ImportanceEvidence for an acute effect of physical activity on cognitive performance within the school setting is limited. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into acute effects of a short physical activity bout on selective attention in primary school children, specifically in the school setting.MethodsHundred and twenty three 10–11 years old children, 49.6% girls, engaged in four experimental breaks in random order: 1 h of regular cognitive school tasks followed by a 15 min episode with the following conditions 1) ‘no break’ (continuing a cognitive task), 2) passive break (listening to a story), 3) moderate intensity physical activity break (jogging, passing, dribbling) and 4) vigorous intensity physical activity break (running, jumping, skipping). Selective attention in the classroom was assessed by the TEA-Ch test before and after the 15 min break in each condition.ResultsAfter the passive break, the moderate intensity physical activity break and the vigorous intensity physical activity break attention scores were significantly better (p < 0.001) than after the ‘no break’ condition. Attention scores were best after the moderate intensity physical activity break (difference with no break = −0.59 s/target, 95% CI: −0.70; −0.49).ConclusionThe results show a significant positive effect of both a passive break as well as a physical activity break on selective attention, with the largest effect of a moderate intensity physical activity break. This suggests that schools could implement a moderate intensity physical activity break during the school day to optimize attention levels and thereby improve school performance.Trial registrationNTR2386.
It is a challenge for mathematics teachers to provide activities for their students at a high level of cognitive demand. In this article, we explore the possibilities that history of mathematics has to offer to meet this challenge. History of mathematics can be applied in mathematics education in different ways. We offer a framework for describing the appearances of history of mathematics in curriculum materials. This framework consists of four formats that are entitled speck, stamp, snippet, and story. Characteristic properties are named for each format, in terms of size, content, location, and function. The formats are related to four ascending levels of cognitive demand. We describe how these formats, together with design principles that are also derived from the history of mathematics, can be used to raise the cognitive level of existing tasks and design new tasks. The combination of formats, cognitive demand levels, and design principles is called the 4S-model. Finally, we advocate that this 4S-model can play a role in mathematics teacher training to enable prospective teachers to reach higher cognitive levels in their mathematics classrooms.
Kumasi and RokitScience contribute to increasing the ownership and income of cocoa farmers, with an emphasis on women. Kumasi has a successful history of developing and marketing cocoa juice, which aims to keep as much income as possible with the farmer. RokitScience has been involved in the creation of the Rokbar: a "bean to bar" empowering chocolate bar that is marketed and made entirely by women. Kumasi and RokitScience started setting up a cocoa-fruit-lab at the cocoa-cooperative COVIMA in early 2021 in Ivory-Coast, in collaboration with Beyond Beans Foundation/ETG and Döhler and financially supported by the Sustainable-Trade-Initiative (IDH). The goal is to support the cooperative, which is led by women, with the establishment of circular cocoa juice and chocolate production and in this way increase the income of the members of the cooperative. The cocoa pod contains cocoa beans embedded in cocoa pulp. This pulp is sweet and juicy and partly needed for cocoa bean fermentation for flavor development. Residual pulp can be used for new products like drinks, marmalades and more. The collaboration in the cocoa fruit lab created momentum to try-out a more circular approach whereby the extraction of juice was linked to a shorter fermentation period of the beans, influencing quality features of both the beans and potentially the chocolate. However, to optimize the production of juicy beans further and find a market for this (and potentially other) products requires further testing and development of a value proposition and marketing strategy. The main question of Kumasi and RokitScience at Hanzehogeschool Groningen and NHLStenden Hogeschool Amsterdam is: What is the effect on the quality of beans and chocolate if fermented after the extraction of juice? How can this be optimized: comparing ‘cocoa of excellence’ fermentation and drying to traditional post-harvest practices and how can we tell the world?
Psychosocial problems related to social isolation are a growing issue for wellbeing and health and have become a significant societal problem. This is especially relevant for children and adults with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and those spending extended periods in hospitals or permanently living in assisted living facilities. A lack of social relationships, social connectivity, and the inability to travel freely leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Loneliness interventions often use mediated environments to improve the feeling of connectedness. It has been proven that the utilization of haptic technologies enhances realism and the sense of presence in both virtual environments and telepresence in physical places by allowing the user to experience interaction through the sense of touch. However, the technology application is mostly limited to the experiences of serious games in professional environments and for-entertainment-gaming. This project aims to explore how haptic technologies can support the storytelling of semi-scripted experiences in VR to improve participants’ sense of presence and, therefore, the feeling of connectedness. By designing and prototyping the experience, the project aims to obtain insights and offer a better understanding of designing haptic-technology-supported storytelling and its potential to improve connectedness and become a useful tool in isolation interventions. The project will be conducted through the process of participants’ co-creation.
Within TIND, Christian Roth studies the training of interactive narrative designers with the goal of developing teaching methods and learning tools for artists and designers to enable the creation of more effective artefacts. Interactive Narrative Design (IND) is a complex and challenging interdisciplinary field introducing new affordances in technique and user-experience. This requires practice-based research for further development of the educational format, demonstrating its potential while identifying and overcoming common learners’ challenges. This project aims to develop a framework for the design and evaluation of meaningful interactive narrative experiences that effectively stimulate a variety of cognitive and emotional responses such as reflection, insight, understanding, and potential behavior change. It provides tools, methods and activities to enable aspiring or practicing narrative designers through an interdisciplinary approach, including game design, immersive theatre, behavioral and cognitive psychology, and the learning sciences. HKU education means to prepare students for success in the creative industries and IND plays an important role for current and future jobs in education, arts and entertainment. IND has the potential to create an emotional impact and spark transformative change by offering agency, defined as the ability to influence narrative progression and outcomes in a meaningful way. This enables interactors to feel the weight of their own choices and their consequences, to explore different perspectives, and to more thoroughly understand complex multi-stakeholder issues, which could have significant impact on the success of emerging artistic, and learning applications. The research project is directly embedded in the curriculum of the HKU school Games & Interaction with annual educational offerings such as the Minor Interactive Narrative Design (MIND) and HKU wide broad seminars. Course evaluation and literature research will be used to create new and adjusted training for different HKU schools and the industry. Outcomes will be shared via an interactive website and events.
