This study has experimentally tested how the introduction of simulations, adapting the experience of higher educational institutions of the United States, including the elements of gamification, in the training course Professional Foreign Language stimulates the educational activity of students at higher educational institutions of Ukraine students’ educational activity  through the involvement and creation of activity for constructive competition and cooperation, stimulation of interests and motives, maintaining cognitive attention of students and encouraging feedback. To carry out this research, a script, a methodology for arranging the simulation Coffee Import-Export Procedure was developed. To process the collected statistical information, Covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) software, including two-way ANOVA for Mixed Measures, was used, and the Textalyzer software was used to process the answers of the experimental group’s students to the open-type questions. It was found out, that the simulation model Coffee Import-Export Procedure with elements of gamification develops value-motivational, cognitive and activity-reflective components of educational activity of students, develops self-education skills, which are included in the list of key life and career Skills of the 21st Century, moving the formation of competences of self-education from minor to dominant positions, forms the model of future professional activity of students. The scientific and practical results of this research can be used in the practice of corporate training of company’s personnel, professional training of future specialists in management, international business, organizational psychology, law, etc., as well as for the organization of professional training for people with limited access to higher professional education or for those who needs retraining.

The study aims to promote relevant and effective environmental education (EE) through extracurricular clubs. For this, we studied the state of play of environmental activities (EA) carried out by 48 environmental clubs belonging to urban and rural areas of the Regional Academy of Education Fez-Meknes, Morocco. These extracurricular environmental clubs remain so far without formal environmental education programs. In this study, we identified the bulk of programs offered by extracurricular environment clubs, including types of scheduled activities and percentages of achievement and student beneficiaries in urban and rural settings. In addition, we have identified the main barriers to achieving certain environmental activities. The significant correlations detected between some of the variables studied allowed us to better explain the achievements and the weaknesses of these clubs. Finally, we have made recommendations to promote relevant and effective extracurricular environmental education.

The current study aimed to adopt and assess the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of Grit-S among Omani and American students (N = 487) using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The scale’s construct validity was estimated by investigating its associations with achievement goal orientations (AGOs). EFA results suggested that a two-factor solution (i.e., perseverance of effort [G_PE] and consistency of interest [G_CI]) was the best factorial structure, explaining 47.74% and 51.02% of the variance in the Omani and American samples, respectively. The factors had good reliability coefficients in the two samples. Related to the intercultural differences, G_PE explained more variance among Omanis (31.02%) relative to American sample, whereas G_CI explained a larger proportion of variance among Americans (36.86%) compared with Omani sample. The first level of measurement invariance, configural invariance, was not supported, necessitating the investigation of the other levels of measurement invariance using a new sample. Grit correlated positively with mastery and performance-approach goals (r = .29 and .12, respectively) and negatively with avoidance goals (r = -.25), supporting the scale’s construct validity. These findings showed that Grit-S scale can be used as valid and reliable assessment tool to assess student interest and perseverance in the academic context in Arabic/Omani and American cultures.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of anxiety in learning Chinese, discover the dominant factors of anxiety in learning Chinese language and analyze differences in Chinese language anxiety based on gender, year of study and HSK in foreign students in Wuhan, China. The research method used was quantitative using a survey approach. There are 250 foreign students as the samples, consisting of 108 male and 142 female students. The data collection technique used is questionnaire called CLAS (Chinese Learning Anxiety Survey) adapted from FLCAS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Survey). The data were analyzed using SPSS with descriptive statistical techniques and Multivariate Analysis. The results showed that Chinese language anxiety among foreign students is on a moderate level, with communication anxiety as the most dominant aspect. The male and female students have the same anxiety level in learning Chinese. The foreign students who had longer duration of learning Chinese and had higher HSK tend to have lower level of anxiety in learning Chinese. This showed that years of study and HSK were two factors that determine the high or low level of anxiety in learning Chinese for foreign students.

Initial teacher education (ITE) programmes have been critiqued widely for failing to connect educational theory with everyday practices in schools. More meaningful collaborations between schools and teacher education providers have featured prominently among key recommendations addressing the traditional theory-practice divide. This paper traces and critically analyses one ‘simplex’ story of initiating and leading a large-scale school-university partnership (SUP) network in the Republic of Ireland. Using a narrative approach, the protagonists and researchers of this SUP story bring their ‘simplex’ journey of doing and shaping SUP to life. Analysis of the Irish case study emphasizes the authentic transformation of teacher educators’ institutional identities as a powerful enabler of meaningful collaboration while also highlighting ethical dilemmas that arose for university tutors in the context of deeper relational engagement in the school-university cross-boundary space. Constrained in their ITE praxis by power relations and a disequilibrium of responsibilities, tutors’ doubts, discomfort and, at times, disillusionment led them to readjust their expectations with regard to SUP while also refocusing their energy and hopes in student teachers as collaborative future change agents.

This study aims to examine the English as A Foreign Language Teacher Education Program (EFLTEP)‘s curriculum of one state university in Jambi Province, Indonesia. This research employed a qualitative research design with case study involving 8 participants comprising of 4 beginner teachers and 4 teacher educators. This study used document analysis and interview as its instruments of data collection. The data revealed that beginner teachers perceived they need more practical aspects of pedagogical-related courses than theoretical aspects of teaching. Furthermore, a number of courses were overlapped and need to be redesigned, teaching and learning in large classes seems to be a crucial barrier to the effective implementation of the curriculum in the classroom, and the duration of the EFLTEP to completion is considerably longer than other pre-service teacher education programs. Based on the research findings, several recommendations have been provided. A curriculum should be able to balance the theory and pedagogical skill practice. Teachers, administrative, and other relevant stakeholders should deliberate and design the curriculum together considering other courses or credits to avoid overlapping subjects, eliciting the subjects, and integrated the similar subjects into one would be best choice to optimize the teacher education program, teachers and other stakeholders should allocate much time on Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) practice and classroom management courses. At last, the curriculum should be in line with pre-service teachers’ needs to better prepare them with knowledge and skills for their teaching career in the future.

This study investigated the development of problem-solving strategies demonstrated by 42 elementary pre-service mathematics teachers in problem-solving mathematics classes. The study used a mixed methods approach of quantitative and qualitative research by analyzing the collected data.. The quantitative portion calculates the frequencies and percentage of the participants’ responses to the problems posed in three different phases of the intervention: before, during, and after receiving the mathematics lessons. The qualitative approach was used for in-depth investigation to describe various mathematical problem-solving strategies demonstrated by participants across the three different research phases. Findings of the study indicated a limited number of problem-solving strategies present during the first phase of research such as “use arithmetic operation strategy,” and “make a drawing strategy,”. During the implementation of the problem-solving lessons and classroom discussion, the participants began to develop more strategies such as  “use logical reasoning,” “solve a simpler problem,” “guess and check,” “organize data in a table or a list,” “look for a pattern,” “work backwards,” and “solve an equation,”. However, the research findings nonetheless revealed participants’ weakness in applying the variety of skills required for success in problem solving, such as interpreting information, mathematical working, and logical thinking. Results also demonstrated a limited and incorrect use of mathematical terminology, as well as a lack of problem comprehension. The discussion of the study addresses different features and issues related to mathematical problem-solving strategies. In light of its findings, this study presents recommendations and suggestions for the future development of pre-service teachers’ problem-solving strategies.

The article addresses the problem of gainful employment undertaken during full-time studies. It analyzes the importance of students’ motivations to work and the selected effects of combining studies and work. It refers to areas that have not yet been investigated by other researchers. The data used in the article come from the survey conducted by the author at the Faculty of Economics, at the University of Economics in Katowice through 2014-2017. The study revealed a strong relationship between the motivations to start work during studies and the following factors: the alignment of a chosen job to the field of study, the opportunity to develop new skills and competencies valued on the labor market, the willingness to continue working for the same employer after graduation, and an employer’s intention to employ a student after graduation. Another connection was identified between the character of the work performed by students and their readiness to change if given another opportunity. The relationship, albeit relatively weak, was also confirmed between the character of the work performed and difficulties experienced by students with combining work with studies and the ability to maintain a balance between time assigned to studying, work and leisure.

Inclusive education as a curricular trend is implemented by countries as an action taken in response to the collective call of the Salamanca Statement. It carries the tenet that all learners should be educated alongside their peers regardless of physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, and economic, language, cultural, and other perceived differences. School children, as peers of children with special needs, are co-implementers of the inclusive agenda. Young children are competent, possess their views and agencies, and have nascent characteristics that promote inclusion. As such, it is essential to explore how knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and ethics can further be developed and refined for the sake of creating an inclusive community through integrating them in the school curriculum. This paper sought to analyse the articulation of inclusive concepts and expressions in the K-curriculum and strategies utilized by the teachers to reinforce them. Two documents were analysed in this study to address the research questions: (a) prescribed k-curriculum currently used in the Philippines (b) interview transcripts of the key informants. Through content analysis, results of the study revealed that several inclusive concepts and expressions are articulated in the kindergarten curriculum across domains and are reinforced by teachers using varied strategies. Recommendations of the study are discussed.

Research productivity plays an important role in the prestige and reputation among higher education institutions. However, the time spent to do research among Filipino academics is the most pressing issue since they can barely meet the requirement for research productivity. Further, the lack of time for data gathering aggravated the drawbacks for research productivity. Data gathering is at the core of almost all research activity, the absence of factual and reliable data will lead to an invalid and illogical inference. In research years, there has been a massive agglomeration of data in large volumes coming from diverse sources pertaining to almost all facets of human activity which is worthy of investigation- known today as Big Data. This research has two (2) main objectives; the first is to find out the underlying reasons why Filipino academics are not enthusiastic to do research. The second is to evaluate the value of big data utilization for research productivity based on the assessment of the faculty members. This research used the Rasch model to measure the responses of Filipino academics with regards to their reasons for not doing enough research work as well as on their assessment for value creation of big data utilization using a polytomous item response selection scale.

Teacher education has been innovated in Brunei to support the ongoing inclusive education and curriculum reforms. This survey investigated the development of essential instructional skills in initial Brunei trainee teachers. The sample consisted of 109 student teachers (71 females and 38 males). Significant mean scores (Mean ≥ 4, p< .05) and 95% confidence intervals were used to identify the levels of proficiency and enablers of success in teaching. Participants were proficient on 15 of the 28 skills measured by the Teacher Behaviors Checklist (Approachable; Confident; Effective communicator; Encourages; Enthusiastic; Flexible; Good listener; Humble; Prepared; Professional; Rapport; Respectful; Sensitive; Striving to be a better teacher; Understanding). From independent groups, T-tests and One-Way ANOVA analyses, other significant trends in participants’ performance emerged at p< .05 level of evaluation. Females scored highest on Humble and Realistic expectations while males scored highest on Understanding. Trainee teachers aged 31-35 scored highest on: Promoting critical thinking; and Providing constructive feedback, than counterparts. Participants with higher degrees (e.g. Master of Arts) scored higher on Authoritative skills than those with lower degrees (e.g. Bachelor of Arts). Trainees with teaching experience scored significantly higher on: Accessible; Knowledge about the subject matter; and Technological competence, than those with no experience. The findings suggest the need to help pre-service teachers to gain proficiency in all teacher skills to improve the quality of education in the country. Further research was recommended.

Social media (SM) use is a rapidly growing phenomenon among Millennials. Thus, a growing body of studies have explored the beneficial applications and negative consequences of their use in an increasingly virtual world. The current study aimed to develop and validate a scale that measures university students’ motives for using SM from a psychological and social perspective. In Study 1 (N = 316), the psychometric properties of SM motives were examined. The estimated factorial structure was validated in Study 2 (N = 200). The Study 1 results showed two active personal motives scales (i.e., self-actualization and purposive motives), one passive motive scale (i.e., enjoyment), one active contextual motive scale (i.e., self-enhancement), and a contextual (neither active nor passive) motive scale (i.e., a factor of convenience). Study 2 findings confirmed this factorial structure. Construct validity was supported with significant differences between three types of users (i.e., productive, consuming, and disinterested) on their motives (151 words).

This study determined the challenging learning experiences of engineering students while completing their degree program as factor that might influence to their changing attitude towards achieving higher academic performance. Mixed method of research was utilised in the study considering the total population of 75 graduating students for quantitative and 12 students for qualitative part of the study using focus group discussion. Results showed that engineering students have significantly higher level of positive attitude towards academic performance during their junior level but significantly lower after taking professional courses. Attaining high academic performance still really matters for the engineering students during their junior level but continuously changing their perspective due to encountered challenging experiences while taking the professional courses. Performance in General Engineering courses describes the attitude of the students towards academic performance in personal aspect while professional courses define their attitude in professional aspect. The finding of the qualitative research revealed that there are three themes emerged in the challenging experiences of the engineering students and these are: Abandoned Social Freedom, Survival of the Fittest and Future Oriented Mindset which contributed to the changing perspectives of the engineering students.

Previous research suggests that non-cognitive factors play an important role in promoting success at school and beyond, aligning with the multifaceted goals of education. Enhancing students’ attitudes to learning in school is expected to have positive impacts on various schooling outcomes. To date, very few studies have focused on measuring and understanding students’ attitude to the arts. This study aims to address a gap in current research in this area by introducing instruments designed to measure attitude to dance, drama, music and visual arts. Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance analyses are employed to examine the factorial validity and measurement equivalence of the scales of attitude to the arts disciplines for different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Findings support the utility of the scales as valid measures of attitude to dance, drama, music and visual arts. Noticeable differences are reported among New Zealand European, Maori, Pasifika and Asian students regarding their attitudes to dance, drama, music and visual arts.

Covid-19 has accelerated the speed of technocratic transformation in teaching and learning. Previous researches on whether technology enhances students’ motivation towards learning or burdens them with additional layer of anxiety in learning the nitty gritty of technology itself have mixed results. The purpose of this study was to explore early undergraduate students’ beliefs about learning mathematics with technology. These research participants were first-year female undergraduate students in a public university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study comprised of phase one with qualitative task-based interviews with four female first-year undergraduate students. Phase two included a quantitative belief survey with a sample of 62 students from the same institution. I constructed four major belief categories from the iterative process of interview data analysis– technology for computing and graphing, technology for speed and accuracy, technology for a short-cut but not for meaning, and affective aspects of beliefs. The quantitative survey result demonstrated that a majority of participants (about 75.8%) were found to be using some kinds of technological tools while learning mathematics. About 90% of them reported using a calculator while learning mathematics. A majority of participants (54.9%) believed that technology helps them in learning mathematics, and about 50% of them also believed that the use of technology improves their learning of mathematics.

The development of information technology rapidly has an impact on the changing paradigm of education. On the other hand, education holds an important responsibility to create students who have a good and strong character. This research aims to: 1) describe the concept and framework of interactive multimedia courseware; 2) test the feasibility of interactive multimedia courseware by experts and practitioners; 3) test student responses to the use of interactive multimedia courseware. This research and development involved experts, teachers, and students. The data were collected using expert validation sheets, teacher questionnaires, and student questionnaires. They were then analyzed using the descriptive statistics analysis based on mean and percentage. This research yielded interactive multimedia courseware called IMONEC (Interactive Multimedia courseware integrated with Bandura’s Observational learning model and National historical Event to strengthen students' Character) that integrates three important components: the principles of interactive multimedia learning; Bandura's observational learning model; and the noble values and messages of national historical events to strengthen students' characters. The framework of the interactive multimedia courseware consists of the title, user instruction, home, core competency and basic competency, concept map of material, learning material, and quizzes. The results of the expert validation, teacher questionnaire, and student questionnaire showed that the interactive multimedia courseware is feasible for use in learning and effective in strengthening students’ characters.

Nowadays, teaching and learning activity employing the flipped classroom model has an important position in the process of providing education. This research aimed at identifying and analyzing articles examining the flipped classroom model that has been published in several reputable international journals issued in the 2010-2019 timeframe, which was conducted using bibliometric studies. The research was conducted using a 4-stages systematic mapping method: (1) searching for articles using the Publish or Perish application in the Scopus database, (2) classifying the articles for the bibliometric analysis, (3) checking and completing the metadata of those articles, and (4) conducting bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer application. The bibliometric analysis produced seven findings, as follows: (1) the trend of flipped classroom publications continued to increase from 2013-2019; (2) the ten most contributive journals has published 88 articles by 2019; (3) the ten most cited articles has produced 1,155 citations; (4) the three highest order of author keywords most widely used in flipped classroom articles were flipped classroom, active learning, and blended learning; (5) author collaboration with strong links only occurred in 21 authors through one document; (6) institutional collaboration with strong links formed through 28 collaborating institutions; and (7) state statistics were formed into three clusters and spread across various countries through contributions from authors who were in charge of 456 institutions. The flipped classroom model can be concluded as an educational model that is currently popular among researchers.

In the present study, perceptions of Turkish school administrators and teachers towards Syrian refugee children were examined through metaphors. 71 school administrators and 242 teachers from 27 different provinces of Turkey participated in the study. As a result of the study, the metaphors produced by school administrators were grouped into four categories: “child with cultural adaptation and belonging problems”, “fragile and needy child”, “child who is no different from other children” and “problematic child”. The metaphors produced by teachers were grouped into six categories: “child with cultural adaptation and belonging problems”, “child who is no different from other children”, “fragile and needy child”, “problematic child”, “child who can reveal her/his potential with interest” and “compatible child”. Participants' perceptions of refugee children were not related to gender but there was a significant relationship between professional seniority and the number of refugee children at school. Although school administrators and teachers have positive perceptions about refugee children, their negative perceptions are largely due to the lack of professional experience and the high number of students at school. Providing vocational support to teachers and administrators, planning the number of students in schools, and providing resources to schools will improve positive perceptions about refugee children.

This research aims to determine the relationship between the seven components of Pedagogical Content Knowledge possessed by kindergarten teachers. The animal theme was chosen to determine the pedagogical content knowledge component profile of 30 kindergarten teachers, with data obtained through classroom observation, interviews, learning plan documentation. This study employed a mixed-method design, a type of sequential explanatory research with the structural equation modeling-partial least squares and descriptive tests used to quantitative and qualitatively analyze the data obtained. The result showed that: the relationship between the components is specified in the context of using themes to learn in the kindergarten; analysis of the relationships between the components is carried out separately, such as the relationship of all 7 (seven) components to 1 (one) pedagogical content knowledge component of kindergarten teachers; Orientation of teaching has the strongest relationship with Knowledge of Instructional Strategies for Teaching; Knowledge of assessment of early childhood education has the weakest relationship with knowledge of early childhood education subject matter; pedagogical content knowledge components for kindergarten teachers that are often found and associated with other components in a learning episode are orientation of teaching, knowledge of early childhood education curriculum, and knowledge of instructional strategies; there are pedagogical content knowledge component for kindergarten teacher that often found and connection with other component in a learning episode.

Boarding schools are the common ‘out-of-home’ placements for adolescents, due to various historical, religiously orthodox, and traditional reasons and due to dysfunction within families. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between a free versus an enforced decision to enroll in a boarding school in terms of personal well-being among emancipated graduates. Ninety alumni graduates (aged range 20-41) of out-of- home boarding schools in Israel were recruited during 2019. Participants were administered a self-report anonymous questionnaire consisting of the following measures: Free versus enforced decision to enroll in a boarding school, retrospective satisfaction with the boarding school, personal well-being and traumatic events. Results indicated that a free decision to enroll in an out-of-home boarding school was associated with current satisfaction with social relationships but not with quality of life. Additionally, the longer the period spent in a boarding school, the higher was the satisfaction from the period at school. Older graduates reported less satisfaction from school retrospectively. It was concluded that involving the adolescent in life changing decisions such as leaving home to a boarding school is likely to influence the person's well-being during and after emancipation.