This paper is a quasi-experimental investigation into the effectiveness of using analogy in teaching new and unfamiliar physics concepts to students enrolled in a British curriculum school in the United Arab Emirates. The students (N = 34) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the control group (N = 17) following the traditional teaching method, and the experimental group (N = 17) using the student-centered analogical method. The students relied on previous class knowledge to construct models, which in turn helped them explore new ideas and derive new knowledge. Pre-tests and post-tests were given to the two groups, where the post-test (test 6) results confirmed that the experimental group showed a more consistent outcome of high grades, no failure, and good homogeneity of results. On the other hand, the control group kept fluctuating around the same level in the all-study’s tests (pre-test and repeated measures (tests 2,3,4 and 5). The effect size of the intervention was very large and practically important, at Cohen’s d = 2.35. As a result, analogy-based pedagogies have demonstrated impact on students' learning performance and perceptions. Consequently, the result is capable of providing significant insights for educational policy and curriculum development.

Recently, researchers have paid more attention to the aspects of classroom learning environments because of their effects on students’ cognitive and effective outcomes. However, current literature reveals the lack of research that explores the factors of classroom environments in Vietnamese context. The present study, therefore, aims to validate the psychometric properties of the 25-items version of the My Class Inventory (MCI), translated into Vietnamese for 487 secondary school students. Factorial analysis showed an acceptable fit for the four-factors structure of the MCI – cohesiveness, competitiveness, satisfaction, and friction – to be appropriate for secondary school students. Internal consistency reliabilities of the general scales and four subscales were satisfactory. Results support the suitability of the MCI to assess students’ classroom environment within Vietnam’s educational context. The study recommended, among other things, that future studies should be conducted to explore the validity of the MCI on other samples of Vietnamese secondary students.

Numerical thinking is needed to recognize, interpret, determine patterns, and solve problems that contain the context of life. Self-efficacy is one aspect that supports the numerical thinking process. This study aims to obtain a numerical thinking profile of Mathematics pre-service teachers based on self-efficacy. This study used descriptive qualitative method. The data obtained were based on the results of questionnaires, tests, and interviews. The results of the self-efficacy questionnaire were analyzed and categorized (high, moderate, and low). Two informants took each category. The results showed the following: informants in the high self-efficacy category tend to be able to interpret information, communicate information, and solve problems with systematic steps. Informants in the moderate self-efficacy category tend to be able to interpret and communicate information, but tend to be hesitant in choosing the sequence of problem-solving steps. Meanwhile, informants in the low self-efficacy category tend not to be able to fully interpret the information. As a result, the process of communicating information and solving problems goes wrong. Another aspect found in this study is the need for experience optimization, a good understanding of mathematical content, and reasoning in the numerical thinking process.

This study aimed to investigate essential employability skills for English as a foreign language (EFL) students in the Mekong Delta for the context of the 21st century. It was also to determine the similarities and differences between the important employability skills from the perspectives of the employers and EFL students. In this study, a questionnaire was delivered to EFL students who were juniors and seniors at a university in the South of Vietnam, majoring in English Education and English Studies (English Interpreter). At the same time, interviews were realized on both EFL students and employers. The findings showed that both EFL students and employers highlighted the attributes of self-confidence, receptiveness to feedback, and the use of body language in communication. The types of employability skills are similarly recognized among employers and EFL students in the same fields of employment. However, a significant difference was also found among employers on different job-specific skills. The results also indicated that EFL undergraduates were all highly aware of preparing the employability skills for their future professions.

This study aimed to explore online and distance learning (ODL) issues related to higher education during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nepal. We applied an online survey design with a five-point Likert scale. We surveyed 71 (57 male and 14 female) postgraduate students in science education at a public higher education institution in Kathmandu, Nepal. A Principal Component Analysis identified four major constructs as the components of ODL issues. They are scarcity, efficiency, access, and inconvenience. The results of the Independent Samples Test (t-test and ANOVA) showed that participants' views about scarcity were significantly different across their gender (male and female) and device use (mobile, laptop, and desktop). They were not significantly different in their views about efficiency, access, and inconvenience across gender, device use, hometown, age group, ethnicity, and school type at .05 level of significance.

Despite receiving increasing attention from mathematics education scholars, there has not yet been any overall understanding of the current state of realistic mathematics education (RME). To address this gap, this study aims to provide a review of 288 studies on realistic mathematics education from the Scopus database between 1972 and 2019. Using descriptive and bibliometric analyses, this study addresses four research issues as follows: (i) the total volume, growth trajectory, and geographic distribution; (ii) the most influencing authors and research groups; (iii) the most influencing sources (i.e., journals, books, conferences); and (iv) the most important topics. Several implications for not only mathematics education scholars but also other stakeholders, including policymakers, school managers, mathematics teachers, may not be considered in this study.

Technological tools are means by which online teaching could encourage the engagement of students, especially elementary students. The present research studies how elementary teachers develop their use of technological tools in their asynchronous and synchronous online teaching, specifically when this online teaching occurs during emergency education. The research was conducted in the academic year 2019/2020. We interviewed two elementary teachers, where one of them taught asynchronous lessons more than synchronous, while the second taught synchronous lessons more than asynchronous. We analyzed the data using two frameworks: one for interaction type and one for engagement type. The research results indicated that different interaction types influenced teachers’ decisions to use technological tools. In addition, what concerned the teachers’ use of tools at the beginning was the cognitive engagement, but they advanced towards focusing on behavioral and the affective engagement.

The onset of the Coronavirus disease COVID-19 crisis has forced pedagogical institutes to adopt online teaching/learning as an urgent strategy to cope with the pandemic. Utilizing the theories of social capital, knowledge sharing, and mobile learning constructs, this research aims to investigate the association among these constructs in one of the higher education institutes in the context of developing countries. Additionally, to improve our understanding of the mediation effect of mobile learning on this relationship, the author used the structural equation modeling technique to analyze the data from questionnaires administered to undergraduate students attending classes during the pandemic. Results revealed that the relationship between social capital factors and knowledge sharing is significantly positive. Results also showed that there is a partial mediation to back up the correlation of social capital factors and knowledge sharing.

Surveillance technology is more and more used in educational environments, which results in mass privacy violations of kids and, thus, the processing of huge amount of children’s data in the name of safety. Methodology used is doctrinal, since the focus of this research was given in the implementation of the legal doctrine of data protection law in the educational environments. More than that, the cases of Greece and France regarding the use of surveillance technologies in schools are carefully studied in this article. Privacy risks that both children and educators are exposed to are underlined. In these terms, this research paper focuses on the proper implementation of the European data protection framework and the role of Data Protection Authorities as control mechanisms, so that human rights risks from the perspective of privacy and data protection to be revealed, and the purposes of the use of such technologies to be evaluated. This study is limited in the legal examination of the European General Data Protection Regulation, and its implementation in the legal orders of Greece and France, and practice pertaining to the case studies of Greece and France respectively.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether emphasising the managerial domain of the preservice preschool teachers’ curriculum is capable to improve their management and leadership skills. This study used the mixed-method methodology that combined the exploratory design and the experimental design. It included three basic phases such as feasibility assessment of making changes to the curriculum, intervention, and controlled observation, followed by the analytical phase. It was proved that the university curriculum upgraded the training approach by using the guided interim directorship. This change addressed the Professional Standard requirements for the preschool heads as well as job requirements. The intervention produced a positive shift in students’ skills of micromanagement, long-term planning, communicating vision, emotional control, and mentoring. There was a shift from the basic level of management skills before the intervention to the intermediate level of the skills after the intervention. The number of students with a superior level of skills increased by 11.54% as well. The students’ comments concerning the integration of the managerial component into the curriculum were complimentary. The observers’ reports suggested that they appreciated the students' work which was the outcome of the updated curriculum.

Online learning is an obligation in teaching and learning activities during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Game-based learning is a solution in improving student learning outcomes. This research aims to determine the level of acceptance of gamification in terms of Gamification quality (GQ), instructor characteristic (IC), and technology anxiety (TA). The target respondents were students taking information systems courses based on enterprises resources planning (ERP) Gamification. The sample used is a census. That is, the entire population is taken as a sample. A total of 93 students filled out the online questionnaire. Then, data analysis using Structural Equation Model - Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). Student satisfaction (SS) and perceived ease of use (PEOUG) are the most influences. PEOUG is also the construct that has the most significant relationship impact, especially with the perceived usefulness (PUG). Meanwhile, two constructs do not significantly impact TA on PUG and PUG on Intention to use gamification (INTG). The obligation of students requires students to ignore the impact and function of gamification. The results of this research also show that technology acceptance model (TAM), the constructs IC, TA, and GQ have a positive effect on PEOUG. Then PUG and PEOUG can positively affect SS.

Misconceptions are one of the biggest obstacles in learning mathematics. This study aimed to investigate students’ common errors and misunderstandings they cause when defining the angle and the triangle. In addition, we investigated the metacognition/ drawing/ writing/ intervention (MDWI) strategy to change students’ understanding of the wrong concepts to the correct ones. A research design was used to achieve this goal. It identified and solved the errors in the definition of angle and triangle among first-year students in the Department of Mathematics Education at an excellent private college in Mataram, Indonesia. The steps were as follows: A test instrument with open-ended questions and in-depth interviews were used to identify the errors, causes, and reasons for the students’ misconceptions. Then, the MDWI approach was used to identify a way to correct these errors. It was found that students generally failed in interpreting the concept images, reasoning, and knowledge connection needed to define angles and triangles. The MDWI approach eliminated the misconceptions in generalization, errors in concept images, and incompetence in linking geometry features.

Learning by teaching is a technique where students teach an actual class to facilitate active learning. This paper reports ongoing research involving undergraduate students at an established university in Indonesia. The objective of this quantitative study was to find out the effect of this teaching technique in improving students’ 21st century skills. The sample was selected using a cluster sampling technique, where 25 students who were English as a Foreign Language pre-service teachers were assigned to an experimental group, and the other 23 students were treated as a control group. The students in the experimental group were asked to conduct a workshop in groups to students from the same department at a different university. Each group selected one of the topics in their course syllabus. A pre-test measuring the students’ soft skills was conducted before the course started and after it finished. The results show that soft skills, which include accountability, communication, innovation, problem-solving, teamwork, professional working, and networking skills, improved significantly among students in the experimental group, but the improvement was not evident in the control group. Therefore, learning by teaching should be embraced as an alternative teaching technique when soft-skill development becomes a target of instruction.

This study aimed to describe the differences in students' creative thinking skills in a problem-based learning model with scaffolding in the biochemistry course. This study was designed using a quantitative explanatory research design with a sample of 113 students of the Jambi University Chemistry Education Study Program. In this study, the researcher used the experimental class and control class. The sampling technique used is total sampling and purposive sampling. The research data was taken by observation, test, and interview methods. The quantitative data analysis used was the ANOVA test and continued with the Post-Hoc Scheffe’s test. The findings of this study indicate that the results of the ANOVA test indicate a significant difference in the average creative thinking results in terms of psychomotor aspects with the acquisition of significance scores of 0.000. In addition, the results of this study indicate that class A students have higher creative thinking skills than class B and class C. This is because class A students use a problem-based learning model integrated with scaffolding in their learning.

The learning management system (LMS) is a crucial component of the e-learning transformation which is becoming more urgent amid the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. The issue of adopting LMS is even more decisive in developing countries, where lots of efforts have been put out to broaden educational opportunities. However, there has not yet been any comprehensive analysis of how LMS-related issues are examined in these countries. To address this gap, this study uses the bibliometric method to construct an overview of research on this topic. The results unveil the distribution of the literature, prominent actors, and dominant themes in the literature of LMS in developing countries. In summary, the topic is a robustly potential research matter. Future researchers can use this study as a starter when investigating relevant subjects.

This study aimed to determine the effect of cognitive and affective factors on the performance of prospective mathematics teachers. Cognitive factors include cognitive independence level and working memory capacity, while affective factor include math anxiety. Mathematical performance was then assessed as basic math skills, advanced math skills and problem-solving ability. This research combined quantitative and qualitative research methods. In order to determine the effects of cognitive independence, working memory capacity, and math anxiety on math performance, multiple regression tests were used. To then see the effects of these three factors on problem-solving ability, a qualitative approach was used. Eighty-seven prospective math teachers participated in this study. Based on the results of the multiple regression, it was found that the level of cognitive independence affects basic math skills but has no effect on advanced math skills. Working memory capacity was seen to positively affect math performance (basic and advanced math skills, problem-solving skills), while mathematics anxiety demonstrated negative effects on advanced math skills and problem-solving skills.

Problem-solving process requires information processing, and the information processing is related to working memory capacity (WMC). This study aims to determine the effect of WMC on students' mathematical abilities and to describe the ability of the students with high and low WMC in solving mathematical problems. This research used mixed method with Sequential Explanatory Design. The quantitative data were collected through the provision of OSPAN tasks and math tests to 58 students aged 15-17 years, while the qualitative data were collected through interviews based on mathematical problem-solving tasks. The results showed that WMC had a significant effect on students' mathematical abilities (R=0.536; p=0.000). Researchers found differences in students' mathematical problem-solving abilities with high and low WMC. Students with high WMC can remember and manage information well which supports the determination of more advanced problem-solving strategies and have better attention control so that they find varied appropriate solutions. Students with low WMC experienced decreased attention control as the complexity of the tasks increased, missed important information in problem solving strategies, and did not recheck their work, leading to wrong solution/answer. The mathematical performance of students with high WMC outperformed the mathematical performance of students with low WMC.

This research is a developmental research aiming at developing a good mathematical test instrument using polytomous responses based on classical and modern theories. This research design uses the Plomp model, which consists of five stages, (1) preliminary investigation, (2) design, (3) realization/construction, (4) revision, and (5) implementation (testing). The study was conducted in three vocational schools in Lampung Province, Indonesia. The study involved 413 students, consisting of 191 male and 222 female students. The data were collected through questionnaire and test. The questionnaire was used to identify the assessment instruments currently employed by teachers and to be validated by the experts of mathematics and educational evaluation. The test used an open polytomous response test numbering of 40 items. The data were analyzed using both classical and modern theories. The results show that (1) the open polytomous response test has a good category according to classical and modern theory. However, the discrimination power of test items in classical theory needs several revisions, (2) the assessment instrument using the polytomous response of open multiple choice can guarantee information on the actual competence of students. This is proven by the fact that there is a harmony between the analysis result obtained from classical and modern theory from the students' arguments when giving reasons for their choices. Therefore, the open polytomous response test can be used as an alternative to learning assessment.

This study investigates the contribution of teachers’ willingness to their professional competence in adapting to digital learning transformation during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its relationship to instructional leadership and self-efficacy. Data were collected by distributing online questionnaires consisting of 4 constructs, namely instructional leadership, self-efficacy, teacher’s willingness to change, and professional competence, and distributed to 221 Indonesian High School teachers. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used for analysis using Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) version 23.0 to examine the hypotheses. The results showed that instructional leadership significantly influences teachers’ willingness to change with a positive impact on their professional competence. Furthermore, there is a significant effect on teachers’ willingness to change their professional competence, insignificant on self-efficacy with substantial impacts on their willingness to change. The analysis results through the Sobel test showed that the teachers’ willingness to change is an excellent mediating variable for self-efficacy in influencing professional competence. Conversely, it is not an excellent mediating variable for instructional leadership towards professional competence. The importance of teachers’ willingness to improve their professional competence is a new finding that significantly contributes to their professional development.

This study investigates the inspiring leadership values in building an excellent inclusive higher education, including proactiveness, high-spiritedness, visionary, and humanist mindset. This was a case study where data were collected through in-depth interviews, direct observation, document analysis, and audiovisual material observation. The analysis was carried out by making data transcription, notes, video recordings, and documents; generating ideas, codifying data, designing themes, and interpreting data. Results show that inspiring leadership with a proactive mindset in policymaking can create original ideas, realize them actively and innovatively as well as solve problems creatively. High motivation leadership is seen through its activeness in asking the academic community to work together in building an inclusive higher education such as by attending activities related to special needs students. Visionary leadership is seen from its ability to build clear and measurable vision, mission, and organizational goals. In addition, it is also capable to see opportunities related to inclusive higher education's future development by generating appropriate policies and finding job opportunities for special needs students. Humanist leadership is an ability to manage challenges, conflicts, and resistance often arising during the process to build an inclusive higher education. Regarding the results, this study implies that inspiring leadership serves as one of the key factors to build an excellent inclusive higher education. However, due to limitations of this study, it is required further studies.