The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the demand for general-subject teaching give birth to general-subject AI teacher-led courses. In this study, 79 fourth-grade pupils from two classes in a primary school in Guangzhou City are selected as the samples. The research methods of interview, classroom observation, and questionnaire survey are used to explore the effects of the AI general- subject teacher on pupils’ learning effectiveness based on the framework of anthropomorphic learning process theory. The results show that the AI general-subject teacher can significantly enhance pupils’ learning motivation (including intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation), increase pupils’ learning engagement (including behavioral engagement, cognitive engagement, and emotional engagement), and improve pupils’ learning outcomes (including knowledge and skills, process and method, emotional attitude and values). The findings confirm the important role of the AI general-subject teacher as the main instructor to promote pupils’ efficient learning and provide a significant reference for solving the shortage problem of excellent teachers and reducing the burden on teachers.

Cultivating innovative talent has become a primary path for China to develop science and technology and solve “bottleneck” technical problems. Catering to the trend of educational reform in the intelligent age, the use of robotics to enhance students’ creativity shows richer practical value and contemporary significance. In this study, 48 China and foreign experimental studies and 6,057 samples are coded using the meta-analysis method, and the findings are as follows: First, the overall effect of educational robots on students’ creativity is 0.576, reaching a medium or above level of influence. Among them, the effect of promoting students’ innovative, practical ability is the most obvious, and the degree of influence on the quality of innovative personality is average. Second, from the perspective of the academic stage, the effect of educational robots on the creativity of students in junior middle schools and primary schools is more obvious. Third, in terms of disciplines, robot courses impose the best effect on students’ creativity. Fourth, among teaching themes, prototype creation has the most impact on students’ creativity, and the level is above the intermediate level. Fifth, in terms of the choice of teaching methods, inquiry teaching can better stimulate students’ creativity. Finally, compared with ordinary classrooms, the laboratory environment is more optimistic for developing students’ creativity. Combined with field research, four practical suggestions are put forward.

In recent years, China has been issuing artificial intelligence (AI) education policies to promote the deep integration between AI and education. Setting AI courses at the basic education phase can cultivate students’ AI literacy and enhance the country’s science and technology competitiveness in the future. However, due to shortages of AI teachers and inadequate conditions for practice, the current AI courses in primary and secondary schools are not enough in effectiveness. In light of current problems, this study, based on the foundation of university-enterprise cooperation, integrates the “competition and education” mechanism into informal AI course design and practice. Using a design-based research paradigm, the study proposes the design framework from four dimensions: goals, themes and content, methods and steps, and evaluation, and then further refines the framework through two rounds of iterations, to provide a reference for the development and practice of AI courses.

With the application of the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in education, a new form of textbook construction has been developed, promoting digital textbook development. However, problems during digital textbook construction still exist. This study analyzes the necessity of intelligent textbook development and explains the educational characteristics of intelligent textbooks, such as intelligent adaptation learning, intelligent guidance, accompanying evaluation, and in-depth learning interaction from the perspective of instruction theory. Moreover, combining the technical advantages of AI, including knowledge mapping, learning analysis, online tracking, learner digital profiles, and in-depth interaction, and taking existing achievements for reference, it describes the methods and strategies of intelligent textbooks to achieve corresponding educational functions and also makes interpretation with specific cases. Given the educational and engineering characteristics of intelligent textbooks, this study analyzes the strategies for promoting the construction of intelligent textbooks from adhering to the instruction theory, paying attention to the iteration of practice, and adopting technical methods to supervise and regulate.

Online knowledge-sharing is the key link to individuals in the digital era. Postgraduates are the core members of the future knowledge-based society. Exploring factors affecting postgraduates’ online knowledge-sharing behavior is of significance promoting their fair enjoyment of digital dividends and contributing to the construction of Digital China. However, little literature exists on this topic. This study examines factors resulting in postgraduates’ differentiated online knowledge-sharing behavior from two dimensions: social structure and individual initiative. The results of the questionnaire survey of 501 postgraduates show that: First, not all postgraduates are aborigines of the digital age; and structural factors (gender, school type, location, father’s occupation, and father’s education) have a significant impact on postgraduates’ online knowledge-sharing behavior. These factors also have a greater impact on the quality of online knowledge sharing than in a quantity sense. Second, the individual initiative factor (information literacy) also has a significant impact on postgraduates’ online knowledge-sharing behavior. It has a greater impact on the quantity of online knowledge- sharing than in a quality sense. Third, there is a Matthew effect under the internet context, and certain effects of structural factors on online knowledge-sharing behavior are indirectly generated through individual initiative factors. Participants with privileged structural status show a higher level of information literacy, which further encourages them to be more active in online knowledge-sharing behavior and facilitates their high-quality production.

As an important teaching method in the era of education informatization 2.0, the smart classroom has become a hot topic in terms of whether it can really improve students’ learning effectiveness. Many scholars have carried out empirical studies in this field, but the conclusions are not the same. By the use of meta-analysis, this study quantitatively analyzes 48 experimental and quasi-experimental studies in China and other countries to explore the smart classroom’s effect and influencing factors. The results show that, on the whole, the smart classroom has a better-than-average promotion effect on students’ learning effectiveness; from the perspective of moderating variables, the learning outcome of smart classrooms is influenced by the factors of learning stage, knowledge type, teaching cycle, class scale, and equipment condition, but is not moderated by the factors of subject, teaching strategy, and evaluation tool. Specifically, smart classrooms can become a suitable partner for large-class teaching, short-term courses, and experimental courses. However, the misuse of technology and equipment should be avoided in the application process.

In the context of the highly demanding trend of equitable and quality education, digital technology has outlined a blueprint for sharing resources across spatial and temporal boundaries and learner differences. The hybrid classroom implemented on university campuses during the pandemic demonstrates the tremendous shaping power of digital technology on teaching and learning across different groups, time, and space. This study investigates two types of learners, Clone Classroom and Global Hybrid Classroom at Tsinghua University, and finds that intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional dimensions of classroom climate all significantly affect learners’ learning outcomes. However, the influences at the three dimensions differ in degree, with interpersonal factors outweighing institutional factors and institutional factors outweighing individual factors. Furthermore, in individual factors, information literacy and tech-assisted support in institutional factors have the weakest impact on learning outcomes; institutional factors mediate individual and interpersonal factors influencing higher order cognition development. To avoid the pitfalls of techno-centrism, this study suggests promoting an insight of technology for humanity and embedding technology into teaching to better empower teacher development and student learning experience.

Under the background of “emerging engineering education,” the engineering education with national defense characteristics, has put forward higher requirements for the engineering practice training of college students. Based on this, focusing on three characteristics of virtual reality (VR) technology, this paper puts forward the construction ideas of VR technology applied in engineering practice training courses. Then, by taking Northwestern Polytechnical University’s “VR Assembly Composite Practice Training Course” for example, this paper designs the teaching process of the practice training course and analyzes the teaching effect through questionnaires. It finds that VR technology can avoid teaching risks, improve teaching quality, and have a high promotion value in the existing engineering practice training courses. Finally, three suggestions on the VR technology applied in engineering practice teaching are put forward.

Assignments are an important tool to evaluate learners’ learning effectiveness in online courses. Clarifying assignment design strategies is of great significance for promoting the quality construction of online education courses. This paper uses Bloom’s taxonomy framework revised by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) as a reference to label the knowledge types and cognitive dimensions in the assignment context of eight courses. Combined with a literature review, a discipline–objective–schedule (DOS) threedimensional analysis framework based on the achievement of curriculum objectives, the design of chapter schedule, and the heterogeneity of disciplines is constructed to conduct an in-depth analysis of online course assignment design strategies. The research findings show that the online course assignment design strategy has an obvious curriculum objective orientation, follows the gradual learning rule, and presents typical disciplinary differences. The study finds that the current assignment design of online courses has three issues: first, a mismatch between assignment design and curriculum objectives; second, a lack of diversity in assignment formats; and third, insufficient comprehensiveness of some subject assignments. Based on the above discussions, corresponding suggestions are provided.

With the in-depth development of internet plus education and the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become a universal teaching method in the world. However, the issue of superficial and low quality in online learning is still widespread. From the internal and external conditions of online deep learning, this study reveals the theory mechanism of how the online learning environment and teacher support, as external conditions, affect students’ emotions and learning motivation, and then affect students’ internal learning state. On this basis, an online deep teaching model is constructed, which consists of three stages: online asynchronous self-study before class, online synchronous live broadcasting teaching in class, and online asynchronous expansion after class. Meanwhile, a one term long online teaching practice is carried out in the course named the Instructional System Design. The results show that, in the learning process level, the online deep teaching model can effectively improve students’ online learning engagement, promote students to use deep learning methods and deep learning motivation to learn, and enhance the depth of online interaction between students. At the level of learning results, students’ critical thinking and online academic performance have been significantly improved.

Book Excerpt

Academic News

Book Description

Abstracts

Bibliography

Book Description

Abstracts

Book Excerpt

Bibliography

Conflicting results have existed in research on the relationship between screen exposure and behavior problems among preschoolers, so it is necessary to clarify the relationship and provide guidelines regulating their screen usage. Through searching and screening of literature, 48 independent samples from 43 quantitative studies are included in the meta-analysis, with 76,049 participants. The results show a weak positive correlation between screen exposure and behavior problems among preschoolers (r = 0.169). The findings show that preschoolers’ age and length of exposure have a significantly moderate effect on the relationship between screen exposure and behavior problems among preschoolers, while media types and study design do not. Additionally, a stronger correlation is observed between excessive screen exposure and behavior problems among preschoolers aged 0–3. Recommendations for the appropriate use of digital media among preschoolers and media education are also presented.

Does enrolling children aged 0–3 in early childhood education (ECE) classes continuously empower their learning and development after entering kindergarten? Based on the tracking survey data of 664 children aged 3–6 in 2017 and 367 children aged 3–6 in 2018, this study uses Propensity Score Matching to analyze this issue. The findings reveal that children’s family socioeconomic status is a key factor influencing their participation in ECE classes. The baseline data show that participation in ECE classes does not significantly improve children’s learning and development. However, the follow-up data show that participation in ECE classes plays a significant negative role in motor development for children moving to their second year of kindergarten, but subsequently plays a positive role in language development, health, and safety for those entering their third year of kindergarten. Overall, participation in ECE classes plays no continuous positive role in children’s learning and development after they enter kindergarten. Based on these findings, it is suggested that parents should respect the natural laws of child development instead of blindly following the trend of attending ECE classes, and high-quality parental companionship is crucial. The Chinese government is supposed to implement policies such as “double reduction” to regulate ECE institutions that fail to operate in good faith.

Teachers’ language modeling behaviors, including frequent conversation, open-ended questions, repetition and extension, self- and parallel talks, and advanced language, have significantly impacted young children’s language learning and development. This study examined 60 classrooms from 20 kindergartens in Guangzhou, China, and analyzed 62 films of daily activities and 57 videos of free play. It aims to address the research gap in existing research that pays little attention to teachers’ language modeling behaviors in daily activities and free play. The results indicate that the more frequent teachers’ language modeling behaviors, the larger the vocabulary young children use and the better their performance in lexical richness. However, such behaviors in daily activities and free play are infrequent and superficial, failing to guide young children’s language development effectively. To optimize teachers’ language modeling behaviors in daily activities and free play, they are expected to establish positive emotional bonds with young children in a kind and respectful manner and receive training. Teachers are also encouraged to frequently communicate and engage in dialogues with young children, create contexts that facilitate the use of language, increase the frequency of stimuli for vocabulary learning, and guide and encourage young children’s advanced language.

Teachers play a vital role in the implementation of social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. This study focuses on the Second Step program of the Committee for Children (CFC) and its roll-out at two kindergartens in Shanghai. It aims to assess how Chinese preschool teachers effectively put into action the SEL curriculum, considering knowledge, emotions, perception, and behavior dimensions. Utilizing NVivo12 software, interviews with 10 teachers are analyzed, revealing that advancements in teachers’ social and emotional competencies correlate with their ability to transform SEL knowledge into practice. Teachers’ perceptions of SEL significance reflect their level of SEL knowledge and influence their daily practice. Moreover, education integrating knowledge with emotions is achieved by combining knowledge, emotions, and perception. The findings highlight the following approaches to be adopted for better SEL curriculum outcomes, suggesting enhancing teachers’ cultural sensitivity and exploring SEL within the Chinese cultural context, establishing a community of SEL practices to facilitate dialogue between teachers’ personal knowledge and authoritative knowledge, and providing targeted support for teachers’ work integrating knowledge with emotions.

Intensive parenting is becoming a prevalent parenting style in China. Parents invest tremendous time, energy, and money in childrearing, whereas the effectiveness of intensive parenting in helping children obtain developmental advantages remains controversial. Using the questionnaire survey, the present study investigates 388 mothers of preschoolers in Shanghai and Jinan, Shandong province, to explore the associations between the intensiveness of mothering, maternal psychological well-being, and preschoolers’ emotional and behavioral competence. Four distinct patterns of the intensiveness of mothering are identified using latent profile analysis: high-endorsement & high-practice, medium-endorsement & medium-practice, low-endorsement & low practice, and selective-endorsement-and-practice. Maternal psychological well-being suppresses the relationship between the intensiveness of mothering and preschoolers’ emotional and behavioral competence. The intensiveness of mothering is positively related to preschoolers’ emotional and behavioral competence after excluding the indirect effect of maternal psychological well-being. In addition, mothers from profiles showing higher levels of the intensiveness of mothering have worse psychological well being, and their preschoolers have lower levels of social-emotional development. The two pathways counteract each other, resulting in a non-significant overall relationship between the intensiveness of mothering and preschoolers’ emotional and behavioral competence. The present study suggests that mothers may adjust their attitudes and practices toward intensive parenting, actively mediate their psychological well-being, and create a supportive environment for children’s social-emotional development. Families, preschools, and society as a whole are recommended to establish collaborative mechanisms to support mothers’ childrearing and reduce their parenting stress.

Social support is an essential source of support for preschool children’s fathers to alleviate parenting anxiety, deal with parenting pressure, improve parenting methods, and enhance parenting sense of competence. Psychological capital serves as a critical psychological resource for preschoolers’ fathers, helping them cope with parenting stress and enhancing parenting efficacy. To explore the mediating mechanism of psychological capital between social support and the parenting sense of competence of preschoolers’ fathers, this study employs stratified sampling to survey 678 fathers from three cities of Henan province in China. The survey instruments mainly consist of the Social Support Rating Scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. Research findings show that social support, psychological capital, and fathers’ parenting sense of competence are at the middle level. Significant positive correlations exist among social support, psychological capital, and parenting sense of competence. Social support can positively predict fathers’ parenting sense of competence, while psychological capital partially mediates between social support and parenting sense of competence. Therefore, it is possible to increase social support for preschool children’s fathers and improve their psychological capital to relieve their parenting pressure, enhance their parenting participation, and strengthen their parenting sense of competence.