Students’ Perception in Group Work Based on Gender Stereotypes in EFL Classroom

Working in a group is the practice of cooperating with people who have a wide range of information, skills, and ideas. The importance of including group work activities in the school curriculum is becoming more widely recognized as a key component of a student-centered classroom. However, concerns about students’ attitudes toward choosing their desirable group members are affected by stereotypes of gender. This study used a mixed method to explore high school students in EFL Classroom at SMA N 1 Malang attitudes to determine desirable group members based on gender stereotypes. The results from thirty active students' questionnaires and interviews suggested that gender stereotypes were applied in choosing desirable group members especially in terms of communication, cooperation, and academic aspects. There are possibilities that the factors are not applicable to all students since everyone internalized gender stereotypes differently. This research suggests that teachers can let students choose their desirable group members based on their own preferences while also promoting gender bias-free teaching

The Effect of Varied Gender Groupings on Argumentation Skills among Middle School Students in Different Cultures

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the effect of varied gender groupings on argumentation skills among middle school students in Taiwan and the United States in a project-based learning environment that incorporated a graph-oriented computer-assisted application (GOCAA). A total of 43 students comprised the treatment condition and were engaged in the collaborative argumentation process in same-gender groupings. Of these 43 students, 20 were located in the U.S. and 23 were located in Taiwan. A total of 40 students comprised the control condition and were engaged in the collaborative argumentation process in mixed-gender groupings. Of these 40 students, 19 were in the U.S. and 21 were in Taiwan. In each country, verbal collaborative argumentation was recorded and the students’ post essays were collected. Among females in Taiwan, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that statistically a significant gender-grouping effect was evident on the total argumentation skills outcome, while MANOVA indicated no significant gender-grouping effect on the combined set of skill outcomes. Among females in the U.S., MANOVA indicated statistically significant gender-grouping effect on the combined set of argumentation skills outcomes Specifically, U.S. female students in mixed-gender groupings (the control condition) significantly outperformed female students in single-gender groupings (the treatment condition) in the counterargument and rebuttal skills. No significant group differences were observed among males. A qualitative analysis was conducted to examine how the graph-oriented computer-assisted application supported students’ development of argumentation skills in different gender groupings in both countries. In each country, all teams in both conditions demonstrated a similar pattern of collaborative argumentation with the exception of three female teams in the U.S. Female teams, male teams, (the treatment condition) and mixed-gender teams (the control condition) demonstrated metacognition regulation skills in different degrees and with different scaffolding

Collaborative learning in kindergarten: Challenge or reality?

Collaborative learning is a twenty-first-century education trend with its main characteristic being the interaction among classmates. Collaborative learning in kindergarten, however, presents many difficulties, as preschoolers do not have advanced cooperation skills. As a result, teachers face challenges when applying this method. The study aimed to evaluate teachers’ opinions about collaborative learning. The study’s sample was composed of 107 kindergarten teachers in Greek schools. The tool was an improvised questionnaire that included personal characteristics of the sample, 14 multiple-choice questions on the application of collaborative learning and 33 questions regarding teachers’ opinions about collaborative learning. Analysis of the data has shown that collaborative learning is frequently used in kindergarten schools, even though almost half of the teachers have never attended a relevant training course. In addition, teachers have highly evaluated the results of the method, which includes social and cognitive skills and the effects of collaborative learning evaluation and skills advancement

Modeling the Measurements of the Determinants of ICT Fluency and Evolution of Digital Divide Among Students in Developing Countries—East Africa Case Study

[[abstract]]During the last decade, information and communication technology has brought remarkable changes to the education style of developed countries, especially in the context of online learning materials accessibility. However, in developing nations such as the East African (EA) countries, university students may lack the necessary ICT training to take advantage of e-learning resources productively. Therefore, the comprehension of the key factors behind ICT fluency is a significant concern for this region and all the developing countries in general. This paper applies the Concentration Index and proposes a Logistic Regression based model to discover the key determinants of ICT fluency and to explore the evolution of the digital divide among EA students within the four years of undergraduate studies. To identify the principal determinants, data composing of 1237 participants is collected from three different universities in EA within a one year period. The experimental results indicate that the digital divide among students decreases quite fast from the first year to the fourth year. Regression computational findings show that the key determinants of ICT fluency are the student urban/rural origin, computer ownership, computer experience, class year, and major. The findings provide heuristic implications for developers, practitioners, and policy makers for an improved ICT environment implementation in EA and the developing nations in general.[[notice]]補正完

Mobile Technology in Science Classrooms: Using iPad-enabled Constructivist Learning to Promote Collaborative Problem Solving and Chemistry Learning

Most recently, there has been a noticeable rise in the push for use of technology in the classroom. The advancement in digital science has increased greatly the capacity to explore animations, models, and interesting apps. that should substantially enhance science cognition. At the same time, there is a great need to increase collaboration in the science classroom. There is a concern that the collaborative experience will be lost with the use of technology in the classroom. This study seeks to explore the use of iPads in conjunction with a constructivist learning approach to promote student collaboration. The participants in this study included two sections of 11th grade AP Chemistry students. Data was generated from different sources such as teacher observations of classroom interactions patterned after Gilles (2004). In order to gauge student perception of working in groups with the use of the iPad, survey questions adapted from Knezek, Mills and Wakefield (2012) and group interviews were used (Galleta, 2013). Learning outcomes were assessed using methods adapted from a study by Lord and Baviskar (2007). Findings of this study showed high percentages of evidence for increased community, productive student group communication, effective feedback through use of the iPads, and value of the interactive apps., but it also showed that students still preferred face-to-face interactions over virtual interactions for certain learning situations. The study showed good content learning outcomes, as well as favorable opinions among the students for the effectiveness of the use of iPads in collaborative settings in the classroom

Utilizing Online Activity Data to Improve Face-to-Face Collaborative Learning in Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 융합과학기술대학원 융합과학부(디지털정보융합전공), 2019. 2. Rhee, Wonjong .We live in a flood of information and face more and more complex problems that are difficult to be solved by a single individual. Collaboration with others is necessary to solve these problems. In educational practice, this leads to more attention on collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is a problem-solving process where students learn and work together with other peers to accomplish shared tasks. Through this group-based learning, students can develop collaborative problem-solving skills and improve the core competencies such as communication skills. However, there are many issues for collaborative learning to succeed, especially in a face-to-face learning environment. For example, group formation, the first step to design successful collaborative learning, requires a lot of time and effort. In addition, it is difficult for a small number of instructors to manage a large number of student groups when trying to monitor and support their learning process. These issues can amount hindrance to the effectiveness of face-to-face collaborative learning. The purpose of this dissertation is to enhance the effectiveness of face-to-face collaborative learning with online activity data. First, online activity data is explored to find whether it can capture relevant student characteristics for group formation. If meaningful characteristics can be captured from the data, the entire group formation process can be performed more efficiently because the task can be automated. Second, learning analytics dashboards are implemented to provide adaptive support during a class. The dashboards system would monitor each group's collaboration status by utilizing online activity data that is collected during class in real-time, and provide adaptive feedback according to the status. Lastly, a predictive model is built to detect at-risk groups by utilizing the online activity data. The model is trained based on various features that represent important learning behaviors of a collaboration group. The results reveal that online activity data can be utilized to address some of the issues we have in face-to-face collaborative learning. Student characteristics captured from the online activity data determined important group characteristics that significantly influenced group achievement. This indicates that student groups can be formed efficiently by utilizing the online activity data. In addition, the adaptive support provided by learning analytics dashboards significantly improved group process as well as achievement. Because the data allowed the dashboards system to monitor current learning status, appropriate feedback could be provided accordingly. This led to an improvement of both learning process and outcome. Finally, the predictive model could detect at-risk groups with high accuracy during the class. The random forest algorithm revealed important learning behaviors of a collaboration group that instructors should pay more attention to. The findings indicate that the online activity data can be utilized to address practical issues of face-to-face collaborative learning and to improve the group-based learning where the data is available. Based on the investigation results, this dissertation makes contributions to learning analytics research and face-to-face collaborative learning in technology-enhanced learning environments. First, it can provide a concrete case study and a guide for future research that may take a learning analytics approach and utilize student activity data. Second, it adds a research endeavor to address challenges in face-to-face collaborative learning, which can lead to substantial enhancement of learning in educational practice. Third, it suggests interdisciplinary problem-solving approaches that can be applied to the real classroom context where online activity data is increasingly available with advanced technologies.Abstract i Chapter 1. Introduction １ 1.1. Motivation １ 1.2. Research questions ４ 1.3. Organization ６ Chapter 2. Background ８ 2.1. Learning analytics ８ 2.2. Collaborative learning ２２ 2.3. Technology-enhanced learning environment ２７ Chapter 3. Heterogeneous group formation with online activity data ３５ 3.1. Student characteristics for heterogeneous group formation ３６ 3.2. Method ４１ 3.3. Results ５１ 3.4. Discussion ５９ 3.5. Summary ６４ Chapter 4. Real-time dashboard for adaptive feedback in face-to-face CSCL ６７ 4.1. Theoretical background ７０ 4.2. Dashboard characteristics ８１ 4.3. Evaluation of the dashboard ９４ 4.4. Discussion １０７ 4.5. Summary １１４ Chapter 5. Real-time detection of at-risk groups in face-to-face CSCL １１８ 5.1. Important learning behaviors of group in collaborative argumentation １１８ 5.2. Method １２０ 5.3. Model performance and influential features １２５ 5.4. Discussion １２９ 5.5. Summary １３２ Chapter 6. Conclusion １３４ Bibliography １４０Docto

Gender Differences In Social Presence In Gender-Segregated And Blended Learning Environments In Saudi Arabia

The present study aimed to achieve one of the goals of the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, which is the improvement of the quality of teaching approaches and learning outcomes. Additionally, the vision strives for equality among students in all educational institutions, including equality among men and women, who are mostly segregated in all aspects of life (e.g., education). One of the major issues in the online portion of blended learning environments is the lack of social presence. Therefore, the present study used a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design to investigate the influence of gender on the perception of social presence levels in gender- segregated and blended learning environments in Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study revealed that the independent variable (gender) had an insignificant impact on dependent variable (social presence levels) in single-gender segregated and blended learning environments. Moreover, gender was not related to any of social presence four constructs (social context, privacy, interactivity, and online communication). The discussion of this study revealed that COVID-19 pandemic and technology evolution in the last decade could be two major factors that impacted the results of this study. The implications of this study are also included in the discussion section

Student Participation in Small Group, Integrated STEM Activities: An Investigation of Gender Differences

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. August 2019. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Gillian Roehrig. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 205 pages.With ongoing efforts to increase the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, integrated approaches to teaching STEM are increasingly being implemented in elementary and middle school classrooms. Despite a variety of conceptions of integrated STEM, researchers agree that small group activities and teamwork play a central role in STEM learning. However, little is known about how young girls participate in the small group portions of integrated STEM curricular units. In three distinct but related studies, this dissertation addresses the gap in the literature to better understand the small group interactions that take place in integrated STEM activities. First, a single embedded case study was used to explore the participation of four fifth-grade students in the small group activities of an integrated STEM unit focused on electromagnetism. This study revealed patterns of student participation within the mixed-gender group that varied based on the student gender and whether the activity was science-focused or engineering-focused. These findings informed the research questions explored in the next two studies. Second, a multiple embedded case study design was used to examine group gender composition related to student participation in small group, integrated STEM activities related to the properties of light. Three groups of sixth-grade students (all-girl, all-boy, and mixed-gender) were included in the analysis. Findings highlight differences in the activity systems of the small groups, with students focusing on different objectives for completing STEM activities, utilizing different tools as they sought to reach their objectives, and dividing labor differently across the three groups. Like the first study, this study also suggested that students, and girls in particular, are less prepared to navigate open-ended engineering activities. Third, a multiple embedded case study was conducted to explore sixth-graders’ participation in an engineering design challenge in further detail. In particular, the study considered differences in the engineering practices middle school girls and boys display during an engineering design challenge and whether group gender composition was related to student participation. Together, these studies provide insight into small group interactions during integrated STEM activities and have implications for instructional strategies, professional development, and curriculum development. These implications include the need to facilitate equitable student participation in small group STEM activities, support students in open-ended STEM activities, and design STEM curricula with students’ needs in mind