DETERMINATION OF SCIENCE TEACHERS' OPINIONS ABOUT OUTDOOR EDUCATION

The aim of this research is to discover what science teachers' opinions about outdoor education learning environments are. Outdoor education learning environments contribute to problem-solving, critical and creative thinking skills of students. For this reason, outdoor education learning environments are very important for students to learn by recognizing the nature and the natural environment. Qualitative research method was used in this research. The study group of the research constitutes 16 science teachers. A semi-structured interview form was used as a data collection tool. According to the results of the research, most science teachers stated that they have taken their students to science centers and museums as the outdoor education environment in order for the students to be aware of the nature and the natural environment. They desired to use the outdoor learning environments, but the conditions of them are not appropriate. Teachers stated that they had problems in school-family cooperation, in-service training and obtaining legal permission.  Article visualizations

Re-orientating experiences : considerations for student development through virtual mobility in STEM

Outbound mobility experiences (OMEs) provide a catalyst for learning environments that foster student development to occur in a global context. In STEM, OMEs foster critical thinking, creativity and scientific literacy. However, the sudden disruption to international travel due to the recent global pandemic has seen countries worldwide plunged into lockdown and borders closed. While the shift to online learning has been challenging, it has also provided the higher education sector an opportunity for wider implementation of online experiential learning environments, such as virtual mobility. Currently there has been little exploration of the potential of transforming physical, short-term, face-to-face mobility programs to an online environment for undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students. This paper seeks to understand, through existing literature, how we can meet the desired program outcomes of a physical OME to support critical thinking of undergraduate natural science students, when the OME occurs online

Exploring curiosity and critical thinking skills for prospective biology teacher

Curiosity and critical thinking as one of the characteristics and skills developed in the goals of Indonesian education and 21st-century learning. Curiosity is a driving force for intrinsic motivation to explore behavior and gain new understanding and knowledge through observation. Curiosity and critical thinking skills are the needs of every individual to explore sciences such as biology. This study’s aim is to explore the curiosity and critical thinking skills of prospective biology teacher students. This research is a qualitative descriptive study with a survey method. The sample of this study amounted to 150 students who were taken using purposive random sampling. Curiosity data was collected using science curiosity in learning environments (SCILE) and critical thinking skills were collected using the developed instrument. The data obtained were analyzed using the partial least square program to determine the contribution of gender to scientific curiosity (SC) and critical thinking skills. The results of the analysis show that gender contributes directly to critical thinking skills through SC on the stretching indicator. In general, SC needs to do research to find out the contribution of each critical thinking

Some Experience with Digital Publishing, Open Access Repository, Research Impact and Quality

The higher education and professional environments have been transformed for the last 20 years by the digital publishing revolution. Electronic resources and open access repositories are now part of research and professional tools. Herein the writer describes his experience with institutional open access repositories, and some implications in terms of research, impact and quality in civil engineering. It is critical to appreciate that civil engineering is not a "virtual" science, and that the digital "band-aids" do not replace scholarship, personal experience and smart thinking

An ethnomathematical perspective of STEM education in a glocalized world

An Ethnomathematics-based curriculum helps students demonstrate consistent mathematical processes as they reason, solve problems, communicate ideas, and choose appropriate representations through the development of daily mathematical practices. As well, it recognizes connections with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Our pedagogical work, in relation to STEM Education, is based on the trivium curriculum for mathematics and ethnomodelling, which provides communicative, analytical, material, and technological tools to the development of emic, etic, and dialogic approaches that are necessary for the elaboration of the school curricula. STEM education facilitates pedagogical action that connects ethnomathematics; mathematical modelling, problem-solving, critical judgment, and making sense of mathematical and non-mathematical environments, which involves distinct ways of thinking, reasoning, and developing mathematical knowledge in distinct sociocultural contexts. The ethnomathematical perspective for STEM education proposed here provides a transformative pedagogy that exposes its power to transform students into critical and reflective citizens in order to enable them to transform society in a glocalized world

Research-based computer games to train civil engineering students to be lifelong learners

In spite of vast efforts to adopt available information technology in higher education teaching and learning, the truth is that most of university students and academic staff make only limited use of communication technology. Selwyne [1] concluded that there is a growing need for the education community to account for the distinct ?digital disconnect? between the enthusiastic rhetoric and rather more mundane reality of university information and communication technology use. Recent advances in computer science and multimedia as well as optimistic effects of multifaceted modes of education on student learning, have encouraged teachers to look at adopting the new technology to improve students? learning experience. Chang et al. [2] have suggested that digital games can be powerful informal learning environments encouraging active and critical learning, supplementing traditional teaching methods. It is well accepted that well designed discipline based computer games can help with student learning process and experience in higher education. In this study, a computer game called ?Back to Bedrock? has been developed for soil Behaviour subject at undergraduate level and students? learning process has been monitored and evaluated. It was aimed to help Civil Engineering students with information collection methods, creative thinking, problem solving, and lifelong learning abilities, through a research-based computer game. The results of this project indicate that implementing innovative methods such as computer game based assignments can provide enjoyable competitive and cooperative learning environment enhancing students? learning motivation, and critical thinking abilities, improving the overall performance of students in the subject

A Critical Practice Model For Physiotherapy

A perspective in critical social science is concerned with knowledge, power and critique. This thesis explores the question: What would physiotherapy practice look like if it were informed by critical social science? This question originated from four observations: (1) physiotherapists work with constantly changing health care demands, (2) traditional practice approaches underpinned by rational objectivity widen the gap between theory and practice, (3) professional judgments are based on more than objective, rational thinking, and (4) concluding from the first three observations clinical physiotherapists rely more and more on thinking for themselves. If physiotherapists were to adopt a critical social science perspective they would question their practice, identify taken-for-granted, unreflected assumptions and unnecessary system constraints and liberate themselves, their practice and patients, thereby enhancing both the quality of patient care and the practitioner’s professional work experience. Following the hermeneutic tradition I constructed texts from pertinent literature as well as transcripts from participants’ interviews, action plans and field notes. I developed an integrative design to interpret these texts drawing from philosophical and critical hermeneutics as well as action research. The question and answer dialogue methodology consisted of four cycles including deep, critical and transformative dimensions. These I labelled critical transformative dialogues. The first dialogue was with the critical social science literature and with the Gadamer-Habermas and Foucault- Habermas debates in particular. These debates addressed issues of rationality, knowledge and power. Further, I reviewed relevant education, nursing and health promotion literature that addressed these critical social science themes. This first dialogue crystallised my identification of key CSS dimensions relevant to physiotherapy practice. The second dialogue comprised physiotherapy literature that related to these identified critical social science dimensions, as well as transcripts from physiotherapists’ interviews. This dialogue critically interpreted current practice models in their historical, educational and practice contexts. It highlighted the finding that physiotherapy practice is currently dominated by instrumental thinking rather than critical thinking, and that there is a lack of engagement of physiotherapy practice with CSS. The third dialogue was with physiotherapists trialling CSS in practice. Physiotherapists of this trialling group designed action learning “contracts” where they set out to change their practice in the sense of adopting CSS principles and activities in their practice. I explored with these participants how CSS could work or fit in their practice and practice contexts and how this would be experienced. Through this action learning project of endeavouring to transform their practice towards a CSS model I explored participants’ capacity to learn about posing problems concerning their practice, recognise practice contradictions, experience practice challenges and recognise their motivations and interests. This exploration illuminated the viability of CSS in their practice. The fourth dialogue was with physiotherapists who operationalised CSS values or who could visualise a CSS framework for their practice whether they used this terminology or not. This dialogue brought critical understanding of the advantages and potential limitations of realising a CSS-centred physiotherapy practice. I conclude the thesis with twelve propositions arising from these four critical transformative dialogues. Based on the trialling, transforming and visioning of CSS as a model for physiotherapy practice, the relevance of these propositions for critical physiotherapy practice is asserted and implications for education and further research are discussed. The contribution that CSS can make to physiotherapy practice is to add critical transformative dialogues as a strategy to advance practice that is patient-centred and multidisciplinary in approach, inclusive of sociopolitical environments, mindful of professional power and open about professional values

Create, Learn, Play: Planning Creative, Whole-body Learning Enviornments for Young Children

The built environment plays a significant role in the education of a child, with some teaching philosophies referring to it as another teacher. Neural development happens through a combination of genetics and experience. Sensory learning therefore suggests that young developing children are very sensitive to the environment around them. The environment includes the landscape, physical structures and equipment, and people. This thesis proposes that the physical environment (landscape, building structure, and equipment) can positively affect the holistic development of a prekindergarten aged child (between three- five years in age) by providing an enriching learning environment that facilitates whole-body learning and creativity. As a result of examining the multidisciplinary literature on child development and creativity science, as well as studying the way existing progressive preschool pedagogies treat their learning environments, a planning guide has been produced. The planning guide provides strategies for designers and educators to create holistic early learning environments that consider a child’s emotional, mental and physical wellbeing. Children are experiential learners who learn using their whole body. Movement and multi-sensory learning are therefore critical for healthy development. Rich, multilayered explorations of materials encourage creativity, curiosity and imagination. Supportive interventions that allow children multiple opportunities to explore, create, and connect, are vital to an early childhood education facility that wishes to encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills via the development of divergent thinking. It is important to create a supportive network of harmonious interventions. These interventions will become the foundation on which Whole-body Learning and Creativity can be built. The resulting guide is organized into three major sections that go on to discuss supporting topics in detail. Due to the fluid nature of some of the interventions there is some overlap between sections; however the interventions will be discussed topically as they pertain to a given section

Education for a Future in Crisis: Developing a Humanities-Informed STEM Curriculum

In the popular imagination, science and technology are often seen as fields of knowledge production critical to social progress and a cooperative future. This optimistic portrayal of technological advancement also features prominently in internal discourses amongst scientists, industry leaders, and STEM students alike. Yet, an overwhelming body of research, investigation, and first-person accounts highlight the varying ways modern science, technology, and engineering industries contribute to the degradation of our changing environments and exploit and harm global low-income and marginalized populations. By and large, siloed higher-education STEM curricula provide inadequate opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to critically analyze the historical and epistemological foundations of scientific knowledge production and even fewer tools to engage with and respond to modern community-based cases. Here, we describe the development of a humanities- and social sciences-informed curriculum designed to address the theory, content, and skill-based needs of traditional STEM students considering technoscientific careers. In essence, this course is designed to foster behavior change, de-center dominant ways of knowing in the sciences, and bolster self-reflection and critical-thinking skills to equip the developing STEM workforce with a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the social, political, and economic role of science and technology. This curriculum has the potential to empower STEM-educated professionals to contribute to a more promising, inclusive future. Our framework foregrounds key insights from science and technology studies, Black and Native feminisms, queer theory, and disability studies, alongside real-world case studies using critical pedagogies.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, 4 table

Toward High Performance Computing Education

High Performance Computing (HPC) is the ability to process data and perform complex calculations at extremely high speeds. Current HPC platforms can achieve calculations on the order of quadrillions of calculations per second with quintillions on the horizon. The past three decades witnessed a vast increase in the use of HPC across different scientific, engineering and business communities, for example, sequencing the genome, predicting climate changes, designing modern aerodynamics, or establishing customer preferences. Although HPC has been well incorporated into science curricula such as bioinformatics, the same cannot be said for most computing programs. This working group will explore how HPC can make inroads into computer science education, from the undergraduate to postgraduate levels. The group will address research questions designed to investigate topics such as identifying and handling barriers that inhibit the adoption of HPC in educational environments, how to incorporate HPC into various curricula, and how HPC can be leveraged to enhance applied critical thinking and problem solving skills. Four deliverables include: (1) a catalog of core HPC educational concepts, (2) HPC curricula for contemporary computing needs, such as in artificial intelligence, cyberanalytics, data science and engineering, or internet of things, (3) possible infrastructures for implementing HPC coursework, and (4) HPC-related feedback to the CC2020 project