School attendance problems are of great research interest, which is reflected in the increase of scientific publications. This increase hinders the adequate follow-up and updating of the scientific community on the subject. The aim of the present bibliometric study lies in the review of the scientific literature published on school attendance problems during 2014-2021. A bibliographic search and analysis of scientific articles was performed, obtaining a definitive sample of 700 documents. Results were extracted and analyzed for the following indicators: temporal productivity, productivity by authors, co-authorship index, productivity by journals, use of topics, research areas addressed and types of samples used. The number of publications indicates a progressive increase of interest on the subject, which has not corresponded to the creation of a specific journal on the subject. There is also evidence of the need for consensus on the topics to be used; the preference for knowing the factors associated with school attendance problems over other areas of research; and the generalized use of community samples as opposed to more specific ones. In conclusion, the characteristics researched on school attendance problems are presented; knowledge that will facilitate the establishment of intervention processes applicable to different contexts and realities.

This study investigated young children’s recognition of social rules and responses to social-conventional transgressions in Japanese preschool settings. One hundred twenty-six children aged three to six years old heard four hypothetical stories that describe typical social-conventional transgressions in Japanese preschools. They were asked about their feelings when they witnessed each transgression (emotional response), whether they thought it was better to follow social rules and act like everyone else (social convention judgment), their justification for the judgment, and their willingness to play with the transgressor (interaction judgment). Most participants in all age groups valued following social rules and judged that the transgressor should act like everyone else, but five-year-olds generated more group- and other-oriented justifications for the judgment. Although there were no significant age group differences in interaction judgment, further analysis showed that three-year-olds’ willingness to play with the transgressor was positively related to their positive emotion, whereas such relationships were not found in four- and five-year-olds. The results demonstrate that Japanese children’s responses to social-conventional transgressions become more social and complex throughout young childhood in the Japanese cultural context.

Service-learning (SL) emphasizes the fusion and integration of community service and academic learning, while Physical Education (PE) is oriented towards community health and well-being, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals. The study's primary objective is to discern the benefits perceived by PE students when engaged in SL courses and to test the correlation between benefits and the motivational climate they experience. Additionally, the research explores potential gender-specific variations in students' attitudes. The research was conducted with a survey on a sample of 58 students responding to a Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale (MPCES) and the SErvice LEarning Benefit Scale (SELEB), which assesses the motivation of students and their perceptions of SL benefits. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to test the relationship between the core constructs - SL benefits and student motivation, and t-tests to evaluate gender differences in SL benefits. Key findings underscore that students primarily perceived the greatest advantages from SL in the domain of knowledge application, with comparatively lower scores in general life skills. Notably, female students, on the whole, exhibited higher ratings in both SL benefits and student motivation compared to their male counterparts. Nonetheless, specific exceptions emerged in certain sub-scales, including social relatedness and ego climate within the MPCES scale, as well as critical thinking within the SELEB scale. According to the results, it is suggested that cultivating a student-centered learning environment can augment engagement and motivation in the realm of physical education (PE). Furthermore, the delineated gender differences offer valuable insights for educators, highlighting the need for tailored approaches to accommodate the diverse preferences and requirements of male and female students.

This study aims to analyze the effects of working memory capacity and learning styles of prospective mathematics teachers on their ability to solve higher-order thinking problems. In the present study, learning style was considered students' tendency to learn visually or verbally. In addition, the types of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) problems are complex and non-complex. Multiple regression tests were used to analyze the effects of learning style and working memory capacity. An ANOVA test was also conducted to analyze the ability of each group to solve each HOTS problem. In addition, one hundred twenty-six prospective mathematics teachers voluntarily participated in this study. The study found that learning styles only affected visual problems while working memory capacity (WMC) only affected the ability to solve complex problem-solving skills. Furthermore, WMC affected the ability to solve complex HOTS problems, not non-complex ones. The ability of visual students to solve HOTS problems will greatly increase when the problems are presented in visual form. On the other hand, the obstacle for visual students in solving verbal problems was to present the problem appropriately in visual form. The obstacle for students with low WMC in solving complex HOTS problems was to find a solution that met all the requirements set in the problem.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) within a teaching unit on the advancement of ethical reasoning and decision-making skills among Israeli female tertiary students. Employing a quasi-experimental design, 48 female students were distributed into three groups, with two serving as control groups receiving conventional curriculum-based instruction and one as an experimental group exposed to the PBL methodology. Both before and after implementation, all groups underwent assessments using a decision-making competency test and an ethical reasoning scale. The results unequivocally demonstrated the significant enhancement of decision-making abilities and ethical thinking through the implementation of the PBL strategy. Comparative analysis revealed substantial improvements in the experimental group compared to the control groups, emphasizing the efficacy of PBL in fostering comprehensive skill development. Furthermore, a positive correlation between ethical thinking and decision-making skills further reinforces the beneficial outcomes associated with PBL. These findings advocate for the widespread integration of PBL techniques across various academic disciplines.

Reinforced by the Russian war, an even stronger economic, social, and political orientation towards the values of the European Union and thus also Western economic paradigms is taking place in Ukraine. This article investigates financial literacy (FL) as the knowledge and understanding of personal finance among university students in Ukraine. Individual financial decision-making will be central to the reconstruction of Ukraine and the long-term economic growth of the country. We use the principles developed by the U.S. Council for Economic Education in modelling FL. In doing so, we examine the feasibility of using a version of the U.S. American Test of Financial Literacy translated and adapted into Ukrainian. The translation and adaptation process of the 50-item test instrument is presented in the article. Significant differences in the content of FL between Ukraine and the U.S. test instrument are highlighted. At the beginning of the winter semester 2022, the Ukrainian version was administered to 68 students at three East-Ukrainian universities (Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv). In the article, we present findings from the initial validation of the test instrument and show from a content perspective which hurdles need to be overcome in the future for some concepts of FL.

The world eagerly anticipates advancements in AI technologies, with substantial ongoing research on the potential AI applications in the domain of education. The study aims to analyse publications about the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) within higher education, emphasising their bibliometric properties. The data was collected from the Scopus database, uncovering 775 publications on the subject of study from 2000 to 2022, using various keywords. Upon analysis, it was found that the frequency of publications in the study area has risen from 3 in 2000 to 314 in 2022. China and the United States emerged as the most influential countries regarding publications in this area. The findings revealed that “Education and Information Technologies” and the “International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning” were the most frequently published journals. “S. Slade” and “P. Prinsloo” received the most citations, making them highly effective researchers. The co-authorship network primarily comprised the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and China. The emerging themes included machine learning, convolutional neural networks, curriculum, and higher education systems are co-occurred with AI. The continuous expansion of potential AI technologies in higher education calls for increased global collaboration based on shared democratic principles, reaping mutual advantages.

It is known that the COVID-19 pandemic led to learning losses among students both domestically and internationally. Therefore, situational and casual factors were examined to discover and understand them so that learning loss could be reduced or recovered from. This research aimed to: (a) study learning loss situation; and (b) develop and examine the causal model of learning loss among lower secondary school students affected by the pandemic. The sample included 650 Grade 7-9 students selected by multi-stage random sampling. The data was collected using a self-developing questionnaire as a research instrument. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and structural equation modeling (SEM) through the LISREL program. The findings were: (a) Lower secondary school students had an average academic achievement learning loss at the moderate level with the highest mean of learning loss in mathematics (M=3.012, SD=1.074), and an average learning characteristics learning loss at the medium level (M=2.824, SD=0.842). Several situational factors had a different effect depending on the school size with a statistical significance of .05.; and (b) the causal model showed the learning loss of grade 7-9 students was consistent with the empirical data (χ2=46.885, df=34, p= .069, GFI=0.991, AGFI=0.964, CFI=0.999, RMSEA=0.024, SRMR=0.014).

This research aimed to explore the influence of a robotic program using the robot kit "RoboBuilder RQ+110" on students' attitudes toward effective communication. The study used a quantitative research design and involved 475 grade 4 (10 years old) students from Malaysia's Selangor and Malacca states. A quasi-experimental research (pre-test & post-test) approach with control and experimental groups was adopted, and the data were analyzed with inferential statistical test and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS 25 software at 0.05 significance level. Questionnaires were administered to collect data from the experimental and control groups. The results showed statistically significant changes (α ≤ .05) in attitudes toward effective communication for the experimental group that received a robotics program compared with the control group. The study results suggest that innovative technological tools or programs such as robotics programs are recommended as innovative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program rooted in constructivism to improve students' attitudes toward effective communication.

The present study aimed to improve the speaking skills of university students at the B1 level who presented limitations in their oral competence. An educational methodology based on designing and implementing an application adapted to the Common European Framework of Reference was developed and applied to boost language performance. A case study was used to conduct the two stages of this research; the former had to do with a control group where intervention was carried out using non-probabilistic sampling with students of the Computing Faculty; a pretest was applied to test the knowledge acquired in their classroom sessions during the first quarter in 2020. The second process was tracking an experimental group, which was assessed after implementing the developed methodology using the app "4skillsweb". A posttest was used to evidence learners' progress during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the results showed improved oral competence in aspects such as grammar and vocabulary, discourse management, pronunciation, and interactive communication, with about 95% confidence in its validation. A qualitative-quantitative methodology was used to determine the influence of the English app. A t-students test was implemented to corroborate the data analysis taken by both groups through SOFTWARE JMP v 11.0.0G.

In this article, we present the results of empirical research using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology, in which we examined the achievements and difficulties of sixth-grade Slovenian primary school students in decimal numbers at the conceptual and procedural knowledge level. The achievements of the students (N = 100) showed that they statistically significantly (z = -7,53, p < .001) better mastered procedural knowledge (M = 0.60, SD = 0.22) than conceptual knowledge (M = 0.37, SD = 0.17) of decimal numbers. Difficulties are related to both procedural and conceptual knowledge, but significantly more students have difficulties at the level of conceptual knowledge. At the level of procedural knowledge, or in the execution of arithmetic operations with decimal numbers, we observed difficulties in transforming text notation into numerical expressions, difficulties in placing the decimal point in multiplication and division, and insufficient automation of mathematical operations with decimal numbers. At the level of conceptual knowledge of decimal numbers, the results indicate difficulties for students in understanding the place values of decimal numbers, in estimating the sum, product and quotient of decimals with reflection and in mathematical justification. In relation to difficulties in justification, we observed an insufficient understanding of the size relationship between decimal numbers and difficulties in expressing them in mathematical language. The results indicate that to overcome such difficulties in the learning and teaching of mathematics, more balance between procedural and conceptual knowledge is needed.

Understanding graphs in the dynamics of market (DM) is a challenge to learners; its teaching demands a specific kind of teacher’s knowledge. This study aims to examine the topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge (TSPCK) of experienced economics teachers in teaching graphs in DM to enhance learners’ understanding of the topic. It reports using a qualitative approach underpinned by the TSPCK framework for teaching specific topics developed by Mavhunga. Data were collected through classroom observations and analyzed thematically using a case study of two economics teachers. The study revealed that adopting a step-by-step approach and the use of worked graphical examples promote an understanding of graphs in DM. It also established that active learning is preferable to the predominant chalk-and-talk (lecture) method of teaching graphs in DM. The study proposed a Dynamics of Market Graphical Framework (DMG-Framework) to enable teachers, particularly pre-service teachers in lesson delivery, to enhance learners’ understanding of graphs in DM. The result of this study will broaden the international view in the teaching of graphs in DM.

<p style="text-align:justify">The ability to think creatively has a vital role in the development of preschool children. This research provides a comprehensive review of innovative approaches and strategies for developing creative thinking in preschool children based on current trends and methodologies used in educational settings. This research shows three significant areas: (a) creative thinking skills in preschool children, (b) factors influencing creative thinking skills in depth, and (c) innovative strategies and approaches to stimulate creative thinking abilities in preschool children. This research uses a literature study method assisted by the publish perish application to find reference sources related to creative thinking abilities in preschool children. Studies show that creative thinking abilities in preschool children enable them to find innovative solutions, help them adapt to challenges, foster self-confidence and courage, and enrich their experience and knowledge of the world around them. Meanwhile, preschool children&#39;s creative thinking abilities are influenced by collaboration from the external environment (parents, teachers, and society); providing support and examples for children to develop and stimulate their creative thinking skills is very important.</p>

<p>&lt;p style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;In the early stages of adopting online learning, both learners and teachers displayed resistance, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a widespread shift to digital learning. To facilitate this transition, there is a growing focus on highlighting the effectiveness of online learning, which directly impacts learning outcomes. This study investigates online learning effectiveness through an integrated framework that considers online assessment practices and online course design as independent variables, with online learning support as a moderating variable. Understanding the effectiveness of online learning is crucial as hybrid learning becomes the &amp;quot;new norm&amp;quot; in education, combining online and offline methods for teaching the digital generation. Using a quantitative research design involving 232 students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the study found that online assessment practices and course design significantly influence students perceived learning outcomes in an online learning environment. Additionally, online learning support positively moderates this relationship. These findings offer a comprehensive perspective on how online assessment practices, course design, and support systems contribute to the quality of higher education in Malaysia amidst evolving educational practices.&lt;/p&gt;</p>

<p style="text-align:justify">Teacher flourishing encompasses a broad range of well-being, encompassing hedonic (pleasure-based) and eudaimonic (meaning-based) satisfactions. In the context of the literature review, a concise overview is provided, consisting of definitions, predictors, mediators, and outcomes. Conforming to the PRISMA protocol, the present review progresses through four stages: identification, screening, eligibility assessment, and including relevant studies. Furthermore, the search strategy focused on flourishing, well-being, and measuring tools, leveraging databases such as EBSCO Host, Proquest, Science Direct, and DOAJ. In line with the PRISMA statement, systematic review methodology guides the final analysis, incorporating twenty-seven studies published between 2017 and 2023. Despite being studied in numerous theoretical frameworks, teacher flourishing needs a more widely accepted definition and operational framework in studying the concept. The results show that multiple factors impact teacher flourishing, including individual, relational, and organizational elements. Additionally, the evaluation considers direct and indirect predictors, mediators, and outcomes. The new model is related to global well-being, including emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects, stating the connections of these elements. The implications of the results can be effectively applied within educational settings by teachers, policymakers, and scholars specializing in education.</p>

<p style="text-align:justify">This study aimed to assess the geometric knowledge of student teachers from a university in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The study used a sample of 225 first-year student teachers who completed school mathematics baseline assessments on a computer- aided mathematics instruction (CAMI) software. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design, using quantitative data to measure student teachers&rsquo; geometry achievement level, and qualitative data to explain the challenges encountered. The results show that student teachers exhibited a low level of understanding of school-level geometry. The low achievement levels were linked to various factors, such as insufficient grasp of geometry concepts in their secondary school education, difficulty in remembering what was done years ago, low self-confidence, and lack of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills along with the limited time for the baseline tests. These results suggest that appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that student teachers acquire the necessary subject-matter knowledge to teach effectively in their future classrooms.</p>

Critical thinking is a skill that enables individuals to keep pace with changes and enhances crucial competencies for contemporary competitiveness. Many researchers have studied learning management approaches to develop students' critical thinking, resulting in a substantial body of knowledge but lacking clear systematic summaries. The researchers aimed to (a) examine the effect sizes and research characteristics influencing students' critical thinking, and (b) compare the effect sizes of learning management approaches after adjusting with propensity score matching from 108 graduate research published between 2002 and 2021. Data were collected using research characteristics recording forms and research quality assessment questionnaires. Effect sizes were calculated using Glass's method and analyzed through random effect, fixed effect, and regression meta-analysis. Findings revealed that (a) research on developing learning management approaches influences students' critical thinking at a high level (d ̅ = 1.669), with nine research characteristics, including the field of publication, courses, total duration, teacher learning process, learning media, measurement and evaluation, research design, research statistics, and research quality, statistically significantly influencing students' critical thinking, and (b) after adjustment, inquiry-based learning significantly influences students' critical thinking. Recommendations for developing students' critical thinking include learning activities that encourage problem exploration, expanding thinking through collaborative analysis, and applying diverse media and activity sheets tailored to context suitability.
 

Mathematics test items in International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) such as the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are nested in contexts defined in their assessment framework (e.g., the Personal, Occupational, Societal, and Scientific contexts in PISA). This study followed the item-writing activities of four tertiary mathematics instructors in the Philippines as they constructed context-based mathematics items. They were tasked to write four items each, following a set of specifications for PISA content and context categories. The data consisted of transcripts from the focus-group discussion which was conducted days after the task. The transcripts were then analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of this study showed that the phenomenon of item-writing in the context of writing PISA-like mathematics items had two themes: the phases of item-writing and the dimensions of item-writing. Findings showed that the respondents struggled to find realistic contexts and that they engaged in a problem-solving task likened to solving a puzzle as they attempted to satisfy the content, context, and process categories in the table of specifications (TOS). This study contributes to filling in the research gap on item-writing activities, particularly those of mathematics teachers in the Philippines- a country whose recent mathematical performance in the PISA 2018, TIMSS 2019, and PISA 2022 was nothing short of dismal.

Students’ mastery goal orientation tends to decline over the course of compulsory school, especially after the transition to lower secondary school. According to stage-environment fit theory, secondary school is less accommodating to students' needs, interests, and abilities than primary school. In consequence, the perceived person-environment fit declines as well. It is assumed that a strong sense of classroom community in primary school can counteract a potential decline in both of these important individual aspects. Using data from the Swiss longitudinal research project WiSel (“Wirkungen der Selektion”; “Effects of Tracking”), we conducted a latent growth curve model (LGCM) to examine the correlation between the development of students' mastery goal orientation and the development of their person-environment fit during the transition from primary school to lower secondary school. Perceived classroom community was assumed to benefit from these developments. The results show that both mastery goal orientation and person-environment fit decrease during the transition to lower secondary school. A strong sense of classroom community in fifth grade leads to a smaller decline in both constructs. Implications for educational practice are discussed.

Teaching is a demanding and complex exercise, exposed to the direct or immediate resolution of multiple problematic situations, whether pedagogical, relational, or socio-affective. The teacher's personal resources are often insufficient to cope with the profession's demands. The research reports that there is a gap between research and educational practice. Hence, the objective of this research was to analyze the criteria used by early childhood educators to attribute validity to the written sources of information that guide their pedagogical decisions. The present study follows a qualitative research methodology. The sample for this study was non-probabilistic and consisted of 18 early childhood educators who participated through semi-structured interviews and discussion groups. The data obtained were analyzed by inductive categorization using NVivo 14. The findings revealed that the validity criteria assigned by the educators about the sources of information related to theoretical aspects is mainly attributed to the texts and authors they know, while those referring to practical aspects are attributed to their own experiences or the other educators at the same level. The results showed that specific information and obtaining it in the shortest possible time were the criteria that determined the use of information sources.