ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teachers&apos; Sensitivity towards Technology and Environmental Ethics
Author: Ceyhan, Busra
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Teachers,Ethics,Teacher Attitudes,Environment,Vignettes,Biotechnology,Gender Differences,Teaching Experience,Decision Making,Futures (of Society),Consciousness Raising,Elementary School Teachers,Middle School Teachers,Factor Analysis,Teaching Methods,Science Instruction,Environmental Education,Genetics,Foreign Countries

The purpose of the current study was to determine the science and classroom teachers' ethical sensitivities towards the issues of technology and the environment. Thus, the current study was conducted on 239 science and classroom teachers. The study employed the mixed method, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are used together. The quantitative dimension of the study is comprised of a survey, which was developed by the researchers. The qualitative dimension of the study comprised of three scenarios created by the researchers. Two of these scenarios are related to the environment and the other one is related to biotechnology. As a result of the study, the teachers' ethical sensitivities towards technology and environmental issues were found to be high. For some items in the questionnaire significant differences in gender-based, branch-based, and professional experience were found. The results obtained from the scenarios revealed that while science teachers adapt more realistic approaches to the events, the classroom teachers make decisions for the future. It would be useful to organize in-service training and ethical awareness training for teachers who are in the beginning of their professional lives.
Professionalizing Pre-Service Biology Teachers&apos; Misconceptions about Learning and the Brain through Conceptual Change
Author: Grospietsch, Finja
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Misconceptions,Student Attitudes,Transfer of Training,Neurosciences,Brain,Biology,Science Teachers,Teaching Methods,Science Instruction,Course Descriptions,Pretests Posttests,Intervention,Concept Formation,Outcomes of Education,Attitude Change,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Teacher Education Programs,Foreign Countries

Scientific concepts of learning and the brain are relevant for biology teachers in two ways: Firstly, the topic is an object of instruction (e.g., long-term potentiation). Secondly, biology teachers must guide their students towards sustainable learning. Consequently, their own understanding of learning and the brain has an especially far-reaching influence on students. Pre-service biology teachers endorse so-called &quot;neuromyths,&quot; misconceptions on the subject of learning and the brain (e.g., the existence of learning styles) even though they cover neuroscientific content during their studies. These misconceptions remain relatively stable throughout university education and practical training. In this paper, we transfer the teaching and learning model of conceptual change to the university context. We investigate whether and to what extent a university course developed in accordance with a professional conceptual change model can reduce pre-service biology teachers' endorsement of neuromyths. In a pre-post-design, 57 university students were asked about their professional knowledge, beliefs, neuromyths, and perception and utilization of the university course. We found a positive effect of the intervention on all three elements of students' conceptual understanding. The results show that explicitly refuting misconceptions about learning and the brain (e.g., via conceptual change texts) helps to professionalize neuromyths.
First Steps toward Literacy: What Effective Pre-K Instruction Looks Like
Author: Neuman, Susan B.
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Instructional Effectiveness,Preschool Education,Emergent Literacy,Preschool Children,Reading

The early years are times of wonder for children. Curious about everything, they seek to explore and understand their world. During these early years, they attempt to interpret their world and make meaning through pretend play, drawing, and conversations with those closest to them. Although these first steps toward literacy may not look much like what we consider literacy to be, children are actively trying to use and make sense of reading and writing long before they have mastered the technical skills associated with print. In this article, the author unpacks the building blocks to early literacy, including spaces for children to discover, communicate, and play. The author identifies supports teachers need, such as small class sizes, access to high-quality books, and comprehensive professional development.
Solving Environmental Problems Together? The Roles of Value Orientations and Trust in the State in Environmental Policy Support among Swedish Undergraduate Students
Author: Harring, Niklas
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Undergraduate Students,Trust (Psychology),Values,Conservation (Environment),Public Policy,Student Characteristics,Orientation,Student Attitudes,Economics,Law Students,Political Science

This paper explores whether value orientation (VO) and trust in the state (TIS) are linked to support for environmental intervention and steering among Swedish students in economics, law, and political science. Furthermore, we considered whether environmental personal norms mediate the link between VO and support for environmental policy instruments and finally, whether TIS moderates the link between environmental personal norms and support for environmental policy instruments, testing this on a sample of over 800 Swedish students. We found a positive link between both a self-transcendence VO and TIS on environmental policy support; however, we cannot confirm a moderating effect of TIS on the relation between environmental personal norms and policy support. Furthermore, left-wing students displayed stronger support for environmental intervention. We conclude that more knowledge on programme-specific characteristics regarding environmental values, beliefs, and attitudes among freshman students can enhance sustainability teaching intended to develop the students' critical and reflective capabilities.
The Impact of a Short-Term International Experience on Undergraduate Students&apos; Cultural Competency
Author: Bunch, J.C.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Study Abroad,Phenomenology,Agricultural Education,Educational Experience,Cultural Awareness,Student Attitudes,Intercultural Communication,Outcomes of Education,Foreign Countries,Photography,Ethics

Historically, education abroad has been designed to provide students a full immersion experience by way of semester or year-long study at a foreign university. However, this traditional format has been redefined to include a variety of non-traditional international experiences, such as international service learning projects, internships, and short-term international experiences. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop a deep understanding of the lived experiences of agricultural education undergraduate students participating in a short-term international experience. The overarching question that guided the study was: What were the lived experiences of agricultural education undergraduate students during a short-term international experience? As a result of the short-term international experience, students did not progress fully through all levels of development needed to be considered proficient in cultural competence. However, students demonstrated significant gains in cultural awareness and some gains in cultural understanding and cultural sensitivity. Finally, participating students verified some progress toward building cultural communication competencies as a result of their experience.
Early Childhood Science and Engineering: Engaging Platforms for Fostering Domain-General Learning Skills
Author: Bustamante, Andres S.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Education,Critical Thinking,Persistence,Engineering Education,Risk,Science Experiments,Executive Function,Hands on Science,Preschool Children,Intervention,Poverty,Disadvantaged Youth,Preschool Education,Teaching Methods

Early childhood science and engineering education offer a prime context to foster approaches-to-learning (ATL) and executive functioning (EF) by eliciting children's natural curiosity about the world, providing a unique opportunity to engage children in hands-on learning experiences that promote critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, persistence, and other adaptive domain-general learning skills. Indeed, in any science experiment or engineering problem, children make observations, engage in collaborative conversations with teachers and peers, and think flexibly to come up with predictions or potential solutions to their problem. Inherent to science and engineering is the idea that one learns from initial failures within an iterative trial-and-error process where children practice risk-taking, persistence, tolerance for frustration, and sustaining focus. Unfortunately, science and engineering instruction is typically absent from early childhood classrooms, and particularly so in programs that serve children from low-income families. However, our early science and engineering intervention research shows teachers how to build science and engineering instruction into activities that are already happening in their classrooms, which boosts their confidence and removes some of the stigma around science and engineering. In this paper, we discuss the promise of research that uses early childhood science and engineering experiences as engaging, hands-on, interactive platforms to instill ATL and EF in young children living below the poverty line. We propose that early childhood science and engineering offer a central theme that captures children's attention and allows for integrated instruction across domain-general (ATL, EF, and social-emotional) and domain-specific (e.g., language, literacy, mathematics, and science) content, allowing for contextualized experiences that make learning more meaningful and captivating for children.
A Learning Community Retrospective Integrating Science and Literature
Author: L'Heureux, Gerrard A.
Date: 2018-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Instruction,Active Learning,Communities of Practice,Student Participation,Self Esteem,Student Attitudes,Cultural Relevance,Interdisciplinary Approach,English Literature,Community Colleges,Two Year College Students,Water,Environment,Natural Disasters

The author reflects on his 44-year career as a science instructor, during which he gradually implements new active learning strategies in the classroom and shifts to integrating science and literature in the teaching of learning communities. The author describes three learning communities to show how the disciplines of science and literature can be integrated in productive ways. The author is especially pleased that students became more active and productive learners and also appeared to demonstrate increased confidence and enjoyment of their learning community classes because the courses integrated cultural and scientific perspectives, and were interactive as well as personally and socially relevant.
Transversal Competences: Their Importance and Learning Processes by Higher Education Students
Author: Sá, Maria José
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Students,Employment Potential,Labor Market,Job Skills,Transfer of Training,Education Work Relationship,Higher Education,Competence,Teaching Methods

At a time when the labour market is blocked and simultaneously rapidly changing, with the emergence of new professional and scientific areas, the higher education mission becomes less indisputable and more indeterminate and challenging. This uncertainty was the leitmotiv for this essay, which aims to discuss the importance of attaining transversal competences in higher education. To achieve this goal, a bibliographical research was carried out on the attention that is currently given by higher education institutions to this topic, how they respond to the need for increasingly more transversal training and how they develop a curriculum that meets these requirements. Thus, in methodological terms, a thorough research on the literature addressing the topic of transversal competences was carried out; subsequently, a document search was conducted and a qualitative review and analysis of the documents collected was performed to justify our stance. Our analysis allowed concluding that the context of indeterminacy regarding the future has variations, considering the geographical and political situation, the social context and the activity sector. Furthermore, attitudes, expectations and predispositions are also critical elements for the success of this process of transversal competences' attainment. This latter factor is central in this process, as there is often a gap between students' expectations regarding the competences they expect to attain in higher education and the proposals that frame their training at the micro, meso and macrosocial levels and which take the need to attain transversal competences in higher education for granted.
A Case Study on the Problems of Teacher Training System Based on the Opinions of Faculty Members, School Administrators, Teachers, and Unionists in North Cyprus
Author: Baskan, Gulsun Atanur
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teacher Education,Elementary Education,Problems,Elementary School Teachers,Principals,Union Members,College Faculty,Educational Attitudes,Inservice Teacher Education

The aim of this study is to establish the problems in training teachers who will be working at primary schools in the North Cyprus based on the opinions of faculty members, school administrators, teachers, and unionists. Using the qualitative research approach, open-ended, semi-structured questions developed by the authors were directed to the participants in order to establish the &quot;teacher training problems&quot; and to obtain data. The study group of the research was made up of six primary school teachers of the Ministry of National Education of North Cyprus, six school principals, six unionists from the administrative board of the Cyprus Turkish Teachers Union, and six faculty members from universities in the North Cyprus, which makes up a total of 24 people. The data obtained were analyzed using the inductive content analysis technique. The research revealed problems such as the inadequacy of application lessons in the teacher training system in the North Cyprus, the existence of selecting teacher candidates without a control or criteria, inadequacy of the pedagogical formation education, existence of teacher candidates entitled to get into permanent teaching positions after working as temporary teachers for 36 months, problems of supervision during the years of candidacy, appointing teachers for political interests, a teacher training process becoming a business for profit, inadequacy of faculty members in developing themselves, and in-service trainings not being implemented in a planned manner. In conclusion, recommendations were developed for educational faculties and the Ministry of National Education towards solving the problems of the system.
The Relationship between Free Time Satisfaction and Stress Levels of Elite-Level Student-Wrestlers
Author: Yasarturk, Fatih
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Athletics,Leisure Time,Anxiety,Satisfaction,Athletes,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Foreign Countries,Secondary School Students,College Students,Marital Status,Income

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between free time satisfaction and stress levels of elite level student wrestlers according to some demographic factors. The sample of the study consisted of 119 (85 male and 34 female) elite level student wrestlers who participated in the Wrestling National Team camp in 2018. As data collection tools, &quot;Personal Information Form&quot;, &quot;Stress Scale in Working Life: SSWL&quot;, and &quot;Free Time Satisfaction Scale: FTSS&quot; were used. In the analysis of the derived data, t-test, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis were used, and Pearson Correlation test was applied to examine relations between study variables. There was no significant difference in the t-test results according to the &quot;gender&quot; variable (p &gt; 0.05). There was a meaningful, low-level negative correlation between the &quot;age&quot; variable and social, aesthetic, sub-dimensions of stress scale. As a result, this study found that participants' free time satisfaction levels were related to age; and stress levels were related to age, sport year, national team year, and income level.
What Kind of Economic Citizen? A Comment
Author: Cameron, Michael P.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Economics Education,Citizenship Education,Citizen Participation,Citizenship Responsibility,Social Justice,Activism,Classification

Crowley and Swan (2018) proposed a categorisation of economic citizenship, in which they extend earlier work to include a new type, the discerning economic citizen. I argue that the discerning economic citizen is not a distinct type from the other three (the personally responsible economic citizen, the participatory economic citizen, and the justice oriented economic citizen). The underlying idea of whether an economic citizen is discerning or not instead represents a different dimension across which the goals of economics education could be conceptualised. [For Crowley and Swan's article, see EJ1200080.]
The Representation of Religion in Religion Education: Notes from the South African Periphery
Author: Tayob, Abdulkader
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Religion,Religious Education,Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods,Educational Policy,Religious Factors

Scholars of Religion Education (RE) have promoted a non-confessional approach to the teaching of religions that explores and examines the religious history of humankind, with due attention paid to its complexity and plurality. In this promotion, the public representation of religion and its impact on RE has not received sufficient attention. An often hegemonic representation of religion constitutes an important part of religion in public life. Moreover, this article argues that this representation is a phenomenon shared by secular, secularizing, and deeply religious societies. It shows that a Western understanding of secularization has guided dominant RE visions and practices, informed by a particular mode of representation. As an illustration of how education in and representation of religion merges in RE, the article analyses the South African policy document for religion education. While the policy promotes RE as an educational practice, it also makes room for a representation of religion. This article urges that various forms of the representation of religion should be more carefully examined in other contexts, particularly by those who want to promote a non-confessional and pluralistic approach to RE.
Construction and Evaluation of an Instrument to Measure Content Knowledge in Biology: The CK-IBI
Author: Großschedl, Jörg
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Biology,Science Instruction,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Test Construction,Knowledge Level,Ecology,Evolution,Genetics,Microbiology,Physiology,Preservice Teachers,Science Teachers,Test Validity,Test Reliability,Foreign Countries,Teacher Education Programs,Secondary School Teachers

The teaching process is well described as an interaction between teacher, student, and content. Thus, it seems obvious that teachers must know the content to help students to learn it. Instruments have been developed to measure teachers' content knowledge (CK) in biology, but few of them have been provided to the scientific community. Furthermore, most of them have a topic-specific approach, so there is a need for a more comprehensive measure. In efforts to meet this need we have developed an instrument called the CK in biology inventory (CK-IBI), which has a broader scope than previously published instruments and covers knowledge of five biological disciplines (i.e., ecology, evolution, genetics and microbiology, morphology, and physiology). More than 700 pre-service biology teachers were enrolled to participate in tests to assess the instrument's objectivity, reliability, and validity in two cross-sectional evaluations. Item and scale analyses as well as validity checks indicate that the final version of the CK-IBI (37 items; Cronbach's a = 0.83) can be scored objectively, is unidimensional, reliable, and validly measures pre-service biology teachers' CK. As the instrument was used in a German context, it has been translated into English to enable its scrutiny and use by international communities.
Engaging Marginalized, &quot;At-Risk&quot; Middle-Level Students: A Focus on the Importance of a Sense of Belonging at School
Author: Pendergast, Donna
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Disadvantaged,Adolescents,Learner Engagement,At Risk Students,Middle School Students,Foreign Countries,Sense of Community,Student School Relationship,Grade 6,Grade 7,Grade 8,Grade 9

The philosophy of middle level education is to intentionally create a learning environment that supports every young adolescent. The literature around engagement points to the need for students to experience (among other requirements) a sense of belonging at school (SOBAS). When the need for belonging is not achieved there may be significant consequences, including an impact on intellectual performance, and hence, learning potential may not be achieved. For students with marginalized identities, an intensification of factors that create challenges places them at-risk of disengaging and their sense of belonging at school is more likely to be compromised. Nurturing SOBAS is positively associated with the retention of students who are at-risk of dropping out of, thereby being an aspirational goal of education. Methods: The findings of a systematic literature review related to young adolescents and the importance of SOBAS forms a focused literature base. We highlight findings from a study that explored the effectiveness of engagement strategies for marginalized students in one educational jurisdiction in Australia. Data in the form of a series of interviews and focus groups conducted with 25 students, 25 of their teachers, and 39 school leaders provides a rich data set for thematic content analysis. Inductive analysis and in vivo coding led to a framework that summarized each of the sub-group data sets to convey emergent themes. Results: Five themes related to SOBAS emerged from the data: (a) Relationships in School; (b) School Climate; (c) Pedagogical Practices; (d) Specific Programs and Activities; and (e) Other Issues, mainly variables such as family, mental health, trauma and poverty that impacted on a student's SOBAS. Conclusion: The systematic literature review and the findings of the empirical study presented in this paper highlight aspects of SOBAS that can be formalized into a series of strategies to increase retention of marginalized students.