Reflections on Teaching Through Research Writing, Literature Analysis, Expressive Writing and the Graphic Novel

This is Natalie S. Johnson’s final portfolio for her M.A. in English (with a specialization in teaching). It includes a reflective narrative and four revised pieces: “Information Literacy Study and Teaching Student Writing of Research Papers,” “Notes on Baudelaire, Modernity and The Painter of Modern Life,” “Expressive Writing: A Literature Review,” and “Teaching of Social Constructs Through Graphic Novel Study: Challenge Factors.” The portfolio focuses on research and study that developed Johnson’s classroom pedagogy and philosophy toward improved teaching and learning

Computational Thinking Education in K–12

A guide to computational thinking education, with a focus on artificial intelligence literacy and the integration of computing and physical objects. Computing has become an essential part of today's primary and secondary school curricula. In recent years, K–12 computer education has shifted from computer science itself to the broader perspective of computational thinking (CT), which is less about technology than a way of thinking and solving problems—“a fundamental skill for everyone, not just computer scientists,” in the words of Jeanette Wing, author of a foundational article on CT. This volume introduces a variety of approaches to CT in K–12 education, offering a wide range of international perspectives that focus on artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and the integration of computing and physical objects. The book first offers an overview of CT and its importance in K–12 education, covering such topics as the rationale for teaching CT; programming as a general problem-solving skill; and the “phenomenon-based learning” approach. It then addresses the educational implications of the explosion in AI research, discussing, among other things, the importance of teaching children to be conscientious designers and consumers of AI. Finally, the book examines the increasing influence of physical devices in CT education, considering the learning opportunities offered by robotics. Contributors Harold Abelson, Cynthia Breazeal, Karen Brennan, Michael E. Caspersen, Christian Dindler, Daniella DiPaola, Nardie Fanchamps, Christina Gardner-McCune, Mark Guzdial, Kai Hakkarainen, Fredrik Heintz, Paul Hennissen, H. Ulrich Hoppe, Ole Sejer Iversen, Siu-Cheung Kong, Wai-Ying Kwok, Sven Manske, Jesús Moreno-León, Blakeley H. Payne, Sini Riikonen, Gregorio Robles, Marcos Román-González, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Ju-Ling Shih, Pasi Silander, Lou Slangen, Rachel Charlotte Smith, Marcus Specht, Florence R. Sullivan, David S. Touretzk

Academic Librarians' Perceptions of Visual Literacy Standards

Visual Literacy is an area of study that has spawned varied theoretical writing, definitions, practical applications, and interdisciplinary insights over the past few decades in American education. In 2011 the Association of College & Research Libraries presented its Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The standards identify skills that students in the 21st century need to access, interpret, evaluate, and create meaningful images. This study interrogates if and how competency standards are used amongst academic librarians who work in art libraries, with data visualization, or who simply incorporate some aspect of visual literacy into their instruction sessions or research consultations. Conclusions are drawn from interviews with seven local academic librarians, and the author identifies major trends, as well as areas of disagreement, in visual literacy and is standardization in higher education. Headings: Visual literacy – Study and teaching Literacy standards Information visualizationMaster of Science in Library Scienc

Genre-Based Approach and Digital Flashcard: Enhancing Pre-service English Teacher Students’ Speaking Capability

In 2020, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia published the newest curriculum, Kurikulum Merdeka, which demands EFL teachers implement a genre-based approach during teaching and learning. In response to this call, this research aimed to investigate the implementation of a genre-based approach to enhance EFL pre-service English teacher students’ speaking ability. This research employed classroom action research to investigate whether the approach could improve students’ speaking ability. This research was conducted at STKIP Al Hikmah Surabaya, and the participants of the research were selected through purposive sampling. In order to answer the research questions, the researcher used a post-test, an interview, a questionnaire, and an observation as data collection techniques. Furthermore, the interactive data analysis model proposed by Miles and Huberman was implemented to analyze the data. The study concluded that the genre-based approach can improve EFL pre-service English teacher students' capability in speaking. The pre-service English teacher students’ significant enhancement in their speaking capability is exhibited by the generic structure of the descriptive text, such as the social function, the organization, and grammatical features. All informants could fulfill relatively all parts, which is fundamental to composing a descriptive text

Look Closely, See Creatively: Identifying Threshold Concepts for a Visual Literacy Framework for Higher Education

Models for teaching information literacy have multiplied in the last decade in dutiful response to the digital barrage and increasing ubiquity of information. Meanwhile, models for visual literacy, despite an even greater proliferation of images in this same environment, have lagged behind. Although information literacy frameworks partially address the skillset for visual information, there are nuanced competencies critical to visual literacy that are wholly unaddressed by current conceptions of information literacy. This study pinpoints and articulates those visual literacy-specific skills by activating and analyzing the pedagogical content knowledge of experienced instructors of visual media and gauges those findings against ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy. Discoveries move the author to propose two major threshold concepts, articulated through the frames Close and Critical Looking and Creative Vision, which are critical and specific to visual literacy.Master of Science in Library Scienc

Using Community Outreach to Build Children’s Resiliency and Critical Literacy through Digital Tools

Grade three students used tablet computers with a pre-selected series of applications over a seven-month period at school and through a community afterschool program. The study determined that these students benefited from differentiated learning in the school environment and online collaborative play in the afterschool centre. Benefits of the exposure to digital tools included: intergenerational learning as children assisted both parents and teachers with digital applications; problem-solving; and enhanced collaborative play for students across environments. Although this study makes a contribution to the field of digital literacy and young learners, the researchers conclude further investigation is warranted, in regards to the inter-relationships between home, school and community as spaces for the learning and teaching of digital technologies

Visual literacy for libraries: A practical, standards-based guide

When we step back and think about how to situate visual literacy into a library context, the word critical keeps coming up: critical thinking, critical viewing, critical using, critical making, and the list goes on. To understand our approach, start with your own practice, add images, and see where it takes you. Do you encourage students to think critically as they research? How can you extend this experience to images? Do you embrace critical information literacy? Can you bring visual content to enrich that experience? Do you teach students to critically evaluate sources? How can you expand that practice to images? You’ll see a lot of questions in this book, because our approach is inquiry- driven. This is not to say that we don’t cover the basics of image content. Curious about color? Covered. Not sure where to find great images? We’ll show you. Wondering what makes a good presentation? We talk about that too. But what we really want you to get out of this book is a new understanding of how images fit into our critical (there it is again) practice as librarians and how we can advance student learning with our own visual literacy. This book grounds visual literacy in your everyday practice—connecting it to what you know and do as a librarian who engages in reflective practice. Heidi Jacobs put it well when she argued that, for information literacy pedagogy, “one of the best ways for us to encourage students to be engaged learners is for us to become engaged learners, delve deeply into our own problem posing, and embody the kind of engagement we want to see in our students” (Jacobs 2008). We extend this viewpoint to visual literacy pedagogy and provide many opportunities for you to embody the kind of visual literacy that you want to develop in your learners

Financing the future: Australian students’ results in the PISA 2012 Financial Literacy assessment

This report reveals that Australia is in the top five in the world’s first international assessment of young people’s financial literacy. Conducted in 2012 as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the OECD with support from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as the Australian Government agency responsible for financial literacy, the supplementary PISA financial literacy assessment measured 15-year-olds’ knowledge of personal finances and ability to apply it to financial problems. A total of 29 000 students from 18 countries and economies participated in the assessment, including approximately 3300 Australian students from 768 schools. According to the ACER report, Australian students achieved an average score of 526 points, significantly above the OECD average of 500 points