ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teachers Beliefs in Problem Solving in Rural Malaysian Secondary Schools
Author: Palraj, Shalini
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Beliefs,Problem Solving,Teacher Attitudes,Secondary School Teachers,Rural Schools,Teacher Surveys,Learning Strategies,Thinking Skills,Questionnaires,Teaching Methods,Instructional Innovation,Educational Strategies,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries

Problem solving is the highest level of cognitive skill. However, this skill seems to be lacking among secondary school students. Teachers' beliefs influence the instructional strategies used for students' learning. Hence, it is important to understand teachers' beliefs so as to improve the processes for teaching problem solving. The purpose of this study is to investigate beliefs of secondary school teachers in rural schools on problem solving in teaching. The sample were teachers selected from secondary schools in two rural districts in Malaysia. A survey of 75 secondary school teachers was done using the Learning Skills Questionnaire formulated for this purpose. The findings indicate that rural school teachers are aware of the usefulness of problem solving but still emphasize memorization of facts and concepts for learning. These might be because they are unaware of how to teach problem solving. Hence, further research is required in developing instructional strategies for teaching problem solving skills among rural school teachers. Further research could be done to determine whether there was a difference in beliefs among urban school teachers.
Colleges of Education Lecturers Attitude towards the Use of Information and Communication Technology in Nigeria
Author: Olafare, Festus Oladimeji
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Teacher Education Programs,Technological Literacy,Questionnaires,Gender Differences,Academic Degrees,Educational Attainment,Teaching Experience,Specialization,Hypothesis Testing,Statistical Analysis

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed the global education system in the areas of teaching and learning to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Lecturers in College of Education (COE) are not only supposed to use ICT towards the achievement, they are to model good use of ICT for pre-service teachers. This underscores the need for investigating lecturers' attitude towards the use of ICT in COE in Nigeria. The cross sectional survey method was adopted for the study. Respondents were 1107 lecturers (602 males and 505 females) selected from ten Colleges of Education in south-west Nigeria. A researcher-designed questionnaire, &quot;Lecturers' Attitude and Proficiency in ICT Use&quot; was used for data collection. Findings of the study showed that lecturers had positive attitude towards the use of ICT, no significant difference was established between male and female lecturers in their attitude, there was significant difference between first degree holders and higher degree holders in their attitudes, there was significant difference between less-experienced and experienced lecturers in their attitude with the less-experienced fairing better and there was significant difference in attitude among lecturers in various areas of specializations on attitude. The study concluded that COE lecturers had positive attitude toward ICT and were moderately proficient in the use of ICT. The implication is that with the positive attitude and proficiency in the use of ICT may encourage the integration of ICT in their academic tasks. It was recommended that provision should be made for continuous training COE lecturers in ICT.
Teachers&apos; Perception: Competent or Not in Curriculum Development
Author: Yavuz Konokman, Gamze
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Curriculum Development,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Competencies,Gender Differences,Intellectual Disciplines,Tenure,Teacher Competency Testing,Factor Analysis,Preschool Teachers,Elementary School Teachers,Statistical Analysis

The purpose of the study is to determine teachers' perceptions on curriculum development competencies and determine whether their perceptions differ according to gender, branches, seniority and graduated faculty type. The study consist of two parts: One part is the improvement of curriculum development competency scale with the participation of 350 teachers in Turkey; the other is the determination of teachers' perceptions on curriculum development competencies with the participation of 472 teachers in Turkey. The validity of the scale is provided with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis results indicate the scale with 37 items has a single factor and the Cronbach Alpha coefficient parameter is calculated as 0.945. Descriptive statistics are examined to determining the teachers' perceptions on their curriculum development competencies. Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H test are used to determine whether the teachers' perceptions on curriculum development competencies differ according to gender, branch, seniority and graduated faculty type. As a result, teachers often perceive themselves incompetent on curriculum development and their perceptions only differ as regards branch.
Evaluating the Efficacy of an Attachment-Informed Psychotherapeutic Program for Incarcerated Parents
Author: Kamptner, N. Laura
Date: 2017-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Psychotherapy,Attachment Behavior,Parent Child Relationship,Mothers,Fathers,Institutionalized Persons,Correctional Institutions,Program Effectiveness,Parent Education,Child Rearing,Pretests Posttests,Self Efficacy,Satisfaction,Parent Role,Knowledge Level,Parenting Skills,Discipline,Child Abuse,Gender Differences,Stress Management,Child Development,Parent Background,At Risk Persons,Symptoms (Individual Disorders),Surveys,Statistical Analysis

An attachment-based, psychotherapeutic parent education course was created for incarcerated mothers and fathers to help improve their ability to provide positive parenting and a more stable home environment for their children. The current study assessed the effects of this parenting curriculum on parents' reported tendencies to be abusive, their sense of efficacy and satisfaction as a parent, their psychological distress, and their knowledge of child development and positive child guidance. Results of pre-post assessments showed a significant improvement in parents' reported sense of efficacy and satisfaction in the parenting role; their knowledge, skills, and behavior as a parent; their understanding of child development; their knowledge of alternatives to using corporal punishment; establishing appropriate parent-child boundaries; and they were less likely to view their child's independence as a threat. Females showed a significant decrease in distress symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of the need for effective, high-quality parent education as an important component of intervention programs that aim to improve the developmental outcome for children of incarcerated parents.
Critical Reflection in the Professional Development of Teachers: Challenges and Possibilities
Author: Šaric, Marjeta
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reflection,Faculty Development,Critical Thinking,Barriers,Teacher Characteristics,Teacher Competencies,Student Teaching,Teacher Education Programs

Critical reflection in teachers' professional development has received much attention in the scholarly literature, and there is an overwhelming consensus about its great significance to the quality of teachers' work. Nevertheless, despite the well-established role of reflection, a large gap between the professed goals and the actual reflective practice of teachers remains. The article starts with a short overview of the different definitions of critical reflection in the context of teachers' professional development and then underlines some empirical research findings on the problems that teachers and teacher educators face when putting reflective practice into practice, especially at the deeper and more complex levels of reflection. It continues with a consideration of teachers' qualifications for in-depth reflection as well as the obstacles and challenges facing teachers and teacher educators. The obstacles occur at the level of individual teachers' personal traits and at the level of the context in which reflection is done. Employing an analysis of the obstacles, the authors develop some guidelines on how to support teachers in their attempts at making critical reflection part of their teaching practice. It is crucial for this encouragement not to overlook the principal purpose of teachers' critical reflection; to contribute to new insights, knowledge reframing, and the introduction of such changes in teaching that will support students' learning and the development of the community for the better learning, work, and life of all its individuals.
Critical Thinking as a Dimension of Constructivist Learning: Some of the Characteristics of Students of Lower Secondary Education in Croatia
Author: Topolovcan, Tomislav
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Critical Thinking,Constructivism (Learning),Student Characteristics,Secondary School Students,Correlation,High Achievement,Cooperative Learning,Relevance (Education),Gender Differences,Place of Residence,Grade Point Average,Grade 8,Mass Media,Student Attitudes,Questionnaires,Factor Structure,Statistical Analysis

The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of the frequency of constructivist learning and its dimensions, including critical thinking, the differences in them with regard to certain demographic characteristics, and correlations with the frequency of use of certain new media in teaching students in the final grade of lower secondary education in Croatia (N = 703). The results show that students assessed a significantly higher incidence of critical thinking in relation to the other four dimensions of constructivist learning. In respect of every latent dimension of constructivist learning, (all) students with higher grade point averages are inclined towards a higher assessment of the frequency of the personal relevance of learning, critical thinking, and collaborative learning. Girls are more likely to highlight the personal importance of studying, critical thinking, and student negotiation, while there is no difference in the assessments regarding gender in the control of studying and the uncertainty of learning with new media. Students, regardless of where they live, assess the incidence of general constructivist learning equally, also in regard to each dimension, i.e. the personal relevance of learning, the uncertainty of learning (with new media), critical thinking, shared control, and collaborative learning. The frequent use of new media is associated with the increased incidence of all the dimensions of constructivist learning. An interpretation of the results indicates that critical thinking is by far the most prominent dimension of constructivist learning, whereby the gender of students and their grade point average are, to some extent, key factors in the differences in critical thinking, but also in most other dimensions of constructivist learning. This paper explains in detail the didactic implications of its research results.
Encouraging Reflection and Critical Friendship in Preservice Teacher Education
Author: Bognar, Branko
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Reflection,Friendship,Action Research,Student Role,Student Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods,Serbocroatian,College Students,Cooperation,Creative Teaching,Cooperative Learning,Peer Relationship,Qualitative Research,Questionnaires,Interviews,Documentation,Content Analysis,Group Discussion,Workshops,Video Technology,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Large Group Instruction

Reflectivity is an important professional competence of contemporary teachers. In order to explore how to encourage students' reflection, we conducted a two-year action research project impelling them to become mutual critical friends. For critical friendship communication and other project activities, we utilised Moodle--an online learning management system. On the basis of the analysed data that were gathered at the end of each action research cycle, we determined that the students felt comfortable in the role of critical friends and that critical friends' reflections were particularly pleasant for them. They experienced the comments of their critical friends as friendly, encouraging, useful, specific, interesting, detailed, positive, professional and clear. The majority of students (91%) think that the critical friendship discussion should be continued within the course Correlated-integrated systems in Croatian language teaching, and 85% of them suggest introducing this approach in other teachers' education courses. We determined that the technical mode of reflective thinking prevails in the students' correspondence. The practical or contextual level could rarely be observed while critical reflection was completely absent in 11 of 14 discussions. Reflective thinking of students (future teachers) should be fostered from the beginning of their studies within various courses, particularly in the pedagogical and methodological ones. To encourage their students to be critically reflective, university teachers should embrace reflective thinking by becoming critically-reflective practitioners and conducting action research in their teaching practices.
The Pluralisation of Family Life: Implications for Preschool Education
Author: Šebart, Mojca Kovac
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Family Environment,Cultural Influences,Preschool Education,Preschool Teachers,Family Characteristics,Preschool Curriculum,Civil Rights,Constitutional Law,Educational Legislation,Family Structure,Social Bias,Social Justice

The article takes as its starting point the public debate about the newly proposed Family Code in Slovenia in 2009. Inter alia, the Code introduced a new, inclusive definition of the family in accordance with the contemporary pluralisation of family life. This raised a number of questions about how--if at all--various families are addressed in the process of preschool education in public preschools in Slovenia. We maintain that the family is the child's most important frame of reference. It is therefore necessary for the preschool community to respect family plurality and treat it as such in everyday life and work. In addition, preschool teachers and preschool teacher assistants are bound by the formal framework and the current curriculum, which specifies that children in preschools must be acquainted with various forms of families and family communities. This also implies that parents--despite their right to educate their children in accordance with their religious and philosophical convictions--have no right to interfere in the educational process and insist on their particular values, such as the demand that some family forms remain unmentioned.
Parental Involvement as a Important Factor for Successful Education
Author: Ðurišic, Maša
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Parent Participation,Parent School Relationship,Models,Influences,Barriers,Child Rearing,Communication (Thought Transfer),Volunteers,Parents as Teachers,Decision Making,Cooperation,Partnerships in Education

To comply with the system of integrated support for their students, schools need to build partnership with parents and develop mutual responsibility for children's success in the educational system. In this way, parental involvement are increased, parents' effort to support schools are encouraged, and they are directly making a positive impact to a successful educational system. Considering the importance of parents' participation and involvement in school activities, in this paper, we will analyse the positive effects of parental involvement, summarize leading principles for the successful partnership of parents and school and present six factors (Parenting, Communicating, Volunteering, Learning at home, Decision-making and Collaborating with the community) and six models (Protective Model, Expert Model, Transmission Model, Curriculum-Enrichment Model, Consumer Model and Partnership Model) of parental involvement. In addition, we will draw conclusions and make recommendations that are important for planning programs that are focused on the improvement of parent involvement.
Project Activities and Encouraging Critical Thinking: Exploring Teachers&apos; Attitudes
Author: Papak, Petra Pejic
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Critical Thinking,Teacher Attitudes,Elementary School Teachers,Student Projects,Active Learning,Foreign Countries,Teacher Surveys,Incidence,Differences,Statistical Analysis,Program Implementation

The contemporary education process frequently emphasises the importance of teaching and learning by focusing teaching activities towards research and collaborative work, the encouragement of critical thinking, the creative and productive application of knowledge, an active approach to the teaching content, and solving specific problems in project activities. A survey was conducted on a sample of 220 elementary school teachers from three counties in Croatia (Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, and Istria) regarding the frequency of implementing project activities that encourage critical thinking in pupils. The objectives of the research were to determine the regularity of implementing project activities at the class level and at the level of the entire school, and to examine possible differences between teachers who estimated regular implementation of project activities in their schools and those who estimated the levels of irregular implementation of project activities, in the application of contemporary work strategies, as well as in the attitudes on the contemporary paradigm of childhood and the education process. The research results showed that the majority of teachers estimated that project activities were carried out regularly at their school (66.5% on a class level and 65% on a school level). Teachers who reported the regular implementation of project activities at the class level and at the school level more frequently applied contemporary work strategies and techniques of critical thinking than their colleagues did. The research results also indicated that those teachers more frequently use established approaches to the educational process (teacher should explain, exhibit facts, and point out important conclusions) than their colleagues do. There were no statistically significant differences in contemporary attitudes between the two groups of teachers. Since the objective behind the implementation of project activities was to create the knowledge that, in the creative act, boundaries of the known or tried are transcended in the direction of new and expanded knowledge, importance should be given to the role of teachers in promoting the development of critical thinking and guiding pupils to explore and discover new knowledge.
A Personalized Study Method for Learning University Physics
Author: Aravind, Vasudeva Rao
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physics,College Science,Computation,Scientific Concepts,Intelligent Tutoring Systems,Science Instruction,Problem Solving,College Freshmen,Instructional Effectiveness,Individualized Instruction

Students learn scientific concepts and mathematical calculations relating to scientific principles by repetition and reinforcement. Teachers and instructors cannot practically spend the long time required during tutorials to patiently teach students the calculations. Usually, teachers assign homework to provide practice to students, hoping that spending time on the task and providing appropriate feedback will make students stronger in the concepts. However, these assignments do not provide insights into how the students approached a problem, or which part of the problem stymied them. To provide fine-grained details about how students interacted with physics problems, a tutor was designed with state of the art software tools provided by Carnegie Mellon University's CTAT (Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools). In this article, the results of deploying the computer based tutor and the lessons learned from about 2000 fine-grained instances of student interactions with the tutoring software are presented.
Analysis of Teaching Materials Developed by Prospective Mathematics Teachers and Their Views on Material Development
Author: Koparan, Timur
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Instructional Materials,Preservice Teachers,Mathematics Teachers,Material Development,Observation,Student Surveys,Educational Technology,Case Studies,Foreign Countries,Education Courses,Content Analysis,Mathematics Instruction,Concept Mapping

This study aimed at exploring the quality of teaching materials developed by prospective mathematics teachers and their viewpoints on developing teaching materials. It was carried out with 170 prospective teachers from 4 classes in the Fall Semester of 2014-2015 Academic Year. During the first 8 weeks of the 14-week-long study, the theoretical parts and teaching technologies of the course were introduced. In the next 6 weeks, the prospective teachers were expected to present the materials they developed in a classroom environment. Data were collected through the materials prepared by the prospective teachers, classroom observations, and survey questions. The data underwent content and descriptive analysis. Findings indicate that prospective teachers can prepare materials and use the teaching technologies at a satisfactory level. They believed they gained the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes in this course to develop and use teaching materials, and they would like to take advantage of these knowledge and skills in their teaching profession. In accordance with the findings, it is concluded that prospective teachers have positive views and attitudes to general teaching technologies and material development.
Factors Affecting Differential Equation Problem Solving Ability of Students at Pre-University Level: A Conceptual Model
Author: Aisha, Bibi
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Equations (Mathematics),Problem Solving,Secondary School Students,Literature Reviews,Epistemology,Beliefs,Student Attitudes,Relevance (Education),Student Centered Learning,Goal Orientation,Learning Strategies,Questionnaires,Surveys,Mathematics Instruction

In this study, different factors affecting students' differential equations (DEs) solving abilities were explored at pre university level. To explore main factors affecting students' differential equations problem solving ability, articles for a 19-year period, from 1996 to 2015, were critically reviewed and analyzed. It was revealed that combination of four factors; &quot;epistemological math problem solving beliefs, belief about usefulness of mathematics, self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies and goal orientations&quot; have great potential to enhance differential equation problem ability. Based on these findings, a conceptual model was developed and presented in this paper to enhance differential equation problem solving ability. This study has provided several important implications for the curriculum designers and teachers to enhance conceptual understanding in differential equation problem solving, particularly in the developing countries..