Intercultural interactions of mono-cultural, mono-lingual local students in small group learning activities: a Bourdieusian analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Colvin ◽  
Farida Fozdar ◽  
Simone Volet
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Group Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Small Group Learning ◽  
Intercultural Interactions ◽  
Local Students

scholarly journals Small Group Learning is Associated with Reduced Salivary Cortisol and Testosterone in Undergraduate Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Snopkowski ◽  
Kathryn Demps ◽  
Shane Scaggs ◽  
Ross Griffiths ◽  
Karen S Fulk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Salivary Cortisol ◽  
Group Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Small Group Learning ◽  
Group Activities ◽  
Student Stress ◽  
Small Group Activities

Small group learning activities have been shown to improve student academic performance and educational outcomes. Yet, we have an imperfect understanding of the mechanisms by which this occurs. Group learning may mediate student stress by placing learning in a context where students have both social support and greater control over their learning. We hypothesize that one of the methods by which small group activities improve learning is by mitigating student stress. To test this, we collected physiological measures of stress and self-reported perceived stress from 26 students in two undergraduate classes. Salivary cortisol and testosterone were measured within students across five contexts: a) pre-instructional baseline, b) following a traditional lecture, c) after participating in a structured small group learning activity, d) following completion of multiple choice, and e) essay sections of an exam. Results indicate students have lower salivary cortisol after small group learning activities, as compared to traditional lectures. Further, there is no evidence of a relationship between physiological measures of stress and self-reported perceived stress levels. We discuss how structured small group activities may be beneficial for reducing stress and improving student learning outcomes.

scholarly journals Incorporation of Small-Group Learning Activities into Biology Lectures to Enhance Learning at a University in Pretoria, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 372-390
Author(s):  
Liziwe Lizbeth Mugivhisa ◽  
Joshua Olawole Olowoyo
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Group Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Small Group Learning ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

There have been intense teaching challenges at institutions of higher learning as a result of an increasing range of courses offered to students with diverse backgrounds and levels of preparedness. Lecturers are also faced with a high failure rate and increased retention rates. Student achievement is crucial, and efforts have to be made to adapt and change to methods of teaching that contribute to the better performance of students. Hence, calls have been made for a radical shift from teaching which is teacher-centered to student-centered teaching approaches. The study assessed students’ perceptions on the incorporation of active learning in small groups and the impact of the incorporation of small-group learning activities into Biology lectures on the performance of the students. Participants showed a preference for small-group learning activities and indicated that incorporating small-group learning activities into lectures should be compulsory. The average mean test marks of 72 Biology students before and after the incorporation of small-group learning activities were compared. Results showed that the mean test mark (52.7±15.7) of the participants was significantly higher after incorporation of small-group learning activities compared to before incorporation (38.9±16.4), indicating a positive effect (p<0.05) of small-group learning activities on student performance. The participants also showed a preference for the incorporation of small-group learning activities into lectures. It is recommended that other factors such as the preparedness of students before assessments be investigated in future studies.

scholarly journals Evaluation of a Remote Microphone System with Tri-Microphone Beamformer

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (01) ◽  
pp. 050-060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jace Wolfe ◽  
Mila Duke ◽  
Erin Schafer ◽  
Christine Jones ◽  
Lori Rakita ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Group Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Small Group Learning ◽  
Sentence Recognition ◽  
Percentage Points

AbstractChildren with hearing loss often experience difficulty understanding speech in noisy and reverberant classrooms. Traditional remote microphone use, in which the teacher wears a remote microphone that captures her speech and wirelessly delivers it to radio receivers coupled to a child’s hearing aids, is often ineffective for small-group listening and learning activities. A potential solution is to place a remote microphone in the middle of the desk used for small-group learning situations to capture the speech of the peers around the desk and wirelessly deliver the speech to the child’s hearing aids.The objective of this study was to compare speech recognition of children using hearing aids across three conditions: (1) hearing aid in an omnidirectional microphone mode (HA-O), (2) hearing aid with automatic activation of a directional microphone (HA-ADM) (i.e., the hearing aid automatically switches in noisy environments from omnidirectional mode to a directional mode with a cardioid polar plot pattern), and (3) HA-ADM with simultaneous use of a remote microphone (RM) in a “Small Group” mode (HA-ADM-RM). The Small Group mode is designed to pick up multiple near-field talkers. An additional objective of this study was to compare the subjective listening preferences of children between the HA-ADM and HA-ADM-RM conditions.A single-group, repeated measures design was used to evaluate performance differences obtained in the three technology conditions. Sentence recognition in noise was assessed in a classroom setting with each technology, while sentences were presented at a fixed level from three different loudspeakers surrounding a desk (0, 90, and 270° azimuth) at which the participant was seated. This arrangement was intended to simulate a small-group classroom learning activity.Fifteen children with moderate to moderately severe hearing loss.Speech recognition was evaluated in the three hearing technology conditions, and subjective auditory preference was evaluated in the HA-ADM and HA-ADM-RM conditions.The use of the remote microphone system in the Small Group mode resulted in a statistically significant improvement in sentence recognition in noise of 24 and 21 percentage points compared with the HA-O and HA-ADM conditions, respectively (individual benefit ranged from −8.6 to 61.1 and 3.4 to 44 percentage points, respectively). There was not a significant difference in sentence recognition in noise between the HA-O and HA-ADM conditions when the remote microphone system was not in use. Eleven of the 14 participants who completed the subjective rating scale reported at least a slight preference for the use of the remote microphone system in the Small Group mode.Objective and subjective measures of sentence recognition indicated that use of remote microphone technology with the Small Group mode may improve hearing performance in small-group learning activities. Sentence recognition in noise improved by 24 percentage points compared to the HA-O condition, and children expressed a preference for the use of the remote microphone Small Group technology regarding listening comfort, sound quality, speech intelligibility, background noise reduction, and overall listening experience.

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