Resilience, fear of COVID-19 and their relationship with cognitive functioning and mood: a study on the administrative staff of the University of Western Macedonia, Greece

Background: The present study examines the relationship between resilience, mood, fear for Covid-19, and cognitive functioning during pandemic Covid-19.  Methods: A cross-sectional web-based study was conducted from December 2020 to January 2021 among the administrative staff of the University of Western Macedonia, Greece. Data was collected using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DASS 21), fear of Covid-19 scales (FCV-19S), and Cognitive functioning self-assessment scale (CFSS). Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis was performed using an independent Sample T-Test, Chi-Square Test, One-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Spearman's Rank-Order Correlations, Pearson product-moment correlations, and Simple Linear Regression. SPSS version 22 was used for data analysis and the statistical significance was considered at less than 0.05. Results: Data of 88 university's administrative staff has undergone final analysis. Most of the respondents were females (78.4%), married (61.3%), middle-aged group (64.8%), held a post-graduate degree (56.8%) and 94.3% stated that they had not been sick with Covid-19. Our findings showed that the middle-aged group has statistically significantly higher fear on Covid-19 (P = 0.046), and more care of personal hygiene, stress (P = 0.040), than the young age group respectively. Women had a statistically significantly higher restriction to physical contact compared to men (P = 0.042), however, men had statistically significantly more trusted the results of clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines than women (P = 0.039), respectively. There was statistically significant and negative correlation between Resilience (CD) and cognitive functioning (r = -0.412, n = 87, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the result of a simple linear regression showed that an increase of one in CD corresponded to a 0.287 decrease in cognitive functioning. Conclusion: It is vital to continue monitoring the psychological and cognitive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic

THINK4JOBS TRAINING: Critical Thinking Training Packages for Higher Education Instructors and Labour Market Tutors

This Report presents the findings of the “Critical Thinking for Successful Jobs-Think4Jobs” Partnership regarding the development of Critical Thinking Training Packages for Higher Education Instructors and Labour Market Organisations Tutors, namely Intellectual Output II. Considering previous research findings, it is suggested that despite HE and LMO instructors’ willingness to promote CT, they both might lack conceptual as well as procedural knowledge regarding CT. In order to assume that a common understanding between HE and LMOs can be achieved to promote CT skills development effectively in future graduates, the aim of this project was to develop a training course for HE instructors as well as LMO tutors. More specifically, the project aims to strengthen University-Business Collaboration for the effective promotion, development, support and assessment of students’ CT through their transition into a professional context using apprenticeships as a privileged interface in order to “bridge the gap” between their skills and those needed by the labour market. The specific objective of the second Intellectual Output was to develop a training curriculum for Higher Education Instructors and Labour Market Organisations Tutors on how to promote, develop, support and assess students’ CT in apprenticeships curricula as well as on how to develop blended curricula using Moodle. The training aimed at reaching 30 participants from the Partnership (i.e., 15 from Higher Education and 15 from Labour Market Organisations). To reach the aforementioned objective for the delivery of the Output, five activities were originally designed: 1. Define the goals, outcomes and assessment criteria of the training packages. 2. Identify the training subjects and design the activities to be held. 3. Identify, select and/or create training resources, which will support the activities during the training packages. 4. Develop a transnational training course. 5. Delivery of the training course. University of Western Macedonia (UOWM) was the leading Organisation for the delivery of the second Intellectual Output. A Participatory Co-Design (PC-D Methodology was implemented to map the participants’ requirements and needs for the training. For the implementation of the training course, participants from both the Higher Education and the Labor Market Organisations from the five countries partake as Trainers providing various workshops focusing on experiential learning. More specifically, workshops concerned the deconstruction and reconstruction of previously held ideas regarding CT, the development of a working definition on CT for the Think4Jobs project, instructional approaches and teaching strategies that promote CT, blended learning and Moodle, the assessment of CT as well as the preparation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HE and LMOs. Finally, a reflective session on the work carried out for the MoU and a session for the design and development of the CT blended apprenticeship curricula were scheduled. According to the registrations, on a daily basis, 35 participants engaged in the LTTA. Participants' knowledge on conceptual and procedural knowledge regarding CT, evaluation of CT, as well as blended learning, University-Business Collaboration and Moodle were evaluated in a pre-post measurement. In order to assess participants’ previous knowledge as well as the knowledge acquired during the LTTA, two online questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire (pre-measurement) was administered to participants at the beginning of the training course, while the second questionnaire (post-measurement) at the end of the LTTA (122 items for the pre-test, 130 items for the post-test, including questions about participants’ commitment during LTTA and their evaluation of the LTTA). The data collection tool consisted of seven distinct parts. The first part concerned demographic information, while the second part assessed participants’ level of perceived self-confidence in the issues addressed in the LTTA, the Moodle’s ease of use and perceived self-efficacy. Parts three to five of the tool explored participants’ conceptions regarding myths and facts about conceptual and procedural knowledge of CT, the evaluation of CT, blended learning and the University and Business Collaboration. Moreover, participants’ level of confidence about their answers was also assessed. Statistical analysis of data collected suggested that participants’ knowledge about CT, blended learning and the University and Business Collaboration increased after their participation in the LTTA. However, these results were not statistically significant. A statistically significant median increase elicited only in participants’ perceived self-confidence on the topics addressed during the LTTA, only for HE participants. Finally, the administrative and management of the implemented LTTA was evaluated highlighting that the event reached the predefined objectives and goals, met participants’ expectations and offered a high quality learning and training experience to the participants. Apart from the measurable data, a significant outcome of the LTTA was the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between each pair of HEIs and LMOs partner per country. The MoU set a specific framework on the expected collaboration between HE and LMOs for the design-development (IO3), implementation and evaluation (IO4) of the CT blended apprenticeships curricula. The development of MoUs suggest that a common understanding on the design and delivery of CT blended apprenticeships curricula has been achieved and that UBC has been tailored to each pair of contributors. Overall, the CT training course presented in the current report has contributed to the existing research and literature in numerous ways. First, it presented a course designed to address the specific needs of its participants, by employing a PC-D approach. Second, it presented a training course that can also be applied in the future, as an intensive program aiming to enhance CT in educational and LMO settings. Third, it actively engaged HE Instructors and LMOs in a common training course, trying to reach a common understanding. Finally, the current report contributes to the literature with the exploitation of a multiple-choice instrument incorporating a Certainty Response Index identifying not only participants’ alternative concepts but also their level of confidence on aspects of CT, blended learning and UBC

THINK4JOBS TOOLKIT Ten work-based learning scenarios

The current report is the first Intellectual Output (Output 1) of the THINK4JOBS initiative, which aims at improving students’ CT skills and dispositions by promoting collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Labour Market Organizations (LMOs). This is the case since according to relevant research findings, LMOs seem to expect employees to acquire CT skills in order for them to successfully address the needs of their work positions. Under this rationale, partners of the two aforementioned fields have decided to redesign and ameliorate HEI curricula by blending both HEIs and LMOs’ experience, knowledge and recommendations, while instilling this evidence into students’ apprenticeships. Apprenticeships offering practice in professional skills can actively lead to students’ understanding of their working environment and simultaneously scaffold CT development with the employment of mentoring. For this reason, the THINK4JOBS initiative exploits apprenticeships as a means of CT exploration and learning through which bridging the gap between HEIs and LMOs can be attained. Therefore, it is considered that in this fashion, students will be acquainted with the concept of CT and also be in the position of transferring it into their work settings, when entering the workplace. It should be noted that partners of the THINK4JOBS project are representatives from five disciplines (teacher training, English as a foreign language – EFL, business economics, business informatics and veterinary medicine), who formed teams between HEI and LMOs for each of these disciplines in order for ideas to be pluralized and CT to be explored across a variety of domains. The current report has a twofold aim: · to trace and map the methods and/or techniques that CT is currently employed in HEIs and LMOs’ apprenticeships and apprenticeships focusing on any possible convergent or divergent points; · to thoroughly describe and suggest work-based, learning scenarios that could bridge the gap between HEIs and LMOs’ curricula and simultaneously attempt to safeguard the requirements for graduates’ CT development and improvement. Mapping the Gap Regarding the first aim of the report, three research methods (observation, focus groups and documentary analysis) were employed in combination with three instruments (observational matrix, focus group rubric and documentary analysis rubric). Each research instrument includes a set of variables, which are majorly organized in three categories: I. Pedagogical aspects of CT development (including class objectives, teaching strategies/methods, tools/materials and evaluation regarding CT) II. CT aspects (including the ways CT is nurtured, triggered and explicitly taught during instruction) III. Implementation of CT (including elements of CT presence in these disciplines) For each variable, a set of indicators, drawing on CT and pedagogical theory was also developed in order for the aforementioned research instruments to be constructed. Stakeholders (HEI students and instructors as well as LMO tutors, employers and employees) participated in the mapping process. Data were collected during the winter semester 2020-2021 and a total of 134 participants from all partner countries participated in the focus groups discussions. Regarding the other two research methods, observation was carried out in at least three apprenticeships or courses, with at least four observation sessions for each of them. As far as it concerns the documentary analysis, documents supporting the courses/apprenticeships, which were observed, were analyzed according to the relevant rubric. Findings from each research instrument were triangulated according to each discipline and are thoroughly described in the current report in separate sections. However, some general conclusions seem to derive from a holistic approach to data analysis. Initially, it was suggested that even though a definitive “gap” between HEIs and LMOs does not seem to exist, there is a different context in CT approach since universities usually employ different learning activities focusing more on career preparation with long-term goals while LMOs follow compact and short-term, learning and teaching strategies. Additionally, findings suggested that CT is a newly-added requirement for the workplace and that HEIs and LMOs do not opt for the same terminology when referring to the concept –meaning that HEIs usually select scientific terms. Another element, which is evident is that CT in HEIs is commonly expressed through a declarative manner, while in LMOs application to specific cases follows the procedural manner. Learning Scenarios Regarding the second aim of this report, each team of HEI and LMO constructed two learning scenarios according to the findings, the sets of recommendations and the already identified educational needs. From the ten work-based scenarios developed, one from every discipline was organized in a syllabus form so that it can be further utilized for the CT blended apprenticeship curricula. This information highlights the importance of the scenarios, since they will set the stage for introducing CT at programme and course levels by utilizing Intellectual Output 3 activities to design work-based curricula for each country and dynamically enhance collaboration between HEIs and LMOs. Under this rationale, this scenario includes descriptive information about the themes, concepts, aims and learning outcomes, the duration, the teaching approach, the learning environment and the evaluation regarding both domain specific and CT related elements. First Intellectual Output Impact The current report is of major importance for the continuation of the THINK4JOBS project since it sets the stage for a sequence of activities carried out during the Second and Third Intellectual Outputs aiming at the successful application of the blended apprenticeships curricula. Besides the report’s importance for the project continuation, it may also stand as a useful Toolkit for teachers, students and employers regarding the development of CT in the workplace. In general, according to research findings, HEIs and LMOs are differently goal-oriented regarding CT and the reason for this divergence lies in the very nature and general context of the two organizations. In other words, HEIs intend to prepare students for all jobs related to a domain, while LMOs aim at preparing an employee for a specific job in a specific organization. This conclusion seems to indicate a paradox: the two organizations work in parallel but they do not share common understanding. This is the reason why the First Intellectual Output may be an invaluable means in the exploration of CT through different perspectives; actively supporting HEI and LMO collaboration in the quest for common ground

Natural and supernatural explanations in existentially arousing domains across the life - span: emotional, cognitive and social factors

The use of alternative explanations for biological phenomena –particularly the ones referring to human existence – is widespread. Focusing on the concept of death, the present doctoral thesis aims to explore natural and supernatural explanations across the life span. The present thesis consists of four successive studies. Each study aims to provide answers to different research questions concerning the use of natural and supernatural explanations of death across the life span as well as the possible relation of different explanatory frameworks with emotional, cognitive and social factors. More specifically, the 1st Study explores natural and supernatural explanations of death in children and adolescents aged 10 to 14 years (N=127), in relation to loneliness and mother – child attachment. The 2nd Study focuses on the use of natural and supernatural explanation in adults aged 25 to 65 years (N=175) in relation to religiosity, existential anxiety, depression, anxiety and stress. The 3rd Study aims to explore informant’s influence on adults’ (aged between 25 and 65 years, N=540) acceptance of natural and supernatural explanations of death. Finally, the 4th Study focuses on the natural and supernatural explanations of death in adults aged 25 and 35 years (N=86) in relation to executive functions. Research results suggest that the use of supernatural explanations is widespread among pre-adolescents, adolescents as well as adults. Regarding the adults using supernatural explanations of death, there seem to be differentiations concerning the functions that they attribute to dead agents. Moreover, supernatural explanations of death seem to co-exist with emotional factors, such as anxiety over mother abandonment, secure and anxious attachment with God, existential anxiety, depression and stress. Furthermore, the level of inhibitory control is related with the use of explanatory frameworks. Finally, the information concerning the informant’s knowledge as well as the level of religiosity exert influence on the judgements about the trustworthiness of natural and supernatural explanations. The existence and frequent use of supernatural explanations of death, despite the acquisition of the biological concept of death, suggest that the acquisition of scientific knowledge isn’t always a sufficient condition that leads to the replacement of alternative explanations with the scientific ones. On the contrary, concerning existential issues, apart from cognitive factors, emotional and social factors are, also, possibly related with the choice of explanatory framework.H χρήση εναλλακτικών ερμηνειών για την ερμηνεία βιολογικών φαινομένων - ιδιαίτερα δε όσων αφορούν στην ίδια την ανθρώπινη ύπαρξη - είναι ιδιαίτερα διαδεδομένη. Εστιάζοντας στην έννοια του θανάτου, στόχος της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής είναι η διερεύνηση των φυσικών και υπερφυσικών ερμηνευτικών μοντέλων κατά την διάρκεια της ζωής. Η παρούσα διατριβή αποτελείται από τέσσερις διαδοχικές μελέτες. Κάθε μελέτη φιλοδοξεί να απαντήσει σε διαφορετικά ερευνητικά ερωτήματα που αφορούν στην χρήση των φυσικών και υπερφυσικών ερμηνειών του θανάτου κατά την διάρκεια της ζωής, καθώς και στην πιθανή σχέση των διαφορετικών ερμηνευτικών μοντέλων με συναισθηματικούς, γνωστικούς και κοινωνικούς παράγοντες. Συγκεκριμένα, η 1η Μελέτη της διατριβής διερευνά τις φυσικές και υπερφυσικές ερμηνείες του θανάτου σε παιδιά και εφήβους, ηλικίας 10 έως 14 ετών (Ν=127) σε συνδυασμό με το αίσθημα τις μοναξιάς και τον δεσμό με την μητέρα. Η 2η Μελέτη εστιάζει στην χρήση των φυσικών και υπερφυσικών ερμηνειών του θανάτου σε ενήλικες 25 έως 65 ετών (Ν=175) σε συνδυασμό με την θρησκευτικότητα, το υπαρξιακό άγχος, την κατάθλιψη, το άγχος και το στρες. Η 3η Μελέτη της διατριβής φιλοδοξεί να διερευνήσει την επιρροή του πληροφορητή στην υιοθέτηση φυσικών και υπερφυσικών ερμηνειών για τον θάνατο σε ενήλικες 25 έως 65 ετών (Ν=540). Τέλος, η 4η Μελέτη εστιάζει στις φυσικές και υπερφυσικές ερμηνείες του θανάτου σε συνδυασμό με τις εκτελεστικές λειτουργίες σε ενήλικες ηλικίας 25 και 35 ετών (Ν=86). Τα αποτελέσματα της διατριβής υποδεικνύουν ότι η χρήση των υπερφυσικών ερμηνευτικών μοντέλων του θανάτου είναι συχνή τόσο σε προ-έφηβους και έφηβους όσο και σε ενήλικες. Σε ότι αφορά στους ενήλικες που χρησιμοποιούν υπερφυσικές ερμηνείες του θανάτου, φαίνεται πως υπάρχουν διαφοροποιήσεις ως προς τις λειτουργίες που υποστηρίζουν ότι συνεχίζουν να υπάρχουν στην ζωή μετά τον θάνατο. Επιπρόσθετα, τα υπερφυσικά μοντέλα ερμηνείας του θανάτου φαίνεται να συνυπάρχουν με συναισθηματικούς παράγοντες όπως η διάσταση του άγχους της αποχωρισμού από την μητέρα, ο ασφαλής και ο αγχώδης δεσμός με τον Θεό, το υπαρξιακό άγχος, η κατάθλιψη και το στρες. Επιπλέον, το επίπεδο του ανασταλτικού ελέγχου φαίνεται να σχετίζεται με την χρήση ερμηνευτικού μοντέλου για τον θάνατο. Τέλος, οι πληροφορίες που έχει κανείς για τις γνώσεις του πληροφορητή και το επίπεδο της θρησκευτικότητας φαίνεται να επηρεάζουν τις κρίσεις για την αξιοπιστία πληροφοριών με φυσικό και υπερφυσικό περιεχόμενο. Συμπερασματικά, η ύπαρξη και συχνή χρήση υπερφυσικών ερμηνειών για τον θάνατο, παρά την κατανόηση του βιολογικού μοντέλου, υποδεικνύει ότι η κατανόηση της επιστημονικής ερμηνείας δεν αποτελεί πάντα επαρκή συνθήκη για την αντικατάσταση των εναλλακτικών ερμηνειών με το επιστημονικό μοντέλο ερμηνείας. Αντίθετα, σε ζητήματα που άπτονται της ανθρώπινης ύπαρξης, φαίνεται πως πέρα από τους γνωστικούς, συναισθηματικοί και κοινωνικοί παράγοντες είναι πιθανό να σχετίζονται με την επιλογή μοντέλου ερμηνείας

Critical Thinking in Teacher Education: Course Design and Teaching Practicum

Critical Thinking is considered a key component of Higher Education that supports graduates’ preparation for the labor market. However, in the field of teacher education more research is needed to support student-teachers with regard to the complexity of schools. It is considered that a teaching practicum can set the stage for the cultivation of Critical Thinking skills and dispositions, as student-teachers have to face real problems and be led to decision-making. The paper presented here describes the curriculum transformation of courses offering theoretical lectures and teaching practicum in the Department of Primary Education, University of Western Macedonia. After focus group discussion with in-service teachers, the Critical Thinking skills and dispositions considered necessary for teacher education were thoroughly described and utilized for the course design. The courses were modified to include a variety of teaching strategies following the direct infusion approach for training in Critical Thinking with the aim of promoting reflective practices for fostering student-teachers’ critical reflection. In this way, they can be empowered regarding their professional development

Exploring bioethical reasoning in children and adolescents using focus groups methodology

The present case study focuses on the exploration of bioethical reasoning in children and adolescents using focus groups methodology. The case study is based on a research project that aimed to explore the ethical considerations that children and adolescents might have, concerning recent developments in medicine and biotechnology. These developments (e.g., xenotransplantation, nanotechnology, treatments based on stem cell usage) and innovative techniques may provide a better quality of life or treatment to life-threatening diseases, but raise ethical considerations regarding the limitations of human intervention in life and death, animal rights, human embryos rights, and so on. The exploration of children and adolescents’ thoughts and reasoning on bioethics could provide us with fruitful information, such as intuitive reasoning and original thoughts on these issues. Although we used a mixed - design methodology, including interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups, in the present case, we will focus only on the use of focus groups methodology in children and adolescents. We would like to address the reasons why focus groups methodology was chosen over other research methods, the benefits of this approach for our research project, and also the challenges that we faced while conducting the focus groups with children and adolescents. These challenges raise from participants’ age and age-related characteristics as well as from the research topic itself and range from the preparation and duration of the focus groups to the mediator’s role during focus groups discussion with children and adolescents

Undergraduate Students’ Conceptualization of Critical Thinking and Their Ideas for Critical Thinking Acquisition

Higher education institutions are responsible for preparing and equipping undergraduate students with the skills required by the labor market, such as critical thinking. However, academics should consider students’ pre-existing ideas before designing and implementing an instructional intervention regarding critical thinking. Drawing on the literature for conceptual change, the current study aimed to map students’ conceptualization of critical thinking and their ideas regarding the acquisition of critical thinking. In total, 243 first-year social sciences students participated in the study. To explore students’ ideas, the authors constructed an instrument with 20 scientific and non-scientific statements about critical thinking. The instrument was a two-tier questionnaire, and participants indicated their level of agreement with each statement using a 5-point Likert scale as well as their confidence in their answers. Students’ ideas were categorized into six groups depending on their endorsements for the statement and their level of confidence in their decision. Results revealed that students had insufficient conceptualization of critical thinking, and their ideas regarding how critical thinking might be acquired were not consistently aligned with those of academics. Implications for instruction are discussed considering students’ ideas on critical thinking