Search results for: special needs education teachers

Authors: Huda Alyami

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The present study aims to measure the effectiveness of an "Interactive eBook" in order to develop skills of designing and employing webquests for female intern teachers. The study uses descriptive analytical methodology as well as quasi-experimental methodology. The sample of the study consists of (30) female intern teachers from the Department of Special Education (in the tracks of Gifted Education and Learning Difficulties), during the first semester of the academic year 2015, at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah city. The sample is divided into (15) female intern teachers for the experimental group, and (15) female intern teachers for the control group. A set of qualitative and quantitative tools have been prepared and verified for the study, embodied in: a list of the designing webquests' skills, a list of the employing webquests' skills, a webquests' knowledge achievement test, a product rating card, an observation card, and an interactive ebook. The study concludes the following results: 1. After pre-control, there are statistically significant differences, at the significance level of (α ≤ 0.05), between the mean scores of the experimental and the control groups in the post measurement of the webquests' knowledge achievement test, in favor of the experimental group. 2. There are statistically significant differences, at the significance level of (α ≤ 0.05), between the mean scores of experimental and control groups in the post measurement of the product rating card in favor of the experimental group. 3. There are statistically significant differences, at the significance level of (α ≤ 0.05), between the mean scores of experimental and control groups in the post measurement of the observation card for the experimental group. In the light of the previous findings, the study recommends the following: taking advantage of interactive ebooks when teaching all educational courses for various disciplines at the university level, creating educational participative platforms to share educational interactive ebooks for various disciplines at the local and regional levels. The study suggests conducting further qualitative studies on the effectiveness of interactive ebooks, in addition to conducting studies on the use of (Web 2.0) in webquests.

Keywords: interactive eBook, webquest, design, employing, develop skills

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Authors: Barzan Hadi Hama Karim

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The topic of formative assessment and its implementation in Iraqi Kurdistan have not attracted the attention of researchers and educators. Teachers’ beliefs about formative assessment as well as their assessment roles have remained unexplored. This paper reports on the research results of our survey which is conducted in 20014 to examine issues relating to formative assessment in the university ESL classroom settings. The paper portrays the findings of a qualitative study on the formative assessment role and beliefs of a group of teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the departments of English Languages in Iraqi Kurdistan universities. Participants of the study are 25 Kurdish EFL teachers from different departments of English languages. Close-ended and open-ended questionnaire is used to collect teacher’s beliefs and perceptions about the importance of formative assessment to improve the process of teaching and learning English language. The result of the study shows that teachers do not play a significant role in the assessment process because of top-down managerial approaches and educational system. The results prove that the teachers’ assessment beliefs and their key role in assessment should not be neglected. Our research papers pursued the following questions: What is the nature of formative assessment in a second language classroom setting? Do the teacher’s assessment practices reflect what she thinks about formative assessment? What are the teachers’ perceptions regarding the benefits of formative assessment for teaching and learning English language at the university level?

Keywords: formative assessment, teachers’ beliefs and perceptions, assessment, education reform, ESL

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Authors: Siriwan Chatmaneerungcharoen

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An emerging body of ‘21st century skills’-such as adaptability, complex communication skills, technology skills and the ability to solve non-routine problems--are valuable across a wide range of jobs in the national economy. Within the Thai context, a focus on the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy is integrated into Science Education. Thai science education has advocated infusing 21st century skills and Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy into the school curriculum and several educational levels have launched such efforts. Therefore, developing science teachers to have proper knowledge is the most important factor to success of the goals. The purposes of this study were to develop 40 Cooperative Science teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and to develop Professional Development Model integrated with Co-teaching Model and Coaching System (Co-TPACK). TPACK is essential to career development for teachers. Forty volunteer In-service teachers who were science cooperative teachers participated in this study for 2 years. Data sources throughout the research project consisted of teacher refection, classroom observations, Semi-structure interviews, Situation interview, questionnaires and document analysis. Interpretivist framework was used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that at the beginning, the teachers understood only the meaning of Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy but they did not know how to integrate the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy into their science classrooms. Mostly, they preferred to use lecture based teaching and experimental teaching styles. While the Co- TPACK was progressing, the teachers had blended their teaching styles and learning evaluation methods. Co-TPACK consists of 3 cycles (Student Teachers’ Preparation Cycle, Cooperative Science Teachers Cycle, Collaboration cycle (Co-teaching, Co-planning, and Co-Evaluating and Coaching System)).The Co-TPACK enhances the 40 cooperative science teachers, student teachers and university supervisor to exchange their knowledge and experience on teaching science. There are many channels that they used for communication including online. They have used more Phuket context-integrated lessons, technology-integrated teaching and Learning that can explicit Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. Their sustained development is shown in their lesson plans and teaching practices.

Keywords: technological pedagogical content knowledge, philosophy of sufficiency economy, professional development, coaching system

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Authors: Kirsi Korkealehto

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The purpose of this research was to investigate how the peer evaluation concept was perceived by language teachers developing online language courses. The online language courses in question were developed in language teacher teams within a nationwide KiVAKO-project funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The participants of the project were 86 language teachers of 26 higher education institutions in Finland. The KiVAKO-project aims to strengthen the language capital at higher education institutions by building a nationwide online language course offering on a shared platform. All higher education students can study the courses regardless of their home institutions. The project covers the following languages: Chinese, Estonian, Finnish Sign Language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish on the levels CEFR A1-C1. The courses were piloted in the autumn term of 2019, and an online peer evaluation session was organised for all project participating teachers in spring 2020. The peer evaluation utilised the quality criteria for online implementation, which was developed earlier within the eAMK-project. The eAMK-project was also funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture with the aim to improve higher education institution teachers’ digital and pedagogical competences. In the online peer evaluation session, the teachers were divided into Zoom breakout rooms, in each of which two pilot courses were presented by their teachers dialogically. The other language teachers provided feedback on the course on the basis of the quality criteria. Thereafter good practices and ideas were gathered to an online document. The breakout rooms were facilitated by one teacher who was instructed and provided a slide-set prior to the online session. After the online peer evaluation sessions, the language teachers were asked to respond to an online questionnaire for feedback. The questionnaire included three multiple-choice questions using the Likert-scale rating and two open-ended questions. The online questionnaire was answered after the sessions immediately, the questionnaire link and the QR-code to it was on the last slide of the session, and it was responded at the site. The data comprise online questionnaire responses of the peer evaluation session and the researcher’s observations during the sessions. The data were analysed with a qualitative content analysis method with the help of Atlas.ti programme, and the Likert scale answers provided results per se. The observations were used as complementary data to support the primary data. The findings indicate that the working in the breakout rooms was successful, and the workshops proceeded smoothly. The workshops were perceived as beneficial in terms of improving the piloted courses and developing the participants’ own work as teachers. Further, the language teachers stated that the collegial discussions and sharing the ideas were fruitful. The aspects to improve the workshops were to give more time for free discussions and the opportunity to familiarize oneself with the quality criteria and the presented language courses beforehand. The quality criteria were considered to provide a suitable frame for self- and peer evaluations.

Keywords: higher education, language learning, online learning, peer-evaluation

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Authors: Eunice H. Li

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This e-Poster presents how the ‘digital backpack’ was introduced to primary school children in Ivory Coast. The idea of a ‘digital backpack’ was initiated by Mr. Thierry N’Doufou in 2012, who later designed and presented to the rest of the world in September 2014. The motivation behind the backpack was to relieve children of the heavy-weight they carry in their school backpacks. Another motivation was to promote Ivory Coast as a country where all children are brought into the digital era. Thierry N’Doufou regards education as the means by which his nation and the entire African Continent can be developed as a prosperous territory. The ‘digital backpack’ contains the entire curriculum for each class and favours a constructivist approach to learning. The children’s notes and exercises are also included in the pack. Additionally, teachers and parents are able to monitor remotely children’s activities while they are working with the ‘backpack’. Teachers are also able to issue homework, assess student’s progress and manage the student’s coursework. This means that teachers should always think the most appropriate pedagogies that can be used to help children to learn. Furthermore, teachers, parents and fellow students are able to have conversations and discussions by using web portals. It is also possible to access more apps if children would like to have additional learning activities. From the presentation in the e-Poster, it seems reasonable to conclude that the ‘digital backpack’ has potential to reach other-level of education. In this way, all will be able to benefit from this new invention.

Keywords: pedagogy, curriculum, constructivism, social constructivism, distance learning environment, ubiquitous learning environment

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Authors: Shaden S. Attia

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This study investigated foreign language anxiety (FLA) and teachers’ awareness of its presence in the Egyptian ESL classrooms and how FLA correlates with different variables such as four language skills, students' sex, and activities used in class. A combination of quantitative and qualitative instruments was used in order to investigate the previously mentioned variables, which included five interviews with teachers, six classroom observations, a survey for teachers, and a questionnaire for students. The findings of the study revealed that some teachers were aware of the presence of FLA, with some of them believing that other teachers, however, are not aware of this phenomenon, and even when they notice anxiety, they do not always relate it to learning a foreign language. The results also showed that FLA was affected by students’ sex, different language skills, and affective anxieties; however, teachers were unaware of the effect of these variables. The results demonstrated that both teachers and students preferred group and pair work to individual activities as they were more relaxing and less anxiety-provoking. These findings contribute to raising teachers' awareness of FLA in ESL classrooms and how it is affected by different variables.

Keywords: foreign language anxiety, situation specific anxiety, skill-specific anxiety, teachers’ perceptions

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Authors: Abdul Rashid Ahmadi, Samiullah Paracha, Hamidullah Sokout, Mohammad Hanif Gharana

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Conventional educational practices, do not offer all the required skills for teachers to successfully survive in today’s workplace. Due to poor professional training, a big gap exists across the curriculum plan and the teacher practices in the classroom. As such, raising the quality of teaching through ICT-enabled training and professional development of teachers should be an urgent priority. ‘Mobile Learning’, in that vein, is an increasingly growing field of educational research and practice across schools and work places. In this paper, we propose a novel Mobile learning system that allows the users to learn through an intelligent mobile learning in cooperatively every-time and every-where. The system will reduce the training cost and increase consistency, efficiency, and data reliability. To establish that our system will display neither functional nor performance failure, the evaluation strategy is based on formal observation of users interacting with system followed by questionnaires and structured interviews.

Keywords: computer assisted learning, intelligent tutoring system, learner centered design, mobile mediated learning and teacher education

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Authors: Ali Taher Othman Ali

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The aim of this research is to provide a draft proposal for the professional development of mathematics teachers in accordance with the orientation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics which is known by the abbreviation STEM, as a modern and contemporary orientation in the teaching and learning of mathematics and in order to achieve the objective of the research, the researcher used the theoretical descriptive method through the induction of the literature of education and the previous studies and experiments related to the topic. The researcher concluded by providing the proposal according to five basic axes, the first axe: professional development as a system, and its requirements include: development of educational systems, and allocate sufficient budgets to support the requirements of teaching STEM, identifying mechanisms for incentives and rewards for teachers attending professional development programs based on STEM; the second: development of in-depth knowledge content and its requirements include: basic sciences content development for STEM, linking the scientific understanding of teachers with real-world issues and problems, to provide the necessary resources to expand teachers' knowledge in this area; the third: the necessary pedagogical skills of teachers in the field of STEM, and its requirements include: identification of the required training and development needs and the mechanism of determining these needs, the types of professional development programs and the mechanism of designing it, the mechanisms and places of execution, evaluation and follow-up; the fourth: professional development strategies and mechanisms in the field of STEM, and its requirements include: using a variety of strategies to enable teachers to design and transfer effective educational experiences which reflect their scientific mastery in the fields of STEM, provide learning opportunities, and developing the skills of procedural research to generate new knowledge about the STEM; the fifth: to support professional development in the area of STEM, and its requirements include: support leadership within the school, provide a clear and appropriate opportunities for professional development for teachers within the school through professional learning communities, building partnerships between the Ministry of education and the local and international community institutions. The proposal includes other factors that should be considered when implementing professional development programs for mathematics teachers in the field of STEM.

Keywords: professional development, mathematics teachers, the orientation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

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Authors: Thelma Mort

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This empirical, qualitative research uses interviews of four intermediate phase English language student teachers at one university in South Africa and is an exploration of student teacher learning on their teaching practicum in their penultimate year of the initial teacher education course. The country’s post-apartheid language in education policy provides a context to this study in that children move from mother tongue language of instruction in foundation phase to English as a language of instruction in Intermediate phase. There is another layer of context informing this study which is the school context; the student teachers’ reflections are from their teaching practicum in resource constrained schools, which make up more than 75% of schools in South Africa. The findings were that in these schools, deep biases existed to local languages, that language was being used as a proxy for social class, and that conditions necessary for language acquisition were absent. The student teachers’ attitudes were in contrast to those found in the schools, namely that they had various pragmatic approaches to overcoming obstacles and that they saw language as enabling interdisciplinary work. This study describes language issues, tensions created by policy in South African schools and also supplies a regional account of learning to teach in resource constrained schools in Cape Town, where such language tensions are more inflated. The central findings in this research illuminate attitudes to language and language education in these teaching practicum schools and the complexity of learning to be a language teacher in these contexts. This study is one of the few local empirical studies regarding language teaching in the classroom and language teacher education; as such it offers some background to the country’s poor performance in both international and national literacy assessments.

Keywords: language teaching, narrative, post apartheid, South Africa, student teacher

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Authors: Md Rabiul Islam, Ben Wadham

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This paper describes how indigenous students face challenges with various school activities due to inadequate equity and diversity principles in mainstream primary schools in Bangladesh. This study focuses on indigenous students’ interactions with mainstream class teachers and students through teaching-learning activities at public primary schools. Ethnographic research methods guided data collection under a case study methodology in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) region where maximum indigenous peoples’ inhabitants. The participants (class teachers) shared information through in-depth interviews about their experiences in the four selecting schools. The authors also observed the effects of school activities by use of equity and diversity lens for indigenous students’ situations in those schools. The authors argue that the socio-economic situations of indigenous families are not supportive of the educational development of their children. Similarly, the Bangladesh government does not have enough initiative programs based on equity and diversity principles for fundamental education of indigenous children at rural schools level. Besides this, the conventional teaching system cannot improve the diversification among the students in classrooms. The principles of equity and diversity are not well embedded in professional development of teachers, and using teaching materials in classrooms. The findings suggest that implementing equitable education; there are needed to arrange teachers’ education with equitable knowledge and introducing diversified teaching materials, and implementing teaching through students centered activities that promote the diversification among the multicultural students.

Keywords: case study research, chittagong hill tracts, equity and diversity, Indigenous children

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Authors: Davut Uysal

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Turkish higher education system has experienced some structural changes in recent decades, which resulted in the concentration on English language teaching as a foreign language at high education institutions. However, the number of studies examining the relationship between organizational culture and job satisfaction among language teachers at higher education institutions, who are the key elements of the teaching process, is very limited in the country. The main objective of this study is to find out the perceptions of English language instructors regarding organizational culture and its impact on their job satisfaction at School of Foreign Language, Anadolu University in Turkey. Questionnaire technique was used in data collection, and the collected data was analysed with the help of SPSS data analysis program. The findings of the study revealed that the respondents of the study had positive perceptions regarding current organizational culture indicating satisfaction with co-worker relations and administration, supervision support and the work itself, as well as their satisfaction with the available professional development opportunities provided by their institution. A significant relationship between overall organizational culture and job satisfaction was found in the study. This study also presents some key elements to increase the job satisfaction levels of the language teachers by managing corporate communication and to improve the organisational culture based on the findings of the study as they are two interrelated issues.

Keywords: corporate communication, English teacher, organizational culture, job satisfaction

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Authors: Autjira Songjan, Poramatdha Chutimant

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This research is intended to study the operational quality assurance of private schools in Bangkok according to the opinions of administrators and teachers. Second is comparing the opinions of administrators and teachers about operating quality assurance process by gender, job and work experience. The sample include administrators and teachers of private schools in the Education School in Bangkok by using a proportion random technic. The questionnaire are used as query operations quality assurance to collect the data of private schools, the statistics that are used to analyze the data using the percentage, mean, standard deviation and Test the difference value and test of variance. The research found that the administrators and teachers have different sex, positions and duties have the different opinions about quality assurance in different statistically insignificant level 0.05 in the elements of performance management and the quality of the service that provided to students in the school.

Keywords: educational quality assurance, performance management, private schools in Bangkok, quality of the service

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Authors: Beate Weyland

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The interdisciplinary laboratory EDEN, Educational Environments with Nature, born in 2020 at the Faculty of Education of the Free University of Bolzano, is working on a research path initiated in 2012 on the relationship between pedagogy and architecture in the design process of school buildings. Between 2016 and 2018, advisory support activity for schools was born, which combined the need to qualify the physical spaces of the school with the need to update teaching practices and develop school organization with the aim of improving pupils' and teachers' sense of well-being. The goal of accompanying the development of school communities through research-training paths concerns the process of designing together pedagogical-didactic and architectural environments in which to stage the educational relationship, involving professionals from education, educational research, architecture and design, and local administration. Between 2019 and 2024, more than 30 schools and educational communities throughout Italy have entered into research-training agreements with the university, focusing increasingly on the need to create new spaces and teaching methods capable of imagining educational spaces as places of well-being and where cultural development can be presided over. The paper will focus on the presentation of the research path and on the mixed methods used to support schools and educational communities: identification of the research question, development of the research objective, experimentation, and data collection for analysis and reflection. School and educational communities are involved in a participative and active manner. The quality of the action-research work is enriched by a special focus on the relationship with plants and nature in general. Plants are seen as mediators of processes that unhinge traditional didactics and invite teachers, students, parents, and administrators to think about the quality of learning spaces and relationships based on well-being. The contribution is characterized by a particular focus on research methodologies and tools developed together with teachers to answer the issues raised and to measure the impact of the actions undertaken.

Keywords: school development, learning space, wellbeing, plants and nature

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Authors: J. Thiele

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Teachers working at vocational Colleges are often confronted with the problem, that many students graduated from different schools and therefore each had a different education. Especially in mathematics many students lack fundamentals or had different priorities at their previous schools. Furthermore, these vocational Colleges have to provide Graduations for many different working-fields, with different core themes. The Colleges are interested in measuring the different Education levels of their students and providing assistance for those who need to catch up. The Project mathe-meistern was initiated to remedy this problem at vocational Colleges. For this purpose, online-tests were developed. The aim of these tests is to evaluate basic mathematical abilities of the students. The tests are online Multiple-Choice-Tests with a total of 65 Items. They are accessed online with a unique Transaction-Number (TAN) for each participant. The content is divided in several Categories (Arithmetic, Algebra, Fractions, Geometry, etc.). After each test, the student gets a personalized summary depicting their strengths and weaknesses in mathematical Basics. Teachers can visit a special website to examine the results of their classes or single students. In total 5830 students did participate so far. For standardization and optimization purposes the tests are being evaluated, using the classic and probabilistic Test-Theory regarding Objectivity, Reliability and Validity, annually since 2015. This Paper is about the Optimization process considering the Rasch-scaling and Standardization of the tests. Additionally, current results using standardized tests will be discussed. To achieve this Competence levels and Types of errors of students attending vocational Colleges in Nordrheinwestfalen, Germany, were determined, using descriptive Data and Distractorevaluations.

Keywords: diagnostical tests in mathematics, distractor devaluation, test-optimization, test-theory

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Authors: Jian Wang

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Teachers’ lesson-based discussions presume central to their effective learning to teach. Whether and to what extent such discussions offer opportunities for teachers to learn to teach effectively is worth a careful empirical examination. This study examines this assumption by drawing on lesson-based discussions and relevant curriculum materials from Chinese teachers in three urban schools. Their lesson-based discussions consistently focused on pedagogical content knowledge and offered specific and reasoned suggestions for teachers to refine their teaching practices. The mandated curriculum and their working language-mediated their lesson-based discussions.

Keywords: Chinese teachers, curriculum materials, lesson discussion, mathematics instruction

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Authors: Preecha Pongpeng

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This research aims to study the education quality management to solve the problem of teachers shortage by the communities participation. This research is action research by using the tools is questionnaire to collect the data whit, students and community representatives and final will interview to ask the opinions of people in the community to help and support instruction in problems in teaching. Results found that people in the community are aware and working together to solve the lack the of teachers by collaboration between school personnel and community members by finding people who are knowledgeable, organized into local wisdom in the community, compound money to donate and hire someone in the community to teaching between classroom with people in the community. In addition, researcher discovered this research project contributes to cooperation between the school and community and there was a problem including administrative expenses and the school's academic quality management.

Keywords: education quality management, local wisdom, northern part of Thailand, participation of the community

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Authors: Myla Zenaida Cabrillas-Torio, Von Anthony G. Torio

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Homework is defined as an additional task that a student does outside of the school. This added activity is in recognition of the necessity to spend additional time for subjects such as Mathematics. The dilemma comes in the form of the advantages and disadvantages that can be derived from homework. Studies have revealed varying effects to students on academic and non-academic areas. Teachers are at the forefront of the decision towards the giving or not of homework. Pre-service teachers at the elementary level represent the future leaders of the educational system and should be acquainted and involved at the onset of the dilemma. The main objective of this study is to determine the perspective of pre-service elementary teachers towards homework. The anatomy of their belief can be key towards addressing the issue via teacher training. Salient results revealed that the subjects favor the giving homework on the following grounds: it helps add knowledge and confidence. Those who do not favor homework find it as an additional burden. Difficulties in complying with homework are usually associated with lack of references and performance of other household chores. Students usually spend late nights to comply with homework and are unable to perform at the best of their potentials.

Keywords: attitude, homework, pre-service teachers, mathematics education, Philippines

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Authors: Sabine A. Zauchner-Studnicka

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As the term indicates, reverse-mentoring flips the classical roles of mentoring: In school, students take over the role of mentors for adults, i.e. teachers or parents. Originally reverse-mentoring stems from US enterprises, which implemented this innovative method in order to benefit from the resources of skilled younger employees for the enhancement of IT competences of senior colleagues. However, reverse-mentoring in schools worldwide is rare. Based on empirical studies and theoretical approaches, in this article an implementation model for reverse-mentoring is developed in order to bring the significant potential reverse-mentoring has for education into practice.

Keywords: reverse-mentoring, innovation in education, implementation model, school education

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Authors: Syamimi Shamsuddin, Hanafiah Yussof, Fazah Akhtar Hanapiah, Salina Mohamed, Nur Farah Farhan Jamil, Farhana Wan Yunus

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Robot-based intervention for children with autism is an evolving research niche in human-robot interaction (HRI). Recent studies in this area mostly covered the role of robots in the clinical and experimental setting. Our previous work had shown that interaction with a robot pose no adverse effects on the children. Also, the presence of the robot, together with specific modules of interaction was associated with less autistic behavior. Extending this impact on school-going children, interactions that are in-tune with special education lessons are needed. This methodological paper focuses on how a robot can be incorporated in a current learning environment for autistic children. Six interaction scenarios had been designed based on the existing syllabus to teach communication skills, using the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) technique as the framework. Development of the robotic experience in class also covers the required set-up involving participation from teachers. The actual research conduct involving autistic children, teachers and robot shall take place in the next phase.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, ASD, humanoid robot, communication skills, robot-assisted learning

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Authors: Caroline Nnokwe, Iheanyi Eneremadu

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Teachers and principals are vital and integral parts of the educational system. For educational objectives to be met, the role of teachers and the functions of the principals are not to be overlooked. However, the inability of teachers and principals to carry out their roles effectively has impacted the outcome of the students’ performance. The study, therefore, examined teachers’ roles and principal’s administrative functions as correlates of effective academic performance of public secondary school students in Imo state, Nigeria. Four research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlation research design. The sample size was 5,438 respondents via the Yaro-Yamane technique, which consists of 175 teachers, 13 principals and 5,250 students using the proportional stratified random sampling technique. The instruments for data collection were a researcher-made questionnaire titled Teachers’ Role/Principals’ Administrative Functions Questionnaire (TRPAFQ) with a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of .82 and student's internal results obtained from the school authorities. Data collected were analyzed using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and simple linear regression. Research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics, while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using regression analysis. The findings of the study showed that the educational qualification of teachers, organizing, and planning correlated student’s academic performance to a great extent, while availability and proper use of instructional materials by teachers correlated the academic performance of students to a very high extent. The findings also revealed that there is a significant relationship between teachers’ role, principals’ administrative functions and student’s academic performance of public secondary schools in Imo State, The study recommended among others that there is the need for government, through the ministry of education, and education authorities to adequately staff their supervisory department in order to carry out proper supervision of secondary school teachers, and also provide adequate instructional materials to ensure greater academic performance among secondary school students of Imo state, Nigeria.

Keywords: instructional materials, principals’ administrative functions, students’ academic performance, teacher role

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Authors: Khanita Limhan

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Due to the fact that the instructional media is a very crucial implement in English as Foreign Language (EFL) teaching and learning because it simply motivates or demotivates the learners to learn English. Furthermore, it could enormously involve the learners in the real language. The mixed-method research investigates undergraduate student teachers at the Faculty of Education in aspects of the preferences and attitudes towards the use of instructional media in a Thai EFL classroom. Therefore, there were 21 female and 4 male students, who are being educated to be secondary English teachers in Thai educational system, participated in this study. Moreover, the data was gathered from six open-ended questions; obviously, all were given at least 30 - 45 minutes to express their preferences and thoughts in their native tongue at the end of the English for English teacher course. The results of this study indicated that 64 % of student teachers preferred to study English grammar through songs and music; 54% of them desire to learn English grammar through English movies; and 40% of them want to acquire English grammar by watching short documentaries. Since, the participants illustrated that they feel neither anxious nor bored; however, they feel very excited and fun while studying. In addition, they pointed out that they could improve their listening proficiency; obtain new vocabulary; and comprehend the cultural content authentically from the instructional media. It can be concluded that the use of instructional media affects students and teachers’ motivations and attitudes on English teaching and learning.

Keywords: attitudes, preferences, student teachers, instructional media

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Authors: Salih Uzun

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The laboratory activities are seen an indispensable part of science, teaching, and learning. In this study, the aim was to identify pre-service science teachers’ perceptions related to the concept of laboratory through metaphors. It is expressed that metaphors can be used as a powerful research tool in order to understand personal perceptions. Therefore, metaphors were used with the aim of revealing a picture regarding how pre-service science teachers perceive laboratory. Within the scope of this aim, phenomenographic research design was adopted for this study and an answer was sought to the question; ‘What are pre-service science teachers’ perceptions about the concept of laboratory?’. The sample of this study was a total of 80 pre-service science teachers at various grade levels in Turkey. Participants were asked to complete the sentence; ‘Laboratory is like…; because…’. Documents including pre-service science teachers’ answers to the open-ended questions were used as data sources and the data were analysed with content analysis.

Keywords: laboratory, metaphor, phenomenology, pre-service science teachers

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Authors: Nazir Amir

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Teaching approaches to present science and mathematics content amongst academically-low-achieving students may need to be different than approaches that are adopted for the more academically-inclined students, primarily due to the different learning needs and learning styles of these students. In crafting out lessons to motivate and engage these students, teachers need to consider the backgrounds of these students and have a good understanding of their interests so that lessons can be presented in ways that appeal to them, and made relevant not just to the world around them, but also to their personal experiences. This presentation highlights how the author worked with a Professional Learning Community (PLC) of teachers in crafting out fun and feasible classroom teaching approaches to present science and mathematics content in ways that are made Relevant, Appealing, and Personal (RAP) to groups of academically-low-achieving students in Singapore. Feedback from the students and observations from their work suggest that they were engaged through the RAP-modes of instruction, and were able to appreciate the role of science and mathematics through a variety of low-cost design-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities. Such results imply that teachers teaching academically-low-achieving students, and those in under-resourced communities, could consider infusing RAP-infused instructions into their lessons in getting students develop positive attitudes towards STEM subjects.

Keywords: STEM Education, STEAM Education, Curriculum Instruction, Academically At-Risk Students, Singapore

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Authors: Theoni Soublis

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The COVID-19 pandemic created a severe interruption in teaching and learning in K-12 schools. It is essential that educational researchers, teachers, and administrators understand the long term effects that COVID-19 had on a variety of stakeholders in education. This investigation aims to analyze the research since the beginning of the pandemic that focuses specifically on teacher retention, resilience, and training. The results of this investigation will help to inform future research in order to better understand how the institution of education can continue to be prepared and to better prepare for future significant shifts in the modalities of instruction. The results of this analysis will directly impact the field of education as it will broaden the scope of understanding regarding how COVID- 19 impacted teaching and learning. The themes that will emerge from the data analysis will directly inform policy makers, administrators, and researchers about how to best implement training and curriculum design in order to support teacher effectiveness this in the classroom. Educational researchers have written about how teacher morale plummeted and how many teachers reported early burnout and higher stress levels. Teachers’ stress and anxiety soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, but so has their resilience and dedication to the field of education. This research aims to understand how public-school teachers overcame teaching obstacles presented to them during COVID-19. Research has been conducted to identify a variety of information regarding the impact the pandemic has had on K-12 teachers, students, and families. This research aims to understand how teachers continued to pursue their teaching objectives without significant training of effective online instruction methods. Not many educators even heard of the video conferencing platform Zoom before the spring of 2020. Researchers are interested in understanding how teachers used their expertise, prior knowledge, and training to institute immediate and effective online learning environments, what types of relationships did teachers build with students while teaching 100% remotely, and how did relationships change with students while teaching remotely? Furthermore, did the teacher-student relationship propel teacher resolve to be successful while teaching during a pandemic. Recent world events have significantly impacted the field of public-school teaching. The pandemic forced teachers to shift their paradigm about how to maintain high academic expectations, meet state curriculum standards, and assess students learning gains to make data-informed decisions while simultaneously adapting modes of instruction through multiple outlets with little to no training on remote, synchronous, asynchronous, virtual, and hybrid teaching. While it would be very interesting to study how teaching positively impacted students learning during the pandemic, I am more interested in understanding how teaches stayed the course and maintained their mental health while dealing with the stress and pressure of teaching during COVID-19.

Keywords: teacher retention, COVID-19, teacher education, teacher moral

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Authors: Nyamela M. ‘Masekhohola, Khanare P. Fumane

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The Lesotho downward trend in mathematics attainment at all levels is compounded by the absence of innovative approaches to teaching and learning in Early Childhood. However, studies have shown that play pedagogy can be used to mitigate the challenges of mathematics education. Despite the benefits of play pedagogy to rural learners, its full potential has not been realized in early childhood care and education classrooms to improve children’s performance in mathematics because the adoption of play pedagogy depends on a strength-based approach. The study explores the potential of play pedagogy to improve mathematics education in early childhood care and education in Lesotho. Strength-based approach is known for its advocacy of recognizing and utilizing children’s strengths, capacities and interests. However, this approach and its promisingattributes is not well-known in Lesotho. In particular, little is known about the attributes of play pedagogy that are essential to improve mathematic education in ECCE programs in Lesotho. To identify such attributes and strengthen mathematics education, this systematic review examines evidence published on the strengths of play pedagogy that supports the teaching and learning of mathematics education in ECCE. The purpose of this review is, therefore, to identify and define the strengths of play pedagogy that supports mathematics education. Moreover, the study intends to understand the rural teachers’ perceived intention of using play in ECCE math classrooms through a strength-based approach. Eight key strengths were found (cues for reflection, edutainment, mathematics language development, creativity and imagination, cognitive promotion, exploration, classification, and skills development). This study is the first to identify and define the strength-based attributes of play pedagogy to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics in ECCE centers in Lesotho. The findings reveal which opportunities teachers find important for improving the teaching of mathematics as early as in ECCE programs. We conclude by discussing the implications of the literature for stimulating dialogues towards formulating strength-based approaches to teaching mathematics, as well as reflecting on the broader contributions of play pedagogy as an asset to improve mathematics in Lesotho and beyond.

Keywords: early childhood education, mathematics education, lesotho, play pedagogy, strength-based approach.

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Authors: Nora El-Bilawia

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This paper discovers the challenges and/or opportunities to implementing multiple intelligence (MI) practices in English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms at Egyptian public schools as part of the government’s educational reform plan. It is found that Egyptian EFL teachers value the use of MI’s ways of teaching as means for active and higher order thinking. However, teachers believed they were underprivileged, as the government did not provide appropriate trainings, tools, or means to integrate MI in their daily lessons. They also conferred challenges they face due to some Egyptian schooling cultural practices. At the end of this chapter, a proposed need for a paradigm shift in the schooling culture in Egypt to implement practical changes in schools to promote hope in education such as the use of MI teaching tools. This study promotes cross-cultural understanding of educational opportunities and efforts for equal learning outcomes around the globe.

Keywords: professional development, schooling culture, acculturation, equitable education

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Therese Besnard

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Internationally in early childhood education (ECE), the great majority of teachers are women. Some groups believe that a greater male teacher presence in ECE would be beneficial for children, specifically for boys as it could offer a positive male model. It is a common belief that children would benefit from being exposed to both male and female models. Some believe that women are naturally better suited to offer quality care to young children comparatively to men. Some authors bring forth that after equivalent training, differences in the educational practices are purely individual and do not depend on the teacher’s gender. Others believe that a greater male presence in ECE would increase the risk of pedophilia or child abuse. The few scientific studies in this area suggest that differences could exist between male and female ECE teacher, in particular when it comes to play which is the mainstay of the ECE educational program. Male teachers describe themselves as being more playful and having a greater tendency to initiate physical and turbulent play comparatively to female teachers, who describe themselves as favoring games that are calmer and focused on social interaction. Observed directly, male teachers appear more actively engaged in play with children and propose more motor play than female teachers. Furthermore children who have both male and female teachers for one year show less behavior difficulties when compared to children with only female teachers. Despite a variety of viewpoints we don’t know if the educational practices of male ECE teachers, (emotional support, classroom organization or instructional support) are different than the educational practices of female teachers and if these practices are linked with children’s adaptation. This study compares the educational practices of 37 ECE teachers (57 % male) and analyses the link with children' social adaptation (n=221). Educational practices were assessed through observational measurements with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) in a natural class environment. Child social adaptation was assessed with the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE). Observational data reveals no differences between men's and women's scale of the CLASS. Results using Multilevel models analyses suggest that the ability to propose good classroom organization and give good instructional support are linked with better child' social adaptation, and that is always true for men and women teachers. The results are discussed on the basis of their potential impact on future educational interventions.

Keywords: child social adaptation, early childhood education, educational practices, men teacher

Procedia PDF Downloads 345

Authors: Nasser Mansour, Ziad Said, Abdullah Abu-Tineh

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STEM teachers face the challenge of possessing expertise not only in their subject disciplines but also in the pedagogical knowledge required for integrated STEM lessons. However, research reveals a lack of pedagogical competencies related to project-based learning (PBL) in the STEM context. To bridge this gap, the study examines teachers' competencies and self-efficacy in TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) and its specific integration with PBL and STEM content. Data from 245 specialized science and math teachers were collected using a questionnaire. The study emphasizes the importance of addressing gender disparities, supporting formal teacher education, and recognizing the expertise and experiences of STEM teachers in effective technology integration. The findings indicate that gender plays a role in self-efficacy beliefs, with females exhibiting higher confidence in pedagogical knowledge and males demonstrating higher confidence in technological knowledge. Teaching experience and workload factors have a limited impact on teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). These findings enhance our understanding of contextual factors impacting science and math teachers' self-efficacy in utilizing TPACK for STEM and PBL. They inform the development of targeted interventions, professional development programs, and support systems to enhance teachers' competencies and self-efficacy in TPACK for teaching science and Mathematics through STEM and PBL.

Keywords: technological pedagogical content knowledge, TPACK, STEM, project-based learning, PBL, self-efficacy, mathematics, science

Procedia PDF Downloads 44

Authors: Athena Daniilidou, Maria Platsidou

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Recently developed scales addressed -specifically- teachers’ resilience. Although they profited from the field, they do not include some of the critical protective factors of teachers’ resilience identified in the literature. To address this limitation, we aimed at designing a more comprehensive scale for measuring teachers' resilience which encompasses various personal and environmental protective factors. To this end, two studies were carried out. In Study 1, 407 primary school teachers were tested with the new scale, the Teachers’ Protective Factors of Resilience Scale (TPFRS). Similar scales, such as the Multidimensional Teachers’ Resilience Scale and the Teachers’ Resilience Scale), were used to test the convergent validity, while the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale was used to assess the discriminant validity of the new scale. The factorial structure of the TPFRS was checked with confirmatory factor analysis and a good fit of the model to the data was found. Next, item response theory analysis using a two-parameter model (2PL) was applied to check the items within each factor. It revealed that 9 items did not fit the corresponding factors well and they were removed. The final version of the TPFRS includes 29 items, which assess six protective factors of teachers’ resilience: values and beliefs (5 items, α=.88), emotional and behavioral adequacy (6 items, α=.74), physical well-being (3 items, α=.68), relationships within the school environment, (6 items, α=.73) relationships outside the school environment (5 items, α=.84), and the legislative framework of education (4 items, α=.83). Results show that it presents a satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. Study 2, in which 964 primary and secondary school teachers were tested, confirmed the factorial structure of the TPFRS as well as its discriminant validity, which was tested with the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale-Short Form. In conclusion, our results confirmed that the TPFRS is a valid instrument for assessing teachers' protective factors of resilience and it can be safely used in future research and interventions in the teaching profession. In conclusion, our results showed that the TPFRS is a new multi-dimensional instrument valid for assessing teachers' protective factors of resilience and it can be safely used in future research and interventions in the teaching profession.

Keywords: resilience, protective factors, teachers, item response theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Mounir Ben Zid

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The controversy over the most effective teaching method to facilitate the increase of a student's knowledge has remained a frustration for poetry teachers at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman for the last ten years. Scholars and educationists have pursued answers to this question, and tremendous effort has been marshalled to discover the optimum teaching strategy, with little success. The present study stems from this perpetual frustration among teachers of poetry and the dispute about the repertoire of teaching methods. It attempts to shed light on an alternative direction which, it is believed, has received less scholarly attention than deserved. It emphasizes the need to create a democratic and human atmosphere of learning, arouses students' genuine interest, provides students with aesthetic pleasure, and enable them to appreciate and enjoy the beauty and musicality of words in poems. More important, this teaching-learning style should aim to secure rapport with students, invite teachers to inspire the passion and love of poetry in their students and help them not to lose the sense of wonder and enthusiasm that should be in the forefront of enjoying poetry. Hence, it is the need of the time that, after they have an interest, feeling and desire for poetry, university students can move to heavier tasks and discussions about poetry and how to further understand and analyze what is being portrayed. It is timely that the pendulum swung in support of the humanization of education and building rapport with students at Sultan Qaboos University.

Keywords: education, humanization, learning style, Rapport

Procedia PDF Downloads 225