Abstract: Over the past 20 years, internet has seen continual advancement and with the advent of online technology, various types of web-based games have been developed. Games are frequently being used among different age groups from baby boomers to generation Z. Games are not only used for entertainment but also utilized as a learning approach transmitting education to a level that is more interesting and effective for students. One of the popular web-based education games is Kahoot with growing popularity and usage, which is being used in different fields of studies. However, little knowledge is available on university students’ perception of Kahoot environment and application for learning subjects. Hence, the objective of the current study is to investigate students’ perceptions of Kahoot application and environment as a learning tool. The study employed a survey approach by distributing Google Forms –created questionnaire, with high level of reliability index, to 62 students (11 males and 51 females). The findings show that students have positive attitudes towards Kahoot application and its environment for learning. Regarding Kahoot application, it was indicated that activities created using Kahoot are more interesting for students, Kahoot is useful for collaborative learning, and Kahoot enhances interest in learning lesson. In terms of Kahoot environment, it was found that using this application through mobile is easy for students, its design is simple and useful, Kahoot-created activities can easily be shared, and the application can easily be used on any platform. The findings of the study have implications for instructors, policymakers and curriculum developers.
Abstract: The first language (L1) could be used in foreign language teaching and learning as a pedagogical tool to scaffold new knowledge in the target language (TL) upon linguistic knowledge that the learner already has. In a bilingual context, code-switching between the two languages usually occurs in classrooms. One of the reasons for code-switching is because both languages are used for scaffolding new knowledge. This research paper aims to find out why both the L1 (Maltese) and the L2 (English) are used in the classroom of Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in the bilingual context of Malta. This research paper also aims to find out the learners’ perceptions of the use of a bilingual medium of instruction. Two research methods were used to collect qualitative data; semi-structured interviews with adult learners of Mandarin Chinese and lesson observations. These two research methods were used so that the data collected in the interviews would be triangulated with data collected in lesson observations. The L1 (Maltese) is the language of instruction mostly used. The teacher and the learners switch to the L2 (English) or to any other foreign language according to the need at a particular instance during the lesson.
Abstract: This paper reports on how synchrony occurs between children and their teacher, and what prevents or facilitates synchrony. The aim of the experiment conducted in this study was to precisely analyze their movements and synchrony and reveal the process of synchrony in a real-world classroom. Specifically, the experiment was conducted for around 20 minutes during an English as a foreign language (EFL) lesson. The participants were 11 fourth-grade school children and their classroom teacher in a public elementary school in Japan. Previous researchers assert that synchrony causes the state of flow in a class. For checking the level of flow, Short Flow State Scale (SFSS) was adopted. The experimental procedure had four steps: 1) The teacher read aloud the first half of an English storybook to the children. Both the teacher and the children were at their own desks. 2) The children were subjected to an SFSS check. 3) The teacher read aloud the remaining half of the storybook to the children. She made the children remove their desks before reading. 4) The children were again subjected to an SFSS check. The movements of all participants were recorded with a video camera. From the movement analysis, it was found that the children synchronized better with the teacher in Step 3 than in Step 1, and that the teacher’s movement became free and outstanding without a desk. This implies that the desk acted as a barrier between the children and the teacher. Removal of this barrier resulted in the children’s reactions becoming synchronized with those of the teacher. The SFSS results proved that the children experienced more flow without a barrier than with a barrier. Apparently, synchrony is what caused flow or social emotions in the classroom. The main conclusion is that synchrony leads to cognitive outcomes such as children’s academic performance in EFL learning.
Abstract: The present study investigates the effect of teaching a Thinking and Research lesson by cooperative and traditional methods on the creativity of sixth-grade students in Piranshahr province. The statistical society includes all the sixth-grade students of Piranshahr province. The sample of this studytable was selected by available sampling from among male elementary schools of Piranshahr. They were randomly assigned into two groups of cooperative teaching method and traditional teaching method. The design of the study is quasi-experimental with a control group. In this study, to assess students’ creativity, Abedi’s creativity questionnaire was used. Based on Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, the reliability of the factor flow was 0.74, innovation was 0.61, flexibility was 0.63, and expansion was 0.68. To analyze the data, t-test, univariate and multivariate covariance analysis were used for evaluation of the difference of means and the pretest and posttest scores. The findings of the research showed that cooperative teaching method does not significantly increase creativity (p > 0.05). Moreover, cooperative teaching method was found to have significant effect on flow factor (p < 0.05), but in innovation and expansion factors no significant effect was observed (p < 0.05).
Abstract: Paper deals with the topic of questions as important
components of information behavior in the school. By analyzing the
Corpus Schola2010, the state of contemporary education in terms of
questioning is proven unsatisfactory: 80% of the questions are asked
by teachers; most of teacher-s questions are asked at the beginning of
the first grade, than their number decreases and is settling down on
80±10 questions per lesson. The average number of questions within
one lesson per one pupil is generally less than one whole question.
The highest values are achieved in the first, sixth, eighth and tenth
grade,, i.e. in the transition years in which pupils are moving into
higher levels of education and every following year it declines. We
can state Czech school do not support questioning and question skill
of their pupils, thereby typical Czech schools are neglecting the
development of thinking, reasoning and cooperation of their pupils.
Abstract: This study aims to specify to what extent students
understand topology during the lesson and to determine possible
misconceptions. 14 teacher trainees registered at Secondary School
Mathematics education department were observed in the topology
lessons throughout a semester and data collected at the first topology
lesson is presented here. Students- knowledge was evaluated using a
written test right before and after the topology lesson. Thus, what the
students learnt in terms of the definition and examples of topologic
space were specified as well as possible misconceptions. The
findings indicated that students did not fully comprehend the topic
and misunderstandings were due to insufficient pre-requisite
knowledge of abstract mathematical topics and mathematical
notation.
Abstract: The physiological effects of physical exercise on
human body are relatively well known in literature, which describes
in detail the changes that occur in the cardiovascular system, the
respiratory one, in bones and other systems, both during exercise
and after its delivery. However, the effects of exercise on mental
processes are less treated. From the literature reviews discussed in
this study, it can be detached the idea that we can not exactly say that
physical exercise has beneficial effects on mental processes, but
neither that it would have potentially negative effects. This
uncertainty, reflected in the inability to indicate precise and
unequivocal meaning, favorable-unfavorable physical effort in acting
on mental processes, is a prime reason to undertake a study of the
phenomenon influence effort administered physical education classes
on the dynamics of mental processes like attention and memory.