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The flipped approach has been widely adopted in higher education, yet its theoretical framework and use in teacher preparation courses have been limited. To address these gaps, this study examined the impact of the First Principles of Instruction when applied to designing face-to-face and flipped technology integration courses. Participants were 32 preservice teachers enrolled during the 2017 spring and fall semesters. Employing a 3-way mixed factorial research design, we measured participants’ technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK) outcomes in each group and compared the outcomes between the face-to-face and flipped groups. In both groups, preservice teachers’ self-perceptions and application of TPACK statistically significantly increased. The magnitude of the TPACK application results (F2F p  < .001, d  = 1.17; Flipped a p  < .001, d  = 1.97) strongly demonstrates the First Principles’ potential to frame effective course design. Further analyses revealed no statistically significant differences between groups’ TPACK outcomes. These non-significant differences suggest the First Principles of Instruction may be equally effective for designing flipped and face-to-face courses. We conclude the article by discussing implications for course design and detailing considerations for future research on flipped approaches.

When implemented appropriately, computational thinking (CT) experiences in early childhood settings build essential literacy skills and foster initial explorations of sequencing, engineering design principles, and cause-and-effect relationships. While existing research explores CT in K-12 settings, there is insufficient research documenting the true scope of CT skills for preschool-age children (ages 3–5 years old). Thus, the paucity of research in this emerging area warranted a scoping review approach. This scoping review surveys existing CT studies with preschool-age participants and maps what is known of CT learning experience design, intended educational outcomes, and CT study design. Evidence from the reviewed articles (n = 17) indicate most studies used physical kits, task-oriented activities, and varying experience timeframes and adult scaffolding. Most studies focused on learning sequencing and events with few embedding remixing and reusing skills. Additionally, studies primarily implemented pre-post research design approaches, and few utilized qualitative methods. The analysis of the reviewed articles indicates gaps exist in CT experience designs, scope of CT interventions, and CT tool research and development. We conclude with recommendations for closing the knowledge gaps by providing specific future research directions.

Recent US science standards conceptualize science as a set of shared multidisciplinary ideas and practices in common with engineering and computer science (CS). At the core, this portrayal requires an understanding of CS as a viable career path and set of discrete knowledge and skills, including those related to computer programming. However, research repeatedly shows inservice and preservice teachers to be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with reform-based instruction and CS-related careers. This exploratory study uses a Draw-a-Programmer Test (DAPT) instrument (adapted from the Draw-a-Scientist [DAST], Engineering [DAET], and Computer Scientist [DACST]) to investigate how preservice teachers understand and visualize computer programming. Here, we detail the development and testing of this tool across two preservice elementary science and technology courses. Participants in this study included 52 preservice teachers in the last semester of their teacher preparation program enrolled in these courses. Data were collected using the DAPT instrument and were analyzed using open coding of respondents’ depictions and written descriptions of computer programming. Findings revealed that participants held somewhat stereotypical, yet distinct conceptions of CS and computer programming (i.e., separate from science and engineering) which may provide concrete entry points into fostering computational thinking skills. Implications are discussed as they relate to elementary teacher education and research.

Using pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK) survey responses, this study’s cluster analysis identified five distinct learning profiles: Pedagogical Content Knowledge Specialists, Technological Forerunners, Pedagogically Minded, Balanced Integrators, and TPACK Lingerers. Instead of using a single timepoint or a single TPACK domain for identifying high or low PST clusters, this study identified five distinct TPACK clusters by analyzing TPACK perception scores before and after a technology integration course. MANOVA, ANOVA, t -tests, and Chi-square tests were then employed to further examine how TPACK domains changed within and between clusters. The MANOVA results indicated that the five profiles exhibited distinct learning trajectories, and the Chi-square results confirmed that cluster membership was independent of PST's programs and majors. After completing the course, all profiles significantly improved their technological knowledge and technological content knowledge, yet only the Technological Forerunner and Pedagogically Minded profiles significantly increased self-perceptions in all TPACK domains. The study furthermore examined the relationship between the TPACK clusters and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) variables, and results revealed significant differences across learner groups in TAM after taking the technology integration course. The profiles in this study present fine-grained patterns of technology integration development that may inform future TPACK/TAM research, application of cluster analysis methods, and the design of technology integration coursework.

As online classrooms become more commonplace in K-12 education, teacher education programs seek to better prepare candidates for these contexts and are considering ways to address this additional preparation within their curricula. This article presents a design case of a 2-credit, 10-day, online course that was created to prepare 237 pre-service teachers for student teaching in online environments during the Fall 2020 semester. The Presence + Experience framework guided the design process in this case as designers sought to build a community of online learners within a highly experiential learning environment. This article details the design process with this framework along with its challenges, designers’ experiences, and the resulting product.

Computational thinking (CT) is considered an essential literacy skill for all children to develop, yet conceptual, practical, and empirical work with preschool-age children is scarce. A particular gap in the research is how CT instruction should be enacted (e.g., free play, guided play, levels of scaffolding, degree of child-initiated activities, and structure of programming tasks). Therefore, we aimed to describe what preschool children’s CT experiences are like when button-operated robots are introduced into their guided play. This interpretive phenomenological study applied the Mosaic Approach to explore the emergence of CT skills during guided play with a button-operated robot (Bee-Bot). Participants were 29 preschool-age children from an early childhood education center in the northeastern United States. Data sources included audio-visual recordings, observations, child focus groups, and child-generated artifacts. The findings suggest children constructed meaning across the CT dimensions, connected with others through dialogue and negotiation, and used guidance from adults to extend their learning.

This dissertation examines the impact of the First Principles of Instruction (FPI) model when applied to face-to-face (F2F) and flipped technology integration courses. Through this investigation, I demonstrate how the FPI inform the design of problem-centered environments, their impact on participants’ technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK), and the essential aspects of experiencing these FPI-based courses. Using an embedded quasi-experimental mixed methods design, the quantitative analyses of pre- and post- TPACK outcomes were examined and related to the interventions’ mechanisms via the descriptive phenomenological analysis of participants’ course learning experiences. Participants were 32 preservice teachers enrolled in the second of three required technology integration courses during the 2017 spring and fall semesters. Data included surveys, technology-integrated lesson designs, prompted course reflections, and semi-structured interviews. In the flipped group, preservice teachers’ self-perceptions of TK, PK, TCK, TPK, and TPACK statistically significantly increased and had large effect sizes. Except for TK, the F2F group’s self-perceptions of all TPACK domains statistically significantly increased with medium to large effect sizes. The non-significant growth in the F2F group’s TK, an unexpected outcome of a technology integration course, was illuminated by the qualitative analysis. Participants’ experiences unique to the flipped section indicated that exposure to new technologies prior to the physical class contributed to their increased perception of TK. As for application of TPACK to technology-integrated lesson designs, both groups demonstrated statistically significant growth with large effect sizes (F2F p = .000, d = 1.17; Flippeda p = .000, d = 1.97). The magnitude of the results strongly demonstrates the FPI’s positive impact on TPACK-related learning outcomes in the F2F and flipped courses. Further analysis revealed no statistically significant differences between groups’ perceptions and application of TPACK. These non-significant differences suggest the FPI were equally effective when applied to designing flipped and F2F courses. The phenomenological analyses revealed that the participants experienced technology integration often in class and noted the importance of purposefully selecting and using technologies. Participants described learning new technologies in the course as proceeding from practicing technological skills to evaluating digital tools’ potential for future integration. While iterative component tasks were experienced by some as redundant, participants valued the problem progression corollary’s task variation and scaffolded nature for focusing their learning and keeping them confident when challenged. Experiencing incongruous moments between design and implementation prompted participants’ contemplations of persisting barriers to technology integration and appraisals of in-class experiences as designed for the ideal. The FPI-based elements experienced by participants, when viewed through the perspective of constructionism, facilitated preservice teachers’ TPACK construction as they designed and shared tangible artifacts with an authentic audience. The study’s implications endeavor to inform future approaches to technology integration preparation, directions for FPI-based research and design, and the development of TPACK measures.

The link between the oral microbiome and neurodevelopmental disorders remains a compelling hypothesis, still requiring confirmation in large-scale datasets. Leveraging over 7000 whole-genome sequenced salivary samples from 2025 US families with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), our cross-sectional study shows that the oral microbiome composition can discriminate ASD subjects from neurotypical siblings (NTs, AUC = 0.66), with 108 differentiating species ( q  < 0.005). The relative abundance of these species is highly correlated with cognitive impairment as measured by Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ). ASD children with IQ < 70 also exhibit lower microbiome strain sharing with parents ( p  < 10 −6 ) with respect to NTs. A two-pronged functional enrichment analysis suggests the contribution of enzymes from the serotonin, GABA, and dopamine degradation pathways to the distinct microbial community compositions observed between ASD and NT samples. Although measures of restrictive eating diet and proxies of oral hygiene show relatively minor effects on the microbiome composition, the observed associations with ASD and IQ may still represent unaccounted-for underlying differences in lifestyle among groups. While causal relationships could not be established, our study provides substantial support to the investigation of oral microbiome biomarkers in ASD. Here, Manghi et al. identify potential salivary microbial biomarkers for autism through a large-scale metagenomic analysis of 2,000 families, revealing shifts in neurotransmitter-related pathways

Which should people buy to make themselves happy: experiences or material goods? The answer depends in part on the level of resources already available in their lives. Across multiple studies using a range of methodologies, we found that individuals of higher social class, whose abundant resources make it possible to focus on self-development and self-expression, were made happier by experiential over material purchases. No such experiential advantage emerged for individuals of lower social class, whose lesser resources engender concern with resource management and wise use of limited finances. Instead, lower-class individuals were made happier from material purchases or were equally happy from experiential and material purchases.