This paper is based on a research that explored how Inuit community members in Nunavut Territory, Canada, conceptualized quality education in the socio-cultural context of the territory. Data were collected through telephone interviews of 13 Inuit community members in Nunavut and document reviews both of which were conducted in 2010. The data analysis showed that Inuit community members are r gravely concerned with:(1) the low grade twelve graduation rates and high dropout rates in the territory schools;(2) School improvement planning that engages Inuit communities; (3) Integration of school with the larger community; (4) Communicative engagement with parents and other community stakeholders; (5) Culturally relevant school programming and pedagogy; and (6) Culturally appropriate disciplinary methods. In the conclusion, the paper spells out the policy implications of the findings.

This paper seeks to investigate the implementation of the Productive Pedagogies Framework in Nigerian mathematics classroom setting. The researcher adopted a qualitative case study approach to seeking data for the three research questions postulated for the study. Three mathematics teachers taught mathematics in two secondary schools in two Central states of Nigeria using the Productive Pedagogies framework introduced to them by the researcher. Two major instruments (observation and reflective interviews) were employed to seek information from the teachers and the students. While the researcher uses the grounded theory approached to interpret and or analyzed the data collected. The findings of this study suggest that the teachers made attempts to used Productive Pedagogies framework to achieved quality mathematics classroom instructions. This was demonstrated in their effort to used problem-solving to achieve intellectual quality classrooms instructions, making mathematics classroom instruction relevant to the world around their students, developing an atmosphere of friendship during classroom instruction and identifying and recognizing the differences existed among students during classroom instruction. It was observed that the used of the Productive Pedagogies can increase students’ engagement, collaborations, interactions, substantive conversations and effective inclusion during mathematics classroom instruction in which the research finally recommended the adoption of the Productive Pedagogies framework in the Nigerian mathematics classroom.

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.

Spiritual growth and development is frequently cited as an outcome of participation in service-learning projects.  However, little research has focused on measuring the students' ability to understand the connection between the service-learning experience and their personal faith and the ability to live out their Christian values in the field.  Notably missing from this particularly limited area of study is the Christian values convergence of being able to understand the worth of all people and a desire to be engaged in serving the community. Encompassing both quantitative and qualitative research methods, this study investigates undergraduate business students’ perceptions of the impact of a semester-long urban service-learning project on their spiritual lives and faith formation.  Specific attention is given to exploring the students' perception of faith as demarcated by the Christian praxis of the students' relationship with God and with others.

In general, teacher educators are considered to be educational specialists whose main task is to communicate content-based concepts to prospective teachers. However, unfortunately, most studies on teacher professional development overlook this specific language-oriented aspect of content-based teaching. Therefore, we address the aforementioned research gap and argue that teacher educators’ evaluation of their language-oriented performance in educational communication enhances the quality of their content-based teaching. Accordingly, we examine how the language-oriented performance of teacher educators is evaluated by both individual teacher educators (sample size N=3) and their students (N=32) in a small-scale intervention study. The findings of the study reveal that there is a relationship between the order of application of five language focus areas (i.e., language awareness, active listening, formalizing interaction, language support, and language and learning development, as noticed by the students), and teacher educators’ ability to apply these areas in accordance with their objectives related to content-based teaching.

This paper sought to look at collaboration as an effective tool for mathematics classroom instruction. Four preservice teachers in a qualitative case study taught mathematics to three senior secondary school classes in two secondary schools in Northern Nigeria for a period of 15 weeks spread over three years. During this period 12 students volunteered to participate in four focus group discussions on the effectiveness of the pedagogy in their classrooms. Observations, research journals and focus groups were used to collect data for the study. A Narrative approach to data analysis was used to analyses the data collected. The findings of the study suggested that, the preservice teachers had initial challenges introducing the framework into their classrooms, they, however, gradually adopted the pedagogy into their classroom teaching. The study suggested that the preservice teachers used collaborative groupings and higher ordered questions to foster collaboration among their students. Some benefits of this strategy were also highlighted from the study. Prominent among them was the effective teacher-student and student-student relationship, help students see mathematics problems as common problems and reduced the domineering attitude of mathematics teachers who see themselves as possessing the monopoly of knowledge. Other findings observed in the study include the replacement of the teacher-centered approach to teaching with a student-centered approach. Therefore, it is suggested that, if collaboration is introduced into Nigerian mathematics classrooms, the traditional teacher-controlled mathematics classroom instruction that has bedeviled our classrooms will be reduced, and a new student-centered learning approach will be put in place.

In this study, it is aimed to examine the relationship between prospective teachers' occupational anxiety and technological pedagogical content knowledge. Correlational model was used in this study. The participants consisted of 481 prospective teachers studying at Sakarya University Faculty of Education in the spring term of 2018-2019 academic year. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale (TPACKS) and Occupational Anxiety Scale (OAS) were used as data collection instruments. As a result of canonical correlation analysis, it was determined that technological pedagogical content knowledge affects occupational anxiety by 62%.

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.

In the current study, the problems posed by pre-service primary school teachers within the context of semi-structured problem formation were analyzed according to their type, cognitive structure, and content knowledge. A total of 134 pre-service primary school teachers attending a state university in Turkey participated in the current study designed in line with the case study design. The pre-service teachers were presented with a table and they were asked to establish a problem suitable for the elementary level using the data given in the table. The data were collected through the established problem statements and written explanations of the participants. The collected data were analyzed by using both content and descriptive analyses. The findings have revealed that the pre-service teachers less preferred real-life problems than routine type of problems and the problems at the level of reasoning than the problems at the levels of knowing and applying. Moreover, nearly half of the pre-service teachers erroneously expressed the grade level for which they established their problem. The results have shown that the pre-service teachers do not adequately use real-life problems and problems at the level of reasoning and that there are deficiencies in their mathematical content knowledge depending on their knowledge of the curriculum.

This research aims to explore the effectiveness of interdisciplinary education program based on multicultural education on the tolerance value, attitude and critical thinking skills of the fourth grade primary school students. Single group pre-posttest design has been used in the study. The research has been carried out with 30 fourth-grade students, at a primary school located within the district of Karakocan in Elazig during the 2015-2016 academic year. Among the participants, 15 are females and 15 are males. The research has employed Tolerance Attitude Scale developed by Kaptan-Yarar, tolerance value and critical thinking story tests and scoring rubrics. Descriptive statistics and dependent samples t-test have been used during data analysis. Research results have revealed a statistically significant difference between critical thinking scoring rubric, tolerance value scoring rubric and tolerance attitude scale pretest-posttest scores in favor of posttest. Based on these results, it can be said that the interdisciplinary curriculum developed based on multicultural education improves students' critical thinking skills, tolerance value and attitudes.

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.

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.

The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast faculty and graduate students’ perceptions of engaging online courses. This mixed-methods study occurred in a mid-sized state university in northeastern United States. Data from an online survey and semi-structured interviews indicated that graduate students and faculty perceived similar online course elements in the areas of social and teaching presence as engaging: interpersonal connections, structured learning environments, and variety in course activities and type of technology used. Both believed that poor organization was unengaging. Subtle differences in perception were illuminated by the qualitative analysis. The results have implications for online course pedagogy and research methodology.

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.

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.

Digital storytelling has undergone extensive study in different content-areas, but its naturally-combined use with collaborative writing for skills development, and reflective practice remains underresearched in pre-service EFL teacher education. This study undertook joint tech-enhanced retelling of L2 texts by 56 Turkish EFL teacher candidates, rubric-based peer and teacher assessment of final products, comparative analysis of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) between outliers, and process evaluation using the significant learning taxonomy to explore impacts on L2 writing performance, academic learning, and personal growth. Despite assigning lower scores than the teacher-assessors, especially to the top-performers, the majority of peers successfully fulfilled the job, effectively performed the future reviewer role, and positively reacted to co-construction, and technology integration. CAF and reflection analyses indicated that the biggest difference between the highest- and lowest-scoring groups lay in grammatical accuracy, and lack of mutual interaction could account for the less cooperative group’s poorer performance. The classification of their post-task responses into six kinds of learning gains (foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn) also revealed that their collaborative digital storytelling experience (CDS) elicited more procedural, critical, creative and practical thinking on the academic learning front, while disciplinary and integrative thinking may have declined due to more immediate preoccupation with task achievement. Their critical thinking was mainly organised around consensus-reaching, fluctuating membership, and logistical challenges, and most demonstrated a clear understanding of the role of positive group dynamics in group outcomes. Despite heightened awareness of the performance-boosting, character-forming, and motivational benefits of collective scaffolding and multimodal meaning-making, a minority could also discern the instrumentality of innovative teaching techniques in their future classroom practices.

Progress monitoring of academic achievement is an essential element to prevent learning disorders. A prominent approach is curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Various studies have documented positive effects of CBM on students’ achievement. Nevertheless, the use of CBM is associated with additional work for teachers. The use of tablets may be of help here. Yet, although many advantages of computer- or tablet-based assessments are being discussed in the literature (e. g. innovative item formats, adaptive testing, automated scoring and feedback), there are still concerns regarding the comparability of different assessment modes (paper-pencil vs. tablet). In the study presented, we analyze the CBM data of 98 fourth graders. They processed the exact same computation items once with paper and pen and once in a tablet application. The analyses point to comparable results in the test modes, although some significant deviations can be found at item level. In addition, the children report perceived benefits when working with the tablet.