This study was conducted to explore the effect of mosaic based approach on children’s involvement levels. In this study, experimental design with pre-test post-test retention control groups was adopted. A total of 52 children from two pre-schools formed the sample of this study. A total of 26 children, 11 girls and 15 boys, attending first pre-school in the afternoon formed the experimental group, and total of 26 children, 11 girls and 15 boys, attending second pre-school in the afternoon formed the control group. In this experimental design, “General Information Form” to collect information about the children and parents together with the Turkish adaptation of “Leuven Involvement Scale for Young Children” to assess children’s involvement levels. Children in the experimental children group received mosaic-based instruction 3 days weekly, for approximately 4 hour each day, for a total of 10 weeks. The data were analyzed by using the Mann Whitney U, Friedman’s Two-Way ANOVA Test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The results showed that mosaic-based approach created a significant difference in the involvement levels of experimental group respectively (p<0.05).

Early childhood is a crucial period for the physical and cognitive development of children. A child's exposure to nature is proven to be beneficial in this period of human life. The aim of the present research was to investigate children’s play and physical activity on a traditional playground and on a forest (natural) playground. Twenty-five observations took place on the traditional playground, and twenty-five observations were recorded on the forest playground. Twenty-five participating preschool children were observed in both playgrounds, but not necessarily in the same order. Research findings confirmed important qualities of natural playgrounds that provide children with a wide range of playing and learning opportunities not available on other playgrounds. Children were playing more with different natural materials in the forest playground and they more frequently played different chasing games and hide and seek in the forest playground. Participating children were also more physically active on the forest playground, and boys were more active on the forest playground than girls. The research concludes that it is important for preschool teachers to use natural playgrounds frequently and with regularity. Research design in this article is also an example of how GPS trackers can be beneficial for educational research.

Improving a required course in our curriculum that has proven to be a challenge for our students was the focus of this study. Surveys of both students and instructors attempted to identify specific problem areas. Using the information from these surveys, the researchers developed a series of videos to explain vital course concepts and deployed these into the course sections. The purpose of the videos is to provide consistency across the multiple modalities in which we offer our courses (including online, classroom and via videoconferencing) and to improve overall student understanding. This project seeks to determine how supplemental content focusing on material identified as “difficult,” by students and instructors, can impact student performance. Challenges include the deployment of the videos across various modalities and obtaining sufficient student feedback.

This study presents students’ feedback and learning impact on design and development of a multimedia learning in Direct Problem-Based Learning approach (mDPBL) for Computer Networks in Dian Nuswantoro University, Indonesia. This study examined the usefulness, contents and navigation of the multimedia learning as well as learning impacts towards mDPBL approach which used. A total of 276 students who took Computer Networks subject from two different departments participated in this study of a quasi-experiment in year 2016. Two different ways of teaching, one the normal of teaching/traditional approach, another one using mDPBL approach of teaching. However, the purpose of this study, Analysis and report in this study only the feedback of the students participated in mDPBL group (n=136). Nearly all students have positive feedback of the multimedia learning especially usefulness, contents and navigation, and also they have positive feedback of the mDPBL teaching approach. While, the overall feedback towards mDPBL approach presented in the findings/results section.

The research aims to find out the extent of the influence of textbook thematic based character education on thematic learning primary school students. This type of research is a quasi-experimental research. This research was conducted through categorizing an experimental group by textbook thematic based character education and a control group by using the conventional learning textbook. The population in this research was 61 fourth-grade students in total. Sample determination was conducted by using simple random sampling. In this research, data collection techniques were test and observation. Data analysis techniques were descriptive statistics and t-test with SPSS 21.0. The result of calculation shows that the t-result is 9.162 with which the significance level is less than 0.05 that is 0.000. Thus, it can be concluded that learning with the textbook thematic based character education has an influence on thematic learning of fourth-grade students in primary school. In addition to influential in student learning outcomes, textbook thematic based character education also affects the character of students.

This present study imparts a literature review focusing on Augmented Reality (AR) in the field of education. The writers reviewed the published manuscripts by centering on types of manuscripts, research designs, types of participants, and the promising roles of AR in educational setting. A total number of 18 articles were thoroughly analyzed. The results showed a diverse type of manuscripts published in the journal databases including research articles, reviews, technical notes, features, and news. Types of research designs also varied such as Research and Development, Experimental, Content Analysis, Exploratory, Action Research, Descriptive Study, Survey, Mixed Method, and Design-Based Research. Types of participants embraced a diverse range of participants including university students, primary students, secondary students, teachers, and children with special needs. The most prominent role of AR was that it improved students’ knowledge and understanding of the materials. Current gaps in AR-related studies in educational setting are recognized, and several recommendations for conducting upcoming studies are proposed.

Teaching with technology is considered a necessity in the U.S. mathematics classroom. However, few studies have established explicit considerations to support technology-enhanced student achievement. The purpose of this study was to characterize the effectiveness of technology in the mathematics classroom by systematically reviewing meta-analytic research. An exhaustive literature search was conducted. After applying a prioi inclusion criteria the pool of 65 initial meta-analyses was reduce to 13 representative studies. Each study was reviewed and characteristics were coded in four categories: (1) sample, (2) measurement, (3) design, and (4) source. An inductive review of the coded studies produced five unique moderators that were the most salient across studies. Overall mean effect sizes were retrieved or calculated from available study data. Hedges g was used as the common effect size metric for comparison across studies.  The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was used to interpret the most salient moderators of effects across studies.  Studies were categorized by didactical functionality and technology type. The results suggest that effects vary by didactical functionality from small to medium. The largest variations were observed for the didactical function of developing conceptual understanding.  Implications for research and instructional praxis are provided.

This study aims to describe achievement motivation on outstanding students in learning to write at the fifth grade  primary schools students. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. Subjects in this study were 18 achieving students. The data were collected through questionnaire, interview and observation. Analytical techniques used are interactive analysis consisting of data collection, data reduction, data presentation and conclusion. The results of this study indicate that the achievement motivation on outstanding students in learning writing is good, this happens because of several factors that support outstanding students in learning writing have good achievement motivation. There are factors of individuals (intern) and environmental factors (external), an individual factor which consists of 1) the competence of students; 2) belief to succeed, while environmental factors consists of 1) the competitive situation; 2) support from parents, 3) schools, including how to teach teachers.

This study mainly aims to determine the effect of the layered curriculum on the 6th grade students’ learning styles in science lesson. The study group consists of students in the 6/A and 6/D at Fevzi Cakmak Secondary School in the city center of Siirt-Turkey in the academic year of 2015-2016. “Learning Styles Inventory” developed by Kolb and translated into Turkish by Askar and Akkoyunlu, diaries of students and semi-structured interview form developed by researchers and examination of the documents were used as data collection tools. As for data analysis, percent (%) and chi-square techniques were used to determine the learning styles of students, but in the analysis of students’ opinions the descriptive analysis was used. During the study, students were also asked to express their experiences and considerations about learning activities via a diary. The thoughts and feelings reflected in the diaries of students were directly quoted in findings. As a result of the analysis, in pre-test results of the students in the experimental group exposed to the layered curriculum, a significant difference was found in terms of gender; however, no significant difference was found in their post-test results.

Energy literacy is a minimum required capacity for developing a sustainable society that participates in and discusses on energy and environmental (EE) issues. Understanding the energy literacy structure is of significant importance for providing effective energy education to promote people’s awareness of EE issues. In this article, an energy literacy structural model integrated with the Theory of Planned Behavior and Value-Belief-Norm Theory was investigated for 1070 lower secondary students (ages 13-15) in Japan. Structural equation modeling uncovered that the awareness of consequences is the most powerful predictor for the causality between basic energy knowledge and energy-saving behavior through the attitude toward the energy-saving behavior. A conditional process analysis elucidated that (1) the conditional effect of basic energy knowledge on the awareness of consequences depends on scientific literacy, critical thinking ability, and environmental worldview, and (2) the conditional direct and indirect effects in the mediation model of awareness of consequences on the attitude toward energy-saving behavior through the ascription of responsibility depend on environmental worldview or values and family discussion of energy-related issues. The energy literacy model proposed provides a theoretical contribution to the development of an effective energy education program.

This study aims to explore the effect of students’ family socio-economic status, gender, family support, learning motivation and peer relationships and teachers’ equity on the victims of school bullying in Hong Kong. Additionally, the model was analyzed by SEM. The participants in this study were 15 year-old middle school students living in Hong Kong. The data were collected from the PISA 2015 database and the valid number was 4856. The results indicating that family support, peer relationships, and teacher fairness have a negative influence on school bullying. Family support affects one’s risk of being bullied by influencing learning motivation. Peer relationship affects one’s risk of being bullied by influencing learning motivation. Teacher fairness affects one’s risk of being bullied by influencing learning motivation.  

The current study investigated the opinions of secondary school students taking the science course from different science teachers about the science course and science teachers. The current study was conducted with the participation of 32 students instructed by different science teachers and attending different secondary schools in the fall term of 2018-2019 academic year. The data of the current study were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. In the analysis of the data, the descriptive analysis technique was used. The findings of the current study have revealed that high majority of the students love their science classes and science teachers, that in science classes, lecturing, question-answer and note-taking are methods widely employed, that if there is a smart board in the class, then Okulistik or EBA computer program is on, that the assignments given are from the textbook, that the most frequently adopted behavior by the teachers in the face of any discipline problem is warning and that informal learning environments are not used much. Moreover, it was found that projects are rarely assigned to students and the projects assigned are given as homework. A great majority of the students expect their teachers to be entertaining, they want their lessons to be instructed through games and experiments, and they do not want to write a lot in their classes.

This research examines the English language teachers’ motivations related to the usage of role-playing on English language practice in rural secondary schools in Ecuador. The sample consists of 45 English language teachers who work in public schools located in the rural and urban areas of the province of Manabi. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative research approaches is applied to analyze teachers’ motivations about using role-plays in English class and analyze the relationships between teaching motivations and the factors: teachers’ gender and work location. The instruments are (1) Focus group guide to collect participants' voices about the language practice at schools; and the (2) Likert questionnaire created by the research team, titled: Teachers' perceptions about role-play contribution on the foreign language acquisition process. The statistical analysis shows significant relationships between teachers’ perceptions and the factors in gender and work location. It is concluded that English teachers, both female and male from rural and urban locations in Ecuador, are highly motivated to use role-play in secondary schools as a teaching strategy, in spite of the demand of extra time and energy required, because it promotes in teachers and students the collaborative and creative learning; and improves their confidence to express their ideas and feelings using English as a foreign language.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of Instructional Technologies and Material Design (ITMD) course on pre-service mathematics teachers’ attitudes, efficacy beliefs about using concrete materials, and their opinions regarding the material preparation process. A total of 73 pre-service teachers were participated in this study. The scale developed by Bakkaloglu was used to determine efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers about using concrete materials, and the attitudes scale developed by Cetin, Bagceci, Kinay and Simsek was used to determine the attitudes towards ITMD course. A written form was also used to reveal the opinions of pre-service teachers regarding the material preparation process. The qualitative data collected from 16 pre-service teachers was analyzed with the MAXQDA. Using content analysis, codes and themes were created separately by the researchers and analyzed through several iterations. As a result of this study, positive changes were found in the attitudes and efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers. The results obtained from the opinions of the pre-service teachers support this positive change. In other words, it is possible to argue that the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the material development process changed positively with the positive change in the efficacy beliefs about preparing materials after taking the ITMD course.

This study describes the development and validation of a psychometrically-sound instrument, the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), designed to measure learners’ perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Active learning encompasses a broad range of pedagogical practices and instructional methods that connect with an individual learner's active learning strategies. In order to fulfill the study's goals, a conceptual framework on learners’ active learning strategies was developed and proposed, drawing upon the research literature on active learning. The development and construct validation of the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), based on the conceptual and methodological underpinnings, involved identifying five scales of learners’ active learning strategies: engagement, cognitive processing, orientation to learning, readiness to learn and motivational orientation. An item pool of 20 items was generated following an extensive review of the literature, standardized card sorting procedures including confirmatory factor analysis and scale validation of a pilot (n = 407) survey. The ALSI scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and reliability with a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.81 to 0.87. High item loading scores from the factor analysis provided initial support for the instrument's construct validity of the five-factor model. The ALSI scale provides a reliable and valid method for researchers and academicians who wish to measure learners' perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Finally, we discuss the implications and address the limitations and directions for future research.

This study examines the effects of the SCAMPER technique-based educational activities in the simple machines unit of a science lesson on students' academic achievement, motivation and attitude. The study examines the effects of the simple machines unit activities in the science lesson through a paired quasi-experimental design, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The sample group of the research consists of 33 eighth-grade students studying in a middle school in the Ortaköy district of the Aksaray province in 2018–2019. The research uses simple random sampling method. The experimental group was given SCAMPER-based activities in the simple machines unit for 4 hours a week with a total of 16 hours, and lessons were conducted with the control group in line with the curriculum. To collect data within the framework of the research, the 'attitude scale towards science lesson', scale for 'students' motivation towards science learning' and 'simple machines unit achievement test' were used. As a result, when compared to the control group, there was a significant difference in the academic achievement and motivation of the experimental group who performed SCAMPER-based activities in the simple machines unit of the science lesson. There was no significant difference between the attitude scores of the experimental and control group as a result of the study.

The purpose of the current study is to determine pre-service teachers’ perception of individual entrepreneurship and opinions about their critical thinking tendency. As the data collection tools, the Individual Entrepreneurship Perception Scale and the Marmara Creative Thinking Tendencies Scale were used in the current study. The participants of the study are 469 freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students attending the Departments of Pre-school Teacher Education and Primary School Teacher Education. In the analysis of the collected data, frequencies, percentages, independent samples t-test, Mann Whitney U test and correlation analysis were employed. The findings obtained from the analyses have revealed that the pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies vary significantly depending on the variables of gender and whether they took a course/seminar on entrepreneurship. The pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies were found to be not varying significantly depending on the department attended. The pre-service teachers’ personal entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies were found to be above medium. A highly positive and significant correlation was found between the pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perception and creative thinking tendency total scores. The pre-service teachers can be encouraged to take the course “Economics and Entrepreneurship” and to participate in certificate programs on entrepreneurship.

Child Friendly School (CFS) is a democratic environment based on children's rights, where all students are accepted, teaching-learning processes are organized according to children's interest needs, health, safety and protective measures are taken for children and gender-based discrimination is not provided. Preschool education institutions, which are considered to be very effective on the future of the child and the society, should be child friendly in this way. The aim of this study is to identify the teaching-learning environment of independent kindergartens in the context of a child-friendly. The data of the study was obtained from the independent kindergarten in different socioeconomic environments with “CFS Diagnostic Form”. According to the results, it was seen that in terms of effectiveness, the physical areas and materials of the schools were sufficient, but the places and qualifications that increase the effectiveness of teaching were insufficient; in terms of inclusiveness, all children attend school without discrimination in terms of inclusiveness, but female students have low access to school; in terms of democratic participation, means are used to ensure communication with the environment, in terms of healthy, safe and protective environment, physical requirements are fulfilled, necessary measures are taken, but ventilation and out-of-school safety measures are not sufficient and in terms of gender sensitivity, there is no discrimination based on gender. It has been concluded that the independent kindergartens are largely child-friendly, despite some inadequacies.

In a situation where life is insecure and the future seems to hang by a thread, motivating students to learn a second language that has no immediate need in their daily lives could be challenging. This article explores the motivation to learn English as a second language of students and the use of motivational strategies of English teachers in one state of Myanmar, which has undergone civil wars for more than seventy years. Sequential explanatory mixed-method research was employed to investigate this complex phenomenon. Questionnaires, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. A pleasantly surprised finding showed that the students could still remain a certain level of motivation to learn English amidst great hardship and fear in everyday life. As for the teachers’ motivational strategies, most that were observed and reported did not tend to support students’ autonomy. The findings lend support to previous studies on the effects of unstable sociopolitical situations on students and teachers and highlight the needs for effective teacher trainings for pre-service and in-service teachers in such areas.

This study aims at investigating the perceptions of the faculty members of the University of Jordan towards the use of The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the educational process and their suggestions to improve them, the study followed the descriptive / analytical approach. The sample consisted of (115) teachers from the faculty members of the University of Jordan, who were chosen intentionally during the second semester 2018/2017. A key tool was developed that was validated and consisted of (70 items). The results showed that the use of MOOCs courses was moderate and positively affect the support of the educational process. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences attributed to the teaching experience, gender and academic rank variables. While the results showed that there are statistically significant differences to the degree of the use of the faculty members of the University of Jordan MOOCs courses in the educational process according to the collage variable. Results related to the second area of proposals for improving the use of MOOCs courses were also high. In the light of the results of the study, the researcher recommended, based on the answers of faculty members, the need to reconsider the importance of using electronic MOOCs courses in the educational process, And spreading a culture of awareness of the importance of using electronic environments in the educational process, to provide tangible financial and technical support for the production and design of MOOCs courses in cooperation with faculty members and the use of experts.