Search results for: latent teacher profiles

Authors: Katerina Samartzi

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This study focuses on the teacher’s discourses in Greece, about the relation between the children and the media, concerning sex education and widely the childhood. The teachers’ input reflect the anxieties and the dominant discourses that exist around these issues. The study begins with the critical discussion of the available literature concerning the potential impact of media and the ‘moral panics’, their role in sex education and the children’s use of sexual material. Moreover, the study analyses the social construction of childhood and sexuality. Given the lack of explicit and official protocol for the sex education in Greece and due the fact that the young people are familiar with all the material provided by the New Media and their part as an informal education, this project aims to point out the factors that reinforce these gaps. This study focuses on the way the adults and specifically teachers contextualize the children’s relation with media, their sexuality, the sex education, the use of sexual material and the childhood.

Keywords: childhood, children's sexuality, media, moral panics, pornography, sex education

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Authors: Abdullah Alshakhi

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This study aims to explore the assessment practices of transnational western teachers in Saudi EFL writing classrooms. The study adopts a critical ethnographic approach to understand the views and the experiences of four transnational TESOL professionals about how they navigate and negotiate their writing assessment practices in the Saudi EFL context. The qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and video recordings of the classroom teaching, which were followed by semi-structured interviews with the four TESOL teachers from Australia, England, USA, and Ireland. The data were analyzed from three perspectives of these transnational TESOL teachers in the Saudi EFL context: as a transnational teacher in monolingual context, as a transitional teacher abides by the prescribed curriculum and assessment instructions, and as a transnational teacher’s vision for monolingual students. The results of the study revealed that owing to the transnational teachers’ lack of understanding of the Saudi monolingual culture, bureaucratic structures, and top-down assessment policies in the institute where they work, their teaching and assessment of writing and other language skills are negatively affected and consequently had to be modified. Also, the Saudi learners’ lack of interest and their lower level of English proficiency pose serious challenges to those transnational teachers’ writing assessment practices. More often, the teachers find the prescribed writing curriculum and assessment tools ineffective in the Saudi EFL context. Because of these experiences, the transnational teachers in this study have exhibited their awareness of their monolingual/monoculture background, Saudi’s cultural and religious values, and institutional structures, which have helped them customize or supplement the writing assessment practices accordingly.

Keywords: critical ethnography, Saudi EFL context, TESOL professionals, transnationalism, writing assessment

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Authors: Sara Bilal, Abdi Omar Shuriye, Raihan Othman

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Numerical Methods is a course that can be conducted using workshops and group discussion. This study has been implemented on undergraduate students of level two at the Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia. The Numerical Method course has been delivered to two Sections 1 and 2 with 44 and 22 students in each section, respectively. Systematic steps have been followed to apply the student centered learning approach in teaching Numerical Method course. Initially, the instructor has chosen the topic which was Euler’s Method to solve Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) to be learned. The students were then divided into groups with five members in each group. Initial instructions have been given to the group members to prepare their subtopics before meeting members from other groups to discuss the subtopics in an expert group inside the classroom. For the time assigned for the classroom discussion, the setting of the classroom was rearranged to accommodate the student centered learning approach. Teacher strength was by monitoring the process of learning inside and outside the class. The students have been assessed during the migrating to the expert groups, recording of a video explanation outside the classroom and during the final examination. Euler’s Method to solve the ODE was set as part of Question 3(b) in the final exam. It is observed that none of the students from both sections obtained a zero grade in Q3(b), compared to Q3(a) and Q3(c). Also, for Section 1(44 students), 29 students obtained the full mark of 7/7, while only 10 obtained 7/7 for Q3(a) and no students obtained 6/6 for Q3(c). Finally, we can recommend that the Numerical Method course be moved toward more student-centered Learning classrooms where the students will be engaged in group discussion rather than having a teacher one man show.

Keywords: teacher centered learning, student centered learning, mathematic, numerical methods

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Authors: Maximilian Cedzich, Ingo Dietz Von Bayer, Roland Jochem

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In order for industrial companies to continue to succeed in dynamic, globalized markets, they must be able to train their employees in an agile manner and at short notice in line with the exogenous conditions that arise. For this purpose, it is indispensable to operate a proactive competence management system for employees that recognizes qualification needs timely in order to be able to address them promptly through qualification measures. However, there are hardly any approaches to be found in the literature that includes systematic, proactive competence management. In order to help close this gap, this publication presents a process model that systematically develops bottom-up, future-oriented target competence profiles based on the tasks of the employees. Concretely, in the first step, the tasks of the individual employees are examined for assumed future conditions. In other words, qualitative scenarios are considered for the individual tasks to determine how they are likely to change. In a second step, these scenario-based future tasks are translated into individual future-related target competencies of the employee using a matrix of generic task properties. The final step pursues the goal of validating the target competence profiles formed in this way within the framework of a management workshop. This process model provides industrial companies with a tool that they can use to determine the competencies required by their own employees in the future and compare them with the actual prevailing competencies. If gaps are identified between the target and the actual, these qualification requirements can be closed in the short term by means of qualification measures.

Keywords: dynamic globalized markets, employee competence management, industrial companies, knowledge management

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Authors: Thiru Vandeyar

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This study sets out to explore how teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about ICT policy influence a consensus approach to the formulation of a school ICT policy. This case study proposes Q- methodology as an innovative method to facilitate a school’s capacity to develop policy reflecting teacher beliefs and attitudes. Q-methodology is used as a constructivist approach to the formulation of an ICT policy. Data capture was a mix of Q-methodology and qualitative principles. Data was analyzed by means of document, content and cluster analysis methods. Findings were threefold: First, teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about ICT policy influenced a consensus approach by including teachers as policy decision-makers. Second, given the opportunity, teachers have the inherent ability to deconstruct and critically engage with policy statements according to their own professional beliefs and attitudes. And third, an inclusive approach to policy formulation may inform the practice of school leaders and policymakers alike on how schools may develop their own policy.

Keywords: ICT, policy, teacher beliefs, consensus

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Authors: Sheryl Avendaño, Miguel Ospina, Hebert Montegranario

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Full Wave Inversion (FWI) is a variant of seismic tomography for obtaining velocity profiles by an optimization process that combine forward modelling (or solution of wave equation) with the misfit between synthetic and observed data. In this research we are modelling wave propagation in a visco-acoustic medium in the frequency domain. We apply finite differences for the numerical solution of the wave equation with a mix between usual and rotated grids, where density depends on velocity and there exists a damping function associated to a linear dissipative medium. The velocity profiles are obtained from an initial one and the data have been modeled for a frequency range 0-120 Hz. By an iterative procedure we obtain an estimated velocity profile in which are detailed the remarkable features of the velocity profile from which synthetic data were generated showing promising results for our method.

Keywords: seismic inversion, full wave inversion, visco acoustic wave equation, finite diffrence methods

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Authors: Pratibha Biswal, Suyash Morchhale, Anshuman Singh Yadav, Shubham Sanjay Chobe

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Energy demands are increasing whereas energy sources, especially non-renewable sources are limited. Due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, it has become the need of the hour to find new ways to store energy. Out of various energy storage methods, latent heat thermal storage devices are becoming popular due to their high energy density per unit mass and volume at nearly constant temperature. This work presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using ANSYS FLUENT 19.0 for energy storage characteristics of a phase change material (PCM) filled in a vertical triplex tube thermal energy storage system. A vertical triplex tube heat exchanger, just like its name consists of three concentric tubes (pipe sections) for parting the device into three fluid domains. The PCM is filled in the middle domain with heat transfer fluids flowing in the outer and innermost domains. To enhance the heat transfer inside the PCM, eight fins have been incorporated between the internal and external tubes. These fins run radially outwards from the outer-wall of innermost tube to the inner-wall of the middle tube dividing the middle domain (between innermost and middle tube) into eight sections. These eight sections are then filled with a PCM. The validation is carried with earlier work and a grid independence test is also presented. Further studies on freezing and melting process were carried out. The results are presented in terms of pictorial representation of isotherms and liquid fraction

Keywords: heat exchanger, thermal energy storage, phase change material, CFD, latent heat

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Authors: Jolanta Jonak

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All students demonstrate various learning preferences and learning styles that range from visual, auditory to kinesthetic preferences. These learning preferences are further impacted by individual cognitive profiles hat characterizes itself in linguistic strengths, logical- special, inter-or intra- personal, just to name a few. Students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CLD) have an increased risk of being misunderstood by many school systems and even medical personnel. Students with disability, specifically Autism, are faced with another layer of learning differences. Research indicates that large numbers of students are not provided the type of education and types of supports they need in order to be successful in an academic environment. Multiple research findings indicate that significant numbers of school staff self-reports that they do not feel adequately prepared to work with students with disability and different learing profiles. It is very important for the school staff to be educated about different learning needs of students with autism spectrum disorders. Having the knowledge, school staff can avoid unnecessary referrals for office referrals and avoid inaccurate decisions about restrictive learning environments. This presentation will illustrate the cognitive differences in students with autism, how to recognize them, and how to support them through Differentiated Instruction. One way to ensure successful education for students with disability is by providing Differentiated Instruction (DI). DI is quickly gaining its popularity in the Unites States as a scientific- research based instructional approach for all students. This form of support ensures that regardless of the students’ learning preferences and cognitive learning profiles, they have an opportunity to learn through approaches that are suitable to their needs. It is extremely important for the school staff, especially school psychologists who often are the first experts to be consulted by educators, to be educated about differences due to learning preference styles and differentiation needs.

Keywords: special education, autism, differentiation, differences, differentiated instruction

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Authors: Jarrod Sio Jyh Lih

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This paper discusses the factors contributing to student achievement in literacy and numeracy in primary schools within Sibu division. The study involved 694 level 1 primary schoolteachers. Using descriptive statistics, the study observed high levels of practice for teacher efficacy, instructional leadership and professional learning communities (PLCs). The differences between gender, teaching experience and academic qualification were analyzed using the t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study reported significant differences in respondent perceptions based on teaching experience vis-à-vis teacher efficacy. Here, the post hoc Tukey test revealed that efficaciousness grows with experience. A correlation test observed positive and significant correlations between all independent variables. Binary logistic regression was applied to predict the independent variables’ influence on student achievement. The findings revealed that a dimension of instructional leadership – ‘monitoring student progress’ - emerged as the best predictor of student achievement for literacy and numeracy. The result indicated the students were more than 4 times more likely to achieve the national key performance index for both literacy and numeracy when student progress was monitored. In conclusion, ‘monitoring student progress’ had a positive influence on students’ achievement for literacy and numeracy, hence making it a possible course of action for school heads. However, more comprehensive studies are needed to ascertain its consistency within the context of Malaysia.

Keywords: efficacy, instructional, literacy, numeracy

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Authors: Kemal Izci

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Assessment forms an important part of instruction. Assessment that aims to support learning is known as formative assessment and it contributes student’s learning gain and motivation. However, teachers rarely use assessment formatively to aid their students’ learning. Thus, reviewing the factors that limit or support teachers’ practices of formative assessment will be crucial for guiding educators to support prospective teachers in using formative assessment and also eliminate limiting factors to let practicing teachers to engage in formative assessment practices during their instruction. The study, by using teacher’s change environment framework, reviews literature on formative assessment and presents a tentative model that illustrates the factors impacting teachers’ adoption of formative assessment in their teaching. The results showed that there are four main factors consisting personal, contextual, resource-related and external factors that influence teachers’ practices of formative assessment.

Keywords: assessment practices, formative assessment, teacher education, factors for use of formative assessment

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Authors: Ismail Baniadam, Nafisa Tadayyon, Javid Fereidoni

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This study aimed to investigate medical students’ attitudes toward some teachers’ talking features regarding their gender in the Iranian context. To do so, 60 male and 60 female medical students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences (UMSU) participated in the research. A researcher made Likert-type questionnaire which was initially piloted and was used to gather the data. Comparing the four different factors regarding the features of teacher talk, it was revealed that visual and extra-linguistic information factor, Lexical and syntactic familiarity, Speed of speech, and the use of Persian language had the highest to the lowest mean score, respectively. It was also indicated that female students rather than male students were significantly more in favor of speed of speech and lexical and syntactic familiarity.

Keywords: attitude, gender, medical student, teacher talk

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Authors: Robert Michael, Kayla Tobin, William Foster, Rachel Fairchild

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in education, particularly in the teaching of health and physical education (HPE). This study examined a cohort of teachers that experienced being a preservice and first-year teacher during various stages of the pandemic. Qualitative data collection was conducted by interviewing six teachers from different schools in the Eastern U.S. over a series of structured interviews. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. The pandemic significantly impacted the way HPE was taught as schools shifted to virtual and hybrid models. Findings revealed five major themes: (a) You want me to teach HOW?, (b) PE without equipment and six feet apart, (c) Behind the Scenes, (d) They’re back…I became a behavior management guru, and (e) The Pandemic Crater. Overall, this study highlights the significant challenges faced by preservice and first-year teachers in teaching physical education during the pandemic and underscores the need for ongoing support and resources to help them adapt and succeed in these challenging circumstances.

Keywords: teacher education, preservice teachers, first year teachers, health and physical education

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Authors: Orly Sela

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The lecture discusses a Language Teaching program in a Teacher Education College in northern Israel. An on-line course was added to the program in order to keep on-campus attendance at a minimum, thus allowing the students to keep their full-time jobs in school. In addition, the use of educational technology to allow students to study anytime anywhere, in keeping with 21st-century innovative teaching-learning practices, was also an issue, as was the wish for this course to serve as a model which the students could then possibly use in their K-12 teaching. On the other hand, there were strong considerations against including an online course in the program. The students in the program were mostly Israeli-Arab married women with young children, living in a traditional society which places a strong emphasis on the place of the woman as a wife, mother, and home-maker. In addition, as teachers, they used much of their free time on school-related tasks. Having careers at the same time as studying was ground-breaking for these women, and using their time at home for studying rather than taking care of their families may have been simply too much to ask of them. At the end of the course, feedback was collected through an online questionnaire including both open and closed questions. The data collected shows that the students believed in online teaching-learning in principle, but had trouble implementing it in practice. This evidence raised the question of whether or not such a course should be included in a graduate program for mature, professional students, particular women with families living in a traditional society. This issue is not relevant to Israel alone, but also to academic institutions worldwide serving such populations. The lecture discusses this issue, sharing the researcher’s conclusions with the audience. Based on the evidence offered, it is the researcher’s conclusion that online education should, indeed, be offered to such audiences. However, the courses should be designed with the students’ special needs in mind, with emphasis placed on initial planning and course organization based on acknowledgment of the teaching context; modeling of online teaching/learning suited for in-service teacher education, and special attention paid to social-constructivist aspects of learning.

Keywords: course design, in-service teacher-education, mature students, online teaching/learning

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Authors: Rian de Villiers

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Human mobility is one of the most significant development, foreign policy and domestic issues in the world today. Teacher loss due to migration is a global phenomenon that is impacting both developed and developing nations the world over. The purpose of this study was to find out how many newly qualified South African teachers were planning to teach in a foreign country; what were the prospective migrant teachers’ motives for migration; what destination countries were the most popular and why; and what were the prospective migrant teachers’ information needs before leaving South Africa. A group of final-year Bachelor of Education student teachers from a single university responded to a questionnaire on intra-and intercontinental migration. The responses were analysed quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The findings showed that 79% of the students indicated that they would be teaching in South Africa, 9% were planning to teach in another country, while 8% were undecided. More than a third of the students (38%) said that they would like to teach in another country in five years time. Just more than a quarter of the students (27%) preferred Australia as a destination, followed by the United Kingdom (16%), Korea (16%) and the USA (14%). The student teachers’ most important motive to teach in a foreign country was the opportunity to travel (27%), followed by earning a higher salary (26%) and professional development (23%). The student teachers indicated that their most important migration needs before leaving South Africa were information about health care, accommodation and banking assistance. Huge loss of teachers to host countries has a serious, negative impact upon the education system of most developing and/or source countries, including South Africa. Several steps and strategies to resolve teacher loss in South Africa are discussed.

Keywords: migration, academic mobility, teachers, teacher students, South Africa

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Authors: Claire M. Hollocou, Denise Johnson

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As racism permeates the foundation of America's educational system, educators hold a level of responsibility to address racism and the power of white privilege in the classroom by implementing anti-racist practices. This study aims to discuss the practices of anti-racist education across two predominantly affluent white schools. It offers our perspectives as white and black female teachers committed to implementing and reflecting on our antiracist work. Through communities of practice and the critical dialogue framework, we will provide an environment for one another to share our experiences implementing anti-racist education. We will spend a couple of months engaging in dialogue together to support our praxis. With critical reflection, we will look for themes that emerge through the conversations as well as develop a protocol for building an antiracist community of practice. This study is a work in progress.

Keywords: anti-racism, critical dialogue, race and racism, teacher education

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Authors: Vytautas Galvanauskas, Vykantas Grincas, Rimvydas Simutis

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This paper investigates a possible practical solution for reasonable oxygen supply during the pluripotent stem cells expansion processes, where the stem cells propagate as aggregates in stirred-suspension bioreactors. Low glucose and low oxygen concentrations are preferred for efficient proliferation of pluripotent stem cells. However, strong oxygen limitation, especially inside of cell aggregates, can lead to cell starvation and death. In this research, the oxygen concentration profile inside of stem cell aggregates in a stem cell expansion process was predicted using a modified oxygen diffusion model. This profile can be realized during the stem cells cultivation process by manipulating the oxygen concentration in inlet gas or inlet gas flow. The proposed approach is relatively simple and may be attractive for installation in a real pluripotent stem cell expansion processes.

Keywords: aggregated stem cells, dissolved oxygen profiles, modeling, stirred-tank, 3D expansion

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Authors: Nezha Badi

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It has been shown in the literature that Algerian university students suffer from low levels of reading comprehension proficiency, which hinder their overall proficiency in English. This low level is mainly related to the methodology of teaching reading which is employed by the teacher in the classroom (a teacher-centered environment), as well as students’ poor sense of self-efficacy to undertake reading comprehension activities. Arguably, what is needed is an approach necessary for enhancing students’ self-beliefs about their abilities to deal with different reading comprehension activities. This can be done by providing them with opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning (learners’ autonomy). As a result of learning autonomy, learners’ beliefs about their abilities to deal with certain language tasks may increase, and hence, their language learning ability. Therefore, this experimental research study attempts to assess the extent to which an integrated approach combining one particular reading approach known as ‘collaborative strategic reading’ (CSR), and teacher’s attributional feedback (on students’ reading performance and strategy use) can improve the reading comprehension skill and the sense of self-efficacy of EFL Algerian university students. It also seeks to examine students’ main reasons for their successful or unsuccessful achievements in reading comprehension activities, and whether students’ attributions for their reading comprehension outcomes can be modified after exposure to the instruction. To obtain the data, different tools including a reading comprehension test, questionnaires, an observation, an interview, and learning logs were used with 105 second year Algerian EFL university students. The sample of the study was divided into three groups; one control group (with no treatment), one experimental group (CSR group) who received a CSR instruction, and a second intervention group (CSR Plus group) who received teacher’s attribution feedback in addition to the CSR intervention. Students in the CSR Plus group received the same experiment as the CSR group using the same tools, except that they were asked to keep learning logs, for which teacher’s feedback on reading performance and strategy use was provided. The results of this study indicate that the CSR and the attributional feedback intervention was effective in improving students’ reading comprehension proficiency and sense of self-efficacy. However, there was not a significant change in students’ adaptive and maladaptive attributions for their success and failure d from the pre-test to the post-test phase. Analysis of the perception questionnaire, the interview, and the learning logs shows that students have positive perceptions about the CSR and the attributional feedback instruction. Based on the findings, this study, therefore, seeks to provide EFL teachers in general and Algerian EFL university teachers in particular with pedagogical implications on how to teach reading comprehension to their students to help them achieve well and feel more self-efficacious in reading comprehension activities, and in English language learning more generally.

Keywords: attributions, attributional feedback, collaborative strategic reading, self-efficacy

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Authors: Juliana Barcelos Cordeiro, Khashayar Mahani, Farbod Farzan, Mohsen A. Jafari

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Energy disaggregation has been focused by many energy companies since energy efficiency can be achieved when the breakdown of energy consumption is known. Companies have been investing in technologies to come up with software and/or hardware solutions that can provide this type of information to the consumer. On the other hand, not all people can afford to have these technologies. Therefore, in this paper, we present a methodology for breaking down the aggregate consumption and identifying the highdemanding end-uses profiles. These energy profiles will be used to build the forecast model for optimal control purpose. A facility with high cooling load is used as an illustrative case study to demonstrate the results of proposed methodology. We apply a high level energy disaggregation through a pattern recognition approach in order to extract the consumption profile of its rooftop packaged units (RTUs) and present a forecast model for the energy consumption.  

Keywords: energy consumption forecasting, energy efficiency, load disaggregation, pattern recognition approach

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Authors: K. R. Mukuna

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Teachers are faced many challenges in the South African rural schools such as stress, depression, lack of resources, poor working relationships, inflexible curriculum etc. These could affect their wellbeing and effectiveness at the workplace. As a result, the study had a significance in the teacher’s lives, and community due teachers worked under conditions that are unfavourable to perform their jobs effectively. Despite these conditions, they still managed to do their jobs and the community is uplifted. However, this study aimed to explore factors that enable teachers to cope with workplace adversities at a rural school district in the Free State Province. It adopted a qualitative case study as a research design. Semi-structured interviews and colleges had employed as tools to collect data. Ten participants (n=10; 5 males and 5 females) were selected through purposive and convenience sampling. All participants selected from a South African rural school. Sesotho culture was their home language, and most of them had 5 years of teaching experiences. The thematic findings revealed that they developed abilities to cope with and adjust to the social and cultural environment. These included self-efficacy, developing problem-solving skills, awareness of strengths and asserts, self-managing of emotions, and self-confidence. This study concluded that these psychosocial factors contributed to coping with teacher’s diversities, and effectively stabilized their wellbeing in the schools.

Keywords: psychosocial factors, teachers counselling, teacher stress, workplace adversity, rural school, teachers’ wellbeing, teachers’ resilience, teachers’ self-efficacy, social interaction

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Authors: Leijun Zhang

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Reading literacy has become a powerful tool for academic success and an essential goal of education. The ability to read is not only fundamental for pupils’ academic success but also a prerequisite for successful participation in today’s vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. It is also important to recognize that, in many educational settings, students are expected to learn a foreign/second language for successful participation in the increasingly globalized world. Therefore, it is crucial to help learners become skilled foreign-language readers. Research indicates that students’ reading comprehension can be significantly improved through explicit instruction of multiple reading strategies. Despite the wealth of research on how to enhance learners’ reading comprehension achievement by identifying an enormous range of reading strategies and techniques for assisting students in comprehending specific texts, relatively scattered studies have centered on whether these reading comprehension strategies and techniques are used in classrooms, especially in Chinese academic settings. Given the central role of ‘the teacher’ in reading instruction, the study investigates the degree of importance that EFL teachers attach to reading comprehension strategies and their classroom employment of those strategies in secondary schools in China. It also explores the efficiency of reading strategy instruction on pupils’ reading comprehension performance. As a mix-method study, the analysis drew on data from a quantitative survey and interviews with seven teachers. The study revealed that the EFL teachers had positive attitudes toward the use of cognitive strategies despite their insufficient knowledge about and limited attention to the metacognitive strategies and supporting strategies. Regarding the selection of reading strategies for instruction, the mandated curriculum and high-stakes examinations, text features and demands, teaching preparation programs and their own EFL reading experiences were the major criteria in their responses, while few teachers took into account the learner needs in their choice of reading strategies. Although many teachers agreed upon the efficiency of reading strategy instruction in developing students’ reading comprehension competence, three challenges were identified in their implementation of the strategy instruction. The study provides some insights into reading strategy instruction in EFL contexts and proposes implications for curriculum innovation, teacher professional development, and reading instruction research.

Keywords: reading comprehension strategies, EFL reading instruction, language teacher cognition, teacher education

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Authors: Yuki Matsumoto, Yuma Ishimoto

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Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) with children has shown effective application to various problems such as anxiety and depression. Although there are barriers to access to mental health services including lack of professional services in communities and parental concerns about stigma, school has a significant role to address children’s health problems. Schools are regarded as a suitable arena for prevention and early intervention of mental health problems. In this line, CBT can be adaptable to school education and useful to enhance students’ social and emotional skills. However, Japanese school curriculum is rigorous so as to limit available time for implementation of CBT in schools. This paper describes Brief Cognitive Behavior Therapy (BCBT) with children in a Japanese school setting. The program has been developed in order to facilitate acceptability of CBT in schools and aimed to enhance students’ skills to manage anxiety and difficult behaviors. The present research used a single arm design in which 30 students aged 9-10 years old participated. The authors provided teachers a CBT training workshop (two hours) at two primary schools in Tokyo metropolitan area and recruited participants in the research. A homeroom teacher voluntarily delivered a 6-session BCBT program (15 minutes each) in classroom periods which is called as Kaerinokai, a meeting before leaving school. Students completed a questionnaire sheet at pre- and post-periods under the supervision of the teacher. The sheet included the Spence Child Anxiety Scale (SCAS), the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRS), and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The teacher was asked for feedback after the completion. Significant positive changes were found in the total and five of six sub-scales of the SCAS and the total difficulty scale of the SDQ. However, no significant changes were seen in Physical Injury Fear sub-scale of the SCAS, in the DSRS or the Prosocial sub-scale of the SDQ. The effect sizes are mostly between small and medium. The teacher commented that the program was easy to use and found positive changes in classroom activities and personal relationships. This preliminary research showed the feasibility of the BCBT in a school setting. The results suggest that the BCBT offers effective treatment for reduction in anxiety and in difficult behaviors. There is a good prospect of the BCBT suggesting that BCBT may be easier to be delivered than CBT by Japanese teachers to promote child mental health. The study has limitations including no control group, small sample size, or a short teacher training. Future research should address these limitations.

Keywords: brief cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, mental health services in schools, teacher training workshop

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Authors: B. Sayaheen

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The translator’s competence is one of the topics that has received a great deal of research in the field of translation studies because such competencies are still debatable and not yet agreed upon. Besides, scholars tackle this topic from different points of view. Approaches to teaching these competencies have gone through some developments. This paper aims at investigating these developments, exploring the major turning points and shifts in the developments of teaching methods in translator training. The significance of these turning points and the external or internal causes will also be discussed. Based on the past and present status of teaching approaches in translator training, this paper tries to predict the future of these approaches. This paper is mainly concerned with developments of teaching approaches in the West since the 1980s to the present. The reason behind choosing this specific period is not because translator training started in the 1980s but because most criticism of the teacher-centered approach started at that time. The implications of this research stem from the fact that it identifies the turning points and the causes that led teachers to adopt student-centered approaches rather than teacher-centered approaches and then to incorporate technology and the Internet in translator training. These reasons were classified as external or internal reasons. Translation programs in the West and in other cultures can benefit from this study. Translation programs in the West can notice that teaching translation is geared toward incorporating more technologies. If these programs already use technology and the Internet to teach translation, they might benefit from the assumed future direction of teaching translation. On the other hand, some non-Western countries, and to be specific some professors, are still applying the teacher-centered approach. Moreover, these programs should include technology and the Internet in their teaching approaches to meet the drastic changes in the translation process, which seems to rely more on software and technologies to accomplish the translator’s tasks. Finally, translator training has borrowed many of its approaches from other disciplines, mainly language teaching. The teaching approaches in translator training have gone through some developments, from teacher-centered to student-centered and then toward the integration of technologies and the Internet. Both internal and external causes have played a crucial role in these developments. These borrowed approaches should be comprehensively evaluated in order to see if they achieve the goals of translator training. Such evaluation may lead us to come up with new teaching approaches developed specifically for translator training. While considering these methods and designing new approaches, we need to keep an eye on the future needs of the market.

Keywords: turning points, developments, translator training, market, The West

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Authors: Hakan Aydogan, Fatih Bozkurt, Huseyin Coskun

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In this study, the signal of brain electrical activities of the sixteen students selected from the Department of Electrical and Energy at Usak University have been recorded during a lecturer performed happiness emotions for the first group and anger emotions for the second group in different time while the groups were in the classroom separately. The attention and meditation data extracted from the recorded signals have been analyzed and evaluated toward the teacher’s specific emotion states simultaneously. Attention levels of students who are under influence of happiness emotions of the lecturer have a positive trend and attention levels of students who are under influence of anger emotions of the lecturer have a negative trend. The meditation or mental relaxation levels of students who are under influence of happiness emotions of the lecturer are 34.3% higher comparing with the mental relaxation levels of students who are under influence of anger emotions of the lecturer.

Keywords: brainwave, attention, meditation, education

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Authors: Helga Mayr

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In our ongoing effort to address urgent global challenges related to sustainability, higher education institutions play a central role in raising a generation of informed and empowered citizens committed to sustainable development. This paper presents the preliminary results of the so far realized evaluation of a compulsory module on education for sustainable development (ESD) offered to students in the bachelor's program in elementary education at the University College of Teacher Education Tyrol (PH Tirol), Austria. The module includes a lecture on sustainability and education as well as a project-based seminar that aims to foster a deep understanding of ESD and its application in pedagogical practice. The study examines various dimensions related to the module's impact on participating students, focusing on prevalent sustainability concepts, intentions, actions, general and sustainability-related self-efficacy, perceived competence related to ESD, and ESD-related self-efficacy. In addition, the research addresses assessment of the learning process. To obtain a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness of the module, a mixed methods approach was/is used in the evaluation. Quantitative data was/is collected through surveys and self-assessment instruments, while qualitative findings were/will be obtained through focus group interviews and reflective analysis. The PH Tirol is collaborating with another University College of Teacher Education (Styria) and a university of applied sciences in Switzerland (UAS of the Grisons) to broaden the scope of the analysis and allow for comparative findings. Preliminary results indicate that students have a relatively rudimentary understanding of sustainability. The extent to which completion of the module influences understanding of sustainability, awareness, intentions, and actions, as well as self-efficacy, is currently under investigation. The results will be available at the time of the conference and will be presented there. In terms of learning, the project-based seminar, which promotes hands-on engagement with ESD, was evaluated for its effectiveness in fostering key sustainability competencies as well as sustainability-related and ESD-related self-efficacy. The research not only provides insights into the effectiveness of the compulsory module ESD at the PH Tirol but also contributes to the broader discourse on integrating ESD into teacher education.

Keywords: education for sustainable development, teacher education, project-based learning, effectiveness measurements

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Authors: Geeta Goyal

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Teaching-learning of English as a second language is a challenge for the learner as well as the teacher. Whereas a student may find it hard and get demotivated while communicating in a language other than mother tongue, a teacher, too, finds it difficult to integrate necessary teaching material in lesson plans to maximize the outcome. Studies reveal that task-based teaching can be useful in diverse contexts in a second language classroom as it helps in creating opportunities for language exposure as per learners' interest and capability levels, which boosts their confidence and learning efficiency. The present study has analysed the impact of various activities carried out in a heterogenous group of second language learners at tertiary level in a semi-urban area in Haryana state of India. Language tasks were specifically planned with a focus on engaging groups of twenty-five students for a period of three weeks. These included language games such as spell-well, cross-naught besides other communicative and interactive tasks like mock-interviews, role plays, sharing experiences, storytelling, simulations, scene-enact, video-clipping, etc. Tools in form of handouts and cue cards were also used as per requirement. This experiment was conducted for ten groups of students taking bachelor’s courses in different streams of humanities, commerce, and sciences. Participants were continuously supervised, monitored, and guided by the respective teacher. Feedback was collected from the students through classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Students' responses revealed that they felt comfortable and got plenty of opportunities to communicate freely without being afraid of making mistakes. It was observed that even slow/timid/shy learners got involved by getting an experience of English language usage in friendly environment. Moreover, it helped the teacher in establishing a trusting relationship with students and encouraged them to do the same with their classmates. The analysis of the data revealed that majority of students demonstrated improvement in their interest and enthusiasm in the class. The study revealed that task-based teaching was an effective method to improve the teaching-learning process under the given conditions.

Keywords: communication skills, English, second language, task-based teaching

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Authors: Thassanant Unnanantn, Suttipong Boonphadung

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This research study aimed to survey and analyze the attitudes of pre-service teachers’ the analytical thinking development based on Miller’s Model. The informants of this study were 22 third year teacher students majoring in Thai. The course where the instruction was conducted was English for Academic Purposes in Thai Language 2. The instrument of this research was an open-ended questionnaire with two dimensions of questions: academic and satisfaction dimensions. The investigation revealed the positive attitudes. In the academic dimension, the majority of 12 (54.54%), the highest percentage, reflected that the method of teaching analytical thinking and language simultaneously was their new knowledge and the similar percentage also belonged to text cohesion in writing. For the satisfaction, the highest frequency count was from 17 of them (77.27%) and this majority favored the openness or friendliness of the teacher.

Keywords: analytical thinking development, Miller’s Model, attitudes, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Cheng Zeng, George Michailidis, Hitoshi Iyatomi, Leo L. Duan

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The conditional density characterizes the distribution of a response variable y given other predictor x and plays a key role in many statistical tasks, including classification and outlier detection. Although there has been abundant work on the problem of Conditional Density Estimation (CDE) for a low-dimensional response in the presence of a high-dimensional predictor, little work has been done for a high-dimensional response such as images. The promising performance of normalizing flow (NF) neural networks in unconditional density estimation acts as a motivating starting point. In this work, the authors extend NF neural networks when external x is present. Specifically, they use the NF to parameterize a one-to-one transform between a high-dimensional y and a latent z that comprises two components [zₚ, zₙ]. The zₚ component is a low-dimensional subvector obtained from the posterior distribution of an elementary predictive model for x, such as logistic/linear regression. The zₙ component is a high-dimensional independent Gaussian vector, which explains the variations in y not or less related to x. Unlike existing CDE methods, the proposed approach coined Augmented Posterior CDE (AP-CDE) only requires a simple modification of the common normalizing flow framework while significantly improving the interpretation of the latent component since zₚ represents a supervised dimension reduction. In image analytics applications, AP-CDE shows good separation of 𝑥-related variations due to factors such as lighting condition and subject id from the other random variations. Further, the experiments show that an unconditional NF neural network based on an unsupervised model of z, such as a Gaussian mixture, fails to generate interpretable results.

Keywords: conditional density estimation, image generation, normalizing flow, supervised dimension reduction

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Authors: Yue Huang, Hongcheng Gan

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The new urbanization pattern has led to a rapid growth in demand for short-distance intercity travel, and the emergence of new travel modes has also increased the variety of intercity travel options. In previous studies on intercity travel mode choice behavior, the impact of functional amenities of travel mode and travelers’ long-term personality characteristics has rarely been considered, and empirical results have typically been calibrated using revealed preference (RP) or stated preference (SP) data. This study designed a questionnaire that combines the RP and SP experiment from the perspective of a trip chain combining inner-city and intercity mobility, with consideration for the actual condition of the Huainan-Hefei traffic corridor. On the basis of RP/SP fusion data, a hybrid choice model considering both random taste heterogeneity and psychological characteristics was established to investigate travelers’ mode choice behavior for traditional train, high-speed rail, intercity bus, private car, and intercity online car-hailing. The findings show that intercity time and cost exert the greatest influence on mode choice, with significant heterogeneity across the population. Although inner-city cost does not demonstrate a significant influence, inner-city time plays an important role. Service attributes of travel mode, such as catering and hygiene services, as well as free wireless network supply, only play a minor role in mode selection. Finally, our study demonstrates that safety-seeking tendency, hedonism, and introversion all have differential and significant effects on intercity travel mode choice.

Keywords: intercity travel mode choice, stated preference survey, hybrid choice model, RP/SP fusion data, psychological latent variable, heterogeneity

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Authors: Mahesh K. Jat, Ankan Jana, Mahender Choudhary

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Rapid population and economic growth resulted in changes in large-scale land use land cover (LULC) changes. Changes in the biophysical properties of the Earth's surface and its impact on climate are of primary concern nowadays. Different approaches, ranging from location-based relationships or modelling earth surface - atmospheric interaction through modelling techniques like surface energy balance (SEB) are used in the recent past to examine the relationship between changes in Earth surface land cover and climatic characteristics like temperature and precipitation. A remote sensing-based model i.e., Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), has been used to estimate the surface heat fluxes over Mahi Bajaj Sagar catchment (India) from 2001 to 2020. Landsat ETM and OLI satellite data are used to model the SEB of the area. Changes in observed precipitation and temperature, obtained from India Meteorological Department (IMD) have been correlated with changes in surface heat fluxes to understand the relative contributions of LULC change in changing these climatic variables. Results indicate a noticeable impact of LULC changes on climatic variables, which are aligned with respective changes in SEB components. Results suggest that precipitation increases at a rate of 20 mm/year. The maximum and minimum temperature decreases and increases at 0.007 ℃ /year and 0.02 ℃ /year, respectively. The average temperature increases at 0.009 ℃ /year. Changes in latent heat flux and sensible heat flux positively correlate with precipitation and temperature, respectively. Variation in surface heat fluxes influences the climate parameters and is an adequate reason for climate change. So, SEB modelling is helpful to understand the LULC change and its impact on climate.

Keywords: LULC, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, SEBAL, landsat, precipitation, temperature

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Authors: Tai-Yi Yu, Tai-Kue Yu

Abstract:

Using global climate change as its main theme, this study establishes a model for understanding the environmental behavior of college students. It examines their beliefs about the environment, sustainability, and social impact. Theories about values, beliefs, norms, and planned behaviors helped establish the path relations among various latent variables, which include the students’ values regarding sustainability, environmental concern, social impact, perceived risk, environmental attitude, and behavioral intention. Personality traits were used as moderator variables in order to analyze their role in influencing environmental behaviors. The components-based partial least square (PLS) method was adopted, and the measurements and structural models were analyzed using the SmartPLS software. The proposed model complies with various test standards, including individual item reliability, composite reliability, average variance extracted, goodness-of-fit, and cross-validated redundancy. When college students are taught the concept of environmental sustainability, sustainability becomes an environmental attitude for them, and they are more likely to uphold an ethic of sustainability. The more an individual perceives the risks of global climate change, the stronger her emotional connection to the issue becomes. This positively affects the environmental attitude of college student, pushes them to participate more proactively in improvement activities, and encourages them to display their behavioral intention to improve global climate change. When considering the interaction effect among four latent variables (values regarding sustainability, social impact, environmental concern, and perceived risk), this study found that personality traits have a moderate effect on environmental attitude.

Keywords: partial least square, personality traits, social impact, environmental concern, perceived risk

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