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This study offers an innovative and sustainable instructional model for an introductory undergraduate course. The model was gradually implemented during 3 yr in a research university in a large-lecture biology course that enrolled biology majors and nonmajors. It gives priority to sources not used enough to enhance active learning in higher educati...
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Context 1
... five TAs were needed for the entire cohort. Figure 1 presents a weekly timetable of group work during one semester (14 wk). Each group is engaged in peer learning for 4 wk and then presents in a miniconference. ...
Context 2
... group is engaged in peer learning for 4 wk and then presents in a miniconference. Each vacant space in Figure 1 represents a week, during which students learn independently, using the course's interactive website. The shaded weeks at the be- ginning and the end of the semester indicate when instructors lecture to the whole class. ...
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In this paper, we investigate the mathematical discourse of undergraduate biology students when working on biology tasks. Our data consists of students' and the lecturer's discussion when working on two tasks in an Evolutionary Biology course. In our analysis we make use of the commognitive framework and focus on the use of mathematical routines. W...
Citations
... Although there are many studies in the literature on the effectiveness of technology-supported instruction and creative drama methods in different disciplines (Kolovou & Kim, 2020;Shim et al., 2003;Tsaushu et al., 2012;Yağmur, 2010;Yalım, 2003;Yılmaz et al., 2023), the number of applications in which these methods are used together is quite limited (Anderson et al., 2016;Dimililer et al., 2017;Gürbüz & İlgaz, 2021;Öztürk & Korkmaz, 2020;Yağmur, 2010). When the problem is examined in terms of the effectiveness of technology-supported drama method in biology course, there is no research on the effectiveness of technology-supported drama method in biology course. ...
The aim of this research is to examine the effect of technology-supported drama method applications on students' academic achievements regarding the central nervous system and their attitudes towards biology. In the research, quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test control group, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. The sample of the research consists of a total of 50 students studying in biology course at a state university, in 2 classes determined by the convenient sampling method. The subjects covered within the scope of the research were taught with the traditional teaching method in the control group and with the technology-supported drama method in the experimental group. As a data collection tool in the research, the "Academic Achievement Test" developed by Akman (2023) and Geban, Ertepınar, Yılmaz, Altın, were used to measure the academic achievements of the students. and the Biology Attitude Scale, developed by Şahbaz (1994) to determine students' attitudes towards chemistry and modified as a biology attitude scale by Pekel (2005), were used. SPSS 22.0 package program was used to analyze the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the course carried out with the technology-supported drama method generally positively increased the academic success and attitudes of the students.
... Therefore, the generation's perspective and perception of technology are enriched (Karadüz & Baytak, 2013). The literature contains studies examining the contribution of technology-supported instruction to the biology course (Shim et al., 2003;Tsaushu et al., 2012;Yang et al., 2015). ...
This research aimed to determine students' opinions on technology-supported drama activities applied in teaching the subject of the central nervous system in the biology course. The research used a case study design, a qualitative research method. The study was conducted with 25 students studying biology at a state university. An appropriate sampling method was used to determine the study group. Within the scope of the research, a semi-structured interview form was used to determine students' opinions about technology-supported drama method applications. This form allowed students to express their experiences in depth. The research results indicated that the students had a generally positive perspective on the technology-supported drama method used in the biology course. Since technology-supported creative drama activities provide students with a learning environment that they enjoy, this method can be recommended to increase students' interest in lessons and ensure permanent learning of content.
... Campelo and Bertholo [24] have applied Hay [23]'s evaluation index to senior high school geography teaching, and evaluate students' degree of deep learning through the concept maps they have painted. Tsaushu [25] etc. have designed a series of open questions to evaluate students' deep learning surrounding four logic skills necessary in the deep learning of biology. The second is process-oriented evaluation, which focuses more on the learning process. ...
... When students perceive that their teachers are supporting them in learning activities which are using information technology, it may improve their attitudes towards learning and incline them to adopt deep learning approach, thus improving learning quality (Chiu et al., 2022). Peer support, such as experience sharing, evaluation, feedback and so on, all enhance students' sense of joy and collective identity (Forsblom et al., 2021), which promotes their deep learning (Tsaushu et al., 2012). Providing technical support to students when they encounter technical difficulties can facilitate effective learning (Han & Geng, 2023). ...
Digital transformation of education has become an inevitable trend. In this context, whether and how technology involvement can facilitate students’ effective learning has become the hot issue of concern in the area of educational technology and learning sciences. This study, using 375 middle school students as samples in northwest China, verified that external support had a certain degree of impact on the learning approaches, and internal motivational factors played mediating roles. The results indicates that perceived support directly and positively predicts deep learning. Perceived classroom mastery goal structure is a mediator in perceived support and deep learning. Computer self-efficacy is a mediator in perceived support and learning approaches. These findings are not only instructive for teachers to guide students to utilize information technology (IT) appropriately for learning, but also provide some suggestions on how teaching practices in IT course can facilitate deep learning so as to enhance learning quality when students are using IT.
... Because students inspire and learn mutually by sharing their feelings and experiences (Mettiäinen & Vähämaa, 2013). In CBLEs, peer support, such as experience sharing and evaluative feedback, encourages students to reflect on their experiences, facilitating deeper learning (Tsaushu et al., 2012). Given the potential contribution of peer support to students' deeper learning, it was hypothesized in this study that perceived peer support positively predicts students' deeper learning. ...
... Data analysis revealed that perceived peer support did not show a significant positive effect on deeper learning, which contrasts with some prior research findings. Previous studies have indicated a positive association between students' perceived peer support, digital literacy development and facilitation of deeper learning (Tsaushu et al., 2012;Sorensen, 2014;Filius et al., 2019;Cheraghi et al., 2021;Xie et al., 2022). According to constructivist learning theory, deeper learning can occur when students are constantly deconstructing and constructing internal meanings in their interactions with the learning environment and in their interpersonal interactions (Bransford, 2013). ...
Peer relationships play important roles in middle-school students’ individual development. Peer support is indispensable in computer-supported learning contexts. This study is designed to explore the connection between perceived peer support and deeper learning, while examining the mediating role of computer self-efficacy and perceived classroom mastery goal structure. 412 middle school students in northwest China were sampled by constructing the structural equation model (SEM) in this study. The results displayed that perceived peer support had no direct positive predictive effect on deeper learning. Computer self-efficacy completely mediated in perceived peer support and deeper learning. Perceived classroom mastery goal structure completely mediated in perceived peer support and deeper learning. Computer self-efficacy and perceived classroom mastery goal structure played a chain mediating effect in perceived peer support and deeper learning. These findings not only deepen our comprehend of the internal mechanism about peer relationships in promoting deeper learning, but also provide constructive suggestions on how to maintain positive peer relationships among students in computer-supported teaching situations, so as to improve students’ digital literacy and skills from the dimension of satisfying their social emotional needs.
... To illustrate, research has demonstrated that students' knowledge about psychological concepts was improved when peer feedback was involved in the learning process (Kelly et al., 2010). Additionally, peer feedback improved the language skills and transferable skills of students (Tsaushu et al., 2012). Moreover, in regard to the combination of peer feedback with other feedback sources, studies demonstrated a positive effect on the development of scientific writing skills (Clarke et al., 2013). ...
While feedback is frequently emphasized as a crucial principle of presentation courses in higher education, previous studies revealed that teachers outperform peers in terms of impact on students’ development of oral presentation competence. Further, presentation research showed that the lack of quality of peer feedback can be considered as an essential argumentation for the identified differences in effect. Follow-up field experiments demonstrated that Virtual Reality (VR) can be considered as a valuable alternative feedback source for developing public speaking skills, since this technology is able to simulate real-life presentation situations as well as to deliver feedback from the VR system to the individual learner. Recent technological developments allowed to convert quantitative information from VR systems into qualitative feedback messages that directly relate to the standards for high-quality feedback. If students are able to individually interpret the feedback messages without the intervention of a human feedback source, it could enrich the quality of feedback in peer and self-learning and further increase students’ oral presentation competence development. This chapter provides a synthesis of the literature in presentation research with the aim to construct a research agenda on computer-mediated feedback in VR for peer learning in this field. Further, two recent VR experiments in presentation research are discussed with the aim to effectively construct feedback messages in VR for improving peer learning.
... Conversely, a poor or negative learning environment, which can include low instructor presence and/or a reliance on passive lecturing with no student interaction, can promote students to experience more negative learning-related emotions, including anxiety and boredom [18,21]. Peer interaction through group learning has been shown to support students' experience of positive learning-related emotions, including pride and happiness, and can encourage students to adopt a deeper learning approach [19,22]. High levels of participation in group learning activities, such as online discussions, has been shown to foster students' engagement with the course content, and, promote positive learning-related emotions that are associated with greater academic performance [23]. ...
... In recent years, a number of curriculum reform projects have supported students' scientific literacy by using authentic materials and methods (Klucevsek & Brungard, 2016) for fostering students' conceptual understanding of contemporary scientific theories (Marbach-Ad, & Hunt Rietschel, 2016;Osterhage et al., 2019;Tsaushu et al., 2012). Advocates of these projects argue that students should obtain an understanding of science through hands-on work by using technologies, as well as a high degree of autonomy, by conducting inquiry activities (Dori, 2007). ...
... Our findings highlight the potential to promote scientific literacy by studying one, or better yet, a series of two hybrid courses that integrate face-to-face sessions with online activities based on reading scientific articles. Scientific literacy is a key set of skills that students at all levels must acquire (Bybee, 1997;Murcia, 2009;Shaffer et al., 2019), specifically, in accordance with the learner-centered teaching approach (Davidesco & Milne, 2019;Marbach-Ad, & Hunt Rietschel, 2016;Tsaushu, et al., 2012). Fostering the scientific literacy skill of question posing was examined through two specially developed biomedical engineering hybrid courses. ...
Our study investigates the effect of hybrid courses and reading scientific articles on scientific literacy of biomedical engineering students. Participants included about 100 undergraduate and graduate students who participated in one or two hybrid courses. Our research goal was to study the effect of reading scientific articles and participating in online forum discourses on students’ scientific literacy by investigating the students’ question posing skill. Research tools included pre- and post-questionnaires, analysis of students’ questions posted on the forum discourse, and research questions raised by the students on their scientific posters. The research findings indicated that students’ participation in the hybrid courses and online discussions improved their scientific literacy skills. This improvement is reflected in the complexity level of the questions posted on the forum discourse after reading scientific articles, as well as in the research questions they wrote in their scientific posters, increased as the course progressed. The outcomes of this study underscore the potential of the hybrid course format that combines face-to-face sessions with online discussions of scientific articles for biomedical engineering students. The paper’s theoretical contribution is that forum discussions may foster science and engineering students’ question posing skill, leading to improved comprehension of scientific articles they read.
... Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment in the college classroom remains a persistent challenge, especially in courses in which one instructor is leading a room of 200+ students. Many interventions are focused on a switch from traditional lecture to more highly structured courses that incorporate preclass assignments, in-class engagement activities, and/or postclass review assignments (Haak et al., 2011;Eddy and Hogan, 2014;Gavassa et al., 2019) and that increase use of active-learning approaches (Smith et al., 2011;Tsaushu et al., 2012;Theobald et al., 2020). These pedagogical changes can increase learning gains and reduce performance gaps between underserved and well-represented groups (Haak et al., 2011;Eddy and Hogan, 2014;Freeman et al., 2014;Theobald et al., 2020), although it is important to acknowledge that these results are not uniform (Van Dusen and Nissen, 2019). ...
Large introductory science courses are a particularly important and challenging target for creating inclusive learning environments. In this study, we examined the impact of incorporating learning assistants (LAs) on the learning environment in an introductory biology course taught with two different structures: an in-person lecture with intermittent active-learning components and an online setting taught with a flipped instructional approach. Using a survey that measured sense of belonging in a single class, we found that students in sections with LAs reported greater sense of belonging than students in sections without LAs in both class structures. Further, student focus groups revealed that LAs promoted learning and engagement in the class by answering questions and providing clarity; allowing more use of active- and interactive-learning structures; and serving as accessible, approachable, and immediate sources of help. Student responses also indicated that LAs promoted a sense of belonging in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by decreasing feelings of isolation, serving as inspirational role models, clarifying progression through the STEM educational system, and helping students become more engaged and confident in their STEM-related knowledge and skills. These findings indicate that LAs can support multiple elements of inclusive STEM learning environments.
... al., 2013). STEM faculty have often encouraged using technology for improved student engagement (Tsaushu et al., 2012;Walsh, Sun, & Riconscente, 2011). These studies documented significant enhanced student performance for STEM students who are underrepresented in the field. ...
This study evaluates the long-term impact of a randomized controlled study which utilized Twitter as an educational intervention to extend the course beyond the physical and time constraints of face-to-face instruction. Participants included 125 undergraduates from a mid-sized midwestern doctoral granting university in the United States. Outcomes previously published include increased engagement and grades for the intervention group (Twitter) compared to the control group. In the longitudinal study presented here, interaction effects were analyzed between GPA, ACT, gender, and socio-economic status with first-to second year retention rates, 6-year graduation rates and 6-year graduation rates in STEM fields.
A statistically significant interaction effect was found between socio-economic status and the intervention (Twitter), resulting in an increased likelihood of graduating in STEM compared to students with low-socioeconomic status (SES) in the control group. This finding indicates that low cost or free technology has the potential to expand the face-to-face classroom in meaningful ways, can increase access to faculty, can increase access to peer-support and ultimately enhance 6-year STEM graduation among low SES students.
