Research Article
Unal Cakiroglu, Fatih Erdogdu, Seyfullah Gokoglu
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 171-185
ABSTRACT
Clickers as electronic response systems allow students to respond instantly to questions. The aim of this study is to compare the effects of using clickers on student participation during different periods of EFL courses. The intervention was implemented in question–response sessions of an EFL course at a secondary school. A quasi-experimental design was used in which twenty participants were assigned to two groups, Group A (n = 10) and Group B (n = 10). The implementation process is divided into three periods. In the preparation period, both of the groups did not use clickers, in the first period while the Group A used clickers, Group B continued without using clickers in the lessons. Then in the second period; in contrary, Group A and Group B students changed the roles in using the clickers; that is Group B started with clickers in the second period and Group A followed the lesson without clickers. When the clickers used the students’ participation rates were determined by clicker system records and an observation form is used when non-clickers strategies were used. As a result, even if they used clickers in different time periods both Groups A and B increased their participation rates while using clickers. Moreover, when the students in Group A were non-clickers, their correct answer rates were decreased. In contrast, when the students in Group B were non-clickers, their correct answer rates were increased. Results showed that even after students ceased to use clickers, positive effects on participation continued; however, the quality of the students’ answers declined. Along with the study findings, suggestions for clickers use in various periods of the courses are included.
Keywords: Participation, Clickers, Traditional response strategies, Language teaching
Research Article
Elizabeth Csikar, Jill E. Stefaniak
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 42-60
ABSTRACT
Conveying scientific information with high intrinsic cognitive load to students is a challenge. Often, students do not have the existing schema to incorporate the information in a comprehensive manner. One method that has shown promise is storytelling. Storytelling has been successfully used to convey public health information to non-experts. Therefore, it was of interest to determine whether storytelling could be used in the classroom to present information with high intrinsic load to students in a meaningful manner. This study used a post-test only quasi-experimental study design to explore the utility of storytelling as an instructional strategy in anatomy and physiology classes at a community college. Students in the treatment group received instruction that used storytelling to present examples of application. Both control and experimental groups were assessed through the use of a proximal formative quiz, distal multiple-choice questions, and a novel critical thinking exercise administered after the instruction. Results suggest that storytelling was as effective as the instructional methods delivered to the control group. These findings suggest that storytelling may be used as a means to convey complex scientific information in the classroom.
Keywords: Story telling, Instructional strategies, Problem solving
Research Article
Serkan Sendag, Osman Erol, Sezan Sezgin, Nihal Dulkadir
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 172-187
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between preservice teachers’ Web 2.0 competencies and their critical thinking disposition (CTD). The study employed an associational research design using California Critical Thinking Disposition-Inventory (CCTD –I) and a Web 2.0 competency questionnaire including items related to Web 2.0 awareness, Web 2.0 use, and educational use of Web 2.0 tools. Five different Web 2.0 tools included in the study: (a) blogs, (b) wikis, (c) social networking websites, (d) YouTube, (e) podcasts. A total of 1335 preservice teachers completed the survey. Findings indicated that participants had a medium level internet use, Web 2.0 awareness, Web 2.0 use and Web 2.0 skills while their educational Web 2.0 use level was low. In terms of competencies on certain Web 2.0 tools, their blog, wiki and podcast competencies were at a very low level, whereas their social networking and YouTube competency levels were high. Findings also showed that there were significant relationships between preservice teachers' Web 2.0 competencies and their critical thinking disposition. The results highlighted that the use of different Web 2.0 tools can be complementary to each other during certain instructional activities to improve different dimensions of critical thinking disposition.
Keywords: Critical thinking, Higher order cognitive skills, Teaching-learning strategies, Web 2.0 awareness, Web 2.0 competencies, Preservice teacher education
Research Article
Jill E. Stefaniak, Monica W. Tracey
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 6, Issue 2, pp. 95-112
ABSTRACT
In this exploratory study, we examined how undergraduate students experience learning in a learner-centered teaching environment and their perceptions of motivation towards learning material in an introductory public speaking communications course. Six faculty members participated in a semester-long study where their teaching strategies were observed. Three faculty members participated in a cognitive apprenticeship where they were taught how to implement learner-centered instructional strategies into their coursework. Participants were 109 students who were enrolled in an introductory public speaking course. Data was collected by means of classroom observations, interviews, and the administration of a survey. Our findings indicated that students who were engaged in learner-centered activities within the communications course demonstrate higher levels of motivation towards the course and are more actively engaged in their learning.
Keywords: Learner-centered instruction, Instructional sequencing, Teaching strategies, Student motivation
Research Article
Dabae Lee, Yeol Huh
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 5, Issue 4, pp. 286-301
ABSTRACT
Effort to determine teachers’ effects on student has been continuously made with national data. However, paucity of research has been conducted on how teachers’ instructional strategies impact on student learning with national data, although instructional theories suggest a direct relationship between instructional strategies and learning outcomes. Therefore, the relationship between teachers’ use of instructional strategies and learning outcomes should be examined with national data. This study investigates how much teacher’s instructional strategies explain student learning in mathematics and what instructional strategies are positively related to student learning outcomes. Revised Bloom’s taxonomy was used to define instructional strategies that support different levels of cognitive processes. The U.S. 8th grade mathematics data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study was analyzed using multilevel modeling. As results, teachers’ instructional strategies explained approximately 12% at the individual level and 17% at the teacher level of the learning outcome. Also, asking student to write equations and functions to represent relationships and to decide on their own procedures for solving complex problems were positively and significantly related to student learning outcomes.
Keywords: Instructional strategies, TIMSS, Mathematics education, Academic achievement, Multilevel modeling
Research Article
Bahadir Eristi, Celal Akdeniz
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 141-161
ABSTRACT
The present study aimed at developing a scale for diagnosing instructional strategies to be used to determine the instructional strategies applied in the instructional process. In the process of the scale development, first the related literature was reviewed. Following this, field experts were asked for their views, and the instructional activities to be carried out in the instructional process were identified. Afterwards, considering the similar and different features of the instructional activities, they were grouped by associating them with instructional strategies. The draft scale, which made up of a total of 291 items in the beginning, was exposed to a four-phase application process prior to the actual application. At the end of this process, it was transformed into a 70-item scale applied to 614 home teachers and field teachers. For the content validity of the scale, field experts were asked for their views. Data collected were analyzed with the methods of principle components analysis and exploratory factor analysis. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis conducted to determine the construct validity of the scale, the factor load of each item in the scale was found over .30. In order to determine the factors involving the items in the scale, the orthogonal rotation was applied with the Varimax technique to the data collected. The scale included two sub-scales. The rate of the factors in the sub-scale of meeting the total variance was 43% for the sub-scale of focus strategies and 62% for the sub-scale of process strategies. The value obtained by testing the internal consistency for the whole scale was found as α=.964. With respect to the item-whole scale correlational consistency, the items in the scale ranged between.406 and .816. The findings obtained in the process of developing this five-point Likert-type scale demonstrated that the scale could be used successfully in determining the nature of instructional strategies applied in the instructional process.
Keywords: Instructional strategies, Instructional methods, Instructional tactics, Instructional approaches, Scale development
Research Article
Michael Graves, Gregory C. Sales, Frances Lawrenz, Beth Robelia, Jayson W. Richardson
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 1, Issue 2, pp. 160-174
ABSTRACT
This study examined the effectiveness of a professionally developed comprehensive reading comprehension strategies program when compared to traditional reading comprehension instruction presented to 865 fourth and fifth graders (682 with full data sets) in 34 classrooms in the United States. The treatment included a strong, technology-based teacher training component as well as highly motivational materials for 53 classroom-delivered student lessons. The research design was a randomized trial at the classroom level, with classes randomly assigned to either the treatment (classroom n=17) or control (classroom n=17) conditions. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was performed on student achievement data, nested within classrooms within treatment conditions, for the intact classes. HLM analyses using experimenter-designed achievement tests as the outcome variable showed a significant effect for condition, with students in the treatment condition scoring higher than students in the control condition across all the different student groups (gender, ethnicity, and English Language proficiency).
Keywords: DVD, Teacher training, Reading comprehension, Strategies
Research Article
Ali Simsek, Jale Balaban
CONTEMP EDUC TECHNOL, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 36-45
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to assess the most commonly used learning strategies of undergraduate students and how these strategies were related to their academic performance. Toward this purpose, a 60 item Likert scale was administered to a sample of 278 undergraduate students. The students were selected based on their cumulative grand-point-average as the most successful and the least successful five senior-year students from each majoring area in the faculties of arts, engineering, science, communication, and sports. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was 0,93. Results showed that successful students used more, varied, and better learning strategies than unsuccessful students. Female students were more effective in selecting and using appropriate strategies than male students. There were a variety of differences among fields of study; students of fine arts used the strategies least, while students of sports used them the most. The most preferred group of strategies was metacognitive strategies, whereas the least preferred group was organization strategies. The same pattern was found for the level of success, gender, and field of study. The results overall imply that certain strategies contribute to student performance more than other strategies, and majority of university students are aware of this situation.
Keywords: Cognitive strategies, Higher education, Learning strategies, University students