This study aims at investigating the impact of implementing digital storytelling as a method to be utilized to help pupils acquire active listening skills and creative thinking skills, including fluency, flexibility, and originality, in the Arabic language classes of the primary third grade. The sample consists of (200) pupils in a mixed-gender type and divides into two equal groups; one is the experimental group, and the other is the control one. Both groups expose to two posttests, the first test is a post active listening test and the second is a creative thinking test; the validity and reliability of these tests have assured. The results showed significant differences in (p ≤ 0.05) between means scores of the control and experimental groups students in the posttest of active listening skills in favor of the students who studied through storytelling. The results also showed that the storytelling strategy affected the experimental group students’ acquisition of one skill of the three creative thinking skills, which is fluency.

Metacognition in science teaching involves processes that include self-awareness and self-regulation. Metacognition enables the teachers to facilitate student learning and to reflect on their teaching in order to enable themselves to improve or to make any changes to their teaching. In particular, teaching activities, especially in the 21st century, do not merely involve the transfer of knowledge and then applying that knowledge into daily life, but teachers need to reflect, plan and evaluate learning outcomes to enhance further in teaching. This study attempts to gain the perspective and implementation of metacognition skills in teaching science in the primary school classroom. The data was collected through a qualitative research method based on interviews with six science teachers in primary school using semi-structured interview protocol. The interview data were analysed for emerging themes, guided by the research questions. Teachers have a similar perspective of the understanding of metacognition in science teaching. Further discussion focuses on the implementation of metacognition in science teaching. This discussion is divided into three aspects, which are constraints faced, overcoming the constraints, and efforts made to implement metacognition in science teaching. Hence, the understanding of science teachers in regards to metacognition in science teaching is important and gives a positive impact towards teaching and learning in primary science teaching.

This paper adds to writing to learn research by reporting on empirical and conceptual studies on the subject matter but also by speculating on the learning virtues that writing offers besides its function as an assessment tool, namely that it can provide students with an adequate avenue to reflect on their learning. For this purpose, I reviewed 17 studies spanning a 17-year period (2004-2020) and representing both the L1 and L2 contexts. Reviewed studies examined writing to learn in different disciplines and grade levels across countries, including the US, Canada, Turkey, Norway, Spain etc. Later in this paper, I set out to elaborate on thematic patterns if these existed and identify areas where further research may be warranted. Findings indicated that writing to learn is an effective instructional strategy across different grade-levels and disciplines both in the L1 and L2 teaching and learning contexts. Finally, this paper overviews relevant pedagogical implications and future research directions.

The present study aimed to provide a digital story development experience for pre-service science teachers in the “instructional technologies and material development” course and to determine the impact of these experiences on their views on digital storytelling. Simultaneous parallel design, one of the mixed methods in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, was used in the study. Quantitative and qualitative findings are presented in different sections and both were interpreted in the discussion section. The quantitative study data were collected from 50 pre-service teachers, while the qualitative data were collected from 16 pre-service teachers. Quantitative data were collected by a survey and the qualitative data were collected in interviews. Descriptive/inferential statistics were employed in the analysis of the survey data. The steps of the analysis, coding, and categorization were adopted in the study for qualitative data. The positive effect of digital storytelling on the 21st-century skills of pre-service teachers was revealed by both quantitative and qualitative data. Furthermore, it was determined that pre-service teachers considered digital storytelling as advantageous since it provided meaningful and permanent learning, was fun and motivational; however, it also had disadvantages since it was time-consuming and required technological knowledge. It was revealed that they experienced certain difficulties in scriptwriting, finding the related images/videos and photographs, and finalizing the recording, and they considered that most, if not all, topics in the science course were suitable for digital storytelling. For pre-service teachers to acquire 21st-century skills, digital storytelling should be employed in several courses including the teaching practice course, and pre-service teachers should gain experience in preparing the students for digital storytelling.

This study aimed to investigate the degree to which teachers in Qatar implement differentiated instruction as well as the impact of years of experience, qualifications, grade, school subjects and training on teachers’ use of differentiated instruction. Also the study tried to explore the obstacles impeding the application of differentiate instruction. The study targeted all early childhood teachers (1,836) in 99 Qatar public schools spreading across the country. A random sample of 236 teachers, accounting for 12.9% of the population participated in the study. Following the mixed approach, the researchers used questionnaires and interviews to collect the data. The results showed no statistically significant differences among the respondents in the degree of application of differentiated instruction due to training and qualifications; however, statistically significant differences were detected in relevance to years of experience, grade, and the subject being taught. The study also found an agreement among teachers on the obstacles they face during their application of differentiated instruction, most notably the teaching load, class size, and time. The study concluded with recommendations for education providers, teachers and researchers.

This research aims to investigate the effect of socio-scientific issues (SSI) based instruction on preservice science teachers’ soft skills and environmental awareness. By applying cluster random sampling, 83 preservice science teachers (PSTs) were selected from the Department of Science Education at a university in Indonesia. The participants were divided into two groups which comprised the experimental group who were taught using SSI-based instruction, while the control group received direct instruction. The quasi-experimental study was carried out through a pre- and posttest control group design. Data was gathered quantitatively using soft skills and environmental awareness questionnaires. The soft skills questionnaire comprised six sub-skills questions: communication, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, teamwork, and social interaction. The environmental awareness questionnaire contained questions about the PSTs’ attitudes, behavior, and willingness to act. These sub-skills were developed based on literature studies and reviews of previous studies. Face validity was conducted by the experts, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.84 (for soft skills) and 0.86 (for environmental awareness) were obtained. The data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The result showed that SSI-based instruction had a significant effect on improving preservice science teachers’ soft skills and environmental awareness. After being taught using SSI-based instruction, all the sub-skills of the soft skills of the experimental group had increased compared to before. A similar trend was also found in their scores for environmental awareness. All the components of environmental awareness, after lecturing using SSI-based instruction, showed a significant increase compared to before. These results support the claim that SSI-based instruction fosters soft skills and promotes environmental awareness.

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the IPA KIT teaching aids for earthquakes science KIT in improving students' collaboration skills and creative thinking. The design of this research is a quasi-experimental research with a stratified random sampling technique. This study involved two classes, namely the experimental class (n = 32) and the control class (n = 33) with a pretest-posttest control group design. This research was conducted at SMP Negeri 5 Depok. The statistical analysis used to test the research hypothesis based on the pretest and posttest scores is the normality test, linearity test, homogeneity test, correlation test, effect size, and MANOVA test. The results showed that the use of IPA KIT teaching aids for earthquakes was more effective in improving students' creative thinking skills and collaboration. Therefore, teachers are advised to use the earthquake science KIT teaching aids for earthquakes to improve the creative thinking skills and collaboration of junior high school students.

Challenges arising from the classroom behavioral management of students with social, emotional and behavioral difficulties are a concern for educational professionals. The purpose of this study is to review common elements of behavior interventions for the disruptive behaviors of children with social, emotional and behavioral difficulties. A systematic review was conducted through an electronic search of studies (from 2000 to 2017) on ERIC, Web of Science, FRANCIS, and MEDLINE databases. The inclusion criteria involved: (i) an intervention improving behaviors at school of children with disruptive behaviors; (ii) elementary school children with the majority of the sample or average age between 6-11 years old; (iii) at least one measurable outcome focusing on social/emotional/behavioral outcomes; (iv) single-case designs. Of the 5339 articles that were identified in the initial screening, 27 met the criteria to be included in the review. Common characteristics of successful interventions are discussed to make recommendations for future implementation.

Every school should be able to equip students to have the ability to integrate the knowledge gained with real life in responding to global challenges. Assessment of learning outcomes in the form of cognitive and skill aspects must go hand in hand. This study aims to produce: (1) a critical thinking model integrated with the science process, (2) construct validity and reliability instruments that measure the integrated critical thinking skills of science process skills in high school chemistry learning. This assessment model uses the Design and Development approach which refers to the Ellis & Levy model, namely: (1) problem (2) goal setting, (3) model design and development, (4) model testing, (5) evaluation of the test result model, and (6) application model. The validity assessment consisted of 3 measurement and measurement experts, 2 chemistry education experts, and 2 treatments. The trial sample described 289 high school students in Sleman Regency. Proving the validity of the content using the Aiken formula gets a value of 0.923 in the good category. Internal instrument reliability is included in the reliable category with a value of 0.886 (> 0.7), while the Composite Reliability ranges from 0.88 to 0.90. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the value of the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was 0.021 <0.08, the Chi-Square obtained from <2df testing was 38.29 <2 (34) and the Goodness of fit Index (GFI) was 0.97. > 0.90 or a model declared according to the data obtained in the field and can be used in extensive measurements.

The investigation of epistemological beliefs has become important in both pre-service and in-service education of teachers. Different scales have been developed to determine teachers’ epistemological beliefs. The same scale yields different results in different cultures especially due to the cultural aspects of education. Therefore, testing the scales in different cultures contributes to their use. Within this framework, the scale developed by Schommer and adapted to Turkish culture by Deryakulu and Büyüköztürk was adapted to Kosovo culture. In the study, whether the Albanian, Bosnian and Turkish versions of the scale support the same factor structure was tested by employing the quantitative research method. First, the Epistemological Belief Scale was translated into Albanian and Bosnian and expert opinion was received. The scale was applied to 200 teachers who serve in schools where education languages are Albanian, Bosnian and Turkish. The scale comprised 35 items and 3 factors. Linguistic equivalence was prioritized, as the study was carried out in Kosovo. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis was employed to confirm the suitability of the three-factor structure of the scale. The analyses were carried out separately for each language and revealed acceptable fit indices. Reliability analysis produced satisfactory results.

This paper presents and assesses the effects of an Extended School Time project (ESTp), with a working day of 8 contact hours, that aimed to develop the students as a whole in its academic, artistic, sport, social and human dimensions. Based in active and integrated pedagogical practices, the project promoted the integration of knowledges, curiosity, sense of criticism, creativity, sharing solidarity and the conviviality of students. This project was applied to a 6th grade class with 20 pupils (11.2±0.68 years old). Using a qualitative methodology, 13 semi structured interviews were applied to 3 types of participants: 6 pupils, 5 parents (42.6±4.54 years old) and 2 teachers (60±4 years old), in order to analyze their perceptions regarding the project. Results show that each group valued different aspects of the project. The pupils valued activities that emphasized challenge, communication, creativity, and autonomy, as well as activities of academic continuity. The parents focused mostly on the occupational component of Extended School Time (ESTp), and the teachers on its effects on social and self-development of the pupils. This development was reflected in an improved peer-to-peer relationship and in a greater sense of belonging to school. The convergence verified in this ESTp, between cognition and the artistic, social and sport education, sought to promote the main goal of the School, an instruction that promotes a global (including multicultural and universal) development of the pupils’ capabilities.

The study aims at investigating basic level schoolteachers' awareness of their students' mathematics learning disability (MLD) in the context of Nepal. It is based on a mixed-method research design in that it combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches as appropriate. Using the stratified random sampling technique, 300 basic level mathematics teachers were selected from 150 basic level (grades 1-8) community and institutional schools representing the three significant ecological regions (the Mountain, the Hill, and the Terai) and demographic variables (gender, place of residence, and school type) from Province 1 of Nepal. A Mathematics Learning Disability Awareness Scale (MLDA-Scale), was developed and used to measure the basic level schoolteachers' awareness of their students' MLD. Besides, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the purposively selected basic level schoolteachers for the qualitative data. The basic level schoolteachers' awareness of MLD factor categories was calculated using descriptive statistics. Similarly, t-tests were conducted to examine the effects of the demographic variables. The qualitative data, however, were analyzed thematically. The results reveal that the majority of the basic level schoolteachers' knowledge toward their students' MLD was inadequate and that the demographic variables had no significant effects on the teachers' knowledge of their students' MLD. Finally, the study recommends developing the managerial practices regarding the MLD issue further.

Because of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, most universities were forced to choose Online Distance Learning (ODL). The study aimed to examine the response of university students to the new situation. A questionnaire was sent to the entire university student population. Based on responses from 606 students, it was revealed that use of all applications in ODL increased. However, only the use of MS Teams increased significantly, while the use of the other applications (email, Moodle, e-textbooks) increased in a range of low to medium in terms of effect sizes, and even nonsignificant for applications such as Padlet and Kahoot. Based on the replies of 414 respondents, a Model of Forced Distance Online Learning Preferences (MoFDOLP) based on Structural Equation Modeling was developed. With a chosen combination of predictors, we succeeded in predicting 95% of variance for Satisfaction, more than 50% for Continuance Preferences variance in MS Teams applications, and nearly 20% in the case of e-materials. Among hypothesized constructs, only Attitudes are a strong predictor of Satisfaction, while Organizational Support, Perceived Ease of Use and Learner Attitude toward Online Learning are not. Satisfaction is a good predictor of Continuance Preferences to use Information Technology after the lockdown ended.

Recently, Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) has caused a considerable interest in the school community due to the wide-scale lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The curriculum's alteration necessitated a call to explore mechanisms for effective remote instruction delivery—including parental involvement. This research determined the psychometric properties of the "Strategies for Parental Involvement during Emergency Remote Teaching - Scale (SPIERT-S). The tool assesses the strategies used by teachers to facilitate parental involvement during ERT. Through a thorough literature review, 22 items about home and school collaboration and ERT were initially developed. Evidence related to content validity was established through two-round expert consultation, while data related to construct validity were gathered through factor analyses. The content validity analysis resulted in the deletion of four (4) items; hence, 18 items were retained. A three-factor structure was yielded from Exploratory Factor Analysis (parents as facilitators of learning, parents as sources of information, and parents as collaborators), and a total of 15 items were retained. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated an acceptable level of the goodness-of-fit indices measured. The internal consistency of the factors and the whole scale showed excellent reliability. The results suggest that the SPIERT-S has good, valid, and reliable psychometric qualities and can be used to examine the strategies for parental involvement that teachers utilize during emergency remote teaching. Recommendations and limitations of the study are discussed.

This research aims to develop Indonesian Language textbooks with multiculturalism and character education for traditional poetry writing learning. This research uses a research and development approach until the discovery of a proper textbook. The subjects involved in this study were 101 elementary school fourth-graders, 33 teachers, and 2 Indonesian language and literature learning experts. Data analysis techniques at the need analysis stage through interactive models, and data analysis at the product testing stage using quantitative techniques with non-independent t-test statistics. Preliminary studies found that teachers and students needed creative writing skills textbooks developed by integrating the values of multiculturalism and character education. Textbook development referred to aspects of content, language, presentation, and graphics. Limited textbook product testing using t-test showed that t-obtained= -4,265 and t-table on α = 5 % is 2,064, so H0 is rejected. Broad testing also resulted in    t-obtained= -6,426 and t-table = 2,004, so it can be decided that H0 is rejected. Students' traditional poetry writing skills after learning using textbooks are better than before learning using textbooks. Thus it is concluded that the textbooks developed are inferred worthy of use by teachers and students to improve their writing skills in elementary school.

The article deals with mathematical literacy in relation to mathematical knowledge and mathematical problems, and presents the Slovenian project NA-MA POTI, which aims to develop mathematical literacy at the national level, from kindergarten to secondary education. All of the topics treated represent starting points for our research, in which we were interested in how sixth-grade primary school students solve non-contextual and contextual problems involving the same mathematical content (in the contextual problems this content still needs to be recognised, whereas in the non-contextual problems it is obvious). The main guideline in the research was to discover the relationship between mathematical knowledge, which is the starting point for solving problems from mathematical literacy (contextual problems), and mathematical literacy. The empirical study was based on the descriptive, causal and non-experimental methods of pedagogical research. We used both quantitative and qualitative research based on the grounded theory method to process the data gathered from how the participants solved the problems. The results were quantitatively analysed in order to compare the success at solving problems from different perspectives. Analysis of the students’ success in solving the contextual and non-contextual tasks, as well as the strategies used, showed that the relationship between mathematical knowledge and mathematical literacy is complex: in most cases, students solve non-contextual tasks more successfully; in solving contextual tasks, students can use completely different strategies from those used in solving non-contextual tasks; and students who recognise the mathematical content in contextual tasks and apply mathematical knowledge and procedures are more successful in solving such tasks. Our research opens up new issues that need to be considered when developing mathematical literacy competencies: which contexts to choose, how to empower students to identify mathematical content in contextual problems, and how to systematically ensure – including through projects such as NA-MA POTI – that changes to the mathematics curriculum are introduced thoughtfully, with regard to which appropriate teacher training is crucial.

Students' critical thinking ability requires improvement from schools as an educational institution. Besides, it is important to maximally integrate character education into mathematics learning. One of the attempts was implementing mathematics comic that contains Pancasila values as teaching material through contextual teaching and learning. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effectiveness of mathematics comic teaching material with Pancasila values in improving students' critical thinking and character. This is a quasi-experimental study that involves non-equivalent control group design. The population was fourth-grade students of elementary schools in Gajahmungkur District, and data were collected using a critical thinking test and questionnaire. The results showed that using mathematics comic teaching material with Pancasila values was (1) effective in improving students' critical thinking ability; (2) effective in developing character, especially discipline and hard work trait. In the beginning, both character traits were categorized as good, and after treatment, there was an increase in the very good category. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of mathematics comic teaching material with Pancasila values is effective in improving critical thinking ability and character traits.

The objective of this research is to analyze the twelfth graders' mathematics critical thinking skills using a mathematics learning model to stimulate fundamental critical thinking abilities of science courses in SMA Negeri, Pacitan Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. This quasi-experimental research design was used in this study with one group posttest only design using multiple substantive posttests. The sample of 141 students from the total population of six public schools involving the twelfth graders of the natural sciences was selected through purposive sampling technique, data were taken through tests of students' critical thinking skills and interviews. The data analysis consists of five stages, namely an analysis of one sample t-test, an analysis of students' grades, an analysis of problem-solving stages, an analysis of critical thinking abilities indicators, and an analysis of mathematics critical thinking abilities indicators. The results showed (1) The results of the one sample t-test show that the mathematics learning model is effective to stimulate critical thinking, which means that the application of the mathematics learning model is effective to stimulate critical thinking; (2) the overall grades of students that met the minimum mastery criteria; (3) the data analysis of eleven problem-solving stages proves that the criteria for critical thinking abilities are categorized as good and very good. The highest score indicator considers the principle and definition of transformation, while the lowest grade indicator is mainly concerned with the questions on right and coherent steps; (4) the critical thinking skills have seven indicators that highlight the criteria of students' critical thinking abilities categorized as good and very good. The indicators that get the highest score determine the definitions of terms, while the indicators of the lowest score determine the action; (5) the results of the analysis show indicators of mathematics critical thinking skills that have eight indicators. The criteria of students' critical thinking abilities met good and very good categories along with indicators with the highest value score by considering the definitions of terms, while the indicators of the lowest score deal with the habit of caution.

Mechanics, as a large part of physics, shows the most basic concepts we encounter in our daily lives. With this regard, we implemented the mechanics baseline test (MBT) to the University of Rwanda - College of Education before and after the teaching mechanics module to track students learning. About 38 students participated in this study. We found the instructional strategies used to fit in a model we named "teaching and learning bucket" (lecturer backing and learners owning learning) during data analysis. The results showed that the performance occurred only in 12 out of 26 MBT items at a p<.001, and Cohen's D effect size of 1.26. Such analysis also allowed us to identify areas of mechanics that need teaching improvement, such as (a) constant acceleration, (b) average velocity, (c) the first law of Newton, (d) work and energy, and (e) energy conservation. There was also a positive correlation (r=0.58) between students' confidence in answering questions and correct answers provided and vice versa. Therefore, the research significantly informs lecturers to use various teaching approaches to effectively employ the teaching and learning bucket (TLB) model.

This research aimed to analyze the levels of agreement between kindergarten teachers and principals in identifying the assessment of teachers’ teaching competencies and performance. The study was designed under a quantitative approach using a survey. It implemented a non-probability sampling technique with purposive sampling. The sample of the population comprised of 173 kindergarten teachers and 101 principals in Semarang District, Indonesia, or a total of 274 respondents. The data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using Cohen’s Kappa coefficient to measure the levels of agreement between raters and Pearson Chi-Square test was also utilized to determine the differences in perceptions among principals and teachers. The findings showed that the levels of agreement between raters were averagely in the no agreement category, implying the existence of differences in perceptions among teachers and principals. The involvement of a multi-rater strategy in such research is a rare effort, especially for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) level in Indonesia. Researches regarding teaching competencies and performance generally only involve single rater, either teachers or principals who judge themselves on their competencies and performance, thus the results tend to be subjective. In conclusion, the assessment of teaching competencies with the relation of cognitive abilities was conducted through a test that considered subjective questions and case analysis to evaluate the teachers’ skills based on their performance and self-description. Both personal and social assessments utilized self-assessment forms or autobiographies, which were completed with specific themes. Meanwhile, the performance assessment was observed with the assessment rubric and comparison with the learning process performed by an individual educator.