ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Promise of Integrated English Curriculum: Teachers' and Head Teachers' Reactions and Reflections
Author: Magoma, Charles M.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English Curriculum,Integrated Curriculum,Secondary School Curriculum,Qualitative Research,Questionnaires,Interviews,Observation,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Curriculum Implementation,Difficulty Level,English Literature,Student Needs,Educational Objectives,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Foreign Countries

The current Kenyan secondary English curriculum (2002) has adopted an integrated approach not only to teaching, but also to the assessment of English language and Literature. This re-organisation is meant to improve the standards of teaching and performance in English. However, national performance in integrated English has remained consistently below average, contrary to expectations. This paper is based on a research that was conducted in Nairobi North sub-county, Nairobi County, Kenya on &quot;The Promise of Integrated English: Teachers' and Head teachers' Reactions and Reflections.&quot; The study mainly used a qualitative approach and employed questionnaires, interview and observation schedules to collect data from 101 teachers of integrated English and 20 head teachers. Further, the heads of English at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards and Kenya National Examinations Council were interviewed. Raw data collected from questionnaires, interview and observation schedules were organized into significant patterns so as to easily interpret and understand the essence of the data. The study revealed that despite the promise of the re-organized English curriculum, teachers were teaching the integrated English curriculum without proper understanding of the methodology involved. Consequently, they faced difficulties and resorted to teaching English language and Literature as two separate subjects. The study concluded that there has been no effective implementation of integrated English curriculum in Nairobi North sub-county as was/is intended by the curriculum developers. The study recommends proper and continuing professional support to the teachers of integrated English curriculum in the form of in-service training for the promise to hold.
Incorporating Critical Thinking into an Engineering Undergraduate Learning Environment
Author: Adair, Desmond
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Critical Thinking,Engineering Education,Undergraduate Students,Thinking Skills,Student Evaluation,Cognitive Development,Student Attitudes,Pretests Posttests,Instructional Effectiveness,Mechanics (Physics),Instructional Design

Critical thinking extends to all aspects of professional engineering, especially in technical development, and, since the introduction of the ABET 2000 criteria, there has been an increased emphasis in engineering education on the development of critical thinking skills. What is hoped for is that the students obtain critical thinking skills to complement their abundant logical thinking skills. Critical thinking is a developmental skill that cannot be taught simply by traditional methods, i.e., step-by-step instruction followed by repetitive skills, as used for logical thinking skills. The research and development reported here is concerned with outlining how students first can be alerted to what critical thinking is, and how critical thinking can be nurtured through practical experience with appropriate guidance and reinforcement. The module &quot;Introduction to Fluid Mechanics&quot; has been selected to demonstrate how formal critical thinking components may be introduced with the development of principles of logic and an obligatory problem solving procedure. A method of assessment during various phases of critical thinking, i.e., initial design or set-up, testing of method or prototype, and evaluation of the results, of open-ended assignments in engineering for each year of the undergraduate course has been developed.
How to Write an Effective Research Proposal for Higher Degree Research in Higher Education: Lessons from Practice
Author: Kivunja, Charles
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Research Proposals,Graduate Students,College Admission,Masters Programs,Doctoral Programs,Proposal Writing

Admission into a higher degree research program or confirmation of candidature into such a program of most universities often requires the applicant to submit a research proposal. This is a very important document which not only articulates the research topic and research question, but also explains the research design which outlines how the proposed research will be carried out. The significance of the research proposal is highlighted by the fact that failure to write a good research proposal may mean failure to be admitted into a higher degree research program, or failure to be confirmed as a continuing doctoral candidate. In spite of such significance, however, my experience when supervising many higher degree research students is that many of them struggle to write a good research proposal. One of the contributing factors to this is the apparent void that exists in research methods textbooks on exactly what a research proposal is and how it should be written. This paper aims to help fill that void by articulating a detailed structure of a research proposal that could be used as part of the application to gain admission into a higher degree research program of any good university or for confirmation of candidature in such a research study program. The paper draws on the expertise accumulated on this topic as a result of many decades of writing research proposals for higher degree research projects, conducting many higher degree research studies successfully in several universities in Australia and other countries, teaching research methods to higher degree research students and supervising many successful masters and doctoral theses. The paper concludes, that while there is no &quot;one-size-fits-all&quot; research proposal, a careful design of a higher degree research proposal along the structure discussed in this paper should improve one's chances of success greatly.
Citizenship Perceptions of University Students
Author: Yigit, Mehmet Fatih
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Attitudes,College Students,Citizenship,Collectivism,Statistical Analysis,Individualism,Gender Differences,Humanities,Social Sciences,Business Administration Education,Foreign Countries

Citizenship has become one of the important topics discussed in especially developed countries by policy makers and various stakeholders in recent years. Some important reasons behind it are the political, economic and social uneasiness throughout the world in both collectivistic and individualistic societies. The current study aims at looking at the citizenship perception among university students in one of those collectivistic countries. The participants answered the question &quot;what does citizenship mean for you?&quot; and the data was analyzed by giving descriptive statistics using the quantitative data analysis software, SPSS. The value items given as choices to the students were; equality, freedom, social order, national security, a world at peace, respect for tradition, respect for privacy, social justice, independent, protecting the environment, loyalty, obedient, helpful, and responsible. The participants were categorized in two different faculties which were faculty of humanities and social sciences and faculty of management and administrative sciences. The results show that the students from faculty of humanities and social sciences have tendency towards values represented in individualistic societies while defining citizenship. On the other hand, students of faculty of management and administrative sciences showed greater tendency towards the values represented in collectivistic countries. Another finding of the study was that females highly prioritized all value items compared to male participants. Turkey is considered to be a collectivistic country however the results show that majority of the participants prioritize values represented in individualistic nations. Further studies need to be conducted in order to find out whether there has been a shift from being a collectivistic society or not.
The Relationship between Organizational Silence and Burnout among Academicians: A Research on Universities in Turkey
Author: Akin, Ugur
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Burnout,Teaching Conditions,College Faculty,Teacher Surveys,Correlation,Regression (Statistics),Emotional Response,Work Environment,Burnout,Measures (Individuals),Interpersonal Relationship,Teacher Participation,Questionnaires,Teacher Attitudes,Statistical Analysis

The aim of this research is to analyze the relationship between organizational silence and burnout levels of academicians. The study group consisted of 190 academicians, who work in 17 state universities that are located in 15 different provinces of Turkey. Data were collected through Causes of Faculty Members' Silence Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory. The results of the study indicate that silence levels of academicians are medium and burnout levels are low. A positive correlation was identified between organizational silence and burnout levels. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrates that silence scores were predicting emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. In order to reduce burnout to a minimum level in academy, university managers are offered to establish a culture, where academicians are allowed to express their opinions freely. In addition, the study provides suggestions for future research.
Sources of Stress: Perceptions of South African TESOL Teachers
Author: Bowen, Amanda
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Stress Variables,Teacher Attitudes,Qualitative Research,Semi Structured Interviews,Teaching (Occupation),Interprofessional Relationship,Organizational Culture,Organizational Climate,Teaching Load,Faculty Development,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Time Management,Student Behavior,Career Development,English (Second Language),English Instruction,English Teachers

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study investigating which factors inside and outside the classroom result in feelings of stress for TESOL teachers working at private language schools in South Africa. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, the findings reveal three main areas that cause stress for TESOL teachers: the job of teaching, relationships at work and organisational and TESOL-related issues. These three areas of stress can be further divided into various sub-themes. Stress resulting from the job of teaching includes the sub-themes of work overload, inadequate training and gaps in subject knowledge, time pressure and student behaviour. Stress resulting from relationships at work includes the sub-themes of negative relationships with colleagues, administrators and management. Stress resulting from organisational and TESOL-related issues includes the sub-themes of working conditions, lack of teaching resources, shared spaces and lack of professional development and career advancement. There has not yet been an investigation into the causes of stress among South African TESOL teachers. This paper is thus an attempt at laying the foundation for further research. The results provide valuable information for TESOL teacher trainers, TESOL co-ordinators and the management of private language schools.
Doctoral Student Learning Patterns: Learning about Active Knowledge Creation or Passive Production
Author: Vekkaila, Jenna
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Doctoral Programs,Graduate Students,Natural Sciences,Interviews,Content Analysis,Qualitative Research,Cognitive Style,Scientific Research,Foreign Countries

Doctoral studies are about learning to create new knowledge and to become a researcher. Yet surprisingly little is known about the individual learning patterns of doctoral students. The study aims to explore learning patterns among natural science doctoral students. The participants included 19 doctoral students from a top-level natural science research community. The data were collected through interviews and qualitatively content analysed. Five qualitatively different learning patterns were identified: 1) active knowledge creator, 2) active producer, 3) active project manager, 4) passive producer, and 5) conformist. The patterns differed from each other in how the participants approached their learning regarding conducting research and becoming a researcher, learning strategies and their perceptions of learning objects. This indicates that learning environments need to be adjustable to different doctoral student learning patterns. At best, by designing practices in congruence with doctoral students' ways of learning, scholarly communities can provide flourishing environments in which doctoral students are able to become autonomous scientists who conduct high quality research. To our knowledge, doctoral students' learning patterns have not been previously reported in doctoral education literature. This study contributed to the literature on doctoral student learning and provided new insight into the complexity of learning processes among natural science doctoral students by identifying five qualitative different learning patterns.
The Attitudes of Turkish Teachers to New Applications
Author: Maden, Sedat
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Attitudes,Questionnaires,Teacher Surveys,Likert Scales,Instructional Innovation,Educational Practices,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Development,Gender Differences,Teaching Experience,Educational Attainment,School Location,Teaching Methods,Statistical Analysis

With developments in technology and changes in living conditions, significant improvements have occurred in education field. In this study, it has been aimed to determine the attitudes of Turkish teachers to new applications with respect to some variables like gender, seniority, education level and duty place. The sample of the study consists of 125 Turkish teachers working in Erzurum, Trabzon, Ordu, and Sivas cities. The data of the research study was gathered through &quot;Survey for the Attitudes of Turkish Teachers on New Applications&quot; (SATTNA), prepared by the researcher, and analyzed by using techniques of percentage, frequency and Anova in SPSS. Based on the present study, it has been concluded that Turkish teachers delivered their attitudes on new approaches/applications with the &quot;average&quot; level (X-bar = 3.15). In addition, it has been found that female Turkish teachers who had 1-5 years' work experience and have worked in city centers held more positive attitudes to new applications compared to the others.
Geography Teachers' Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Classroom Management
Author: Dikmenli, Yurdal
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Geography Instruction,Science Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,High Schools,Teacher Attitudes,Beliefs,Classroom Techniques,Statistical Analysis,Correlation,Attitude Measures,Likert Scales,Nonparametric Statistics,Scores,Gender Differences,Institutional Characteristics,Tenure

This study scrutinizes geography teachers' attitude and belief levels regarding classroom management. As a matter of fact, classroom management is one of the prominent areas emphasized by all educators. Descriptive correlational survey model was used in the study. Study group includes 58 geography teachers working in Sivas province during the 2015-2016 academic year. Convenience sampling method was employed while forming the study group. The Attitudes &amp; Beliefs on Classroom Control Inventory developed by Martin, Yin &amp; Baldwin (1998) and adapted into Turkish language by Sarvan (2002) was employed to collect the data. The statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS 17. To analyze the relationships between the variables, t-test for independent samples, Mann Whitney-U test, and Pearson's correlation were used. Significance level was set to be p&lt;0.05. Geography teachers' mean scores for the sub-dimensions of instructional management and people management and their mean total scores for classroom management attitude and belief corresponded to medium level (interactionalist classroom management). Their mean scores for the sub-dimension of behavior management corresponded to low level (non-interventionist classroom management). No significant difference was found between the geography teachers' mean scores for the sub-dimensions of instructional management, people management, and behavior management and total scores for classroom management attitude and belief by gender and the type of the high school they work in. In addition, no significant relationship was found between years in teaching and instructional management. However, a negative significant relationship was detected between teachers' years in teaching and people management, behavior management, and classroom management attitude and belief. It is recommended that arrangements and studies be made for teachers to develop attitudes and beliefs that will allow their students to know themselves, make decisions, and carry out tasks either individually or in group.
Science Teaching Experiences in Informal Settings: One Way to Enrich the Preparation Program for Preservice Science Teachers
Author: Hsu, Pei-Ling
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Teachers,Beginning Teachers,Novices,Preservice Teachers,Preservice Teacher Education,Teaching Methods,Methods Courses,Phenomenology,Informal Education,Self Efficacy,Undergraduate Students,Lesson Plans,Theory Practice Relationship,Museums

The high attrition rate of new science teachers demonstrates the urgent need to incorporate effective practices in teacher preparation programs to better equip preservice science teachers. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate a way to enrich preservice science teachers' preparation by incorporating informal science teaching practice into science method courses. A phenomenographic study was conducted to understand preservice teachers' experiences in informal science practice and discuss the multiple benefits of this practice. Five experiential descriptions are identified: (a) rigorous preparations to teach in an informal environment; (b) an engaging and informative environment for teaching and learning; (c) improvisation to address learners' needs spontaneously; (d) a sense of contribution and rewarding experience; and (e) insight development for teaching through feedback, reflection, and observation. These experiences allow preservice teachers to develop confidence in science teaching that may help them overcome obstacles when they become science teachers.
Faculty Attitudes for Changing a University's Core and Structure
Author: Krug, Kevin S.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,Online Courses,Educational Change,Distance Education,Delivery Systems,Questionnaires,Teacher Surveys,Regression (Statistics),Resistance to Change,Institutional Survival,Electronic Learning

America's universities and colleges are examining additional ways to raise student enrollment following government reductions in educational funding. Faculty were surveyed regarding their opinions of an administrative proposal to change the status of their commuter university, a school without any on-campus student housing, from teaching traditional semester length courses to predominately online and compressed courses. Results indicated that although younger faculty were willing to teach lower level courses online, most faculty members were resistant to teaching upper level online and compressed courses. Moreover, associate professors agreed teaching compressed courses would make it more difficult both to recruit new faculty and pursue promotion.
The Views of the Pre-Service Teachers about the Creative Drama as a Method Used in Primary Schools
Author: Sengul, Ozge Aydin
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Drama,Elementary Education,Teaching Methods,Creativity,Semi Structured Interviews,Coding,Foreign Countries,Qualitative Research,Content Analysis,Case Studies

Purpose of the study is to investigate views of pre-service teachers about creative drama used as a method in elementary education. In line with this purpose, researchers examine the pre-service teachers' views about the importance of creative drama used as a method in course and kinds of activities that can be used in these courses. This study is consistent of qualitative research techniques. This research was used in form of written interview as a data collection tool. This form consists of 3 semi-structured, open ended question designs to obtain response regarding the research questions. 20 pre-service teachers from the primary education department of education faculty participated in the research in 2014-2015 education period. A content analysis was used for analyzing the data obtained from each form of major categories. By identifying the major categories, sub-categories were created within the major categories for further interpretation. Besides, frequency values relating to stated categories were included. At the results of data analysis, the subcategories/codes of &quot;usability of creative drama in courses&quot; and &quot;development of course outlines in creative drama&quot; themes were demonstrated with their examples. Regarding the themes of &quot;developing course outlines in creative drama&quot;, the participants indicated four categories: &quot;preparation of the outline&quot; (f = 14), &quot;techniques used&quot; (f = 5), &quot;concepts used&quot; (f = 11) and &quot;materials used&quot; (f = 6). Regarding the themes of &quot;developing course outlines in creative drama&quot; the participants indicated four categories: &quot;preparation of the outline&quot; (f = 14), &quot;techniques used&quot; (f = 5), &quot;concepts used&quot; (f = 11) and &quot;materials used&quot; (f = 6). [This study was presented as an oral presentation dated 16-20 March 2015 at International Journal of Arts &amp; Sciences' (IJAS) International Conference for Teaching and Education that was organized in USA.]
School Principals' Opinions on In-Class Inspections
Author: Kayikci, Kemal
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Attitude Measures,Mixed Methods Research,Inspection,Foreign Countries,National Standards,Institutional Evaluation,Likert Scales,Administrator Surveys,Educational Improvement,Phenomenology

The aim of this research is to determine school principals' opinions on the in-class inspections carried out by inspectors of the Ministry of National Education of Turkey (MEB). The study was modeled as a convergent parallel design, one of the mixed methods which combined qualitative and quantitative methods. For data collection, the researchers developed and used a structured data collection form consisting of open- and closed-ended questions. The purposeful sampling method of convenience sampling was employed in the study, and the study group consisted of 132 school principals. The qualitative data obtained were subjected to descriptive analysis and analytic generalization, whereas frequency and percentage statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data. The research was found that, although school principals believe in the necessity of an inspection system, they generally have negative opinions of the process of the inspections conducted by MEB inspectors. In other words, their negative opinions concern the structure and functioning of the inspection system rather than its existence. Hence, we conclude that the education inspection system in Turkey needs to be improved so that it conforms to contemporary theories and practices.