Addressing Geographical Marginality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania: Civil Society, Volunteerism, and Networking

This chapter explores the spatial and social features of Romanians’ networking and volunteering to cope with the societal crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. We explored how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced civil society to take initiative, both in central and peripheral areas, in assisting vulnerable and marginalised groups. The main objectives were to identify, analyse and then discuss the differences at the county and regional levels regarding the initiatives from the civil society (regular citizens, volunteers, associations, non-governmental organisations) and explore how networking was developed in the regions of Romania. We considered the county level. The database was created through online research, for the period March 2020-October 2021. Results were analysed considering the development and the historical regions of Romania. Besides the quantitative analysis, we discussed the factors influencing and explaining regional disparities. We assessed how geographical marginality was addressed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions underline the crucial relevance of the civil society for coping with the COVID-19 crisis in Romania, in a context of geographical and social marginality, and of drastic changes induced in Romanian society. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Using animation films in formal activities at Natural Sciences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instruction problems and models

Animation films were used frequently during online didactic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have not identified research that focuses on the problems that teachers face when using animated films to enable students' learning of Natural Sciences and on the training models that can be organized based on this resource. Therefore, we analysed the problems faced by teachers and, to solve them, we identified, analysed, and described several instruction models based on animation films: illustrative, expositive, interactive, flipped classroom, learning through discovery, and learning through simulation. We analysed the way to integrate them into the didactic activity and, finally, we realized some recommendations.

Urban Bioregions and Territorial Identities in Romania. The Role of Information and Communication Technology

This article explores the current measures and initiatives implemented in Romania to determine what is the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in creating bioregions, and especially in how cities, as potential urban bioregions, play a part in this process. The exploratory documentation and database creation was done through keyword-search on the Google search engine, because of the current COVID-19 restrictions. The initiatives found by keyword searching were then divided into two categories, ICT-related, and non-ICT, and represented in table format. The keyword-based search has led to several results, which were displayed using ArcMap 10.5 and analysed by being superimposed on the historical and development regions of Romania. Firstly, results showed that, in Romania, a bigger concentration of population did not necessarily correlate with a higher number of sustainable practices. Secondly, that cities' bio/eco food demand, as well as fertile soil, created the premise for the start of numerous eco/bio-certified farms and businesses. Thirdly, cities, and especially the four major regional capitals (Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, and Timisoara) had more practices and especially smart-based ones. Finally, results indicated a large regional inequality in terms of the number of sustainable practices, with eastern regions being shallower, while western regions and those counties in proximity to important urban centres being favoured. This exploratory study helps to understand the stage of reaching the aims of the bioregional paradigm in Romania.

Valorization of Educational Platforms in Teaching-Learning-Evaluation in Romania. Comparative Study

After the suspension of face-to-face activities, teachers used various social media platforms and applications adopted by the educational environment. We comparatively analyzed, from the user's perspective, several platforms that were used predominantly by teachers both at K-12 and university education. The following platforms were analyzed: Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Wand.education, Livresq, Google Meet and Zoom. We found that in Romania, at the university level, teaching activities for part-time study programs and open distance learning programs, take place formally, on specialized platforms that ensure learning management in compliance with certain rules, but also by providing additional resources by using other applications. In universities, the teaching activities within the study programs with frequency were carried out either on specialized platforms or on videoconferencing platforms and/ or by using other applications and tools. At K-12 level, they used private, informal educational platforms, which offered educational resources, facilities, and tools for their creation and for the integral organization of online teaching activities. If at the university level there is a small degree of sharing of educational resources, visible in the use of platforms, at K-12 level, a greater willingness to share personal experience and a rapid transfer of information are characteristic.

The Use of Animation Film in Studying Some Natural Phenomena and Forming Representations

Animation films that focus on narrative topics are frequently watched by pupils, while animation films that focus on natural phenomena are fewer and less watched. The purpose of this study is to analyse a learning activity that uses a film about the consequences of the Earth's rotation and revolutionary motions: the formation of days and nights and the formation of seasons. We analysed the following: the process of selecting the film, the activity of watching the film individually, at home, the activity carried out by the teacher and students on the Zoom platform, the students' results in three tests and in a gap text game, created with the Wordwall application. At the end of the research, we concluded that a learning activity in which animation films and interactive games are used and in which knowledge is mediated by the teacher is more effective than an individual viewing of an animation film about natural phenomena.

Learning about ICT-based Collaborative Practices in Urban Regeneration

This paper starts from a research topic approached within an internal fellowship in Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The project, Smart Collaborative Practices in Urban Regeneration in Cluj-Napoca, assessed the necessity that the local university provides innovative services using ICT, in cooperation with local NGOs, which would support the development of the local community. As part of the project, we present the stages of an online research on urban regeneration collaborative practices, which use the ICT, through which local communities are activated to take part at the decision-making process concerning their development. Therefore, our aim was to identify, present and analyse the web-based resources (i.e. good practice examples) available for smart collaborative practices, considering the results of the fellowship project and their use in further activities involving the ICT and implemented by various stakeholders in local development (i.e. the academia, the local NGOs, and the citizens). In addition, we focused on the advantages of the online research on the topic, from the perspective of what university geography students could learn, when in service learning, field trips, and field research were not possible. This was the case of the fellowship project implemented in March-April 2020, which overlapped over the lockdown period in Romania, caused by the COVID-19 health and societal crises.

Feedforward for University Geographical Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic period in Romania, traditional face-to-face university education was replaced by the online one, realised on a series of platforms and employing web-based methods. This transformed it into distance education. Starting from papers published worldwide on e-learning during the period when universities were closed because of the health crisis, I presented and discussed the advantages, challenges, problems and recommendations concerning online education at the university level, briefly discussing the case of geography. To achieve this aim, a literature review is performed on papers treating online university education during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and participant observation, considering my personal teaching experience on the subject. Challenges are discussed from the perspectives of both professors and students and solutions are identified. Conclusions emphasize the benefits of online education when appropriate approaches are employed.

E-learning Natural Sciences and Visual Imagery

This research aims to analyse an online learning activity based on an original training model and the preschoolers' learning outcomes. A narrative text and a PowerPoint presentation regarding the environment of a rural household, the domestic birds and their connections and living environment were created to approach this activity. The evaluation of children's knowledge was achieved through an online game. The following were studied: the storyline, the PowerPoint presentation, the learning activity, the children' scores, and the learning efficiency as a result of using this audio-visual resource.

Learning through Discovery in the Online Environment. Examples, Principles, Advantages, and Difficulties. A Case Study on Renewable Energy

The aim of this research is to investigate how learning through discovery can be achieved by Z generationpupils using the textbook and the online available sources. We have analyzed a lesson from the textbook Mathematics and Environment Exploration and an animated film from the point of view of learning through discovery, an activity performed into the virtual classroom based on these materials.Weidentified the difficulties and the problems both pupils and teachers cope with, and wehighlighted certain principles and advantages of learning through discovery performed by accessing web sources. We concluded that the film proposed by the teacher for viewing on YouTube represented a valuable information source that corresponded to the pupils' level of knowledge and, more than that, satisfied their curiosity. However, the success of the educational activities depended much on parents' supervision and support.

Early covid-19 pandemic impacts on society and environment in romania. perception among population with higher education

This study aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on the society and environment in Romania. It is based on the results of a survey conducted in May 2020 to emphasise the perception and reactions of the higher educated population to unprecedented measures taken by public and health authorities during the lockdown. The analysis of the population perception addressed four significant aspects: The awareness of the risks of infection;the adaptation to pandemic issues;behavioural changes due to the disease outbreak;and the prioritisation of social and environmental measures, aimed at minimising the spread of the virus and diffusion of COVID-19 disease it causes. A reliable cross-sectional online questionnaire was performed on a final sample of 719 Romanian adults aged 18-75 years. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied, using SPSS analysis and procedure, and respectively Application Programming Interface (API). Findings pointed out that in Romania, the higher educated population considered the risk of infection as being moderate. Although, they initially questioned the restrictions, they subsequently followed social distancing measures, initiated resilience actions by adopting new sanitary habits, healthy behaviours and reconsidering the importance of an inclusive living environment. In their views, the management of the crisis at the national and local level is satisfactory, thus outlining the directions for actions and placing health and the environment along with social issues as top priorities and needs for the Romanian communities. © 2021 Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Romania. All rights reserved.

Online university education during the COVID-19 pandemic. How efficient are the adapted instruction models?

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic and of transferring face-to-face academic activities to online, we analyse several e-learning solutions in Geography university education, from the perspective of three components: e-communication, e-training, and e-assessment. The aim of this research is to investigate the use of photographs to enable learning of Geography during the educational process organized synchronously and asynchronously at Babes-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. After analyzing the online activities realized in the virtual classes on the Microsoft Teams platform, we identified, discussed, and represented schematically three instruction models, with their advantages and disadvantages, considering the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. The efficiency of these models depends on the features of the discipline and on professor's competence level in specialty and in didactic transposition.