scholarly journals Literature Circles in a Synchronous Virtual Classroom: Educational Moos to Support Student Online Interaction

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-35
Author(s):  
Jennie Bales
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Elementary Students ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Literature Circles ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Online Interaction ◽  
Literature Circle ◽  
Support Students

This paper explores the features of educational MOOs to create a stimulating, synchronous environment for upper primary (elementary) students working in the virtual world of Learning Communities MOO. It focuses on how the features of MOOs are used by students to support and enrich their literature circle discussions. The data presented indicates that these experiences encourage and support students' interests and understanding of text through social interaction and purposeful dialogue. The results of this research suggest that online literature circle discussions conducted in an Educational MOO can operate successfully and that the MOO environment supports student discussions.

Are Breaks Better? A Comparison of Breaks Are Better to Check-In Check-Out

2021 ◽  
pp. 019874292110018
Author(s):  
Caitlyn E. Majeika ◽  
Joseph H. Wehby ◽  
Eleanor M. Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Students ◽  
Problem Behavior ◽  
Positive Behavior ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Behavior Interventions ◽  
Positive Behavior Interventions ◽  
Tier 2 Interventions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Support Students

Identification and validation of effective Tier 2 interventions that address a wide range of student-level factors is critical to the sustainability of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS). Within the context of check-in check-out (CICO), function of behavior affects outcomes for many students, especially for those who engage in problem behavior to escape from tasks. Therefore, more research is needed to understand if and how we can support students with escape-maintained behavior. Breaks are Better (BrB) is a modified version of CICO that includes a system for taking breaks. The current research on BrB is limited but promising. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of CICO to BrB. Using a multitreatment design, we compared the effects of each intervention by measuring problem behavior and academic engagement across five elementary students who engaged in problem behavior to escape from tasks. Overall results were mixed and ranged from strong effects of BrB to no differential effects. However, despite the results, teachers and students consistently rated BrB as being a more preferable intervention. We conclude with limitations and implications for practice.

scholarly journals The Presence of Learner Identity in Online Classes in UTAS-Rustaq

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Munira Said Al Siyabi ◽  
Dalal Abdullah Al Shekaili
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
English Language ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Learner Identity ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Virtual Classes ◽  
Group Interviews

Learner identity has always been a crucial aspect in shaping learners’ learning process. However, the unprecedented and inevitable shift to online learning increases the need to invest in learners’ digital identities. Virtual classes are a new learning context for many Omani students, including the University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Rustaq (UTAS-Rustaq) students, introducing them to new social norms and relatively new assigned roles. Despite students’ current presence in the virtual classes, they are not new to the virtual world; many are already part of social networks. The present study, therefore, aims to investigate learners’ participation in social media and whether such presence would have an impact on their acceptance and involvement in online learning. There is an urge to examine this area which remains unexplored in UTAS-Rustaq due to its past limited practices. A mixed-method approach was implemented to elicit data; the focus group interviews aimed to seek in-depth insights to illuminate the collected data from the survey. The participants were English language learners who have experienced online learning for almost a year. The results indicated a positive presence in the virtual world in contrast to a negative presence in the virtual classroom. Surprisingly, technical difficulties were not the reason for students’ resentment of online learning; on the contrary, students reported that they elevated their technical skills due to the current situation. Rather, negativity arose from a lack of relational connectedness with the new context, which students kept referring to as a temporary situation and lack of teachers’ support.

scholarly journals Education for Sustainability: Developing Ecocritical Literature Circles in the Student Teacher Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Lykke Guanio-Uluru
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Young Adult Literature ◽  
Literature Circles ◽  
Student Feedback ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Core ◽  
Literature Circle

Abstract How can student-teachers learn efficient ways to encourage sustainability thinking in their pupils and fulfil the competence aims on sustainability outlined in national subject curriculums as a response to UNESCO’s programme on Education for Sustainable Development, ESD? The core hypothesis of this project was that tailored literature circles, focused on the ecocritical aspects of literary texts, would make student-teachers aware of how they can use literature as a process to reflect on sustainability. This would enable them to incorporate sustainability thinking into their own teaching practices. The project’s tailoring of the standard literature circle roles (Daniels 1994, 2002, 2006) involved the design of reading roles that highlighted ecocritical and generic aspects of the studied texts and the application of an analytical matrix developed by literary scholars researching the representation of nature in children’s and young adult literature. This article presents the results of a small-scale study testing the ecocritical literature circles approach and its impact on student-teachers’ conception of their own ability to meet the competence aims on sustainability in their teaching. The intervention included lectures on ecocriticism and on the posthuman debate prior to the literature circles and student feedback through pre- and post-circle questionnaires. It was implemented in the teacher-training classroom, working with dystopian science fiction texts for young adults. These texts present the reader with visions of the future. The study showed that the ecocritical literature circles, and in particular the ecocritical reading roles, were considered useful by the participating student-teachers. The participants also reported a significant increase in confidence relative to their own ability to discuss sustainability issues with their pupils.

Wikis as Tools for Enhancing Interaction and Fulfilling Expectations of Modern Learning Theories

2018 ◽  
pp. 171-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Karipidis ◽  
Jim Prentzas
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Time Restrictions ◽  
Modern Learning ◽  
Ict Tools ◽  
Common Learning ◽  
High Degree

Modern learning theories focus on the importance of social interaction as a means of facilitating and enhancing learning. In this context, an aspect of importance is the creation of learning communities (i.e., groups of persons with common learning goals). ICT tools are frequently used to create and maintain online learning communities by overcoming geographical and time restrictions as well as motivating learners and retaining a high degree of interaction among them. To achieve these goals, researchers adjust previous and propose new learning theories taking into consideration human, social, and technological factors in the learning process. This chapter first outlines relevant learning theories and then highlights wikis as tools that may assist learning by increasing social interaction.

Integrating Scientific Modeling and Socio-Scientific Reasoning to Promote Scientific Literacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-54
Author(s):  
Julie Keane ◽  
Laura A. Zangori ◽  
Troy D. Sadler ◽  
Patricia J. Friedrichsen
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Students ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Scientific Modeling ◽  
Disciplinary Knowledge ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Modeling Practice ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Support Students

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) are widely advocated as a productive context for promoting scientific literacy that aims to prepare responsible citizens who can use science in their daily lives. However, many teachers find it challenging to enact SSI and consider SSI and discipline-based instruction as mutually exclusive approaches to science teaching. In this chapter, the authors present their framework for SSI instruction, socio-scientific issue and model-based learning (SIMBL), that emphasizes both disciplinary knowledge and its social implications. In particular, the authors argue that the integration of scientific modeling and socio-scientific reasoning (SSR) can advance students' competencies in both areas, thus promoting students' scientific literacy. The authors use an illustrative example from their work with elementary students to demonstrate the connection between students' modeling practice and their SSR. The authors conclude the chapter by introducing the epistemic tools developed to support students' modeling practice and SSR as well as implications for classroom enactments.

Preservice Teachers

2021 ◽  
pp. 298-317
Author(s):  
Deanna Day
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Elementary Students ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Literature Circles ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Read Alouds ◽  
Long Read

This chapter describes how a children's literature educator provided a space for preservice teachers to select, read, and discuss diverse and social justice literature through read-alouds and literature circles. In addition, the preservice teachers questioned and challenged their own assumptions about their world during a semester-long read-aloud partnership with elementary students focusing on diverse or social justice children's literature. The college students involved the children in discussions around the texts and planned response activities for them. The findings suggest that partnerships, emphasizing diverse literature, help preservice teachers practice how to choose diverse books, experience the value of read-alouds, and discover how to encourage discussion around diverse texts.

Reading Buddies: A Strategy to Increase Peer Interaction in Students With Autism

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A. Simpson ◽  
Yvonne Bui
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Peer Interactions ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Shared Reading ◽  
Inclusive Settings ◽  
Students With Autism ◽  
Reading Activity ◽  
Support Students

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often challenged by social interaction and may require substantial support to interact with peers even in inclusive settings. Having adults support students with ASD during peer interactions, however, may ostracize the student from peers without disabilities. Peer-mediated strategies are needed so that students with ASD and students without disabilities can interact in a variety of activities without undue reliance on adults. A peer-mediated approach to a shared reading activity is presented in which students without disabilities and students with ASD are taught a three-step strategy to increase social interactions around a story.

scholarly journals Restorative Practice in Education – Transformative Potential

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-297
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
Meaningful Learning ◽  
Early Research ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Societal Needs ◽  
Support Students

Schools are challenged as never before to respond to changing societal needs in ways that will support students, parents and teachers in meaningful learning communities. The writers contend that the old punitive paradigms are proving to be inadequate and advocate a relational based approach which is respectful, creative and is proving in early research to be effective in its outcomes. Based on their experience in Irish schools and as restorative trainers, the writers attest to the restorative approach as one that now merits serious consideration by educators everywhere.

Sustainable E-Learning Communities

2010 ◽  
pp. 400-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Stary
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Systems ◽  
Community Members ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Communication Context ◽  
Specific Community ◽  
Open Nature ◽  
Different Levels

Knowledge acquisition in E-Learning environments requires both, individualization of content, and social interaction based on relevant learning items. So far few E-Learning systems support an integrated didactic and social perspective on knowledge transfer. Intelligibility Catchers (ICs) are E-Learning components designed for establishing sustainable communities of E-Learning practice. They encapsulate didactic and communication-centered concepts for effective collaborative and reflective generation and exchange of knowledge. Due to their open nature, they can be created dynamically, for any domain and on different levels of granularity. By intertwining content and communication, context can be kept for learning and exploration, even bound to specific community members.

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