From Full Day Learning to 30 Minutes a Day: A Descriptive Study of Early Learning During the First COVID-19 Pandemic School Shutdown in Ontario

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, the lives of families all over the world were disrupted. Many adults found themselves working from home while their children were unable to go to school. To better understand the potential impact of these educational disruptions, it is important to establish what learning looked like during the first school shutdown in the spring of 2020, particularly for the youngest learners who may feel the longest lasting impacts from this pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current descriptive study was to gather information on how kindergarten teaching and learning occurred during this time, what the biggest barriers were, and what concerns educators had regarding returning in person to the classroom setting. The sample for the current study was 2569 kindergarten educators (97.6% female; 74.2% teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators) in Ontario, Canada. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of both quantitative scales and qualitative open-ended questions. Educators reported that parents most often contacted them regarding technological issues or how to effectively support their child. The largest barrier to learning was the ability of both parents and educators to balance work, home life, and online learning/teaching. With regards to returning to school, educators were most concerned about the lack of ability of kindergarten aged children to do tasks independently and to follow safety protocols. Our findings highlight unique challenges associated with teaching kindergarten during the pandemic, contributing to our understanding of the learning that occurred in Ontario during the first COVID-19 shutdown.

Grammar and variation in the classroom

Grammar is the structural foundation of successful communication, language use, and literacy development. Grammar is therefore sometimes viewed as the heart of language with an important place in language teaching. In a classroom setting, regulation of grammar knowledge through teachers is strongly influenced by teachers’ linguistic competence and beliefs. In this paper, we will first show the diversity in this knowledge by means of teacher interviews and speeded grammatical-acceptability data from pupils and students. We will then sketch a socio- and psycholinguistic perspective on several selected morphosyntactic variables in German. These will be discussed with reference to social forces that determine what is standard in a language (language norm authorities, language experts, model texts, and codifiers). Finally, we will draw a roadmap for teachers, language practitioners and editors looking for a qualified solution to grammatical cases of doubt in contemporary German and provide practical examples by drawing upon the German reference corpus.

Guidance to assess ventilation performance of a classroom based on CO2 monitoring

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the ventilation of school buildings has attracted considerable attention from the general public and researchers. However, guidance to assess the ventilation performance in classrooms, especially during a pandemic, is still lacking. Therefore, aiming to fill this gap, this study conducted a full-scale laboratory study to monitor the CO2 concentrations at 18 locations in a classroom setting under four different ventilation regimes. Additionally, a field study was carried out in two Dutch secondary schools to monitor the CO2 concentrations in the real classrooms with different ventilation regimes. Both the laboratory and field study findings showed that CO2 concentrations varied a lot between different locations in the same room, especially under natural ventilation conditions. The outcome demonstrates the need of monitoring the CO2 concentration at more than one location in a classroom. Moreover, the monitored CO2 concentration patterns for different ventilation regimes were used to determine the most representative location for CO2 monitoring in classrooms. For naturally ventilated classrooms, the location on the wall opposite to windows and the location on the front wall (nearby the teacher) were recommended. For mechanically ventilated classrooms, one measurement location seemed enough because CO2 was well-mixed under this ventilation regime.

Teaching Generation Y: Which Instructional Tools Do Students Prefer in a Traditional Classroom Setting?

The paper evaluates different teaching aids used in an introductory in-class course that focuses on planning theories. We examine the perceptions of students regarding specific teaching tools and how helpful they were in making the course more approachable and providing a better learning experience. The analysis covers 133 student responses over a period of four consecutive years. Findings show that certain instructional tools are regarded as more helpful in making the course material more intelligible. This suggests educators in planning theory courses should review and continuously monitor the didactic tools they use in class.

Validation of a Classroom Version of the Eating in the Absence of Hunger Paradigm in Preschoolers

Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH), a measure of children's propensity to eat beyond satiety in the presence of highly palatable food, has been associated with childhood obesity and later binge eating behavior. The EAH task is typically conducted in a research laboratory setting, which is resource intensive and lacks ecological validity. Assessing EAH in a group classroom setting is feasible and may be a more efficient alternative, but the validity of the classroom assessment against the traditional individually-administered paradigm has not been tested. The objective of this study was to compare EAH measured in a classroom setting to the one-on-one version of the paradigm in a sample of Head Start preschoolers. Children (n = 35) from three classrooms completed both classroom and individual EAH tasks in a random, counterbalanced order. In the group condition, children sat with peers at their classroom lunch tables; in the individual condition, children met individually with a researcher in a separate area near their classroom. In both conditions, following a meal, children were provided free access to generous portions of six snack foods (~750 kcal) and a selection of toys for 7 min. Snacks were pre- and post-weighed to calculate intake. Parents completed a survey of their child's eating behaviors, and child height and weight were measured. Paired t-tests and intraclass correlation coefficients were used to compare energy intake between conditions, and correlations between EAH intake and child BMI, eating behaviors, and parent feeding practices were examined to evaluate concurrent validity. Average intake was 63.0 ± 50.4 kcal in the classroom setting and 53.7 ± 44.6 in the individual setting, with no significant difference between settings. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.57, indicating moderate agreement between conditions. Overall, the EAH protocol appears to perform similarly in classroom and individual settings, suggesting the classroom protocol is a valid alternative. Future studies should further examine the role of age, sex, and weight status on eating behavior measurement paradigms.

Critical Pedagogy and Place

To address potential processes of reconciliation and examine colonial and settler colonial situations, this chapter draws upon the author's role as a professor at the University of Guam within the larger Western-dominant space of academe and as an apprentice to Austronesian seafaring directly connected to cultural networks in the Marianas, Micronesia, and Oceania. They suggest that decolonization and its closely associated processes of demilitarizing involves an ontological shift through which the knowledge, testimonies, and insights of Indigenous populations are actualized in transformation-based practices of critical pedagogy. This chapter highlights ways to approach contemporary learning situations as every form of institutional learning occurs within the classroom setting and the social historical geography of the region. Ultimately, they construct an example of what critical Indigenous performance pedagogy might look like.

Communication Strategies Used By EFL Students in English Classroom Setting

The main objective of teaching English is to allow the learner to communicate orally and successfully. People all over the place study a foreign language to enable them to communicate effectively. This study investigates a phenomenon about communication strategy used by EFL students in English Classroom Setting. The focus of this study is to investigate the types of communication strategies and the most frequent types of communication strategies employed by EFL Students. It took place in Institut Pendidikan Nusantara Global that located in Central Lombok. The participant of this study was a total of 20 students from the second semester. A qualitative research design was used to collect the data need in this study embarrassing interviews and observation as main instruments; the observation used were field notes and videotape aimed to get the documentation of the study. The finding of the study shows that most of the students employed the types of communication strategy i.e.: Asking for clarification, requesting an explanation, asking for repetition, circumlocution, message abandonment, meaning negotiation, and interaction monitoring. Furthermore, the communication strategies frequently used by students i.e.: asking for clarification, message abandonment, and meaning negotiation. In conclusion, every student has their own communication strategy but the researcher categorized those strategies into several types.

Analyzing the Impact on Teacher Preparedness as a Result of Using Mursion as a Risk-free Microteaching Experience for Pre-service Teachers

Risk-free micro-teaching affords an opportunity for pre-service teachers (PTs) to practice teaching and student engagement techniques outside of a traditional classroom setting. More time to practice teaching is often an expressed desire of PTs. Orchestrating time to practice teaching techniques learned in pedagogy courses is a difficult undertaking for teacher educators, especially while trying to ensure low-risk or risk-free experiences. As explained through this study, the implementation of a Mursion simulation to offer risk-free micro-teaching experiences for PTs served as a valuable addition to an introductory teaching course. The Mursion experience enhanced PTs’ personal preparation for teaching as well as enhancing their professionalism and lesson quality.

Exploring Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) in English Language Classroom Setting: In-Service English Teachers’ Perspectives

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) is one of today’s frameworks that integrates technology in the teaching and learning process. However, little research has been done related to the investigation of in-service teachers’ TPACK, specifically in English language classroom setting. Therefore, this study aims at exploring TPACK in English language classroom from the prespectives of in-service English teachers. Qualitative case study was involved as the approach of the study. The researchers utilized the triangulation of data sources including interview, observation, and document to get the data from in-service English teachers’ as the respondents of the study. The data acquired were then transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. The current study shows that there are three main themes as findings comprising English teachers’ understanding toward TPACK, the process of acquiring TPACK, and the English teachers’ challenges toward TPACK. The English teachers had a diverse understanding pertaining TPACK, and they owned various strategies in acquiring TPACK. However, the teachers faced challenges in implementing TPACK. This study migh have implications in providing the direction of English teachers’ professional development.

Exploring and developing strategies for integration in a classroom setting within higher education

Integration in the classroom is discussed openly within the school setting, but largely remains a taboo subject within higher education (HE). Staff often make visual observations that students tend to sit with one another based on sex, ethnicity, class, ability and/or faith. As educators, we can address the issue superficially via the use of classroom plans in the form of covert integration. However, the need to adopt such strategies and their effectiveness remains un-assessed. I explored the issue of integration in the classroom amongst students in the first year of their law degree via action-based research. Initially, there appeared to be a reluctance amongst students to engage in a dialogue on the issue of integration. However, when they did, the students commented on the benefits of social and/or academic integration and were open to the mixing of students within a classroom setting. The research also indicated that after the integrated workshops, students developed an increased confidence in mixing with people from different backgrounds and increasingly felt part of a community both within the classroom and as part of the University.