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Apart from the fact that human-like robots are still one of the most interesting topics in science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop rapidly as a popular phenomenon for all sectors. Although the idea that this rapid rise of AI means the rise of humanity has been voiced by many, the point of how AI will affect humanity continues to raise doubts in certain parts of the society. In this study, it is aimed to determine the perceptions of middle school students, which are a part of the future of humanity, towards the concept of AI, on which many discussions have been made, through metaphors. The sample consisted of 339 seventh and eighth grade students of four secondary schools in the central districts of Afyonkarahisar and Izmir in the 2019-2020 academic year. This study used a qualitative approach utilizing metaphor analysis as a research tool to investigate phenomena. Participants were asked the complete the sentence "Artificial intelligence is like.................., because .................." Data were analyzed using content analysis. Participants' metaphors for AI were grouped under 11 categories: smart, brain, nature, security, humanistic, the dilemma of good and evil, service, object, technology, life, and time. The data obtained showed that the participants generally used positive metaphors to describe AI, that is, they had positive perceptions about AI. However, in this study, which focused on the AI perceptions of middle school students, all of the metaphors collected under 11 conceptual categories containing positive and negative perceptions were examined and interpreted separately. It is thought that educational computer systems can be designed to shape students' perceptions of AI. Teachers can consider students' perceptions of AI by using AI-assisted teaching and designing content to enhance students' learning skills.

Digitally fluent teachers are expected to contribute to the growth of digitally fluent students. The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable Digital Fluency Scale to determine the digital fluency of pre-service teachers. To create an item pool to develop a scale for digital fluency, the opinions of the focus group meeting participants were gathered by a qualitative method. After the pilot implementation of scale, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were applied. Data were collected from undergraduate students at a state university in Turkey to conduct for EFA (n: 302) followed by CFA (n: 274). The scale structure with 3 factors and 29 items was revealed. The scale explains 54.65% of the total variance. It was concluded that the Chi-square value (X[superscript 2] = 1189.10, df = 371, p <0.001) was moderately significant when the fit indices of the model tested with CFA were examined. It is seen that the other fit values for the model are within the acceptable fit value ranges. Higher scores from the scale indicate a high level of digital fluency.

Individuals with special needs are highly disadvantaged during the COVID-19 quarantine days, and families and children received limited support. Learning the experiences, problems and solution suggestions of teachers who are responsible for the education of children with special needs is of great importance in determining the plans to be made to provide the necessary support. The purpose of this study is to investigate in-service special education teachers' experiences of emergency remote teaching and to seek to understand the essence of their lived experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study employs a phenomenological design. This current interpretative phenomenological study consists of 21 special education teachers that meet predetermined criteria. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. Five key questions and one closing question which were created by the researchers aligned with the purpose of the study were asked to the participants. As a result of the data obtained within the scope of the study, themes emerged according to special education teachers' experiences such as technical infrastructure, ICT literacy, required technical support, transformations in performance tracking and assessment, learning resource, problem behaviors, goals and objectives, family engagement, person being supported, type of support provided and decision about sustainability.

Cyberloafing is a widely recognized concept associated with the Internet, which has a wide usage area today. Cyberloafing is extensively noticed, particularly among young people, and its association with a variety of variables is being researched. In this study, university students' life goals and cyberloafing profiles were analyzed on the basis of gender, age, class, grade point average, relationship status, faculty, foreign language knowledge, daily digital tool usage time, age of first using the internet, and digital devices used. The research's study group was comprised of university students from Izmir's public and private universities. 334 students posted data. The study excluded 31 participants who were found to have missing or incomplete data. The study group included 303 students. As data collection instruments, the cyberloafing scale, life goals scale, and personal information form were employed. According to the data, there is a positive and moderate association between students' levels of cyberloafing and their life goals. Cyberloafing varies according to criteria such as age, gender, faculty, and daily internet usage. Similarly, it was found that life goals changed depending on department, relationship status, and daily internet usage time.

Pakistan, like many other countries of the world, has continually been criticized for its unproductive professional development (PD) policies and practices for teachers due to low student achievement in science disciplines. A good portion of science teachers (62%) in Pakistan was found to be uncomfortable in teaching the scientific concepts (National Education Assessment System [NEAS], 2014) and PD programs are failing to address this issue. There is a need to reconstruct the operationalized knowledge of PD for Pakistan to expand the ways of knowledge creation, examination, authentication, and distribution. This also implies the need to review the current western literature on PD designs and practices to explore the ways of addressing the issues of Pakistani PD programs. With this purpose in mind, the current study set out to search the comparative understanding of science teachers' PD learning and experiences in Pakistan. The study was carried out to review the literature on science teachers' PD learning and experiences in the Western context (The US and European countries) while comparing it with the situation of Pakistani science teachers' PD practices. This seeks to address the critical questions of how to increase the effectiveness in Pakistani PD practices.

This study examines the effect of mobile learning applications on undergraduate students' academic achievement, attitudes toward mobile learning and animation development levels. Quasi-experimental design was used in the study. Participants of the study were students of the Buca Faculty of Education at Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey. The experiment was conducted during the first semester of 2013-2014 academic year. A mobile learning-based strategy was used in experimental group (n = 15), while the control group participated in a lecture-based classroom (n = 26). An attitude scale was used to measure the students' attitudes toward mobile learning, and achievement test was used to examine the effect of mobile learning applications on the students' achievement. In order to evaluate the animations developed by students, a rubric was used. For exploratory analysis, interviews were conducted with students. The findings suggest that mobile learning may promote students' academic achievement. Both groups had significantly high attitude scores toward mobile learning. Furthermore, the students appreciated mobile learning as an approach that may significantly increase their motivation. Researchers and practitioners should take into consideration that mobile learning can create positive impact on academic achievement and performance and increase the motivation of students.

Advances in information technologies present opportunities for novel approaches, methods, and tools for new or improved education and training practices. Furthermore, these technologies are enabling a shift in the education paradigm. Based on an investigation of a wide range of information technologies supporting smart education, we developed a Smart Education Framework. The framework conceptually structures the information technologies in a layered architecture. We also developed a smart education design approach based on the framework. Furthermore, we show how to use the framework and design approach to develop a specific course or lecture design. To validate the smart education framework, we examined smart education systems reported in the literature. To identify smart education systems, we conducted a systematic literature search. The literature search results show that the smart education framework has the ability to describe smart education systems. This study contributes to the current literature with a smart education framework. The smart education framework will guide future smart education system designs.

While hands-on activities are important in science, students must have the opportunity to process the ideas and information that stem from those activities. Minds-on science activities, such as literacy integration, support making connections between prior and new knowledge by encouraging students to read, speak, and write like scientists. Literacy integration in science has been widely studied, but effective literacy integration remains elusive. In response, this article addresses ways that a teacher can use a combination of text genres (the traditional science textbook, popular science articles, and Adapted Primary Literature) to scaffold the understanding of scientific practices while using minds-on activities. Teachers will gain a sense of what literacy integration entails, see a concrete plan for integration literacy in the science classroom, and find the resources they need to accomplish this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The diagnostic yield of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) can vary according to many factors. We aimed to determine the predictors that optimize the diagnostic yield of EUS-FNA, particularly the role of on-site cytopathologists. Methods: A total of 175 patients who underwent EUS-FNA were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Lesion localization, size, characteristics, and the presence of a cytopathologist during the examination were evaluated. A standard endoscope and a Cook Medical Echo Tip 22G needle were used to view, evaluate, and perform FNA on the lesions using the Standard Suction Technique. Results: The most common lesion location was the pancreas, accounting for 70% of cases. The average lesion size was 3.2 ± 1.7 cm. Rapid on-site pathological evaluations (ROSE) were performed for 64 patients (37%), significantly improving diagnostic rates to 78% compared to 63% without ROSE (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1-4.2, P = .039). The diagnostic yield was higher for solid lesions compared to cystic ones (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1-4.7, P = .03). A positive correlation was found between lesion size and diagnostic yield (R 0.18, P = .017). ROC analysis showed that lesions larger than 2.4 cm had a diagnostic specificity of 73% and sensitivity of 45% (AUC 0.61, P = .019). Conclusion: Our findings clearly revealed that ROSE enhances the diagnostic yield and procedural efficiency of EUS-FNA. This may be related to the high quality of smears prepared by the cytopathologist. Furthermore, larger lesion sizes were associated with higher diagnostic accuracy, particularly in pancreatic lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online learning, particularly in higher education institutions. This shift underscores the importance of sustainable education practices aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 4 emphasizes inclusive and equitable quality education, highlighting how online learning environments can enhance accessibility and flexibility for students worldwide. SDG 9 underscores the role of technological advancements in education. SDG 10 focuses on reducing inequality within and among countries, and online education can bridge educational disparities by offering flexible learning options to diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. SDG 17 emphasizes the importance of partnerships, which have been crucial in developing effective online learning solutions. This study investigates the relationship between undergraduate students' self-regulated online learning, perceived flexibility, and attitudes towards the use of distance learning environments at a state university in İzmir, Türkiye. Utilizing a survey-type correlational research model, data were collected from 300 undergraduate students. The results indicate that undergraduate students exhibit high-level self-regulation, perceive moderate flexibility, and hold positive attitudes towards the use of distance learning environments. The analysis showed that self-regulated online learning is moderately correlated with perceived flexibility and strongly correlated with attitudes towards the use of distance learning environments. These findings suggest that both perceived flexibility and positive attitudes towards the use of distance learning environments play important roles in predicting self-regulated online learning. This research provides valuable insights for educators and institutions aiming to enhance the online learning experience by promoting self-regulated learning behaviors and flexible learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents important findings that were observed as interconnected key elements of high-quality co-teaching of a physics course for pre-service science teachers while the collaborating faculty experienced a pedagogical convergence. This pedagogical convergence is akin to the conceptual convergence that Roschelle (1992) has described as being a central mechanism in conceptual change learning. Four elements of that pedagogical convergence are identified and discussed: two found within Roschelle's framework and two recognized by the faculty members through their reflection on the course. This pedagogical convergence had a significant positive influence on the design and, more importantly, the implementation of the co-taught physics course, resulting in a productive and impactful collaboration between the two faculty members. The paper includes perspectives from both faculty members on each element of the pedagogical convergence and students as well as on the teaching context and critical aspects of practice. The ideas in the paper should provide college faculty members meaningful directions as to how co-teaching could be implemented across a range of science disciplines and the framework can serve as a foundation for creating a co-taught college science course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to describe a reform model of instructional collaboration, Japanese lesson study, which has been shown in previous research to enhance reform-based teaching. Japanese lesson study is a method of professional development in which teachers collaborate with peers and other specialists to improve teaching and learning. This paper gives an overview of the need to improve instruction at the college level and a summary of the difficulties of making change in higher education. We discuss how Japanese lesson study can be a practical guide for making improvements in teaching and learning in college settings. We present findings from cases on the basis of our experiences and provide suggestions for implementing high-quality lesson study in college science and mathematics courses. Finally, we review the benefits and limitations of the model in the context of higher education. (Contains 1 figure.)

Background and Aim: Radioembolization (RE) is a one of the palliative treatments that have been used to down stage and/or increase the survival time in intermediate-advanced stages of HCC. We aimed to evaluate the clinical impact of RE and the clinical use of the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score as a predictor for survival in HCC patients. Materials and Methods: Fifty-nine unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients were enrolled. RE was performed in 28 of them (group 1) and 31 patients were followed up in the natural course (NC) (group 2). Patients were classified according to the Child-Pugh score (only cirrhotic patients), Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) staging, and ALBI scores were also calculated. Results: All patients in Group 1 were cirrhotic and their BCLC stages were as follows: 60.7% stage B and 39.3% stage C. In Group 2, 83.9% of patients were cirrhotic and their BCLC stages were as follows: 9.7% stage B, 51.6% stage C, and 38.7% stage D. Mortality rates were 82% and 100% in Groups 1 and 2, respectively. The median overall survival (OS) was 13.5 months (95% CI: 10.4-16.6 months) and 4.5 months (95% CI: 3.5-5.5 months) in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p=0.000). When RE was applied to patients with ALBI Grade 1 and 2, the median OS was statistically higher than in the NC group, respectively (p<0.001, p<0.001). Conclusion: RE is an effective treatment method at the advanced stages of HCC. The ALBI score is a more useful and practical than the other prognostic tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study focused on understanding changes that were taking place in Promotion and Tenure (P and T) practices in eight selected institutions of higher education in the state of Georgia and examined factors, if any, that were acting as a catalyst for change. The research team used both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the P and T dossier reviews. The study did broaden our understanding of important and complex issues in higher education. The results have implications for higher education faculty and administrators as they contemplate tenure and promotion decisions and policies, and complete future research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A group of preservice science teachers edited video footage of their practice teaching to identify and isolate critical incidents. They then wrote guided reflection papers on those critical incidents using different forms of media prompts while they wrote. The authors used a counterbalanced research design to compare the quality of writing that participants produced when they had access to either their edited video clip of the incident, audio from the clip only, or their memory of the incident alone while writing. All reflection papers were evaluated using a rubric developed by Ward and McCotter (2004). An analysis of variance among paper scores showed that participants wrote significantly higher quality papers on several indicators when prompted by video than when prompted by audio. There was also a difference in means between their reflections when prompted by video and when they worked from memory alone.

Background and Aim: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation of tumor suppressor genes are emerging potential biomarkers in HCC. We aimed to evaluate the cfDNA methylation status of RASSF1 and CDKN2AIP genes in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) with or without HCC caused by HBV. Materials and Methods: A total of 47 patients with HBV cirrhosis were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: HCC and LC (HCC+LC, n=22) and HBV cirrhosis only (LC, n=25). cfDNA was isolated from the plasma samples of the patients. Methylation analysis was performed for RASSF1 and CDKN2AIP genes. Results: Mean methylation percentage of CDKN2AIP gene was 0.001±0.004% in the HCC+LC group and 0.008±0.004 % in the LC only group. The mean methylation percentage of RASSF1 gene was 5.1±16.1% in the HCC+LC group and 9.7±25.9% in the LC only group. The methylation rate of CDKN2AIP was significantly lower in the HCC+LC group (p=0.027). A positive correlation was found with the absence of cfDNA methylation of CDKN2AIP gene in the presence of HCC (R=0.667, p=0.018). Conclusion: cfDNA methylation of CDKN2AIP and RASSF1 genes may provide important diagnostic information regarding the development of HCC in the setting of HBV cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]