Search results for: experiential teaching strategies

Authors: Amira M. Othman

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Despite the massive array of literature that engages with the Egyptian legislative system on a theoretical level, very little attention has been dedicated to the comparison between the legislative clauses on the one hand, and the (absence of their) real-world implementation on the other. This paper starts with this discrepancy, focusing on the legal proceedings in some recent cases dubbed ‘political,’ in which defendants received death sentences. Then, it sheds light on the trend of practical disregard of the law on behalf of the criminal justice apparatuses (whether security forces, public prosecution offices, lawyers, judges, prison wardens, and executioners) through the examination of case files and the conduction of interviews with some defense lawyers in the cases in question. It also identifies the resultant state of confusion among prison staff, as manifest in their treatment of defendants even before the death sentences against them is pronounced; in other words, the application of some aspects of the law in certain cases, and their simultaneous disregard of others. Then, the paper explores the effects of such execution of the law on the death row inmates, as it identifies the different strategies through which defendants who are sentenced to death appropriate a number of legal clauses to their benefit, thereby embarrassing - or highly irritating - the judges that pronounce their death sentences. In addition to appropriation, other strategies include the contestation of the law and their presence before the courts in general, as well as the complete disregard and dismissal of the legal system altogether. Finally, the paper investigates the consequent conceptual effect on the first degree families of death row inmates, namely how their daily encounters with the Egyptian legislative system - particularly its emphasis on the absence of the otherwise binding local legislation - continue to shape their conceptions of the ‘law,’ of ‘justice,’ and their trust in the ‘state.’

Keywords: death penalty, Egyptian law absence, justice, political cases

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Authors: Aubry Martin, Nehed Amara, Jeff Nyalosaso, Audrey Potdevin, FrançOis ReVeret, Michel Langlet, Genevieve Chadeyron

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Energy-saving lighting devices based on LightEmitting Diodes (LEDs) combine a semiconductor chip emitting in the ultraviolet or blue wavelength region to one or more phosphor(s) deposited in the form of coatings. The most common ones combine a blue LED with the yellow phosphor Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ (YAG:Ce) and a red phosphor. Even if these devices are characterized by satisfying photometric parameters (Color Rendering Index, Color Temperature) and good luminous efficiencies, further improvements can be carried out to enhance light extraction efficiency (increase in phosphor forward emission). One of the possible strategies is to pattern the phosphor coatings. Here, we have worked on different ways to nanostructure the coating surface. On the one hand, we used the colloidal lithography combined with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique to directly pattern the surface of YAG:Tb³⁺ sol-gel derived coatings, YAG:Tb³⁺ being used as phosphor model. On the other hand, we achieved composite architectures combining YAG:Ce coatings and ZnO nanowires. Structural, morphological and optical properties of both systems have been studied and compared to flat YAG coatings. In both cases, nanostructuring brought a significative enhancement of photoluminescence properties under UV or blue radiations. In particular, angle-resolved photoluminescence measurements have shown that nanostructuring modifies photons path within the coatings, with a better extraction of the guided modes. These two strategies have the advantage of being versatile and applicable to any phosphor synthesizable by sol-gel technique. They then appear as promising ways to enhancement luminescence efficiencies of both phosphor coatings and the optical devices into which they are incorporated, such as LED-based lighting or safety devices.

Keywords: phosphor coatings, nanostructuring, light extraction, ZnO nanowires, colloidal lithography, LED devices

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Authors: Padma Sree Potru

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Abstract: A co-relational descriptive study was conducted to assess the impact of cancer event on self, on family, coping strategies of cancer clients and quality of life among them in G.G.H., Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of cancer events on self, on family, coping of clients and quality of life among cancer patients. Methods: 50 cancer patients were selected through random sampling technique. The data were obtained by using impact of events scale, impact on family scale, coping health inventory and WHOQOL-BREF scale. Results: The results revealed that majority (32%) of them were in the age group of 36-45 years, 72% were females, 44% were having the income of Rs. 5001-10000/- per month, 40% were working for daily wage, and 15% were newly diagnosed of cancer. Among 50 cancer patients, 65% had extreme impact of events, 61% shows extreme impact on family, 46% possess minimal coping strategies and 68% had poor quality of life. This study focuses on that there is a strong positive correlation between quality of life and coping behavior r=0.603 and also between impact of event and impact on family r=0.610, but a negative correlation existed between quality of life and impact of events r= -0.201. ANOVA test reveals that there is a significant difference between subscales of impact on family and coping behavior with f values = 3.893, 3.957 respectively. Chi-square highlights that there is a significant association between impact of events with age, occupation and impact on family with duration of illness. Conclusion: Even though cancer is a dreadful disease still there are many emerging treatment modalities and innovative procedures which are focusing on improving the standards of life among cancer clients. But all this can happen only when the clients accepts the reality, increase their willpower and confidence, desire to live, focusing on coping mechanisms and good ongoing support from the family members.

Keywords: impact of event, impact on family, coping, quality of event

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Authors: Thanida Sujarittham, Narumon Emarat, Jintawat Tanamatayarat, Kwan Arayathanitkul, Suchai Nopparatjamjomras

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Electric field is an important fundamental concept in electrostatics. In high-school, generally Thai students have already learned about definition of electric field, electric field due to a point charge, and superposition of electric fields due to multiple-point charges. Those are the prerequisite basic knowledge students holding before entrancing universities. In the first-year university level, students will be quickly revised those basic knowledge and will be then introduced to a more complicated topic—electric field due to continuous charged distributions. We initially found that our freshman students, who were from the Faculty of Science and enrolled in the introductory physic course (SCPY 158), often seriously struggled with the basic physics concepts—superposition of electric fields and inverse square law and mathematics being relevant to this topic. These also then resulted on students’ understanding of advanced topics within the course such as Gauss's law, electric potential difference, and capacitance. Therefore, it is very important to determine students' understanding of electric field due to continuous charged distributions. The open-ended question about sketching net electric field vectors from a uniformly charged insulating rod was administered to 260 freshman science students as pre- and post-tests. All of their responses were analyzed and classified into five levels of understandings. To get deep understanding of each level, 30 students were interviewed toward their individual responses. The pre-test result found was that about 90% of students had incorrect understanding. Even after completing the lectures, there were only 26.5% of them could provide correct responses. Up to 50% had confusions and irrelevant ideas. The result implies that teaching methods in Thai high schools may be problematic. In addition for our benefit, these students’ alternative conceptions identified could be used as a guideline for developing the instructional method currently used in the course especially for teaching electrostatics.

Keywords: alternative conceptions, electric field of continuous charged distributions, inverse square law, levels of student understandings, superposition principle

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Authors: Sipho Mbatha, Anne Mastament-Mason

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The Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) which regulated all trade in the Apparel Manufacturing Industries (AMI) for four decades was dissolved in 2005. Since 2005, the Apparel Manufacturing Industry of South Africa (AMISA) has been battling to adjust to an environment of liberalised trade, mainly due to strategic, infrastructural and skills factors. In developing competitive advantage strategy for the AMISA, the study aimed to do the following (1) to apply Porter’s diamond model’s determinant “Factor Condition” as framework to develop competitive advantage strategies. (2) Examine the effectiveness of government policy Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP 2007) in supporting AMISA. (3) Examine chance events that could be used as bases for competitive advantage strategies for the AMISA. This study found that the lack of advanced skills and poor infrastructure are affecting the competitive advantage of AMISA. The then Clothing, Textiles, Leather and Footwear Sector Education and Training Authority (CTLF-SETA) has also fallen short of addressing the skills gap within the apparel manufacturing industries. The only time that AMISA have shown signs of competitive advantage was when they made use of government grants and incentives available to only compliant AMISA. The findings have shown that the apparel retail groups have shown support for the AMISA by shouldering raw material costs, making it easier to manufacture the required apparel at acceptable lead times. AMISA can compete in low end apparel, provided quick response is intensified, the development of local textiles and raw materials is expedited.

Keywords: compliance rule, apparel manufacturing idustry, factor conditions, advance skills, industrial policy action plan of South Africa

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Authors: Gülnar Bayramoğlu Barman

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Since the industrial revolution, technological developments and increased population have caused environmental damages. To protect the nature and architectural environment, firstly, green architecture, ecological architecture and then sustainability occurred. This term has been proposed not to be a new term but a response to environmental disturbances caused by human activities and it is re-conceptualization of architecture. Sustainable architecture or sustainability is lot more extensive than ecological and green architecture. It contains the imbalance between environmental problems that is natural environment and consumption that occurred all around the world. An important part of sustainability debate focused on urban planning and design for more sustainable forms and patterns. In particular, it is discussed that planning and design of urban areas have a major effect on transport and therefore can help reduce car usage, emissions, global warming and climate change. There are many planning and design approaches and movement that introduce certain criteria and strategies to prevent car dependency and encourage people to use public transportation and walking. However, when review the literature, it is seen that planning movements, such as New Urbanism and Transit Oriented Development originated and were implemented mostly in West European and North American Cities. The purpose of this study is to find out whether all those criteria, principles and strategies are also relevant planning approaches for more non-western cities like Baku, which has a very different planning background and therefore possibly different urban form and transport issues. In order to answer the above mentioned question, planning and design approaches in the literature and these recent planning movements were studied and a check list was formed which indicate planning and design approaches that can help attain a more sustainable transport outcome. The checklist was then applied to the case of Baku.

Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable transportation, transport, urban design

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Authors: Muhammad Adeel Arshad, Faiz-Ul Hassan, Yanfen Cheng

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According to FAO, enteric methane (CH4) production is about 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector. Ruminants produce CH4 as a result of fermentation of feed in the rumen especially from roughages which yield more CH4 per unit of biomass ingested as compared to concentrates. Efficient ruminal fermentation is not possible without abating CO2 and CH4. Methane abatement strategies are required to curb the predicted rise in emissions associated with greater ruminant production in future to meet ever increasing animal protein requirements. Ecology of ruminal methanogenesis and avenues for its mitigation can be identified through various genomic and transcriptomic techniques. Programs such as Hungate1000 and the Global Rumen Census have been launched to enhance our understanding about global ruminal microbial communities. Through Hungate1000 project, a comprehensive reference set of rumen microbial genome sequences has been developed from cultivated rumen bacteria and methanogenic archaea along with representative rumen anaerobic fungi and ciliate protozoa cultures. But still many species of rumen microbes are underrepresented especially uncultivable microbes. Lack of sequence information specific to the rumen's microbial community has inhibited efforts to use genomic data to identify specific set of species and their target genes involved in methanogenesis. Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic study of entire microbial rumen populations offer new perspectives to understand interaction of methanogens with other rumen microbes and their potential association with total gas and methane production. Deep understanding of methanogenic pathway will help to devise potentially effective strategies to abate methane production while increasing feed efficiency in ruminants.

Keywords: Genome sequences, Hungate1000, methanogens, ruminal fermentation

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Authors: Magdalena Madany-Saá

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This paper compares the language management of two language policies in plurinational Ecuador: (1) mandatory English language teaching that uses Western standards of quality, and (2) indigenous educación intercultural bilingüe, which promotes ancestral knowledge and the indigenous languages of Ecuador. The data are from a comparative institutional ethnography conducted between 2018 and 2022 in English and Kichwa teacher preparation programs in an Ecuadorian teachers’ college. Specifically, the paper explores frameworks of knowledge promoted by different educational actors in both teacher education programs and the ways in which the Ecuadorian transformation towards a knowledge-based economy is intertwined with the country’s linguistic policies. Focusing on the specific role of language advocates and their discursive role in knowledge production, the paper elaborates on the notion of agency in Language Policy and Planning (LPP), referred to as epistemic agency. Specifically, the epistemic agency is conceptualized through the analysis of English language epistemic advocates who participate in empowering English language policies and endorse knowledge production in that language. By proposing an epistemic agency, this paper argues that in the context of knowledge-based societies, advocates are key in transferring the policies from the political to the epistemic realm – where decisions about what counts as legitimate knowledge are made. The study uses the decolonial option as its analytical framework for critiquing the hegemonic perpetuation of modernity and its knowledge-based models in Latin America derived from the colonial matrix of power. Through this theoretical approach, it is argued that if indigenous stakeholders are only viewed as political actors and not as knowledge producers, the hegemony of Global English will reinforce a knowledge-based society constructed upon Global North modernity. In the absence of strong epistemic advocates for indigenous language policies, powerful Global English advocates occupy such vacancies at the language management level, thus dominating the ecology of knowledge in a plurinational and plurilingual Ecuador.

Keywords: educación intercultural bilingüe, English language teaching, epistemic agency, language advocates, plurinationality

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Authors: Micah J. Dobson

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After-school programs of physical education provide children with opportunities to engage in physical activities while developing healthy habits. To ensure that these programs are inclusive, diverse, and engaging, however, schools must consider various factors when designing and implementing them. This study sought to bring out efficient strategies for structuring after-school programs of physical education. The literature review was conducted using various databases and search engines. Some databases that index the journals include ERIC, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost. The search terms were combinations of keywords such as “after-school,” “physical education,” “inclusion,” “diversity,” “engagement,” “program design,” “program implementation,” “program effectiveness,” and “best practices.” The findings of this study suggest that schools that desire inclusivity must consider four key factors when designing and implementing after-school physical education programs. First, the programs must be designed with variety and fun by incorporating activities such as dance, sports, and games that appeal to all students. Second, instructors must be trained to create supportive and positive environments that foster student engagement while promoting physical literacy. Third, schools must collaborate with community stakeholders and organizations to ensure that programs are culturally inclusive and responsive. Fourth, schools can incorporate technology into their programs to enhance engagement and provide additional growth and learning opportunities.In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into efficient strategies for structuring after-school programs of physical education that are inclusive, diverse, and engaging for all students. By considering these factors when designing and implementing their programs, schools can promote physical activity while supporting students’ overall well-being and health.

Keywords: after-school programs of physical education, community partnership, inclusivity, instructor training, technology

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Authors: Silvia Benvenuti, Alessandra Cardinali

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In recent years, for instance, in relation to the Covid 19 pandemic and the evidence of climate change, it is becoming quite clear that the development of a young kid into an adult citizen requires a solid scientific background. Citizens are required to exert logical thinking and know the methods of science in order to adapt, understand, and develop as persons. Mathematics sits at the core of these required skills: learning the axiomatic method is fundamental to understand how hard sciences work and helps in consolidating logical thinking, which will be useful for the entire life of a student. At the same time, research shows that the axiomatic study of geometry is a problematic topic for students, even for those with interest in mathematics. With this in mind, the main goals of the research work we will describe are: (1) to show whether non-Euclidean geometries can be a tool to allow students to consolidate the knowledge of Euclidean geometries by developing it in a critical way; (2) to promote the understanding of the modern axiomatic method in geometry; (3) to give students a new perspective on mathematics so that they can see it as a creative activity and a widely discussed topic with a historical background. One of the main issues related to the state-of-the-art in this topic is the shortage of experimental studies with students. For this reason, our aim is to show further experimental evidence of the potential benefits of teaching non-Euclidean geometries at high school, based on data collected from a study started in 2005 in the frame of the Italian National Piano Lauree Scientifiche, continued by a teacher training organized in September 2018, perfected in a pilot study that involved 77 high school students during the school years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. and finally implemented through an experimental study conducted in 2020-21 with 87 high school students. Our study shows that there is potential for further research to challenge current conceptions of the school mathematics curriculum and of the capabilities of high school mathematics students.

Keywords: Non-Euclidean geometries, beliefs about mathematics, questionnaires, modern axiomatic method

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Authors: Ryan Chalk, G. M. Shafiullah

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Climate change is a pertinent issue facing governments and societies around the world. The industrial revolution has resulted in a steady increase in the average global temperature. The mining and energy production industries have been significant contributors to this change prompting government to intervene by promoting low emission technology within these sectors. This paper initially reviews the energy problem in Australia and the mining sector with a focus on the energy requirements and production methods utilised in Western Australia (WA). Renewable energy in the form of utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) provides a solution to these problems by providing emission-free energy which can be used to supplement the existing natural gas turbines in operation at the proposed site. This research presents a custom renewable solution for the mining site considering the specific township network, local weather conditions, and seasonal load profiles. A summary of the required PV output is presented to supply slightly over 50% of the towns power requirements during the peak (summer) period, resulting in close to full coverage in the trench (winter) period. Dig Silent Power Factory Software has been used to simulate the characteristics of the existing infrastructure and produces results of integrating PV. Large scale PV penetration in the network introduce technical challenges, that includes; voltage deviation, increased harmonic distortion, increased available fault current and power factor. Results also show that cloud cover has a dramatic and unpredictable effect on the output of a PV system. The preliminary analyses conclude that mitigation strategies are needed to overcome voltage deviations, unacceptable levels of harmonics, excessive fault current and low power factor. Mitigation strategies are proposed to control these issues predominantly through the use of high quality, made for purpose inverters. Results show that use of inverters with harmonic filtering reduces the level of harmonic injections to an acceptable level according to Australian standards. Furthermore, the configuration of inverters to supply active and reactive power assist in mitigating low power factor problems. Use of FACTS devices; SVC and STATCOM also reduces the harmonics and improve the power factor of the network, and finally, energy storage helps to smooth the power supply.

Keywords: climate change, mitigation strategies, photovoltaic (PV), power quality

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Authors: Matthew Edmunds, Andrew Hunter, Clare Littlewood, Wisha Gul, Gabriel Heppenstall-Harris, Thomas Humphries

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Background: Revision courses for medical students undertaking their final examinations are commonplace throughout the UK. Traditionally these take the form of a series of lectures over multiple weeks or a single day of intensive lectures. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has required medical educators to create new teaching formats to ensure they adhere to social distancing requirements. It has provided an unexpected opportunity to accelerate the development of students proficiency in the use of ‘technology-enabled communication platforms’, as mandated in the 2018 GMC Outcomes of Graduates. Recent advances in technology have made distance learning possible, whilst also providing novel and more engaging learning opportunities for students. Foundation Year 2 doctors at Aintree University Hospital developed an online series of videos to help prepare medical students in the North West and byond for their final medical school examinations. Method: Eight hour-long videos covering the key topics in medicine and surgery were posted on the Peer Learning Liverpool Youtube channel. These videos were created using new technology such as the screen and audio recording platform, Loom. Each video compromised at least 20 single best answer (SBA) questions, in keeping with the format in most medical school finals. Explanations of the answers were provided, and additional important material was covered. Students were able to ask questions by commenting on the videos, with the authors replying as soon as possible. Feedback was collated using an online Google form. Results: An average of 327 people viewed each video, with 113 students filling in the feedback form. 65.5% of respondents were within one month of their final medical school examinations. The average rating for how well prepared the students felt for their finals was 6.21/10 prior to the course and 8.01/10 after the course. A paired t-test demonstrated a mean increase of 1.80 (95% CI 1.66-1.93). Overall, 98.2% said the online format worked well or very well, and 99.1% would recommend the course to a peer. Conclusions: Based on the feedback received, the online revision course was successful both in terms of preparing students for their final examinations, and with regards to how well the online format worked. Free-text qualitative feedback highlighted advantages such as; students could learn at their own pace, revisit key concepts important to them, and practice exam style questions via the case-based format. Limitations identified included inconsistent audiovisual quality, and requests for a live online Q&A session following the conclusion of the course. This course will be relaunched later in the year with increased opportunities for students to access live feedback. The success of this online course has shown the roll that technology can play in medical education. As well as providing novel teaching modes, online learning allows students to access resources that otherwise would not be available locally, and ensure that they do not miss out on teaching that was previously provided face to face, in the current climate of social distancing.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Medical School, Online learning, Revision course

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Authors: Nidhal Azawi

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Colonoscopy procedure is widely used in the world to detect an abnormality. Early diagnosis can help to heal many patients. Because of the unavoidable artifacts that exist in colon images, doctors cannot detect a colon surface precisely. The purpose of this work is to improve the visual quality of colonoscopy videos to provide better information for physicians by removing some artifacts. This work complements a series of work consisting of three previously published papers. In this paper, Optic flow is used for motion compensation, and then consecutive images are aligned/registered to integrate some information to create a new image that has or reveals more information than the original one. Colon images have been classified into informative and noninformative images by using a deep neural network. Then, two different strategies were used to treat informative and noninformative images. Informative images were treated by using Lucas Kanade (LK) with an adaptive temporal mean/median filter, whereas noninformative images are treated by using Lucas Kanade with a derivative of Gaussian (LKDOG) with adaptive temporal median images. A comparison result showed that this work achieved better results than that results in the state- of- the- art strategies for the same degraded colon images data set, which consists of 1000 images. The new proposed algorithm reduced the error alignment by about a factor of 0.3 with a 100% successfully image alignment ratio. In conclusion, this algorithm achieved better results than the state-of-the-art approaches in case of enhancing the informative images as shown in the results section; also, it succeeded to convert the non-informative images that have very few details/no details because of the blurriness/out of focus or because of the specular highlight dominate significant amount of an image to informative images.

Keywords: optic flow, colonoscopy, artifacts, spatial temporal filter

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Authors: Martina Dickson, Hanadi Kadbey, Melissa Mcminn

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Research has shown that anxiety and trepidation towards learning about science is prevalent among elementary school teachers in Western countries. It has also been shown repeatedly that pre-service and in-service teachers who show signs of anxiety towards science are; a) less likely to teach it at all, where they have some autonomy over this, b) less likely to teach it effectively c) ultimately that their students have lower attainment scores in science. It is therefore critically important to gauge pre-service teachers’ science anxiety levels early on whilst there are still possibilities to overturn some of the reasons behind these fears and avert these serious issues occurring later on. This study takes place in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) in the context of training local elementary school teachers. In the U.A.E., where Emirati teachers are already in the vast minority and attrition rates are high, it is important to offer as much support to pre-service teachers as possible. If pre-service teachers are graduating with high levels of science anxiety unabated, according to the research there is a very real concern that as generalist primary school teachers, their science teaching will be far from optimal. The aims of this research study were to ascertain the science anxiety levels of pre-service elementary teachers and to identify particular areas of their science anxiety, if appropriate. We surveyed 200 Emirati pre-service teachers and found that levels of science anxiety were directly related to their perceptions of performance in science exams, laboratory experiments and inquiry approaches to science learning. Whilst some studies have shown that science anxiety can decrease as students gain confidence in science knowledge by studying courses, we did not see this effect in our study. This is based upon a theoretical framework which holds that in some cases, science anxiety is related to lack of exposure to, or insecurity with science content itself which in some cases is alleviated by the students’ covering of material and greater confidence in the subject. Exploring this variable allowed us to explore whether students educated in schools influenced by the educational reform in Abu Dhabi have differing science anxiety levels from those who were educated prior to the reforms. We discuss the possible implications of these findings to the future teaching of science in Abu Dhabi public schools.

Keywords: pre-service teachers, science anxiety, United Arab Emirates, educational reform

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Authors: Paul Lam, Chi Him Chan, Alan Tse

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Language laboratories have been widely used in language learning, starting in the middle of the last century as one of the earliest forms of educational technology. They are designed to assist students’ language learning with technological innovations. Traditional language laboratories provide individual workstations that allow students to access multimedia language resources. In this type of facility, students can train their listening and speaking abilities, and teachers can also assess the performance of an individual student. Although such a setting promotes a student-centered pedagogy by encouraging students to work at their own pace and according to their own needs, it still favours a traditional, behaviourist language learning pedagogy which focuses on repetitive drilling. The change of pedagogies poses challenges to both the teachers and the facilities. The peer-learning pedagogy advocates that language learning should focus on the social aspect, which emphasizes the importance of everyday communication in language learning. The self-access, individual workstation language laboratories may not be able to provide the flexibility for interaction in the new pedagogies. Modern advancement in technology is another factor that drove our language laboratory renovation. In particular, mobile and wireless technology enabled the use of smaller and more flexible devices, making possible much clever use of space. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) renovated nine existing language laboratories to provide lighter and more advanced equipment, movable tables, and round desks. These facilities allow more flexibility and encourage students’ interaction. It is believed that the renovated language laboratories can serve different peer learning activities and thus support peer-learning pedagogies in language teaching and learning. A survey has been conducted to collect comments from the teachers who have used the renovated language laboratories and received forty-four response. The teachers’ comments reveal that they experienced different challenges in using the renovated language laboratories, and there is a need to provide guidance to teachers during the technological and pedagogical transition. For example, teachers need instruction on using the newly installed devices such as touch-monitor and visualizer. They also need advice on planning new teaching and learning activities. Nevertheless, teachers appreciated that the renovated language laboratories are flexible and provide more spaces for different learning activities.

Keywords: language laboratories, language learning, peer-learning, student interaction

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Authors: Jawaher Bakheet Almudarra

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An Educational Supervisor assists teachers to develop their competence and skills in teaching, solving educational problems, and to improve the teaching methods to suit the educational process. They evaluate their teachers and write reports based on their assessments. In 1957, the Saudi Ministry of Education instituted Educational Supervision to facilitate effective management of schools, however, there have been concerns that the Educational Supervision has not been effective in executing its mandate. Studies depicted that Educational supervision has not been effective because it has been marred by poor and autocratic leadership practices such as stringent inspection, commanding and judging. Therefore, there is need to consider some of the ways in which school outcomes can be enhanced through the improvement of Educational supervision practices. Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept that can be integrated into the Saudi education system that is yet to be examined in-depth and embraced particularly in the realm of educational leadership. Its recognition and adoption may improve leadership practices among Educational supervisors. This study employed a qualitative interpretive approach that will focus on decoding, describing and interpreting the connection between emotional intelligence and leadership. The study also took into account the social constructions that include consciousness, language and shared meanings. The data collection took place in the Office of Educational Supervisors in Riyadh and involved 4 Educational supervisors and 20 teachers from both genders- male and female. The data collection process encompasses three methods namely; qualitative emotional intelligence self-assessment questionnaires, reflective semi-structured interviews, and open workshops. The questionnaires would explore whether the Educational supervisors understand the meaning of emotional intelligence and its significance in enhancing the quality of education system in Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, reflective semi-structured interviews were carried out with the Educational supervisors to explore the connection between their leadership styles and the way they conceptualise their emotionality. The open workshops will include discussions on emotional aspects of Educational supervisors’ practices and how Educational supervisors make use of the emotional intelligence discourse in their leadership and supervisory relationships.

Keywords: directors of educational supervision, emotional intelligence, educational leadership, education management

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Authors: Reyhan Tekin Sitrava

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Teachers should have robust and comprehensive content knowledge for effective mathematics teaching. It was explained that content knowledge includes knowing the facts, truths, and concepts; explaining the reasons behind these facts, truths and concepts, and making relationship between the concepts and other disciplines. By virtue of its importance, it will be significant to explore teachers and prospective teachers’ content knowledge related to variety of topics in mathematics. From this point of view, the purpose of this study was to investigate prospective mathematics teachers’ content knowledge. Particularly, it was aimed to reveal the prospective teachers’ knowledge regarding the definition of limit and derivate. To achieve the purpose and to get in-depth understanding, a qualitative case study method was used. The data was collected from 34 prospective mathematics teachers through a questionnaire containing 2 questions. The first question required the prospective teachers to define the limit and the second one required to define the derivative. The data was analyzed using content analysis method. Based on the analysis of the data, although half of the prospective teachers (50%) could write the definition of the limit, nine prospective teachers (26.5%) could not define limit. However, eight prospective teachers’ definition was regarded as partially correct. On the other hand, twenty-seven prospective teachers (79.5%) could define derivative, but seven of them (20.5%) defined it partially. According to the findings, most of the prospective teachers have robust content knowledge on limit and derivative. This result is important because definitions have a virtual role in learning and teaching of mathematics. More specifically, definition is starting point to understand the meaning of a concept. From this point of view, prospective teachers should know the definitions of the concepts to be able to teach them correctly to the students. In addition, they should have knowledge about the relationship between limit and derivative so that they can explain these concepts conceptually. Otherwise, students may memorize the rules of calculating the derivative and the limit. In conclusion, the present study showed that most of the prospective mathematics teachers had enough knowledge about the definition of derivative and limit. However, the rest of them should learn their definition conceptually. The examples of correct, partially correct, and incorrect definition of both concepts will be presented and discussed based on participants’ statements. This study has some implications for instructors. Instructors should be careful about whether students learn the definition of these concepts or not. In order to this, the instructors may give prospective teachers opportunities to discuss the definition of these concepts and the relationship between the concepts.

Keywords: content knowledge, derivative, limit, prospective mathematics teachers

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Authors: Pauline Calleja, Brooke Alexander

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In 2010 the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA) undertook sole administration of the Trauma Nursing Program (TNP) across Australia. The original TNP was developed from recommendations by the Review of Trauma and Emergency Services-Victoria. While participant and faculty feedback about the program was positive, issues were identified that were common for industry training programs in Australia. These issues included didactic approaches, with many lectures and little interaction/activity for participants. Participants were not necessarily encouraged to undertake deep learning due to the teaching and learning principles underpinning the course, and thus participants described having to learn by rote, and only gain a surface understanding of principles that were not always applied to their working context. In Australia, a trauma or emergency nurse may work in variable contexts that impact on practice, especially where resources influence scope and capacity of hospitals to provide trauma care. In 2011, a program review was undertaken resulting in major changes to the curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment approaches. The aim was to improve learning including a greater emphasis on pre-program preparation for participants, the learning environment and clinically applicable contextualized outcomes participants experienced. Previously if participants wished to undertake assessment, they were given a take home examination. The assessment had poor uptake and return, and provided no rigor since assessment was not invigilated. A new assessment structure was enacted with an invigilated examination during course hours. These changes were implemented in early 2012 with great improvement in both faculty and participant satisfaction. This presentation reports on a comparison of participant evaluations collected from courses post implementation in 2012 and in 2015 to evaluate if positive changes were sustained. Methods: Descriptive statistics were applied in analyzing evaluations. Since all questions had more than 20% of cells with a count of <5, Fisher’s Exact Test was used to identify significance (p = <0.05) between groups. Results: A total of fourteen group evaluations were included in this analysis, seven CENA TNP groups from 2012 and seven from 2015 (randomly chosen). A total of 173 participant evaluations were collated (n = 81 from 2012 and 92 from 2015). All course evaluations were anonymous, and nine of the original 14 questions were applicable for this evaluation. All questions were rated by participants on a five-point Likert scale. While all items showed improvement from 2012 to 2015, significant improvement was noted in two items. These were in regard to the content being delivered in a way that met participant learning needs and satisfaction with the length and pace of the program. Evaluation of written comments supports these results. Discussion: The aim of redeveloping the CENA TNP was to improve learning and satisfaction for participants. These results demonstrate that initial improvements in 2012 were able to be maintained and in two essential areas significantly improved. Changes that increased participant engagement, support and contextualization of course materials were essential for CENA TNP evolution.

Keywords: emergency nursing education, industry training programs, teaching and learning, trauma education

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Authors: Danilo G. De Quadros

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Biofuels are a priority in the renewable energy agenda. The utilization of tropical grasses to ethanol production is a real opportunity to Brazil reaches the world’s leadership in biofuels production because there are 100 million hectares of sown pastures, which represent 20% of all land and 80% of agricultural areas. Basically, nowadays tropical grasses are used to raise livestock. The results obtained in this research could bring tremendous advance not only to national technology and economy but also to improve social and environmental aspects. Thus, the objective of this work was to estimate, through well-established international models, the potential of biofuels production using sown tropical pastures as feedstocks and to compare the results with sugarcane ethanol, considering state-of-art of conversion technology, advantages and limitations factors. There were used data from national and international literature about forage yield and biochemical conversion yield. Some scenarios were studied to evaluate potential advantages and limitations for cellulosic ethanol production, since non-food feedstock appeal to conversion strategies, passing through harvest, densification, logistics, environmental impacts (carbon and water cycles, nutrient recycling and biodiversity), and social aspects. If Brazil used only 1% of sown pastures to ethanol production by biochemical pathway, with average dry matter yield of 15 metric tons per hectare per year (there are results of 40 tons), resulted annually in 721 billion liters, that represents 10 times more than sugarcane ethanol projected by the Government in 2030. However, more research is necessary to take the results to commercial scale with competitive costs, considering many strategies and methods applied in ethanol production using cellulosic feedstock.

Keywords: biofuels, biochemical pathway, cellulosic ethanol, sustainability

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Authors: Yu-Mei Tseng, Chih-Chun Wu

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As information and communication technology (ICT) has become a part of people’s lives, most teenagers born after the 1980s and grew up in internet generation are called digital natives. Meanwhile, those teenagers’ parents are called digital immigrants. They need to keep learning new skills of ICT. This study investigated that high school students helped their parents set up social network services (SNS) and taught them how to use ICT. This study applied paper and pencil anonymous questionnaires that asked the ICT learning and ICT products using in high school students’ parents. The sample size was 2,621 high school students, including 1,360 (51.9%) males and 1,261 (48.1%) females. The sample was from 12 high school and vocational high school in central Taiwan. Results from paired sample t-tests demonstrated regardless genders, both male and female high school students help mothers set up Facebook and LINE more often than fathers. In addition, both male and female high school students taught mothers to use ICT more often than fathers. Meanwhile, both male and female high school students teach mothers to use SNS more often than fathers. The results showed that intergenerational ICT teaching occurred more often between mothers and her children than fathers. It could imply that mothers play a more important role in family ICT learning than fathers, or it could be that mothers need more help regarding ICT than fathers. As for gender differences, results from the independent t-tests showed that female high school students were more likely than male ones to help their parents setup Facebook and LINE. In addition, compared to male high school students, female ones were more likely to teach their parents to use smartphone, Facebook and LINE. However, no gender differences were detected in teaching mothers. The gender differences results suggested that female teenagers offer more helps to their parents regarding ICT learning than their male counterparts. As for area differences, results from the independent t-tests showed that the high school in remote area students were more likely than metropolitan ones to teach parents to use computer, search engine and download files of audio and video. The area differences results might indicate that remote area students were more likely to teach their parents how to use ICT. The results from this study encourage children to help and teach their parents with ICT products.

Keywords: adult ICT learning, family ICT learning, ICT learning, urban-rural gap

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Authors: De Biase Ilaria, Della Rocca Mattia

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Our work aims to highlight the role played by cognitive biases in the reception of environmental information, including scientific communication from expert to the lay public, especially in relationship with environmental data coming from biological and biotechnological recording. Some alternative strategies are suggested in order to maximize public awareness on environmental changes.

Keywords: science communication, environment and psychology, cognitive biases, environmental awareness

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Authors: Alessandro Andre Leme

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To analyze three Brazilian think tanks: a) Fernando Henrique Foundation; b) Celso Furtado International Center; c) Millennium Institute and how they dispute interpretations about the type of development and State that should be adopted in Brazil. We will make use of Network and content analysis of the sites. The analyzes show a dispute that goes from a defense of ultraliberalism to developmentalism, going through a hybrid between State and Market voiced in each of the Think Tanks.

Keywords: sociopolitical and economic thinking, development, strategies, intellectuals, state

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Authors: Shaun Lim

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This paper presents a 9-month ethnographic case study of the value creating strategies employed by an Oxford market-trader of 20th-century maps. Maps are usually valued and sold as either antique objets d’art or useful navigational tools, with 20th-century maps precariously lying between the boundary of the aesthetic and utilitarian value-regimes. Here, the brokerage practices involved in the framing of outdated, lowly valued maps into vintage commodities will be examined. Ethnographic material of the unstudied market of old maps is introduced and situated in the second-hand, antique and collectible spheres of exchange. The map-trader as a broker is the ethnographic and methodological starting point of this paper. Brokerage is understood through the activity of framing that defines and brackets the value-regimes of commodities with the aid of market and framing devices. The trader’s activities will be examined in three parts. (1) The post-sourcing industry: the altering, mounting and tagging of maps before putting them into market circulation. Mounts, frames and tags are seen as market devices that authenticates and frames maps with aesthetic and symbolic values along with the disentanglement of its use value. (2) The market-display: the constitution of space that encourages the relations of looking at maps as aesthetic objects, while the categorical arrangement of the display contributes to legitimising of the collectability of maps. (3) The salesmanship strategies of the trader: the match-making of customers with maps of meaningful value, and the mediating of knowledge through the verbal articulation of the map’s symbolic values. Ultimately, value is not created in an accumulative sense, but is layered and superimposed to cater to a wide spectrum of patrons. The trader creates demand for his goods by mediating and articulating value-regimes already coherent to potential patrons.

Keywords: art and material culture, brokerage, commodification, framing, markets, value

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Authors: Daniela Lamaison Sepulveda

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Critical media literacy teaches people to think analytically about the information they receive through the media. It is heavily influenced by Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy and the necessity of becoming conscious of one’s reality in order to transform it. This qualitative research examines the case of Bolivia, which experienced dramatic political change after the first indigenous president, Evo Morales, was elected in 2006. In 2010, the government passed an education reform — the Avelino Siñani Elizardo Pérez (ASEP) —that draws heavily on decolonial thought and the Freirean notion of critical consciousness. The extent to which these theories were implemented in practice is evaluated in context of a media literacy project, run by an NGO, that trains secondary school teachers from public schools across Bolivia through yearly workshops ranging from producing media to identifying fake news. This context is examined against the backdrop of the highly contested general elections in October 2019. While there is plenty of literature that outlines the benefits of teaching media literacy in the classroom and different ways to apply it, little research has been done analysing implementation at an institutional level and how to best enable teachers who are motivated to teach the subject. Through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and naturalistic observations, this study aims to identify the struggles faced by teachers who are dedicated to teaching critical media literacy in their classrooms and how they navigate educational spaces while being subject to a demanding national curriculum that supposedly also seeks to promote critical thinking. The interplay between the aspirations of teachers and NGOs in contrast to the top-down discourse and policy of governmental institutions provides for a very enlightening case. By exploring these institutional, cultural, sociopolitical and economic barriers the teachers face, this research attempts to contribute to the debate in media literacy theories concerned with implementing the practice in schools.

Keywords: media literacy, critical pedagogy, teacher agency, misinformation, education reform, Bolivia

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Authors: Adebiyi Sunday Adeyanju, Kola Benson Ajeigbe, Fortune Ganda

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In the past three decades, there has been a notable increase in the number of firms delisting from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. The recent increasing rate of delisting waves of corporate listed firms motivated this study. This study aims to explore the influence of institutional investor perceptions on the financial distress experienced by delisted firms within the South African market. The study further examined the impact of financial distress on the corporate performance of delisted firms. Using the data of delisted firms spanning from 2000 to 2023 and the FGLS (Feasible Generalized Least Squares) for the short run and PCSE (Panel-Corrected Standard Errors) for the long run effects of the relationship. The finding indicated that a decline in institutional investors’ perceptions was associated with the corporate financial distress of the delisted firms, particularly during the delisting year and the few years preceding the announcement of the delisting. This study addressed the importance of investor recognition in corporate financial distress and the delisting wave among listed firms- a finding supporting the stakeholder theory. This study is an insight for companies’ managements, investors, governments, policymakers, stockbrokers, lending institutions, bankers, the stock market, and other stakeholders in their various decision-making endeavours. Based on the above findings, it was recommended that corporate managements should improve their governance strategies that can help companies’ financial performances. Accountability and transparency through governance must also be improved upon with government support through the introduction of policies and strategies and enabling an easy environment that can help companies perform better.

Keywords: delisting wave, institutional investors, financial distress, corporate performance, investors’ perceptions

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Authors: Chiu-Wen Chang, I-Yun Chang, Wei-Ting Chen, Hui-Ping Ho, Ruei-Hun Chang, Joh-Jong Huang

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Kaohsiung City is located in the tropical region where has Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus distributed; once the virus invades, it’s can easily trigger local epidemic. Besides, Kaohsiung City has a world-class airport and harbor, trade and tourism are close and frequently with every country, especially with the Southeast Asian countries which also suffer from dengue. Therefore, Kaohsiung City faces the difficult challenge of dengue every year. The objectives of this study was to enhance dengue clinical care, border management and vector surveillance in Kaohsiung City by establishing an larger scale, innovatively and more coordinated dengue prevention and control strategies in 2016, including (1) Integrated medical programs: facilitated 657 contract medical institutions, widely set up NS1 rapid test in clinics, enhanced triage and referrals system, dengue case daily-monitoring management (2) Border quarantine: comprehensive NS1 screening for foreign workers and fisheries when immigration, hospitalization and isolation for suspected cases, health education for high risk groups (foreign students, other tourists) (3) Mosquito control: Widely use Gravitrap to monitor mosquito density in environment, use NS1 rapid screening test to detect community dengue virus (4) Health education: create a dengue app for people to immediately inquire the risk map and nearby medical resources, routine health education to all districts to strengthen public’s dengue knowledge, neighborhood cleaning awards program. The results showed that after new integration of dengue prevention and control strategies fully implemented in Kaohsiung City, the number of confirmed cases in 2016 declined to 342 cases, the majority of these cases are the continuation epidemic in 2015; in fact, only two cases confirmed after the 2016 summer. Besides, the dengue mortality rate successfully decreased to 0% in 2016. Moreover, according to the reporting rate from medical institutions in 2014 and 2016, it dropped from 27.07% to 19.45% from medical center, and it decreased from 36.55% to 29.79% from regional hospital; however, the reporting rate of district hospital increased from 11.88% to 15.87% and also increased from 24.51% to 34.89% in general practice clinics. Obviously, it showed that under the action of strengthening medical management, it reduced the medical center’s notification ratio and improved the notification ratio of general clinics which achieved the great effect of dengue clinical management and dengue control.

Keywords: dengue control, integrated control strategies, clinical management, NS1

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Authors: Mohamed El Fares Djellatou, Fracoise Filion

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The Ashukin program that means bridge in Naskapi or Atikamekw language, has been designed to offer a partnership between nursing students and an indigenous community. The students design a health promotion project tailored to the needs of the community. The issues of intimidation in primary school and cyber-dependence in high school were some concerns in a rural Atikamekw community. The goal of the project was to have a conversation with indigenous youths, aged 10-16 years old, on the challenges presented by intimidation and cyber dependence as well as promoting healthy relationships online and within the community. Methods: Multiple progressive inquiry questions (PIQs) were used to assess the feasibility and importance of this project for the Atikamekw nation, and to determine a plan to follow. The theoretical foundations to guide the conception of the project were the Population Health Promotion Model (PHPM), the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model, and the Medicine Wheel. A broad array of social determinants of health were addressed, including healthy childhood development, personal health practices, and coping skills, and education. The youths were encouraged to participate in interactive educational sessions, using PowerPoint presentations and pamphlets as the main effective strategies. Additional tools such as cultural artworks and physical activities were introduced to strengthen the inter-relational and team spirit within the Indigenous population. A quality assurance tool (QAT) was developed specifically to determine the appropriateness of these health promotion tools. Improvements were guided by the feedback issued by the indigenous schools’ teachers and social workers who filled the QATs. Post educational sessions, quantitative results have shown that 93.48% of primary school students were able to identify the different types of intimidation, 72.65% recognized more than two strategies, and 52.1% were able to list at least four resources to diffuse intimidation. On the other hand, around 75% of the adolescents were able to name at least three negative effects, and 50% listed three strategies to reduce cyber-dependence. This project was meant to create a bridge with the First Nation through health promotion, a population that is known to be disadvantaged due to systemic health inequity and disparities. Culturally safe care was proposed to deal with the two identified priority issues, and an educational toolkit was given to both schools to ensure the sustainability of the project. The project was self-financed through fundraising activities, and it yielded better results than expected.

Keywords: indigenous, first nation, bullying, cyber-dependence, internet addiction, intimidation, youth, adolescents, school, community nursing, health promotion

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Authors: Ngong Eugene Ekia

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Education is the foundation for the success of any society as its impact transcends across all sectors, including economics, politics, and social welfare. It is through education that individuals acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in life and contribute meaningfully to society. However, the world is changing rapidly, and it is vital for education systems to adapt to these changes to remain relevant. In this paper, we will discuss the current trends and challenges in education and management and propose solutions that can enable individuals to thrive in an ever-evolving world.

Keywords: access to education, effective teaching and learning, strong management practices, and empowering and personal development

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Authors: Nesrine Boussaoui

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Background: International students often encounter challenges while studying in the UK, including communication and language barriers, lack of social networks, and socio-cultural differences that adversely impact on their mental health. For Algerian international students (AISs), these challenges may be heightened as English is not their first language and the culture of their homeland is substantially different from British culture, yet research has to incorporate their experiences and perspectives. Aim: The current study aimed to explore AISs’ 1) understandings of mental health; 2) issues of disclosure for mental health difficulties; and 3) mental health help-seeking and coping strategies. Method: In-depth, audio recorded semi-structured interviews (n = 20) with AISs in UK universities were conducted. An inductive, reflective thematic approach analysis was used. Finding: The following themes and associated sub-themes were developed: (1) Algerian cultural influences on mental health understanding(socio-cultural comparisons); (2) the paradox of the family (pressure vs. support); (3) stigma and fear of disclosure; (4) Barriers to formal help-seeking (informal disclosure as first step to seeking help); (5) Communication barriers (resort to mother tongue to disclose); (6) Self-reliance and religious coping. Conclusion: Recognising and understanding the challenges faced by AISs in terms of disclosure and mental health help-seeking is essential to reduce barriers to formal help-seeking. Informal disclosure among peers is often the first step to seeking help. Enhancing practitioners’ cultural competences and awareness of diverse understandings of mental health and the role of religious coping among AISs’ may have transferable benefits to a wider international student population.

Keywords: mental health, stegma, coping, disclosure

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Authors: Shih-Tsung Chen, Yenchin Hsiao

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Evergreen Lily is a newly-built school after Morakot Typhoon took place. The school is located on Majia farm, which is surrounded by mountains. The fund in the construction of the school is solely sponsored by Chang Yung-Fa Foundation. There are 483 permanent houses near the school belonging to three tribes, Dashe, Majia, and Haocha. Due to the most ancient heritages of Paiwan and Rukai in these three tribes, the school is full of cultural atmosphere. From modern and traditional perspectives, Evergreen Lily strives to establish and develop a long-lasting educational model to meet the expectation of the tribes, parents, and the public. This study is a case study of how to develop indigenous education in newly established schools after the Morakot Hurricane disaster to meet the concept of environmental education. The systematic curriculum construction of education and cultural integration and the systematic practice of curriculum practice will be discussed, and the concept and practice of tribal education curriculum and sustainable environmental education will be understood. This study found that this school integrates the spirit of natural philosophy, democratic education, ethnic and experimental education, and constructs a knowledge system that includes three levels of spiritual culture, institutional culture, and material culture, as well as six dimensions of life philosophy, natural ecology, organizational system, tribal literature and history, song and dance, and technical and artistic methods. Adhering to the concept of harmonious education and the sustainable common good, the development of school-based tribal academic courses accounts for about one-third of the total number of teaching sessions, and there are different cultural themes in grades one to six, and there are clear teaching modules to effectively enhance students' potential inspiration. The complete curriculum implementation model can be described as a model for the development of indigenous schools to sustainable environmental education.

Keywords: environmental education, indigenous education, sustainable development, school-based curriculum

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