Assessment for Learning (AfL) may be conceptualized as minute-to-minute, day-by-day interactions between learners and teachers with the improvement of learning as the principal focus. This paper traces the development of an AfL measurement instrument (scale) that can be used for research purposes prior to, during and following professional development in the area. Rasch measurement procedures were applied to data drawn from a convenience sample of 594 teachers from 44 elementary schools in Ireland to create a scale consisting of 20 items distributed across four key AfL assessment strategies: learning intentions and success criteria, questioning and classroom discussion, feedback, and peer-and self-assessment.  This scale, the Assessment for Learning Measurement instrument (AfLMi), has good psychometric properties and is interpretable in a way that makes it potentially useful during system wide improvement initiatives focused on AfL.

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.

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.

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.

The aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine the fundamental motor skills (FMS) proficiency of children with mild intellectual disabled (MID) and to compare their FMS proficiencies in terms of age and gender. This study has three purposes. These are a) Defining the FMS proficiencies of the participants, b) Examining the FMS proficiencies of the participants in terms of gender variable, c) Examining the FMS proficiencies of the participants in terms of the age variable. Participants consisted of 122 MID students aged 7-10 years (M = 8.25, SD = 0.92). FMS proficiency was evaluated with the Gross Motor Development Test-Second Edition (TGMD-2). Independent Samples t test and ANOVA test were used to test the differences between groups. As a result: a) It was observed that the participants could not perform the FMS at the mastery level. Participants failed to demonstrate FMS proficiency appropriate for their age and showed delays in FMS compared to the TGMD-2 normative sample. Most of the participants performed “below average” and “poor” for LOC and OC skills. It was determined that the participants obtained higher scores in LOC subtest compared to OC subtest, b) It was determined that males were more proficiency in FMS and subtests than females, c) No difference was found in FMS proficiency in terms of age. These results show that opportunities need to be increased to develop the FMS proficiency.

The self-report and think-aloud approaches are the two dominant methodologies to measure metacognition. This is problematic, since they generate respondent and confirmation biases, respectively. The Meta-Performance Test is an innovative battery, which evaluates metacognition based on the respondent's performance, mitigating the aforementioned biases. The Meta-Performance Test consists of two tests, the Meta-text, which evaluates metacognition in the domain of reading comprehension, and Meta-number, in the domain of arithmetic expressions solving. The main focus of this article is to present the development of the battery, in terms of its conceptual basis, development strategies and structure. Evidence of its content validity is also presented, through the evaluation of three experts in metacognition, two experts in Spanish language, two experts in mathematics and five students who represent the target population. The results of the judges' evaluations attested to the Meta-Performance Test content validity, and the target population declared that both the battery understanding and taking are adequate. Contributions and future research perspectives of the Meta-Performance Test in the field of metacognition are discussed.

In modern times, the importance of education cannot be overstated. Beyond the acquisition of knowledge, perhaps the most important aim of education may be the development of character in individuals, including vitality, courage, sensitiveness, and intelligence, from which our society may experience increased prosperity, peace, and freedom. In this paper we address the daunting challenge of achieving successful, widespread, and inclusive university education. How do we enliven and engage the students in our classrooms? How can we help each and every student in the class self-actualize and reach the highest potential for learning? Active learning is one well-established and potent solution for accelerating the accumulation of knowledge. In this paper, an experiment in active learning utilizing team-based adaptive online quizzes in an introductory math finance course involving 378 undergraduate students over two years is conducted to explore the potency of this active learning methodology compared to a control group with traditional teaching. We find active learning unambiguously improves knowledge accumulation in the individual students, while simultaneously bolstering inclusive excellence across all students in the class, as measured by a relevant and meaningful quantitative metric. The paper concludes with a discussion comparing the quality of active vs. traditional teaching methods and offers interpretations of the quantitative results. The results of this paper support the widely accepted theme in the literature that active learning has a positive effect on student performance in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) courses.

Response times are one of the important sources that provide information about the performance of individuals during a test process. The main purpose of this study is to show that survival models can be used in educational data. Accordingly, data sets of items measuring literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills of the countries participating in Round 3 of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies were used. Accelerated failure time models have been analyzed for each country and domain.  As a result of the analysis of the models in which various covariates are included as independent variables, and response time for giving correct answers is included as a dependent variable, it was found the associations between the covariates and response time for giving correct answers were concluded to vary from one domain to another or from one country to another. The results obtained from the present study have provided the educational stakeholders and practitioners with valuable information.

Teacher morale affects all aspects of the school and education system. Yet, the current status of teaching does not provide a rosy picture as teachers are reported to be demoralized and stressed. This qualitative study explored teachers’ experiences that influence their morale. The study was guided by the research question: How do workplace experiences affect teacher morale in selected primary schools? Qualitative data were gathered through six focus group interviews with 36 teachers in four primary schools and were analyzed using a content analysis framework. Data revealed that teacher morale was low. Participants identified school climate factors such as inappropriate professional development activities and violence as threats to their morale. Furthermore, a lack of parental involvement in the affairs of the school was regarded as a setback by teachers. This study highlighted specific issues that influence teacher morale and contribute to the understanding of the state of their morale. The study recommends that more attention is given to ensuring that teacher morale is enhanced for educational goals to be realized. Improving teacher morale has many benefits in that it helps teachers to maintain a positive attitude and be happy at work.

This research’s aim was to explore the role of cognitive flexibility in mediating the effect of intrinsic motivation on the creativity of junior high school students. A creativity scale, an intrinsic motivation inventory and a cognitive flexibility inventory were utilized to investigate a sample of junior high school students in Shaanxi Province in western China. 765 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using the structural equation model (SEM). The SEM analysis showed that intrinsic motivation and cognitive flexibility have significantly positive impacts on junior high school students’ creativity. Furthermore, a full model revealed that cognitive alternatives and cognitive control mediate the relationship intrinsic motivation and creativity, and the mediation effect of cognitive alternatives is significantly greater than that of cognitive control. In general, the current research suggests that the impact of intrinsic motivation on junior high school students’ creativity is mediated by cognitive flexibility, and its results amplify prior scholars’ research results and give educators an inspiration how to cultivate creativity for the middle school students.

This study aimed to determine the influence of critical thinking skills on misconceptions using a five-tier instrument in mixed-method research. The sampling technique used is simple random sampling. The data collection instrument used a critical thinking skills questionnaire, a misconception test of electric field material, and interviews. Data collection begins with quantitative data, providing a misconception test sheet and a critical thinking skills questionnaire. After that, the researcher took qualitative data in the form of interviews to strengthen data that had been obtained previously. Then from the results of the regression coefficients, there is an influence of critical thinking skills on misconceptions. The descriptive results of critical thinking skills data show that the mean of critical thinking skills is 68.50, which means that students' critical thinking skills are in a good category. Then from the results of the regression coefficients, there is an effect of critical thinking skills on a misconception, with the probability number obtained being significant. The limitations of this study are only to identify and see the impact.

There are different strategies to analyze teacher and student performance when they interact with each other in class. The most used strategies are direct observation and verbal reports. Even though what is observed or reported depends on theoretical frameworks regarding didactic interactions, these must be related to teacher functions such as supervision, providing feedback, and evaluation of student performance. In this study, instruments for observational recording and verbal reports were developed and validated considering teacher functions and their student performance counterparts to compare the degree of correspondence or divergence between data gathered from both strategies. 135 students enrolled in a science class and their teachers participated. The class was taught in a public high school located in center/south Mexico. Classes were videotaped and the corresponding observational records were analyzed. Two months later, verbal reports were administered to students and teachers. Coincidences and differences that were found revealed that observer-observe interaction is conditioned by social norms. These results were interpreted considering the notion of silence as a communicative element.

The field of studies in metacognition points to some limitations in the way the construct has traditionally been measured and shows a near absence of performance-based tests. The Meta-Text is a performance-based test recently created to assess components of cognition regulation: planning, monitoring, and judgment. This study presents the first evidence on the structural validity of the Meta-Text, by analyzing its dimensionality and reliability in a sample of 655 Honduran university students. Different models were tested, via item confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicated that the specific factors of planning and monitoring do not hold empirically. The bifactor model containing the general cognition regulation factor and the judgment-specific factor was evaluated as the best model (CFI = .992; NFI = .963; TLI = .991; RMSEA = .021). The reliability of the factors in this model proved to be acceptable (Ω = .701 & .699). The judgment items were well loaded only by the judgment factor, suggesting that the judgment construct may actually be another component of the metacognitive knowledge dimension but having little role in cognition regulation. The results show initial evidence on the structural validity of the Meta-Text and give rise to information previously unidentified by the field which has conceptual implications for theorizing metacognitive components.

Curiosity is one of the most important characters for elementary school students. However, the facts in the field show that the measurement model used by the teacher to identify the student's curiosity is not yet available in a standardized manner. This study aims to develop a model for measuring the curiosity of elementary school students using the graded response model (GRM) approach. This research uses quantitative method with descriptive type. The research sample used was 236 elementary school students who were randomly selected. Data were collected using a questionnaire of 16 statement items using a Likert scale approach. The data were analyzed using the response item theory approach with the GRM. The results showed that the model for measuring student curiosity in elementary schools had good location parameters, a good discriminant index, a fairly good information function with a small estimation error. The curiosity measurement model in this study can be used as an alternative for teachers to identify students' curiosity in elementary schools.

The definition of creativity among professional mathematicians and the definition of mathematical creativity in the classroom context are significantly different. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ mathematical creativity (i.e., cognitive flexibility) and figure apprehension when solving geometric problems with novel auxiliary features such as straight lines and curved lines. In other words, this study determined if geometry knowledge influenced mathematical creativity (cognitive flexibility) in problem-solving. Grade-12 students participated in the intervention. The high school that is the research topic attempts to equip students with academic abilities and is, except for vocational schools, the most popular form of high school among all other types. Such a school was chosen for the study so that a significant proportion of students in Makassar could be represented. In this study, we discovered a relationship between cognitive flexibility and the geometric ability of pupils while solving problems involving auxiliary lines. This indicates that the usage of auxiliary lines as a reference for developing pupils’ creative thinking skills must be advocated. In addition, good geometric abilities (e.g., visual thinking, geometrical reasoning) will encourage pupils to generate various problem-solving concepts. This finding contributes significantly to future research by focusing on auxiliary lines.

This study focused on the development of teaching aids for the topic of Isometric Transformations for Form 2 students in Malaysia. The first objective was to determine the usability of teaching aids in the isometric transformations kit integrates game-based learning (GBL) Method (KitTI Method) and the second objective was to examine the effectiveness of using the KitTI Method on students’ achievement and motivation. This study was directed by the Design and Development Research (DDR) model with survey and quasi-experimental designs. The sample selection was conducted by cluster sampling involving Form 2 students from schools in the district of Muallim and Batang Padang in the state of Perak. The instruments used were KitTI Method Teaching Aids Usability Questionnaire (KMTAUQ), Isometric Transformations Topic Achievement Test (ITTAT), and KitTI Method Motivation Questionnaire (KMMQ). The findings showed that the mean score of KitTI Method‘s usability was high, the treatment group obtained significantly higher improvement in achievement compared to the control group while the mean scores of pre-test achievement as a covariate and students’ motivation in learning Isometric Transformations were high. Therefore, the KitTI Method is suitable to be implemented as a guide for mathematics teachers in designing dynamic teaching and learning and is able to improve students’ achievement and motivation.

This paper describes an experience based on the use of an active method in which students of a basic physics course prepare multiple choice questions (MCQs) to prepare for exams in the subject. The objective of the research was to provide the students with a method that would enhance their desire to learn physics, and consequently lead to an improvement in their meaningful learning. The participants were 57 first-year students from various engineering degrees. The quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests and a control group is described. The results showed that students who use the method of generating MCQs to prepare exams sometimes improve their learning significantly in comparison with the control group. The method also provides a new way to detect students' misconceptions about the concepts covered in class, which thus allows the evolution of their knowledge to be evaluated. Finally, it should be noted that the students valued the method used positively.

This research aims to prove the influence of teacher efficacy on learning quality with quantitative meta-analysis. The eligibility criteria in this study include: (a) The publication can be searched in Google Scholar, ERIC, DOAJ, Research Gate, and or ScienceDirect; (b) The publication is indexed in Scopus, WoS, SINTA (a portal indexing journal managed by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, equivalent to DOAJ and Index Copernicus), DOAJ, Index Copernicus, and at least they must be indexed in Google Scholar; (c) The topic of the studies must be relevant; (d) The studies must be carried out in the 2014-2023 year range; (e) The publication must have a value of (r), (t) or (F); (f) The studies have a magnitude of N ≥ 20. This study used the JASP application for data analysis. The results showed that: (a) the 40 studies analyzed were heterogeneous and normally distributed; (b) the influence of teacher efficacy on education quality is classified as strong (p < 0.05; rRE = 0.800); (c) publication bias was not detected. This study concluded that there is a strong influence of teacher efficacy on education quality.

Researchers have recognized the need for updates of test anxiety scales for more measurement accuracy. However, studies that investigated the measurement invariance of the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI), and identified the latent profiles remain scare not withstanding its wide usage in Nigeria. This might have an impact on how generalizability and reliance on outcomes from such an instrument are handled. We investigated the measurement invariance of TAI and the latent profiles among Nigerian adolescents. Gender constituted our focus in the measurement invariance given its significance in test anxiety research. Adolescent students (n=539) formed the sample of our study. We employed the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the latent profile analysis (LPA) to measure the invariance and identify the class profiles. We found evidence of a measurement invariance across gender in both competing models given that we obtained strict measurement invariance. We also identified a four-class profile model for both male and female students: low (17.50%; 19.00%), moderate (17.50%; 34.40%), high (36.80 %; 32.80%), and very high (12.60%; 13.80%) test anxiety profiles respectively. We concluded that while the composed factors are equivalently scaled across gender that test anxious students were not monolithic given the identified profiles.

This study illustrated an alternative way to evaluate students’ academic learning. It involved the joint and intertwined application of the natural semantic network technique, computer simulations, and semantic priming experiments to assess the cognitive changes in knowledge structures due to academic learning in two groups of psychology students. The experimental group was enrolled in a course on computational cognition, while the control group was oblivious to this course. The results indicated that the cognitive assessment tools discriminate the cognitive changes produced as a result of general training undertaken in a psychology degree versus the influence of a specific course. After the course, the experimental group increased their technical vocabulary, changed their conceptual valuation of definers related to computational theories of mind, and reorganized the relations among definers according to the computational cognition approach. Also, this group presented a higher connectivity index between the concepts of the semantic network, their conceptual activation level and conceptual co-activation pattern changed, and their access level to the evaluated schema’s concepts improved. In contrast, the control group did not show significant changes in their cognitive patterns after the course. These findings suggest that cognitive tools may be helpful in the diagnosis of academic learning.