Unveiling knowledge gaps: an investigation into the design and implementation of video hooks in the science classroom

This paper delineates the specific design strategy used in the creation of physics video hooks over the course of an eight-week project. A hook is an instructional technique which stimulates student attention (Hunter, 1994; Lemov, 2010), interest (Jewett Jr., 2013) and engagement (McCrory, 2011; Riendeau, 2013). The hook videos are aimed at post primary/middle school students (11–15 years old) with relevant topics being selected from the Irish science curriculum. The project employed a modified Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE) design framework that allowed videos to be developed in an efficient and practical manner. Pertaining to design considerations, the videos are aligned with the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Furthermore, specific design elements are embedded into the videos, which include relevance, questioning, discrepancy, and novelty. Finally, the key findings and challenges encountered during the hook design process are examined.

By Hook or by Crook

The purpose of this research is to explore the competencies of project managers in the field of educational technology in the higher education context. A conceptual framework is presented based on the current definition of the field of educational technology; knowledge, skill, and ability (KSA) statements; and the sixth edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Using this conceptual framework, an interview protocol with 11 open-ended questions was developed by the research team to gather relevant information from experienced educational technology project managers. We then interviewed N=13 educational technology project managers from institutions of higher education across the United States and analyzed these data using the Constant Comparative Method. Three dominant themes emerged during data analysis: “knowledge,” “skills,” and “abilities.” These themes are described in detail along with the properties and categories from our data, and a discussion of our findings is provided. Recommendations are made for both researchers and professionals.

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Project Management Competencies of Educational Technology Professionals in Higher Education: A Qualitative Analysis of the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

The Effect of Set Induction on Student Knowledge, Attitude, and Engagement Levels of High School Agricultural Science Students. (December 2008) Tiffany Sarah Laverne Johnston, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. T. Grady Roberts The purpose of this study was to determine if applying set induction to the beginning of a lesson would have an effect on student knowledge, attitude, and/or engagement levels throughout the lesson. Researchers addressed specific objectives in this report to determine if using a set induction at the beginning of a lesson will have a significant effect on students’ attained knowledge levels, to determine if using a set induction at the beginning of a lesson will have a significant effect on students’ attitudinal perspectives towards the lesson, to determine if using a set induction at the beginning of a lesson will have a significant effect on student’s engagement levels throughout the lesson. To address these objectives, a quasi–experimental study using four separate agricultural education classrooms was conducted. Descriptive and comparative analyses were then performed on all participating groups. The results of this study illustrate the following conclusions: (a) there is no significant difference in student knowledge between the treatment and control groups; (b) there is no significant difference in student attitude between the treatment and control

The Effect of Set Induction on student knowledge, attitude, and engagement levels of high school agricultural science students

Abstract Organic chemistry often represents a key impasse for students during their third level science education. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to perceived difficulties in learning the subject. Moreover, the teaching of multi-step organic synthesis at third level has well-documented challenges. At University College Cork (UCC), we have adopted a strategy to engage students at the mid to late degree stage using an innovative teaching hook, to inspire interest and engagement. The approach was taken to outline chronologically some of the seminal breakthroughs in synthesis, and organic chemistry more generally, from the 1950 s to a few of the current leaders of today. Importantly the focus is on the people, the circumstance and the stories surrounding them. As a relevance-based hooking strategy grounded in a storytelling pedagogy, the goal was to inform students of the potential in organic chemistry and thus spark their interest for the subsequent lectures. Over multiple interventions, feedback from students has been highly positive. We posit that the design framework behind the ‘The People and Personalities’ could be adapted to many disciplines in a similarly successful manner. Overall, this approach proved inspirational for students, and was a most timely intervention in their degree program.

Some people and personalities of organic chemistry: a teaching hook for mid-level university students

Perhaps more clearly than in past times, science education has been expected to contribute to national goals of security and general welfare. The study of science in elementary and secondary schools is expected to build scientific literacy among a majority of our citizenry, in the hope that it will lead directly and indirectly to the establishment of a sizable reservoir of scientifically competent manpower. The National Science Foundation has spent $30,000,000 in support of the development of projects designed to improve the teaching of science in the high school. One of these projects is the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS). BSCS is concerned with the improvement of biology education through the preparation of curriculum materials related to the study of biology. These materials have been designed to reduce the gap between the classroom and the frontiers of biologic knowledge by emphasizing the revisionary character of knowledge and the processes by which scientific knowledge is derived. Great emphasis has been placed on laboratory activities. BSCS has attempted to present models to educators and publishers of what competent research biologists, high school biology teachers, psychologists, and educators believe to be good methods of teaching general biology at the high school level. In the past, this massive commitment has centered on the production of materials that have modernized the conceptual approach to the substantive and process dimensions. The process of education, however, may be viewed as being composed of three distinct dimensions: (i) the substantive, or what is being taught; (ii) the behavioral, or the dynamics of the teaching-learning act; and (iii) and the environmental, or the physical setting within which the teaching-learning act takes place (Downy, 1965, p. 88). When an analysis of the BSCS program is made within this frame of reference, it becomes apparent that a majority of the developments resulting from the efforts of its designers fall within the environmental and substantive dimensions, to the exclusion of the behavioral. In his recent book Fantasy and Feeling in Education, Richard Jones comments that while modern educators have constructed several new curricular programs that have influenced the schools of America, their emphasis has been on instructional material rather than method (Jones, 1968, p. 3). Until very recently, this trend has been predominant in the thinking of BSCS, which has stimulated a rethinking of the goals and purposes of biology education in our high schools. In a recent BSCS publication, Glenn Peterson (1969, p. 67) has pointed out the importance of preparing the teachers of the new biology in teaching skills as well as insuring their competence in the discipline. He maintains that attempts to stimulate change and additions in teachers will fall into two categories: knowledge of new developments in the discipline and knowledge of new developments in the teaching of the discipline. The primary purpose of curriculum innovation, he believes, is to induce change in the substantive envionmental and behavioral dimensions and, as a result, to influence the educative process in pursuit of desired behavioral goals.

Robert F. Schuck

Papers

Set Induction as an Instructional Tool