Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Preschool STEM Activities and Associated Outcomes: A Scoping Review

This review highlights the need for further investigation into the benefits of STEM activities in preschool children’s learning, girls’ engagement and learning of children with disabilities in the STEM field. The review process involved accessing 19 relevant studies from Scopus, ERIC and Google Scholar databases in March 2023. Through the synthesis of information from these studies, seven STEM activities were identified as effective in enhancing preschool children’s learning: educational robots, educational games, argumentative interactions, inquiry-based learning and engineering design, drawing and telling about engineers, free play and pretend play, and group membership. Each of these activities contributes to different learning outcomes for children. Moreover, the review emphasizes the importance of role-playing activities ‘as if’ engineers and scientists, facilitated by teachers, in fostering girls’ motivation and engagement in the STEM field from an early age. Long-term scientific interventions at home have a significant positive impact on the science literacy skills of deaf children. The implications of this review are particularly relevant for early childhood educators, as it provides valuable insights into the use of STEM activities to enhance children’s learning outcomes

Active Learning Augmented Reality for STEAM Education—A Case Study

Immersive technologies are rapidly transforming the field of education. Amongst them, Augmented Reality (AR) has shown promise as a resource, particularly for education in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). There are, however, few teachers deploying this new medium in the classroom directly, and, consequently, only a few, elect students benefit from the AR-enriched offers. Curricula are already overloaded, and schools generally lack developmental resources, thus leaving no room for experimentation. This situation is further aggravated by the too few educational applications available with sufficient learning content. In this article, we investigate the method of Active Learning for the teaching of STEAM subjects, using a format where students are tasked with building an AR application as part of their learning. We evaluate the applicability of the Active Learning for STEAM subjects with a qualitative, case study approach, applying the workshop format as an extracurricular activity in our work with students from a range of secondary schools in Oxford. We discuss how the format works, so it can be embedded into regular curricula, not just as an extracurricular activity, also providing an overview on the involved teaching units and rationale. All teams in our preview audience of the case study succeeded in building working applications, several of impressive complexity. Students found that the lessons were enjoyable and AR technology can enhance their learning experience. The Active Learning method served as a catalyst for students’ skills development, with the case study providing evidence of learning to code, working with a physics simulation engine, ray-tracing, and geometry, learning how to manage teams and interact with other students/instructors, and engineering a working prototype of a game. We consequentially argue that combining the STEM subjects and the arts, using the proposed Active Learning format, is able to provide a more holistic and engaging education

Возможности применения мобильных технологий в школьном курсе информатики

Анализируется актуальность и целесообразность использования мобильных технологий на уроках информатики с учетом современного развития общества и вычислительной техники, организационных и технологических оснований школьного курса информатики. Рассматривая тенденцию перехода пользователей от эксплуатации стационарных персональных компьютеров к более мобильным переносным устройствам (ноутбукам, нетбукам, планшетам, смартфонам) и основываясь на проблемах организации учебного процесса, высказывается предположение об эффективности и актуальности использования мобильных технологий в обучении информатике

Formation of Information Culture of Vocational Education Specialists

This article reflects the system of multilevel continuing professional teaching of vocational education specialists. The basic principles of this process are investigated and the structure of training of vocational education specialists is determined by means of the analysis of the state standards of preparation of graduates in a specialty “Professional education”, educational programs and curricula. There is made comparative analysis of the maintenance of preparation of graduates of a specialty “Professional education” on specializations “Digital technologies” and “Sphere of service (Tourist service)” for formation of their information culture

Postgraduate students' experiences with learning management systems at a selected nursing education institution in KwaZulu-Natal Province

Background. Learning management systems (LMS) are indispensable teaching and learning tools in nursing education, and in recent years, LMS have become a cornerstone to support online learning, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The South African (SA) e-education policy requires every teacher and learner in the education and training sector to be information and communication technology (ICT)-capable, and able to use ICTs confidently and creatively to help develop the skills and knowledge they need as lifelong learners to achieve their personal goals and be full participants in their global communities. Objective. To investigate postgraduate students’ experiences with learning management systems at a selected nursing education institution in KwaZulu-Natal Province, SA. Method. An exploratory, descriptive research design was used, and the whole population of 16 postgraduate nursing education students who were exposed to Moodle as a learning management system participated in the study. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews, followed by focus group discussions, with thematic analysis used to analyse data. Results. This was the first time that most participants had been exposed to an online learning course, and the experience made them feel empowered as it provided enabled reflection and deep learning. Participants indicated that the range of interactions and level of engagement determined the eventual level of knowledge constructed. The online facilitator played a central role in guiding and supporting students, and ensuring that they achieved the learning outcomes. The online learning benefits included increased socialisation, convenience and flexibility, asynchronicity and accessibility of learning material. The challenges were the lack of real-time response, financial cost and technical issues. Conclusion. An intense ICT orientation for students is recommended to ensure that they are informed of the requirements before starting the online course. The online facilitators must be more visible in the online space, participate more often in discussions and stimulate constructive dialogue

Approaches and Methods of Science Teaching and Sustainable Development

This book “Approaches and Methods of Science Teaching and Sustainable Development”, edited by Dr. David González Gómez and Dr. Jin Su Jeong, aims to provide a solid research corpus for addressing the challenges needed to provide adequate science and sustainable development education to scholars with different levels of education. Sustainability is starting to form a part of the curricula for many educational institutions. However, efforts must be taken to ensure proper implementation and development of sustainability-oriented topics seeking the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in higher education as well as fresh perspectives on continuing challenges

Power to the Teachers:An Exploratory Review on Artificial Intelligence in Education

This exploratory review attempted to gather evidence from the literature by shedding light on the emerging phenomenon of conceptualising the impact of artificial intelligence in education. The review utilised the PRISMA framework to review the analysis and synthesis process encompassing the search, screening, coding, and data analysis strategy of 141 items included in the corpus. Key findings extracted from the review incorporate a taxonomy of artificial intelligence applications with associated teaching and learning practice and a framework for helping teachers to develop and self-reflect on the skills and capabilities envisioned for employing artificial intelligence in education. Implications for ethical use and a set of propositions for enacting teaching and learning using artificial intelligence are demarcated. The findings of this review contribute to developing a better understanding of how artificial intelligence may enhance teachers’ roles as catalysts in designing, visualising, and orchestrating AI-enabled teaching and learning, and this will, in turn, help to proliferate AI-systems that render computational representations based on meaningful data-driven inferences of the pedagogy, domain, and learner models

Augmented Reality as a Resource for Improving Learning in the Physical Education Classroom

We acknowledge the researchers of the research group AreA (HUM-672), which belongs to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Junta de Andalucía and is registered in the Department of Didactics and School Organization of the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Granada.Recently, there has been a proliferation of technopedagogical practices, based on the application of active teaching and learning processes through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The main objective of this work is to analyse the impact of training action through the use of augmented reality in physical education for the development and acquisition of spatial orientation, as opposed to more traditional training based on the exhibition method. The methodology developed is quantitative, through a quasi-experimental design post-test in 140 high school students in the field of physical education. The results indicate that all of the dimensions show a very high, significant relationship. The greatest difference in average is observed in motivation. In contrast, the smallest difference, although significant, is observed in the grades given by the teachers themselves. It can be concluded that the method of teaching through augmented reality is effective in teaching high school students in the subject of physical education, especially for the acquisition of spatially oriented content.Corporacion Escuela Tecnologica del Oriente ISPRS-2017-7202Secretariat of Education of Santander ISPRS-2017-7202AreA HUM/672 Research Group of the University of Granada ISPRS-2017-720

Socio-Educational Impact of Augmented Reality (AR) in Sustainable Learning Ecologies: A Semantic Modeling Approach

The current educational processes must be supported by sustainable learning ecologies, where the digitalization of training is enhanced. In this area, augmented reality (AR) plays an important role. It is a technology that for certain educational goals can facilitate the understanding of the course contents and increase the motivation and interest of the student. This research aims to measure the socio-educational impact that AR presents in the teaching processes of university students of social education. These are professionals in training dedicated, precisely, to social and educational actions. In order to reach the pursued objective, an exploratory study of qualitative and descriptive nature was approached from a methodological conception based on the action-research. The study was carried out during three academic courses and consisted of an experience of integration of AR in the classroom in order to determine which applications, and advantages or limitations of a socio-educational nature, were perceived by the participants in that process. The documents generated were analyzed mainly using semantic methods. The main results were that AR is positive overall for its use in learning processes and, specifically in its field, optimal for the development of professional skills within the framework of social education. As to benefits, it highlighted the strengthening of learning dynamism, motivation, and interaction among students; as to limitations, these included the fact that it is not an accessible technology, the need for previous training and that it can reduce sociability. It was also stressed that it can be a useful resource in many areas of social education (childhood and adolescence, gerontology, drug addiction, etc.). In general, therefore, it can be concluded that the use of AR in university training, in this area of knowledge, allows content to be more dynamic and real in a sustainable way, thus achieving a highly transferable and motivating path to develop content and competencies