Role of Community Placement Programmes in Development of Professional Basic Skills Among First-Year Medical Students

Various methods have been implemented in the medical field to foster professional basic skills among students. Nevertheless, the contribution of a community placement programme (CPP) with regard to first year of medical students is still unclear. The study objective is to explore how CPP contributes to the development of professional basic skills among students within this group. This qualitative study was conducted between January 2017 and March 2018. Two batches of the first-year medical students with a total of 24 students were involved in the study. The data were gathered using reflective journals which were written from a one-day English camp that was held at the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Medical Sciences. A total of 24 reflective journals have been used as data sources which were then analysed using ATLAS.ti software version 8.0 based on the open, axial and selective coding process. The result has shown that professional skills were established through three themes and eight categories. The themes were personal skills (e.g., time management, self-management, self-confident, social adjustment, internal motivation and communication skill), leadership skills (e.g., teamwork) and scientific skills (e.g., proposal writing skills). CPP is an agenda to nurture the medical students’ professional basic skills. Therefore, such an agenda must continue to be included in medical education.

Exploring the Effect of STEM Education on the Motivations and Epistemological Beliefs Related to Science Among Talented and Gifted Students

The research is aimed to explore the effect of STEM education on the motivations and epistemological beliefs related to science among talented and gifted students. A mixed research method was employed in collecting the data of the research. The sample of the research consisted of 20 5th and 6th grade students who were diagnosed to be talented. Before the activities, the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire and the Motivation Scale for Science Learning were applied to the students. The reflective journals were asked to fill in reflective journals after each activity and individual interviews were conducted after all activities were completed. A significant difference was found between the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire and the Motivation Scale for Science Learning pre-test and post-test scores at the end of the research. With the conducted interviews and results from the journals, positive changes were observed in students’ self-confidence, motivation, and attitudes towards science lessons in training.

Preservice kindergarten teachers’ narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose The purpose of this current study is to follow the development of preservice kindergarten teachers during the practicum phase of their teacher education studies in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the first period of lockdown. Design/methodology/approach The sample included 38 preservice kindergarten teachers in their third and final year of studies who worked in kindergartens as student teachers. Data were collected using reflective journals written by the participants during their studies, after returning to work following the first lockdown. The author analyzed the data using the life-story narrative method. Findings The analysis identified four different types of early education preservice teachers based on their ability to cope with the shift in work conditions. The discussion offers insight into participants’ ability to effectively implement the professional tools they had acquired in the program and during the practicum. Research limitations/implications Limitations include reliance on data from reflective journals, which may be missing details that would have been collected face-to-face. The study has important implications for the functioning of kindergarten teachers in times of crisis, which should be taken into account in the design of the teachers’ training programs. Originality/value The effect of the pandemic on the quality of the preservice kindergarten teachers’ training process, and its implications for functioning in other types of crises are discussed.

Playing Their song: Developing and delivering a repertoire for use in music therapy on placement with two singing groups of people living with neurological conditions, and their carers

<p>This research study uses qualitative, action research methodology to investigate the factors impacting how I can choose and deliver repertoire within the context of my music therapy practice on placement with two singing groups of people living with neurological conditions and their partners and carers. Adhering to the characteristics of action research, this study consists of cycles of learning, and focuses on my understanding of the perceptions and perspectives of clients of the service, plus my own responses regarding the repertoire and how it is used during the music therapy, thus attempting to understand people’s preferred repertoire and improve my practice. My clinical practice notes, participatory observations and reflective journals were coded and analysed to develop themes. Following this, inductive meanings were made of what, how and why the particular repertoire was used. There were many insights learned, from the perspective of the researcher (as a student music therapist and beginning researcher), but the most salient seemed, to me, to be that the entire gestalt of the experience shared whilst singing and playing together with the groups was more important than the minutiae of individual factors that go into making up that experience.</p>

Playing Their song: Developing and delivering a repertoire for use in music therapy on placement with two singing groups of people living with neurological conditions, and their carers

<p>This research study uses qualitative, action research methodology to investigate the factors impacting how I can choose and deliver repertoire within the context of my music therapy practice on placement with two singing groups of people living with neurological conditions and their partners and carers. Adhering to the characteristics of action research, this study consists of cycles of learning, and focuses on my understanding of the perceptions and perspectives of clients of the service, plus my own responses regarding the repertoire and how it is used during the music therapy, thus attempting to understand people’s preferred repertoire and improve my practice. My clinical practice notes, participatory observations and reflective journals were coded and analysed to develop themes. Following this, inductive meanings were made of what, how and why the particular repertoire was used. There were many insights learned, from the perspective of the researcher (as a student music therapist and beginning researcher), but the most salient seemed, to me, to be that the entire gestalt of the experience shared whilst singing and playing together with the groups was more important than the minutiae of individual factors that go into making up that experience.</p>

Positive Psychology 2.0 in a Foreign Language Classroom: Students’ Emotional Experience in English Classroom Interaction in China

The second wave of positive psychology (PP 2.0) focuses on the way positive and negative psychology complement each other in social contexts. It offers a balanced interactive model that aims at enhancing the optimal learning outcome through the interplay of positive and negative emotions. Building on a large qualitative study of students’ and teachers’ experiences in EFL classrooms in China, this paper argues that adopting the principles of PP 2.0 could deepen our understanding of learners’ emotional experience in SLA. Using one illustrative case, it shows the dynamic and complexity of students’ shifting emotions as they interact in the classroom over a span of 2 months. One major finding is that the students’ positive emotions could transcend negative emotions and influence their engagement in classroom interaction. This study contributes to the existing research into emotional experiences of classroom interaction that integrates the observable, reflective, and participatory. It draws on interrelated sets of data, including a student and teacher profile questionnaire, classroom observation and recording, student and teacher reflective journals documenting their classroom interaction experiences, and stimulated recall interviews based on recordings and reflective journals. The study in the first place has implications for English teachers and teacher trainers in China and abroad as well as researchers interested in the role of emotional experience in English language learning and teaching.

The integration of STEAM-project-based learning to train students critical thinking skills in science learning through electrical bell project

This study uses qualitative methods describing the integration of STEAM-project-based learning with the aim of training the critical thinking skills of 18 male and 18 female students in science learning. The application of STEAM is done by integrating it with a project-based learning model on the topic of energy transformation through the electric bell project. Instruments are used to explore the development of critical thinking skills through interviews, observations, reflective journals, and critical thinking skills tests. The study found that students trained STEAM-PjBL to ask questions and have a good understanding of the energy change from electrical energy to sound energy. In addition, through problem solving and project creation, students are encouraged to connect ideas, make assumptions, and infer concepts. The challenges faced in this study are time management, project ideas related to teaching concepts, and student engagement. In addition, STEAM-PjBL integration provides an opportunity for teachers to develop their competencies in applying various methods to encourage students in the test results of the test is students achieve mastering (40%) and competent (30%) at a critical level. Only temporary small (3.80%) students no concept of transformation correctly, even after knowing the distance.

Content Analysis of Reflective Journals in Early Clinical Experience

This study qualitatively analyzed medical students’ engagement of pre-clerkship early clinical experience and their implications based on reflective journals. The subjects were 60 third-year students who had taken the early clinical experience course offered by the Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine. Students had to complete and submit a reflective journal at the end of the course. This study used the reflective journals students submitted as analysis data. Data were analyzed using Elo and Kyngäs’ inductive qualitative analysis. As a result of study, a total of 127 unique significant keywords and statements were extracted. These statements generated 11 formulated sub-categories and five theme categories. Five main categories were derived from the students’ reflective journals: understanding of patients, understanding of professionalism, understanding of other occupations, understanding of the hospital system, and motivation to learn. Students understood patients’ perspectives on diseases and improved their ability to empathize; they gained confidence in communication and clinical skills; they became more positive toward the underprivileged; and their interest in the medical system grew. The results suggest that early clinical experience can be applied as one beneficial educational program for medical students in the pre-clerkship curriculum.