Search Results for
"learning"

Critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in today’s ever-changing society. Yet, the influences of instructional strategy, a crucial factor of educational outcomes, on the development of CT remains unclear. We proposed that the instructional strategy played a significant role in fostering CT and aimed to explore the complex neural mechanisms underlying this relationship. To address this issue, we adopted a mixed-methods approach that combined questionnaire and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore the impact of watching various instructional strategy videos (lecture-based, teacher-student interaction-based, and group discussion-based) on CT learners’ subjective experience (i.e., perceived interaction, learning effectiveness, teaching effectiveness, emotional valence, emotional arousal and difficulty of learning tasks) and brain activation. The study involved 41 university student volunteers aged 18 to 26 from various academic disciplines. The results showed that the CT learners reported more positive experiences regarding interpersonal interaction, instructional efficacy, and emotional arousal in the group discussion-based instructional mode. In particular, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is associated with mentalization showed increased activity during the teacher-student interaction and peer discussion conditions, suggesting that social interaction in teaching and learning supports the cognitive foundation necessary for openness in CT learning. In contrast, relying solely on traditional didactic teaching strategies resulted in a more negative experience for CT learners. Our study provides multimodal evidence of an essential mechanism through which classroom interactions promote the development of CT. Additionally, it offers valuable insights for future CT pedagogical models, emphasizing the importance of creating opportunities for students to interact with both teachers and peers. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has introduced intelligent digital technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), across various sectors, including education. The research aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current research landscape and offer insights to guide future studies on AR and VR in vocational education. Bibliometric analysis is used to explore the performance analysis, science mapping, trend analysis, and application analysis of these technologies in vocational education. There are four key findings: First, VR research in vocational education has higher publication and citation rates than AR, with China, Spain, and the United States as leading contributors. Second, AR focuses on enhancing traditional education through “students” and “education,” while VR emphasizes immersive “learning en- vironments” and “outcomes.” Third, the growing trend centers on “education” and “students,” reflecting increased interest in online learning. Fourth, AR and VR applications in vocational education show that AR enhances student skills, learning performance, and motivation, while VR advances practical training, learning outcomes and technological and practical aspects. These findings provide valuable insights that can inform future research directions in vocational education, particularly in exploring how AR and VR technologies can be more effectively integrated into educational practices. © The Author(s) 2025.

Background: Transitioning to adulthood is a demanding phase for youth and more challenging for youth with disabilities. Many transition interventions have been implemented to support transition preparedness for youth with disabilities. However, it is still unclear how these interventions work under different contexts. Objective: The aim of this realist review is to review the literature on different interventions aimed to support adolescents transitioning to adulthood. The research question was: How (Mechanism) and in what circumstances (Context) transition to adulthood interventions work to improve education, employment, and community integration skills outcomes for youth with disabilities (Outcome)? Methods: This review adhered to the essential steps for realist reviews, employing Context-Mechanism-Outcome Configurations (CMOCs) heuristic tools to formulate realist causal explanations. Results: Of the 32 documents that met the inclusion criteria, vocational and educational skills were the most frequently reported outcomes. The review found that transition interventions with inclusive real-life environments that cater specifically to the needs of youth without stigmatization are instrumental in empowering youth's self-advocacy, confidence, and self-determination and enabling active participation and engagement. Conclusions: While this review provides actionable insights, future research should explore the long-term sustainability and scalability of transition interventions. © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Sustainability and green engineering are increasingly vital in mechanical engineering education as industries prioritize environmental responsibility, energy efficiency, and waste reduction. This study aims to review and synthesize current research trends, challenges, and implementation strategies concerning the integration of sustainability into mechanical engineering curricula. We used a systematic review approach using literature published between 2019 and 2024. Results indicate that although sustainability is recognized as important, its integration remains inconsistent due to curriculum gaps, limited hands-on experiences, weak industry collaboration, and insufficient faculty training. Proposed solutions include project-based learning, interdisciplinary courses, strengthened partnerships with industry, and the incorporation of green technologies such as carbon capture and circular economy practices. These strategies are essential because they bridge the gap between theory and real-world application. The findings highlight the need for standardized educational frameworks and enhanced collaboration. This review contributes to the development of curricula that prepare future engineers to address complex environmental challenges. © 2025 Bumi Publikasi Nusantara.

This volume looks at the recontextualization that results from the international transfer of dual modes of vocational education and training (VET), typically focused on apprenticeships, in their countries' new nation-specific and local context, highlighting the absorptive capacities and the different modes of duality in VET. Combining perspectives and data from a truly international set of contributors, the book identifies diverse translations and enactments of dual modes of vocational education and training. Using a case study approach to understand why and how education policies travel across different world regions, and how they mutate in such processes, the book ultimately provides empirical insights into the dynamics involved in the dissemination and recontextualization of global education policies. Chapters discuss local enactments, such as the views of apprentices in two states in Mexico, and an in-depth look at the Industrial Training Institute (based on the Dual System of Training) located in Gujarat, India. Further case studies stretch across the globe from contexts as diverse as China, Spain and Canada, and refer to countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana and Namibia. This book will be of use to scholars, postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of international and comparative education, vocational education and training, and adult education and lifelong learning more broadly. Policy makers working in international policy transfer may also benefit from this volume. © 2026, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz. All rights reserved.

This article investigates the role of interactive pedagogy as a catalyst for educational reform, emphasizing the need for innovation in teaching methods, curricular design, and teacher development to meet contemporary educational demands. It aims to identify how pedagogical innovations can enhance the quality and effectiveness of the teaching learning process. The study employs a qualitative analytical approach, reviewing existing literature and theoretical models related to pedagogical systems, innovation theory, and teacher readiness. Comparative analysis is used to explore two primary approaches for improving pedagogical systems: intensive (internal restructuring) and extensive (integration of external resources and technologies). The analysis reveals that interactive pedagogy—defined as the strategic use of creative, student-centered, and technology integrated methods—improves the adaptability and responsiveness of educational systems. It fosters teacher creativity, promotes student engagement, and supports the holistic development of learning environments. The study underscores the transformative potential of interactive pedagogy in creating more dynamic, inclusive, and future ready education systems. It calls for systemic support in teacher training, curriculum development, and policy formulation to embed innovation as a core element of educational reform. © 2025 Bumi Publikasi Nusantara.

Technology plays a prominent role in contemporary education. In this special issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology, we compiled a collection of articles that employed technological advancements in the training of knowledge and skills. Some articles use simulations, such as virtual environments and 2D and 3D avatars. Other articles compare various presentation modalities and pedagogical agents. Many of the research articles leverage the advantages of technology, such as learning management systems that offer the ability to deliver training bursts and collect user data, automatic immediate feedback, and interactive experiences. In our introduction, we review the important elements of training—with or without technology—through the identification of seven key topics that represent the papers in this special issue: feedback, practice, motivation, levels of learning, cognitive load, simulations, and pedagogical agents. We consider the advantages, disadvantages, and critical principles of technology in education, with an emphasis on skills training. © 2025 The Author(s). Applied Cognitive Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The study's purpose was to assess the impact of combining traditional and interactive teaching methods on students' capacity to visualise, manipulate, and transform three-dimensional objects, while also improving their spatial representation and problem-solving skills in geometry. The research monitored 132 students studying mathematics of varying proficiency levels over a semester, employing spatial imagination tasks to improve visualisation abilities. Pre-and post-assessments measured enhancements in spatial reasoning. Methods integrated interactive tools (3D modelling, simulations) with conventional geometry tasks. The study revealed that students using interactive teaching methods, including 3D modelling and computer simulations, exhibited markedly superior enhancements in spatial reasoning relative to those adhering to conventional methods. The experimental group, utilising interactive tools, attained superior scores in spatial thinking assessments, with 60% of students exceeding 70 points, in contrast to merely 35% in the control group. Furthermore, students in the experimental group indicated reduced task complexity and increased satisfaction with the learning methodologies. The findings indicate that interactive methods significantly improve students' capacity to visualise and manipulate geometric entities, thereby enhancing their spatial reasoning abilities. This study demonstrates that a combination of traditional and interactive teaching methods enhances the spatial skills essential for successful mathematical training. © 2025 by the author(s).

Implementing scientific inquiry as a learning approach has accounted for most discussion topics and research areas in science education. Numerous studies have been conducted for decades; therefore, synthesizing the updated results will be worthwhile. Diverse needs require effective implementation of the vision of scientific inquiry for scientists, and various forms of learning output pose a challenge for scholars to provide a systematic summary of evidence regarding its role in science teaching and learning. Therefore, the random effect model was suitable for this paper to capture the impact of scientific inquiry on science learning comprehensively. A meta-analysis study using a random-effects model was chosen to systematically synthesize 22 academic articles gathered from the Scopus and Web of Science indexing databases. An individual paper was first extracted for its sample size, mean, and corresponding standard deviation, which were then calculated to measure the effect size of each piece of evidence using the JASP program. In summary, we highlight the positive and moderate impact of scientific investigation on student learning outcomes as a promising approach to enhancing science learning. This study fills the gap in the previous literature by providing a cross-cultural systematic synthesis of Indonesian and non-Indonesian literature, as well as comprehensively measuring the effects of scientific inquiry interventions. These findings support scientific inquiry as a promising approach to learning and encourage the sustainability of efforts to enhance the quality of science learning in various educational contexts. © 2025 by the author(s).

This research article investigates the influence of classroom multicultural and monocultural milieu on discipline dynamics and the implementation of Project-Based learning (PjBL) in primary schools. The primary objective is to examine how cultural context shapes students’ disciplined behaviour and the strategies teachers use within PjBL frameworks. A quantitative, comparative method was employed, involving 76 students from four schools in West Sulawesi, Indonesia. Data were collected using the Discipline Self-Assessment and a PjBL performance test. Results revealed significant differences in Discipline (t = 10.386, p < 0.001) and PjBL (t = 6.947, p < 0.001) between the milieus. Regression analysis indicated that Discipline and PjBL collectively explain 76.7% of the variance in Milieu Types (R² = 0.767, F = 120.164, p < 0.001). In monocultural milieus, Discipline emerged as a stronger predictor, while in multicultural settings, PjBL was more impactful. These results highlight the need for contextspecific strategies, with discipline supporting structure in monocultural classrooms and PjBL enhancing engagement in multicultural ones. The research results underscore the importance of adapting teaching methods in the classroom, providing valuable insights for educators and policymakers. Future research should explore additional variables and longitudinal follow-ups to gain a deeper understanding of student discipline dynamics. © 2025, University of Zadar. All rights reserved.