Do teachers believe that video games can improve learning?

Although video games are increasing their presence in teens/children's private entertainment and there is ample evidence to support their educational possibilities, they are seldom introduced in classrooms. One of the least studied factors relative to the insertion of video games in curricula is teachers' conceptions on their effectiveness to foster learning. In this study, we investigate how teachers conceive of the educational usage of video games, considering their reported value and which video game dimensions are reflected to be of importance, as well as personal traits linked to them (gender, educational level, area of knowledge, teaching experience, behavioral intention ...). We designed a Likert questionnaire with three main dimensions: pragmatic play, epistemic play, and learning outcomes (verbal information, skills, and attitudes). 595 Spanish teachers answered the questionnaire online. We applied ANOVA and multiple regression techniques, which revealed a broad acceptance of video games as educational media. The most relevant analyzed factors turned out to be the intention to use video games in classrooms, and the private use of video games. Teachers believe that video games promote more learning when played with an epistemic goal, mediated by scaffolding and especially under the teacher's guidance, compared to pragmatic play related to completion and success in the game. They also consider video games to mainly promote verbal information learning, procedural learning, and finally attitude learning, with the latter being less probable. We suggest the need to strengthen not only teacher training programs in the educational use of video games but also research on relationships between teachers' beliefs and practices in order to convert these favorable beliefs into actual real practices.

Oral Tradition as Context for Learning Music From 4E Cognition Compared With Literacy Cultures. Case Studies of Flamenco Guitar Apprenticeship.

The awareness of the last 20 years about embodied cognition is directing multidisciplinary attention to the musical domain and impacting psychological research approaches from the 4E (embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended) cognition. Based on previous research regarding musical teaching and learning conceptions of 30 young guitar apprentices of advanced level in three learning cultures: Western classical, jazz, and flamenco of oral tradition, two participants of flamenco with polarised profiles of learning (reproductive and transformative) were selected as instrumental cases for a prospective ex post facto design. Discourse and practice of the two flamenco guitarists were analysed in-depth to describe bodily issues and verbal discourse on the learning practice in their natural contexts. Qualitative analysis is performed on the posture, gestures, verbal discourse, and musical practice of the participants through the System for the Analysis of Music Teaching and Learning Practices (SAPIL). The results are organised attending: (a) the Embodied mind through differential postures and gestures of flamenco participants that showed a fusion among verbal, body language, and musical discourse with respect to the musical literacy cultures; (b) the Embedded mind and a detailed description of circumstances and relationships of the two flamenco participants, and how music is embedded in their way of life, family and social context, and therefore transcends musical activity itself; (c) the Enactive mind, regarding the active processes that make differences between the reproductive and the transformative flamenco apprentices, then tentative relationship are observed in the discourse of each apprentice and the way in which they practice; finally, (d) the Extended mind through the bodily, technical and symbolic tools they use during learning. Flamenco culture of oral tradition made use of listening, and temporary external representations instead of notational, but also the body played a central role in a holistic rhythm processing through multimodality, such as singing, playing, and dancing. Conclusions point out the embodied mind as a result of the culture of learning reflected through the body and the gesture in instrumental learning.

Analysis of Teaching Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Teachers' Goals and Activities in Virtual Classrooms.

To research teachers' priorities on what was to be taught and learned during the COVID-19 lockdown, we asked Spanish Primary and Secondary teachers to choose and describe the activity they preferred among those carried out with their students during the pandemic. Our interest was to investigate what really happened in the classrooms, the type of learning favored by the practices (reproductive vs. constructive), and the agreement between the teacher's goals and their teaching We obtained 272 activities that we analyzed according to the proposed goals, the types of learning worked (verbal, procedural, and attitudinal), and the kind of teaching promoted (content or student-centered). Results showed that most teachers proposed content-centered activities, oriented above all to verbal learning. There were clear differences between the proposed goals, partly student-centered, and what was really taught, essentially content-centered. We obtained two teaching profiles, one reproductive and the other constructive.

Teaching and learning musical instruments through ICT: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

The COVID-19 lockdown in education institutions required music teachers to use ICT to continue teaching. This research study, with the use of a Likert type online questionnaire, analyses the ICT activities carried out during this period and the learning conceptions they reflect. The questionnaire consisted of the description of activities which varied, depending on the learning promoted (reproductive or constructive), the learning outcomes (verbal, procedural, or attitudinal), the type of assessment to which the activities were directed, and the presence of cooperative activities. The teachers had to indicate the frequency with which they carried out these activities. The questionnaire was completed by 254 instrumental music teachers from different types of institutions and different levels. The main study outcome was that teachers used reproductive activities more frequently than constructive ones. We also found that most activities were those favouring verbal learning and assessment. The cooperative activities were the least frequent. Finally, through a cluster analysis, we identified three teaching profiles depending on the frequency and type of ICT used: Passive, Active, and Interpretative. The variable that produced the most consistent differences was previous ICT use.

Teaching and Learning in Times of COVID-19: Uses of Digital Technologies During School Lockdowns.

The closure of schools as a result of COVID-19 has been a critical global incident from which to rethink how education works in all our countries. Among the many changes generated by this crisis, all teaching became mediated by digital technologies. This paper intends to analyze the activities carried out during this time through digital technologies and the conceptions of teaching and learning that they reflect. We designed a Likert-type online questionnaire to measure the frequency of teaching activities. It was answered by 1,403 teachers from Spain (734 primary and 669 secondary education teachers). The proposed activities varied depending on the learning promoted (reproductive or constructive), the learning outcomes (verbal, procedural, or attitudinal), the type of assessment to which the activities were directed, and the presence of cooperative activities. The major result of this study was that teachers used reproductive activities more frequently than constructive ones. We also found that most activities were those favoring verbal and attitudinal learning. The cooperative activities were the least frequent. Finally, through a cluster analysis, we identified four teaching profiles depending on the frequency and type of digital technologies use: Passive, Active, Reproductive, and Interpretative. The variable that produced the most consistent differences was previous digital technologies use These results show that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) uses are reproductive rather than constructive, which impedes effective digital technologies integration into the curriculum so that students gain 21st-century competencies.

Infant, primary and secondary teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching and their relation to educational variables / Concepciones de enseñanza y aprendizaje de profesores de infantil, primaria y secundaria y la relación con las variables educativas

It has been established that teachers' conceptions of learning and teaching influence their instructional practices. Several authors maintain that these conceptions are based on certain implicit assumptions that give rise to different theories. Our view is that people have multiple alternative theories which they use depending on the context and the demands of the task. The main purpose of this study was to find out whether such representational plurality exists in teachers' conceptions and, if it does, whether this plurality can lead to the identification of different representational profiles. We were also interested in studying some of the teaching practice variables that might influence the nature of the representational profiles. Our results, obtained by means of a dilemma questionnaire answered by 1074 teachers from different educational levels and knowledge domains and with different ranges of experience, are consistent with the assumption of representational plurality, as they show that the same teacher may hold different conceptions that set up a conceptions profile. Moreover, the combination of the responses in each profile is not random. Teachers at the more advanced levels and with more teaching experience manifested more traditional conceptions. Furthermore, some knowledge domains were associated with certain conception profiles.

Se ha comprobado que las concepciones de aprendizaje y enseñanza de los profesores influyen en su práctica docente. Varios autores sostienen que estas concepciones se basan en ciertos supuestos implícitos que dan lugar a distintas teorías. Nuestra visión es que la gente dispone de multitud de teorías alternativas que pueden utilizar en función del contexto y las exigencias de la tarea. El objetivo principal del presente estudio es averiguar si esta pluralidad representativa existe en las concepciones de los profesores y, de ser así, si puede conducir a la identificación de distintos perfiles representacionales. Nos interesamos, asimismo, por el estudio de algunas de las variables de la práctica docente que pudieran influir en la naturaleza de dichos perfiles. Nuestros resultados - obtenidos mediante un cuestionario de dilemas realizado por 1074 profesores de distintos niveles educativos, ámbitos de conocimiento y experiencia- coinciden con la suposición de la pluralidad representativa, pues revelan que el mismo profesor podría forjar concepciones distintas que conforman un perfil de concepciones. Además, la combinación de respuestas en cada perfil no es aleatoria. Los profesores de niveles más altos y los más experimentados manifestaron unas concepciones más tradicionales. Igualmente, algunos campos de conocimiento se asociaron a perfiles de concepciones concretos.

The influence of teachers' conceptions on their students' learning: children's understanding of sheet music.

BACKGROUND: Despite increasing interest in teachers' and students' conceptions of learning and teaching, and how they influence their practice, there are few studies testing the influence of teachers' conceptions on their students' learning. AIMS: This study tests how teaching conception (TC; with a distinction between direct and constructive) influences students' representations regarding sheet music. SAMPLE: Sixty students (8-12 years old) from music conservatories: 30 of them took lessons with teachers with a constructive TC and another 30 with teachers shown to have a direct TC. METHODS: Children were given a musical comprehension task in which they were asked to select and rank the contents they needed to learn. These contents had different levels of processing and complexity: symbolic, analytical, and referential. Three factorial ANOVAs, two-one-way ANOVAs, and four 2 × 3 repeated-measures ANOVAs were used to analyse the effects of and the interaction between the independent variables TC and class, both for/on total cards selected, their ranking, and each sub-category (the three processing levels). RESULTS: ANOVAs on the selection and ranking of these contents showed that teachers' conceptions seem to mediate significantly in the way the students understand the music. CONCLUSIONS: Students from constructive teachers have more complex and deep understanding of music. They select more elements for learning scores than those from traditional teachers. Teaching conception also influences the way in which children rank those elements. No difference exists between the way 8- and 12-year-olds learn scores. Children's understanding of the scores is more complex than assumed in other studies.

Children's autobiographies of learning to write.

BACKGROUND: Learning conceptions may be studied as specific implicit theories based on theory of mind. Previous studies suggest that a developmental shift from a direct implicit theory of learning to an interpretative one occurs during childhood. Here we explore the development of children's autobiographies of learning to write by adopting this framework. AIMS: We aim to study children's autobiographical accounts of learning to write and whether these accounts change according to the mentioned developmental shift and sociocultural environment. SAMPLE: Sixty children attending public schools in Argentina that were equally distributed according to school level (kindergarten, first grade, fourth grade) and sociocultural environment (middle and marginal). METHODS: Children were interviewed individually at school and requested to write 'as you used to when you were just beginning to write'. This question was repeated for one-year-intervals until child's current age was reached; anticipation of writing next year was also requested. Children's responses were coded into descriptive categories. A multiple correspondence factorial analysis studied the relations among response categories, school grade and sociocultural environment. On the basis of these results, categories were ordered into a Guttman scale. RESULTS: A developmental shift from a focus on isolated products to the integration of procedural and representational changes was evident. School grade and sociocultural environment were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Children's writing autobiographies show developmental differences that suit the shift from a direct to an interpretative theory of learning on the basis of hierarchical integration rather than conceptual replacement.