Teacher beliefs have been shown to play a major role in shaping educational practice, especially in the area of grammar teaching―an area of language education that teachers have particularly strong views on. Traditional grammar education is regularly criticized for its focus on rules-of-thumb rather than on insights from modern linguistics, and for its focus on lower order thinking. A growing body of literature on grammar teaching promotes the opposite, arguing for more linguistic conceptual knowledge and reflective or higher order thinking in grammar pedagogy. In the Netherlands, this discussion plays an important role in the national development of a new curriculum. This study explores current Dutch teachers’ beliefs on the use of modern linguistic concepts and reflective judgment in grammar teaching. To this end, we conducted a questionnaire among 110 Dutch language teachers from secondary education and analyzed contemporary school textbooks likely to reflect existing teachers’ beliefs. Results indicate that teachers generally appear to favor stimulating reflective judgement in grammar teaching, although implementing activities aimed at fostering reflective thinking seems to be difficult for two reasons: (1) existing textbooks fail to implement sufficient concepts from modern linguistics, nor do they stimulate reflective thinking; (2) teachers lack sufficient conceptual knowledge from linguistics necessary to adequately address reflective thinking.
Voorbeelden en onderwijs lijken onlosmakelijk met elkaar verbonden. Het gebruik van voorbeelden is vaak zo vanzelfsprekend, dat zelfs in didactische opleidingen niet altijd aandacht wordt besteed aan de voorwaarden voor een optimal gebruik ervan. Voorbeelden blijken echter niet automatisch tot meer kennis en beter begrip te leiden. Leren van en door voorbeelden vereist bewuste aandacht en doet een beroep op analoog redeneren. Er is veel onderzoek gedaan naar de centrale rol van analoog redeneren in leren. De hieruit voortgekomen kennis en inzichten lijken echter nog niet algemeen bekend bij docenten noch breed geïmplementeerd in het onderwijs, zo komt ook naar voren uit een verkennend onderzoek aan De Haagse Hogeschool. Dit artikel vormt een eerste aanzet om kennis en inzichten in analoog redeneren en in het effectief gebruik van voorbeelden bredere bekendheid te geven. De aanbevelingen in het artikel zijn bedoeld om docenten te inspireren en uit te dagen. Abstract. The use of examples for teaching purposes would seem an obvious choice for teachers. This might be the reason why even courses intended to instruct teachers in their future profession sometimes skip over ways to make effective use of examples. However, research has shown that the use of examples does not automatically enhance a learner’s knowledge and understanding. Learning from examples requires conscious effort and attention and calls for analogical reasoning. Although the key role played by analogical reasoning in learning has been widely investigated, an exploratory study conducted among lecturers at The Hague University of Applied Sciences showed that not that many of them were familiar with the findings of these studies nor were these findings featured in their teaching. This article is an attempt to promote the acquisition of scientific knowledge and insights into analogical reasoning and the effective use of examples. The recommendations provided here are meant to inspire and challenge teachers.
This work explores the potential of doing collaborative data physicalization for discussing (un)sustainable practices. For this purpose, it draws on experiences from several data physicalization workshops during the period of 2018-2022, conducted in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which were available to mostly inexpert groups of people, including almost a hundred primary school students. This paper particularly focuses on a recent held dataphys workshop with over 20 adult participants, such as including international students and climate activists. Based on learner reports (self-assessment questionnaires) (N=20), and observations, it was found that the process of making data physicalizations in workshop and educational settings can be beneficial for engaging in collaborative creative and critical discussion of (un)sustainable practices. Particularly, the participants positively indicated to have learned from the dataphys workshop on a 5-point Likert scale and agreed that it enabled (1) critical thinking, (2) data understanding, (3) creativity, (4) collaboration, and (5) awareness of (un)sustainable practices. This paper presents the workshop format, including ingredients such as live cartoon capturing, and challenges in realizing such value in the context of sustainability, such as including a wider public, the conscious use of data and materials, and discussable effective outcomes.
The project Decolonising Education: from Teachers to Leading Learners (DETeLL) aims to develop a multi-site approach for interventions towards inclusion and decolonisation in order to change the hierarchical nature of higher education in the Netherlands. DETeLL identifies the model of the ‘traditional teacher’ as embodying the structural exclusions and discriminations built into the classroom and proposes the figure of a ‘Leading Learner’ as a first step towards a radical change in the educational system. In collaboration with the education departments in the Theatre and Dance Academy at ArtEZ, the post-doc will build up a research and teaching programme that engages with students and teachers in the faculty to create a prototype of an inclusive and diverse educational practice. RELEVANCE: Education should be the critical space in which changes occur in order to shape best possible futures. In DETeLL’s acceptation, decolonisation refers to a complete change in the way of thinking and behaving. It does not refer only to the urgency of dealing with historical colonial legacies embedded in society, but also to the subversion of the deeply oppressive colonial culture that (also unconsciously) regulates public and private living, whether this is related to gender, race, class or sexuality issues. RESULTS: 1) Create a theory and practice-based scientific base-line of decolonisation and art education; 2) Provide a definition of ‘Artist educator as Leading Learner’ following a practice- based methodology of intervention; 3) Design and Pilot a new teaching programme for theatre education at ArtEZ to be then upscaled to all educational departments in a follow-up project); 4) Produce a strong interdisciplinary and international output plan: 3 academic publications, 2 conferences, 4 expert group workshops. NETWORK: ArtEZ; University of Amsterdam (UvA); Ghent University; UCHRI; Hildesheim University; Cape Town University. The partners will serve as steering committee through planned expert group meetings.
Within the framework of the “Greening Games” project, we will develop, test and distribute flagship didactic materials addressing the interdisciplinary nature of green digital gaming. These will be tested in selected higher education programs and finally shared as open access content for the broader academic and teaching community. It is our core strategic responsibility to educate students about the relations between digital games and environment. We believe that the more aware students of today will become greener game designers, programmers, and academic leaders of tomorrow. At the centre of our partnership’s didactic philosophy are human responsibility, ethical game design and sustainable gaming culture. Societal IssueVideo games serve as technological marvels and cultural reflections. McKenzie Wark suggests they are integral to a shared culture, fostering critical thinking. Games act as arenas for cultural values and environmental awareness. Climate-aware video games, often referred to as 'green games' or 'eco-games,' raise ecological consciousness and reconnect players with nature. For example, Riders Republic, which replicates real-world terrain using satellite imagery, inspires eco-awareness. However, the environmental footprint of video games, reliant on digital electronics and resource-intensive consoles, poses challenges. Developers, manufacturers, and gaming giants must address these impacts. Benjamin Abraham emphasizes sustainable game development as a holistic solution beyond incorporating green content.Benefit to societyBy developing teaching materials on green gaming for higher education, we create the following impact. We will…- increase the awareness of this subject among Bachelor’s and Master’s students.- enhance students’ knowledge of green gaming and their ability to integrate existing solutions into their game projects.- stimulate more research interest among research staff as well as students.- facilitate the uptake of pedagogical resources on green gaming by lecturers and professors.- create a European research community around the topic.- raise the visibility of green game studies among the game industry and wider public.
