Levelling (Up) the Playing Field

2014 ◽  
pp. 81-100
Author(s):  
Sarmista Das
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Identity Disclosure ◽  
Gaming Communities

This ethnographic study explores how feminist video game players mobilise in online environments. The main research questions of this chapter involve identity and learning. How are identities formed in online feminist gaming communities, how much of one’s identity is disclosed, what determines these choices in identity disclosure, and for what purpose? What kind of informal learning is promoted and produced in online feminist gaming communities, and how does this learning take place? After analysing posts, articles, comments, and interview responses from members of feminist gaming blog The Borderhouse, it was found that feminist gamers prefer identity disclosure to concealment. While identity disclosure can be traumatic for some feminist gamers in non-feminist online gaming communities, identity disclosure is encouraged in feminist gaming online forums, as it contributes to a member’s credibility and garners trust from other members. The trust and credibility garnered affects the learning that takes place, as those who are trusted help influence the content and production of discussion. Furthermore, it was found that informal learning occurs with participants of the blog through regular informal feedback, networking, and the encouragement of critical thinking skills.

Levelling (Up) the Playing Field

Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 1368-1387
Author(s):  
Sarmista Das
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Identity Disclosure ◽  
Gaming Communities

This ethnographic study explores how feminist video game players mobilise in online environments. The main research questions of this chapter involve identity and learning. How are identities formed in online feminist gaming communities, how much of one's identity is disclosed, what determines these choices in identity disclosure, and for what purpose? What kind of informal learning is promoted and produced in online feminist gaming communities, and how does this learning take place? After analysing posts, articles, comments, and interview responses from members of feminist gaming blog The Borderhouse, it was found that feminist gamers prefer identity disclosure to concealment. While identity disclosure can be traumatic for some feminist gamers in non-feminist online gaming communities, identity disclosure is encouraged in feminist gaming online forums, as it contributes to a member's credibility and garners trust from other members. The trust and credibility garnered affects the learning that takes place, as those who are trusted help influence the content and production of discussion. Furthermore, it was found that informal learning occurs with participants of the blog through regular informal feedback, networking, and the encouragement of critical thinking skills.

scholarly journals Becoming a Good BookTuber

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-167
Author(s):  
Mᵃ del Mar Suárez ◽  
M. Vicenta González Argüello
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
English For Specific Purposes ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The University ◽  
Firsthand Experience

Audiovisual platforms like YouTube facilitate the introduction of informal learning practices for their pedagogical exploitation both in class and online. One such practice is the creation of a BookTuber community for recommending books, thus making it possible for students to engage in an out-of-class community where common interests can be shared. In this innovations in practice article, we present a project carried out with two English for Specific Purposes (ESP) groups of Media Studies of the University of Barcelona. The aim of this project was to determine features that make a BookTuber a good communicator so students could apply these features to their own BookTube video practice. Students could then use these features as a guideline for peer-review comments published on YouTube and the creation of an online BookTuber community. Students were first introduced to the concept of intertextuality in order to understand how it fosters connections among audiovisual consumers. The BookTuber community was then presented and the students viewed and analysed several BookTube videos with the objective of creating an evaluation rubric identifying the key aspects of a good BookTuber. The students then created their own BookTube video and uploaded it onto YouTube. They were also required to watch at least two videos created by their peers, post comments that considered key aspects included in the evaluation rubric and express their personal reactions to and opinions of the videos. In addition, an extended version of the peer-review was also required to achieve subject credits. This twofold feedback allowed for the practice of two discourse styles for the same content: informal (for YouTube) and formal (for the teacher). As a result, students had firsthand experience of becoming a BookTuber while developing their critical thinking skills for peer evaluation and academic and professional purposes of career development.

scholarly journals Critical Thinking and Challenges for Education for Democratic Citizenship: an ethnographic study in primary schools in Greece

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 865-886
Author(s):  
Ioanna Noula
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Integrated Curriculum ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Pedagogical Relationships

Abstract: This article reports on an ethnographic multiple case study in Greece. It explores teachers’ practices regarding the education of critically thinking citizens ten years into the implementation of an integrated curriculum reform. By means of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews this research explored the role of critical thinking in the classrooms. Findings suggest that teachers refrain from practices that advance critical thinking skills and pupils’ empowerment. Instead they tend to implement traditional practices, while their work is largely determined by the standards of achievement set by University Entrance Exams and parents’ aspirations. The article concludes that prevailing expectations in the Greek primary school interfere with the development of pedagogical relationships that would promote critical thinking obstructing the attainment of the aims of the integrated curriculum reform and compromising the project for democratic citizenship.

scholarly journals Importance and development of Critical Thinking in BA Academic Writing Course

enadakultura ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ketevan Gochitashvili ◽  
Giuli Sha bashvili
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Specific Activities ◽  
Secondary Information

Critical thinking is a complex phenomenon, that helps the learner to separate relevant information from irrelevant and unnecessary information, to evaluate and explain events and facts, to formulate a clear argument objectively, to deliver the right message to the target audience, and to find ways to solve the problem. Critical thinking is directly related to the teaching of academic writing and is a transferable skill that helps students both to complete other university courses successfully and to build a further professional career. The aim of the paper is to identify the challenges and problems faced by both instructors and students at the university level in Georgia in terms of developing critical thinking skills while teaching/learning an academic writing course. Moreover, the paper presents specific activities to solve the given problems. The paper offers teachers the basic strategies and techniques that can be used to achieve the goals set out in the curriculum. The following research methods are applied: questionnaires and classroom observation.The following factors can be named as limitations of the research: relatively small number of students; The study was conducted for only one semester.The analysis of the questionnaires revealed the following issues related to critical thinking and writing for the students: lack of ability to formulate an objective critical opinion, reliability of sources, formulation of main research questions and hypotheses, generalization, separation of main and secondary information, focus on key issues and formulation of logical coherent conclusions.The paper suggests specific activities and questions for the development of critical thinking that are needed to process a text or information.The use of these approaches and methods should be implemented at different levels of the course. The teacher in advance should design and plan activities that will be used during the class. Critical thinking development activities should be combined with all the assignments and activities covering all the topics of the course. In the process of searching the proper materials, the student should master the techniques of working on sources, the criteria for determining the reliability and relevance of sources. In addition, the student should be able to process a significant amount of materials, merge main and secondary information, paraphrase the information, and integrate it into their own text in accordance with academic standards. As a result, the student should be able to evaluate the material retrieved and present and argue their own position.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Educational Drama as an Innovative Method to be Adopted by Teachers in Order to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills of Students in Primary School

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-116
Author(s):  
Aikaterini Dima ◽  
Eleni Kaiafa ◽  
Asterios Tsiaras
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Educational Drama ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Innovative Method ◽  
Research Stage

The aim of this study is to examine and determine the extent to which educational drama, as an innovative teaching approach, can cultivate critical thinking of students in primary school. Based on the principles of educational drama, 15 theatrical workshops were designed in relation with and corresponding to the culture and interests of the specific age group. The experimental method that was followed, was designed and implemented in three discrete stages including: the pre-research stage, the main research stage and the results extraction stage. The sample comprising 400 students aged 8-10 has been drawn from six different primary schools in Greece, the subjects of which were randomly selected. Five critical thinking skills were studied, including subtraction, induction, observation, reliability, detection and troubleshooting skills. The qualitative and quantitative data collected was next triangulated in order to lead to the desired result. The results confirmed the main research hypothesis, hence educational drama, as an innovative method, can enhance students' critical thinking in primary school.

Perceptions of Identity and Expertise in Heavy Metal Fans within One Online Community of Practice

2014 ◽  
pp. 348-363
Author(s):  
Kathryn Urbaniak
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Verbal Content

Identity is central to learning (Wenger, 1998), and identity in online forums can be represented verbally in posts and comments as well as non-verbally through choices such as username, user picture, and signature. How a forum user interacts with others based on their perceptions of another users’ identity and expertise impacts their experiences. This chapter examines informal learning experiences and behaviour based on the perceptions of others for three heavy metal fans within an online forum through a cyber-ethnographic study. This study explores participants’ interactions with both verbal and non-verbal content to form their perceptions of others, including perceptions of expertise. The participants controlled how they interacted with content and other users in a Web 2.0 environment, which impacted the shared construction of knowledge based on their perceptions of identity.

scholarly journals Online discussion and critical thinking skills: A case study in a Singapore secondary school

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong Min Cheong ◽  
Wing Sum Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
School Students ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Scaffolding Strategies

<span>Studies have shown that electronic discussion can be used effectively to teach critical thinking and can achieve greater understanding. The use of online discussions is common in polytechnics and universities, and many schools in Singapore have begun to introduce online forums for discussion beyond the classroom. This research investigates lower secondary school students' critical thinking in an asynchronous online discussion environment. The findings show that the students in this age group have only minimally exhibited critical thinking skills during the online discussion. However, investigation into students' perception of online discussion shows positive attitudes. Some enhanced scaffolding strategies for online discussion participants and guides on designing good questions are recommended to foster critical thinking skills in this environment.</span>

PERBEDAAN PENINGKATAN KETERAMPILAN BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA PADA MATERI TERMOKIMIA MELALUI PEMBELAJARAN GROUP DAN INDIVIDUAL PROBLEM SOLVING

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
St Fatimah Azzahra
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Learning Problem ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Group Design ◽  
Group Problem Solving

ABSTRACTThis research is aimed to know the differences increase critical thinking skills through learning group and individual problem solving in thermochemical material. This research uses a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent control group design and study sample consisted of 103 students, divided into the first experimental (group problem solving) (35 students), the two group experimental (individual problem solving) (34 students). The collected through pretest-posttest. The analyzed with the Kruskal Wallis test, the results showed that the learning problem solving as a group or individually can improve students’ critical thinking skills. Statistical test there are significant differences in the students critical thinking skills thermochemical material between students who received group and individual problem solving. Critical thinking skills improvement with problem solving individual learning higher compared with group learning problem solving.Keywords: problem solving learning, critical thinking skillsABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbedaan peningkatan keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa melalui pembelajaran group dan individual problem solving pada materi termokimia. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode quasi experimen dengan desain Nonequivalent Control Group Design dan sampel penelitian ini terdiri dari 103 siswa yang terbagi ke dalam kelompok eksperimen pertama (pembelajaran group problem solving) (35 siswa), kelompok eksperimen kedua (pembelajaran individual problem solving) (34 siswa).Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui pretest-posttest. Data dianalisis dengan uji Kruskal Wallis Test, hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran problem solving secara group maupun secara individual dapat meningkatkan keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa. Data uji statistik, terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa pada materi termokimia antara siswa yang mendapat pembelajaran group problem solving dan individual problem solving. Peningkatan keterampilan berpikir kritis dengan pembelajaran individual problem solving lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan pembelajaran group problem solving.Kata Kunci: Pembelajaran Problem Solving, Keterampilan Berpikir Kritis

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