The International Journal of Practical Theology is an academic journal. It is intended for practical theologians and teachers of religious education, scientists specializing in religion, and representatives of other cultural-scientific disciplines. The aim of the journal is to promote an international and interdisciplinary dialogue. The journal contains contributions on an empirically descriptive and critically constructive theory of ecclesiastical and religious practice in society. Primarily, it deals with descriptions of religion as it is practised. Religion in this context can be understood in the broad sense of the word according to which all appreciative tendencies towards an ultimate view of oneself and of the world can be described as being religious. Thus the many different forms of religion as they are lived today are applied in a critically constructive manner to the normative self-image of churches, ecclesiastical groups and denominations. As contributions towards practical theology, they ultimately pursue the structure of practically orientated theories of ecclesiastical and ecclesiastically conveyed religious practice. The spectrum of themes is divided into five groups. First, the articles deal with the global and regional different changes in religious practice in relation to the processes of socio-cultural modernization processes (individualization and pluralization). Second, they study the development of new forms of public religion (civil religion). Third, they analyse the life history of the formation and transformation of religion (religious development). Fourth, they examine the intercultural and interreligious dimensions of religion on an individual, social and ecclesiastical level (interreligious dialogue, syncretism). Fifth, they attempt to give a critical and constructive interpretation of the ecclesiastical fields of action (church service and sermon, religious instruction, pastoral care and spiritual guidance, organization and management). In addition to essays, the International Journal of Practical Theology also offers research reports which provide information on the current state of affairs of interdisciplinary and international research of religion as far as this is relevant from a practical and theological point of view. Furthermore, the journal also contains situation reports which reveal the state of discussion of practical theology in various countries, regions and confessions. Finally, it also includes a review section which gives information on important new publications in the field of practical theology. The International Journal of Practical Theolog y is neither the organ of a specific theological school nor of a particular ecclesiastical organization. The journal does not aim to present biased opinions of theological schools or confessional organizations but rather place in the foreground of discussion the differences between ecclesiastical and ecclesiastically conveyed practice of religion, the documentation and discussion of its development within its regional context, its international interweavement and different normative orientations. – The contributions are in English or German. A summary (abstract) is given in the other language respectively to give the reader a general idea of the article.
This study explores the thematic evolution of articles in The Physics Teacher and Physics Education journals, over a critical period in modern history, from the Cold War era to the pre-pandemic world (1966 - 2019). Using an NLP-based inductive topic modeling approach, we identify recurring themes that have shaped the physics education literature, including content-based topics, teaching methodologies, laboratory practices, curriculum development, and the influence of Physics Education Research (PER). Our findings reveal both overarching trends and distinct thematic preferences between the journals. Physics Education has historically emphasized curriculum structures, social aspects of education, and interdisciplinary connections, whereas The Physics Teacher has focused more on pedagogical strategies, demonstrations, and practical teaching tools. Over the past three decades, both journals have increasingly incorporated discussions on technology, computation, and PER-driven instructional practices. By tracing these developments over five decades, this study provides a broader perspective on how physics education has responded to changing educational priorities, technological advanceme
Contribution: This article analyzes the learning effectiveness of a virtual educational escape room for teaching software engineering and compares this activity with traditional teaching through a randomized controlled trial. Background: Educational escape rooms have been used across a wide variety of disciplines at all levels of education and they are becoming increasingly popular among teachers. Nevertheless, there is a clear general need for more robust empirical evidence on the learning effectiveness of these novel activities and, particularly, on their application in software engineering education. Research Questions: Is game-based learning using educational escape rooms more effective than traditional lectures for teaching software engineering? What are the perceptions of software engineering students toward game-based learning using educational escape rooms? Methodology: The study presented in this article is a randomized controlled trial with a pre-and post-test design that was completed by a total of 326 software engineering students. The 164 students belonging to the experimental group learned software modeling by playing an educational escape room whereas the 162 student
INTRODUCTION: Literature provides adequate evidence of a poor perception of nursing within the profession, resulting in high rates of attrition of student nurses and newly qualified nurses. The nursing profession, in particular nurse educators, has an ethical and professional responsibility to find innovative strategies to promote the positive image of nursing amongst student nurses. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to explore the potential of appreciative inquiry (AI) as an intervention teaching strategy to transform student nurses' image of nursing. DESIGN: A quantitative, quasi-experimental, explorative-descriptive design comprising the pretest, appreciative inquiry as intervention, and the post-test was used. METHODS: Convenience sampling was used to select third and fourth year college and university student nurses in the Gauteng province of South Africa for the pre- and the post-test respectively. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and analysed by SPSS version 20.0. FINDINGS: The pretest results revealed a mix of positive and negative perceptions of the image of nursing amongst student nurses. The negative perceptions of the image of nursing that needed intervention included the working conditions of nurses, and the perception of nursing as a profession that was not respected and appreciated. The post-test results showed a significant and positive change in the student nurses' perception of the image of nursing as a respected and appreciated profession. Although AI resulted in a negative to positive change in some aspects of student nurses' image of nursing, the negative perceptions of the working conditions of nurses remained and became more negative. The positive image of gender in nursing was enhanced following the implementation of AI. CONCLUSION: Appreciative inquiry demonstrated potential as a teaching strategy to produce a positive nursing image change and positive orientation towards nursing amongst student nurses.
Rankings of scholarly journals based on citation data are often met with skepticism by the scientific community. Part of the skepticism is due to disparity between the common perception of journals' prestige and their ranking based on citation counts. A more serious concern is the inappropriate use of journal rankings to evaluate the scientific influence of authors. This paper focuses on analysis of the table of cross-citations among a selection of Statistics journals. Data are collected from the Web of Science database published by Thomson Reuters. Our results suggest that modelling the exchange of citations between journals is useful to highlight the most prestigious journals, but also that journal citation data are characterized by considerable heterogeneity, which needs to be properly summarized. Inferential conclusions require care in order to avoid potential over-interpretation of insignificant differences between journal ratings. Comparison with published ratings of institutions from the UK's Research Assessment Exercise shows strong correlation at aggregate level between assessed research quality and journal citation `export scores' within the discipline of Statistics.
The gap between theory and practice is well-documented in educational research. Physics teachers' willingness to apply research findings in practice may be influenced by a sceptical attitude towards science education research. This study explores physics teachers' perspectives on science education research, with a particular focus on potential scepticism towards the discipline. A two-step mixed-methods approach was employed: (1) Interviews with a purposeful sample of 13 experienced physics teachers for a first exploration of attitudes towards physics education research, and (2) a quantitative survey of 174 physics teachers to examine, among other aspects, the previously observed attitudes in a larger sample and to identify teacher profiles using latent profile analysis. The interview study revealed both sceptical and non-sceptical attitudes towards physics education research, including some that fundamentally questioned its practical value. Based on the survey data and latent profile analysis, four distinct teacher profiles differing in their level of scepticism towards science education research were identified. While one profile is highly sceptical, the other three exhibit a mix
Contribution: This article analyzes the learning and motivational impact of teacher-authored educational video games on computer science education and compares its effectiveness in both face-to-face and online (remote) formats. This work presents comparative data and findings obtained from 217 students who played the game in a face-to-face format (control group) and 104 students who played the game in an online format (experimental group). Background: Serious video games have been proven effective at computer science education, however, it is still unknown whether the effectiveness of these games is the same regardless of their format, face-to-face or online. Moreover, the usage of games created through authoring tools has barely been explored. Research Questions: Are teacher-authored educational video games effective in terms of learning and motivation for computer science students? Does the effectiveness of teacher-authored educational video games depend on whether they are used in a face-to-face or online format? Methodology: A quasi-experiment has been conducted by using three instruments (pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire) with the purpose of comparing the effectiveness o
Participatory Educational Research journal is one of the journals that contributes to the field of education and indexed in major international databases such as ERIC and Scopus.This study provides the bibliometric characteristic of the total 347 articles published in PER during the period of 2014-2021 using bibliometric analysis. Publish or Perish software to collect citation data from Google Scholar was used as an analysis instrument for the impact of the articles.
Educational technology has attained significant importance as a mechanism for supporting experiential learning of science concepts. However, the growth of this mechanism is limited by the significant time and technical expertise needed to develop such products, particularly in specialized fields of science. We sought to test whether interactive, educational, online software modules can be developed effectively by students as a curriculum component of an advanced science course. We discuss a set of fifteen such modules developed by Harvard University graduate students to demonstrate various concepts related to astronomy and physics. Their successful development of these modules demonstrates that online software tools for education and outreach on specialized topics can be produced while simultaneously fulfilling project-based learning objectives. We describe a set of technologies suitable for module development and present in detail four examples of modules developed by the students. We offer recommendations for incorporating educational software development within a graduate curriculum and conclude by discussing the relevance of this novel approach to new online learning environmen
The intention of this article is to foreground visionary re-positioning of creative arts higher education; it is not intended as a comprehensive account of e-learning, or application of specific platforms. A pedagogical strategy is proposed to bridge the gap between unmet industry needs for new employability capabilities encompassing 'agility, creativity and connectedness,' and less than optimal employability outcomes for some creative arts graduates. Using appreciative inquiry as a methodology, the article explains why and how the Creative Innovation Studio Network Model has been co-designed to support development of graduate capabilities for emerging creative practice jobs. Suggested success indicators include scaffolding stakeholder engagement from the outset, articulating clear expectations, scaffolding learning, and being open to change.
Cybersecurity professionals need hands-on training to prepare for managing the current advanced cyber threats. To practice cybersecurity skills, training participants use numerous software tools in computer-supported interactive learning environments to perform offensive or defensive actions. The interaction involves typing commands, communicating over the network, and engaging with the training environment. The training artifacts (data resulting from this interaction) can be highly beneficial in educational research. For example, in cybersecurity education, they provide insights into the trainees' learning processes and support effective learning interventions. However, this research area is not yet well-understood. Therefore, this paper surveys publications that enhance cybersecurity education by leveraging trainee-generated data from interactive learning environments. We identified and examined 3021 papers, ultimately selecting 35 articles for a detailed review. First, we investigated which data are employed in which areas of cybersecurity training, how, and why. Second, we examined the applications and impact of research in this area, and third, we explored the community of res
Demographic data collection is essential in education research, as demographic data allows researchers to better describe the participant population they study and to contextualize findings. However, current research practices for neurodiversity demographics often rely on prescriptive methods (e.g., requiring participants to report official diagnoses) rather than allowing participants to self-identify. This approach can: a) not allow participants to express their intersecting identities in ways that are authentic; and b) limit trustworthiness and reliability of the data and interpretation. In addition, inconsistent dissemination and representation of demographic data across studies hinder the accessibility and usability of this work. Through a literature review of neurodivergent student experiences with learning and performing STEM, we identified widespread discrepancies in how demographic information is collected and reported. This paper explores how neurodivergent identities can be more accurately and inclusively represented in education research. We present findings of a thematic analysis on the ways neurodivergent demographic data collection is done in the literature using data
Pre-post testing is a commonly used method in physics education community for evaluating students' achievement and or the effectiveness of teaching through a specific period of instruction. A popular method to analyze pre-post testing results is the normalized gain first brought to the physics education community in wide use by R.R. Hake. This paper presents a measurement based probabilistic model of the dynamic process of learning that explains the experimentally observed features of the normalized gain. In Hake's study with thousands of students' pre-post testing results, he observed that on average 48 courses employing "interactive engagement" types of instruction achieved average normalized gains about two standard deviations greater than did 14 courses subjected to traditional instruction. For all courses the average normalized gains had a very low correlation +0.02 with average pretest scores. This feature of the normalized gain has allowed researchers to investigate the effectiveness of instruction using data collected from classes with widely different average pretest scores. However, the question of why the average normalized gain has this feature and to what extent this f
Publication patterns of 79 forest scientists awarded major international forestry prizes during 1990-2010 were compared with the journal classification and ranking promoted as part of the 'Excellence in Research for Australia' (ERA) by the Australian Research Council. The data revealed that these scientists exhibited an elite publication performance during the decade before and two decades following their first major award. An analysis of their 1703 articles in 431 journals revealed substantial differences between the journal choices of these elite scientists and the ERA classification and ranking of journals. Implications from these findings are that additional cross-classifications should be added for many journals, and there should be an adjustment to the ranking of several journals relevant to the ERA Field of Research classified as 0705 Forestry Sciences.
AIM: To explore the education and developmental needs of care home nursing staff. BACKGROUND: With an increasing ageing population, the need for high-quality care provision is set to rise and will require nursing staff with the desired knowledge, skills and values. However, multiple concerns have been identified when considering the development of nurses working in care homes. Moreover, challenges in the care home sector have also contributed to a situation where some nurses view care home work as being of low status and choose this work to fit around other commitments, rather than viewing it as a viable career pathway. METHOD: A qualitative approach based on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry. Fifteen participants working in five care homes with nursing, based in England (UK), took part in this study. Data were collected during 2016-2017 and involved managerial, qualified and unqualified staff. RESULTS: Data analysis revealed three distinct themes: an effective learning environment; the care home as a nursing student placement; and the need for financial investment. These themes were found to have the most influence on the development and education of care home nursing staff. CONCLUSION: This research provides important insights into the care home as an educational environment, not only for nursing students but also for those employees already working in such settings. Exploration of the ways in which higher education organisations and care home teams could collaborate more closely could be mutually beneficial to the quality of care and to raising the profile of care home work. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Care homes can provide a rich learning environment for both staff and nursing students. Collaboration and appreciative ways of working enhance opportunities for developing practice and care.
This systematic mapping study consisted of tracking the scientific literature that addresses the issue of analogies as a didactic strategy in science teaching. An analogy can be understood as comparing an existing knowledge with a new knowledge to achieve a better understanding of the new knowledge as a result of the comparison of similarities; or in other words, use students' own concepts to introduce new concepts using comparisons between the two. The purpose of this study was to identify, analyze, synthesize and evaluate research works that touched on this topic, with this, to have knowledge about the models of uses of analogies, most used didactic strategies, research methodologies in this field and how to evaluate the learning effectiveness of working with analogies. The methodology that was used is the systematic mapping study; Five questions were posed that guided the information tracking process. Later, the electronic documents in English for the last twenty years were traced in five databases related to the educational field. Finally, it is concluded by responding to the purpose of the study where it is evident that, broadly speaking, the research methodologies in this fie
Despite numerous calls for the transformation of undergraduate STEM education, there is still a lack of successful models for creating large-scale, systemic cultural changes in STEM departments. To date, change efforts have generally focused on one of three areas: developing reflective teachers, disseminating curricula and pedagogy, or enacting institutional policy. These efforts illustrate many of the challenges of departmental change; in particular, they highlight the need for a holistic approach that integrates across all three of these levels: individual faculty, whole departments, and university policymakers. To address these challenges, as part of our campus-wide AAU-sponsored effort in STEM education transformation, we import and integrate models of change from multiple perspectives. We draw from models in organizational change, from departmental and disciplinary change in STEM education, and from efforts to support individual efforts such as the development and dissemination model. As a result, our departmental cultural change efforts are an attempt at holistic reform. We will discuss our theoretical underpinnings and ground this theory in a sample of approaches in two depa
Due to time and financial restrictions in an educational laboratory, we are making compromises, using experimental setups in which limitations and uncertainties are important. In these cases we should pay particular attention to the role of different factors that affect our experiment, in order to achieve the best possible educational outcome and to avoid misconceptions. In this paper problems related to the use of very low activity source 60Co in the experiment of measuring the linear attenuation coefficient of gamma rays through matter, will be presented. The role of background radiation in measurements and in the relative statistical uncertainty as well as the role of statistical uncertainty in the choice of representative measurements is discussed. Moreover students' difficulties and misconceptions related mainly to the statistical uncertainty and its connection to measurements overlapping are recorded. An explanation for the possible reasons of these misunderstandings is attempted in order to improve the educational outcome in this experiment.
During the past twelve years, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has supported a wide range of Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) activities, targeting K-14 students and the general public. The purpose of the Fermi E/PO program is to increase student and public understanding of the science of the high-energy Universe, through inspiring, engaging and educational activities linked to the mission's science objectives. The E/PO program has additional more general goals, including increasing the diversity of students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pipeline, and increasing public awareness and understanding of Fermi science and technology. Fermi's multi-faceted E/PO program includes elements in each major outcome category: Higher Education; Elementary and Secondary Education; Informal Education and Public Outreach.
Physics Education Research (PER) practitioners have engaged in substantial curriculum development and dissemination work in recent years. Yet, it appears that this work has had minimal influence on the fundamental teaching practices of typical physics faculty. To better understand this situation interviews were conducted with 5 likely users of physics education research. All reported making changes in their instructional practices and all were influenced, to some extent, by educational research. Yet, none made full use of educational research and most had complaints about their interactions with educational researchers. In this paper we examine how these instructors used educational research in making instructional decisions and identify divergent expectations about how researchers and faculty can work together to improve student learning. Although different instructors emphasized different aspects of this discrepancy between expectations, we believe that they are all related to a single underlying issue: the typical dissemination model is to disseminate curricular innovations and have faculty adopt them with minimal changes while faculty expect researchers to work with them to inc