Adolescent Literacy and Textbooks: An Annotated Bibliography

A companion report to Carnegie's Time to Act, provides an annotated bibliography of research on textbook design and reading comprehension for fourth through twelfth grade, arranged by topic. Calls for a dialogue between publishers and researchers

Enhancing Textbooks with Visuals from the Web for Improved Learning

Textbooks are the primary vehicle for delivering quality education to students. It has been shown that explanatory or illustrative visuals play a key role in the retention, comprehension and the general transfer of knowledge. However, many textbooks, especially in the developing world, are low quality and lack interesting visuals to support student learning. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of vision-language models to automatically enhance textbooks with images from the web. Specifically, we collect a dataset of e-textbooks from one of the largest free online publishers in the world. We rigorously analyse the dataset, and use the resulting analysis to motivate a task that involves retrieving and appropriately assigning web images to textbooks, which we frame as a novel optimization problem. Through a crowd-sourced evaluation, we verify that (1) while the original textbook images are rated higher, automatically assigned ones are not far behind, and (2) the choice of the optimization problem matters. We release the dataset of textbooks with an associated image bank to spur further research in this area.Comment: 17 pages, 27 figure

ASSESSING OF UAE STUDENTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK FOR THE 8TH GRADE

The purpose of this research is to identify the level of UAE student involvement in the 8th grade science textbook by reviewing the educational content, graphics, and activities. It was calculated using Romey's Involvement Index, which measures the book involvement factor for the student using a random selection of textbook pages. The findings showed that students’ involvement in the content of science textbook around the minimum value of the acceptable range identified by Romy. The value was at the (0.4) highlighting poor involvement in content that might not allow students to analyse, brainstorm, and draw their own conclusions. A decrease was noticed in students’ involvement in graphics and image and illustrations, (0.14), indicating its poor effect on encouraging students to perform science investigations. It also showed student involvement in activities was (0.31), which is less than the range identified by Romey. Thus, the researchers recommended reviewing the original version of the textbook by the publisher and rewriting the scientific context in an educational format. They also recommended enriching the book with effective content materials, with more attention to image and illustrations and figures, to enhance student opportunities to participate and interact in lessons.  Article visualizations

Deciding what to exhibit in museums : does it really matter?

Of all the abundant papers focusing on museum environments, few dismantle the decision making process which characterizes the planning of displays and site presentations, going beyond space restrictions and physical needs of ancient artefacts. Such an approach is essential to understand why these decisions matter. A natural question which is seldom asked is, why display to the public in the first place? The present paper will start with this question, discussing briefly the two main theoretical stances in current western discourse on the subject. Two local case-studies will follow, supplemented by examples of projects which revolve around archaeology and communities. In the conclusion, theory and case-studies will be brought together in order to explain the link between archaeologists and non-archaeologists vis-a-vis archaeological heritage presentation.peer-reviewe

The experience of enchantment in human-computer interaction

Improving user experience is becoming something of a rallying call in human–computer interaction but experience is not a unitary thing. There are varieties of experiences, good and bad, and we need to characterise these varieties if we are to improve user experience. In this paper we argue that enchantment is a useful concept to facilitate closer relationships between people and technology. But enchantment is a complex concept in need of some clarification. So we explore how enchantment has been used in the discussions of technology and examine experiences of film and cell phones to see how enchantment with technology is possible. Based on these cases, we identify the sensibilities that help designers design for enchantment, including the specific sensuousness of a thing, senses of play, paradox and openness, and the potential for transformation. We use these to analyse digital jewellery in order to suggest how it can be made more enchanting. We conclude by relating enchantment to varieties of experience.</p

Using Poetry to Teach about Minerals in Earth Science Class

This article describes how a high school earth science teacher and a college education professor team-taught a lesson to ninth graders on using poetry to learn about minerals. The professor, a geologist, shared an electronic slide show of poems she had composed about gem minerals that incorporated physical properties, formation, uses, and other information. After instruction, students researched a mineral of choice and wrote poems that contained facts and a personal reaction to the mineral. Some students reported difficulties in finding words to express their ideas in rhyme, but expressed satifaction in the sense of accomplishment in producing a scientific poem. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Final report on documentation of teachers’ thinking

The present study is part of a research project that intends to take a close look at pedagogical practices adopted in mathematics and physics classrooms in Greek secondary schools on topics that are related to periodicity. Even though periodicity is central in a variety of disciplines, an extensive search of the literature shows that there are only a limited number of studies that focus on its understanding. To meet the aims of our inquiry, in the first phase of our project we analyzed Greek textbooks taken from the subjects of physics, mathematics, astronomy and applied technologies

Integrating Multimodal Theory in English Vocabulary Pedagogy: Innovations and Insights in Junior High School Education

As the basic building block of language, vocabulary plays an essential role in language learning. It forms the foundation of grammar, sentences and discourse, and it is also the bridge for cross-cultural communication. Through vocabulary teaching, students can achieve effective communication and interaction. Multimodal theory emphasizes the dynamic learning of language, which involves using various senses such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses, attempting to stimulate students’ enthusiasm and language proficiency through media like sound, images, and videos. Applying multimodal theory in junior high school English vocabulary teaching can not only develop students’ critical thinking and promote deep learning, but also meet modern needs and enhance core competencies. The author applies multimodal theory into junior high school English vocabulary teaching and employs the APPLE teaching model to analyze teaching case, illustrating the specific operational steps and methods of this theory

THE EFFECTS OF AN EFL TEXTBOOK ON LEARNERS’ IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION

It has been generally accepted that language learning, to some extent, affects identity construction and such a complex relationship has generated a considerable amount of research papers and literature. Few studies, however, have looked into and discussed how teaching media (e.g., language textbooks) contributes to learners’ identity construction particularly in the context of Indonesia. This study attempts to address this gap by analyzing an EFL textbook and then, grafting on several theoretical frameworks, discussing its contribution to the formation of learners’ identity. Its pedagogical implications are also discussed