Assessment of Scratch Programming Language as a Didactic Tool to Teach Functions

The objective of this research is to study the Scratch programming language as a didactic tool to teach functions. The introduction of didactic tools allowing comprehension in simple and attractive ways is required. Given the traditional teaching/learning system, it is necessary to organize participatory and collaborative dynamic classrooms, which allow the interaction of students in activities where the educator modifies his or her traditional role as an advisor and the students take a more active role in learning through their own effort. In this sense, three activities using the Scratch programming language are proposed: the first one refers to the linear and affine functions, while the second one deals with the quadratic function and the third one is related to the exponential function. The participants in this study were 30 future teachers. The study considers the combination of magisterial lessons and active didactic methodologies as demonstration method, cooperative learning and gamification, also including the applied assessment. The activities, methodologies and assessment were evaluated by the participants with results higher than 4 in 5-point Likert scale for all cases, preferring the active methodologies than magisterial lessons.

Research into practice: Virtual exchange in language teaching and learning

In this article, the authors reflect on the ways research on Virtual Exchange (VE) has had an impact on language education practices and, conversely, areas in which research has been underexplored, misapplied or perhaps even over applied by VE practitioners in formal education settings. Starting from a brief historical overview of VE, the text first outlines the features widely accepted as key aspects of this pedagogical approach before considering to what extent research results can be identified in VE implementation. Principal topics covered are the main aims regarding language development when VE is applied, assessment of language development through VE and VE and intercultural competence. While the article is not intended as a comprehensive review, it provides insight into the main foci of VE research and how these findings are reaching the language classroom (primary, secondary and university).

Implementing Industrial Symbiosis Incentives: an Applied Assessment Framework for Risk Mitigation

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a business model that proposes symbiotic exchanges, allowing the flow of resources, wastes, and utilities between companies. In recent years, IS initiatives have been exponentially growing around the world. This can be attributed to the increasing awareness on the possibility of obtaining economic, environmental, and social benefits through the implementation of this model. Despite the exponential growth of IS initiatives, the companies are still facing problems in the achievement of reliable and permanent synergies. Over the years the literature has identified several factors in the IS emerging process. Incentives are among these factors, being defined as unlocking tools or mechanisms related to diverse dimensions such as economic, political, social, intermediaries, process, and technology. Authors believe that the large-scale implementation of IS incentives has not been properly addressed. In order to promote facilitated IS implementation and achieve a replicator effect, incentives should be fully addressed. In many case studies, it has been observed that the incentives for IS can be threatened by risks, compromising the implementation, and hindering the emerging process. This study developed a dedicated framework that is composed of incentive identification from best practices of IS and expert consultation; a risk assessment model based on risk factors identification and clustering; and finally, the mitigation actions based on the assessment outputs. The main result of this study is one set of mitigations actions that correlate the implementation levels (clusters) and the potential stakeholders involved.

Developing an Applied Profile for Assessing the Perceived Effectiveness of Athletes’ Psychological Strategies: A Case Study at the Australian Institute of Sport

Existing tools measuring athletes’ psychological strategies have various practical limitations including (a) not capturing the perceived effectiveness of psychological strategies in pursuing desirable outcomes; (b) overlooking stages of competitive involvement, such as before training or the night before competition; (c) and being predominantly paper-based. In the present case study, the author explains the process of developing an alternative assessment tool called the Profile of Psychological Strategies (ProPS). This new profile aims to measure athletes’ perceptions of which strategies they use, to pursue which desirable outcomes, and how effectively. The ProPS has its theoretical roots in Fletcher and Sarkar’s approach to developing psychological resilience and was developed based on an adapted version of Radhakrishna’s Sequence for Instrument Development. This case study can be useful both for sport experts looking for a practical and flexible way to measure athletes’ psychological strategies and for those aiming to develop their own applied assessment tool.

Evaluating the Profile of Psychological Strategies: An Applied Profile for Assessing the Perceived Effectiveness of Athletes’ Psychological Strategies in Sport

An alternative assessment tool called the Profile of Psychological Strategies (ProPS) was recently developed to measure athletes’ perceptions of (a) which strategies they use, (b) to pursue which psychological outcomes, and (c) how effective their strategies are in pursuing those psychological outcomes. This case study explains the process of evaluating this new, flexible, and highly applied tool’s theoretical validity/coherence, reliability, and immediate utility with 101 competitive athletes. This study showed that the theoretical validity and reliability of even nonstandardized, highly applied assessment tools can be evaluated. The ProPS was found to have good preliminary levels of divergent validity and immediate utility. The ProPS was also preliminarily found to have acceptable levels of known-group, concurrent, and convergent evidence, as well as test–retest reliability. Athletes in higher resilience and/or lower concentration disruption groups tended to report higher levels of effectiveness in selected psychological strategies. This case study can be useful for sport experts, especially sport psychology practitioners, wishing to use the ProPS to measure athletes’ psychological strategies and for those aiming to evaluate their own applied assessment tool.

Determining the Permissible Longwall Face Advance in the Protective Pillar Conditioning the Liquidation of a Mining Shaft

The presented research subject involved the assessment of the possibility of mining operations within the area of shaft protection pillar with simultaneous liquidation of the shaft. In such a situation, the basic condition is to avoid damage to shaft lining, which can hinder or even prevent safe liquidation of the shaft by backfilling. The procedure to follow in order to assess the possibility and scope of mining exploitation within the shaft protection pillar is demonstrated on the example of shaft X. The applied assessment method involving the possibility and scope of mining exploitation within the protective pillar of the shaft was based on the forecast of rock mass deformation at the shaft site, which was the basis to calculate vertical stresses in the shaft lining and then to compare them with permissible values. The carried out calculations allowed us to determine the permissible face advance of longwall No. 5 at which no damage to the lining and its equipment would occur, ensuring the planned safe liquidation of the shaft by backfilling.

Forced-Choice Versus Likert Responses on an Occupational Big Five Questionnaire

Conventional self-report measures are prone to response biases, which distort measurement in any applied assessment. The forced-choice (FC) format was proposed as a potential remedy for these biases. The purpose of these studies was to develop and evaluate a FC questionnaire for the occupational context based on the five factor model of personality. A single-stimulus Likert questionnaire was contextualized for occupational settings and psychometrically optimized in Study 1 ( N = 401). Considering optimal design strategies, we subsequently used this questionnaire to construct and validate a FC questionnaire in Study 2 ( N = 517). Methodological add-ons to established approaches were applied to achieve decent confirmatory model fit. The new questionnaire shows good psychometric qualities and strong validity. We make suggestions for further applications and studies.