Conference Report: Improving Skills: Evidence from Secondary Analysis of International Surveys

The Improving Skills conference, which took place November 15-16, 2012 in Cyprus, was organised by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture (DG EAC), in close cooperation with the Cypriot Presidency and with the input from CRELL. The aim of the conference was to generate and disseminate knowledge derived from recent secondary analysis of large scale international surveys and assessments such as PISA, TIMSS, ICCS, ESLC and PIRLS. Participants of the conference discussed policy goals and areas requiring further research in the field of improving skills, both in terms of improving basic skills (such as literacy and reading competencies) and transversal skills (enhancing employability, social inclusion and civic participation).JRC.G.3-Econometrics and applied statistic

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Development, validation and use of an instrument for assessing business management learning environments in higher education in Australia: the Business Management Education Learning Environment Inventory (BMELEI)

Although there are numerous instruments available for assessing classroom learning environments at the tertiary level, no instrument has been specifically designed and validated for measuring the business management education learning environment (Brennan & Ahmad, 2005). My aims were (1) to design, develop and validate an instrument, the Business Management Education Learning Environment Inventory (BMELEI), for assessing business management students’ perceptions of the psychosocial learning environments of university seminars and tutorials and (2) to relate learning environment to attitudes towards the subject and attitudes towards the case study teaching strategy. This study is distinctive in that it involved both quantitative and qualitative methods. The BMELEI and two attitude scales were administered to 480 final-year undergraduate and postgraduate business studies students in 30 classes at both Curtin University of Technology and Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia. The qualitative component of the study involved semi-structured interviews with 42 randomly-selected participants from the above universities. Factor analysis supported a six-factor structure (Student Cohesiveness, Teacher Support, Involvement, Task Orientation, Cooperation and Equity) with scale alpha reliabilities ranging from 0.78 to 0.90 for the actual form and from 0.80 to 0.92 for the preferred form using the individual as unit of analysis. Students’ attitudes were found to be positively associated with classroom learning environment.Also differences were found between students’ perceptions of the actual and preferred classroom environment, and between male and female students’ perceptions of the actual and preferred classroom environment. Findings suggested that students preferred a more positive and favourable classroom learning environment than they perceived as being actually present

Trends on Educational Gamification: Challenges and Learning Opportunities

Games are a natural activity—we all know how to play. Perhaps this is the key feature that explains the increase in the use of game-based learning (GBL) strategies: Applying games to education converts education into a universal activity. Over the last ten years, the way in which education and training is delivered has considerably changed, not only due to a new technologic environment—plenty of social networks, MOOCs, etc.—but also because of the appearance of new methodologies. Such new methodologies are shifting the center of gravity: from the teacher to the student, with the aim of awakening relational aspects, as well as promoting imagination and divergent thinking. One new approach that holds considerable promise for helping to engage learners is, indeed, game-based learning (GBL). However, while a growing number of institutions are beginning to see the validity of GBL, there are still many challenges to overcome before this type of learning can become widespread.In this Special Issue, we want to gather several studies and experiences in GBL to be shared with other teachers and researchers

Students' acceptance of e-learning in Bahrain secondary schools

The aim of this study was to investigate and measure students’ acceptance of elearning as the main tool in the learning process in Bahrain’s secondary schools. Schoolteachers’ perceptions regarding the use of an e-learning system were also considered. This is deemed of value at a time when the Bahrain Ministry of Education is planning to implement an e-learning system in all government schools and at all school stages in the near future. [Continues.

An integration of cognitive academic language proficiency and content-based instruction

The purpose of this project is to provide more effective teaching strategies for ESL students through the integration of CALP and content area teaching

Effects of instructional approaches, attitude, and gender on financial accounting achievement among secondary school students in Nigeria

The financial accounting achievement of secondary school students in Nigeria over the years has persistently remained not encouraging, especially in their national examination. This is due to the persistent use of the conventional teaching approach. Several studies in other subject areas have documented that effective instructional approaches have significantly improved students’ achievement. However, arguments exist in the literature that knowing students’ attitude towards a subject could help the teacher to use appropriate instructional approaches to address the students’ learning problems. Therefore, this study extended the work of previous studies by examining the effects of instructional approaches, attitude, and gender on financial accounting achievement among secondary school students in Nigeria. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was adopted where a cluster sampling technique was used in the study. The quantitative data were collected from 240 students, while twelve students participated in the interview. The data collected were statistically treated using ANCOVA, multiple regression, and t-test, while NVivo was used in analysing the qualitative data. The results revealed that cooperative instructional approach is the most effective approach for teaching financial accounting to secondary school students compared to the demonstration, guided discovery, and conventional approaches. Students’ attitude towards financial accounting also has a significant influence on their financial accounting achievement, whereas students’ gender difference has no influence on their financial accounting achievement. By implications, the findings of the present study suggest that the government should encourage curriculum planners and financial accounting teachers of secondary schools to adopt the cooperative instructional approach as an instructional approach for teaching financial accounting in secondary schools to improve their students’ achievement in the subject. Furthermore, financial accounting students should be motivated, especially by their teachers to develop a more positive attitude towards financial accounting. This will also help in improving their achievement in the subject

Improving the academic self-efficacy of middle school girls toward the study of mathematics through the use of theatrical infusion

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of theatrical infusion on the academic self-efficacy toward the study of mathematics in middle school girls. A group of middle school girls participated in a program entitled Starring...Math. This five session program presented mathematical concepts through the use of theatrical infusion. The group of participants was composed of twenty-one girls in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.;Part I: Everyday Math Tasks of the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (Betz & Hackett, 1989) was administered at three occasions: (1) prior to the start of the program, (2) at the end of the program and, (3) two weeks after the end of the program. Participants were asked to rate their self-efficacy toward a variety of math tasks on a Likert Scale (0-9). Part I: Everyday Math Tasks is comprised of eighteen scale items. The items were divided into two groups. One group was comprised of items related to material covered in the program. One group was comprised of items relating to material not covered in the program.;The study examined the change in score for Covered and Uncovered Scale-Items. There was a statistically significant increase in self-efficacy rating from Pre-Test occasion to Post-Test occasion for both Covered and Uncovered Scale-Items. There was no significant decrease in self-efficacy rating from Post-Test to Follow-Up for either group of scale-items

Use of exchange-of-knowledge method for enhancing classroom environment and students’ attitudes and achievements in Mathematics

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the exchange-of-knowledge method (a teaching approach that offers all students in a group an equal opportunity to interact with one another on the learning tasks and to communicate their ideas in various ways) and traditional teaching methods in terms of classroom learning environment, student attitudes toward mathematics and student achievement in mathematics. Another purpose of this research was to validate suitable measures of classroom environment and students’ attitudes toward mathematics. A third aim was to investigate associations between students’ outcomes (attitudes and achievement) and their perceptions of the classroom learning environment.The sample consisted of 490 grade 6–8 students attending a middle school and 22 grade 5 students attending an elementary school in Georgia. Classroom environment was assessed using a refined version of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire to assess students’ perceptions of Cohesiveness/Cooperation, Teacher Support, Task Orientation, and Equity, whereas attitudes were assessed with a refined version of the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA), in which items were modified by changing the word ‘science’ to ‘mathematics’, assessing Attitude to Mathematical Inquiry and Enjoyment of Mathematics Lessons.Factor and reliability analyses revealed that a refined four-scale 25-item version of the WIHIC and a refined 17-item version of the attitude questionnaire exhibited sound factorial validity and internal consistency reliability. Also all four WIHIC scales differentiated significantly between the perceptions of students in different classrooms.Implementation of the exchange-of-knowledge method was found to have a positive impact. For the four classroom environment and two attitude scales, the control group experienced pretest-posttest changes that were both statistically nonsignificant and small in magnitude (ranging from 0.01 to 0.10 standard deviations). In contrast, the exchange-of-knowledge group experienced pretest-posttest changes on these six classroom environment and attitude scales that were statistically significant and large in magnitude (ranging from 0.63 to 3.12 standard deviations).Third, a series of simple correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed positive and statistically significant associations between students’ attitudes and the nature of the classroom environment. With the student as the unit of analysis, students’ attitudes were more positive on both scales (Attitude to Mathematical Inquiry and Enjoyment of Mathematics Lessons) in classrooms with greater Cohesiveness/Cooperation, Teacher Support, Task Orientation, and Equity.My research represents one of relatively few studies that have utilized learning environment dimensions in evaluating elementary school mathematics programs, as well as the first study to evaluate the exchange-of-knowledge method using a learning environment framework. The practical implication of my study for other mathematics educators is that the exchange-of-knowledge method has the potential to promote positive classroom environments and student attitudes among elementaryschool students