Online interventions to help college students to improve the degree of integration of their argumentative synthesis

Writing an argumentative synthesis is a common but demanding task, consequently undergraduates require some instruction. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of two interventions on integrative argumentation: one of them was focused on the product features of argumentative texts; and the other one on the processes involved in the written argumentation. Sixty-six undergraduate students participated voluntarily. As an academic task, they were asked to write a pre-test synthesis after reading two sources which presented contradictory positions about an educational issue, then to read two new texts about a different but equivalent issue, and write a post-test synthesis following one of two types of instructional virtual environments. The instructions, implemented in Moodle, presented similar tools, employing videos, graphic organizers, and exercises. The first condition (n = 33) focused on the linguistic features while the second (n = 33), focused on the process, including explicit instruction and a script with critical questions to guide the reading and writing processes. In this study we have also analyzed how the students in the process condition answered some of the critical questions. The results show that the level of integration of the written products improved in both conditions, although this improvement was more pronounced in the process intervention. Nonetheless, the products that achieved medium and maximum integration were still limited. Despite the lack of a relationship between how students answered the critical questions and the level of integration in their post-test, the case analysis highlights certain educational implications and further research.

Popplet in Education

Aristotle once said, “The soul never thinks without a mental image.” From the author's experience as an ESL program director, ESL instructor, technology coach, and teacher educator, this saying is absolutely true. This chapter reviews an innovative web-based platform and a technology-based approach to teaching called Popplet that can be found at www.popplet.com. Popplet is a mind mapping application and a graphic organizer that allows teachers and students to create visually pleasing graphic organizers that integrate different features such as colors, texts, images, videos, and links to organize and present information. In addition to its use to enhance students' brainstorming, presentation, and discussion techniques, Popplet can also support the students' 21st century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. This chapter will highlight some of Popplet's important features for teachers who would consider implementing it in their teaching pedagogy in the future.

Views of Prospective Chemistry Teachers on the Use of Graphic Organizers Supported with Interactive PowerPoint Presentation Technology in Teaching Electrochemistry Concepts

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the views and experiences of the prospective chemistry teachers (PCTs) about the use of graphic organizers (GOs) supported with interactive PowerPoint presentation technology in teaching electrochemistry concepts. Ten GOs were developed and a pair of slides for all of them which contains partial and complete versions of the GOs was constructed. Participants of this study consisted of two different study groups. The preliminary trial of the study was carried out with four senior PCTs who have previously taken both an Electrochemistry course and an elective course concerning graphic organizers. Data from the first group of the study were collected by semi-structured interview and the experiences of the first group regarding the difficulties experienced during traditional electrochemistry teaching (didactic lecture) were examined. The second study group was eight PCTs who were in the fifth semester and were taking the Electrochemistry course while the study was being undertaken. In the last three weeks of the Electrochemistry course in the second study group, the course was taught with GOs supported with interactive PowerPoint presentation technology, and then the views of them were taken by a written opinion form. At the end of the study, three themes emerged regarding the experiences of the PCTs for the traditionally taught electrochemistry course. These are "difficulties", "inadequacy", and "not being beneficial". It was also concluded that the PCTs thought that the use of GOs supported with interactive PowerPoint presentation technology in teaching electrochemistry could enhance the comprehension and motivation of students.

Graphic organizers to empower the teaching-learning process of grammar tenses in higher education

El idioma inglés es una asignatura obligatoria en la educación primaria, secundaria y superior en Ecuador. Para llegar a ser competente, se necesita un amplio conocimiento de la gramática porque se considera la columna vertebral de un idioma. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo implementar organizadores gráficos en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de los tiempos gramaticales. Dicha investigación se llevó a cabo en una universidad de Riobamba con una población objetivo de 62 estudiantes de nivel A2. Se realizó una investigación cuasi-experimental, con 31 estudiantes que fueron el grupo experimental y el mismo número de estudiantes como el grupo de control. Se aplicó una prueba previa a ambos grupos para evaluar sus habilidades gramaticales. Posteriormente, a ambos grupos se les realizó una prueba posterior para determinar si los organizadores gráficos implementados mejoraron el desempeño de los estudiantes con respecto a los tiempos gramaticales. Los resultados de la prueba posterior demostraron que la competencia de los estudiantes del grupo experimental ha mejorado después de implementar organizadores gráficos. Además, los estudiantes pudieron aclarar sus ideas y establecer mejores relaciones entre las demandas gráficas y cognitivas. Por lo tanto, los hallazgos de la investigación mostraron que los organizadores gráficos contribuirán positivamente a dominar los patrones gramaticales.

USE OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS IN THE LESSON PROCESS

Данном статье изложена требования к сегодняшнему учебному процессу, виды графических органайзеров и методы использование графических органайзеров в учебном процессе.