Building Environmental Health and Genomics Literacy among Healthcare Providers Serving Vulnerable Communities: An Innovative Educational Framework

This study addresses healthcare providers’ knowledge deficits in environmental health and genetics, and primarily focuses on student nurses and nurses serving marginalized, low-income communities frequently exposed to environmental toxicants. Our approach to improve public health is unique, combining hands-on modeling exercises with case-based lessons in addition to three targeted 40 min lectures on toxicology. These lectures included the team’s community-based environmental health research among Indigenous peoples of the U.S. The hands-on approach employed DNA and protein molecular models designed to demonstrate normal and dysfunctional molecules, as well as genetic variants in world populations. The models provided learners with visuals and an experience of “learning by doing.” Increased awareness of the effects of environmental toxicants is the first step toward improving health care for exposed communities. We measured knowledge gains by pre- and post-tests among student nurses and nurses serving Native Americans living both in urban and rural areas of the U.S. (n = 116). The modeling lessons illustrated genetic variants in liver proteins common in Native peoples and their resulting health vulnerabilities. Participants were engaged and enthusiastic; and pre- and post-test results reported substantial knowledge gains and a greater understanding of genetic susceptibility (p < 0.0001). Our study demonstrates the utility of this framework across diverse populations and remote communities.

Bringing Transition Management to Cities: Building Skills for Transformative Urban Governance

Cities are open to trialing new approaches for advancing their planning and urban governance practice. Evidence from urban research and practice shows that transition management has been widely and diversely applied for strategic planning for climate mitigation and adaptation, regeneration, as well as sectoral (energy, water, waste) and social cohesion agendas. Despite the amounting evidence of the applications of transition management, the research has not identified what it is required in terms of skills to apply such a governance framework for participatory governance in cities. In this paper, we respond to this gap by providing evidence from 11 cities across Europe that applied transition management as an approach to participatory urban governance for unpacking what transformative actions are required to strengthen urban resilience in deprived neighborhoods. Our multi-case study research and analysis reveals that a multitude of vocational and academic skills are required for the application of transition management approach including systems thinking, creativity, theory-to-practice application skills, diplomatic skills for forging partnerships and learning alliances and openness to learning-by-doing during experimentation. Transition management application in cities in the Resilient Europe project brought about positive outcomes in terms of developing new skills, embedding new knowledge about urban resilience and transition management in planning.

Using Gamification to Improve Literacy Skills

Students in the 21st century are learning by doing and playing. Teachers need to incorporate technology into everyday tasks. Games assist students in the learning process. Once students have learned a task through the playing process, they will remember this much easier and longer than simply doing a worksheet. Research shows students enjoy interactive and engaging activities and will choose these types of activities over pencil and paper types of activities. Teachers must prepare students for the future which involves more critical thinking and technological types of skills. Traditional teaching methods and styles have underused technology tools and pedagogical methods. The 2020 Covid pandemic and remote learning delivery style assisted teachers in developing new tools and methods to reach and teach all students with various and diverse needs.

i9MASKS Project

Engineering education is a challenging topic that has been deeply explored in order to provide better educational experiences to engineering students, and the learning by doing approach has been appraised. Amidst a global pandemic, an engineering summer program denominated i9Masks emerged and aimed to create transparent facial masks for preventing the virus spreading. This project had the participation of 21 students from different engineering areas, as well as professors and monitors whose guidance and commitment were of great importance for its success. Aiming to understand the importance of this engineering hands-on project for students' training, two inquiries were applied, being one for students and the other for professors and monitors/researchers. Students described this initiative as an amazing and innovative experience that they would like to repeat and considered useful for their careers. Regarding the impact perceived by the teaching staff, the results proved that they enjoyed participating in the i9MASKS project and sharing knowledge with students in a practical way.

Pedagogical Creativity as a Means of Inclusion in Primary School

This chapter presents some creative pedagogical strategies used during the distance or remote learning period due to the COVID-19 pandemic from March to May 2020. The chapter explores the use of coding in a transdisciplinary way. Strategies for online tools and their specific use both in remote and in face-to-face learning are presented. The role of hands-on learning as a process of learning-by-doing and how to involve pupils using the methods of a flipped classroom are also presented. The chapter concludes with the importance of games to keep the class group united and cohesive in order to develop a healthy sense of competitiveness and collaboration among the pupils.

Contribution of Project-Based Learning on Social Skills Development

The scope of this chapter is to describe and share experiences of two industrial engineers that had practiced project-based learning (PBL) during their engineering degree. Currently, authors look backward with a different perspective related to PBL as they are working as industrial engineers in different areas for 10 years in a multinational environment. Such experiences provide to the students the opportunity of developing soft skills that would be difficult to obtain following a traditional expositive lecture, more focused on individual work. Several challenges and advantages of learning by doing with PBL prepare students and contribute for their professional life because this kind of learning is closer to the professional daily life. In this chapter, four main experiences faced by the authors as engineering students are reported. Furthermore, the importance of experience like that and its contribution for the professional life is explained from the authors' point of view.

Drivers, Processes, and Outcomes of the STI and DUI Modes of Innovation: A Systematic Review

Two promising streams of research in innovation involve the innovation stemming from the interaction of multiple actors (i.e. innovation networks) and innovation modes [the modes focused on science, technology, and innovation (STI) and learning by doing, using, and interacting (DUI)]. However, scholars have not exerted much effort in cross-referencing these two literature streams. Following a protocol to conduct a systematic review of the literature, through Scimago journals ranking (Q1 and Q2 classification) available at the Web of Science and B-On databases, this study considered 44 articles for eligibility. Moreover, it systematically considers the key features of innovation emerging from DUI networks versus STI networks. Finally, it contributes to future innovation research by comprehensively reviewing the drivers, processes, and outcomes of the STI and DUI innovation emerging from networks.

The Contribution of the Pragmatism Educational Philosophy in the Implementation of Pancasila Education During Distance Learning

The implementation of Pancasila education faces major challenges during distance learning. The lack of meeting face-to-face and the high level of human dependence on technology makes it difficult for students to internalize the values of Pancasila. Therefore, efforts to realize the goal of meaningful education are hampered. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the contribution of the pragmatism educational philosophy as a solution to overcome the obstacles in implementing Pancasila education. This was field research based on philosophical perspectives combined with library research. Description, analysis, synthesis, interpretation, internal coherence, and heuristics were used. The results showed that experience supports the success of education according to the pragmatism educational philosophy. In order for the values of Pancasila to be effectively internalized, these values need to be integrated into the learning process experience. The pragmatism perspective of “learning by doing” can be a strategy to integrate the process of internalizing the Pancasila values into the interaction patterns of educators and students through technology. Keywords: meaningful education, Pancasila, values, internalization, pragmatism, experience

School strike for climate are leading the way: how their people power strategies are generating distinctive pathways for leadership development

Since November 2018, Australian high school climate strikers have become leaders in the movement for climate action, giving rise to a new generation of young people who have learnt how to lead change. This article focuses on the question of leadership across social movements and in global youth movements. It then investigates the different forms of leadership emerging in School Striker for Climate (SS4C) through a qualitative survey of its leaders. We argue that leadership is multifaceted, shaped by the different strategies that movements use to engage people in collective action. We present three different people power strategies – mobilising, organising and playing by the rules – and explore how these different strategies generate varied pathways for leadership development. We identify the strengths and limits of each strategy, and we find that peer learning, mentoring, learning by doing, confrontation, reflective spaces and training are important leadership development tools. This article’s greatest strength comes from the positionally of us as researchers – two of us are student strikers, and the third is an active supporter, giving us a distinctively engaged perspective on a powerful movement for change.

Village Institutes of Turkey

In the 1930s, the primary schooling rate in Turkey was significantly low compared to the European states. Ninety percent of the population lived in villages without any schools and teachers. Therefore, promoting primary education was addressed as an issue concerning villages in Turkey. The seeds of the intellectual infrastructure in the emergence of institutes were sown at the beginning of the 20th century, during the Ottoman rule. To train teachers for villages, Village Teacher Training School [Köy Muallim Mektebi] was founded in 1927 and Village Instructor Training Course [Köy Eğitmen Kursu] in 1936. However, these initiatives were not sufficient in terms of quality and quantity. Village teacher training experiences, new education, and work school trends of Europe were analyzed by Turkish educators, opinions of foreign and Turkish experts were received, and the Village Institutes [Köy Enstitüleri] project was carried into effect based on the realities of Turkey. The first Village Institutes opened in 1937. They were established in a restricted area, with a limited budget, and a non-common curriculum until the Village Institute Law was promulgated in 1940. On April 17, 1940, the law prescribing their establishment was approved by the parliament. The number of the Village Institutes, which spread over the Turkish geography evenly, reached 21 by 1949. The period between 1940 and 1947 was when the Village Institutes were most productive. Learning by doing and principles of productive work were embraced at the Village Institutes. The curriculum consisted of three components: general culture, agriculture, and technical courses. In addition to their teaching duties, the primary school teachers that graduated from the Village Institutes undertook the mission of guiding villagers in agricultural and technical issues and having them adopt the nation-state ideology in villages. World balances changing after the Second World War also affected the Village Institutes. In 1946, the founding committee of the Village Institutes were accused of leftism and had to leave their offices for political reasons. After the founding committee stepped aside, the Village Institutes started to be criticized by being subjected to the conflict between left-wing and right-wing. Following the government changeover in 1950, radical changes regarding the curricula, students, and teachers of the institutes were made. Making the Village Institutes unique, the production- and work-oriented aspects were eliminated, and the institutes were closed down in 1954 and converted into Primary School Teacher Training Schools. Although the Village Institutes existed only between 1937 and 1954, their social, economic, and political effects were felt for a long time through the teachers, health officers, and inspectors they trained.