A survey study to gather requirements for designing a mobile service to enhance learning from cultural heritage

This study was carried out to gather user requirements using a questionnaire survey. The study has investigated how people may use mobile location-aware technologies for learning purposes in cultural heritage contexts. This paper presents the results of this survey study and outlines a number of challenges for further development

The effects of an afterschool STEM program on students’ motivation and engagement

Background: One significant factor in facilitating students’ career intentions and persistence in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields is targeting their interests and motivation before eighth grade. To reach students at this critical stage, a design-based afterschool STEM program, titled Studio STEM, was implemented to foster motivation and engagement in STEM topics and activities. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to investigate how Studio STEM affected students’ beliefs about science and whether these beliefs differed from their peers who did not participate in the program, and (b) to examine a case study of one Studio STEM implementation to investigate elements of the curriculum that motivated students to engage in the program. Results: After completing two Studio STEM programs, participants’ ratings of their values for science and science competence were higher than those of non participants. In addition, the Studio STEM participants’ motivational beliefs about science and intentions to pursue a college degree were more resilient over time than their peers. We also found that students could be motivated in a voluntary afterschool program (Studio STEM) in which they grappled with STEM concepts and activities, and could verbalize specific program elements that motivated them. Conclusions: Through this study, we found that students could be motivated in Studio STEM and that the experience had a positive impact on their perceptions about science as a field. Importantly, Studio STEM appeared to halt the decline in these students’ motivational beliefs about science that typically occurs during the middle school years, indicating that after school programs can be one way to help students maintain their motivation in science. Studying the program features that the students found motivating may help educators to make connections between research and theory, and their classroom instruction to motivate their students.ECU Open Access Publishing Support Fun

To observe or not to observe peers when learning physical examination skills; That is the question

Background: Learning physical examination skills is an essential element of medical education. Teaching strategies include practicing the skills either alone or in-group. It is unclear whether students benefit more from training these skills individually or in a group, as the latter allows them to observing their peers. The present study, conducted in a naturalistic setting, investigated the effects of peer observation on mastering psychomotor skills necessary for physical examination. Methods. The study included 185 2§ssup§nd§esup§-year medical students, participating in a regular head-to-toe physical examination learning activity. Students were assigned either to a single-student condition (n = 65), in which participants practiced alone with a patient instructor, or to a multiple-student condition (n = 120), in which participants practiced in triads under patient instructor supervision. The students subsequently carried out a complete examination that was videotaped and subsequently evaluated. Student's performance was used as a measure of learning. Results: Students in the multiple-student condition learned more than those who practiced alone (8

Change in First Graders’ Science-Related Competence Beliefs During Digitally Intensive Science Workshops

The aim of this research was to examine if a set of three science and technology workshops would promote first-grade pupils’ science-related competence beliefs. The first workshop dealt with electric circuits and related handicraft tasks. The second workshop involved programming with Lego Mindstorms robots. The third workshop was related to computer-based data logging. Fifty-nine Finnish first graders (age 7–8 years) participated in the digitally intensive science workshops, and 38 pupils served as a control group. The data were analysed using a paired samples t-test. The analysis results reveal that the set of three workshops increased the pupils’ science and technology-related competence beliefs.Peer reviewe

‘Even though it might take me a while, in the end, I understand it’: a longitudinal case study of interactions between a conceptual change strategy and student motivation, interest and confidence

Although there have been many investigations of the social, motivational, and emotional aspects of conceptual change, there have been few studies investigating the intersection of these factors with cognitive aspects in the regular classroom. Using a conceptual change approach, this case study reports experiences of a student of low to average prior attainment who achieved high levels of conceptual gains in five science topics over a two-year period. Her experience in the cognitive, social and affective domains was probed through analysis of interviews, student artefacts, video recordings of classroom learning, pre/post-tests and questionnaire results. For this student, peripheral or incidental persuasion of belonging to a supportive small group initially led to greater engagement with the construction of understanding through production of multiple student-generated representations, resulting in improved self-confidence and high levels of conceptual change. Evidence of transfer from performance to mastery approach goals, adoption of positive activating emotions and increased interest in science were observed. This study highlights that adoption of a multidimensional conceptual change approach with judicious organisation of small groups to support construction of verbal, pictorial and written representations of understanding may bring about changes in motivational stance, self-confidence and emotions to maximise conceptual change

Cognitive Profiles and Education of Female Cyber Defence Operators

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Propensity score matching in estimating the effect of managerial education on academic planning behavior. Study design: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In many academic settings teaching a particular topic is applied to every student enrolled in the same academic year, it is a difficult task for researchers to design a randomized control group study. This research aimed to estimate the effect of teaching management and planning on increasing academic planning behavior (APB), using propensity score matching (PSM).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a cross-sectional survey utilizing a self-reported structured questionnaire on a systematic random sample of 421 students in Hanoi Medical University, one of the eight medical schools in Vietnam, this evaluation study adopted regression procedures to assess model fit, then PSM to create a matched control group in order to allow for evaluating the effect of management education.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study showed both direct and indirect effects of the education on behavior. After PSM to adjust for the possible confounders to balance statistically two groups - with and without management education, there is statistically a significant difference in APB between these two groups, making a net difference of 18.60% (p < .05). The estimated 18.6 percentage point increase can be translated into the practice of APB by 670 students in the population. This number of academic planners can be attributed to a high recall of important management and planning education.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study provided theoretical as well as practical implications to guide the design of the education and evaluation of teaching.</p

Frequency and Nature of Incidental Extra-Enteric Lesions Found on Magnetic Resonance Enterography (MR-E) in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD)

The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of extra-enteric findings in a large cohort of patients undergoing magnetic resonance enterography (MR-E) and to classify the clinical significance of these findings.We retrospectively analyzed 1154 MR-E performed in 1006 patients referred to our radiological department between 1999-2005. The reasons for referral were suspected or proven inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) (n = 710), further diagnostic work-up for small bowel disease because of non-specific abdominal symptoms (SBD; n = 182) or suspected small bowel malignancies (SBM; n = 114). All extra-enteric findings were reviewed by a radiologist and a gastroenterologist and were classified as having high, moderate, or low significance for further diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.The average age of all patients was 40+/-16 (Mean+/-SD) years (y) (IBD 35+/-13 y; SBD 49+/-16 y; SBM 57+/-15 y). A total of 1113 extra-enteric findings were detected in 600 of 1006 patients (59.6%). Of these findings 180 (16.2%) were judged as having a high, 212 (19.0%) a moderate and 721 (64.8%) a low significance. On a per group basis in patients with IBD 12.0% of the findings were of major clinical significance compared to 13.7% and 33.3% in patients with SBD and SBM, respectively. The most common major findings were abscesses (69.9%) in the IBD group and extraintestinal tumors, metastases or masses in the SBD and SBM groups (41.9% and 74.2%, respectively).MR-E reveals a substantial number of extra-enteric findings, supporting the role of a cross-sectional imaging method for the evaluation of the small bowel