Organization. This year in particular, the course was entirely held online due to the ongoing pandemic and the subsequent worldwide responses enforcing preventive measures and social distancing. Amid these challenging circumstances, the 2-week program was successfully conducted, taking advantage of the digital resources to materialize a syllabus designed to combine theoretical and practical perspectives regarding community engagement in heritage projects in Greece. The series of online meetings gathered 13 students from six countries in total (Greece, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Puerto Rico and Serbia) with different backgrounds and career experiences. This diversity enriched the dynamics of the workshop where group discussions and assignments played a substantial role, and fostered a unique and fertile environment of intercultural and multidisciplinary work.

Enabling Distance Learning and Remote Collaboration in Layout and Process Planning

Focusing on layout and process planning in collaborative environments, the development of infrastructure and didactic content for hands-on courses has been in progress for years at SZTAKI, with the inclusion of two sites in Budapest and Győr, respectively. Since 2019, a summer school program has been in preparation involving the Pilot Factory in Vienna, maintained by Fraunhofer Austria and TU Wien. While the pandemic has forced on-site education to be postponed, it also raised a lasting need for enabling distance learning and remote collaboration for a learning factory infrastructure which has hitherto been developed for on-site, hands-on activities as the primary consideration. The paper presents extensions addressing these needs in three different dimensions: tailoring task complexity by adequate shaping of free decision spaces, improving transferability of the problems to virtual or off-site solution platforms, and reorganization of work and cross-site collaboration. The concepts are illustrated by the example of a summer school course in layout and process planning for collaborative assembly stations, planned to take place in July/August 2021.

The Summer School Oncology Groningen: Improving a Successful International Course by Refining the Old, Maintaining What’s Good

For more than two decades, the International Summer School Oncology for Medical Students (ISOMS) has organized a biennial 2-week international summer school program in Groningen, the Netherlands. The summer school aims to increase knowledge about general cancer care, reduce fear of talking to cancer patients, and expose students to cancer-related problems. After 22 years, there was a need to improve the summer school format, the application procedure, and the intensity of the course. Here, we describe and evaluate these and additional changes that were made to the program. Several changes were made to the summer school format. The course was shortened from 10 days to a more intensive 7 days. The scientific program was integrated with the clinical program and students were taught scientific writing and presentation skills. The application process involved a personal video pitch. Importantly, the new summer school format was organized by a committee in which medical students had the lead. To evaluate the changes to the summer school, we conducted knowledge tests and regularly obtained feedback. There was a high overall student satisfaction, with a median score of a 9 out of 10. Students appreciated the interactive sessions and practicals and the scientific program, and were satisfied with the course level. All students had improved test scores. Improvement points highlighted the need for a less packed schedule and more lectures on basic oncology principles, or were related to specific lectures. The student-led innovation and adaptation of the ISOMS has been successful.

THE HISTORY OF SUSTAINABILITY AND THE CASE OF THE GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMER SCHOOL: AN INCENTIVE TO INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

This article seeks to bring a history of sustainability as a concept and to inform about global programs such as the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School about sustainability in a holistic approach to its three dimensions. It also addresses perceptions and results from the networking and international partnerships found throughout the event. It is about addressing the relationship between the events focused on social entrepreneurship and sustainability. This study aims is to share the impact of summer school programs as an incentive for education internationally, including the achievement of the Sustainable Development Education 4: Quality Education. The current work also verifies the incentive for the teaching of skills such as creativity, entrepreneurship, and fundraising in an international manner. From this experience and in the light of the international immersion with the contributions of the other participants and the enhancement promoted by the University of Western Cape. For the development of this work, we first analyze a history of sustainability and its three dimensions. Next, consumerism, blue economy, and social entrepreneurship are briefly discussed, and then the role of the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School is explored and elucidated the types of projects developed within the framework of the program. Finally, we relate the subjects to analyze the impact of such programs to enhance education and teaching.

Студенческая летняя научная школа «Мониторинг дельтовых экосистем» как активная форма обучения экологическим методам исследования

The article deals with the use of active forms of learning in the work of an environmental summer school. The experience of using active teaching methods in higher education has been studied; examples of summer environmental schools in world and Russian practice are given. The work of the summer school “Monitoring of delta ecosystems”, which took place at Astrakhan State University and the Astrakhan Reserve, is considered. The technology of conducting a summer school is described, starting from the organization of competitive selection of participants and ending with the defense of mini-projects. The criteria for competitive selection are listed taking into account their importance. The summer school program is presented. Using specific examples, the application of active teaching methods in lectures and workshops is examined in detail. Summing up the work of the summer scientific school has shown the high efficiency of using active teaching methods to form the research competencies of its participants and their further professional activities.

Lessons Learned from the NASA-UVA Summer School and Internship Program

Lessons Learned from the NASA-UVA Summer School and Internship Program

Team and Research Based Learning Methods Applied in Multidisciplinary Marine Engineering Education

This paper presents an integrated team-based, and research-based learning approach utilized in lecturing multidisciplinary marine engineering courses. The approach is exemplified during one month Ocean Engineering Summer School program at the Marine Technology Department, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, for a group of students from different universities across Japan. Students with engineering background, but not necessarily marine, joined to learn fundamentals of marine technology, including structure, hydrodynamic and dynamic response analysis presented through offshore structures, subsea equipment, pipelines, offshore wind energy, marine machinery and marine operations. The marine industry has moved toward digitalization and this aspect was an important part of the curriculum, both in terms of tools and methods lectured and employed for each discipline and industrial examples for instance simulation-based design and operation demonstration. An integrated team-based (TBL) and research-based (RBL) learning approach was employed. The outcomes and positive feedback from students and the Nippon Foundation Ocean Innovation Consortium demonstrated that RBL integrated with TBL shifts the students from being “audiences” in the classroom to “active participants”. The program was enriched with a rich cultural program which was found very helpful in learning process by the students. Moreover, the industrial insights added value for implementing the TBL and RBL. The marine engineering development and needs to adopt engineering education for modern marine industry, call for innovative and adaptive educational methods and this article presents some of the innovative methods which can be employed.

Beyond academics: Dropout prevention summer school programs in the transition to secondary education

Educational transitions, for example from primary to secondary school, have been associated with school drop-outs, particularly for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. As a response, some educational systems have implemented summer programs, although with mixed results. Yet, these evaluations mostly assess programs' quantitative impact on academic outcomes. This article therefore aims at an in-depth exploration of the benefits and challenges of a Uruguayan summer school program for preventing dropout in the transition to secondary school. Results underpin summer peer interactions, teacher-student relations and extra-curricular activities shape positive pre-entry expectations of at-risk students, which secondary schools cannot always fulfill.