The presidential election of the human body: applying contextual learning to promote connections between the student and the curricular content

Using real-world situations to engage students in learning specific content is preconized by educational research as an effective strategy. However, motivating students to establish personal and emotional connections with the curricular content is challenging. We presented a didactic strategy named The presidential election of the human body, created to use the presidential election context to engage students in studying cell function and structure using role-playing and appropriation of scientific concepts. Four groups of students (N=124) of the science and mathematics teacher training program chose a cell of the human body to impersonate, they studied the biology of their cell, and they ran in a presidential election campaign. They created slogans, videos, and materials for their campaign, and on the day of the election, the group of the students voted for the best slogan. The didactic strategy was capable of stimulating the appropriation of the characteristics of the cells they represented. The majority (75%) of the elected candidates represented cells that are linked to the nervous system. Musicality and humor were the most frequent styles that appeared in the slogans. Students strongly agreed that they enjoyed the activity and considered it valuable for contextualizing the learning of anatomy and physiology. Thus, the activity is a didactic resource to stimulate the students to embrace the content they are learning in a contextualized momentum of a presidential election.

“Immersed in World of Warcraft”: A Discursive Study of Identity Management Talk About Excessive Online Gaming

Online excessive gaming has been associated with negative player identity constructions depicting an abnormal life-style. Up-to-date, there is limited insight into player identity management talk about excessive online gaming. To address this gap, drawing from discursive and rhetorical psychology, we investigated naturally occurring talk of 134 players of World of Warcraft (WoW) -a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)- from three publicly available websites and of five players from one focus group. The analysis illuminated participants’ dilemmatic and contradictory ways of constructing the player identity, while displaying immersion in the game. Participants invoke identity constructions like ‘nolifer’, ‘hardcore’ or ‘clean’ player, which they disavow or assign to themselves and to each other depending on the conversational context, while attending to concerns about (ab)normalcy. The study’s findings highlight a dynamic process of player identity construction in talk, occasioned by and exemplifying the contingencies of the discursive context.

The usage of RPGS as an interdisciplinary method of teaching dyslexic students

The aim of this paper is to present a different viewpoint on the educational process through the usage of- adjusted to educational needs - RPGs (Role Playing Games), emphasizing on an interdisciplinary teaching in both cognitive and social-emotional level, which will offer intervention and simultaneously the improvement of the academic weaknesses for dyslexic students. RPGs -in any form- may be a powerful and unique teaching tool so that learning can be fun and meaningfully constructive to the dyslexic learners

A Narrative-Driven Role-Playing Game for Raising Flood Awareness

In the framework of a water resources management class in the Technical University of Crete, a narrative-driven role-playing game (RPG) was planned and tested in the classroom, with the intent to raise awareness among the students on how floods can have an impact on the everyday lives of different citizens. During this game, the students had the opportunity to act as different stakeholders. In order to assess the impact of this game on participants’ thoughts of who might be affected by a flood event, two questionnaires were used, one before and one after the game. The results show that there was very positive feedback from the participants on how this RPG helped them realize the different implications a flood event might have on citizens and decision makers. The community-based aspect that was chosen for this RPG implementation showed the difficulties the specific roles would face as single individuals and as a community in general. Using a similar approach can help any stakeholder understand the challenges in a more direct way than with traditional lecturing and presentations.

An Evolutionary Textual Environment

This article introduces the notion of evolutionary textual environment as the outcome of a digital experiment. The experiment consisted of transforming a digital archive of Fernando Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet into a changing textual space sustained by role-playing interactions. As conceptual and technical artifact, this living archive expresses an innovative model not only for the literary acts of reading, editing and writing, but also for reimagining the book as a network of reconfigurable and dynamic texts, structures, and actions. The programmed features of the LdoD Archive can be used in multiple activities, including leisure reading, study, analysis, advanced research, and creative writing. Through the integration of computational tools in a simulation space, this collaborative archive provides an open exploration of the procedurality of the digital medium itself. The “unfinished machine” metaphor suggests the open-endedness both of the evolving textual environment and of the computational modeling of literary performativity that sustains the whole experiment.

El aprendizaje basado en escenarios como estrategia de desarrollo de competencias para afrontar el proceso de selección de personal

Este trabajo ha obtenido un Accésit del Premio Estudios Financieros 2021 en la modalidad de Educación y Nuevas Tecnologías. Esta investigación versa sobre el diseño e implementación de un juego online de simulación, cuyo objetivo es ayudar al desarrollo de competencias en 54 estudiantes (hombres y mujeres) universitarios de grado y máster para afrontar con éxito un proceso de selección de personal. La base teórica en que se sustenta la herramienta desarrollada es el aprendizaje basado en escenarios (ABE), que permite recrear diferentes pruebas de evaluación de competencias de un proceso de selección (dinámica de grupo, role playing y entrevista), propiciando que el estudiante conozca mejor dichas pruebas y, a través de un ejercicio de autoevaluación situacional, que reflexione sobre la importancia de desarrollar determinadas capacidades en su perfil. Las conclusiones son muy positivas, ya que, tras participar en el juego, la mayoría consideró que sus conocimientos sobre cómo se desarrolla un proceso de selección habían mejorado, que el juego les permitía reflexionar sobre las debilidades y fortalezas de su perfil y que eran más conscientes de qué aspectos concretos debían mejorar para afrontar un proceso de selección.

Possibilities of life quality correction of patients with chronic pancreatitis in postoperative hypothyroidis

Aim: to study the quality of life and the emotional state of patients with chronic pancreatitis on the background of postoperative hypothyroidism and the possibility of effective rehabilitation.Materials and methods. 270 patients with chronic pancreatitis were examined, among which 40 patients with primary postoperative hypothyroidism, who made up group 1, group 2 included 30 patients without thyroid pathology. Patients underwent a blood test according to the main biochemical parameters, hormonal blood count, ultrasound of the thyroid gland, hepatobiliary and duodenal zone. The study of quality of life and psychoemotional state by tests.Results In patients with chronic pacreatitis in combination with postoperative hypothyroidism among diseases of the hepatoduodenal zone, chronic non-calculous cholecystitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were identified that are clinically characterized by abdominal pain syndrome according to the GSRS questionnaire. Patients revealed mild depressive state, high levels of personal and situational anxiety. The quality of life of patients was reduced both in physical and in psychological components, due to indicators of role-playing physical and emotional functioning. Against the background of treatment with a combination of succinate-containing drugs, the severity of depression, situational and personal anxiety decreased, and role functioning due to physical and emotional state, social functioning increased.Conclusions: The use of combination therapy with sodium levothyroxine and ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate in patients with comorbid pathology during postoperative hypothyroidism improves the clinical picture, psychoemotional balance and quality of life.

Mengembangkan Kemampuan Sosial Melalui Metode Bermain Peran Pada Anak Usia Dini di Masa Covid-19

Education during the COVID-19 pandemic has created many things that need to be considered by providing education from parents and families, so that every child's development can develop optimally. One of the developments of children that must be developed during this pandemic is social development. This study aims to find out ways that can be done to develop social development. This research was conducted using a literature study research method, in this case the researcher used several relevant research sources in the form of previous books, articles and journals, which became the focus of this research, namely developing social skills in early childhood through role playing methods, when Children's social skills can develop optimally so that later children can solve problems and make decisions without having to depend on others in the future. From the results of the study, it can be seen that one of the most appropriate ways to develop social skills in early childhood is to use the role playing method. This can be proven from several previous research results that are relevant to developing social skills through role playing methods in early childhood.