Teaching Program Research Articles

DVRT: Design and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Drone Programming Teaching System

Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive virtual environment generated through computer technology. VR teaching, by utilizing an immersive learning model, offers innovative learning methods for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education as well as programming education. This study developed a Drone Virtual Reality Teaching (DVRT) system aimed at beginners in drone operation and programming, with the goal of addressing the challenges in traditional drone and programming education, such as difficulty in engaging students and lack of practicality. Through the system's curriculum, students learn basic drone operation skills and advanced programming techniques. We conducted a course experiment primarily targeting undergraduate students who are beginners in drone operation. The test results showed that most students achieved scores above 4 out of 5, indicating that DVRT can effectively promote the development of users' comprehensive STEM literacy and computational thinking, thereby demonstrating the great potential of VR technology in STEM education. Through this innovative teaching method, students not only gain knowledge but also enjoy the fun of immersive learning.

Immersive collaborative virtual reality for case-based graduate student teaching in thoracic surgery: A piloting study

BackgroundIn medical education various non-digital teaching methods are established. However, studies have proven that the immersive character of virtual reality (VR) applications positively impact the understanding of spatial relationships.This study outlines the development and pilot testing of a novel system for collaborative, case-based VR teaching, utilizing real-time volume rendered computed tomography (CT) data of thoracic cases among graduate students. MethodsA system was configured and deployed to provide real-time volume rendered CT data in a collaborative, multiuser VR environment. A thoracic surgery VR course was implemented into the surgical graduate curriculum, which has subsequently been evaluated with questionnaires. ResultsSeventy students assessed the curriculum through a questionnaire. Usability was rated intuitive (77.14 %) while few students (5.71 %) reported cyber sickness.A vast majority (98.57 %) agreed VR improved their understanding of anatomy compared to traditional methods and most students found learning more effective. (88.57 %) and joy during participation was rated high (97,14 %). A majority of the students (61.43 %) believed VR could partly replace traditional methods. They supported integrating VR into preclinical (81.43 %) and clinical teaching (94.29 %) as well as taking VR courses from home (78.57 %). Most participants (90,72 %) encouraged the expansion of VR infrastructure. ConclusionThe concept of a collaborative real-time VR-based educational program in medical graduate teaching has proven its technical feasibility and positive acceptance with a desire for more VR integration in surgical curricula. A two-armed study will be conducted to evaluate the objective impact as the expansion of VR environments for teaching continues.

Education Research: Use by Neurologists of Microteaching and Microassessment Programs for Teaching, Learning, and Patient Care Needs

Education Research: Use by Neurologists of Microteaching and Microassessment Programs for Teaching, Learning, and Patient Care Needs

Effectiveness of a structured teaching program on knowledge and attitude regarding child mental disorders among primary school teachers at selected schools in Vijayapur, Karnataka

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a structured teaching program on the knowledge and attitudes of primary school teachers regarding child mental disorders. Given the projected rise in childhood neuropsychiatric disorders, teachers, who spend significant time with students, are in a pivotal position to identify mental health issues early. A pre-experimental one-group pre-test post-test design was utilized, involving 100 primary school teachers selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a self-structured knowledge questionnaire and an attitude scale. Results indicated a significant increase in knowledge (pre-test mean = 8.47, post-test mean = 21.39; t = 36.31, p < 0.001) and attitudes (pre-test mean = 23.60, post-test mean = 33.77; t = 15.51, p < 0.001) post-intervention. Additionally, the study found significant associations between knowledge and specific socio-demographic variables, including prior identification of children with mental disorders. The findings suggest that structured teaching programs can effectively enhance teachers' knowledge and attitudes toward child mental health, underscoring the need for such initiatives in educational settings.

PRIORITY DIRECTIONS OF CREATING A BARRIER-FREE ENVIRONMENT IN PENAL INSTITUTIONS AND DETENTION CENTERS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE CRIMINAL-EXECUTIVE SERVICE OF UKRAINE

The study is dedicated to finding out the vision of employees of penal institutions and pretrial detention centers of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine, whose duties are related to working with people with disabilities, priority directions for creating a barrier-free environment in penal institutions and pretrial detention centers. Eighty-eight research participants were united into four focus groups; the task of each was, based on their own work experience, assessments the relevance of problems related to the maintenance of persons with disabilities in the penal institutions, as well as the available capabilities of the institutions, to form a list the most priority directions and methods of barrier-free environment creation. The content analysis and generalization of the obtained data showed that additional socio-psychological support, removal of physical barriers on the territory and in the buildings of institutions, and ensuring the availability of physical support services by specially trained personnel and other convicts turned out to be the most priority areas of barrier-free implementation in the participants’ evaluations. At the same time, several important directions, such as the elimination of informational, economic, and educational barriers, were not included in the lists of most groups, which, according to the authors, may indicate both an underestimation of these components of barrier-freeness by the study participants and lack of opportunities for their implementation. Development of psychological and pedagogical programs and formation of the readiness of the State Criminal-Executive Service staff and selected convicts to provide physical support services to persons with disabilities, including barrier-free communication skills, monitoring the special needs of convicts and prisoners with disabilities, according to the authors, along with other measures, will contribute to the purposeful implementation of the Strategy for the introduction of barrier-free access in places of deprivation of liberty. Key words: barrier-free environment, prisoners and convicts, penal institutions and pretrial detention centers, staff of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine.

Listening strategy instruction for EMI learners to understand teacher input in science classrooms

Abstract Listening strategies have mostly been investigated in contexts where learners listen to audio recordings. However, a much more prevalent and indispensable listening task in the classroom is listening to teacher input, particularly in the English Medium Instruction (EMI) classroom where the goal of learning is directed towards comprehension of content subject knowledge (e.g., science, geography). Research has also shown that teacher talk dominates EMI classroom interaction, making it even more important to understand how learners comprehend teacher input. However, little research has been conducted in this area, and even less attention has been devoted to exploring how learners can learn to listen in this classroom context through strategy instruction. This paper reports on a study that implemented a listening strategy instruction programme for a class of secondary school EMI students. The study started with a needs analysis, followed by strategy instruction sessions, and lesson observations and stimulated recall interviews. This paper presents data from two EMI students as focal participants and explores how they improved their strategic behaviour when comprehending teacher input in the EMI classroom. Both students widened their strategic repertoires, but the high achiever benefited more from the strategy instruction programme than the weaker student. This paper ends with pedagogical implications, highlighting the importance of listening strategy instruction for EMI learners.

Inclusive Education Practices of Technology and Livelihood Education Teachers in Public Junior High Schools at Lipa City, Batangas

Inclusive education is an approach that ensures every student, regardless of their learning needs, has fair access to quality education. This study delved into the inclusive education practices, difficulties, and recommendations of Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) teachers in public junior high schools in Lipa City, Batangas, Philippines. Drawing inspiration from frameworks, like the Salamanca Statement, Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism, the research explored how TLE teachers incorporated education into their curriculum design, instructional strategies, and assessment of learning. Using a descriptive-quantitative research design, this research surveyed 81 TLE teachers from 21 public junior high schools. Their demographic profiles were collected, along with their inclusive education practices in the aspects of curriculum design, instructional strategies and assessment of learning. Significant differences were observed in the teachers’ curriculum design and instructional practices while there was no significant difference in their assessment of learning when grouped according to their ages and educational attainment. No significant difference was observed in the three aspects of their inclusive education practices when grouped according to their sex, number of years in teaching, areas of specialization, and length of inclusive education training attended. A comprehensive professional development program for TLE teachers in Lipa is proposed as a way of addressing key challenges and opportunities in the practice of inclusive education. It emphasizes inclusivity in practices and acknowledges the significance of equal provision of high-quality education for all students, stakeholder collaboration, sufficient fund allocation, and continuous professional development to further improve inclusivity and ensuring that no student is left behind in any learning process.

Leveraging Data Analytics to Investigate the Effectiveness of Flipped Classroom Models: A Case Study of Practical Programming Teaching

Educators face multiple challenges when teaching programming, such as the intricate nature of programming knowledge, the choice of effective teaching methods, and the diverse abilities of learners. Traditional teaching methods often fail to address these challenges, leading to higher dropout rates and lower student grades. This paper explores a study on the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model as a strategy to enhance student engagement in a practical programming course. In addition, learning data was analyzed to examine the relationship between pre-class preparation and in-class learning outcomes. The study's results indicate that the flipped classroom model significantly enhances student engagement and performance. Students who diligently completed pre-class assignments and dedicated more time to study demonstrated improved performance in subsequent in-class exercises. The results emphasize the potential of the flipped classroom model as a successful teaching method for increasing student involvement, encouraging self-directed learning, and ultimately improving the overall educational experience in programming courses.

Likelihood of fitness improvements during a standardised physical fitness programme in US Army trainees of different fitness levels

IntroductionUS Army Initial Entry Training (IET) aims to develop general fitness and conditioning among large groups of trainees. Despite group mean improvement in physical fitness during IET, some trainees experience...

The Impact of Vocabulary Clustering on Facilitating Vocabulary Development Among Saudi EFL Learners

The current study sought to investigate how organizing new vocabulary through semantic, ‎thematic, or unrelated sets could affect the learning process among Saudi EFL learners. The ‎majority of EFL teachers and materials writers seem to introduce and cluster new words according to a ‎particular type of semantic relationship (e.g., vegetables, body organs, car parts, or house parts) or a thematical relationship (e.g., a hotel room reservation, visiting a doctor's clinic, going to the post office, or at the train station). ‎Participants in the current research were 149 EFL students from the Preparatory Year Program (PYP) at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMISIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design of this study was a pretest-treatment and posttest-delayed post-test. Two ‎types of clustering of new vocabulary were explored: semantically related sets and semantically ‎unrelated sets, which were constructed to identify how organizing new vocabulary could affect ‎the learning process among Saudi EFL learners. The findings of the study showed that both semantically ‎related (SR) and semantically unrelated (SU) sets ‎ seemed to help in learning new words. Nonetheless, ‎those new words behaved differently one week after the treatment. Moreover, the SR group scored significantly better on both delayed tests than ‎their ‎counterparts. Furthermore, the study's outcomes failed to indicate any interfering effect of ‎teaching and studying semantically relevant terms simultaneously in an actual classroom setting.‎ This study concluded with recommendations for teaching and learning programs to ‎develop ‎students' conceptual understanding of organizing new vocabulary that affects the learning ‎process among Saudi EFL learner’s context.‎

Examining the role of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in strengthening inclusive education in teacher education: A Vygotskian analysis of change projects from Malawi and Eswatini

Inclusive education has a transformative agenda that challenges education systems to accommodate gender and social class as well as diverse needs that include disability. Despite being emphasised in schools, its application in teacher education has been limited. This gap indicates that while inclusive education is prioritised in schools, teachers may lack pedagogical competencies that have not been allowed for in their training. At the same time, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been recognised for its potential to transform education systems given its orientation towards collaborative learning, whole institution approaches, and respect for diversity. In this study, drawing on experiences from UNESCO's Sustainability Starts with Teachers (SST) programme, I examined the role of ESD in strengthening inclusive education in teacher education. The SST programme encouraged teacher educators in southern Africa to champion ESD practices while focusing on their contextual issues such as inclusivity. Focusing on two Change Projects from Malawi and Eswatini I used Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theory to explore opportunities for inclusivity that emerged from the SST programme. This examination led to strategies for maximising these opportunities in educational institutions and broader national contexts. Methodologically, this study involved interviews and workshops in the two selected Change Projects. The findings suggest that enrolling future teachers with disabilities in teacher education is essential for exemplifying an inclusive educational trajectory in schools. The Change Projects enabled teacher educators to work with ESD practices in developing inclusivity proficiencies in future teachers and ongoing efforts are needed to strengthen inclusive education in teacher education through ESD.

Teaching Functional Morphology to Non-Native Arabic Learners: A Proposed Conceptualization

This study aimed to identify appropriate morphological subjects for inclusion in Arabic language teaching programs for non-Arabic speakers. Through the development of a functional teaching morphology using a descriptive approach and employing questionnaires as research tools, the author assessed the relevance and precision of proposed morphological topics across beginner, intermediate, and advanced language levels. The research findings confirmed the suitability and significance of these topics for teaching Arabic to non-Arabic speakers. Additionally, a comprehensive proposal for teaching functional morphology to non-Arabic-speaking learners was formulated and evaluated. Based on these results, the author put forth a series of recommendations and suggestions for consideration.

Gauging and Comparing Teachers’ Equitable Leadership in Selected Schools in China

The study assessed the respondents' equitable leadership and made a comparative analysis based on their profile. The teachers' equitable leadership measure was based on the following parameters: directions, relationships and people development, organizational support, instructional programs, and accountability. The results showed that the respondents have a good level of teacher equitable leadership. The comparative analysis showed no significant differences in the respondents' equitable leadership based on the respondents’ profile. It implies that the respondents' field of expertise, years of teaching experience, and educational attainment have no bearing on their equitable leadership. The findings revealed an encouraging situation for the involved schools. A good level of teachers' equitable leadership means that the school can sustain initiatives for equity.

Use of learning theories and visual programming (scratch) in education

The integration of educational software into education has opened new horizons for learning for both students and teachers. In this particular work we deal with Scratch, which provides students with the opportunity to grasp the concept of interaction between objects while implementing small games. The purpose of the present work was to develop an educational application (Scratch), which can be used as auxiliary material in the elementary school Mathematics lesson, and in particular in mathematics operations related to addition, subtraction and multiplication. Learning Theories related to their integration into educational software are also studied, the main Theories of their use in educational programs are presented and their characteristics are identified.Finally, there are suggestions in this application that use behavioral techniques that are mainly located in the actions of applause or disapproval after each students response.

Science Academies Summer Research Fellowship Program for Students and Teachers 2025

Science Academies Summer Research Fellowship Program for Students and Teachers 2025

The Use of Educational Software and Tools for Teaching Programming

This article explores the role and effectiveness of educational software and tools in teaching programming. As programming becomes an essential skill across many disciplines, the demand for innovative teaching approaches has grown. Educational software designed for programming instruction, ranging from block-based tools like Scratch to sophisticated environments like MATLAB, can enhance student engagement, support self-paced learning, and help students of varying skill levels understand complex programming concepts. This paper analyzes various tools, their benefits, and limitations, while highlighting the need for strategic implementation to achieve optimal learning outcomes. The findings indicate that while educational software can significantly support programming education, it should be complemented by traditional teaching methods and adapted to the learners' levels and needs.

Strategies of Effective Online Teaching and Learning in Vocational Computer Programming Education

Background and Aim: This research analyzes the existing issues with online teaching and learning in vocational computer programming education, devises strategies for online teaching and learning, and then implements and adjusts these strategies to confirm their effectiveness. The expected strategies for effective online teaching and learning proposed in this study include nine aspects: The study focuses on the following nine aspects: 1) the informatization teaching ability of teachers; 2) the autonomous learning ability of students; 3) the interaction between online teaching and learning; 4) the course content; 5) the teaching resource; 6) the teaching design; 7) the learning engagement; 8) school policy support; and 9) the online teaching and learning platform. Methodology: The sample consisted of 21 experts with qualified Delphi requirements from high vocational colleges in Guangxi, as well as 60 computer program students in their second year of study. Research instruments include an open-ended interview and Likert scale questionnaire, as well as data analysis using median, mode, interquartile range, percentage, and descriptive analysis. Results: The research results found that online teaching and learning in vocational computer programming education in aspects were at a medium-high level; after implementing and readjusting the strategies, the effectiveness of online classes was comparable to that of traditional classes. The research results summarized 80 strategies and suggestions for online teaching and learning in vocational computer programming education and put forward a discussion of the future development trend. Conclusion: The study's findings show that, with some strategic modifications, online instruction in vocational computer programming education achieved a medium-high effectiveness that was on par with traditional classroom settings. The study also offered eighty strategies and insights for the advancement of online education in this field in the future.

“It's Just a Hot Mess”: Supporting Teacher Praxis to Challenge Barriers for Multilingual Learners

ABSTRACTThis paper examines a professional learning (PL) program for upper elementary teachers focused on developing instructional practices to support multilingual learners (MLLs) in science. The PL sought to support teachers' praxis, which we describe as their sense of agency to critically analyze and take action against barriers to MLLs’ opportunities to learn. We analyzed pre‐PL interviews with teachers to identify the ways that they framed MLLs from asset‐ and deficit‐based perspectives and the barriers that they identified that undermine MLLs' science learning. Then, we analyzed the extent to which the teachers' participation in the PL shifted their framing of MLLs and fostered their sense of agency to challenge the barriers faced by MLLs. We found that teachers shifted toward more asset‐based views of students' existing language resources and deepened their sense of agency to employ scaffolds that engage these resources in their own instructional practice. However, teachers continued to surface barriers in their organizational contexts, including the emphasis placed on standardized language assessments and the misalignment between English language instruction and science learning. Our analysis shows that the PL did not adequately support teachers in navigating these particular institutional barriers. Based on our analysis, we argue that teachers and science education researchers should expand their focus beyond teachers’ instructional practices and work together to remove barriers for MLLs in the larger organizational systems of schooling.

Leadership Role of the School Principal in Developing and Improving Learner Performance in Eswatini Schools

This paper reports the findings of a study on the leadership role of school principals in developing and improving learner performance in schools. In this study, principals are the most influential educational leaders whose leadership role is inseparably linked to student performance. This study examines the basics of good leadership in line with student performance and offers practical suggestions that school leaders can employ. A qualitative case study embedded within the interpretative paradigm was conducted with five purposively sampled high schools and conveniently sampled principals in the Manzini region of Eswatini. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that the principal is key to ensuring learner performance; thus, he is referred to as an instructional leader. The strategies principals employ to develop and improve learner performance are establishing a clear context relevant to school goals and focusing on those goals. Additionally, setting high expectations for student achievement and providing adequate resources and appropriate staff development programmes for teachers positively contribute to improving learner performance. Based on these findings, the study recommends that school principals have a knowledge-sharing platform on leadership practices and strategies for developing and improving learner performance.

PLC/HMI Based Portable Workbench for PLC and Digital Logic Learning and Application Development

A Programmable logic controller (PLC) uses the digital logic circuits and their operating concepts in its hardware structure and its programming instructions and algorithms. Therefore, the deep understanding of these two items is staple for the development of control applications using the PLC. This target is only possible through the practical sensing of the various components or instructions of these two items and their applications. In this work, a user-friendly and re-configurable ladder, digital logic learning and application development design and testing platform has been designed and implemented using a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Human Machine Interface panel (HMI), four magnetic contactors, one Single-phase power line controller and one Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) unit. The PLC role is to implement the ladder and digital logic functions. The HMI role is to establish the virtual circuit wiring and also to drive and monitor the developed application in real time mode of application. The magnetic contactors are to play the role of industrial field actuators or to link the developed application control circuit to another field actuator like three phase induction motor. The Single -phase power line controller is to support an application like that of the soft starter. The VFD is to support induction motor driven applications like that of cut-to-length process in which steel coils are uncoiled and passed through cutting blade to be cut into required lengths. The proposed platform has been tested through the development of 14 application examples. The test results proved the validity of the proposed platform.