ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Religious Education towards Justice: What Kind of Justice Is to Be Taught in a Christian Context?
Author: Bobbert, Monika
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Religious Education,Social Justice,Christianity,Ethics,Teacher Competencies,Knowledge Level,Educational Objectives,Teaching Methods,Equal Education,Moral Values

Education is a human right. It prepares human beings for life, helps to develop individual abilities and opens up social opportunities--e.g., earning one's own living. Religion interprets our human existence in connection to a transcendental dimension. Religion can also influence moral values and behavior. The Christian religion established a basis for social life, and thus deals with religious and moral justice. As the Christian faith is understood as the identity of the qualities of love of God, of your neighbor and even of your enemy, it has to look for justice in the world. Modern Christian ethics does unfold interpersonal and global justice for all people and tries to give good reasons for moral claims. Religious education in a Christian context has to answer the question of what kind of justice is to be taught and by what means justice, as a goal of education, can be reached within such a setting. This article will unfold, from an ethical point of view, what kind of knowledge and competence teachers must have and what kind of goals can be followed with regard to their pupils or students. The results of this reflection imply certain pedagogical methods and means and exclude others--although it is not possible to go more deeply into a pedagogical discussion. [This article was translated by Anna Kohlwey.]
Principals' Perceptions of the Motivation Potential of Performance Agreements in Underperforming Schools
Author: Heystek, Jan
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Motivation,Disadvantaged Schools,Foreign Countries,Accountability,Focus Groups,Semi Structured Interviews,Performance Contracts,Motivation Techniques,Program Implementation,Instructional Leadership,Test Results,Academic Achievement,Elementary Secondary Education

A formidable challenge most school leaders in South Africa face is to improve the academic results in state schools. In terms of their contracts, principals are accountable for the academic results as reflected in examination and test results for their schools. The National Department of Education (currently the Department of Basic Education) has made attempts to implement a performance agreement with principals and deputy principals, which would hold them directly and specifically accountable for the examination results. The article explores the proposed performance agreement and its potential influence on principals' motivation to improve their own, and therefore also the teachers' and learners' academic performance. The focus group interviews conducted with principals and deputy principals indicate that principals do not want to be held accountable, because there are too many factors outside their control. They perceive a performance agreement of this kind as potentially demotivating because they do not feel they would be able to achieve the goals it sets.
Climate Change Science: The Literacy of Geography Teachers in the Western Cape Province, South Africa
Author: Anyanwu, Raymond
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Climate,Change,Geography Instruction,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Secondary School Teachers,Literacy,Statistical Analysis,Science Instruction,Questionnaires,Reliability,Misconceptions,Teacher Educators,Faculty Development,Program Improvement,Intervention,Foreign Countries

One of the universal responses to tackling global climate change is teaching climate change concepts at all levels of formal education. This response requires, among other things, teachers who are fully literate about climate change science, so that they can explain the concepts underlying the causes, impacts and solutions of climate change as accurately as possible to learners. The main intention of this study was to understand high school Geography teachers' levels of knowledge about climate change science. A 15-item, criterion-referenced, multiple-choice Climate Change Literacy Questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.74 using the Guttman's spit-half test was administered to 194 high school Geography teachers in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Data collected were analysed with the Pearson's Chi-square test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the majority of the participants demonstrated significantly high literacy levels in climate science, with their literacy levels higher in climate processes and causes of climate change than climate change impacts and solutions. Misconceptions were found in all three categories of climate change science as represented in the survey instrument. These findings suggest that teacher educators and policymakers should improve professional development programmes and support interventions in teacher knowledge and understanding of climate change concepts, so as to enhance climate change education in schools.
High Performance Education Fails in Sustainability?--A Reflection on Finnish Primary Teacher Education
Author: Wolff, Lili-Ann
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Education Programs,Educational Policy,Foreign Countries,Teacher Educators,Universities,Educational Strategies,Ecology,Literacy,Sustainable Development,Environmental Education,Teaching Methods

Sustainability is internationally often emphasized as an essential aim of higher education, but more as a principle than on the practical level. This is also obvious in the academic education of primary teachers in Finland. Therefore, it is a great challenge for Finnish teachers to include sustainability in their teaching and everyday life in schools. The aim of this article is to critically analyze why the implementation of sustainability in teacher education is so intricate and to discuss possible solutions with Finland--a country highly valued for its education--as an example. The article reports outcomes from educational policy documents and research on educational, philosophical, scientific and social aspects of sustainability, including evaluation of how sustainability has been implemented in schools and at universities, especially among teacher educators. In addition, the article builds on analyses of comprehensive university strategies and primary school teacher education programs. We found these reasons for the ignoring of sustainability in the Finnish teacher education: sustainability is in conflict with overall trends in society and politics, teacher education takes place at universities and is based on separate academic disciplines. Sustainability is also intricate because it is strongly connected to ecological literacy and it is value dependent. Universities need to overcome these obstacles and become forerunners in the sustainability process.
The Role of E-Vocabularies in the Description and Retrieval of Digital Educational Resources
Author: Fernández-Pampillón, Ana M.
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Vocabulary,Electronic Libraries,Metadata,Information Management,Information Retrieval,Lexicography,Electronic Learning,Indexing,Navigation (Information Systems),Online Searching,Classification,Taxonomy,Reference Materials,Glossaries,Dictionaries,Research Tools

Vocabularies are linguistic resources that make it possible to access knowledge through words. They can constitute a mechanism to identify, describe, explore, and access all the digital resources with informational content pertaining to a specific knowledge domain. In this regard, they play a key role as systems for the representation and organization of knowledge in environments in which content is created and used in a collaborative and free manner, as is the case of social wikis and blogs on the Internet or educational content in e-learning environments. In e-learning environments, electronic vocabularies (e-vocabularies) constitute a mechanism for conceptual representation of digital educational resources. They enable human and software agents either to locate and interpret resource content in large digital repositories, including the web, or to use them (vocabularies) as an educational resource by itself to learn a discipline terminology. This review article describes what e-vocabularies are, what they are like, how they are used, how they work, and what they contribute to the retrieval of digital educational resources. The goal is to contribute to a clearer view of the concepts which we regard as crucial to understand e-vocabularies and their use in the field of e-learning to describe and retrieve digital educational resources.
Psychosocial Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Public Primary Schools: Challenges and Intervention Strategies
Author: Mwoma, Teresa
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,At Risk Students,Elementary School Students,Public Schools,Psychology,Social Support Groups,Student Needs,Elementary School Teachers,Barriers,Intervention,Family Structure,Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS),Questionnaires,School Counseling,Student Behavior,Parent Role,Mental Health,Mixed Methods Research

Much has been written about orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) with regard to their education and living. However, relatively few studies have documented the psychosocial support provided for OVC in public primary schools to enhance their psychosocial well-being. This study therefore contributes to the understanding of the challenges experienced by teachers in providing psychosocial support for OVC and the possible intervention strategies that could be adopted to mitigate these challenges. Seven public primary schools from Soweto participated in the study, comprising 42 educators and 65 OVC in Grade Seven. Findings that emerged provide supporting evidence that minimal psychosocial support is offered, and it is marred by numerous challenges in public primary schools, including lack of professionals to provide guidance and counselling services, few teachers trained in life orientation, and a lack of support from parents/guardians for OVC. Based on the findings, several intervention strategies are presented.
Teaching Methods in Biology Education and Sustainability Education Including Outdoor Education for Promoting Sustainability--A Literature Review
Author: Jeronen, Eila
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Biology,Teaching Methods,Science Instruction,Sustainability,Outdoor Education,Literature Reviews,Elementary Secondary Education,Cooperative Learning,Active Learning,Journal Articles,Content Analysis,Barriers,Psychomotor Skills,Thinking Skills,Emotional Development,Qualitative Research

There are very few studies concerning the importance of teaching methods in biology education and environmental education including outdoor education for promoting sustainability at the levels of primary and secondary schools and pre-service teacher education. The material was selected using special keywords from biology and sustainable education in several scientific databases. The article provides an overview of 24 selected articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals from 2006-2016. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Altogether, 16 journals were selected and 24 articles were analyzed in detail. The foci of the analyses were teaching methods, learning environments, knowledge and thinking skills, psychomotor skills, emotions and attitudes, and evaluation methods. Additionally, features of good methods were investigated and their implications for teaching were emphasized. In total, 22 different teaching methods were found to improve sustainability education in different ways. The most emphasized teaching methods were those in which students worked in groups and participated actively in learning processes. Research points toward the value of teaching methods that provide a good introduction and supportive guidelines and include active participation and interactivity.
Evidence of Sustainable Learning from the Mastery Rubric for Ethical Reasoning
Author: Tractenberg, Rochelle E.
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Ethics,Evidence,Sustainability,Graduate Students,Thinking Skills,Metacognition,Student Surveys,Lifelong Learning,Individual Development,Student Improvement,Retention (Psychology),Academic Achievement,Scoring Rubrics

Interest in sustainable learning has been growing over the past 20 years but it has never been determined whether students--whose learning we are trying to sustain--can perceive either the sustainability of their learning or any of the features of this construct. A four-item survey was developed based on a published definition of &quot;sustainable learning&quot;, and was sent to the 12 graduate students who have completed a new seminar in ethical reasoning. A thematic analysis of the narrative responses was submitted to a degrees-of-freedom analysis to determine the level and type of evidence for student perception of sustainability. Respondents (n = 9) endorsed each of the four dimensions of sustainable learning--and each gave examples for each dimension outside of, and after the end of, the course. One respondent endorsed all dimensions of sustainable learning, but was uncertain whether the course itself led to one particular sustainability dimension. While these results must be considered preliminary because our sample is small and the survey is the first of its kind, they suggest that graduate students can and do perceive each of the four features of sustainability. The survey needs refinement for future/wider use; but this four-dimensional definition could be useful to develop and promote (and assess) sustainable learning in higher education.
How the Mastery Rubric for Statistical Literacy Can Generate Actionable Evidence about Statistical and Quantitative Learning Outcomes
Author: Tractenberg, Rochelle E.
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Statistics,Literacy,Scoring Rubrics,Outcomes of Education,Curriculum Development,Curriculum Evaluation,Undergraduate Study,Doctoral Programs,College Curriculum,Statistical Analysis

Statistical literacy is essential to an informed citizenry; and two emerging trends highlight a growing need for training that achieves this literacy. The first trend is towards &quot;big&quot; data: while automated analyses can exploit massive amounts of data, the interpretation--and possibly more importantly, the replication--of results are challenging without adequate statistical literacy. The second trend is that science and scientific publishing are struggling with insufficient/inappropriate statistical reasoning in writing, reviewing, and editing. This paper describes a model for statistical literacy (SL) and its development that can support modern scientific practice. An established curriculum development and evaluation tool--the Mastery Rubric--is integrated with a new, developmental, model of statistical literacy that reflects the complexity of reasoning and habits of mind that scientists need to cultivate in order to recognize, choose, and interpret statistical methods. This developmental model provides actionable evidence, and explicit opportunities for consequential assessment that serves students, instructors, developers/reviewers/accreditors of a curriculum, and institutions. By supporting the enrichment, rather than increasing the amount, of statistical training in the basic and life sciences, this approach supports curriculum development, evaluation, and delivery to promote statistical literacy for students and a collective quantitative proficiency more broadly.
Is Subjective Knowledge the Key to Fostering Sustainable Behavior? Mixed Evidence from an Education Intervention in Mexico
Author: Redman, Aaron
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Knowledge Level,Sustainability,Intervention,Statistical Analysis,Instructional Innovation,Wastes,Environmental Education,Instructional Effectiveness,Behavior Change,Hypothesis Testing,Correlation,Prediction,College Students,Surveys,Regression (Statistics)

Educational interventions are a promising way to shift individual behaviors towards Sustainability. Yet, as this research confirms, the standard fare of education, declarative knowledge, does not work. This study statistically analyzes the impact of an intervention designed and implemented in Mexico using the Educating for Sustainability (EfS) framework which focuses on imparting procedural and subjective knowledge about waste through innovative pedagogy. Using data from three different rounds of surveys we were able to confirm (1) the importance of subjective and procedural knowledge for Sustainable behavior in a new context; (2) the effectiveness of the EfS framework and (3) the importance of changing subjective knowledge for changing behavior. While the impact was significant in the short term, one year later most if not all of those gains had evaporated. Interventions targeted at subjective knowledge will work, but more research is needed on how to make behavior change for Sustainability durable.
Teaching Problem-Solving Competency in Business Studies at Secondary School Level
Author: Meintjes, Aloe
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Secondary School Curriculum,Business Education,Problem Solving,Competency Based Education,Active Learning,Simulation,Case Method (Teaching Technique),Grade 11,Entrepreneurship,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Pretests Posttests,Achievement Gains,Intervention,Interviews,Observation,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,Quasiexperimental Design,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The high unemployment rate in South Africa compels potential entrepreneurs to start their own businesses in order to survive. Often this is with little or no formal training or education in entrepreneurship. Since problem recognition and problem-solving are amongst the most crucial competencies required for a successful entrepreneurial career, this study aimed to determine whether the application of an extended curriculum with a strong focus on active learning in a business-simulated set-up will enhance this competency. The performance of a specific group of Grade 11 Business Studies learners in this study was measured, both before and after they had been exposed to such an extended curriculum in different experimental settings (intervention). Assessments were done qualitatively through observations and interviews, and quantitatively, by means of question-based scenarios. The findings revealed that the intervention enhanced learners' entrepreneurial competencies concerning problem recognition and problem-solving considerably. This also contributed to these learners' positive approach towards Business Studies. In this article, it is argued that practical exposure in a business-simulated set-up will not only result in enhanced entrepreneurial proficiency in school learners, but also contribute to an accelerated pace of economic growth and job creation in our country.
The Anxiety-Proficiency Relationship and the Stability of Anxiety: The Case of Chinese University Learners of English and Japanese
Author: Jin, Yinxing
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Anxiety,Language Proficiency,Japanese,Longitudinal Studies,English (Second Language),College Students,Second Language Learning,Communication (Thought Transfer),Likert Scales,Measures (Individuals),Foreign Countries,Questionnaires,Student Attitudes,Statistical Analysis,Correlation,Universities

Adopting a longitudinal design, this study investigates the effects of foreign language anxiety on foreign language proficiency over time within English and Japanese learning contexts. It also explores the stability of anxiety in English and Japanese over time and the stability of anxiety across English and Japanese. Chinese university students (N = 146), who were simultaneously learning Japanese and English, participated in this study. Data were collected twice over a 2-month interval, using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, the English Proficiency Scale, and the Japanese Proficiency Scale. Results showed that anxiety changes had a significantly negative, but weak, correlation with the development of overall proficiency and the proficiency in subskills such as reading or speaking, for both English and Japanese, suggesting the interference of anxiety with proficiency levels. Anxiety in Japanese tended to decrease significantly over time, but no significant change was found for English. Furthermore, no significant difference between anxiety in Japanese and English was found at either testing time.
Emotion as the Amplifier and the Primary Motive: Some Theories of Emotion with Relevance to Language Learning
Author: Oxford, Rebecca L.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Emotional Response,Cultural Influences,Constructivism (Learning),Psychotherapy,Cultural Differences,Resilience (Psychology),Anxiety,Self Control,Role,Emotional Intelligence,Social Psychology

Emotion is crucial to living and learning. The powerful intertwining of emotion and cognition ignites learning within a complex dynamic system, which, as several sections of this paper show, also includes societal and cultural influences. As &quot;the primary human motive&quot; (MacIntyre, 2002a, p. 61), emotion operates as an amplifier, which provides energetic intensity to all human behavior, including language learning. This chapter explains major theories of emotion drawn from positive psychology, social psychology, social constructivism, social constructionism, and existential psychotherapy. It also offers implications for language learning related to understanding and managing emotions; expressing emotions appropriately despite cultural and linguistic differences; viewing emotions as transitory social roles; enhancing positive emotions and developing resilience; and recognizing, perhaps paradoxically, both the negative and the positive aspects of anxiety. The chapter concludes with the statement that language learners can become more agentic in dealing with their emotions. This form of self-regulation can lead to greater success in language learning.
Tracking Students' Autonomization through Emotion Traces in Logbooks
Author: Chateau, Anne
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Emotional Response,Diaries,Self Efficacy,Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Graduate Students,Language Usage

Until relatively recently the impact of emotions on language learning has often been ignored and &quot;the nature and contribution of positive emotions and beneficial emotional states deserves further attention&quot; (Bown &amp; White, 2010, p. 433). Our study focuses on a flexible language learning system that combines different elements: work in a virtual learning environment, group work, counselling sessions and a logbook. One of its objectives is to help students progress towards autonomy--defined as &quot;the capacity to take control over one's own learning&quot; (Benson, 2011, p. 2)--in their learning of English. The logbook has been shown to be useful in helping students become conscious of the new role they have to play in such a system (Chateau &amp; Zumbihl, 2012). A discourse analysis of 100 logbooks from the 2012-2013 cohort of students showed that the traces of emotions they contained could enable us to identify important steps in the development of autonomy, as well as make hypotheses on the links between emotions, students' self-efficacy and the development of learner autonomy.