Education - Journal Articles
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Item Title conversational learning in the age of ChatGPT(Springer Nature, 2024-10-15) Long, FiachraConversation of a particular sort holds the key to learning. I argue here that peer to peer conversation promotes two features that are essential to progressive learning, namely ‘contestation’ and ‘communication.’ Traditional learning is principally concerned with whether students have reached a standard of knowledge and skill prescribed by some authority whereas progressive learning values less predictable outcomes and interests itself on process rather than end product. Machine-based learning such as ChatGPT, if not skilfully used, hides the flexibility essential to progressive learning and entices learners away from vagueness where much creativity begins. Even if ChatGPT presents itself as ‘conversational’, I argue here that this ‘conversation’ is contrived as a medium that lacks these two key ingredients. The knowledge stance presented in ChatGPT can easily obscure the fragility of human learning. Educators need to wonder about this situation. My argument follows the paths of Dewey and Mead and uses Latour and Habermas to sketch out these two important elements that feature typically in collaborative learning. This article concludes by following Dignum to note a real need for computer engineers to have an educational grounding in the arts and humanities. Indeed, the separation of the Arts from Science in Higher Education can no longer be justified in the age of AI.Item The arts in and out of school: Educational policy, provision and practice in Ireland today(Kura Publishing House, 2015) Dowling Long, SiobhánThe debate relating to the place and value of the arts in Irish Education is one that has dominated educational policy, provision, and practice down through the history of Irish educational policy from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Indeed, interest in this topic has been re-ignited with the recent publication of two educational policy documents, one based on the arts-in-education in and out of school The Arts in Education Charter (2013), and the other on the development of children and young people’s literacy and numeracy Literacy and Numeracy For Learning and Life: The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011––2020 (2011). Despite the Irish Government’s commitments to promote the arts in and out of school, this paper draws attention to the lack of any real investment in the Arts in Education Charter by the Irish Government, and the neglect of policymakers to include references to national and international educational research on the value of the arts for enhancing children’s life-long learning. Noting the pressures on primary teachers to allocate more time to the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, it highlights the potential threat of this initiative to the primary school arts education programme. Finally, it draws attention to the notable absence of an arts education programme for the majority of senior post-primary pupils who leave school without any in-depth knowledge and appreciation of their rich cultural heritage. This is an area of grave concern, and one that has received very little, if any, attention to date.Item Eliminating the fear of getting ‘caught out’: An examination of the development of out-of-field mathematics teachers’ professional self-understanding(Springer Nature Ltd., 2022-02-18) Ní Ríordáin, Máire; Goos, Merrilyn; Faulkner, Fiona; Quirke, Stephen; Lane, Ciara; O’Meara, NiamhResearch has demonstrated that teacher identity matters in mathematics education. This is of heightened concern when we consider those teaching mathematics out-of-field, a phenomenon prevalent at the post-primary level in the Irish context. A national program (PDMT) to upskill out-of-field teachers was established and current research is appraising graduates’ experiences. In this chapter, we bring together out-of-field teachers’ knowledge and identities, using Kelchtermans’ (2009) concept of professional self-understanding, which is an essential part of a teacher’s personal interpretive framework and acts as a lens through which teachers view their job, give meaning to it and act in it. We report on aspects of an online, primarily quantitative, survey administered to graduates of the PDMT examining their professional self-understandings on completion of the programme. The findings contribute to our understanding of important considerations relating to the development of professional learning programmes for upskilling out-of-field mathematics teachers.Item Coaches' experience of the "Gaelic4Teens" program in Ireland(Human Kinetics, 2022-08-18) O'Brien, Wesley; Hogan, Irene; Coppinger, TaraThis paper examines Irish volunteer coaches’ experiences of the content and delivery of the “Gaelic4Teens” coach education initiative, and further seeks to evaluate if participants coaching behavior changed as a result. The Gaelic4Teens program aims to help coaches better understand the female teenage participant through enhancing the coach–athlete relationship, which in turn, seeks to help retain young females in the sport. Qualitative data were gathered over a 16-week period from August to November 2020 and comprised of pre and post online focus groups with eight (three females and five males) volunteer coaches; one from each of the eight rural community sport settings (n = 8) in Ireland. Findings revealed that the coach education program had a meaningful impact on coaches’ abilities to competently work with female adolescents. Specifically, the Gaelic4Teens program is effective as a blended learning coach education program that encouraged a coaching environment that empowered the female athletes. Further analysis, with additional stakeholder input, is warranted to ascertain its long-term effectiveness.Item The acute effects of multiple components in a whole-school physical activity policy on executive functions of primary level students(Revista de Psicologia del Deporte, 2020) Kingston, Úna; Adamakis, Manolis; Costa, JoaoA growing body of literature examines the relationship between physical activity (PA) with executive functions (EF) and academic achievement in children and adolescents. The present study aimed at examining how multiple components in a whole-school PA policy intervention in a primary school setting affected the EF (i.e. working memory and inhibition) of students. The PA policy had three components, Physical Education (PE), Structured Play (SP) and Unstructured Play (UP). Testing of EF for working memory and inhibition was carried out with a sample of 43 students from the 4th and 6th class before and after each component of the PA policy, once a week for four weeks, after a one-week pilot. Children's working memory was measured with a verbal visual memory test using curriculum-based vocabulary, while their inhibition was assessed through the Animal Stroop-like test. The effect of each component of the PA intervention on working memory and inhibition was analysed with two separate repeated measures MANOVA, controlling gender and class as between-subject factors. For both working memory and inhibition, PE was more beneficial for all students comparing to SP and UP (p<.001). Regarding inhibition, no gender and class differences were observed. However, for working memory there were higher improvements for 4th class comparing to 6th class students (p<.05). PE appeared to be more beneficial for improving students' EF and is suggested to be prioritised when developing PA policy in schools. Further research is warranted with longitudinal studies.