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Understanding the influence of teaching culture (tradition) within academic departments is crucial for new teachers navigating the complex landscape of higher education. This paper investigates the possible impact of the department's teaching culture on the pedagogical approaches of new teachers, forming their teaching style, concentrating on insights gathered from interviews with experienced colleagues in a Swedish university department with a focus on engineering education. By exploring the department's teaching traditions and identifying potential challenges faced by new teachers, this study offers valuable insights into enhancing teaching styles and fostering student engagement. Drawing upon both experiential knowledge and insights from pedagogic literature and courses, the authors provide practical strategies to overcome obstacles and promote operative teaching practices. Ultimately, the outcomes of this study aim to empower new teachers to create enriching learning environments that promote student motivation, engagement, and overall academic success, aligning with the findings of existing literature on pedagogy and student learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement and retention are widely acknowledged problems in computer science and more general higher education. The need to develop programming skills is increasingly ubiquitous, but especially so in computer science where it is one of the core competencies. Learning to write code is a particularly challenging skill to master, which can make retention and success even more difficult. We attempt to address student engagement within an introductory programming module by attempting to motivate students using a gamified interactive programming tutor application that provides immediate feedback on the student's work. In this paper, we describe the design of the gamified programming tutor application, along with a related topology to characterize student engagement. We discuss the design of the software, the gamified elements, and the structured question design. We evaluate the engagement with the gamified programming tutor of two cohorts of students in the first year of a computer science programme, with over two hundred students taking part. We attempt to frame this engagement in terms of frequency, duration, and intensity of interactions, and compare these engagement metrics with module performance. Additionally, we present quantitative and qualitative data from a survey of students about their experience using the programming tutor application to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Final Degree Projects (FDPs) in scientific and technical studies are often the first significant approach to real research and can be a challenging step for students. Their own experience at this stage can influence the students' professional calling to a research career instead of other technical occupations. In any case, it should be an interesting experience for students, regardless of their future career. Thus, suitable guiding by academic tutors is vital to favor the engagement for scientific research as a feasible professional career in youngsters. The aim of this work was to point out our own experience when it comes to teaching how to research, inspired by research-based learning. In other words, this is an example about how to introduce final degree students to research, to prepare them for a possible future career in the research world. Specifically, the expectation for each FDP was to materialize their work in the publication of a research paper or a conference communication, in the context of research carried out in the frame of a transference project with a firm purpose: to emphasize how their work will be applied as a solution to a real problem. To achieve this goal, a general didactic guide (which should be customized for each student) is presented, adapted to a chemical engineering laboratory, mainly devoted to biodiesel and biolubricant production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019 required a complete shift to online learning across all educational institutions, including universities. The rapid transition to online learning globally meant that many educators were suddenly tasked with adapting their classroom-based pedagogy to the online space. While this was undoubtedly challenging for teachers and students, it also opened up possibilities for reimagining the delivery of content, along with creating increased access for students who had barriers for studying remotely before the impact of COVID-19. The study discussed in this paper examines the experiences of students studying at a regional Australian university that already offered online courses, and whose instructors were already using a diverse range of online delivery tools. Specifically, the study sought to investigate how instructors used interactive strategies to promote student engagement, and how the interaction between learner and content influences student engagement. With research showing that online students typically have higher attrition rates than their on-campus counterparts, engagement has been identified as an important factor in online learning. Online interaction in particular is considered to be instrumental in influencing student engagement and positively impacting student satisfaction, persistence, and academic performance. Data collected from interviews conducted with two different cohorts of students, studying two different courses (mathematics education and Chinese language) at the same university, demonstrated ways instructors utilised interactive online pedagogies to engage students with potentially challenging course content. The study has implications for online educators who are looking for ways to adapt their on-campus courses to online delivery, with a focus on engaging and maintaining online students' interest and ongoing participation in their courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an aspect of a case study of four 11-to-13-year-old students of a Regional Health School (RHS) in New Zealand, using apps on their own mobile devices as part of their mathematics programs. It considers the issue of engaging students in mathematical learning when they are recovering from significant health issues. The paper examines the influence of apps on these students' engagement with mathematical learning through the facilitation of differentiated learning programs. The research design was a case study with semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observation used to generate the data. A number of themes arose from the data including both the positive and negative influences of apps on student engagement and the influence of apps on facilitating differentiated learning programs. The results indicated that using apps for mathematics had a positive influence on student engagement for most students. The positive student engagement seemed to be partly due to the apps' ability to support differentiated learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of practical experience and visualization in the fluid power discipline, highly tied to students' success, requires integrating immersive pedagogical tools for enhanced course delivery, offering real-life industry simulation. This study investigates the impact of using virtual reality (VR) technology as an instructional tool on the learning and engagement of 48 mechanical engineering technology (MET) students registered in the MET: 230 Fluid Power course at Purdue University. An interactive VR module on hydraulic grippers was developed utilizing the constructivist learning theory for MET: 230 labs, enabling MET students to explore light- and heavy-duty gripper designs and operation through assembly, disassembly, and testing in a virtual construction environment. A survey consisting of a Likert scale and short-answer questions was designed based on the study's objective to evaluate the students' engagement and perceived attitude toward the module. Statistical and natural language processing (NLP) analyses were conducted on the students' responses. The statistical analysis results revealed that 97% of the students expressed increased excitement, over 90% reported higher engagement, and 87% found the VR lab realistic and practical. The NLP analysis highlighted positive themes such as "engagement", "valuable experience", "hands-on learning", and "understanding", with over 80% of students endorsing these sentiments. These findings will contribute to future efforts aimed at improving fluid power learning through immersive digital reality technologies, while also exploring alternative approaches for individuals encountering challenges with such technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learners who enter higher education (HE) at the foundational level are susceptible to many challenges that impact their performance, engagement, and progression. Not all students who enter HE at the foundational level will progress and attain their course qualifications. In addition, many university lecturers struggle to give effective support to their students. This study focuses on feedforward teaching approaches that define ways to enhance learning by using advanced organisational strategies to offer relevant supporting concepts and meaningful verbal material. To date, there are insufficient literature reviews on feedforward approaches to facilitate students' subsequent learning. Providing better academic support for students and a strong foundation for independent learning is the focus of this paper. Therefore, the main contributions of this paper are identifying the key feedforward features and suggesting effective feedforward approaches. This study was undertaken to rigorously implement feedforward approaches that would support groups of students in modules at the foundational entry-level. At the end of module delivery, different students' data sets were analysed related to the progression rates, standard deviation, and mean. In addition, the student satisfaction questionnaire (module evaluation survey) and feedback survey were also considered for engagement and retention purposes. The outcomes from this exercise suggest that feedforward approaches allow students to increase their overall effort when attempting summative assessments and, thus, improve their performance, engagement, and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the potential of storytelling as a means of influencing students to become engaged with science and to choose a career in a STEM field. Given the role that leaders can play in motivating and influencing people and considering Nikola Tesla a leader in the fields of electrical engineering and science, the paper identifies Tesla's leadership traits, as these emerge from his life story, that is, actual historical events regarding his life and his scientific/technological work. These leadership traits refer to (a) imaginative thinking and innovation, (b) persistence/perseverance, and (c) vision, and point to the need for empirical studies to document the effectiveness of the Nikola Tesla story to motivate and influence students. The significance of the Nikola Tesla story for science education is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a mixed-methods study with high school students. The study focused on the reasons they give with regard to “what they find interesting about their physics lesson" and “what makes them want to study their physics lesson" during a school year. The sample consisted of 219 students, who attended public high schools, located in various geographical regions of Greece. Journal entries made by all students—that is, students from junior high and senior high schools—were content-analyzed through a grounded theory approach. A total of eight categories were identified. Quantitative differences between these categories, and between the two groups of students, were also identified. Even though some of the identified categories are well-known motivators in science education, three specific categories deserve particular attention: “connection to one's own self", “purpose", and “utility". Notwithstanding the limitations of the present research design (i.e., volunteer sample, lack of standardization in students" and especially in teachers' activities), these categories, along with two quantitative indicators—that is, number of journal entries and student percentages—challenge us to rethink what makes the ideas of science, especially those of physics, meaningful or simply relevant to the life of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on informal learning institutions, primarily science museums, through the lens of an activity kit co-created by CELL-MET—a cross-university, engineering research center—and museum partners. While formal learning organizations, like K-12 schools, play a critical role in the education process through standardized teaching, informal learning organizations also make important contributions to the engineering education ecosystem, such as by fostering engineering identity development, especially for learners and their families. This is particularly valuable for young learners from underrepresented and under-resourced communities. In this study, two questions are addressed: (1) How were museums impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting disruptions to their operations, and how did they respond? (2) To what extent were museums able to implement and adapt EEK! to reach under-served youth in the face of social disruption? When the world was experiencing social disruption from the spread of COVID-19, the authors realized they had an opportunity to test the utility and adaptability of their model of engineering activity co-creation. Approximately six months into the launch of both EEK! and the global pandemic, a 29-item survey was distributed to EEK! recipient institutions. Of the museum respondents, 97% reported experiencing full closures and 73% reported layoffs and furloughs. Despite these challenges, 78% implemented EEK!, with 70% of the institutions creating new virtual programming, and 38% adapting EEK! for remote facilitation, including real-time virtual events, self-guided activities, and at-home activity kits. Museums were equally impacted by COVID-19 policies and closures, but have not received the public attention and support that K-12 schools have received. Nonetheless, they have responded with ingenuity in using and adapting EEK!. Given their K-12 partnerships, flexibility, and ability to engage learners, museums are undervalued collaborators for universities trying to impact the K-12 engineering education ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learners who enter higher education (HE) at the foundational level are susceptible to many challenges that impact their performance, engagement, and progression. Not all students who enter HE at the foundational level will progress and attain their course qualifications. In addition, many university lecturers struggle to give effective support to their students. This study focuses on feedforward teaching approaches that define ways to enhance learning by using advanced organisational strategies to offer relevant supporting concepts and meaningful verbal material. To date, there are insufficient literature reviews on feedforward approaches to facilitate students’ subsequent learning. Providing better academic support for students and a strong foundation for independent learning is the focus of this paper. Therefore, the main contributions of this paper are identifying the key feedforward features and suggesting effective feedforward approaches. This study was undertaken to rigorously implement feedforward approaches that would support groups of students in modules at the foundational entry-level. At the end of module delivery, different students’ data sets were analysed related to the progression rates, standard deviation, and mean. In addition, the student satisfaction questionnaire (module evaluation survey) and feedback survey were also considered for engagement and retention purposes. The outcomes from this exercise suggest that feedforward approaches allow students to increase their overall effort when attempting summative assessments and, thus, improve their performance, engagement, and retention.

This paper focuses on the potential of storytelling as a means of influencing students to become engaged with science and to choose a career in a STEM field. Given the role that leaders can play in motivating and influencing people and considering Nikola Tesla a leader in the fields of electrical engineering and science, the paper identifies Tesla’s leadership traits, as these emerge from his life story, that is, actual historical events regarding his life and his scientific/technological work. These leadership traits refer to (a) imaginative thinking and innovation, (b) persistence/perseverance, and (c) vision, and point to the need for empirical studies to document the effectiveness of the Nikola Tesla story to motivate and influence students. The significance of the Nikola Tesla story for science education is also discussed.

(1) Background: Expatriate (expat) teachers, i.e., those living and working outside of their own country, face several unique challenges. Without sufficient protective resources, these challenges threaten to negatively impact upon their workplace engagement and psychological wellbeing, and lead to burnout. In the present study, we utilise the 'conservation of resources' (COR) theory to examine the influence of expat teachers' adaptability (a personal resource) and social support (a conditional/situational resource) on their workplace engagement, burnout, and psychological wellbeing. (2) Methods: A sample of expat teachers (N = 88), mostly working and residing in Middle Eastern countries, completed a series of validated self-report scales to measure each substantive construct. (3) Results: Results revealed that adaptability, but not social support, was a significant positive predictor of both work engagement and psychological wellbeing. There were no significant interaction effects observed. Moreover, neither adaptability nor social support were associated with burnout in this study. Personal resources, such as adaptability, may be more significant determinants of workplace engagement and psychological wellbeing among expat teachers relative to conditional/situational resources, such as social support, according to this research. (4) Conclusions: These findings have important implications for researchers, practitioners, and businesses/organisations, underlining the need to concentrate on strengthening personal resources such as adaptability to improve workplace engagement and psychological wellbeing outcomes among expat teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher educational institutions have utilized problem-based learning (PBL) approaches over the last two decades. The approach has been found to enable educators to adopt different teaching and learning strategies. This study examined how teacher educators have adopted technology integrated PBL in teacher education. The study aimed to understand teacher educators perceptions of adopting the approach in their classrooms. Interviews were conducted with three teacher educators in Ghana. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the data from the interviews. The teacher educators believed integrating PBL into the curriculum emphasizes students learning roles to support their independent and self-directed learning. They also perceived that the PBL approach enabled them to create collaborative learning activities to interact and communicate with students, which can lead to conceptual knowledge development. The educators also indicated challenges such as a lack of beliefs and competence, inadequate resources, and limited time allocation for school inquiry-based lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid growth in the manufacturing industry and increased urbanization, higher amounts of composite material waste are being produced, causing severe threats to the environment. These environmental concerns, coupled with the fact that undergraduate students typically have minimal experience in research, have initiated the need at the UAE University to promote research among undergraduate students, leading to the development of a summer undergraduate research program. In this study, a recycling methodology is presented to test lab-fabricated Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) for potential applications in industrial composite waste. The work was conducted by two groups of undergraduate students at the UAE University. The methodology involved the chemical dissolution of the composite waste, followed by compression molding and adequate heat treatment for rapid curing of CFRP. Subsequently, the CFRP samples were divided into three groups based on their geometrical distinctions. The mechanical properties (i.e., modulus of elasticity and compressive strength) were determined through material testing, and the results were then compared with steel for prompt reference. The results revealed that the values of mechanical properties range from 2 to 4.3 GPa for the modulus of elasticity and from 203.7 to 301.5 MPa for the compressive strength. These values are considered competitive and optimal, and as such, carbon fiber waste can be used as an alternate material for various structural applications. The inconsistencies in the values are due to discrepancies in the procedure as a result of the lack of specialized equipment for handling CFRP waste material. The study concluded that the properties of CFRP composite prepreg scrap tend to be reusable instead of disposable. Despite the meager experimental discrepancies, test values and mechanical properties indicate that CFRP composite can be successfully used as a material for nonstructural applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital video has become a dominant form of student learning in and beyond the classroom, and thus its pervasive nature in contemporary learning environments commands scholarly inquiry. In this paper we explore a participatory design-based research approach to the integration of video hook technology in the post-primary science classroom (students aged 12–15). Video hooks were designed with the intention of engaging students and augmenting their interest in science. Teachers across ten schools voluntarily agreed to implement the video hooks, and with their students (N = 128) engage in a qualitative, observational methodology to ascertain their effect. Triangulated data was collected through teacher interviews (N = 10), structured lesson observation and researcher journal documentation. Results reveal that student reaction was instant and impactful with evidence of both triggered and maintained student interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on professor leadership styles and investigated the impacts of various leadership characteristics on student academic performance as well as students' perceptions of class engagement and trust toward a professor. Using multiple leaderships styles to estimate a model of the relationship between faculty leadership styles and student outcomes provides for a broader view compared to previous research. The empirical results indicated that student perception of class engagement was significantly influenced by a professor's emotional leadership, Pygmalion leadership, and charismatic leadership. Further, student perception of trust toward a professor was significantly affected by the professor's transformational leadership, Pygmalion leadership, and charismatic leadership. Lastly, student academic performance was significantly impacted by class engagement. This research provides practical applications for enhancing student academic performance with the adoption of relevant leadership styles in higher education classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformative experience represents a deep-engagement construct and refers to experiences in which students use science content to see and experience the world in meaningful new ways outside the classroom. Such experiences are associated with deep learning (e.g., transfer) and engagement (e.g., academic and career choice) outcomes. However, research on individual factors predictive of transformative experience is limited. The current study investigated university geoscience students' perceptions of a connection to their instructor(s) and perceptions of their instructors' passion for the content as predictors of transformative experience. Controlling for students' initial interest and self-efficacy in the domain, we found both these factors to be predictive of transformative experience. These results suggest science teachers may be able to support engagement in transformative experiences by connecting with students and expressing a passion for the content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of gamification in education has attracted many researchers to increase engagement and achieve learning more effectively. Implementing technology in science curricula has seen a massive influx over the past years to stop the decline in students' motivation towards science learning and promote scientific thinking. This study's objective is to present the empirical findings of the state-of-the-art literature on the use of gamification in science education. Therefore, we performed a systematic literature review of 24 empirical research papers published in various electronic databases and the web search engine for scholarly literature and academic resources, Google Scholar, between 2012 and 2020. This review reveals the latest emerging trends of gamification in science education while revealing the literature gap, challenges, impediments, and extending the possibilities for future research directions. It examines the conflicting findings of other studies and provides a framework and insight for future researchers regarding content areas, educational levels, theoretical models, outcomes, methodologies, game elements, and assessment tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing refugee crisis makes intercultural competence and culturally responsive education crucial issues in schools. At the same time, increased migration poses new challenges for social cohesion in countries around the world. How schools and classrooms can be fair and inclusive in terms of experiences and outcomes for migrant and refugee students is therefore a key question. This paper will explore the increase in migration of newly arrived students in Sweden, and how teachers in this country are catering for diverse students through cooperative learning. I explore cooperative learning as an inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy that can be effectively used in schools to support all students and especially 'refugee' or newly arrived students. Using theory from cooperative learning and Stembridge (2020) as a theoretical framework, I particularly focus on analysis using two of Stembridge's themes of Culturally Responsive Education: Engagement and Relationships to analyze Swedish primary school classroom observations and teacher interviews and find commonalities between these two themes and the key ideas in cooperative learning. This research is built on the premise that there is more need in education research for up to date observations into the classroom factors that support or hinder learning and the way that within-class groupings can support diversity and inclusivity. Cooperative learning allows participants to develop a commitment to fairness, social responsibility and a concern for others and this particularly caters for our diverse student populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second language learning investment relates to the willingness and effort of learners to develop language competencies which will give them a good return in terms of personal or professional benefits. Research has often explored learning investment through learners in the target language context or language teachers. This study, however, explores learning investment with undergraduate learners who are obligated to learn English as a foreign language, regardless of their future profession. To this end, a Likert-scale questionnaire was first designed to examine four investment dimensions which have been identified in previous qualitative research: motivation, necessity, engagement and agency. For validity and reliability purposes, the questionnaire was administered to six second language research professors and 41 students who completed three compulsory English courses in a BA in Inclusive Education. Content, construct and convergent validity procedures were implemented to test the investment dimensions. Regarding reliability, equivalent forms were used to check the stability of answers and to avoid primacy and fatigue effects. In addition, internal consistency and inter-item correlations were checked through Cronbach Alpha coefficients. After the validity and reliability procedures, the four dimensions of learning investment were explored among the language learners. The statistical analyses revealed favorable motivation and engagement results. Nonetheless, they raised some concerns regarding necessity and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our modern era has brought about radical changes in the way courses are delivered and various teaching methods are being introduced to answer the purpose of meeting the modern learning challenges. On that account, the conventional way of teaching is giving place to a teaching method which combines conventional instructional strategies with contemporary learning trends. Thereby, a new course type has emerged, the blended course in the context of which online teaching and conventional instruction are efficiently mixed. This paper demonstrates a way to identify factors affecting students' critical performance in blended courses through a binary logistics regression analysis on students' engagement data. The binary logistics regression analysis has led to a risk model which identifies and prioritizes these factors in proportion to their contribution to the risk occurrence. The risk model is demonstrated in the context of two specific blended courses sharing the same learning design. Additionally, the outcome of the study has proved that factors related to the e-learning part have critically affected the students' performance in the respective blended courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education is experiencing a paradigm shift from passive learning towards active learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has further presented an opportunity for education providers to enhance teaching that includes non-campus modes. However, concerns regarding student engagement lie at the heart of the transition to active learning environments in the context of the increased demand for online education. Therefore, promoting student engagement has become an educational priority since greater student engagement translates into valued student experiences, higher academic performance, and increased retention rates. This paper semi-systematically reviews the literature on student engagement in undergraduate economics education. Close emphasis is also paid to the relationships between the direct measures of disengagement such as absenteeism on student performance in economics. The student engagement framework developed by Frederiks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004) is used to classify the dimensions of student engagement and the factors that influence the different dimensions of engagement. The literature reviewed is predominately occupied with behavioral aspects of engagement with little attention towards capturing the cognitive and emotional aspects of student engagement. Three key recommendations are noted from the study in order for business school educators and higher education policy makers to promote student engagement in economics education. Future research on student engagement in undergraduate business education should focus more on capturing the cognitive and emotional aspects of student engagement to inform policymaking in promoting student engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an aspect of a case study of four 11-to-13-year-old students of a Regional Health School (RHS) in New Zealand, using apps on their own mobile devices as part of their mathematics programs. It considers the issue of engaging students in mathematical learning when they are recovering from significant health issues. The paper examines the influence of apps on these students’ engagement with mathematical learning through the facilitation of differentiated learning programs. The research design was a case study with semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observation used to generate the data. A number of themes arose from the data including both the positive and negative influences of apps on student engagement and the influence of apps on facilitating differentiated learning programs. The results indicated that using apps for mathematics had a positive influence on student engagement for most students. The positive student engagement seemed to be partly due to the apps’ ability to support differentiated learning.

The philosophy of middle level education is to intentionally create a learning environment that supports every young adolescent. The literature around engagement points to the need for students to experience (among other requirements) a sense of belonging at school (SOBAS). When the need for belonging is not achieved there may be significant consequences, including an impact on intellectual performance, and hence, learning potential may not be achieved. For students with marginalized identities, an intensification of factors that create challenges places them at-risk of disengaging and their sense of belonging at school is more likely to be compromised. Nurturing SOBAS is positively associated with the retention of students who are at-risk of dropping out of, thereby being an aspirational goal of education. Methods: The findings of a systematic literature review related to young adolescents and the importance of SOBAS forms a focused literature base. We highlight findings from a study that explored the effectiveness of engagement strategies for marginalized students in one educational jurisdiction in Australia. Data in the form of a series of interviews and focus groups conducted with 25 students, 25 of their teachers, and 39 school leaders provides a rich data set for thematic content analysis. Inductive analysis and in vivo coding led to a framework that summarized each of the sub-group data sets to convey emergent themes. Results: Five themes related to SOBAS emerged from the data: (a) Relationships in School; (b) School Climate; (c) Pedagogical Practices; (d) Specific Programs and Activities; and (e) Other Issues, mainly variables such as family, mental health, trauma and poverty that impacted on a student's SOBAS. Conclusion: The systematic literature review and the findings of the empirical study presented in this paper highlight aspects of SOBAS that can be formalized into a series of strategies to increase retention of marginalized students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement and retention are widely acknowledged problems in computer science and more general higher education. The need to develop programming skills is increasingly ubiquitous, but especially so in computer science where it is one of the core competencies. Learning to write code is a particularly challenging skill to master, which can make retention and success even more difficult. We attempt to address student engagement within an introductory programming module by attempting to motivate students using a gamified interactive programming tutor application that provides immediate feedback on the student’s work. In this paper, we describe the design of the gamified programming tutor application, along with a related topology to characterize student engagement. We discuss the design of the software, the gamified elements, and the structured question design. We evaluate the engagement with the gamified programming tutor of two cohorts of students in the first year of a computer science programme, with over two hundred students taking part. We attempt to frame this engagement in terms of frequency, duration, and intensity of interactions, and compare these engagement metrics with module performance. Additionally, we present quantitative and qualitative data from a survey of students about their experience using the programming tutor application to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach.

Developing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) competencies is a global priority. In response to this educational need, initiatives have been implemented mainly at the school level. However, in preschool education, the STEAM programs are more recent. Research advances orient preschool teachers to reach these competencies in school-based programs, although parental involvement has been systematically forgotten as a critical factor. This article describes the current issues on research about parental participation in STEM education in early childhood to identify advances and gaps. We selected documents published between 1995 and 2021 in the leading educational databases, identifying 11 documents explicitly related to parental involvement in STEM education in preschoolers. The results show that STEM activities can promote parental engagement, improve the value parent attribute to STEM, and positively affect STEM learning in preschoolers. Moreover, parents shape children's interests and self-efficacy about STEM and content application that can favor their children's approach to STEM. This article discusses the scarcity of research published on the connection between STEM and parental influence, despite the fundamental role of parents in early STEM education. We present practical criteria to guide the development of early STEM education in the family context and questions to guide the planning of research and intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students in the twenty-first century are accustomed to using technology in all aspects of their lives and have never known a world without it; the classroom is no exception. Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that bridges the virtual and physical worlds to make learning more engaging and enjoyable. In this paper, we present a mobile application aimed at novice learners that makes use of technology for the teaching and learning of computer system engineering concepts. Currently, students typically learn about finite-state machine (FSM) concepts from lectures, tutorials, and practical hands-on experience combined with commercial timing simulation tools. We aimed to enhance these traditional, lecture-based instruction and information delivery methods. We developed an AR-based FSM visualization tool called AR4FSM to help students more easily grasp concepts through immersion and natural interaction with an FSM. We used a blend of multimedia information, such as text, images, sound, and animations superimposed on real-world-state machine diagrams, presenting the information in an interactive and compelling way. An experiment with 60 students showed that the app was perceived positively by the students and helped to deliver FSM-related concepts in a way that was easier to understand than traditional, lecture-based teaching methods. This instruction methodology not only engaged the students but also motivated them to learn the material. The findings of this study have inspired us to use this application to teach FSM topics in the classroom.

The COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019 required a complete shift to online learning across all educational institutions, including universities. The rapid transition to online learning globally meant that many educators were suddenly tasked with adapting their classroom-based pedagogy to the online space. While this was undoubtedly challenging for teachers and students, it also opened up possibilities for reimagining the delivery of content, along with creating increased access for students who had barriers for studying remotely before the impact of COVID-19. The study discussed in this paper examines the experiences of students studying at a regional Australian university that already offered online courses, and whose instructors were already using a diverse range of online delivery tools. Specifically, the study sought to investigate how instructors used interactive strategies to promote student engagement, and how the interaction between learner and content influences student engagement. With research showing that online students typically have higher attrition rates than their on-campus counterparts, engagement has been identified as an important factor in online learning. Online interaction in particular is considered to be instrumental in influencing student engagement and positively impacting student satisfaction, persistence, and academic performance. Data collected from interviews conducted with two different cohorts of students, studying two different courses (mathematics education and Chinese language) at the same university, demonstrated ways instructors utilised interactive online pedagogies to engage students with potentially challenging course content. The study has implications for online educators who are looking for ways to adapt their on-campus courses to online delivery, with a focus on engaging and maintaining online students’ interest and ongoing participation in their courses.

Digital video has become a dominant form of student learning in and beyond the classroom, and thus its pervasive nature in contemporary learning environments commands scholarly inquiry. In this paper we explore a participatory design-based research approach to the integration of video hook technology in the post-primary science classroom (students aged 12–15). Video hooks were designed with the intention of engaging students and augmenting their interest in science. Teachers across ten schools voluntarily agreed to implement the video hooks, and with their students (N = 128) engage in a qualitative, observational methodology to ascertain their effect. Triangulated data was collected through teacher interviews (N = 10), structured lesson observation and researcher journal documentation. Results reveal that student reaction was instant and impactful with evidence of both triggered and maintained student interest.

The implementation of gamification in education has attracted many researchers to increase engagement and achieve learning more effectively. Implementing technology in science curricula has seen a massive influx over the past years to stop the decline in students’ motivation towards science learning and promote scientific thinking. This study’s objective is to present the empirical findings of the state-of-the-art literature on the use of gamification in science education. Therefore, we performed a systematic literature review of 24 empirical research papers published in various electronic databases and the web search engine for scholarly literature and academic resources, Google Scholar, between 2012 and 2020. This review reveals the latest emerging trends of gamification in science education while revealing the literature gap, challenges, impediments, and extending the possibilities for future research directions. It examines the conflicting findings of other studies and provides a framework and insight for future researchers regarding content areas, educational levels, theoretical models, outcomes, methodologies, game elements, and assessment tools.

The ongoing refugee crisis makes intercultural competence and culturally responsive education crucial issues in schools. At the same time, increased migration poses new challenges for social cohesion in countries around the world. How schools and classrooms can be fair and inclusive in terms of experiences and outcomes for migrant and refugee students is therefore a key question. This paper will explore the increase in migration of newly arrived students in Sweden, and how teachers in this country are catering for diverse students through cooperative learning. I explore cooperative learning as an inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy that can be effectively used in schools to support all students and especially ‘refugee’ or newly arrived students. Using theory from cooperative learning and Stembridge (2020) as a theoretical framework, I particularly focus on analysis using two of Stembridge’s themes of Culturally Responsive Education: Engagement and Relationships to analyze Swedish primary school classroom observations and teacher interviews and find commonalities between these two themes and the key ideas in cooperative learning. This research is built on the premise that there is more need in education research for up to date observations into the classroom factors that support or hinder learning and the way that within-class groupings can support diversity and inclusivity. Cooperative learning allows participants to develop a commitment to fairness, social responsibility and a concern for others and this particularly caters for our diverse student populations.

Our modern era has brought about radical changes in the way courses are delivered and various teaching methods are being introduced to answer the purpose of meeting the modern learning challenges. On that account, the conventional way of teaching is giving place to a teaching method which combines conventional instructional strategies with contemporary learning trends. Thereby, a new course type has emerged, the blended course in the context of which online teaching and conventional instruction are efficiently mixed. This paper demonstrates a way to identify factors affecting students’ critical performance in blended courses through a binary logistics regression analysis on students’ engagement data. The binary logistics regression analysis has led to a risk model which identifies and prioritizes these factors in proportion to their contribution to the risk occurrence. The risk model is demonstrated in the context of two specific blended courses sharing the same learning design. Additionally, the outcome of the study has proved that factors related to the e-learning part have critically affected the students’ performance in the respective blended courses.

Higher education is experiencing a paradigm shift from passive learning towards active learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has further presented an opportunity for education providers to enhance teaching that includes non-campus modes. However, concerns regarding student engagement lie at the heart of the transition to active learning environments in the context of the increased demand for online education. Therefore, promoting student engagement has become an educational priority since greater student engagement translates into valued student experiences, higher academic performance, and increased retention rates. This paper semi-systematically reviews the literature on student engagement in undergraduate economics education. Close emphasis is also paid to the relationships between the direct measures of disengagement such as absenteeism on student performance in economics. The student engagement framework developed by Frederiks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004) is used to classify the dimensions of student engagement and the factors that influence the different dimensions of engagement. The literature reviewed is predominately occupied with behavioral aspects of engagement with little attention towards capturing the cognitive and emotional aspects of student engagement. Three key recommendations are noted from the study in order for business school educators and higher education policy makers to promote student engagement in economics education. Future research on student engagement in undergraduate business education should focus more on capturing the cognitive and emotional aspects of student engagement to inform policymaking in promoting student engagement.

The philosophy of middle level education is to intentionally create a learning environment that supports every young adolescent. The literature around engagement points to the need for students to experience (among other requirements) a sense of belonging at school (SOBAS). When the need for belonging is not achieved there may be significant consequences, including an impact on intellectual performance, and hence, learning potential may not be achieved. For students with marginalized identities, an intensification of factors that create challenges places them at-risk of disengaging and their sense of belonging at school is more likely to be compromised. Nurturing SOBAS is positively associated with the retention of students who are at-risk of dropping out of, thereby being an aspirational goal of education. Methods: The findings of a systematic literature review related to young adolescents and the importance of SOBAS forms a focused literature base. We highlight findings from a study that explored the effectiveness of engagement strategies for marginalized students in one educational jurisdiction in Australia. Data in the form of a series of interviews and focus groups conducted with 25 students, 25 of their teachers, and 39 school leaders provides a rich data set for thematic content analysis. Inductive analysis and in vivo coding led to a framework that summarized each of the sub-group data sets to convey emergent themes. Results: Five themes related to SOBAS emerged from the data: (a) Relationships in School; (b) School Climate; (c) Pedagogical Practices; (d) Specific Programs and Activities; and (e) Other Issues, mainly variables such as family, mental health, trauma and poverty that impacted on a student’s SOBAS. Conclusion: The systematic literature review and the findings of the empirical study presented in this paper highlight aspects of SOBAS that can be formalized into a series of strategies to increase retention of marginalized students.

This paper reports on a mixed-methods study with high school students. The study focused on the reasons they give with regard to “what they find interesting about their physics lesson” and “what makes them want to study their physics lesson” during a school year. The sample consisted of 219 students, who attended public high schools, located in various geographical regions of Greece. Journal entries made by all students—that is, students from junior high and senior high schools—were content-analyzed through a grounded theory approach. A total of eight categories were identified. Quantitative differences between these categories, and between the two groups of students, were also identified. Even though some of the identified categories are well-known motivators in science education, three specific categories deserve particular attention: “connection to one’s own self”, “purpose”, and “utility”. Notwithstanding the limitations of the present research design (i.e., volunteer sample, lack of standardization in students” and especially in teachers’ activities), these categories, along with two quantitative indicators—that is, number of journal entries and student percentages—challenge us to rethink what makes the ideas of science, especially those of physics, meaningful or simply relevant to the life of the students.

The COVID-19 outbreak spurred unplanned closures and transitions to online classes. Physical environments that once fostered social interaction and community were rendered inactive. We conducted interviews and administered surveys to examine undergraduate STEM students' feelings of belonging and engagement while in physical isolation, and identified online teaching modes associated with these feelings. Surveys from a racially diverse group of 43 undergraduate students at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) revealed that interactive synchronous instruction was positively associated with feelings of interest and belonging, particularly for students of color, while noninteractive instruction reduced social belonging, but was related to more cognitive engagement. Small group and one-on-one interviews with 23 of these students suggest that students derived feelings of connectedness from their instructors, peers, and prior experiences and relied on their sense of competency to motivate themselves in the course and feel a sense of belonging. Two embedded cases of students in physics classrooms are compared to highlight the range of student feelings of connectedness and competency during the lockdown. Findings reaffirm that social interaction tends to support belonging and engagement, particularly for under-represented (Black or African American and Hispanic) racial groups in STEM. STEM instructors who aim to support feelings of belonging and engagement in virtual learning environments should consider increasing opportunities for student–student and student–teacher interactions, as well as taking a flexible approach that validates and integrates student voice into instruction. Future research is needed to further explore the themes of relatedness and competency that emerged as aspects of course belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most learning around the world has been transferred online. Learners who previously engaged in traditional learning now face a new challenge, a distinctive rise in e-learning. This drastic change could impact their learning behavior and acceptance of the change. As a result, their learning engagement could be affected massively. The present study therefore explores learners' level of engagement in online courses using a designated school platform within the context of Saudi Arabia. A reliable measure was implemented in the study based on the Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ). A survey was consequently conducted in a high school in Saudi Arabia, with a sample of 379 female English as a foreign language (EFL) learners studying a general English language course. The results revealed a high level of engagement among EFL Saudi learners. This helped to generate recommendations to improve EFL practices, primarily through the use of an online environment either at the national level in the Saudi context or the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth industrial revolution has triggered a notable shift in engineering education, bringing the need to create new professionals. In this context, the active learning approach appears to be more important than ever. Nevertheless, to date quite lot of challenges related to active learning have been accumulated. Diversity of backgrounds and knowledge levels of students presented together in the same learning environment can become a source of dissatisfaction and failure for several groups of learners. To explore the reasons for these phenomena, the conduct of different categories of learners is examined and compared in terms of individual engagement and success in education. It is found that the student-centered approach is not necessarily the best method of teaching and learning when applied to students with great differentiation. A number of other conditions are required for success, namely, working in small groups, drawing on learner's abilities, individual instruction methods, etc. These conditions are analyzed in detail in this study. The need for a rigorous and systematic orientation of learners in a multidimensional educational environment is proposed as a prospective form and an integral part of the university staff activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to identify the engagement strategies that higher education students, engaging in emergency online learning in low-resource settings, perceive to be effective. We conducted a sequential mixed-methods study based on Moore's interaction framework for distance education. We administered a questionnaire to 313 students engaging in emergency online learning in low-resource settings to examine their perceptions of different engagement strategies. Our results showed that student–content engagement strategies, e.g., screen sharing, summaries, and class recordings, are perceived as the most effective, closely followed by student–teacher strategies, e.g., Q and A sessions and reminders. Student–student strategies, e.g., group chat and collaborative work, are perceived as the least effective. The perceived effectiveness of engagement strategies varies based on the students' gender and technology access. To support instructors, instructional designers, and researchers, we propose a 10-level guide for engaging students during emergency online classes in low-resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this systematic umbrella review we aggregate the current knowledge of how virtual and augmented reality technologies are applicable to and impact remote learning in higher education; specifically, how they impact such learning outcomes as performance and engagement in all stages of higher education from course preparation to student evaluation and grading. This review was done as part of a state wide research effort of Latvia, to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and specifically to provide a framework for a technological transformation of education in this context. In this work we search the Scopus and Web of Science databases for articles describing the use of virtual and/or augmented reality technologies in remote learning for higher education and their impact on learning outcomes. We identified 68 articles from which, after multiple screening and eligibility phases, nine review articles were left for extraction phase in which 30 structural elements with corresponding interventions and measured effects were extracted. Of these, 24 interventions had a measured effect on student performance (11 positive, seven negative, six no impact) and six interventions had a measured effect on student engagement (all six positive). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nexus between digital technologies, engagement and learning is often cited as being correlational, but is widely misunderstood. Research is clear that engagement can lead to better academic outcomes and improved learning, but less clear about the role of digital technologies in engaging students and the impact of digital technologies on student learning. Recent research suggests that in light of the increase in digital technologies in education that we must recognize the inherent challenges in increased use of digital technologies. In this article a small-scale case study was conducted to ascertain the level of student engagement and distraction during lectures. The study was repeated for two different cohorts of teacher education students to establish consistency of results. The authors sought to determine the level of academic engagement by having students record the number of digital distractions they encountered throughout the lecture. The students self-reported their distractions during a ~100 min lecture. The researchers found consistency between the two cohorts when looking at the number of self-reported distractions per student. The findings suggest that technology was a major distraction and further could be seen, due to the number of distractions, to be causing disengagement. In this article the authors use this case study to start a conversation about the possible perils of digital technologies with regard to engagement and learning and what this means in a future that may be dictated by technology-enhanced learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flipped classroom is gaining prominence as an active learning pedagogy to engage a new generation of students. However, all courses do not lend themselves to a fully flipped design and instructors are often reluctant to flip lectures due to the additional time and effort involved, especially so in case of technical subjects such as economics. This study experiments with a flipped classroom design in a first-year undergraduate economics course. The research was motivated by the fact that many undergraduate economics students do not engage with traditional lectures. They fail to acquire critical thinking, data handling and reasoning skills, which are thought to be at the core of the economics curriculum. In this flipped classroom format, traditional lectures were substituted with micro-lectures and the remaining class time was devoted to active learning pedagogies including quizzes, group work and student presentations. The full lectures were panopto recorded and put up on the e-learning site, Blackboard. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the flipped classroom format, I compared the final exam scores of students in the flipped classroom with those in the control group, which followed a traditional lecture-based approach. The key results from the analysis revealed that students in the flipped classroom performed better in the final exams vis-à-vis students in the traditional classroom format. Furthermore, students in the flipped classroom format were 1.61 times less likely to fail in the module as compared to students in a traditional classroom format. This format also resulted in better student engagement, more flexibility and enhanced student–tutor interactions within the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has demonstrated the positive impact of active learning on students' learning outcomes, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, few studies have explored the impact of active learning via problem-based collaborative games in large mathematics classes in the context of Asian tertiary education. This study assesses the effects of active learning on students' learning outcomes using class test scores and the calculus concept inventory (CCI) to test the conceptual understanding of the basic principles of differential calculus, in a first year calculus course in Hong Kong. Three hypotheses were tested to determine the effects of game-based collaborative learning on learning mathematics among students. Active learning through a problem-based collaborative learning methodology was employed, using Kahoot!, a game-based learning platform. Results supported all three hypotheses, demonstrating a statistically significant increase in students' conceptual understanding and examination performance, based upon their individual perceptions of active engagement and time spent in active learning. Our results indicated that active learning "levels the playing field", in the sense that students with less pre-requisite background knowledge, using a problem-based collaborative learning methodology, were relatively more inclined to catch up or even exceed the performance of students with a stronger prerequisite background knowledge, at the end of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is important for college and university senior administrators to embrace the traditional roles of their administrative positions, senior administrators’ interactions with students also shape institutional culture, students’ engagement, and ultimately play a role in students’ motivation to succeed. This engagement is especially evident in the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) context as senior administrators’ engagement with students can directly or indirectly affect how students perceive themselves and their ability to succeed. This article aims to illuminate the role that HBCU senior level administrators play in students’ motivation toward success. We also highlight the notion that senior level administrators’ role in organizational culture ultimately led historically-disempowered Black women students toward success in even the most historically inaccessible pathways in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The study used semi-structured interviews with 71 Black women STEM students across 10 HBCUs and asked questions to better understand how events in their lives and on their campuses shaped their choice to pursue and persist through a STEM degree program. The study found that the women were highly motivated by their HBCUs’ family-like community of support. Integral to this article, this support was not confined to professors and peers, but extended to senior administrators. We conclude that Black women STEM students’ perception of their ability to succeed and their motivation is influenced by the institutions’ senior administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]