Two new instruments were created to assess secondary students’ (ages 14-18) spatial learning attitudes and their interest in science and technology, related careers ideas and perceptions about geospatial technologies. These instruments were designed to evaluate the outcomes of a geospatial learning curriculum project. During a two-year period, we explored the use of these instruments during the prototype testing and pilot testing of a series of socio-environmental science investigations. The instruments were implemented with 664 ninth grade urban students from a population traditionally underrepresented in STEM-related fields. Both classical and Rasch analyses were conducted each year to optimize the instruments. The resulting 24-item Student Interest in Science, Technology and Geospatial Technology (STEM-GEO) measure and 9-item Spatial Learning Attitudes (SLA) measure had high internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach’s Alpha) as well as acceptable Rasch reliabilities. Content validity and construct validity evidence were also summarized and discussed.

This survey study provides a holistic picture of English teachers’ qualification and the status quo of English instruction in secondary school classrooms in four lowest-achieving rural disctricts in Beijing, China. It covers a wide variety of aspects related to language instruction, including teachers’ professional background and credentials, lesson preparation and instructional materials, teachers’ instructional languages, factors that limit English instruction, roles teachers play in classrooms, and classroom instruction on pronunciation and fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension. Results shows how inequality in resources and the lack of teaching standards and qualifications can negatively impact students, further hindering their academic and professional opportunities. The findings provide valuable information to the teacher preparation and professional development in these districts and hopefully bring attention to the Department of Education in China about the educational needs of the low achieving rural districts in Beijing.

The flipped classroom model is an educational model in which students study at their homes and reinforce their knowledge in the classroom with exercises and activities. This model is currently being used by many Turkish schools, especially the ones that give information technologies education. In this study, it is aimed to understand the learning experience by using this model in history lessons in higher education. For research purposes, 5 weeks long program was modified according to the Flipped Classroom (FC) model. This program was implemented and the views and opinions of the participants were collected with a semi-structured questionnaire. The study group is comprised of students that took Ataturk’s Principles and the History of the Turkish Revolution (APHTR) Course during the 2016-2017 fall period at Gazi University in Turkey. Phenomenological analysis was used for data analysis. The results show that the most of the participants see many opportunities in this model. These include the permanent learning, entertaining lessons, interaction, functionality, and high motivation. But the model also poses challenges. Those challenges are problems regarding the long educational videos, wrong content, technical problems, and activities. The participants recommended videos to include more animation and to be shorter, and activities to be improved.

In order to create a healthy social structure, there should exist common values and these values need to be transferred to next generations. In this transfer process, education plays a vital role in transferring values in society. Values are personal, moral and social emotions which help a human and a society survive. Being a society-oriented course, social studies has an important place in transferring values. The primary aim of the social studies course in our country is to raise good citizens. One of the duties of educational institutions, which intend to have students acquire behaviors aiming for the wellbeing and beauty of the society, is to give values education. One of the values included in the social studies course teaching program is the value of responsibility in a society. In this study, the 5th grade students' views of the value of responsibility were examined. A total of fifteen students, six male and nine female, participated in the study. In the study, the data collected via the semi-structured interview technique was analyzed according to qualitative research methods. According to the results obtained via analyzing the answers given by the 5th grade students participating in the study, it can be stated that the students had the value of responsibility.

The article provides an analysis of the literature on interactive cognitive strategies. The aim of the study is to examine the pedagogical potential of interactive cognitive strategies for the effective formation of a multilingual personality of a future teacher. The research used theoretical and empirical methods: analysis of theoretical sources, analysis and generalization of the experience of scientific and methodological developments, training of students of a pedagogical institution. The problem of developing scientific and methodological support for the use of interactive cognitive strategies for the effective formation of a multilingual personality of a future teacher is being updated. A generalization of the obtained results indicates that the use of interactive cognitive strategies positively affects the formation of the multilingual personality of the future teacher. The research was supported by within the framework of the project on research on priority directions of scientific activity of the universities-partners in networking (South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University and Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute) on the topic of “Linguodidactic foundations of the intercultural communicative competence formation of a future teacher”.

This study aimed to develop an instructional design that focuses on programming teaching for gifted and talented students and to investigate its effects on the teaching process. During the development of the instructional design; the steps of Morrison, Ross and Kemp Instructional Design Model were followed. Embedded experimental design, one of the mixed-method research designs, was used in the modeling of the study. The participants consisted of students studying at the Science and Art Center (BILSEM) (experimental group: 13 girls and 12 boys, control group: 10 girls and 15 boys). While the instructional design developed by the researchers was applied to the gifted and talented students in the experimental group, the standard activities used in Information Technologies and Software Courses at BILSEM were applied to the gifted and talented students in the control group. “Computational Thinking Scale (CTS)”, “Torrance Creative Thinking Test (TCTT-Figural)” and “Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale (CPSES)” were used to collect the data of the quantitative phase of the study. Qualitative data were gathered by using interview form, observation forms, and design thinking rubric. Two-Factor ANOVA Test, Bonferroni Adjustment Multiple Comparisons Test, and interaction graphs were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The quantitative results of the research showed that the instructional design was effective on students' computational thinking and creative thinking skills, but not on programming self-efficacy. Qualitative findings revealed that the instructional design helped the students learn the computational concepts, use computational applications, and develop computational-perspectives. Also, students improved their design thinking skills to a certain level and expressed that they enjoyed the design thinking process, learned the course content, and experienced some difficulties.

STEM education is a pedagogical philosophy which aims to draw the interrelationship between science, technology, engineering and mathematics to solve complex problems in real life situations. In order to use STEM education to foster students’ learning, the researchers designed STEM activities for middle school students related to the concept of force and motion in three different approaches: a linear model, a jigsaw learning and a stand-alone engineering design activity. To compare the effectiveness of the three approaches, the researchers analysed students’ reasoning and problem-solving scores gained before and after doing the activities. The result showed students participating in the linear model and in the jigsaw learning significantly outperformed those in the stand-alone engineering design activity. In addition, when comparing conceptual development between those attending the linear model and jigsaw learning, the result showed that the former significantly outperformed the latter. It is therefore suggested that to maximise the effectiveness of STEM activities in promoting conceptual understanding as well as reasoning and problem-solving skills, teachers should adopt the linear model. However, when instructional time is limited, the jigsaw learning can be considered as an alternative approach. The stand-alone engineering design activity although can promote students’ enthusiasm to learn, it may not sufficiently lead to the development of reasoning and problem-solving skills as expected.

This study was carried out to determine the effect of literature circles on the social skills of fourth-grade elementary school students. To this end, the study was designed as a quasi-experimental study and carried out on 74 students in a public elementary school in the Pamukkale district of Denizli, Turkey. The literature circles method was administered to an experimental group for 18 weeks. In the control group, activities continued in line with the current Turkish Course Curriculum. “School Social Behavior Scales” were used as a data collection instrument. A comparison of the scores on the scales revealed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. The results imply that the literature circles method had a positive influence on the development of the students’ social skills.

Kelley’s Discrimination Index (DI) is a simple and robust, classical non-parametric short-cut to estimate the item discrimination power (IDP) in the practical educational settings. Unlike item–total correlation, DI can reach the ultimate values of +1 and ‒1, and it is stable against the outliers. Because of the computational easiness, DI is specifically suitable for the rough estimation where the sophisticated tools for item analysis such as IRT modelling are not available as is usual, for example, in the classroom testing. Unlike most of the other traditional indices for IDP, DI uses only the extreme cases of the ordered dataset in the estimation. One deficiency of DI is that it suits only for dichotomous datasets. This article generalizes DI to allow polytomous dataset and flexible cut-offs for selecting the extreme cases. A new algorithm based on the concept of the characteristic vector of the item is introduced to compute the generalized DI (GDI). A new visual method for item analysis, the cut-off curve, is introduced based on the procedure called exhaustive splitting.

The study's goal was to examine the correlation between the computer programming self-efficacy and computational thinking skills of gifted and talented students. The capacity of the computer programming self-efficacy of gifted and talented students to predict their computational thinking skills were also examined. The relational screening model has been implemented in the research. The participants of the study were composed of 106 secondary school gifted and talented students studying the Individual Ability Recognition Program (IAR) at the Science and Art Center in the city center. Typical case sampling was applied for the student identification of the participants, 46 are female and 60 are male. Gifted and talented students' computational thinking skills were assessed using the "Computational Thinking Skills Scale” and the computer programming self-efficacy was measured by using the "Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale". Data were analysed by Pearson correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis in statistical software SPSS 22. Research results found that there was a positive and high correlation between the computer programming self-efficacy and computational thinking skills. The gifted and talented students' computer programming self-efficacy demonstrated 31.5% of the total variance in computational thinking skills. This finding supports the claim which is present in the literature that self-efficacy in computer programming is the affective aspect of computational thinking skills. To predict computational thinking skills, it may be recommended to build multiple models for cognitive and affective skills of gifted and talented students.

E-learning pedagogy is used in many health training institutions in Uganda, However, despite the high investment, e-learning adoption is still low. This study aimed at ascertaining the relevance of on-line quality management in improve e-learning adoption in midwifery schools in Uganda. It used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to ascertain if on-line quality management was significant at improving e-learning adoption and the on-line quality traits which would be implemented by midwifery schools to improve e-learning adoption. Data collection was conducted in two phases, the first entailed quantitative data collection and analysis to determine if on-line quality management was significant to e-learning adoption. The second embraced a qualitative data collection and analysis to ascertain the detailed traits of on-line quality management relevant to e-learning adoption. Linear regression analysis established on-line quality management had influence on e-learning adoption (p=0.000). On-line quality management accounted for 55.5% of the variance in e-learning adoption with a strong positive statistically significant relationship, and its salient traits included; Compact Disc, Read-Only-Memory materials meets the expectation of users, collaborative improvement of on-line quality, Learning Management System meets expectations of users, providing the best on-line experience, e-learning program being described as an excellent on-line learning experience, and guidelines for improving on-line quality. Midwifery schools therefore have to focus on the six most relevant traits of on-line quality management if they are to improve e-learning adoption.

Many educators hold beliefs that including students, at least to some degree, has academic and social benefits, however, they struggle with fundamental pedagogy. With a global shift from a segregated lens to that of an inclusive lens, special education teachers who once held positive beliefs towards segregated special education are now faced with a new reality of teaching students with disabilities in inclusive classroom settings. This paper highlights the experiences of ten educators who transitioned from teaching in a self-contained class to an inclusive class. Focus group and interview themes indicated that all had experienced a shift in their pedagogy- their overall beliefs and teaching methods- after they taught students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Despite their special education training, these educators were challenged by their own beliefs and expectations, the attitudes of others, and systematic barriers within the education system. Highlights of their change process include the positive performance of students with disabilities, the growth and development of the other students, and their overall pedagogical self-reflection. As a result, a framework, the Inclusive Educators’ Continuum of Change, was developed to highlight the change process and connect this research to the literature on inclusion and teacher change. This diagram can provide teacher educators a framework for discussing pedagogical change. Implications for professional development and teacher training for inclusive practice, as well as maximizing the educator skills in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and mentorship opportunities will be highlighted.

This paper sought to investigate the mathematics teachers’ reflection on the role of Productive Pedagogies’ framework in festering effective classroom instruction. Two research objectives were used to discuss the reflection of the four mathematic teachers. A qualitative case study was adopted as the design of the study. Classroom observations, Research Journal and Reflective Interviews were organised to collect data for the study, while the narratives approach to data analysis was used to analyse the data collected. From the study, the mathematics teachers were able to gradually adjust to the new framework through effective reflective meetings with their colleagues and with the support of the researcher. They (mathematics teachers) reflected that, the framework helps them developed confidence, positive attitude and interest to their teaching practice. It helped fostered effective collaboration and created an atmosphere of trust between the mathematics teachers and their students. The study also suggested that the pedagogy influence the mathematics teachers to provide and received feedback from their colleagues and from their students. They were also of the view that there was a gradual shift from the traditional teacher centred instruction they are more conversant with to a more student-centred pedagogy. The implication of the study suggests the need to adopt the Productive Pedagogies framework into the Nigerian mathematics classroom to improve mathematics teacher’s classroom instruction.

The curriculum of an elementary school of Indonesian education currently emphasizes the affective aspects as a result of student learning for the sustainability of national development. This fact encourages teachers the responsibility to create and develop effective learning tools to foster tolerance, nationalism, be communicative and friendly, love peace, and social care. The objective of the study is to analyze the needs of students in elementary schools towards the development of educational comics to foster character development. This study uses qualitative approach. Participants were 120 fifth grade students. A questionnaire was used to collect the data of the study. The data were analyzed using an interactive model. The results of the study revealed that there was an interest of students in comic media as a teaching aid containing local wisdom values for character education. In the aspect of construction, comics are needed that are related to the ideal scope and size of the comics. In the aspect of content required comic material set in a national culture containing local wisdom, presentation of the story with the contents of an illustration of nationalism and social awareness. As for the design aspect and appearance, characterizations of cartoons are needed, involving a variety of colors, fonts of proportional size. The conclusion of this research is the development of educational comics media with local wisdom is needed to fulfill the needs of elementary school students as an effort to foster character.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the undergraduate programs implemented in different Foreign Language Departments on the basis of the pre-service teachers’ opinions by using the “Context-Input-Process-Product (CIPP)” model. The current research was conducted on 40 pre-service teachers from the German, Arabic, French, and English Language Teaching Departments of the Gazi Education Faculty of Gazi University in the city of Ankara in Turkey in 2017-2018 academic year. The study was designed according to the qualitative research model. In this regard, the study employed the phenomenological method. As the data collection tool, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used. In the analysis of the collected data, the descriptive analysis method was used. In the study, the context, input, process and product dimensions of foreign language teacher training programs were evaluated on the basis of student opinions. According to the results, the participants found the program sufficient in terms of reading, writing and listening skills but inadequate in terms of speaking skill. It seems that the participating students think that the foreign language teaching programs generally meet their needs but do not adequately meet their need for developing their speaking skill. It can be suggested that the class hours devoted to the development of the speaking skill should be increased. Arrangements such as using computer-based programs and increasing speaking lessons can be made for students to improve their speaking skill.

The aim of this research is to examine the psychological resilience levels of students studying in the Faculty of Sports Sciences according to some variables. The sample of the study consisted of Sports Sciences Faculty students of Duzce University, and the population consisted of 200 students from the Sports Sciences Faculty selected through a convenience sampling method. An eight-item personal information form developed by the researcher for demographic characteristics and ‘‘Short form of resilience scale’’ to determine resilience levels of participants were used. According to data obtained, while resilience levels, grades, gender, branch, department, age, and income variables of participants did not show a significant difference (p>0,05), it showed a significant difference according to sports age and place of living variables (p<0,05). Besides it was determined that resilience scores of male participants were higher than females, and team athletes had higher scores than individual athletes, lower classes had higher scores than upper classes, sports management students had higher scores than coaching and physical education and sports teaching students, and students who had younger age had higher scores than students who had older age. As a result of research, it was determined that resilience could be differed by class, sports age, residence variables. Also, it was revealed that sports age affects resilience negatively.

This article proposes that the reader be nourished by avant-garde elements for new educational practices in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The writing is based on an investigation that was carried out with high school students from Puerto Rico. From a qualitative paradigm with a research design in action, it was explored how students in higher grades resolve situations within their environment. Emphasis was placed on how they analyze through situations in context, and how they build knowledge through the search for a possible solution to the problem through the Project Based Learning strategy. The emphasis in treatment was for students to experience a transdisciplinary environment. Their impressions from the study were the revealing focus of how students learn when they are presented with a situation in their environment, taking roles themselves, solving them it through a project. As part of the project they used their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve the situation. Similarly, they learned mathematical concepts that are part of the Trigonometry course and that are measured in the academic achievement tests called PR Goals, previously known as Puerto Rican Academic Achievement Tests (PPAA).

This article examined the role of Lesson Study in a center school located in the southeastern United States through an analysis of a narrative by the school principal. This methodology allowed a level of reflexivity across the research team, who appreciated hearing about the powerful first-hand enactment of the initiative. The paper begins with an analysis of Lesson Study, particularly in special education, and the key tenets of Lesson Study followed by a narrative account of the principal. Subsequent to her story, we explored lessons learned in relation to implementing a system change in a school, namely Lesson Study. We learned that a deeper understanding of school culture, sustaining professional development, and collaborative practice, were significant factors enabling the principal and teachers at the center school to embrace, plan, and implement a successful Lesson Study for learners with significant disabilities. In addition, we learned that Lesson Study plays an important role in teacher and student engagement in teaching and learning at the center school and supports teachers to design lessons that are efficacious in meeting the individual needs and higher expectations of students.

One adds meaning into his/her own life thanks to several values (reliance, respect, tolerance, benevolence, responsibility, justice, etc.). While the foundation of these values is laid at early ages, they might undergo several changes thanks to life experiences. Thus, the perceptions of the interviewee regarding that value are to be taken into consideration while teaching values. This study is assumed to raise awareness and to lead similar other studies. This study is in the form of a research article. The purpose of this qualitative research is to find out the views and opinions of students on trust values, taught in social sciences courses. In the research, the case study method was applied. The research was conducted in Zubeyde Hanim Primary School in Isparta, in the 2017-2018 academic year towards the end of the second semester on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd graders. Students differ in parents' education level, gender and age. In the study, data were collected by a semi-structured interview form. Four experts’ opinions were consulted to ensure the reliability of the study. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and content analysis methods. According to the findings obtained, it is observed that students differ in trust values, desired to be acquired in social sciences courses, depending on grade level and gender. We may state the fact that the interaction of the child with his/her environment has been affecting the value of reliance since very early ages and that the meaning added into reliance might differ as the child gets older.

This study investigated the influence of teachers’ classroom management on pupils’ motivation for learning and academic achievement in Kwara State. Descriptive survey design was adopted. The population was all primary teachers and pupils in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State. The sample size was 250 teachers and all pupils in their classrooms. One research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The instruments used to collect data were researchers’ developed instruments titled ‘Teachers’ Classroom Management Style Observation Scale (TCMOS) and Pupils’ Motivation for Learning Rating Scale (PMLRS) with reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.86 respectively. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, linear regression, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that there was significant influence of classroom management styles on pupils motivation for learning (F_(1,248) = 121.155, p < 0.05) and their academic achievement (F_(1,248) = 28.947, p < 0.05). It was therefore recommended that teachers should be encouraged to adopt appropriate classroom management to motivate pupils to learn for improved academic achievement. Also, courses on classroom management and leadership should be integrated into the teacher training curriculum while regular retraining of in-service teachers should be encouraged.