Research Outputs

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Understanding perceptual change as a movement in literal and metaphorical sentences
    (Taylor & Francis, 2022) ;
    Khatin-Zadeh, Omid
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    Eskandari, Zahra
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    Banaruee, Hassan
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    Farsani, Danyal
    Results of the studies on the way language and body coordinate in communication (through language and gesture) have significant implications for language, education, and cognitive studies. However, there is a lack of convenient research in this area analyzing perceptual changes within individuals. To fill this gap, we investigated the embodied realizations of literal sentences representing perceptual changes and metaphorical sentences describing the phenomena in terms of perceptual changes. We classified sentences that referred to a visual, auditory, haptic, gustatory, or olfactory change. Participants listened to four narratives that contained five literal sentences describing a real perceptual change and five metaphorical sentences that described a phenomenon in terms of a perceptual change. We analyzed the recorded videos of the participants. The total number of literal sentences that described a real perceptual change was obtained for each modality (visual, auditory, haptic, gustatory, olfactory) separately. Also, the total number of gestures used with each category of these literal statements was obtained. Only iconic and non-iconic gestures that described such perceptual changes as the movement of an object in the space were counted. The results revealed that gestures accompanied at least 53% of literal and 56% of metaphorical sentences. These results suggest that literal and metaphorical perceptual change sentences could be understood as movements at a conceptual level. The similarity between embodied realizations of literal and metaphorical sentences supports one of the main assumptions of the strong version of embodied cognition.
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    Reflections of future kindergarten teachers on the design of a mathematical instruction process didactic sequences with the use of robots
    (Modestum, 2022) ;
    Breda, Adriana
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    Farsani, Danyal
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    Parra, JosƩ
    The purpose of this study is to analyze the reflections of future kindergarten teachers when designing didactic sequences with the use of the bee-bot robot. A qualitative methodological design was followed to achieve this objective, collecting the data through a written record prepared by the participants from collaborative work. A total of 25 future teachers participated, forming six working groups. The data were analyzed with the content analysis technique, considering the criteria of didactic suitabilityā€“epistemic, cognitive, interactional, mediational, affective, and ecologicalā€“and their respective components. The results suggest that at the moment prior to the design of the didactic sequences, the reflections of the groups of future teachers are related only to some criteria, while, in the design of the proposed teaching and learning process, the units of analysis were related to all six criteria. With the results obtained, it is concluded that a future implementation and observation of the design of didactic sequences by the participants would allow the participants to consider more components of the criteria when reflecting. In addition, it is concluded that training that contemplates the criteria of didactic suitability, would also allow future teachers to deepen their reflections, guiding them with these tools.
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    Publication
    Didactic-mathematical-computational knowledge of future teachers when solving and designing robotics problems
    (Axioms, 2023)
    Sala-SebastiĆ , Gemma
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    Breda, Adriana
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    Farsani, Danyal
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    Alsina, ƀngel
    The social, scientific and technological development of recent years has encouraged the incorporation of computational thinking in the school curriculum of various countries progressively, starting from early childhood education. This research aims to characterize future kindergarten teachersā€™ traits of didactic-mathematical and computational knowledge presented when solving and posing robotics problems. Firstly, aspects of the mathematical and computational knowledge of the participants (97 students of the subject of Didactics of Mathematics of the Degree in Early Childhood Education at a Spanish university) were identified when they solved problems as users of the Blue-Bot didactic robot. Secondly, we analyzed their justifications for reflecting on the design of robotics problems. The results indicate that future teachers present characteristics of didactic mathematical knowledge when solving and designing robotics problems, although errors and am- biguities are evident, especially in the procedures and representations of the programming. These shortcomings significantly influence the didactic suitability of the robotics problems they design. From a future perspective, in the training of future teachers, it is considered relevant to incorporate didactic-mathematical and computational knowledge that allows them to develop logical, spatial and computational thinking.