This research aims to describe secondary school students' functional thinking in generating patterns in learning algebra, particularly in solving mathematical word problems. In addressing this aim, a phenomenological approach was conducted to investigate the meaning of functional relationships provided by students. The data were collected from 39 ninth graders (13-14 years old) through a written test about generating patterns in linear functions. The following steps were conducting interviews with ten representative students to get detailed information about their answers to the written test. All students' responses were then analyzed using the thematic analysis software ATLAS.ti. The findings illustrate that students employed two types of approaches in solving the problem: recursive patterns and correspondence. Students favored the recursive patterns approach in identifying the pattern. They provided arithmetic computation by counting term-to-term but could not represent generalities with algebraic symbols. Meanwhile, students evidenced for correspondence managed to observe the relation between two variables and create the symbolic representation to express the generality. The study concludes that these differences exist due to their focus on identifying patterns: the recursive pattern students tend to see the changes in one variable, whereas the correspondence ones relate to the corresponding pair of variables.

In the future, vocational students will face all changes and developments in technology and information. In this context, students' digital literacy skills need to be trained to adapt to the demands of the world of work. This article aims to present the results of a study on factors that can improve the digital literacy practice for vocational students as a roadmap for digital learning in the current era. The sampling technique used purposive random sampling of 8 Vocational Schools in East Java Province, Indonesia. The number of respondents in this study amounted to 355 second-year students. The study has found that online learning, motivation, and technology introduction are influenced by students' digital literacy practices, while teacher readiness and infrastructure must be mediated by online learning. The findings in this study indicate that collaboration from various parties is needed from teachers, school administrators, and policymakers in planning learning that focuses on students' digital abilities.

Morocco has undergone significant reforms in the education and training field, including the implementation of preschool education as a compulsory stage in the education system. Several studies have shown that attitudes toward science tend to decline between the ages of 11 and 14. Therefore, it is crucial to promote the acquisition of different modes of reasoning and forms of thought from early childhood. The primary objective of preschool education in Morocco should be to promote positive attitudes toward science. This study aims to analyze the preschool program prescribed in the Moroccan curriculum framework with regard to scientific awareness as well as its methodological and practical implications. The analysis was conducted using a designed grid and including the following criteria: construction of school science; axiological and psychological foundations of science learning; objectives and competencies; contents; approaches; activities; teaching strategies; didactic resources; pedagogical design and evaluation. The study's findings revealed that the Moroccan Curriculum Framework for Preschool Education featured a number of dimensions related directly to scientific awareness. However, no explicit statements about scientific awareness or science literacy were made. Moreover, some elements suggested in the program document were out of phase with the current trends of scientific awareness. Therefore, the study offered some suggestions for improving the proposal provided by this pedagogical document. In conclusion, Morocco's focus on preschool education is a positive step towards building a more scientifically literate society. However, to fully benefit from it, the guidance document must be revised to reflect current scientific awareness trends.

This study seeks to investigate the relationship between dropout intent, the weekly work duration of student employees, and university social capital by analysing empirical evidence from three European countries, including Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland. This exploratory study utilised Eurostudent-VII survey data and employed cross-tabulation and exhaustive Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) to achieve its objectives. Findings indicate that student employees who believe they get along well with their teachers and have more connections with fellow students to discuss subject-related issues are less likely to intend to drop out of university. In addition, the results show that students’ likelihood of abandoning their higher education increases in the presence of difficulties caused by an inapt academic programme. Regarding employment duration, for the Estonian and Lithuanian markets, there is no difference between working more than 20 hours per week or less than that with the intention of dropping out of university. In Poland, however, the disparity in working hours interacts with other factors related to social capital to explain dropout intent. These findings provide novel insights into the dropout literature by refreshing thoughts on the role of teacher-student and peer relations in the dropout intentions of student employees. In addition to reviving the relevance of university social capital, which has received too little attention lately, they have also sparked a recent debate on whether or not combining work and university actually affects the intention to drop out.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has been successfully implemented in many countries around the world, including Vietnam. Admittedly, it appears that Vietnamese teachers are encountering several obstacles and challenges as they adopt STEM education in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to use the Delphi method to figure out the obstacles and challenges that teachers in six northern mountainous provinces of Vietnam encounter when teaching STEM education. As per research findings, teachers confront 11 obstacles and challenges when integrating STEM education in their classrooms, including: Teacher competency, time consumption in lesson planning and guiding students to produce STEM products, teachers' beliefs regarding STEM education, inflexible programs, insufficient facilities, examination pressures, lack of timely rewards and encouragement for effective teachers, teachers’ self-funding teaching STEM, students’ competence, students’ cultural, economic and social background, and disagreements from student’s parents. These findings assist administrators and teachers in developing future strategies for successfully implementing STEM education in Vietnam.

An earlier study found that assistive technology based on mobile applications significantly improved how social skills were taught to and learned by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children. Nevertheless, the content of the existing mobile applications is inadequate for capturing the diversity of Malaysian culture, making it unacceptable for local use. Considering cultural norms is a factor in developing social skills in ASD children. It is therefore necessary to develop new assistive technology based on mobile applications that consider Malaysian cultural norms.  As a result, the Multimedia Interactive Social Skills Module (MISSM) application was created based on the Addie Model, which offers a systematic process for assisting in developing successful instructional material by fusing instructional theory with learning theory. The MISSM application is based on Malaysia's current social skills curriculum, which helps ASD children become socially competent. Hopefully, it will help them develop better social skills and achieve academically. Finally, local culture-sensitive material for assistive technology based on mobile applications would support Malaysia's adoption of a technology-based teaching and learning strategy and contribute to a better understanding of social skills.

During the pandemic, online classes were held around the world, which facilitated access to observe teaching practices. This is a relevant experience, since there are few reflective instances in schools, even though public education policy emphasizes reflective practice in the professional development of teachers. In this regard, the observation of videos shows high reflective potential, helping to problematize and analyze teaching. This research sought to describe the functions and experience of classroom video observation with a reflective approach of teachers from four educational schools in the city of Concepción, Chile. The approach was interpretative, an instrumental case study design, with nine participants, selected by a maximum variation sampling and safeguarding ethical criteria. In-depth interviews were conducted and subjected to content analysis. The results showed three functions of the video observation, one instrumental and two others of reflective approach. In addition, the video observation was recognized as a reflective experience that facilitates the reconsidering of teaching performance, renewing practices, and developing reflective habits; also, facilitating and hindering elements were found in the video observation. It is concluded that the functions and experience of video observation could improve and professionalize teaching, based on the awareness and understanding of practice.

The teaching of speaking in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes in the Province of Aceh did not rely on the suggested techniques and methods. This teacher-designed technique, which was mainly textbook-based, has left an unpleasant learning experience among students. Therefore, we conducted a quantitative research study to experiment with how students responded to contextual teaching and learning (CTL) to see the effect of transitioning from a teacher-established method to a systematically planned learning approach and compare how students progressed over time. The experiment was carried out by teachers who had received assistance in preparing the lesson and practicing the lesson plan. The six-meeting experiment was conducted in 11 small classes, with a total sample of 132 students. The student improvement after the first four meetings (cycle 1) was compared using inferential statistical analyses with that after eight meetings (cycle 2). The results show that the student’s achievement significantly improved in the first cycle and continued to improve, although at a lower rate, in the second cycle. This result suggests that CTL can be used to transition from a traditional teaching method to a more established method in EFL teaching. Therefore, teachers need help planning their teaching and practicing how to implement the teaching plan accurately.

Digital technologies in all forms have become ubiquitous in our media-rich, modern information society, but the connection between their use and information literacy is not always clear. This paper examines the impact of daily use of digital technologies on the reading and information literacy skills of 15-year-old students in Slovenia, based on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 study. The study examines PISA 2018 variables related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as well as a reading task involving the use of ICT. The sample consists of 2612 Slovenian students with a gender distribution of 50.8% girls and 49.2% boys. The study explores students' experiences, enjoyment, self-efficacy, autonomy, and independence in using ICT and learning about its use and identifies two groups of students: one group that is curious and another that is cautious. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) show that the constructs of enjoyment, self-efficacy, learning, autonomy, and independence are highly/strongly correlated but have a low/insignificant impact on information literacy skills.

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.

eTwinning is a community of European schools that promotes networking and transnational collaboration projects. Therefore, as part of the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) initiative, we decided to explore how the research projects on scientific topics familiarize pre-service primary school teachers with eTwinning. 251 pre-service primary school teachers from Spain, Iceland, and Slovenia designed and carried out joint research projects on scientific topics. The aim was to gain insight into their self-assessment of their knowledge of the platform, the limitations of working with it, and their responses. An electronic questionnaire was used as the main instrument for data collection. It turned out that the pre-service teachers enjoyed this international collaboration, but also found it challenging. By the end of the projects, they were familiar with the eTwinning platform, although the least engaged prospective teachers recognized that they needed strong support and considered the platform a non-intuitive environment. Overall, they were willing to use the platform with pupils in the future, which is in line with the aim of the ITE initiative.

Recent research has identified factors influencing the choice of a special education career; however, it has not thoroughly examined their connection with personality traits and identity status. Thus, the present study was designed to explore how different personality traits and identity statuses correlate with the motives and perceptions associated with the choice to teach in special education. The study involved 209 pre-service special education teachers. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory was used to measure the Big 5 personality traits. The Ego Identity Process Questionnaire assessed identity commitment and exploration. The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale was used to evaluate motivations and perceptions about teaching. Regarding the factors that influenced the decision to pursue a career in special education, intrinsic value, shaping children’s future, social equity, making social contributions, working with children, task demands, and job satisfaction were highly rated. Additionally, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and identity statuses were identified as positive predictors for certain factors influencing the choice of a teaching career in special education. Finally, the study identified two distinct groups of students: "Identity Achievers" characterized by high positive personality traits, and identity commitment, and "Identity Explorers" characterized by lower positive personality traits and higher identity exploration. Differences were observed between the groups in their motives and perceptions concerning teaching in special education. In conclusion, this study highlights the relationships between personality, identity status, and career decision factors, offering insights into the factors that influence this critical career decision among future special educators. Directions for future research are discussed.