Search results for: school initiated intervention

Authors: Anupama Purohit

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The paper is a study on the inevitable cross-linguistic effect found in the early multilingual learners. The cross-linguistic behaviour like code-mixing, code-switching, foreign accent, literal translation, redundancy and syntactic manipulation effected due to other languages on the English language output of a non-native pre-school child are discussed here. A case study method is adopted in this paper to support the claim of the title. A simultaneously tetra lingual pre-school child’s (within 1;3 to 4;0) language behaviour is analysed here. The sample output data of the child is gathered from the diary entries maintained by her family, regular observations and video recordings done since her birth. She is getting the input of her mother tongue, Sambalpuri, from her grandparents only; Hindi, the local language from her play-school and the neighbourhood; English only from her mother and occasional visit of other family friends; Odia only during the reading of the Odia story book. The child is exposed to code-mixing of all the languages throughout her childhood. But code-mixing, literal translation, redundancy and duplication were absent in her initial stage of multilingual acquisition. As the child was more proficient in English in comparison to her other first languages and had never heard code-mixing in English language; it was expected from her input pattern of English (one parent, English language) that she would maintain purity in her use of English while talking to the English language interlocutor. But with gradual increase in the language proficiency in each of the languages of the child, her handling of the multiple codes becomes deft cross-linguistically. It can be deduced from the case study that after attaining certain milestone proficiency in each language, the child’s linguistic faculty can operate at a metalinguistic level. The functional use of each morpheme, their arrangement in words and in the sentences, the supra segmental features, lexical-semantic mapping, culture specific use of a language and the pragmatic skills converge to give a typical childlike multilingual output in an intelligible manner to the multilingual people (with the same set of languages in combination). The result is appealing because for expressing the same ideas which the child used to speak (may be with grammatically wrong expressions) in one language, gradually, she starts showing cross-linguistic effect in her expressions. So the paper pleads for the separatist view from the very beginning of the holophrastic phase (as the child expresses in addressee-specific language); but development of a metalinguistic ability that helps the child in communicating in a sophisticated way according to the linguistic status of the addressee is unique to the multilingual child. This metalinguistic ability is independent of the mode if input of a multilingual child.

Keywords: code-mixing, cross-linguistic effect, early multilingualism, literal translation

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Authors: Dominic Winston Kaku

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The academic performance of students is an area of great concern in education to the various stakeholders of education. This is because the academic performance of students is widely used as a measure of the success of the educational process. There are several factors, such as school-related factors, teachers related factors, pupils or students’ factors, and many others determining their academic performance. It appears that the management role of head teachers as a determining factor of pupils’ academic achievement is not much investigated. The management role of head teachers is an essential element in the educational process that has a huge influence on students’ academic performance. The aim of the research was to examine the management role of head teachers in improving the academic performance of students. The study employed a descriptive survey and was conducted among Junior High Schools in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region of Ghana. The respondents for the study were mainly all the head teachers, teachers, and some selected basic school pupils (JHS) in four-selected public basic schools in the Ellembelle district in the Western part of Ghana. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from a sampling size of 252 persons, including 226 JHS pupils, all JHS teachers, and head teachers of all four selected schools. Descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies, percentages, pie charts, bar charts, means, and standard deviation, were used to analyse the data, and that formed the basis of the presentation of findings. The study discovered that planning academic activities, fostering relationships between the school and the community, supervising lessons, staff motivation, and punishing students who go wrong are some of the activities the head teachers participate in to help improve students’ academic performance. The academic performance of students is an area of great concern in education to the various stakeholders of education. This is because the academic performance of students is widely used as a measure of the success of the educational process. There are several factors, such as school-related factors, teachers related factors, pupils or students’ factors, and many others determining their academic performance. It appears that the management role of head teachers as a determining factor of pupils’ academic achievement is not much investigated. The management role of head teachers is an essential element in the educational process that has a huge influence on students’ academic performance. The aim of the research was to examine the management role of head teachers in improving the academic performance of students. The study employed a descriptive survey and was conducted among Junior High Schools in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region of Ghana. The respondents for the study were mainly all the head teachers, teachers, and some selected basic school pupils (JHS) in four-selected public basic schools in the Ellembelle district in the Western part of Ghana. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from a sampling size of 252 persons, including 226 JHS pupils, all JHS teachers, and head teachers of all four selected schools. Descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies, percentages, pie charts, bar charts, means, and standard deviation, were used to analyse the data, and that formed the basis of the presentation of findings. The study discovered that planning academic activities, fostering relationships between the school and the community, supervising lessons, staff motivation, and punishing students who go wrong are some of the activities the head teachers participate in to help improve students’ academic performance.

Keywords: supervision, head teacher, academic performance, planning, motivation, relationships

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Authors: Jean Akiana, Digne Merveille Nganga Bouanga, Nardiouf Sjelin Nsana, Wilfrid Sapromet Ngoubili, Chyvanelle Ndous Akiridzo, Vishnou Reize Ampiri, Henri-Joseph Parra, Florence Fenollar, Didier Raoult, Oleg Mediannikov, Cheikh Sadhibou Sokhna

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Schistosoma haematobium schistosomiasis is an endemic disease in which the level of human exposure, incidence, and fatality attributed to it remains, unfortunately, high worldwide. The erection of hydroelectric infrastructures constitute a major factor in the emergence of this disease. In the context of the Republic of the Congo, which considers industrialization and modernization as two essential pillars of development, building the hydroelectric dams of Liouesso (19 Mw) and the feasibility studies of the dams of Chollet (600MW) in the Sangha, of Sounda (1000MW) in Kouilou and Kouembali (150MW) on Lefini is necessary to increase the country's energy capacities. Likewise, the urbanization of former endemic localities should take into account the maintenance of contamination points. However, health impact studies on schistosomiasis epidemiology in general and urinary bilharzia, in particular, have never been carried out in these areas, neither before nor after the erection of those dams. Participants benefited from an investigative questionnaire, urinalysis both by dipstick and urine filtrate examined under a microscope. Assessment of the genetic diversity of schistosoma species populations was considered as well as PCR analysis to confirm the test strip and microscopy tests. 405 participants were registered in five localities. The sampling was made up of a balanced population in terms of male/female ratio, which is around 1. The prevalence rate was 45% (55/123) in Nkayi, 10.40% (11/106) in Loudima, 1 case in Mbomo (West Cuvette), which would probably be imported, zero in Liouesso and Kabo. The highest oviuria (number of eggs per volume of urine) is 150 S. haematobium eggs/10ml in Nkayi, apart from the case of imported Mbomo, imported from Gabon, which has 160 S. haematobium eggs/10ml. The lowest oviuria was 2 S. haematobium eggs/10ml. Prevalence rates are still high in semi-urban areas (Nkayi). As praziquantel treatments are available and effective, it is important to step up mass treatment campaigns in high risk areas already largely initiated by the National Schistosomiasis Control Program. Prevalence rates are still high in semi-urban areas (Nkayi). As praziquantel treatments are available and effective, it is important to step up mass treatment campaigns in high risk areas already largely initiated by the National Schistosomiasis Control Program.

Keywords: Bilharzia, Schistosoma haematobium, oviuria, urbanization, Congo

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Authors: Abeer Ahmed Abdelhamed

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Introduction: Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) are the most common complications observed and managed after abdominal or cardiothoracic surgery. Hypoxemia, atelectasis, pleural effusion, or diaphragmatic dysfunction, are often a source of morbidity in cardiac surgery patients, and are more common in patients receiving unilateral or bilateral internal mammary artery (IMT) grafts than patients receiving saphenous vein (SV) grafts alone. Purpose: The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of Threshold load inspiratory muscle training on pulmonary gas exchange and maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) in patient undergoing coronary revascularization. Subject: Thirty three male patients eligible for coronary revascularization were selected to participate in the study. Method: They were divided into two groups(17 patients in the intervention group and 16 patients in the control group), the interventional group received inspiratory muscle training at 30% of their maximum inspiratory pressure throughout the hospitalization period in addition to routine post operative care. Result: The results of this study showed a significant improvement on maximum inspiratory pressure(MIP), Arterial-alveolar pressure gradient (A-a gradient) and oxygen saturation in the intervention group. Conclusion: Inspiratory muscle training using threshold mode significantly improves maximum inspiratory pressure, pulmonary gas exchange tested by alveolar-arterial gradient and oxygen saturation in Patients undergoing coronary revascularization.

Keywords: coronary revascularization, inspiratory muscle training, maximum inspiratory pressure, pulmonary gas exchange

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Authors: Kamaljeet Kaur, Vinod Kumari, Jatesh Kathpalia, Bas Kaur

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A gender bias towards girl child is pervasive across the world. It is seen in all the strata of the society and manifests in various forms. However nature and extent of these inequalities are not uniform. Generally these inequalities are more prevalent in patriarchal society. Despite emerging and increasing opportunities for women, there are still inequalities between men and women in each and every sphere like education, health, economy, polity and social sphere. Patriarchal ideology as a cultural norm enforces gender construction which is oriented toward hierarchical relations between the sexes and neglect of women in Indian society. Discrimination to girls may also vary by their age and be restricted to the birth order and sex composition of her elder surviving siblings. The present study was conducted to know the gender discrimination among rural children in India. The respondents were selected from three generations as per AICRP age group viz, 18-30 years (3rd generation), 31-60 years (2nd generation) and above 60 years (1st generation). A total sample size was 600 respondents from different villages of two districts of Haryana state comprising of half males and half females. Data were collected using personal interview schedule and analysed by SPSS software. Among the total births 46.35 per cent were girl child and 53.64 % were male child. Dropout rate was more in female children as compared to male children i.e. near about one third (31.09%) female children dropped school followed by 21.17 % male children. It was quite surprising that near about two-third (61.16%) female children and more than half (59.22%) of the male children dropped school. Cooking was mainly performed by adult female with overall mean scores 2.0 and ranked first which was followed by female child (1.7 mean scores) clearly indicating that cooking was the activity performed mainly by females while activity related to purchase of fruits and vegetable, cereals and pulses was mainly done by adult male. First preference was given to male child for serving of costly and special food. Regarding professional aspiration of children of the respondents’ families, it was observed that 20.10% of the male children wanted to become engineer, whereas only 3.89 % female children wanted to become engineer. Ratio of male children was high in both generations irrespective of the districts. School dropouts were more in case of female in both the 1st and 2 nd generations. The main reasons of school dropout were lack of interest, lack of resources and early marriage in both the generations. Female enrolment was more in faculty of arts, whereas in case of male percentage it was more in faculty of non-medical and medical which showed that female children were getting traditional type of education. It is suggested to provide equal opportunities to girls and boys in home as well as outside the home for smooth functioning of society.

Keywords: gender biasness, male child, female child, education, home

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Authors: Sandra Biewers Grimm

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International studies such as Pisa have shown an increasing social inequality in the education system, which is determined in particular by social origin and migration status. This is especially the case in the Luxembourg school system, which creates challenges for many young people due to the multilingualism in the country. While the international and also the national debate on education in the immediate aftermath of the publications of the Pisa results mainly focused on the further development of school-based learning venues and formal educational processes, it initially remained largely unclear what role exactly out-of-school learning venues and non-formal and informal learning processes could play in this further development. This has changed in the meantime. Both in the political discourses and in the scientific disciplines, those voices have become louder that draw attention to the important educational function and the enormous educational potential of out-of-school learning places as a response to the crisis of the formal education system and more than this. Youth work as an actor and approach of non-formal education is particularly in demand here. Due to its principles of self-education, participation and openness, it is considered to have a special potential in supporting the acquisition of important key competencies. In this context, the study "Educational experiences in non-formal settings" at CCY takes a differentiated look behind the scenes of education-oriented youth work and describes on the basis of empirical data what and how young people learn in youth centers and which significance they attach to these educational experiences for their subjective life situation. In this sense, the aim of the study is to reconstruct the subjective educational experiences of young people in Open Youth Work as well as to explore the value that these experiences have for young people. In doing so, it enables scientifically founded conclusions about the educational potential of youth work from the user's perspective. Initially, the study focuses on defining the concept of education in the context of non-formal education and thus sets a theoretical framework for the empirical analysis. This socio-educational term of education differs from the relevant conception of education in curricular, formal education as the acquisition of knowledge. It also differs from the operationalization of education as competence, or the differentiation into cultural, social and personal or into factual, social or methodological competence, which is often used in the European context and which has long been interpreted as a "social science reading of the question of education" (XX). Now the aim is to define a "broader" concept of education that goes beyond the normative and educational policy dimensions of a "non-formal education" and includes the classical socio-educational dimensions. Furthermore, the study works with different methods of empirical social research: In addition to ethnographic observation and an online survey, group discussions were conducted with the young people. The presentation gives an insight into the context, the methodology and the results of this study.

Keywords: non-formal education, youth research, qualitative research, educational theory

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Authors: Kanae Suzuki

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Handheld video games are popular communication tools among Japanese elementary school students today. This study aims to examine the effects of the use of handheld video games on interpersonal relationships of the students in real and virtual worlds. A two-wave panel survey was conducted for students of ten elementary schools at an interval of approximately six months. The survey questionnaire included questions about the average amount of time spent playing a handheld video game during the past one month, the frequency of communication with players during game play, and the interpersonal relationships, such as the number of real and virtual friends the students have. A multiple regression model was constructed for 324 students to examine causal relationships. The results indicated that the more frequently the students communicated with other players while playing games, the number of the real friends tended to increase. In contrast, no significant effect of the total time spent playing games was found on interpersonal relationships. The findings suggested that communication during game play is an important factor for improving interpersonal relationships of this age group.

Keywords: communication, real friend, social adjustment, virtual friend

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Authors: Atiya Khan

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Recent research on the condition of school education in India has reaffirmed the importance of quality teacher professional development, especially in light of the rapid changes in teaching methods, learning theories, curriculum, and major shifts in information and technology that education systems are experiencing around the world. However, the quality of programs of teacher professional development in India is often uneven, in some cases non-existing. The educational authorities in India have long recognized this and have developed a range of programs to assist in-service teacher education. But, these programs have been mostly inadequate at improving the quality of teachers in India. Policy literature and reports indicate that the unevenness of these programs and more generally the lack of quality teacher professional development in India are due to factors such as a large number of teachers, budgetary constraints, top-down decision making, teacher overload, lack of infrastructure, and little or no follow-up. The disparity between the government stated goals for quality teacher professional development in India and its inability to meet the learning needs of teachers suggests that new interventions are needed. The realization that globalization has brought about an increase in the social, cultural, political and economic interconnectedness between countries has also given rise to transnational opportunities for education systems, such as India’s, aiming to build their capacity to support teacher professional development. Moreover, new developments in communication technologies seem to present a plausible means of achieving high-quality professional development for teachers through the creation of social learning spaces, such as transnational learning networks. This case study investigates the potential of one such transnational learning network to support the quality of teacher professional development in India, namely the Australia-Asia BRIDGE School Partnerships Project. It explores the participation of some fifteen teachers and their principals from BRIDGE participating schools in Delhi region of India; focusing on their professional development expectations from the BRIDGE program and account for their experiences in the program, in order to determine the program’s potential for the professional development of teachers in this study.

Keywords: case study, Australia-Asia BRIDGE Project, teacher professional development, transnational learning networks

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Authors: Headman Hebe, Arnold Taringa

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Background of the study: The benefits derived from Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) go beyond obtaining knowledge about the environment and the impact of human beings on the environment. Hence, it is sensible to expose learners to various resources that could enable meaningful environment-inclined pedagogy. The schoolgrounds, where they are utilised to promote ESE, benefit holistic learner development. However, empirical evidence, globally, suggests that young children’s contact with nature is declining due to urbanization, safety concerns by parents/guardians, and greater dependency on technology. Modern children spend much time on videogames and social media with very little time in the natural environment. Furthermore, national education departments in numerous countries have made tangible efforts to embed environmental and place-based learning to their school curricula. South Africa is one of those countries whose national school education curriculum advocates for ESE in pedagogy. Nevertheless, there is paucity of research conducted in South Africa on schoolgrounds as potential enablers of ESE and tools to foster a connection between youngsters and the natural environment. Accordingly, this study was essential as it seeks to determine the extent to which environmental learning is accommodated in pedagogy. Significantly, it investigates efforts made to use schoolgrounds for pedagogical purposes to connect children with the natural environment. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the accessibility and use of schoolgrounds for environment-inclined pedagogy in Natural and Social Sciences in two schools located in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. It tries to answer the question: To what extent are schoolgrounds used to promote environmental and sustainability education in the selected schools?The sub-questions: How do teachers and learners perceive the use of schoolgrounds for environmental and sustainability education activities? How does the organization of schoolgrounds offer opportunities for environmental education activities and accessibility for learners? Research method: This qualitative–interpretive case study used purposive and convenient sampling for participant selection. Forty-six respondents: 40 learners (twenty grade 7 learners per school), 2 school principals and 4 grade 7 participated in this study. Data collection tools were observations, interviews, audio-visual recordings and questionnaires while data analysis was done thematically. Major findings: The findings of the study point to: The lack of teacher training and infrastructure in the schoolgrounds and, no administrative support. Unclear curriculum guidelines on the use of schoolgrounds for ESE. The availability various elements in the schoolgrounds that could aid ESE activities. Learners denied access to certain parts of the schoolgrounds. Lack of time and curriculum demands constrain teachers from using schoolgrounds.

Keywords: affordances, environment and sustainability education, experiential learning, schoolgrounds

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Authors: Insook Lee, Heeseung Choi, Kyung-Sook Bang, Sungjae Kim, Minkyung Song, Buhyun Lee

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Backgrounds: A clearer and comprehensive understanding of the effects of forest therapy on depression is needed for further refinements of forest therapy programs. The purpose of this study was to review the literature on forest therapy programs designed to decrease the level of depression among adults to evaluate current forest therapy programs. Methods: This literature review was conducted using various databases including PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycArticle, KISS, RISS, and DBpia to identify relevant studies published up to January 2016. The two authors independently screened the full text articles using the following criteria: 1) intervention studies assessing the effects of forest therapy on depression among healthy adults ages 18 and over; 2) including at least one control group or condition; 3) being peer-reviewed; and 4) being published either in English. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) measurement tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each trial. Results: After screening current literature, a total of 14 articles (English: 6, Korean: 8) were included in the present review. None of the studies used randomized controlled (RCT) study design and the sample size ranged from 11 to 300. Walking in the forest and experiencing the forest using the five senses was the key component of the forest therapy that was included in all studies. The majority of studies used one-time intervention that usually lasted a few hours or half-day. The most widely used measure for depression was Profile of Mood States (POMS). Most studies used self-reported, paper-and-pencil tests, and only 5 studies used both paper-and-pencil tests and physiological measures. Regarding the quality assessment based on the SIGN criteria, only 3 articles were rated ‘acceptable’ and the rest of the 14 articles were rated ‘low quality.’ Regardless of the diversity in format and contents of forest therapies, most studies showed a significant effect of forest therapy in curing depression. Discussions: This systematic review showed that forest therapy is one of the emerging and effective intervention approaches for decreasing the level of depression among adults. Limitations of the current programs identified from the review were as follows; 1) small sample size; 2) a lack of objective and comprehensive measures for depression; and 3) inadequate information about research process. Futures studies assessing the long-term effect of forest therapy on depression using rigorous study designs are needed.

Keywords: forest therapy, systematic review, depression, adult

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Authors: Friday I. Joseph

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Background: Nigeria has an under-five mortality rate that is 128 per 1000 live birth which is higher than the rate for the African region. Optimal breastfeeding practice has the potential to reduce under-five mortality by 13% in developing countries. However, documented exclusive breastfeeding rate in Nigeria from birth to six months is just 17%. Aim: To explore perceptions of the sociocultural factors that influence exclusive breastfeeding for six months among rural mothers in Bindawa and Baure Local Government Area (LGA), Katsina state, North West Nigeria, to inform policies, intervention or strategies to improve exclusive breastfeeding practice in Nigeria. Methods: The social constructionism-interpretivist epistemological approach informed the use of an exploratory study to understand mothers’ experiences and views. Twenty mothers, all from rural areas between 19-35 years old were conveniently sampled from two LGA in Katsina state, north –west Nigeria for semi-structured interviews. Sample size had representation of both Hausa and Fulani ethnic group. Thematic content analysis was utilized for analysis. Results: Three major themes emerged from the study: (1) Breastfeeding initiation - Immediate traditional newborn care practices, birth attendant, place of delivery, the perception of about colostrum determines how soon a mother initiate breastfeeding. (2) Exclusive breastfeeding and introduction of food-Motivation to sustain exclusive breastfeeding relies on the interplay between the obligation to perform traditional rites; mother’s awareness and family support. (3) Decision making about infant feeding – It is not independent of the influence of key social figures like the father, mother-in-law, traditional birth attendant and the health workers. Overall, in spite of awareness of exclusive breastfeeding benefits, mothers expressed concerns that they may not win their family support if they shared contrary views. Conclusions: Health promotion intervention should be tailored, taking cognizant and addressing the sociocultural barriers to the practice of optimal breastfeeding by a focused community and family-based participatory approach. Implementers of interventions should employ culture-sensitive approaches in community-based intervention.

Keywords: exclusive breastfeeding, perception, qualitative, sociocultural determinants

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Authors: Josephine K. Mule, Levi Obonyo

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Technology has changed human life over time. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the work set-up, the school system, the shopping experience, church attendance, and even the way athletes train in Kenya. Although the use of technology to communicate and maintain interactions has been on the rise in the last 30 years, the uptake during the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented. Traditionally, ‘paid’ work has been considered to take place outside the “home house” but COVID-19 has resulted in what is now being referred to as “the world’s largest work-from-home experiment” with up to 43 percent of employees working at least some of the time remotely. This study was conducted on 90 respondents from across remote work set-ups, school systems, merchants and customers of online shopping, church leaders and congregants and athletes, and their coaches. Data were collected by questionnaires and interviews that were conducted online. The data is based on the first three months since the first case of coronavirus was reported in Kenya. This study found that the use of technology is in the center of working remotely with work interactions being propelled on various online platforms including, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, among others. The school system has also integrated the use of technology, including students defending their thesis/dissertations online and university graduations being conducted virtually. Kenya is known for its long-distance runners, due to the directives to reduce interactions; coaches have taken to providing their athletes with guidance on training on social media using applications such as WhatsApp. More local stores are now offering the shopping online option to their customers. Churches have also felt the brunt of the situation, especially because of the restrictions on crowds resulting in online services becoming more popular in 2020 than ever before. Artists, innovatively have started online musical concerts. The findings indicate that one of the outcomes in the Kenyan society that is evident as a result of the COVID-19 period is a population that is using technology more to communicate and get work done. Vices that have thrived in this season where the use of technology has increased, include the spreading of rumors on social media and cyberbullying. The place of technology seems to have been cemented by demand during this period.

Keywords: communication, coronavirus, COVID-19, Kenya, technology

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Authors: Sheena Christabel Pravin, M. Palanivelan

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Speech disfluencies are common in spontaneous speech. The primary purpose of this study was to distinguish linguistic disfluencies from stuttering disfluencies in bilingual Tamil–English (TE) speaking children. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluencies are mediated by native language dominance and/or on an early onset of developmental stuttering at childhood. A detailed study was carried out to identify the prosodic and acoustic features that uniquely represent the disfluent regions of speech. This paper focuses on statistical modeling of repetitions, prolongations, pauses and interjections in the speech corpus encompassing bilingual spontaneous utterances from school going children – English and Tamil. Two classifiers including Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), which is a class of feed-forward artificial neural network, were compared in the classification of disfluencies. The results of the classifiers document the patterns of disfluency in spontaneous speech samples of school-aged children to distinguish between Children Who Stutter (CWS) and Children with Language Impairment CLI). The ability of the models in classifying the disfluencies was measured in terms of F-measure, Recall, and Precision.

Keywords: bi-lingual, children who stutter, children with language impairment, hidden markov models, multi-layer perceptron, linguistic disfluencies, stuttering disfluencies

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Authors: Neha Toppo

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Method and strategies of teaching instruction highly influence learning of students. In second language teaching, number of ways and methods has been suggested by different scholars and researchers through times. The present article deals with the role of teaching instruction in developing compositional ability of students in writing. It focuses on the secondary level students of rural areas, whose exposure to English language is limited and they face challenges even in simple compositions. The students till high school suffer with their disability in writing formal letter, application, essay, paragraph etc. They face problem in note making, writing answers in examination using their own words and depend fully on rote learning. It becomes difficult for them to give language to their own ideas. Teaching writing composition deserves special attention as writing is an integral part of language learning and students at this level are expected to have sound compositional ability for it is useful in numerous domains. Effective method of instruction could help students to learn expression of self, correct selection of vocabulary and grammar, contextual writing, composition of formal and informal writing. It is not limited to school but continues to be important in various other fields outside the school such as in newspaper and magazine, official work, legislative work, material writing, academic writing, personal writing, etc. The study is based on the experimental method, which hypothesize that guided instruction will be more effective in teaching writing compositions than usual instruction in which students are left to compose by their own without any help. In the test, students of one section are asked to write an essay on the given topic without guidance and another section are asked to write the same but with the assistance of guided instruction in which students have been provided with a few vocabulary and sentence structure. This process is repeated in few more schools to get generalize data. The study shows the difference on students’ performance using both the instructions; guided and unguided. The conclusion of the study is followed by the finding that writing skill of the students is quite poor but with the help of guided instruction they perform better. The students are in need of better teaching instruction to develop their writing skills.

Keywords: composition, essay, guided instruction, writing skill

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Authors: Sobhy Fathy A. Hashesh

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The study was carried out in the Elementary Classes of Andalus Private Schools, girls section using control and experimental groups formed by Random Assignment Strategy. The study aimed at investigating the effect of Al-Andalus Fused Curriculum (AFC) model of learning and the effect of separate subjects’ approach on the development of students’ conceptual learning and skills acquiring. The society of the study composed of Al-Andalus Private Schools, elementary school students, Girls Section (N=240), while the sample of the study composed of two randomly assigned groups (N=28) with one experimental group and one control group. The study followed the quantitative and qualitative approaches in collecting and analyzing data to investigate the study hypotheses. Results of the study revealed that there were significant statistical differences between students’ conceptual learning and skills acquiring for the favor of the experimental group. The study recommended applying this model on different educational variables and on other age groups to generate more data leading to more educational results for the favor of students’ learning outcomes.

Keywords: AFC, STEAM, lego education, Al-Andalus fused curriculum, mechatronics

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Authors: Nilgun Karatas, Bihter Sakin

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In this study, the relationships between the use of language learning strategies and English language exit exam success were investigated in the university EFL learners’ context. The study was conducted at Fatih University Prep School. To collect data 3 classes from the A1 module in English language classes completed a questionnaire known as the English Language Learning Strategy Inventory or ELLSI. The data for the present study were collected from the preparatory class students who are studying English as a second language at the School of Foreign Languages. The students were placed into four different levels of English, namely A1, A2, B1, and B2 level of English competency according to European Union Language Proficiency Standard, by means of their English placement test results. The Placement test was conveyed at the beginning of the spring semester in 2014-2015.The ELLSI consists of 30 strategy items which students are asked to rate from 1 (low frequency) to 5 (high frequency) according to how often they use them. The questionnaire and exit exam results were entered onto SPSS and analyzed for mean frequencies and statistical differences. Spearman and Pearson correlation were used in a detailed way. There were no statistically significant results between the frequency of strategy use and exit exam results. However, most questions correlate at a significant level with some of the questions.

Keywords: individual differences, language learning strategies, Fatih University, English language

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Authors: B. B. van Schalkwyk, C. B. Schoeman, E. J. Cilliers

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High levels of urbanisation and the lingering effects of Apartheid have caused South African municipalities to experience difficulties in planning for sustainability and, more specifically, sustainable community development. Sustainable community development is needed in order to achieve more integrated and sustainable towns and cities with an improved living environment and a higher quality of life. Due to this, sustainable community development is of particular relevance to South Africa. Although policies and legislation exist at international, national and local level, there is a lack of suitable planning instruments to guide sustainable community development. Tlokwe Local Municipality is researched in this paper as study area to test and develop planning instruments for sustainable community development. A comparative assessment matrix of sustainability indicators is linked to Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and applied to identify the themes and sub-themes applicable to sustainability in which intervention is required to improve the sustainability rating of the municipality. The result of the comparative sustainability assessment is that the Tlokwe Local Municipality is considered to be relatively sustainable, performing overall better than the three spheres of government against which it was measured. It is recommended that municipalities use the comparative assessment matrix method to determine its level of sustainability when developing respective sectorial plans (SDFs, ITPs, EMFs and IDPs). Areas in which there is a lack of sustainability are highlighted and can consequently be addressed through intervention strategies. The comparative assessment matrix method is a valuable planning instrument with which to achieve sustainable community development.

Keywords: sustainable community development, sustainability indicators, comparative sustainability, urbanisation, development planning, urban management

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Authors: Mehar Fatima

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This study intends to make analysis of Emotional Intelligence (EI) in the process of pedagogy and look into its repercussions in different educational institutions including school, college, and university in the capital state of India, Delhi in 2015. Field of education is a complex area with challenging issues in a modern society. Education is the breeding ground for nurturing human souls, and personalities. Since antiquity, man has been in search of truth, wisdom, contentment, peace. His efforts have brought him to acquire these through hardship, evidently through the process of teaching and learning. Computer aids and artificial intelligence have made life easy but complex. Efficient pedagogy involves direct human intervention despite the flux of technological advancements. Time and again, pedagogical practices demand sincere human efforts to understand and improve upon life’s many pragmatic concerns. Apart from the intense academic scientific approaches, EI in academia plays a vital role in the growth of education, positively achieving national progression; ‘pedagogy of pragmatic purpose.’ Use of literature is found to be one of the valuable pragmatic tools of Emotional Intelligence. This research examines the way literature provides useful influence in building better practices in teaching-learning process. The present project also scrutinizes various pieces of world literature and translation, incorporating efforts of intellectuals in promoting comprehensive amity. The importance of EI in educational arena with its pragmatic uses was established by the study of interviews, and questionnaire collected from teachers and students. In summary the analysis of obtained empirical data makes it possible to accomplish that the use Emotional Intelligence in academic scenario yields multisided positive pragmatic outcomes; positive attitude, constructive aptitude, value-added learning, enthusiastic participation, creative thinking, lower apprehension, diminished fear, leading to individual as well as collective advancement, progress, and growth of pedagogical agents.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, human efforts, pedagogy, pragmatic concerns

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Authors: Hiromi Kawai

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This study investigates the nature of EFL older children’s L2 perceptive and productive abilities using classroom data, in order to find a pedagogical solution to the teaching of L2 sounds at an early stage of learning in a formal school setting. It is still inconclusive whether older children with only EFL formal school instruction at the initial stage of L2 learning are able to attain native-like perception and production in English within the very limited amount of exposure to the target language available. Based on the notion of the lack of study of EFL Japanese children’s acquisition of English segments, the researcher uses a model of L1 speech processing which was developed for investigating L1 English children’s speech and literacy difficulties using a psycholinguistic framework. The model is composed of input channel, output channel, and lexical representation, and examines how a child receives information from spoken or written language, remembers and stores it within the lexical representations and how the child selects and produces spoken or written words. Concerning language universality and language specificity in the language acquisitional process, the aim of finding any sound errors in L1 English children seemed to conform to the author’s intention to find abilities of English sounds in older Japanese children at the novice level of English in an EFL setting. 104 students in Grade 5 (between the ages of 10 and 11 years old) of an elementary school in Tokyo participated in this study. Four tests to measure their perceptive ability and three oral repetition tests to measure their productive ability were conducted with/without reference to lexical representation. All the test items were analyzed to calculate item facility (IF) indices, and correlational analyses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were conducted to examine the relationship between the receptive ability and the productive ability. IF analysis showed that (1) the participants were better at perceiving a segment than producing a segment, (2) they had difficulty in auditory discrimination of paired consonants when one of them does not exist in the Japanese inventory, (3) they had difficulty in both perceiving and producing English vowels, and (4) their L1 loan word knowledge had an influence on their ability to perceive and produce L2 sounds. The result of the Multiple Regression Modeling showed that the two production tests could predict the participants’ auditory ability of real words in English. The result of SEM showed that the hypothesis that perceptive ability affects productive ability was supported. Based on these findings, the author discusses the possible explicit method of teaching English segments to EFL older children in a formal school setting.

Keywords: EFL older children, english segments, perception, production, speech processing system

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Authors: Christina Albertina Ludwinia Parung, I Gusti Ayu Maya Vratasti

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Sexual transmission of HIV among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) is believed to be one of the sources of the AIDS epidemic. Nowadays, government, communities, and NGOs are taking action to prevent its spread by assisting and educating groups of MSM in their countries. This assistance involves experts in many fields of study, including psychology. In the field of psychology, psychoeducation is believed to be one of the ways to assist the MSM groups. Just like in other countries, this psychoeducation assistance is also needed in Indonesia, where MSM groups are found in many cities within. Surabaya, as the second largest and densely populated city in Indonesia, is known to have a big number of MSM population. In September to December 2020, the author and a colleague conducted a mentoring effort to the MSM community at the MSM community gathering location called Gang Pattaya, in the city of Surabaya. The existence of this community is disguised by the general public, but is well known by NGOs. Community members do MSM out of their liking, although some do it in exchange for money. However, safety factors, such as using condoms for MSM, are not a priority for this community. They do MSM whether they receive a reward or not, just out of a boost of pleasure. There is no attempt to find out the health of the partner once they are attracted to each other. In general, they do not know whether they are infected with HIV. Most of them feel healthy and since they do not show any symptoms, they think it is not necessary to get tested. In the mentoring process, the researchers conduct psychoeducation, which begins with an approach to certain individuals so that they are comfortable with the researchers’ presence, then increasing awareness of safe sex behavior for HIV prevention for groups in the form of counseling using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) approach. Counseling is carried out in various forms including roleplay, games, and seminars. The number of participants was 11 people, varying from 19-47 years old. Pretest related to knowledge of safe sex was carried out before conducting the intervention and post-test after the intervention. The normality test used is the Shapiro-Wilk analysis. Different tests on the data obtained were carried out using the non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. None of the participants had lower post-test knowledge scores than the pre-test. Prestest and post test for safer sex behavior showed 2 participants with safer sex behavior did not change. Both belong to the senior group, while other participants have an improvement in their safer sex behavior. These findings suggest that intervention programs for MSM as an effort to reduce HIV transmission should pay attention to affective and cognitive coping strategies.

Keywords: HIV, men who have sex with men, psychoeducation, psychology health, safer sex behavior, theory of reasoned action

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Authors: Maryam Bordbar, Yaser Mokhayeri, Sajjad Roosta, Fatemeh Ghasemi, Saeed Choobkar, Hamidreza Nikbakht, Ebrahim Falahi

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Objective: Diabetes mellitus type 2 is the most common metabolic disorder that is growing exponentially worldwide. Satureja Khuzestanica Jamzad is a native plant of Iran that grows widely in the south of Iran. Its antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects have been documented in animal studies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of consumption daily S. khuzestanica on inflammatory and antioxidant indicators in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods and Materials: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 67 patients with type 2 diabetes were included and divided into two groups. One group received S. khuzestanica (capsule containing 500 mg) and the other group received placebo (500 mg talcum powder) once a day for 12 weeks. After the intervention, the inflammatory and antioxidant indicators of the two groups were compared. Results: In comparison to placebo groups, there was a significant difference in levels of total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase; these antioxidant indicators were higher in the intervention group (P<0.05). Moreover, a considerable decrease in weight, CRP and IL-6 levels were observed in patients in the S.Khuzestanica group. Conclusion: Our findings may provide novel complementary treatments without adverse effects for diabetes complications.

Keywords: Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad, diabetes mellitus, antioxidant indicators, IL-6, C-reactive protein

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Authors: Selvia Arokiya Mary

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Introduction: Worldwide, breast cancer comprises 10.4% of all cancer incidence among women. In 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths). Many women who undergo breast surgery suffer from ill-defined pain syndromes. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: A study to assess the effectiveness of twin therapeutic approaches on certain bio-physiological parameters in breast cancer patients after breast surgery at selected hospital, Chennai. Objectives: This study is to 1. assess the level of certain biophysiological parameters in women after mastectomy. 2. assess the effectiveness of twin therapeutic approaches on certain biophysiological parameters in women after mastectomy. 3. correlate the practice of twin therapeutic approaches with certain biophysiological parameters. 4. associate the selected demographic variables with certain biophysiological parameters in women after mastectomy Research Design and Method: Pre experimental research design was used. Fifty women were selected by using convenient sampling technique at government general hospital, Chennai. Results: The Level of pain shows, in the study group 49(98%) of them had moderate in the pre test and after the intervention all of them had mild pain in the post test. In relation to level of shoulder function before the intervention shows that in the study group 49(98%) of them had movement towards gravity and after intervention 24 (48%) of them had movement against gravity maximum resistance. There was a significant reduction in pain and shoulder stiffness level at a ‘P’ level of < 0.001. There was a negative correlation between the pranayama practice and the level of pain, there was a positive correlation between the arm exercise practice and the level of shoulder function. There was no significant association between demographic and clinical variables with the level of pain and shoulder function in the study. Hypothesis: There is a significant difference in level of pain and shoulder function among women following breast surgery who receive pranayama & arm exercise programme. The pranayama had effect in terms of reduction of pain, arm exercise programme had effect in prevention of arm stiffness among post operative women following breast surgery. Thus the stated hypothesis was accepted. Conclusion: On the basis of the findings of the present study there was Advancing age related to increasing risk of breast cancer, level of pain also the type of surgery was associated with level of pain and shoulder function, There fore it is to be concluded that the study participants may get benefited by practice of pranayama and arm exercise program.

Keywords: biophysiological parameters breast surgery, lumpectomy , mastectomy, radical mastectomy, twin therapeutic approach, pranayama, arm exercise

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Authors: Ingo Roden, Stefana Lupu, Mara Krone, Jasmin Chantah, Gunter Kreutz, Stephan Bongard, Dietmar Grube

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The present experimental study examined the effects of music and math training on mathematical skills and visuospatial working memory capacity in kindergarten children. For this purpose, N = 54 children (mean age: 5.46 years; SD = .29) were randomly assigned to three groups. Children in the music group (n = 18) received weekly sessions of 60 min music training over a period of eight weeks, whereas children in the math group (n = 18) received the same amount of training focusing on mathematical basic skills, such as numeracy skills, quantity comparison, and counting objectives. The third group of children (n = 18) served as waiting controls. The groups were matched for sex, age, IQ and previous music experiences at baseline. Pre-Post intervention measurements revealed a significant interaction effect of group x time, showing that children in both music and math groups significantly improved their early numeracy skills, whereas children in the control group did not. No significant differences between groups were observed for the visuospatial working memory performances. These results confirm and extend previous findings on transfer effects of music training on mathematical abilities and visuospatial working memory capacity. They show that music and math interventions are similarly effective to enhance children’s mathematical skills. More research is necessary to establish, whether cognitive transfer effects arising from music interventions might facilitate children’s transition from kindergarten to first-grade.

Keywords: music training, mathematical skills, working memory, transfer

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Authors: Omar Mayyas

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Clinical decision-making (CDM) is essential to community health nursing (CHN) education. For this reason, nursing educators are responsible for developing these skills among nursing students because nursing students are exposed to highly critical conditions after graduation. However, due to limited exposure to real-world situations, many nursing students need help developing clinical decision-making skills in this area. Therefore, the impact of Virtual Simulation (VS) on community health nursing students' clinical decision-making in nursing education has to be investigated. This study aims to examine the difference in CDM ability among CHN students who received traditional education compared to those who received VS classes, to identify the factors that may influence CDM ability differences between CHN students who received a traditional education and VS classes, and to provide recommendations for educational programs that can enhance the CDM ability of CHN students and improve the quality of care provided in community settings. A mixed-method study will conduct. A randomized controlled trial will compare the CDM ability of CHN students who received 1hr traditional class with another group who received 1hr VS scenario about diabetic patient nursing care. Sixty-four students in each group will randomly select to be exposed to the intervention from undergraduate nursing students who completed the CHN course at York University. The participants will receive the same Clinical Decision Making in Nursing Scale (CDMNS) questionnaire. The study intervention will follow the Medical Research Council (MRC) approach. SPSS and content analysis will use for data analysis.

Keywords: clinical decision-making, virtual simulation, community health nursing students, community health nursing education

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Authors: Mairo H. Ipadeola, Catherine James Atteng

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The term social inclusion refers to a process by which those disadvantaged in society can have access to fully participate in education like others. Student with special needs are expected to learn along with their peers within the some educational institutions which provide adequate access for all. There for, the study sort to understand the typical ways in which students with disabilities (SWD) were denied from fully participating as students in Kaduna Polytechnic. In doing this, two (2) objectives and research questions were raised. Firstly, to explore the attitudes of others towards students with disabilities in the institutions and secondly, to ascertain the extent of social participation and physical accessibility for students with disabilities (SWD) while in the institutions. Based on the objectives the paper postulated the research questions: what are the attitudes of management, teachers, and students towards students with special need in Kaduna Polytechnic and to what extent did the students with disabilities experience social participation and physical accessibility within Kaduna Polytechnic school environment? The study area was Kaduna Polytechnic. The study engaged the interview for the data collected which were transcribed and analyzed by thematic coding. The findings were categorized under themes, sub-themes, and codes. The findings revealed that the perception, behavior, and association experiences of students with disabilities within Kaduna Polytechnic were not encouraging. Their experiences were characterized by negative attitudes, feelings of rejection, neglect, and bullying. Data generated on social participation indicated that 71% of the respondents believed that learning, school activities, recreations, and student politics between SWD and the other student were in the direction of low / very low. All the respondents, particularly students with blindness and physical challenges faced difficulty with environmental and physical access above all within the school environment, classroom, walkways and ramps, Also, directions were none existent in most departments with physical access to classrooms, toilets, cafeterias, and school shops absent or very low (71% and 29% of the respondents). The conclusion was that the physical barriers limited the possibilities of social participation of SWD.The paper made some recommendations such as mass public enlightenment on radio and television to change the perception of society about people with disability. Also, the federal, state, and local governments enact building acts for fresh builders and adopted measures and time frames for existing public buildings to be made accessible for people with disabilities. All stakeholders should ensure that the five (5) percent budget set aside by State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and/or Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for the provision of specialized equipment and facilities for the student with special needs should be used prudently spent and monitored by the board.cm.

Keywords: social inclusion, students with disability, social participation, environmental/physical access

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Authors: Karina Rashidovna Nabiullina

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In 2016, the ‘Beautiful Country’ innovative project was implemented in the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia). This project started at the initiative of architecture students majoring in city planning during their summer internship. As a part of the internship, the students had to study the layout and the lifestyle of Tatarstan towns. All the projects were presented to the Ministry of Construction of Tatarstan, which allowed the settlement authorities to receive the government funding for their implementation. This initiative, from the public discussion of the projects to their implementation, was welcomed by the local communities, evoked local patriotism, created new jobs as a part of the projects' implementation, and improved the architectural environment of the settlements. The projects initiated by the students became the ‘Big Projects’ for these small settlements.

Keywords: adapted graphic language, complex territorial development, identity of local resources, overcoming stagnation, participation

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Authors: Nozomi Fujisaka

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This sociological case study analyzes a sequence of student maltreatment in an elementary school in Japan, based on narratives from former students. Among various forms of student maltreatment, emotional maltreatment has received less attention. One reason for this is that emotional maltreatment is often considered part of education and is difficult to capture in surveys. To discuss the challenge of recognizing emotional maltreatment, it's necessary to consider the social background in which student maltreatment occurs. Therefore, from the perspective of the sociology of education, this study aims to clarify the process through which emotional maltreatment was embraced by students within a Japanese classroom. The focus of this study is a series of educational interactions by a homeroom teacher with 11- or 12-year-old students at a small public elementary school approximately 10 years ago. The research employs retrospective narrative data collected through interviews and autoethnography. The semi-structured interviews, lasting one to three hours each, were conducted with 11 young people who were enrolled in the same class as the researcher during their time in elementary school. Autoethnography, as a critical research method, contributes to existing theories and studies by providing a critical representation of the researcher's own experiences. Autoethnography enables researchers to collect detailed data that is often difficult to verbalize in interviews. These research methods are well-suited for this study, which aims to shift the focus from teachers' educational intentions to students' perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of student maltreatment. The research results imply a pattern of emotional maltreatment that is challenging to differentiate from education. In this study's case, the teacher displayed calm and kind behavior toward students after a threat and an explosion of anger. Former students frequently mentioned this behavior of the teacher and perceived emotional maltreatment as part of education. It was not uncommon for former students to offer positive evaluations of the teacher despite experiencing emotional distress. These findings are analyzed and discussed in conjunction with the deschooling theory and the cycle of violence theory. The deschooling theory provides a sociological explanation for how emotional maltreatment can be overlooked in society. The cycle of violence theory, originally developed within the context of domestic violence, explains how violence between romantic partners can be tolerated due to prevailing social norms. Analyzing the case in association with these two theories highlights the characteristics of teachers' behaviors that rationalize maltreatment as education and hinder students from escaping emotional maltreatment. This study deepens our understanding of the causes of student maltreatment and provides a new perspective for future qualitative and quantitative research. Furthermore, since this research is based on the sociology of education, it has the potential to expand research in the fields of pedagogy and sociology, in addition to psychology and social welfare.

Keywords: emotional maltreatment, education, student maltreatment, Japan

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Authors: Emily Jin, Harry Sharples, Anne Weist

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Introduction: NICE Evidence Search Student Champion Scheme is a peer-assisted learning scheme that aims to improve the routine use of evidence-based information by future health and social care staff. The focus is on the NICE evidence search portal that provides selected information from more than 800 reliable health, social care, and medicines sources, including up-to-date guidelines and information for the public. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme when implemented in Liverpool School of Medicine and to understand the experiences of those attending. Methods: Twelve student champions were recruited and trained in February 2020 as peer tutors during a workshop facilitated by NICE. Cascade sessions were then organised and delivered on an optional basis for students, in small groups of < 10 to approximately 70 attendees. Surveys were acquired immediately before and 8-12 weeks after cascade sessions (n=47 and 45 respectively). Data from these surveys facilitated the analysis of the scheme. Results: Surveys demonstrated 74% of all attendees frequently searched for health and social care information online as a part of their studies. However, only 15% of attendees reported having prior formal training on searching for health information, despite receiving such training earlier on in the curriculum. After attending cascade sessions, students reported a 58% increase in confidence when searching for information using evidence search, from a pre-session a baseline of 36%. Conclusion: NICE Evidence Search Student Champion Scheme provided clear benefits for attending students, increasing confidence in searching for peer-reviewed, mainly secondary sources of health information. The lack of reported training represents the unmet need that the champion scheme satisfies, and this likely benefits student champions as well as attendees. Increasing confidence in searching for healthcare information online may support future evidence-based decision-making.

Keywords: evidence-based medicine, NICE, medical education, medical school, peer-assisted learning

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Authors: Abdu Feroz Maluleke

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Digital literacy skills among first-year university students has been under scrutiny in recent years. This is largely due to the pressure faced by the South African higher education sector as the battle to integrate educational technologies into the teaching curriculum. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the digital literacy skills of first-year students at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. A positivism quantitative research methodology will be employed to collect data from 468 first-year students at a higher education institution through a validated questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, T-tests, ANOVA, and Spearman's correlation will be conducted using SPSS. Anticipated findings suggest that various demographic factors, such as previous school, self-efficacy, and age, significantly influence learners' digital literacy competency. Furthermore, the projected findings highlight the importance of rural secondary schools adopting and implementing technological pedagogies in their curriculum. This research aims to make a substantial contribution to the development of ICT adoption guidelines for the secondary school curriculum, which would aid the basic educational sector in South Africa.

Keywords: technology acceptance model, digital literacy skills, secondary schools, south africa

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Authors: Paulo Sérgio Ribeiro de Araújo Bogas

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Although several studies have assumed (at least implicitly) that learners' approaches to learning develop into deeper approaches to higher education, there appears to be no clear theoretical basis for this assumption and no empirical evidence. As a scientific contribution to this discussion, a pedagogical intervention of a quasi-experimental nature was developed, with a mixed methodology, evaluating the intervention within a single curricular unit of Marketing, using cases based on real challenges of brands, business simulation, and customer projects. Primary and secondary experiences were incorporated in the intervention: the primary experiences are the experiential activities themselves; the secondary experiences result from the primary experience, such as reflection and discussion in work teams. A diversified learning relationship was encouraged through the various connections between the different members of the learning community. The present study concludes that in the same context, the student's responses can be described as students who reinforce the initial deep approach, students who maintain the initial deep approach level, and others who change from an emphasis on the deep approach to one closer to superficial. This typology did not always confirm studies reported in the literature, namely, whether the initial level of deep processing would influence the superficial and the opposite. The result of this investigation points to the inclusion of pedagogical and didactic activities that integrate different motivations and initial strategies, leading to the possible adoption of deep approaches to learning since it revealed statistically significant differences in the difference in the scores of the deep/superficial approach and the experiential level. In the case of real challenges, the categories of “attribution of meaning and meaning of studied” and the possibility of “contact with an aspirational context” for their future professional stand out. In this category, the dimensions of autonomy that will be required of them were also revealed when comparing the classroom context of real cases and the future professional context and the impact they may have on the world. Regarding the simulated practice, two categories of response stand out: on the one hand, the motivation associated with the possibility of measuring the results of the decisions taken, an awareness of oneself, and, on the other hand, the additional effort that this practice required for some of the students.

Keywords: experiential learning, higher education, mixed methods, reflective learning, marketing

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