Literacy teaching with tablets in bilingual primary classrooms : the Malta tabLit study

We would like to thank the teachers and students who participated in our study.This chapter outlines the ways in which teachers in five primary classrooms in Malta used tablets over the six months for the teaching of bilingual literacy. The official policy, as outlined in the National Literacy Strategy for Malta, is of balanced literacy teaching and learning in the two languages of schooing in Malta: Maltese and English. Teachers’ planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction and pedagogy were documented using a focus group, classroom observations, teacher interviews and reflective diaries and student questionnaires. Findings showed that the teachers integrated the use of tablets in their teaching for a number of creative literacy activities in the two languages, including reading comprehension, and guided and creative writing. The chapter concludes with recommendations for teachers’ professional development, including school-based professional and technological support and ways to strengthen school-home links with the use of tablets.peer-reviewe

Design, implementation and validation of a Europe-wide pedagogical framework for e-learning

This work has been carried out within the project UNITE 026964: Unified e-Learning environment for the school, partially supported by the European Community under the Information Society Technologies (IST) priority of the 6th Framework Programme for R&D. The research has also been supported within the Project 177-0361994-1998 Usability and Adaptivity of Interfaces for Intelligent Authoring Shells funded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports Technology of the Republic of Croatia.Within the context of a Europe-wide project UNITE, a number of European partners set out to design, implement and validate a pedagogical framework (PF) for e- and m-Learning in secondary schools. The process of formulating and testing the PF was an evolutionary one that reflected the experiences and skills of the various European partners and secondary schools involved in the project. The framework involved pedagogies which underpin the teaching of subject matter in a number of European secondary schools as well as the ways in which learning is delivered and assessed. The PF represents an essential part of the e-Learning system conceptualization and development and offers sound concepts for the development of learning scenarios in order to enhance the learning experience of students in secondary schools. A five-component framework which, by means of its constituents, drives and guides the creation of e-Learning scenarios was designed and tested. It is composed of the pedagogical framework context, pedagogical approaches, assessment techniques, teacher education and national specifics and current pedagogical practices implemented in national curricula. A series of learning scenarios were created to test the PF in classrooms. A detailed exemplar of a scenario in practice is offered. An evaluation of the scenarios based on [Reeves, T. C., 1994. Evaluating what really matters in computer-based education. In M. Wild, D. Kirkpatrick (Eds.), Computer education: new perspectives (pp. 219–246). Perth, Australia: MASTEC] pedagogical dimensions revealed that UNITE is based on constructivist and cognitive foundations. With increased experience of the system the teachers’ implementation of the pedagogical framework developed into increased mastery in the school context. Teachers from the second validation phase became more confident in their application of the framework principles and evaluated more positively the outcomes. This helped them to become more aware of the opportunities offered by the framework in their secondary school teaching. In order to bring this about the supports for change were put into place at the levels of pedagogical design, administrative support and the provision of the required resources and appropriate continuing professional development. The project has sought to create this support structure to ensure maximal benefits of the system for teaching and learning. Such a pedagogical support PF has offered scope for both collaborative and autonomous learning which have brought about value-added teaching and learning effects in the Europe-wide network of schools.peer-reviewe

Attitudes towards and effects of the use of video games in classroom learning with specific reference to literacy attainment

The first part of this study shows that there is increased support for using video games in the classroom from different stakeholders, namely students, teachers and parents. The potential role that video games can play in the classroom learning process needs to be more well defined. There is a dire need for research work under experimental conditions which measures tangibly the effectiveness of videogame use in classroom learning. The experimental study described here seeks to address this need and focuses on the very important area of literacy attainment. The Experimental Group of students which used the videogame in the classroom obtained significant gains on a number of English as a Second Language items when compared to the other group of students which followed their regular programme. This study makes a claim for teachers to be supported in their endeavours to harness video games as a teaching and learning tool. However, the role of teachers in this process requires redefinition. It calls also for the concerns of teachers to be addressed if they are to feel they can play a significant role in the adoption of video games in classroom learning.peer-reviewe

Understanding language learning in Malta

The Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE) in Malta has a strategic objective to maintain and strengthen standards of English language proficiency within the school education system so that Malta remains a high-performing Commonwealth and European Union country. This should perpetuate the existing, successful provision of bilingual education (Mifsud and Vella forthcoming 2017, Ministry of Education 2016) which prepares individuals from early on in life, who are equally fluent in Maltese and English, for the global employment market. To this end, the Ministry and Cambridge English Language Assessment entered into an agreement for an integrated solution which included the benchmarking of student English language levels in the school sector (Year 1) and the institutional capacitybuilding of Maltese teachers (Year 2). Cambridge English Language Assessment, in collaboration with the Ministry, conducted the Year 1 benchmarking project, which aimed at presenting a snapshot of English language proficiency in two key grades at Primary and Secondary education in relation to international standards, namely the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR, Council of Europe 2001). The six CEFR reference levels are now widely accepted as the international standard for grading an individual’s language proficiency. In addition to benchmarking learner proficiency, a comprehensive profile of learner, teacher and parent attitudes towards English language education in Malta was investigated. This aspect of the project was designed to provide a comprehensive profile of the Maltese educational context by bringing together views from the main stakeholders. Results also feed into the Ministry’s desire to deliver institutional capacity-building in assessment and teaching methodology, a strategic plan for continuous professional development of the teaching cadre, and potential international certification for learners and teachers.peer-reviewe

Studying the media education practices of young children at home: Methodological lessons from a cross-national qualitative study on digital activities at home

Do you remember 2010? Our phones had become smart, a new category of media technology, which would take the name of the “tablet”, was about to radically change the way in which we engage with digital media. Within a few years, these devices were adopted massively in Western countries and beyond. The secrets of their success reside in some, at that time, original assets like touch screen technology, portability, and versatility (Straker et al., 2018; Marsh, 2020). The then-new digital devices appealed not only to adults but increasingly to younger children

Multi-ancestry GWAS of the electrocardiographic PR interval identifies 202 loci underlying cardiac conduction

The electrocardiographic PR interval reflects atrioventricular conduction, and is associated with conduction abnormalities, pacemaker implantation, atrial fibrillation (AF), and cardiovascular mortality. Here we report a multi-ancestry (N=293,051) genome-wide association meta-analysis for the PR interval, discovering 202 loci of which 141 have not previously been reported. Variants at identified loci increase the percentage of heritability explained, from 33.5% to 62.6%. We observe enrichment for cardiac muscle developmental/contractile and cytoskeletal genes, highlighting key regulation processes for atrioventricular conduction. Additionally, 8 loci not previously reported harbor genes underlying inherited arrhythmic syndromes and/or cardiomyopathies suggesting a role for these genes in cardiovascular pathology in the general population. We show that polygenic predisposition to PR interval duration is an endophenotype for cardiovascular disease, including distal conduction disease, AF, and atrioventricular pre-excitation. These findings advance our understanding of the polygenic basis of cardiac conduction, and the genetic relationship between PR interval duration and cardiovascular disease. On the electrocardiogram, the PR interval reflects conduction from the atria to ventricles and also serves as risk indicator of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Here, the authors perform genome-wide meta-analyses for PR interval in multiple ancestries and identify 141 previously unreported genetic loci.Peer reviewe

Discovery of novel heart rate-associated loci using the Exome Chip

Resting heart rate is a heritable trait, and an increase in heart rate is associated with increased mortality risk. Genome-wide association study analyses have found loci associated with resting heart rate, at the time of our study these loci explained 0.9% of the variation. This study aims to discover new genetic loci associated with heart rate from Exome Chip meta-analyses. Heart rate was measured from either elecrtrocardiograms or pulse recordings. We meta-analysed heart rate association results from 104 452 European-ancestry individuals from 30 cohorts, genotyped using the Exome Chip. Twenty-four variants were selected for follow-up in an independent dataset (UK Biobank, N = 134 251). Conditional and gene-based testing was undertaken, and variants were investigated with bioinformatics methods. We discovered five novel heart rate loci, and one new independent low-frequency non-synonymous variant in an established heart rate locus (KIAA1755). Lead variants in four of the novel loci are non-synonymous variants in the genes C10orf71, DALDR3, TESK2 and SEC31B. The variant at SEC31B is significantly associated with SEC31B expression in heart and tibial nerve tissue. Further candidate genes were detected from long-range regulatory chromatin interactions in heart tissue (SCD, SLF2 and MAPK8). We observed significant enrichment in DNase I hypersensitive sites in fetal heart and lung. Moreover, enrichment was seen for the first time in human neuronal progenitor cells (derived from embryonic stem cells) and fetal muscle samples by including our novel variants. Our findings advance the knowledge of the genetic architecture of heart rate, and indicate new candidate genes for follow-up functional studies

Genetic analyses of the electrocardiographic QT interval and its components identify additional loci and pathways

The QT interval is an electrocardiographic measure representing the sum of ventricular depolarization and repolarization, estimated by QRS duration and JT interval, respectively. QT interval abnormalities are associated with potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmia. Using genome-wide multi-ancestry analyses (>250,000 individuals) we identify 177, 156 and 121 independent loci for QT, JT and QRS, respectively, including a male-specific X-chromosome locus. Using gene-based rare-variant methods, we identify associations with Mendelian disease genes. Enrichments are observed in established pathways for QT and JT, and previously unreported genes indicated in insulin-receptor signalling and cardiac energy metabolism. In contrast for QRS, connective tissue components and processes for cell growth and extracellular matrix interactions are significantly enriched. We demonstrate polygenic risk score associations with atrial fibrillation, conduction disease and sudden cardiac death. Prioritization of druggable genes highlight potential therapeutic targets for arrhythmia. Together, these results substantially advance our understanding of the genetic architecture of ventricular depolarization and repolarization

Themes in education : a Maltese reader

Edwards and Westgate note that professional interest in classroom language has grown with the recognition of its centrality in the process of learning, and its value as evidence of how relationships and meanings are organized. Supported by studies like those of Barnes et al., more attention is being paid to the communicative demands made on children in classrooms, and to the rather limited range of skills they are typically called upon to display: There is increased interest in how much those demands vary across age groups and across subjects of the curriculum. Regrettably misconceptions and views based on stereotypes persist in some school staffrooms - for example, that 'the only good classroom is a silent one', or 'When they (particular categories of students) come to us, they just don't have any language'.peer-reviewe