This study aims to examine the relationship between critical thinking dispositions and barriers to critical thinking of engineering students. The study is a correlational research. The population of the study includes all the students at the faculties of engineering in universities in Turkey and the sampling consists of 628 students from five different universities; Bartın, Karabük, Bozok, Bayburt and Süleyman Demirel. Convenience sampling was used to select the respondents. Two data collection tools were used in the study. The first one is the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTD) and the second one is the Critical Thinking Barriers (CTB) scale. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 24 statistical analysis programme. The mean values were compared in terms of gender, grade, university and department. The critical thinking disposition scores of the students are high, whereas the scores of barriers to critical thinking are low. The mean scores in the Critical Thinking Barriers scale significantly differ in terms of gender and grade but not university and department. Also, critical thinking dispositions of students differ significantly with respect to universities but not gender, grade and department. Finally, a moderate, negative correlation (-0.54) is observed between CTB and CTD scores
This study examines the impact of Direct and Indirect strategy-based interventions on the speaking performance of ESL learners. The participants are undergraduate students at Periyar Government Arts and Science College, Tiruchirappalli. The study employs a quasi-experimental design involving two experimental groups and a control group. Data have been collected through questionnaires and speaking tasks, while classroom observations have also been recorded by the researcher to provide additional contextual information about learners’ participation and engagement. The data have been analyzed using correlation analysis, one-way ANOVA, and ANCOVA. The results have shown significant improvements across the assessed dimensions of speaking performance following both Direct and Indirect strategy-based interventions, with learners receiving the Indirect strategy-based intervention showing greater gains. Among them, cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies have correlated well with speaking components, highlighting the vital role of these strategies in improving the learners’ speaking skill. Within the context of the present study, these findings suggest that guided pedagogical intervention may play an important role in supporting improvements in ESL learners’ speaking performance across the aspects of fluency, coherence, grammatical acceptability, idea expansion and volume. The study supports the inclusion of structured learning strategies in language instruction and reinforces the pedagogical shift towards learner-centered, strategy-informed teaching frameworks.
Generative AI (GenAI) tools are rapidly reshaping university learning environments, yet pedagogical and ethical frameworks have not developed at the same pace as their adoption. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this study combines empirical evidence from a survey of 117 undergraduate Engineering and Health Sciences students with the pedagogical perspectives of university lecturers. It examines how students currently use GenAI and how these tools can be meaningfully integrated into teaching and learning. Findings show that students’ first exposure to GenAI is mainly driven by informal social media channels rather than institutional guidance, resulting in uneven and often unguided adoption. The study also identifies a “contradictory profile” in 11% of the sample: students who perceive GenAI use as a form of cheating while also expressing a strong demand for formal training on its academic integration. From the lecturers’ perspective, GenAI offers opportunities to support content creation, assessment design, and instructional workflows, provided that human-led teaching remains central. By integrating observed student behaviors with expert recommendations, this research proposes an ethical framework and practical guidelines for the responsible integration of GenAI in higher education. The study highlights the urgent need for institutional policies that address emerging socio-ethical tensions and ensure that GenAI enhances, rather than circumvents, foundational knowledge, academic integrity, and critical thinking.
Spatial ability has become a pivotal construct in technology-enhanced learning, yet its dual role as both a trainable skill and a performance-related individual difference remains insufficiently integrated in the literature. This study offers a systematic synthesis that brings together these complementary perspectives on spatial ability in technology-enhanced learning. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 310 Web of Science-indexed peer-reviewed journal articles were analyzed and coded according to technology type, disciplinary domain, participant profile, and the conceptual role assigned to spatial ability. Findings revealed that spatial ability was predominantly treated as a developable outcome, while a substantial body of research positioned it as an individual difference associated with learning performance. Immersive and 3D interactive environments emerged as the dominant technological context across both perspectives. Association analyses further revealed statistically significant associations between the conceptual role assigned to spatial ability and technology type, disciplinary domain, and participant profile. By integrating these two strands, this review offers an organizing framework for understanding the dual role of spatial ability as both an outcome and a condition of learning, with implications for adaptive and cognitively informed instructional design.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching methodology that enhances students’ engagement in learning. While there are some models that seek to comprehensively explain the factors associated with engagement, few studies focus on the process itself to understand the dynamics of PBL that lead to student engagement. This study aims to identify the factors that affect student engagement and performance during the PBL process. This exploratory study focused on a PBL experience conducted over two academic years, involving five secondary schools. Structural equation models were developed to analyze the relationships between the program structure and teacher behavior with student engagement and self-reported learning, both at the beginning and at the end of the project. Preliminary results from the study suggest that the initial phase of the project may be important for teachers to foster group autonomy, while in the final phase, it seems advisable to provide structure and emotional involvement in the learning process. This study offers initial evidence that could help promote student engagement in PBL.
