scholarly journals Active Citizens: Evaluation of a Community-Based Education Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Simonova ◽  
Jan Cincera ◽  
Roman Kroufek ◽  
Sarka Krepelkova ◽  
Andreas Hadjichambis

This study analyses the Active Citizens program conducted in seven Czech elementary schools in 2017/2018. The data were obtained in a mixed-design research study containing pre/post experimental/control groups (N = 114), eight focus groups with selected students (N = 56), and group interviews with teachers (N = 14). The mean age of the students was 13.8 years. The study focuses on the students’ and the teachers’ perception of the process, the program’s barriers and benefits, and on the impact of the program on the students’ self-efficacy and on perceived democratic school culture. The analysis revealed that while the participants felt empowered because of their experience, they started to perceive their school environment as less democratic than before the program. The program also likely influenced girls more than boys as the latter seem to have been unaffected. Finally, the implications of the findings for the practice are discussed.

Author(s):  
Marjorie Mayo

Governments have supported popular education initiatives in the past. And so have community organisations and social movements. But the spaces for popular education have been shrinking in recent times, as part of the impact of neo-liberal globalisation. Public services have been increasingly subjected to pressures from market forces, pressures that have impacted on community-based education and lifelong learning. Despite these wider pressures, educators have continued to find spaces and places for popular education and participatory action research, however, working across sectors in a variety of contexts. The chapter includes examples of innovatory approaches in both formal settings and informal settings (such as libraries and community centres) including examples from both Northern and Southern American contexts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Banville ◽  
Pamela Hodges Kulinna ◽  
Ben Dyson ◽  
Michalis Stylianou ◽  
Rachel Colby ◽  
...  

The purpose of this study was to identify students’ perspectives of the role of healthy behaviours in their well-being and school success. Since a number of studies focused on establishing the link between healthy behaviours and learning have relied on quantitative measures, it was deemed important to provide a different perspective on the topic and give students a voice. Participants were 50 Aotearoa/New Zealand nine- and 10-year-old students of various ethnic backgrounds from two elementary schools. Using situated learning theory to determine the impact a school environment that promotes physical activity has on students’ perspectives, four categories were drawn from student focus-group interviews: (1) opportunities to be active, (2) roles of physical activity, (3) students’ misconceptions of health concepts, and (4) students’ support for health education and physical education at their schools. Students in this study were afforded multiple opportunities to be physically active and acknowledged the benefits these bouts of activities gave them while differentiating the types of opportunities and value they gained from them. Within their community of practice, students were sometimes ‘full’ participants as their knowledge was fully constructed, and sometimes ‘peripheral’ participants, needing more time, active engagement and content knowledge to better grasp some concepts. Little health education content knowledge was provided to classroom teachers, which might have caused some of the misconceptions held by students related to the impact of physical activity and nutrition on their brain function.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Ali Nouri ◽  
Fataneh Esmaeilli ◽  
Saman Seifpour ◽  
Mahmoud Talkhabi ◽  
Anahita Khorami

This study is a mixed method design which employed both quantitative and qualitative methods in order to investigate the impact of dialogic learning on students’ attention and academic achievement. Data were collected using several instruments, including: the Attention Network Test; academic performance tests and semi-structured interviews. Results of Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of students of the experimental and control groups on the executive control in favor of the experimental group after controlling the IQ score and pre-test scores. Further, there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of student of the experimental and control groups on the academic achievement tests (except of mathematics) in favor of the experimental group. The qualitative data also supported the quantitative findings. Therefore, dialogic teaching has significantly greater and more positive changes on some aspects of attention and academic performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (Number 1) ◽  
pp. 81-103
Author(s):  
Chamila Nishanthi Edward ◽  
David Asirvatham ◽  
Gapar Johar

Purpose - The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate the impact of teaching Oriental Music using Blended Learning (BL) approach for the students of senior secondary level in Sri Lanka specifically focusing on their achievement on required competencies of Oriental Music at Ordinary Level. The study analyzes the academic performance of students with detailed comparison of BL environment and traditional learning environment. Authors propose the application of BL approach to teach Oriental Music and study its impact on improvement of students’ competency. The study conducted with the application of a mixed instructional design model of objectivist and constructivist approaches for the design of the blended learning course in a student centred learning environment. Methodology - The study was directed by using true experimental study design with pretest and posttest control groups. BL was applied to the experimental group and the traditional instruction method was applied to control group. 9 schools from Colombo district were randomly selected for the experimental and control groups covering all the three existing school types of Sri Lanka. The study group consisted of 360 students of Grade 10 and Grade 11 who has been studying Oriental Music as a subject for General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level. To analyze the data Descriptive statistics, Paired samples t test, Independent samples t test were utilized. Findings - The findings of the experiment indicated that students who has studied Oriental Music under BL strategy showed a significant improvement in their music academic performances after the intervention. The mean post-test of the experimental group was 71.75 which is significantly higher than the mean control group which was 52.07. The mean difference was 19.68 1.91. Hence, there is a statistically significant increase in the performance of students who studied Oriental Music under blended learning. Thus, it is clearly evident that the blended instruction was effective. Significance - This study indicated a positive platform to mould and cater the entire teaching learning process by introducing BL strategy to Sri Lankan secondary education system and fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing BL to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt blended instructions to teach secondary level students effectively.


Author(s):  
Samer R. Hmeadat

    The study sought to investigate the impact of limited and regulated code switching on the achievement of the Jordanian EFL learners. To achieve the aim of study, the use of code-switching was intended to be integrated within the code of conduct which made up the backbone of the class management.  The study sample consisted of (105) students from the eighth and ninth grades in Berein Secondary School, The Second Directorate of Education in Zarqa District. The subjects were divided into four groups; two experimental groups consisted of (51) male students who were taught through using code-switching. The other two control groups consisted of (52) male students who were taught the same content through the conventional strategy. Questionnaires were distributed into (100) male and female English teachers in different public and private schools to know their attitudes toward using code-switching in their daily lessons in EFL classrooms.  To achieve the goals of this study, the researcher chose both the quantitative design (achievement test) and the qualitative design (interviews and questionnaire) to conduct his study. Analysis of One-Way ANOVA was performed to test the statistical significance of the differences among groups. The results revealed that there was a statistical significant difference at the level (α =0.05) in the mean scores between the experimental groups and the control groups in favor of the experimental groups. The result showed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the subjects of the experimental groups who were taught through the code of conduct and using the code-switching.  


Background and Aim: Preterm delivery, and the consequences are include premature newborn, hospitalization in the NICU ward, psychological damage to mother and heart family performing low-cost, practical interventions can play an important role in promoting maternal health by to reduce psychological trauma. Therefore, the present study was performed to determine the impact of physical-mental exercises on depression after preterm delivery. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 100 women with preterm delivery 28-36 weeks, it was performed in public hospitals in Mashhad in 2019. Sampling was performed by random blocking method and the subjects were selected by available method and were divided into two control groups (n=50) and intervention (n=50). The intervention group performed stretching exercises as well as meditation by the researcher on the third day after delivery with a frequency of two sessions per week for up to 8 sessions, and the control group received the usual care. Beck's depression questionnaire was completed for both groups in the first 24 hours after delivery and at the end of the study. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by independent t-test, Mann-Whitney and Wilkaxon. Results: The mean score of depression in the intervention and control groups at the end of the study was statistically significant (p≥0.001). The mean score of depression in the intervention group was significant at the beginning and the end of the study (P<0.001). Conclusion: Stretching exercises with a focus on the body after delivery can reduce the rate of depression in mothers with preterm delivery. Key Words: Meditation; Postpartum Depression; Preterm Delivery; Stretching Exercise


1992 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
Antonio C. M. Carvalho

I discuss aspects of undergraduate medical education related to primary health care and analyse innovative programmes, with emphasis on problem-based methods and community-based education. Assessing the impact of these programmes shows problem-based learning is an interesting didactic exercise but not a necessary or sufficient condition for the adequacy of programmes to the Health for All (HFA) policy. Community-based education is pressed by several obstacles inside and outside educational institutions that put at risk its effectiveness as a real agent of change. Amongst these obstacles are political difficulties in building linkages amongst teaching institutions, services, and community; logistical problems in facilitating faculty and student work in the community; reactions from faculties; poor research opportunities in primary health care; pressures for more socially, professionally, and economically rewarding careers; biases in training the present generation of teachers; attempts to fulfil the social, behavioural, epidemiological, and preventive knowledge requirements for medical education by adding to an already overloaded information base; and shortage of relevant and significant sources of information for the medical students. Building corporations representing ‘innovative’ programmes, on one side, and ‘conservative’, ‘traditional’ ones, on the other, is not helpful and probably false. Each Programme should be assessed in its strength and weaknesses in the light of political decisions committed to change in unequal, poor-quality health systems.


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