This study aims to explore the role of lesson analysis in the development of mathematical knowledge for teaching. For this purpose, a graduate course based on lesson analysis was designed for novice mathematics teachers. Throughout the course the teachers watched videos of group-mates and discussed the issues they identified in terms of student-teacher relationship for a student centered instruction. Analysis over the video made teachers notice points and came to realize the thoughts of students; they had otherwise missed at the classroom. They achieved improvements regarding the awareness of the need to identify the cases presenting the most difficulty to the students in terms of teaching, and the necessity to take precautions regarding such points, to learn about the reason of the difficulty, and to pay attention to the statements by the students. Therefore, it is possible to note that the teachers improved themselves in terms of student’ knowledge with respect to the mathematical knowledge for teaching.

This study tested and integrated the effects of an inquiry-based didactic method for preschool science in a real practical classroom setting. Four preschool classrooms participated in the experiment (N = 57) and the children were 4–6 years old. In order to assess children’s attention for causal events and their understanding at the level of scientific reasoning skills, we designed a simple task in which a need for information gain was created. Compared to controls, children in the post-test showed significant learning gains in the development of the so-called control of variables strategy. Indeed, they executed more informative and less uninformative explorations during their spontaneous play. Furthermore, the importance of such programmes was discussed in the field of STEM education.

* Note: This paper was published as an inadvertent duplicate publication with an another journal.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of performance feedback (PF) provided to student teachers working with students with multiple disabilities and visual impairment (MDVI) on their teaching skills. The study group of the research was composed of 11 student teachers attending to the final year of the Teaching Students with Visual Impairments Program at a university in Ankara, Turkey. A quasi-experimental design, was used in the study. These student teachers recorded their classes for pretest and posttest and these video-recorded classes were thereafter watched by the observer, who completed semi-structured observation forms for each student teacher. The results of the analysis suggested a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the student teachers involved in the study before and after the performance feedback. The findings of the study were discussed in the light of the relevant literature and practical recommendations were included.

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool which will reveal teachers’ self-competences in education process. Participants of the study are 300 teachers working at state primary schools in the province of Gaziantep, Results of the exploratory factor analysis administered to the scale in order to determine its construct validity, indicated that it has four sub-dimensions. In accordance with the results of confirmatory factor analysis RMSEA was measured .050 level fit index. The determined levels for GFI is found to be 0.88, whereas for AGFI, 0.85 for NFI, 0.94 for CFI 0.98 and 0.94 for RFI. Also, non normed fit index, (NNFI) has been observed as 0.97. Four dimensions of the scale which was composed of 23 items account for approximately 54% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was counted .86 for the first dimension; .82 for the second dimension, .67 for the third dimension, .70 for the fourth dimension, and .92 for the entire scale. The scale, developed in order to measure teachers’ self-efficacy in the teaching process, proved to be valid and reliable based on the results of the related analyses.

Measuring the quality of the ‘product’ is elemental in education, and most studies depend on observational data about student achievement factors, focusing overwhelmingly on quantitative data namely achievement scores, school data like attendance, facilities, expenditure class size etc. But there is little evidence of learner perceptions. 553 students from two different universities, who graduated from 3 high school types, were asked to respond to two fundamental questions to reflect on school and classroom level achievement factors. 2294 responses produced eight categories in question one, teacher factors being the most preferred (n=424), followed by individual factors (n=404) and then family factors (n=395). As for liking towards a course, 1362 responses were produced, most frequent one being teacher’s attitude (n=205). Results indicate student perspective of causes of achievement is somewhat different from those expressed in quantitative studies. Girls attributed more achievement to study habits, family support whereas boys attributed more to school and technology. More emphasis is needed on perceived achievement factors for a sound evaluation of effectiveness in school.

Nowadays, technology is developing in a geometrically progressive manner. Its usage in different social areas is an imperative, rather than a choice. As expected, digital devices are applicable in the educational context, as well. Hence, the scope of the present study is to examine attitudes toward mobile learning among English teachers. For this purpose, we conducted a survey with 159 teachers from both state and private schools as well as universities in Turkey. In general, our results showed that teachers have positive attitudes toward the usage of mobile devices in the ESL learning context. However, there is an almost equal number of teachers who use and who do not use mobile devices and other digital contents in their classrooms. In addition, and according to teachers, there were two main obstacles to using mobile devices in teaching processes – lack of training and students' attitudes. On the other hand, the lowest ranked obstacles were school administrations and pedagogical justification.

This study investigated the effects of competitive and cooperative teaching techniques on Iranian adult EFL learners’ use of direct strategies. To this end, a sample of 88 non-English major university students at Sohrevardi Nonprofit College in Qazvin were assigned to two groups, and each group received instruction under one of the treatment conditions including cooperative and competitive teaching techniques. To collect data, the Persian translation of a modified version of the subsection of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory of Language Learning pertaining to direct strategy use was administered before and after the treatment. The obtained data were analyzed using an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) procedure. The result of data analysis showed no significant difference between the effects of competitive and cooperative teaching techniques on direct strategy use of Iranian adult EFL learners. The findings of the present study may have implications for learners, teachers, and syllabus designers.

Although wealth of empirical researches have covered the impact of crucial, indispensable role reading skills play in the development of individuals’ mental faculties through the acquisition of knowledge in a particular language, scientific works on the assessment of the relationship(s) between pre-reading activities (consisting of games, puzzle solving, match making) and reading skills achievement remain depressingly scanty in Ghana. This study in the light of foregoing atmosphere explored how pre-reading activities facilitate pre-reading and reading skills among preschoolers with the use of randomized experimental control groups design which adopted pre and post-test of two classes, as well as observation guides to diagnose the problem of reading among the KG children in the two groups (control and treatment groups). The findings from these experimentations clearly portrayed the significant influence that pre-reading activities exert on the level of preschoolers reading skills achievements. Upon thorough analysis, and discussions predicated on the research outcome, it has been recommended that preschool educators incorporate levelappropriate pre-reading activities to enrich Preschool Education in Ghana.

The paper presents an educative experience organized in a postgraduate course in a faculty of education with the aim of facilitating students’ “affective self-understanding”. Affective self-understanding is a reflective practice that allows people to comprehend their own emotions in order to gain awareness of them. Students were spontaneously engaged in a laboratory, where they were invited to reflect on their emotional lives. The educative experience was subdivided into different phases requiring writing and analysis tasks. At the end of the experience, students were asked what they thought they had learned, what had been difficult, and what had been the most important phase for learning. Students’ answers were analyzed on the basis of grounded theory through an inductive process of analysis. The theoretical framework of the research is the cognitive theory of emotions. According to this theory, an emotional education is possible because we can understand emotions by identifying their cognitive component and the actions they induce.

This paper describes a pedagogical framework that teachers can use to support students who are engaged in solving open-ended problems, by explaining how two Japanese expert teachers successfully apply open-ended problems in their mathematics class. The Open-Ended Approach (OPA) framework consists of two main sections: Understanding Mathematical Knowledge and Applying Mathematical Knowledge. The sections were cross-analyzed with students’ responses to provide a comprehensive analysis of how teachers use various techniques to support students. It is proposed that teachers can use this framework to create an environment that promotes learning with open-ended as well as other open problems in their mathematics classroom. The OPA framework can contribute to teacher education, the design of mathematics curricula and to educational research.

Facilitating effective mathematics learning and higher mathematics achievement have long been recognized as a key to the scientific and technological advancement of the African continent. While the central role that language proficiency plays in mathematics teaching and learning has received an overwhelming research attention in the literature over the past two decades, this is not the case among African policy-makers and political leaders. Drawing mainly from our professional experiences as mathematics educators and from the international research literature, our primary intent in this paper is to answer this question: How does the learning of mathematics in English at the basic school level help or hinder students’ mathematical proficiency? To answer this question, the paper is organized as follows. The first part, the introduction, gives a brief overview of the language of learning and teaching in Africa. The second part describes the method and conceptual framework undergirding the research. In the third section, we have analyzed the effects of mathematics learning and teaching through English for basic students whose mother tongue is a Ghanaian language. The conclusion offers four recommendations for developing and improving the mathematics proficiency of students in basic schools.

Learner and teacher beliefs play an important role in second language (L2) learning. Furthermore, the role of grammar instruction and error correction in the L2 classroom is a topic that is still debated in the literature. This study explored the beliefs of EFL learners and teachers regarding the controversial role of grammar instruction and error correction. A total of 17 instructors and 60 students at a private Turkish university participated in the study. The participants completed an open-ended questionnaire and interviewed regarding their beliefs about grammar instruction and error correction. Themes emerging from the qualitative data were identified. As a result of this study, it can be said that both learners and teachers believed in the importance of grammar in language and error correction, however there were some differences between the learners and teachers regarding the use of native language in grammar teaching and other areas of grammar teaching.

In this article, a teaching strategy which not only blends yesterday and today in a meaningful way but also powerfully integrates literacy and history will be examined. Firstly Readers’ Theatre as a technique will be introduced. Secondly, the usage guidelines of Readers’ Theatre will be presented. Finally the opinions of secondary school students about Readers’ Theatre as an instructional component in history teaching will be discussed. The research was conducted on 72 11th grade students from Deneme Secondary School in Çankaya district in Ankara in the spring term of 2013-2014 school years. For the purpose of the study, students were taught by using Readers’ Theatre technique in history lessons for four weeks and at the end of this implementation, the semi-structured interviews were held to determine the opinions of students about Readers’ Theatre technique. The themes were formed by making content analyze to the collected data. It is concluded that the students mainly have described Readers’ Theatre as “theatre”. They have found Readers’ Theatre useful in many respects as they outline the positive effect of the technique on their reading and obtaining historical information. They like most the cooperation with their peers and acting. The vast majority of students have not mentioned any dislikes and a few of them have difficulties to follow the script. Finally, the answers of the majority of the students on the implementation of Readers’ Theatre again are “positive” and their suggestions for better implementation are “on stage”, “the same way” and “using visuals”.

The major purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between teacher self efficacy and burnout. In order to collect the related data, “Maslach Burnout Inventory” and “Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale” were used. The sample of the study consisted of 163 randomly chosen teachers who worked in various primary and secondary state schools in 2014-2015 academic year. The results of the data analysis put forward that there was significant, medium and negative correlation between teacher self efficacy and burnout levels of the participants. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis results, which were run to assess the relationship between the two variables better, indicated that teacher self efficacy predicted burnout negatively. In the light of these findings and other related studies several suggestions were made.

Majority of NOS studies comprise of determination or assessment studies conducted with ordinary students. In order to gain further understanding on variation in NOS understandings among the students, there should be different research attempts focusing on unconventional students such as academically advanced students. The purpose of this study is to determine epistemological understanding of Finnish academically advanced science students concerning aspects of NOS. The study was a case study (N=39) conducted with qualitative perspective. Questionnaires on the students’ attitude toward science and motivation toward science learning plus a form for the teacher’s ideas and VNOS-C, were used as diagnostic tools and data collection instruments. The study revealed that the majority of the students were found to be naïve in aspects such as “empirical basis of science”, “observation and inference”, “subjectivity of scientists”, “social and cultural embeddedness”, “creativity in science”, “theories and laws” and “tentativeness”.

Schools and teacher induction programs around the world routinely assess teaching best practice to inform accreditation, tenure/promotion, and professional development decisions. Routine assessment is also necessary to ensure that teachers entering the profession get the assistance they need to develop and succeed. We introduce the Item-Level Assessment of Teaching practice (I-LAST) as a flexible framework-based approach for quantitative evaluation of teaching best practice in the induction stages. We based the I-LAST on a novel framework for teaching best practice, and used Fuller’s scale as a framework for understanding the potential of the I-LAST in providing longitudinal measures for growth. Using the context of a year-long teacher induction program in the Midwestern United States, we collected data through an online survey from 46 teaching supervisors who were asked to evaluate their interns. We used the Rasch partial credit model as a criterion for construct validity, and measured dimensionality and reliability from both Rasch and classical frameworks. The I-LAST was found to be a unidimensional, valid, and reliable measure for teaching best practice. It demonstrated the ability to provide reliable scores for specific sub-dimensions of best practice, including those which manifest at various stages along Fuller’s scale. Potential uses of the I-LAST to advance understanding of the role of teacher induction programs in fostering productive growth in new teachers is discussed.

This paper presents a comparative research project on pre-vocational education in lower secondary schools in seven European countries. The primary aim of the study was to better understand how the formal pre-vocational education curriculum is interpreted and shaped by individual teachers. The countries covered are Austria, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Scotland. Two research methods have been used. First, a content analysis of the relevant curricula was carried out, focussing on how, and to what extent, pre-vocational education competencies are embedded in the official curriculum in the seven countries covered by the study. Second, 75 teachers took part in qualitative expert interviews about their implementation of the relevant curriculum. This research builds upon previous studies in education and employment and in particular, on a theoretical framework that explores the differences between the ‘prescribed’ curriculum and the ‘enacted’ curriculum. This study will argue that, although it is possible to identify a distinct pre-vocational curriculum within each region in the seven countries, this curriculum is, in practice, taught very differently within the schools and that the differences in curriculum implementation can be explained, amongst other factors, by the availability of resources and the initial and further training of teachers.

Lesson starts are transitional events which may cause management problems for teachers This study sought junior secondary school mathematics teachers’ beliefs about calculator use in mathematics instruction in Botswana and was descriptive in nature adopting a survey design. The sample of seventeen (17) mathematics teachers from four (4) junior secondary schools in the Tutume Sub-district in Central Educational Region was selected through a purposive random sampling procedure. A questionnaire comprising both closed and open ended questions was designed to collect data then the analysis of results was carried out using descriptive and inferential statistics. As an illustration, a t-test was used to test for differences in teachers’ beliefs by gender while a one-way ANOVA was used to test for difference in their beliefs by experience. The study revealed that most of the teachers expressed their lack of confidence and were incompetent with the use of a calculator in their teaching with female teachers feeling less confident to explain different functions of a calculator than their male counterparts. In addition, the study showed that most of the teachers believed that a calculator was a technological tool that could be useful to the students in the future. On the contrary, most teachers felt that the overuse of calculators by the students could hamper the development of basic computational skills. Therefore, it was recommended that school based training on calculator use should be provided so as to empower teachers with the necessary technological skills for effective classroom instruction. The study findings have implications to research and practice as it provides unique and comprehensive data that will lead to insight for curriculum designers, policy implementers and instructional leaders on effective calculator use in math instruction.

Lesson starts are transitional events which may cause management problems for teachers. In this study 131 lesson starts of equally many teachers were observed in primary and secondary schools in Finland. The results indicated that, in general, the problems were minimal. However, for various reasons lesson starts were delayed by an average of about six minutes. Calculated on this basis, the total loss of instructional time in the whole school year was about five weeks of schooling. No statistically significant relationships were observed between disturbances in the classroom and any background variable studied including grade level, classroom type,(special or mainstream), group size, presence of classroom assistant, sex of the teacher, weekday, time of day of the lesson, or subject of the lesson. In order to maximise instructional time more attention should be paid in future to starting lessons promptly.

Research indicates attributes and practices for mentor teachers that can be used for effective mentoring. Universities provide guidelines for preservice teacher (mentee) engagement in schools generally from anecdotal evidence, however, what are desirable attributes and practices for mentees? This qualitative study gathers data from 25 mentor teachers through an extended response questionnaire and audio-recorded focus group discussions about attributes and practices for mentees. Findings showed that desirable attributes for mentees included: enthusiasm, being personable, commitment to children, lifelong learning/love of learning, open/reflective to feedback, develop resilience, and taking responsibility for their learning, while desirable practices included: planned and preparation for teaching, reflective practices; understanding school and university policies, knowing students for differentiated learning, and building a teaching repertoire (e.g. teaching strategies, behaviour management, content knowledge, and questioning skills). Preservice teachers need to consider teachers‟ suggestions on desirable attributes and practices that can help them achieve positive teaching experiences.