Toward ‘seeing’ critically: a Bayesian analysis of the impacts of a critical pedagogy

Critical reflection supports enactment of the social roles of care, like collaboration and advocacy. We require evidence that links critical teaching approaches to future critically reflective practice. We thus asked: does a theory-informed approach to teaching critical reflection influence what learners talk about (i.e. topics of discussion) and how they talk (i.e. whether they talk in critically reflective ways) during subsequent learning experiences? Pre-clinical students (n = 75) were randomized into control and intervention conditions (8 groups each, of up to 5 interprofessional students). Participants completed an online Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) module, followed by either: a SDoH discussion (control) or critically reflective dialogue (intervention). Participants then experienced a common learning session (homecare curriculum and debrief) as outcome assessment, and another similar session one-week later. Blinded coders coded transcripts for what (topics) was said and how (critically reflective or not). We constructed Bayesian regression models for the probability of meaning units (unique utterances) being coded as particular what codes and as critically reflective or not (how). Groups exposed to the intervention were more likely, in a subsequent learning experience, to talk in a critically reflective manner (how) (0.096 [0.04, 0.15]) about similar content (no meaningful differences in what was said). This difference waned at one-week follow up. We showed experimentally that a particular critical pedagogical approach can make learners’ subsequent talk, ways of seeing, more critically reflective even when talking about similar topics. This study offers the field important new options for studying historically challenging-to-evaluate impacts and supports theoretical assertions about the potential of critical pedagogies.

NEW PROGRAM OF FAMILIES PREPARING FOR CARE AND EDUCATION OF FOSTERED / ADOPTED CHILDREN

The urgency of developing an alternative program for training candidates for family uniforms and child custody is justified by the need to: accelerate the process of training such candidates in case of difficulties in completing study groups; to acquaint participants with all forms of family upbringing, adoption, childcare services in order to make further conscious choices about the form that is most acceptable for candidates and to which they are most prepared; save resources needed to prepare candidates to avoid duplication of common learning topics. The purpose of the article is to reveal the features of such a combined program and prove its effectiveness. Research methods applied: analysis of scientific literature on the topic of research, observation, survey of candidates for family education and foster carers. The combined modular program is a new normative document that outlines the range of knowledge, skills and abilities to be acquired by candidates for foster parents, foster parents, guardians / trustees, adoptive parents, foster carers for quality care and upbringing of foster / adopted children. The peculiarity of the Program is that it contains joint classes of candidates for foster parents, foster parents, guardians / trustees, adoptive parents, foster carers, and specialized classes for individual groups of participants. The program focuses on the formation of the competence of foster parents, foster parents, guardians/custodians, adoptive parents, foster parents to protect the rights of the child, establishing effective communication with the child and his biological or potential parents, finding the most effective forms and methods of influencing emotional state child, behavior, its correction, rehabilitation. Its total duration of implementation is 13 days, of which: 7 days - joint classes for all participants. The program is implemented in the format of trainings. Conclusions on the effectiveness of the program were made based on the results of a survey of participants (candidates for family education) during 2020-2021 in the Ternopil region on the experimental program.

VCDT

Debate is a common learning method used in the classroom at the secondary and tertiary levels. A lot has changed in the last several years, with learning approaches transitioning from traditional face-to-face to virtual methods. Virtual learning can be dull, unexciting, and monotonous if the instructors don’t know how. Therefore, the virtual classroom debate tutorial (VCDT) approach is introduced to foster two-way participation during the online sessions. Even during the new norm, the practice of virtual classroom discussion improves self-confidence, critical thinking, communication skills and teamwork. The VCDT approach promotes a brilliant way of online discussion in which students are encouraged to speak spontaneously on the subject matters. The nature of debate activities helps sharpen rhetorical skills in a fast-paced virtual environment and enriching the students ability to solve problems. Therefore via VCDT exercises, students practice generating ideas under pressure within timeframe. This study employed 100 administrative science students as respondents, and the sampling technique used is purposive. The students participated in the VCDT session during a class tutorial, and a set of effectiveness scales was distributed after the session. SPSS was used to code the data collected from the respondents, and the students result reveal a good sign.

Design and Development of Affective 4-Dimensional Mobile Mathematics for Low Vision Alpha Generation

In this digital era, low vision children should learn Mathematics by using similar learning content provided for mainstream students. Teachers need to express their feeling, thought, emotions, and actions to ensure the low vision learners can grasp the mathematics content. However, it is too tough for low vision children to adapt to the common learning content which is in contrast with their needs. Consequently, this study aims to develop Affective 4- Dimensional Mobile Mathematics for Low Vision Alpha Generation. This study adapted the 3-Phases Development Model. Accordingly, the findings of this study are the design and development of the abovementioned application.

Learning and Remembering Musical Works

Learning pre-existing pieces of music is a very common learning goal, both among vernacular musicians, who learn from recordings, and among those who are formally educated and work from published sheet music provided by a teacher. Whether learning a piece by ear or from notation, the processes of memory involved are very similar. Because the learning of musical works is often a precursor to additional kinds of music making and performance skills, it is important for musicians to understand how human memory works. This chapter explains the processes involved in learning and remembering pieces of music. It describes the various stages and components of memory from the information processing perspective that is common in cognitive psychology. More specifically, the chapter explains how ear musicianship is foundational to other performance skills, including those that use notation. It also shows that the ability to learn and remember musical works can be improved through experience and deliberate practice.

PreLectO: An App for Cognitive Stimulation through Games in Early Childhood

The goal of this work was to develop a mobile application for Android devices, with the objective of stimulating the cognitive skills of children from 0 to 6 years old who are suffering from learning disabilities, while focusing on the most common learning impediments such as reading and writing disorders. This application is based on games specifically designed to meet the needs of this group. For this purpose, we collaborated with professionals from an organization in the area of A Coruña who established the functional requirements of the application and carried out the validation tests. The application monitored the progress of its users, thus allowing the therapists to track them and adapt the training program to each of their individual needs.

Hypothetical molecular interconnection between type 2 diabetes and dyslexia

Background Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities, especially among children. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder that affects a large population globally, with metabolic disorders. There have been several genes that are identified as causes of Dyslexia, and in recent studies, it has been found out that some of those genes are also involved in several metabolic pathways. For several years, it has been known that type 2 diabetes causes several neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, in several studies, it was suggested that type 2 diabetes also has some associations with learning disabilities. This raises the question of whether “Is there a connection between type 2 diabetes and dyslexia?”. In this study, this question is elaborated by linking their developmental processes via bioinformatics analysis about these two diseases individually and collectively. Result The literature review for dyslexia and type two diabetes was completed. As the result of this literature review, the genes that are associated to type 2 diabetes and dyslexia were identified. The biological pathways of dyslexia, and dyslexia associated genes, type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes associated genes were identified. The association of these genes, regarding to their association with pathways were analysed, and using STRING database the gene associations were analysed and identified. Conclusion The findings of this research included the interaction analysis via gene association, co-expression and protein–protein interaction. These findings clarified the interconnection between dyslexia and type 2 diabetes in molecular level and it will be the beginning of an answer regarding to the relationship between T2D and dyslexia. Finally, by improving the understanding this paper aims to open the way for the possible future approach to examine this hypothesis.

Gauging Informal STEM Youth Program Impact: A Conceptual Framework and a Measurement Instrument

STEM education programs are often formulated with a "hands-on activities" focus across a wide array of topics from robotics to rockets to ecology. Traditionally, the impact of these programs is based on surveys of youth on program-specific experiences or the youths’ interest and impressions of science in general. In this manuscript, we offer a new approach to analyzing science programming design and youth participant impact. The conceptual framework discussed here concentrates on the organization and analysis of common learning activities and instructional strategies. We establish instrument validity and reliability through an analysis of validity threats and pilot study results. We conclude by using this instrument in an example analysis of a STEM education program.

1650 Is There a Place for Medical Students at Organ Retrieval? 4 Years’ Experience at a Single Centre

Aim Medical students at a hospital with a national organ retrieval service (NORS) had the unique opportunity to attend organ retrieval. This retrospective survey investigated how attendance affected students’ desire to pursue a career in surgery, and what they learnt from the experience. Method Clinical medical students were invited to sign-up to shifts with the regional NORS team. If notified of a potential organ donation event the NORS co-ordinator would inform the medical student, who would then join the retrieval team and travel with them to the donation site. An electronic survey was later distributed to students, whether or not the donation proceeded. This survey collected both quantitative and qualitative information about the students’ experiences. Results 51 responses were collected from students who attended proceeding organ donations between January 2015 and October 2019. 100% of students found it a useful learning experience and would recommend it to their peers. 98% were able to scrub in for the retrieval procedure. Common learning points were improved understanding of the process of organ retrieval (n = 34), and anatomy (n = 15). Following experience of organ retrieval 59% reported being more likely to pursue a career in transplant surgery and 69% reported being more likely to pursue any surgical career. Conclusions Medical students should be included in organ retrieval, as it not only benefits their learning, but also increases interest in surgical careers. Given that only two out of the sixteen UK NORS teams involve medical students currently, there is scope for much greater adoption of student retrieval rotas.

Phonological Deficit Traits in Verbal Language of Dyslexics

Developmental dyslexia is a common learning disorder which is defined as a specific deficit in reading acquisition that cannot be accounted for by low IQ , lack of typical educational opportunities, or an obvious sensory or neurological damage. Dyslexic children commonly present with delayed language development first, which selectively affects phonological processing more than other aspects of language. The problem at the level of phonological representations causes a range of typical symptoms which include problems of verbal short-term memory, non-word repetitions, phonological learning of new verbal information, word retrieval, and rapid naming. This chapter will address the picture of early oral language difficulties especially phonological deficits in dyslexia, and how reading problems are related to them.