Search results for "Computer Science Application"

Assessment Tests in the Mathematics Teaching Guides in Spain. Analysis of the Content Blocks and the Treatment of Arithmetic Word Problems

2021

The teaching guides that complement textbooks have key importance in the assessment of competence in problem solving, because these materials contain the assessment tools that teachers frequently use to quantify the achievements of their students. In this paper, we set two aims: to analyze which curriculum contents are given priority in the assessment tests of the teaching guides

Calculus Self-Efficacy Inventory : Its Development and Relationship with Approaches to Learning

2019

This study was framed within a quantitative research methodology to develop a concise measure of calculus self-efficacy with high psychometric properties. A survey research design was adopted in which 234 engineering and economics students rated their confidence in solving year-one calculus tasks on a 15-item inventory. The results of a series of exploratory factor analyses using minimum rank factor analysis for factor extraction, oblique promin rotation, and parallel analysis for retaining extracted factors revealed a one-factor solution of the model. The final 13-item inventory was unidimensional with all eigenvalues greater than 0.42, an average communality of 0.74, and a 62.55% variance…

Outcomes of a Teaching Learning Sequence on Modelling Surface Phenomena in Liquids

2023

In this paper we discuss the effects of modelling and computer simulation activities in promoting student use of lines of reasoning useful to explain proposed or observed situations. The activities are part of a structured Teaching/Learning Sequence on surface phenomena in liquids. We outline a model of liquid based on a mesoscopic approach, examples of computer simulations students can use during the activities, and we describe the Teaching/Learning Sequence. During the pedagogical activities, students can simulate the liquid behaviour by controlling many simulation parameters, such as the interaction intensity among liquid and solid particles. The results of the analysis of student answer…

Analysis of the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Knowledge of Cuban Teachers in Primary Schools and Preschools

2022

Teachers’ knowledge of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) plays a key role in the successful inclusion of children with ASD in regular schools. The objective of this study was to analyze Cuban teachers’ knowledge of ASD of at inclusive primary schools and preschools and to compare it with the results obtained in previous studies carried out at an international level. To do this, a cross-sectional study was conducted with Cuban teachers from urban and rural areas throughout the country. The sample was selected using a non-probabilistic technique. In total, 131 primary school and preschool teachers participated. Data were collected by applying the Autism Knowledge Questionnaire (AKQ) …

In Search of Dialogicity: A Comparison of Curricular Documents and Classroom Interactions from Finland and Hong Kong

2017

The prevailing consensus is that science teaching should be more student-centered and guide learners towards more phenomenon-based and authentic problem-solving activities. This approach is reflected in educational policies and recently reformed curricula. However, there is limited research on how these frameworks actually manifest in curricula and how to facilitate student-centered pedagogy. In this study, we examine the student-centered features of the curricula of two countries: Finland and Hong Kong. Student-centeredness in the classroom can be assessed using the principles of dialogicity. Dialogic principles underpin student-centeredness, particularly in teacher-orchestrated whole-clas…

Teachers' Attitudes toward Educational Inclusion in Spain: A Systematic Review.

2021

Inclusive education is currently one of the main aspirations of the Spanish educational system and one of the key aspects for its achievement is teachers’ attitudes toward educational inclusion. In recent years, many studies worldwide have analyzed this aspect, but so far, any systematic review has specifically focused on the Spanish educational framework. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to review the studies published from 2010 to 2019 whose aim was to analyze teachers’ attitudes towards educational inclusion in Spain. After a literature search in four different databases (PsycInfo, ERIC, Dialnet Plus, and Google Scholar), 34 studies were selected and reviewed. The results su…

2021

In recent decades, an essential global aim of the reforms of special education has been the promotion of inclusive education. This article discusses the implementation of reforms with a focus on tiered support systems in the context of Finnish comprehensive school education. Based on earlier literature, legislation, and administrative documents, we provide a background for Finnish education policy and special education reforms. The focus of this article is on the description of parallel reforms targeting the re-structuring of the systems around support for students and funding of education in the 2010s. We discuss the processes leading to these reforms and the reforms themselves. In additio…

“How Real People Really Need Mathematics in the Real World”—Authenticity in Mathematics Education

2018

This paper discusses authenticity from the perspective of mathematics education. Often, school mathematics offers students inauthentic word problems, which don’t show the authentic usefulness of mathematics in real life. In some tasks, authentic aspects are combined with inauthentic ones (e.g., an authentic context, but the question is artificial and different from what people within that context would ask). Several studies show that students are more motivated by authentic questions than by authentic contexts. Embedding these findings, I discuss issues associated with defining authenticity in education. A first issue is that philosophers use the term to characterize a person’s existential …

Virtual and Augmented Reality Applied to the Perception of the Sound and Visual Garden

2022

The COVID-19 situation has encouraged the creation of ICT-based learning environments. Difficulties in performing activities in a garden setting can be overcome by using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). The aim of this research is to evaluate the usefulness of VR and AR as an educational resource through contextualised sensory experiences in the garden. Eighty-seven trainee teachers took part, and a mixed methodology was used, for the analysis of the sound and visual elements of the garden and for reflection on the usefulness of VR and AR. An interpretive and inferential analysis of the AR-based compositions was carried out and of the drawings of the garden created by the pa…

Teacher Agency and Futures Thinking

2022

Problems encountered in top-down school reforms have repeatedly highlighted the significance of teachers’ agency in educational change. At the same time, temporality has been identified as a key element in teachers’ agency, with teachers’ beliefs about the future and experiences of the past shaping their agentic orientations. However, research on teachers’ future orientations is typically limited to short-term trajectories, as opposed to long-term visions of education. To address this, we draw on a futures studies perspective to give more explicit attention to teachers’ long-term visions of their work. We argue that the method of future narratives, already well…