The Educational Implications of Representing Covid-19

The Educational Implications of Representing Covid-19

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Gharib, M., and Turner, C. (2020). A Comic Just for Kids: How to Stay Safe from the Coronavirus [Online Image]. NPR. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/16/934679210/just-for-kids-how-to-stay-safe-from-the-coronavirus (Accessed May 14, 2021). Andrew Manches and I did what many of you did too last year. We spent a lot of time looking at pictures, videos, models, gestures and animations of Covid-19. But then we decided to put this to good use and analyse the implications of how we represent Covid-19 (and other viruses) to children and young people. The resulting paper is published in Frontiers in Education and available open access at Frontiers | Learning About Viruses: Representing Covid-19 | Education (frontiersin.org) (best read the pdf version as the figures are clearer). Please share with your educator friends if you think they will find it helpful. ...
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SRHE Prize Success for Dr Charlie Davis

By Shaaron Comment Closed
We are delighted to share the news that Charlie (@charliejjdavis) has been awarded a prize by the Society for Research in Higher Education to research his project titled "Working-class academics talking: a participatory critical storytelling project with Russell Group academics". Charlie will be working with participants to develop stories about their routes into academia which will be then shared in podcasts. This study seeks to contribute to discussions about how to meet challenges that impede access to higher educations for academics and students identifying as working-class. ...
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New Paper: Recognising and Limiting Teleological Explanations

By Johnny Comment Closed
Children’s use of teleological explanations can pose problems in science education. But can children be taught to recognise teleological explanations? And does recognition of such explanations mean that children will no longer endorse incorrect teleological statements? In a recently published paper, LSRI members, Johnny Halls, Shaaron Ainsworth and Mary Oliver report two studies that attempted to answer these questions. You can read about these results of these studies here.   Halls, J.G., Ainsworth, S.E. & Oliver, M.C. (2021) Using dialogic interventions to decrease children’s use of inappropriate teleological explanations, International Journal of Science Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2021.1936271 ...
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A new paper on Drawing to Learn

By Johnny Comment Closed
So in the LSRI, it's probably well known that we love learning by drawing. Over the years, we have researched drawing to learn from texts, drawing to learn in science, drawing when learning fashion design, drawing to tell stories, drawing from simulations in Chemistry and Physics and drawing in medical anatomy sessions. I am probably forgetting some! So in this paper, Katharina Scheiter (an honorary professor in the LSRI as well as a professor at the University of Tübingen) and Shaaron Ainsworth (Director of the LSRI) tried to synthesise these studies (and more) to explore how drawing can be used for different educational reasons. You don't have to be an expert as it was written for a general audience. It's just out but sadly paywalled so if you can't see it, do get in touch with Shaaron. ...
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An early holiday present

By Shaaron Comment Closed
If sketching, simulations and quantum mechanics are your thing! Although intermediate level quantum mechanics involves some far from straightforward (from my limited perspective) mathematical reasoning; it can also involve visual reasoning. In this paper, co-authored with my amazing collaborators, who are working constantly to improve physics teaching, we explore how visual learning of quantum mechanics with simulations can be enhanced by asking students to draw both and during their interaction with these simulations. See this paper (open access) for lots more detail and do follow what Antje Kohnle and Gina Passante are up to. ...
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Getting to grips with technology enhanced learning literature – new paper by Denise Sweeney

By Johnny Comment Closed
What Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) literature do new university teachers and lecturers actually find useful? How do university teachers engage with TEL literature in their practice? Does disciplinary background influence TEL literature choices? Find out answers to these questions in a new paper by LSRI member Denise Sweeney, “Getting to grips with technology enhanced learning literature: Wading out of murky waters” (open access) can be found here. The paper is published in the inaugural edition of Studies in Technology Enhanced Learning. This new open-access academic journal aims to support scholarly conversation about Technology Enhanced Learning. ...
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Essay mills and the portrayal of HE student experience

By Johnny Comment Closed
Many essay mills adopt empathic narratives to secure custom from students. But how are student’s higher education experiences represented in these narratives? Do essay mills portray higher education practices in a positive or negative manner? And what impact could these narratives have on student’s beliefs about higher education? In How Internet Essay Mill Websites Portray the Student Experience of Higher Education, LSRI member Charles Crook and University of Nottingham colleague Elizabeth Nixon explore these questions. If you want to find out more, this paper is published by The Internet and Higher Education and is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2020.100775 ...
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LSRI @ ICLS 2020

By Shaaron Comment Closed
We went to Nashville. Bobby Whyte to present a full paper on Designing multimodal composition activities for integrated K-5 programming and storytelling; Freydis Vogel was part of a symposium on "Combining Scripts, Group Awareness Tools and Self-Regulated Learning – Theoretical Implications and Practical Implementations" Johnny Halls to the early career workshop, Pryce Davis to run a workshop on "Communicating design-based research: A workshop for creating and interpreting design arguments and; Shaaron Ainsworth to present a short paper on Designing Drawing Activities to Support Simulation-based Learning in Quantum Mechanics OK so we did not go to Nashville -we stayed at out desks in Nottingham and attended virtually. If you went to ICLS too, please watch our presentations on the ICLS conference site and tell us what you thought. If you can spare the time for only one - can we recommend Bobby's paper. He was nominated for the best student paper and I wish we could have seen him perform it live; but...
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Move like a fish?

Move like a fish?

By Shaaron Comment Closed
Can enactment help you recognise and understand the movement patterns of creatures with bodies very different to our own? A collaboration between researchers at the LSRI at Nottingham and Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien in Tübingen set out to answer that question. If you want to read about what we found out you can in this paper now published by Computers and Education. ...
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