Effects of Learning Styles and Instructional Strategies on Students’ Achievement in Nigerian Senior Secondary School Physics

A shift from the traditional to a progressive mode of education in the past years had led to an increase interest in learners’ individual differences. The new paradigm is student-centered, based on inclusiveness, collaborative learning, critical thinking, creativity, innovation and encourages diversity of reception and processing of information. Hence, this study investigated the effects of learning styles and instructional strategies on students’ achievement in the concept of electricity in Nigerian senior secondary school physics. 250 senior secondary two (SSII) physics students were used for the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select six schools from the population. A quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. Physics Achievement Test (PAT) with reliability coefficient of 0.82 using Kuder Richardson-21 and Index of Learning Style Questionnaire (ILSQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.88 using test-retest approach were the two instruments used for gathering the data. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. The results showed that guided discovery is the most effective instructional strategy for physics students with Sensing/Intuitive learning style, demonstration is the most effective instructional strategy for physics students with Sequential/Global learning style while conventional strategy is the most effective for physics students with Visual/Verbal learning style. The results also indicated that Active/Reflective learning style was placed second in the order of facilitating students’ achievement in physics when taught with guided discovery, demonstration and conventional learning strategies respectively. This implies that the three instructional strategies can be used for the enhancement of the achievement of students with Active/Reflective learning styles in the concept of electricity in physics.  It is recommended among others that teachers should find out the learning styles of their students and use appropriate instructional strategies that will concise with the learning styles for effective teaching and learning to take place in physics classrooms. Keywords: Learning Styles, Sensory/Intuitive, Sequential/Global, Visual/Verbal, Active/Reflective, Instructional Strategies, Students’ Achievement, Physics, Guided Discovery, Demonstration, Conventional

Management learning at the speed of life:Designing reflective, creative, and collaborative spaces for millenials

This paper introduces the concept of "management learning at the speed of life" as a metaphor to inspire millenials. Millenials may face three major problems in relation to management learning: lack of concentration, lack of engagement, and lack of socialization. Management learning at the speed of life addresses these potential problems through three dimensions: reflective, creative, and collaborative learning. This paper illustrates the benefits of reflective, creative, and collaborative spaces for millenials using practices from leadership and personal development courses that were offered over seven years in Canada, Turkey, and the UK. These courses incorporated the latest technology that brought the course activities up to the speed of life

Team equilibrium and innovation performance

2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksToday competition has increased between organizations and they are urged to improve constantly their performance throughout innovation if they want to survive and be profitable. However, an organization can't be innovative if it doesn't counts with creative people and build teams to strength its creative and innovative capabilities. Besides, the impact of technology in innovation has been widely studied but there are others major aspects that need more exploration to understand their influence in it. For example, collaborative work, multicultural teamwork, creative teamwork, entrepreneurial behavior, etc. Some authors suggest more research is needed regarding organization capabilities that promote effective relationships for innovation. According to West (2002), three issues dominated research about creativity and innovation among teams: the characteristics of group tasks and their impact in the creative-innovative process; the role of diversity in knowledge and skills between team members; and team integration. If these issues are relevant for team creativity and innovation, then frameworks and tools to configure teams are necessary. It may be taken by granted that there must be an equilibrium of roles within teams to foster creativity focused on innovation. So, in this paper several approaches of creativity are reviewed. Then a conceptual model to foster Team Equilibrium and strength innovation performance is proposed and applied through a web-based tool. A first empiric exploration is presented. The proposed model can be used as a basis to develop tools that helps teams for self-analysis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Assessment of co-creativity in the process of game design

We consider game design as a sociocultural and knowledge modelling activity, engaging participants in the design of a scenario and a game universe based on a real or imaginary socio-historical context, where characters can introduce life narratives and interaction that display either known social realities or entirely new ones. In this research, participants of the co-creation activity are Malaysian students who were working in groups to design game-based learning resources for rural school children. After the co-creativity activity, the students were invited to answer the co-creativity scale, an adapted version of the Assessment Scale of Creative Collaboration (ASCC), combining both the co-creativity factors and learners’ experiences on their interests, and difficulties they faced during the co-creativity process. The preliminary results showed a high diversity on the participants’ attitudes towards collaboration, especially related to their preferences towards individual or collaborative work

The Teacher as Servant Leader: Revisited

This essay revisits an original conference proceedings chapter from 1997, examining the biblical and educational underpinnings for the concept of teacher and servant leader

The Teacher as Servant Leader: Revisited

This essay revisits an original conference proceedings chapter from 1997, examining the biblical and educational underpinnings for the concept of teacher and servant leader

The game jam movement:disruption, performance and artwork

This paper explores the current conventions and intentions of the game jam - contemporary events that encourage the rapid, collaborative creation of game design prototypes. Game jams are often renowned for their capacity to encourage creativity and the development of alternative, innovative game designs. However, there is a growing necessity for game jams to continue to challenge traditional development practices through evolving new formats and perspectives to maintain the game jam as a disruptive, refreshing aspect of game development culture. As in other creative jam style events, a game jam is not only a process but also, an outcome. Through a discussion of the literature this paper establishes a theoretical basis with which to analyse game jams as disruptive, performative processes that result in original creative artefacts. In support of this, case study analysis of Development Cultures: a series of workshops that centred on innovation and new forms of practice through play, chance, and experimentation, is presented. The findings indicate that game jams can be considered as processes that inspire creativity within a community and that the resulting performances can be considered as a form of creative artefact, thus parallels can be drawn between game jams and performative and interactive art

Using styles for more effective learning in multicultural and e-learning environments

Purpose – This Special Issue contains selected papers from the thirteenth annual European Learning Styles Information Network (ELSIN) conference held in Ghent, Belgium in June 2008. One of the key aims of ELSIN is to promote understanding of individual learning and cognitive differences through the dissemination of international multidisciplinary research about learning and cognitive styles and strategies of learning and thinking. Design/methodology/approach – Three papers within this special issue consider how style differences can inform the development of e-learning opportunities to enhance the learning of all (Vigentini; Kyprianidou, Demetriadis, Pombortsis and Karatasios; Zhu, Valcke and Schellens). The influence of culture on learning is also raised in the paper of Zhu and colleagues and those of Sulimma and Eaves which both focus more directly on cultural influences on style, learning and teaching. Findings – A number of key themes permeate the studies included in this Special Edition such as: the nature of styles; the intrinsic difficulty of isolating style variables from other variables impacting on performance; inherent difficulties in choosing the most appropriate style measures; the potential of e-learning to attend to individual learning differences; the role of culture in informing attitudes and access to learning; the development of constructivist learning environments to support learning through an understanding of individual differences; and most importantly how one can apply such insights about individual differences to inform and enhance instruction. Originality/value – The papers in this Special Issue contribute to enhanced knowledge about the value of style differences to design constructive learning environments in multicultural and e-learning contexts

Design thinking and innovation: synthesising concepts of knowledge co-creation in spaces of professional development

This paper explores how design thinking connects to concepts of knowledge creation and innovation. A case study of a knowledge sharing network in the social services sector is used to illustrate how design thinking supports Ba, the spaces for knowledge creation. Further exploration of the four enabling conditions for Ba resulted in delineation of two distinct types: relational and structural. Relational enablers support three groups of enabling conditions: interaction, shared values and communication. It is proposed that design thinking aligns well with relational enabling conditions for Ba to create the ideal spaces for knowledge creation. The group of structural enablers can assist or obstruct change and relate to the culture and management approaches of an organization, which may or may not be assisted by design thinking. However, to ensure that design thinking is not undermined, and innovation is achieved, the presence of an appropriate structural enabler is critical for success