Search results for "instruction"

Mathematical skills in undergraduate students. A ten-year survey of a Plant Physiology course

2012

In the health and life sciences, as well as in other scientific disciplines, problem solving depends on mathematical skills. However, significant deficiencies are commonly found in this regard in undergraduate students. In an attempt to understand the underlying causes and to improve students' performance, this paper reports a ten-year survey (2000-2010) on mathematical skills of undergraduate Spanish students enrolled in a Plant Physiology course, based on data from tests performed throughout this time period. The results show that the percentage of correct answers decreases for questions requiring some mathematical skills, particularly those needing some calculations. Interestingly, perce…

Rewards, changes and challenges in the role of primary headteachers/principals in England and Finland

2012

Drawing on an analysis of education policies and qualitative research data, the impact of education reform on the roles of English primary headteachers and their Finnish counterparts is examined and compared. Global forces have resulted in similar policy trends in both countries but owing to contrasting cultural values and education traditions there are marked differences in the mechanisms for change at both national and local levels. However, irrespective of globalisation and differing national contexts, there were considerable similarities in the perspectives of headteachers and principals on the rewards and constraints of their role and the realities of leadership and management.

2019

This research clarifies how a collaborative team teaching model (CTTM) can support both pre-service and in-service teachers’ professional development in using inquiry-based science teaching in primary schools. The data were collected via a questionnaire-based survey approach after inquiry projects implementation at public schools in four Finnish cities. In total, 98 pre-service teachers and 51 in-service class teachers were involved in the research. According to their experiences collaborative team teaching was seen as an adequate teaching approach in primary school science lessons. Both in-service and pre-service teachers experienced inquiry-based science teaching enthusiastically and rece…

Mobile solution for better reading instruction in rural Africa

2015

GraphoGame Teacher Training Service is a mobile-based solution for providing teachers with scientifically validated pedagogical training in literacy instruction. In many African countries teachers currently have insufficient knowledge to teach literacy in local languages and learning materials are scarce, especially for children with learning difficulties. As part of the GraphoWorld network, CAPOLSA/University of Zambia is developing new mobile-based method for providing in-service training for teachers in literacy instruction and assisting children with learning difficulties. GraphoGame Teacher Training Service was piloted in October 2014 in rural Zambia. An orientative workshop was given …

Robotic and virtual World Programming labs to Stimulate Reasoning and visual-spatial Abilities

2013

Abstract The individuals’ cognitive skills, academic performance and their relationship with programming of robots or virtual learning environment is a topic of particular interest in the area of human-robot interaction. This paper presents a pilot study performed on a group of 36 lower secondary school students involved in a 32-hours laboratory based on the combination of LEGO Mindstorm NXT and Microsoft Kodu Game Lab (KGL) and aimed at programming first a robot and further a more complete virtual world based on a narrative-designed scenario. The findings of the research will be discussed in the light of the effectiveness of using robotics and virtual world programming as a meaningful and …

Anecdote-Spin-Instructional-Design

2015

Instructional Design is a wonderful tool in the hands of any Instructor, be a class teacher or a lecturer, or a professor. Having an Instructional design and knowing how to use it will make one an effective instructor (Bandura 1997). The design could be in the form of a method or a paradigm, or any cognitive frame work (Elliot and McGregor 2001; Cury et al., 2006). Each design could have its own logic, for example Clarke, Ayres, and Sweller (2005) used spreadsheet application as instructional design to teach students mathematical concepts and procedures (Ambrose et al., 2010). Here we propose a design namely Anecdote-Spin-Instructional-Design. People of every age, be it young or old or midd…

The relationship among students' and teachers' thinking styles, psychological needs and motivation

2014

Abstract This study examines the relationship among students' and teachers' thinking styles, student psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness), and their reports of intrinsic motivation in the Psychology Degree context. The sample comprised 266 Spanish undergraduate students. Spanish adapted version scales were used to assess the constructs considered in this study. The original scales were created based on the mental self-government and the Self-Determination Theories. Structural equation analyses reveal that the teachers' and students' Type I thinking styles have a significant and positive impact on student psychological need satisfaction, whereas students' and the teache…

Predicting word-level reading fluency outcomes in three contrastive groups: Remedial and computer-assisted remedial reading intervention, and mainstr…

2010

Abstract The aim of the longitudinal intervention study was to build a model of predictive values of reading fluency in three contrastive reading groups: remedial and computer-assisted remedial reading intervention, and mainstream instruction, to identify the most effective type of intervention for children with different profiles of compromised pre-reading skills. The participants were 7-year-old Finnish school beginners ( N  = 166). Two remedial interventions took place in four weekly sessions of 45 min over a period of 28 weeks in Grade 1. For a child with deficits in the core pre-reading skills (letter knowledge, phonological awareness or rapid automatized naming), the computer-assisted…

The effectiveness of increased support in reading and its relationship to teachers' affect and children's motivation

2016

Abstract The aims of this study were, firstly, to identify different groups of teacher–child dyads on the basis of the longitudinal associations between teachers' individual support in reading and children's reading skills, and, secondly, to examine whether the groups thus identified differ with respect to various teacher- and child-related factors. A total of 372 teacher–child dyads were examined. The reading skills of 6- to 7-year-old Finnish-speaking children were measured at the beginning and end of Grade 1. The amount of teachers' support in reading for a particular child was gathered from teachers by questionnaires. Regression Mixture Modeling identified three latent groups of teacher…

‘More homework for me, too’. Meanings of differentiation constructed by elementary-aged students in classroom interaction

2012

Although the necessary role of differentiation in special education is well established in the literature, little is known about its social and peer interaction implications from the student perspective. The present qualitative study aims at offering detailed observational analyses of the meanings that 7- to 9-year-old students give to differentiated instruction in its initial phases in authentic classroom activities. The results were yielded from an ethno–methodological conversation analysis of the video-recordings of authentic classroom situations in a part-time Finnish special education setting (N = 12 lessons). The results revealed that whilst differentiation as a pedagogical solution s…