How do different student constituencies (not) learn the history and philosophy of their subject? Case studies from science, technology and medicine

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] Why should H.E. teachers concern themselves with how their students do or don’t learn? Much has been said recently about the alleged merits and demerits of ‘student-centred’ learning, especially on the extent to which student autonomy in the learning process is beneficial to their long-term interests. This paper is a not a contribution to that debate. Rather it focuses on how teachers might uphold their conventional educational responsibilities but make their role more effective. Its central thesis is that this role is most effective when treated not so much as the ‘teaching’ of students as the process of helping students to learn. This particular study concerns how university students of science, technology and medicine (STM) can be helped to learn the history and philosophy of their respective subject from practitioners in the history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine. But I will not be focussing on those students (sometimes the majority) who have no trouble learning to think in historical and philosophical ways about their subject. They are not the ones who require most help from us. More importantly, I look at those students who—despite the best efforts of their teachers—find the historical or philosophical sensibility to be difficult, repellent, uninteresting, irrelevant, pointless or simply weird. In the worst case scenario such students learn nothing substantial or valuable from classes in the history and philosophy of their subject, and become bored, alienated or hostile to the whole enterprise

Enhancing the Learning and Retention of Biblical Languages for Adult Students

Finding ways to reduce students’ anxiety and maximize the value of learning Greek and Hebrew is a continual challenge for biblical language teachers. Some language teachers use technology tools such as web sites or CDs with audio lessons to improve the experience. Though these tools are helpful, this paper explores the value gained from understanding first how students learn and then how technology tools best support that learning. Developments in cognitive psychology and neuroscience offer many insights concerning adult learning and retention. After a presentation of key insights, several ideas are suggested for enhancing the learning and retention experience of biblical language students

Year Five Annual Report: Activities, Findings and Evaluators\u27 Reports

The National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) received funding from the National Science Foundation on September 15, 2004. Originally NCETE proposed the following goals for the Center: • To build capacity in graduate education and develop a new cadre of leaders who are engaged in research, teacher preparation, and professional development with the knowledge and skill to integrate engineering into technology education • To conduct research in how students learn engineering and technological concepts; how students learn design and problem solving, assessment and evaluation strategies; and how best to prepare technology teachers • To refocus technology teacher education (TTE) to prepare increasing numbers of new teachers, representing the diversity of the nation, who can infuse engineering principles, predictive analytical methods, and design into the K-12 schools • To design and deliver professional development for practicing K-12 teachers and TTE faculty to enhance their knowledge and skills so they can infuse engineering principles, predictive analytical methods, and design into the curriculum, thereby enhancing problem solving abilities in students. • To develop methods for encouraging a diverse array of K-12 students to choose science, technology engineering and mathematics careers

Technology integration within the elementary classroom setting

The purpose of this paper is to examine technology integration in the elementary classroom setting. Technology is now considered to be an important part of a child\u27s educational experience. Research has determined that students do not learn the same way they did years ago, thus schools are changing their methodologies on how to best serve the 21st century student. However, technology integration can not happen all at once; there are many barriers to technology integration. Some examples would be environmental barriers, curriculum issues, and the personal beliefs of the teachers. School districts are addressing these problems to ensure that their students are getting an education that is enriched with technology. To overcome some of the barriers, like having time to learn how to use technology in the classroom, schools are providing staff development to support teachers in their learning. One-to-one computing and mobile labs are all different ways that schools can support technology integration. Colleges and universities are also developing programs so pre-service teachers will get technology training before entering the classroom. In order for students to compete in the 21st century they have to be taught with the 21 st century tools

Learning Styles of Teachers and Usage of Technology

\u27Every child can learn\u27 is the mantra being advocated today. The Multiple Intelligences theory put forth by Gardner has revolutionized the perceptions of learning styles. Currently more and more teachers are accepting the reality that children learn differently and in this context, their own learning style should not be a limiting factor for using multiple modes of instruction in their classrooms. A correlational study will be done to determine if there is a relationship between learning styles of the teacher and technology usage, particularly computer-based technology. The subjects in this study will be inservice teachers (N = 30). The MIDAS (Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales) will be administered to the teachers to determine their preferred learning style. This assessment tool is designed to determine the best suited learning style based on Gardner\u27s Multiple Intelligences theory. A second survey will be conducted with the same set of teachers to determine how much and how frequently they use computers in relation to their schoolwork both within and outside the school. Background variables such as socio-economic status, prior exposure to technology and gender will be controlled. The results of both these data sets will be examined to determine if there is a relationship between learning style of the teachers and their usage of computers in the teaching process. More research needs to be done using a longitudinal study over a five-year period to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction on learning styles of students

THE USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

Whether to use or not new technology inside the classroom has always been discussed for various reasons. Nowadays, technology is becoming an integral part of everybody's life (Hongling & Zhang, 2012). Considering the benefits that the use of new technologies could provide to people, especially those for learning English, research on this topic has been deemed worthwhile. Having in mind the counter-arguments, the present paper aims to investigate the advantage of using new technology in a class, and most importantly, how to use it and promote learning, advantages and disadvantages of using new technology in the classroom, how to encourage students to use IT appropriately, and exploring some of the best ways to teach and learn English language (Hermans et al. 2008).Keywords: New technology, learning English, classroom, teachers, advantages and disadvantages

The impact of school reform on teacher professionalism lessons from case studies to inform future professional development initiatives

This paper will outline a number of issues faced by Government Primary Schools in Pakistan. Specifically, it will identify a research agenda that needs to be addressed if these schools are to progress. Pakistan\u27s educational system is faced with many problems and dilemmas and each dilemma justifies a reason, but perhaps no problem is as grave as the low quality, the poor morale and the dejected professional status of the teachers. I say that because I believe that schools are only as good as their teachers, regardless of how high their standards, how up-to-date their technology, or how innovative their programs. As Ingvarson (1997, p. 31) so rightly states, To have the best schools, we must have the best teachers. What teachers know and can do is the most important influence on what students learn . With large number of under-educated, under-trained, under-paid and, most important of all, undervalued teachers in Pakistan, what can we expect the students to learn? Whether we want children to be the enlightened and the informed citizens of tomorrow or ignorant members of society will depend on teacher knowledge, teacher education and above all teacher professionalism. Yes, teachers do matter the most. But what is being done for this section of the society which matters so much? Are efforts being taken to find out what teachers need to achieve their professional goals? Are the teachers given adequate opportunities to learn, to improve and to become effective? How can the teachers meet the ever-increasing demands placed upon them? How will the teachers successfully lead the students into the twenty-first century? Do the teachers believe that they can successfully lead children into the 21st century? Are the school reforms geared towards enhancing teacher professionalism? This paper considers these questions. In this paper I outline some of the measures that have been taken at the government, at the non-government and at the school sector level to restructure and reform primary government schools in Pakistan. The paper goes on to argue that it is important to identify the impact of these reforms on teachers\u27 efficacy, leadership and collaborative efforts for enhanced teacher professionalism. Thus, the paper argues that research is required which addresses the question of What it actually means to be a professional in Pakistani Primary Schools and what model of school reforms can actually develop teacher learning for improved teacher professionalism

Improving Motivation in Arabic Language Arts Classrooms Through Technology Integration

Many Lebanese teachers struggle to make the Arabic language enjoyable for their students to learn, therefore many Lebanese children use either French or English in their daily lives. Students\u27 dislike of Arabic affects the way they relate to their society, which causes problems of belonging and identity—an important issue in Lebanese society. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how technology can motivate teachers\u27 creativity in their teaching practices and explore student perceptions of learning the Arabic language with the support of technology. Rogers\u27s diffusion of innovation theory and Dörnyei\u27s L2 motivational self-system were used to understand how technology plays a role in the motivation of both teachers and the students as well as how the innovative teaching practices are diffused throughout the school system. Twenty-one students, 9 teachers, 2 coordinators, 1 principal, and 1 acting director participated in this exploratory case study. Classroom observations and interviews were the main data collection tools in addition to follow-up interviews. Open coding was used to create categories and themes, which were later narrowed via axial coding. Analysis of observations was done by the International Society for Technology in Education Classroom Observation Tool and field notes. Findings showed that teachers use technology creatively if they were given appropriate training. Further, students enjoyed the lessons more when technology was used, which led to positive learning outcomes. These results may increase the awareness of school administration, staff, and faculty on the best practices to enjoy teaching and learning Arabic

How technology mediated social learning during the Covid-19 pandemic: a phenomenological case study

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in California were forced to shut their doors to students and staff during spring semester 2020. The school closures forced teachers to migrate their lessons to online platforms and forced students to learn using various online modalities. Students no longer had the traditional access to their teachers, administrators, or peers, which caused an imbalance in their social learning. This phenomenological qualitative study offers administrators and teachers best practices in fostering student social learning while utilizing distance learning or online learning specifically for K-12 students. The best practices are derived from the lived experiences of a group of students and teachers from one specific charter high school in Orange County, California. The lived experiences describe how technology mediated the social learning of students during the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning. The data in this study were captured by utilizing semi structured interviews. The research participants consisted of nine students and teachers who attended or worked at the specific site during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. The findings showed that technology mediated the social connections of students and teachers during the distance learning period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, at the time, technology did not adequately meet the learning needs of the students. This study provides teachers, administrators, policymakers, and students with practical implications based on the findings from the research

A Perspective of Technology Supervisors In Support of Schools

The basic concern of this study was to begin looking at how to best implement the internet into the classroom from the perspective of technology supervisors. Questioning the ifs and they why\u27s of the Internet are not the primary focus of this study. Many studies are investigating the effectiveness of the Internet in education. The focus here is on the hows. Such as how does a school or district implement an effective Internet strategy? Or what resources might be needed for an adequate implementation strategy. Even more basic to this thesis are questions about who is shouldering the burden for implementing this strategy and how are they empowered, it at all, to do their job. Effective implementation of the Internet and the effective use of Internet technologies in education require a sound understanding of how children learn, something we know quite a bit about, and how technologies can be molded and crafted to this end, something we know little about. Hence, the hows are just the hard part. Most importantly this study was designed to look at this problem from a different perspective: that of the technology leader or coordinator, who is responsible for such efforts within a school district. A questionnaire was distributed over the Internet to approximately 100 well-known technology leaders/coordinators throughout the state of Nebraska. The questionnaire focused on four areas: Demographics, The Impact of the Inter, The Characteristics of Teachers Who Use the Web and The Division of Labor. After several weeks of collection the data was analyzed. The results of the study showed that while many technology coordinators believe that the Internet is a powerful tool for learning, the actual application both, in the classroom and administratively, leaves much to be desired. Many times teachers lack training in even basic computer skills, forcing technology leaders/coordinators to spend most of their time serving as an on-site help desk. Often, technology leaders/coordinators are in general over tasked and find themselves having little influence within schools or districts. The recommendations provided were to: 1) Increase technology training for teachers, 2) Pay technology leaders/coordinators on an administrative scale, 3) Provide merit pay for teachers who learn technology skills and 4) Further study lesson development with regard to technology incorporation