ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Designing Science Games and Science Toys from the Perspective of Scientific Creativity
Author: Demir Kaçan, Sibel
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Biology,Science Instruction,Creativity,Educational Games,Toys,Program Evaluation

This study was conducted with the participation of 21 pre-service science teachers attending the faculty of education of a university in Turkey. The study aims to evaluate pre-service science teachers' science games and science toy designs in terms of scientific creativity. Participants were given a four-week period to design science games or science toys to complement the contents of a biology course. The science games and science toys developed were then evaluated in terms of scientific creativity, using the following four criteria: &quot;science knowledge, fluency, flexibility, and originality&quot;. The science games and science toys developed by the pre-service science teachers were found to be satisfactory in terms of science knowledge and flexibility, and unsatisfactory in terms of fluency. There was an inconsistent distribution in the dimension of originality.
Examining Research Questions on Germination from the Perspective of Scientific Creativity
Author: Demir Kaçan, Sibel
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Science Education,Plants (Botany),Creativity,Knowledge Level,Creative Thinking

This study was conducted with the participation of 31 pre-service science teachers. Participants were asked to develop various research questions on germination. The study aims to examine research questions on the subject germination from the perspective of scientific creativity. The research questions were examined using the fluency, science knowledge, flexibility, and originality dimensions of scientific creativity. The study thus provides an analysis of the research question developed by pre-service science teachers on germination from the perspective of scientific creativity. It was found that the research questions developed by pre-service science teachers on germination were very satisfactory in terms of fluency and science knowledge, but unsatisfactory in terms of flexibility and originality. This might be attributed to their lack of experience in creative thinking, making it difficult to see events from different and multiple perspectives.
Health Care Practices for Medical Textiles in Government Hospitals
Author: Akubue, B. N.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Medical Care Evaluation,Health Services,Hospitals,Questionnaires,Incidence,Clothing,Operations Research,Employee Attitudes,Institutional Research,Public Sector,Maintenance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the health care practices for medical textiles in government hospitals Enugu State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the availability and maintenance of medical textiles in government hospitals in Enugu State, Nigeria. A sample of 1200 hospital personnel were studied. One thousand two hundred copies of questionnaire were distributed to the respondents and were filed and collected completely. Data collected were analyzed using frequency and mean. The findings include that medical textiles are not enough and the few medical textiles available in the government hospitals are not properly maintained. The findings of the study will create awareness to the hospital management in the provision and maintenance of medical textiles. Federal government should sponsor and monitor the provision of medical textiles in the hospitals, there should also be regular supervision by medical supervisors to ensure that the medical textiles supplied in the government hospitals are properly cared for.
Effective Vocational Guidance and Counselling Programmes: Creating Opportunities for Harnessing Potentials of Street Beggars
Author: Nweze, Tina
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Counseling Services,Career Counseling,Economically Disadvantaged,Career Guidance

This paper discussed the need to promote vocational guidance and counselling programmes not only at schools but as regards the street beggars. It is observed that majority of street beggars have lots of potentials locked in them which need to be unlocked through vocational guidance and counselling programmes or services. The paper noted that task of counselling is giving individuals opportunities to define, explore, discover and adopt ways of living more satisfying and resourceful life within the social, educational and vocational groupings within which such persons identifies or finds him/herself. It also discussed the concept of vocational guidance and counselling services, and looked at street begging. Opportunities the vocational guidance and counselling programmes could bring to the beggars were also highlighted. The paper concluded by suggesting steps to meeting the challenges vocational guidance and counselling services face in order to harness the potentials of the beggars.
Generating Social Change through Community-Campus Collaboration
Author: Nichols, Naomi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Change,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,School Community Relationship,Colleges,Partnerships in Education,Interaction,Foreign Countries,Interviews,Documentation,Observation,Coding,Retirement Benefits,Community Development,Well Being,Employment Level,Community Programs

In this article, a qualitative case study approach was used to explore the changes that community-campus collaborations stimulate. The authors document the &quot;processes of interaction&quot; (Spaapen &amp; van Drooge, 2011) through which collaborations seek to contribute to positive social change, highlighting the outputs, outcomes, and innovations that have resulted from these collaborative endeavors. This article focuses on improving efforts to track the changes or innovations that are influenced by community-campus interactions. Findings suggest that researchers should focus on the broad field of activity through which collaborations contribute to change. Specifically, there is utility in tracking the &quot;processes of interaction&quot; that extends beyond the initial site of collaboration into the communities where a partnership seeks to make change.
Documenting Community Engagement Practices and Outcomes: Insights from Recipients of the 2010 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification
Author: Noel, Jana
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Community Involvement,School Community Relationship,Higher Education,Classification,Organizational Culture,Teamwork,Barriers,Data Collection,Organizational Change,Mixed Methods Research,School Surveys,Interviews

This study was performed to document the strategies and methods used by successful applicants for the 2010 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification and to document the cultural shifts connected with the application process and receipt of the Classification. Four major findings emerged: (1) Applicants benefited from a team approach; (2) Evidence of community engagement often already exists within an institution, but additional data will likely need to be gathered; (3) Successful applicants encountered obstacles or challenges related to data collection structures and resources, institution-wide understanding and involvement, and matching data to the application itself; and (4) Both performing the application process and receiving the Classification yielded institutional and cultural shifts: new or improved collaborations, greater institutionalization of community engagement, new or improved data-reporting structures, and better alignment of the institution's mission with the goals of community engagement. This article also offers respondents' recommendations to future Classification applicants.
Academy-Community Partnerships: Challenges and Changes in Israeli Urban Regeneration Projects
Author: Tal, Rinat Botbol
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Low Income,Building Design,Interdisciplinary Approach,Professional Identity,Social Change,Change Agents,Humanities,Management Development,Law Schools,Clinics,Power Structure,Geography,Cooperation,School Community Relationship,Community Change,College Students,Student Attitudes,Empowerment

Students worked with low-income Jaffa residents on a 3-year building renewal project as part of a multidisciplinary clinic operated through the collaboration of the Faculty of Law, the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Humanities, and the Faculty of Management at Tel-Aviv University. Alternative models in the legal and planning literature inspired clinic participants to seek more equal power relations between the actors in this project, thus serving as social change agents. In light of the clinic's primary task--teaching and training--the authors analyzed its potentials and limitations as an agent of social change, focusing on how to cultivate (a) an intimate relationship between students and residents, (b) constructive collaborations between disciplines, and (c) linkage between academic theoretical material and fieldwork. These measures are key for enabling students to develop an empowering approach toward residents and a critical, self-conscious professional identity.
Occupational Stress and Management Strategies of Secondary School Principals in Cross River State, Nigeria
Author: Anyanwu, Joy
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Principals,Stress Variables,Secondary Schools,Administrator Surveys,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis,Gender Differences,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Work Environment,School Administration,Stress Management

The study aimed at finding out sources and symptoms of occupational stress and management strategies of principals in secondary schools in Cross River State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study with a population of 420 principals (304 males and 116 females) in secondary schools in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Occupational Stress and Management Strategies of Principals Questionnaire containing 26 items was the instrument for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used in answering the research questions while t-test was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. From the research findings, results showed that poor working environment, pressure from teachers, etc. affect the performance of principals irrespective of gender. Persistent head ache, regular body pain and hypertension are principals' symptoms of stress. It was recommended that secondary schools principals should hire competent personnel to assist in administration, delegate duties, take regular exercises and sought counselling help among others to ease their stress and create enabling environment for better school administration.
Psychological Sense of Community and University Mission as Predictors of Student Social Justice Engagement
Author: Torres-Harding, Susan R.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Justice,Institutional Mission,Service Learning,Student Attitudes,Activism,Social Action,Cultural Pluralism,College Students,Correlation,Questionnaires,Measures (Individuals),Social Desirability,Predictor Variables,Student School Relationship,Multiple Regression Analysis

Psychological sense of community (PSOC) is a construct that may facilitate social action in university students. Similarly, a social justice-focused university mission statement might also facilitate social action and interest. The current study investigated whether psychological sense of community, agreeing with the mission statement, and taking diversity courses or service-learning courses impacted university students' social justice attitudes and student activism. Results indicated that students with higher PSOC were more likely to agree with the university's social justice-related mission statement, and agreement with the mission was strongly associated with favorable social justice attitudes and activism. Taking service-learning courses was also associated with favorable social justice attitudes and a greater likelihood of engaging in activism.
Undergraduates' Perceived Gains and Ideas about Teaching and Learning Science from Participating in Science Education Outreach Programs
Author: Carpenter, Stacey L.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Outreach Programs,Science Education,Program Effectiveness,Student Attitudes,Educational Attitudes,Science Achievement,Experiential Learning,Service Learning,Elementary School Science,Secondary School Science,Semi Structured Interviews,Content Analysis

This study examined what undergraduate students gain and the ideas about science teaching and learning they develop from participating in K-12 science education outreach programs. Eleven undergraduates from seven outreach programs were interviewed individually about their experiences with outreach and what they learned about science teaching and learning. Emergent themes were identified from a content analysis of transcript data. Undergraduates reported career, academic, and personal gains. Undergraduates also recognized that understanding students, the nature of science and scientific practices, active learning, and student interest are important for science teaching and learning. These results were compared across outreach programs to determine how the type of program may affect undergraduate outcomes. This analysis indicated that although there were commonalities in undergraduates' experiences independent of the type of program, program elements that may affect outcomes included corresponding coursework or additional duties and the degree of focus on scientific practices.
Embedding the Scholarship of Engagement at a Regional University
Author: Crookes, Patrick A.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Universities,Higher Education,Scholarship,Educational Research,Interviews,College Faculty,Administrators,Participation,Teacher Role,Teacher Promotion,Promotion (Occupational),Institutional Environment,Educational Methods,Governance,College Instruction

Despite receiving growing international recognition and regard, the scholarship of engagement remains undervalued internally at academic institutions, especially in relation to career development and academic promotion. This form of scholarship presents difficulties relating to evaluation, assessment, and evidencing that are not generally present in the traditional scholarships of learning and teaching, research, and governance and service. Thus, scholarly engagement work is often not valued or rewarded by promotional bodies, and a gap is appearing between the career development opportunities, promotion, and probation outcomes of engaged scholars and those who focus on more traditionally recognized scholarly outcomes. To combat this, the University of Wollongong has undertaken a project that aims to embed the scholarship of engagement as a scholarly &quot;method of doing.&quot; This approach involves applying new and reformulated promotions guidelines to traditional scholarships in a way intended to remove barriers to promotion for &quot;engaged scholars.&quot;
The Self Concept Change as a Tool for Developmental Academic Advising
Author: Ugur, Hasan
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Self Concept,Academic Advising,School Holding Power,Self Efficacy,Academic Achievement,Intervention,Psychology,Peer Relationship,College Students,Student Characteristics,Values,Questionnaires,Scores,Foreign Countries,Likert Scales

The main goals of academic advising are not only to improving social and academic success of students during academic year, but to improve the retention of the students with the successful interventions inside the educational system. Many areas of practice and research are mentioned in the scientific literature. One of them is improving students' self-concept in order to make them more successful at their academic concerns. However, except for self-efficacy, few researchers took other important aspects of self-concept into consideration. Self-perceived values are the target in our research. The present research is inspired from a practical work of students' developmental advising and shows how self-perceptions of the students regarding certain characteristics could be positively altered not only by using an intervention derived from Festinger's social comparison theory [1] but also application of positive psychology [2]. It has been found that students' self-perception is altered when students learned and improved their consciousness about how other peers perceive them regarding certain characteristics. Besides confirming once again the reality of social comparison theory in academic context, practical implications of the findings for developmental academic advising are concluded.
The Impact of Item Position in Multiple-Choice Test on Student Performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) Level
Author: Ollennu, Sam Nii Nmai
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multiple Choice Tests,Test Items,Performance Based Assessment,Secondary School Students,Quasiexperimental Design,Difficulty Level,Statistical Analysis,English,English (Second Language),Language Tests,Mathematics Tests,Science Tests,Statistical Significance,Item Response Theory,Serial Ordering,Exit Examinations,Academic Achievement,Foreign Countries

The study investigated the impact of item position in multiple-choice test on student performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level in Ghana. The sample consisted of 810 Junior Secondary School (JSS) Form 3 students selected from 12 different schools. A quasi-experimental design was used. The instrument for the project was a multiple-choice test consisting of 40 items in each of English Language, Mathematics and Science. The items were arranged using the difficulty order to obtain the three treatments i.e. Random (RDM), Easy-to-Hard (ETH) and Hard-to-Easy (HTE). The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analysis indicate that for English Language, Mathematics and Science at the BECE level, when item order was altered, the difference in performance was statistically significant. The study led to the conclusion that the proposition of using re-ordering of items of an objective test to curb examination malpractice may not be the best after all especially in English Language, Mathematics and Science at the BECE level. It was therefore recommended that other methods should be investigated for the purpose.
The Forum Community, the Connectivist Element of an xMOOC
Author: Dubosson, Magali
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Computer Mediated Communication,Group Discussion,Group Dynamics,Gender Differences,Sex Role,STEM Education,Conflict,Conflict Resolution,Learning Theories,Electronic Learning,Interaction

One of the fastest growing approaches to teaching and learning in the new digital paradigm is the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). They are categorised either as cMOOCs following a connectivist approach, or as xMOOCs based on behaviourist principles. However, in xMOOC environments, forums may play a real connectivist role if they are functioning as a community. This paper builds on the criteria of Herring (2004) in order to determine the existence and dynamics of a community. Forum participants, in a connectivist approach, create knowledge together by requesting help, answering questions, discussing concepts and techniques, and suggesting applications and additional learning material. This research questions the existence of a clear distinction between cMOOCs and xMOOCs. It was also observed that gender roles in STEM classes are replicated online. Online teaching nowadays is no longer based on one-way processes but includes users in multi-way processes. These dynamics may be effective in ensuring a strong and well-functioning learning community.
The Effects of the Constructivist Learning Approach on Student's Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis Study
Author: Ayaz, Mehmet Fatih
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Constructivism (Learning),Academic Achievement,Meta Analysis,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Literature Reviews,Educational Research,Effect Size

In this research, a meta-analysis study was conducted in order to determine the effects of constructivist learning approach on students' academic achievement. Master's thesis, doctoral dissertation and articles in national and international databases, which are realized between the years of 2003-2014, appropriate to the problem and which can be included in a work of meta-analysis with important statistical data, have been studied by scanning in Turkish and English. At the end of the literature review, a total of 53 studies about effects of constructivist learning approach on student's academic achievement have been included in the meta-analysis study. Meta-analysis study determined that the constructivist learning approach, compared to traditional teaching methods, has positive effects on the student's academic achievement. After using a random effects model with a 0.910 and 1.402 interval of the confidence, the overall effect of constructivist learning approach in relation to academic achievement of students is found 1.156 (95% CI, SE = 0.125). 50 of the 53 studies included in the study have positive results, though only 3 of them show negative effect. As a result of moderator analyzes, we see that the highest effect values are observed in the master's thesis, in the teaching of science and at the college level.
Electronic Continuous Professional Development (E-CPD) for Teachers: Bridging the Gap between Knowledge and Application
Author: Razak, Rafiza Abdul
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Professional Continuing Education,Electronic Learning,Inservice Teacher Education,Elementary School Teachers,Qualitative Research,Content Analysis,Taxonomy,Mentors,Coaching (Performance),Learning Activities

The continuing professional development (CPD) is a concerted effort to ensure the educational service officers equip themselves with professional knowledge, skill, values and practices of teachers through in-service training programs organized based on competency development, lifelong learning and career path. Nonetheless, educators do not only teach or lecture but also have other stipulated duties such as involvement in research, committees and administrative duties. All these activities are time consuming and to achieve a proper balance will be a great challenge for educators. Thus, an online training system, electronic Continuous Professional Development (e-CPD) was designed to provide training for primary school teachers virtually. This study aims to identify the activities that occur at every level of Bloom Taxonomy with the integration Zone Proximal Development (ZPD) activities in e-CPD. Qualitative methodology specifically content analysis was utilized during the data collection. The content of e-CPD was analyzed searching for the activities in relation to Blooms Taxonomy embedded in ZPD. The findings of the research indicated that the e-CPD system implemented the four levels of mentoring; coaching, self-coaching, fossilization and applications. Apart from that, the system also involved the teachers with the six levels of Blooms Taxonomy; knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The incorporation of Blooms Taxonomy bridges the gap between the teachers' knowledge and its application. Hence teachers are able to apply their learning to authentic workplace situations to improve on-the-job performance.