Limited latest studies circulated in the 21st century of world university ranking reveal that well-designed mentoring programs will not increase mentees’ leadership development if mentors have not implemented effective roles in the mentoring programs. Although many studies have been done, the mediating effect of mentors’ roles is little known in the tertiary education mentoring research literature. This study is done to examine the correlation between mentors’ roles, mentees’ self-efficacy, and mentees’ leadership development. This study employed a cross-sectional research design. A purposive sampling plan was employed to collect 761 survey questionnaires from undergraduate students at non-research-based public universities in Sarawak. The survey data were analyzed by the SmartPLS package to determine the validity and reliability of the study instrument, and thus test hypotheses for the direct effects model and mediating model. The outcomes of the SmartPLS path model analysis showed that the majority of participants felt that the levels of information exchange, help, self-efficacy, and leadership development are high. This situation explains that the ability of mentors to appropriately implement information exchange and help in mentoring programs has strongly evoked mentees’ self-efficacy. Consequently, this self-efficacy can lead to higher leadership development. This finding can help practitioners to understand the diverse paradigms of mentees’ self-efficacy concept and plan the integration of academic and social-based approaches in formulating mentoring programs to prepare successful graduates in a time of rapid global change.

The need for early comprehension of scientific concepts in elementary school students is crucial. However, studies have indicated that some students lack a fundamental understanding of such concepts, highlighting the importance of effective teaching methods to improve scientific literacy at an early age. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the ability of Project-Based Learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM-PjBL) to improve students' scientific literacy, knowledge, and application of foundational scientific principles. A quasi-experimental methodology was employed, involving 22 female and 26 male fourth-grade elementary school students as participants. The study administered a Scientific Literacy Test (SLT) treatment to the students, followed by unpaired and paired t-tests to examine the impact of the STEAM-PjBL model on their scientific literacy skills. The results showed that STEAM-PjBL improved students' scientific literacy skills significantly more than traditional instruction. The experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-test, indicating the effectiveness of STEAM-PjBL. Therefore, the study recommends the adoption of the STEAM-PjBL model by elementary school teachers to improve students' understanding of fundamental scientific concepts.

Inclusive teaching development has provided opportunities for children to study it with special needs to study in the school. Although some parents prefer to enroll their children in schools specifically designed for those with special needs, inclusive learning allows these individuals to participate in the learning process alongside their peers with disabilities. Through inclusive teaching, teachers aim to help children develop their social skills. This research aimed to analyze the influence of visionary leadership and organizational commitment on teacher performance under the visionary leadership of school principals in the implementation of inclusive schools in Malang City. The utilized research methodology was a mixed sequential exploratory, involving data collection through interviews, observations, documentation, and questionnaires. Qualitative data analysis employed content analysis, while quantitative data underwent multiple linear regression inferential statistical analysis. The findings indicated that visionary leadership and organizational commitment influence the instructional efficacy of teachers when working with children having special educational requirements. Therefore, the recommendation to school principals persistently enhances their leadership competencies and reinforces their dedication to cultivating a vibrant teaching environment that promotes inclusive educational advancements.

Learning motivation and self-regulated learning are prominent and essential characteristics to possess in this time of change, leading to lifelong learners. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the ADMIRE program on the learning motivation and self-regulated learning behavior of undergraduate students. The research consisted of a quasi-experimental design conducted for two months. The participants were divided into two homogenous groups including the intervention group (n = 85) and the control group (n = 79). Data were collected before and after the intervention using the learning motivation scale and self-regulated learning behavior scale. Finally, data were analyzed using MANOVA. The study results revealed that the ADMIRE program made a significant impact on the learning motivation and self-regulated learning behavior. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of the ADMIRE program can lead to greater learning motivation and self-regulated learning behavior in the intervention group compared to the control group. The ADMIRE program gives students the opportunity to participate in initiatives to reach the desired learning outcomes. Instructors can also use the ADMIRE program during the process of proactive learning in various forms.

Changes and challenges in the highly dynamic world of education require postgraduate students to manage their learning well and create something from their creative thinking according to the needs of the field. One of them is the activity of students in developing integrated natural science teaching materials is very necessary because learning at the primary level still uses integrated or thematic learning. Furthermore, students also need to be encouraged to be adaptive to these challenges by empowering their independence in learning. The ability to manage learning and creativity to create something new is highly prioritized for college graduates to contribute generously to their environment. This study aims to describe the empowerment of self-regulated learning and student creativity in developing natural science teaching materials in collaboration through community-based project learning. This study used a quasi-experimental design with a single-subject design type. The instruments used to retrieve data are creativity assessment rubrics and self-regulated learning questionnaires. The conclusion is that students are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to fulfill the given tasks. Learning is essential for increasing competence, and learning strategies have been adjusted to the material's complexity or the difficulty level of the studied content. The aspect of student creativity in developing Integrated Science teaching materials shows the existence of change from stage one to the next and good categories.

Teachers' learning styles are a crucial part of the learning process as they determine how teachers' brains capture and integrate information linked with the senses. Kurnia, identified as an auditory teacher, was expected to capture written information in a provided numeracy problem. Nevertheless, she prefers to capture visual information, like tables or figures, and utilize them to develop thought-provoking questions. Thus, this study intends to investigate her reasons and the factors affecting Kurnia's decision to utilize visual information as a reference in developing questions. This research adopts a qualitative design covering a case study. Kurnia was selected from 32 teachers from 28 schools; roughly 43% were from public schools, and 57% from private schools. Kurnia placed more emphasis on pictorial information before proposing questions, which was caused by situational factors: the subject matter, the grade level, the student's engagement in the class, the teacher's experience, the teaching experience, and the diversity of students' learning styles. This article recommends that teachers recognize their learning styles to know their strengths and weaknesses in teaching mathematics, and that they convey understandable information utilizing effective instructional methods that represent each learning style of students in the classroom.

This study aims to analyse the relationship between critical thinking and the learning experience provided by instructors through active learning models, specifically Project-based Learning (PjBL) and Simulation-based Learning (SBL), to the potential achievement of academic performance in undergraduate students. The main analysis technique employed in this research was logistic regression, with additional analysis techniques including discriminant validity, EFA, as well as Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation, serving as a robustness check. The results of this study indicate significant correlations and effects of critical thinking (CT) on academic performance. Higher levels of CT are associated with a greater likelihood of achieving academic excellence, as indicated by the cum laude distinction, compared to not attaining this distinction. Experiences of receiving PjBL (0.025; 6.816) and SBL (0.014; 14.35) predicted the potential for improving academic performance to reach cum laude recognition, relative to not achieving this distinction. Furthermore, other intercept factors need to be considered to achieve cum laude compared to not achieving cum laude. We recommend that policymakers in higher education, instructors, and others focus on enhancing critical thinking and utilizing both Pub and SBL as learning models to improve students’ academic performance.

There has been a clear shift in higher education to prepare and empower the current students for a future quite different and more complex than that faced by previous generations. In particular, it is expected that they will possess comprehensive abilities to deal with challenges arising from new employment demands and beyond. While liberal arts education has a long history in the West, it has been increasingly implemented more recently in East Asia as one response to the need for educational reform. The research reported here is an empirical study of how liberal arts education has affected individuals from two institutions with distinctive interpretations of “liberal arts education” - University N, the first Sino-foreign joint university in mainland China, and University L, the only public liberal arts university in Hong Kong. Drawing on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, this study illustrates the interplay and balance among students’ practical concerns, their sense of social obligation fostered through liberal arts education elements and the wider social structure. Semi-structured interviews with senior students, fresh graduates, and educators were conducted to gather in-depth primary data. These reveal that, by providing interdisciplinary knowledge and transferable skill sets, a liberal arts education experience does enhance individuals’ personal agency and intellectual competencies in a professional context - they are trained to become independent thinkers and learners. Moreover, the “humanistic” aspect of liberal arts is also relevant: having engaged in various activities and programs, students in both universities are encouraged to care, cooperate, and make positive differences in their increasingly interconnected communities.

Higher education institutions have focused their efforts on promoting research seedbeds as a strategy for formative research. In this regard, the impact of such a strategy remains unknown due to the lack of models that enable its evaluation. Therefore, this study aimed to design an evaluation model for the academic productivity of research seedbeds based on the available evidence in the literature. To achieve this, a systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA model, analyzing 53 documents including articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings from the SCOPUS, ProQuest, Jstor, Scielo, and ScienceDirect databases. The results identified indicators that allowed for the design of a model based on six constructs: research training, institutional capabilities, bibliographic production, innovation and development, social appropriation of knowledge, and human resource training. It was concluded that the indicators evaluating research seedbeds seek greater scientific development involving students and improving the quality of research products, which directly impacts the institutional research mission.

The importance of research competence in pre-service teacher education has been highlighted in many studies, but concerns over the lack and inconsistency of definition, measurement, and development of research competence still exist. This poses a challenge for pre-service education programmes to provide quality education to pre-service teachers in this area. Through a systematic literature review it was found that there is a gap in the existing literature regarding the definition of research competence in pre-service teacher education, as there seems to be no consensus on the definition. There is, however, an agreement that the development of research competence is an important part of study programmes, as it contributes to higher quality education of pre-service teachers. Addressing this, the review proposes a concise definition of research competence as a multifaceted construct that includes critical thinking, self-directed learning, and organizational skills essential for effective research. The review also highlighted a lack of consensus on the most appropriate frameworks and tools to use in measuring research competence in pre-service teachers, with studies using various frameworks and tools that differ in terms of research methods, instruments and sample characteristics. The results suggest that there is a need for greater attention to be paid to the definition and measurement of research competence, as well as its development within pre-service teacher education programmes.

STEM education is an irreplaceable movement of educational systems across the globe in the 21st century. Both Pre-K, K-12, and higher education institutions consider STEM as an innovative approach to integrate and reform the teaching and learning processes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of studies on STEM in the Early Childhood Education context from 1992 to 2022. We investigated a dataset of 308 scholarly works from the Clarivate Web of Science database and figured a diversified collection of research focuses on topics such as children’s readiness, outcomes, teachers’ competency in designing and implementing STEM activities, and the role of computational thinking and robotics. The findings of this paper revealed the dominant contribution of researchers from the USA regarding research quantity and impact, as well as their collaborations with researchers from Western countries. In addition, we also figured out the top influencing authors, documents, and journals as a suggestion for scholars who are new to this topic. However, we would like to note that our findings depended on the quality of the imported database from the WoS system, which covers top-tier journals only.

Compliance with any policies, laws and regulations, including university compliance with quality assurance mechanisms globally, depends on the practicability of those mechanisms. Like other countries, Tanzania has quality assurance mechanisms that require universities to comply. However, the existing audit reports have shown non-compliance cases to such mechanisms. This study sought to explore the practicability of the existing quality assurance mechanisms in promoting universities’ compliance in Tanzania. The documentary reviews, interviews, and focus group discussions were used to collect data from the 4 universities and 46 students, academics, and quality assurance directors and officers as a sample size selected purposively. The data were analysed through content analysis. The findings revealed that the existing quality assurance mechanisms are generally practicable; however, there are quality assurance requirements with practicability challenges due to contextual factors. Such requirements include senior academics in administrative duties, academics’ promotion, academics’ recruitment, inclusive and participatory teaching approaches, requirements with extra financial costs, examination scripts’ marking, and invigilation restrictions. This study concludes that the practicability challenges of some quality assurance mechanisms are one reason for non-compliance cases at some Tanzanian universities. It recommends that key stakeholders be involved in establishing mechanisms, and all contextual factors must be addressed to enhance practicability.

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 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'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.

This study aims to explore the impact of outdoor education on senior elementary school students' perceptions of scientific literacy and learning motivation. 42 senior elementary school students (25 males, 17 females; average age = 11.6) were enrolled and divided into experimental (N = 21) and control (N = 21) groups. Participants were taught the same content about science for four weeks. The control group adopted traditional indoor teaching, whereas the experimental group adopted outdoor education. Before and after the course, each student completed the 23 items of scientific literacy and the 6 items of learning motivation scale. The results show that the experimental group had significantly higher perceptions of scientific literacy and learning motivation. The outdoor education teaching method has positive effects on the higher levels of awareness and creative development of students. These findings imply that outdoor education has a positive effect on improving students' perceptions of scientific literacy and learning motivation.

The primary objective of this study was to determine how students and teachers in primary schools view the classroom climate and its dimensions: (a) peer relationships and (b) student-teacher relationships. Additionally, the study aimed to explore the role of students' age (11-12 years old - 7th grade students vs. 14-15 years old - 9th grade primary school students) and gender on their perceptions of the school climate. Classroom climate was measured with the "Classroom Climate Questionnaire", which was completed by a total of 1,531 students (792; 51.6% female) and 348 teachers (296; 84.6% female). The findings of the study indicated that both students and teachers generally perceived the classroom climate as being relatively neutral to positive. However, teachers tended to report more positive classroom relationships compared to students. Furthermore, the study found no significant gender-based differences in how students perceived the classroom climate, peer relationships, and student-teacher interactions. However, differences were identified based on the age or grade level of the students. The results were discussed in the context of the students’ psychological development characteristics and the aspects of socio-emotional learning within school environments, also considering educational policies for achieving greater school quality.

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.

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.

This article describes a methodology and a didactic innovation in higher education that employs Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) across four universities in the fields of sociology, psychology, social education and economics in order to explore the phenomenon of economic violence. The COIL activities were developed by four teachers in the second semester of 2022. The students explored the social and cultural origins of economic violence and the daily exposure to economic inequality in the domestic sphere, while also studying the prevention and responses offered by anti-violence centers from both organizational and social perspectives. The most novel aspect of COIL projects is the research approach to the topic (gender violence) and the students' participation in extracurricular activities, namely presenting the results of their research developed during their academic subjects after the course, at international events. In this study, we describe the projects and the assessment of this part of the research, analyzing the perceptions of the Italian and Spanish students who participated in the dissemination activity. The students' perceptions were recorded through a semi-structured questionnaire utilizing Likert scales and open-ended questions, which included their self-assessments of their knowledge before and after participating in the project, the impact on their development of competences and skills, and their satisfaction with the whole experience. Students acquired a great deal of knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon being studied through COIL methodology and connected these extracurricular activities to a clear improvement in their transversal skills.

One of the ways to enhance and improve the quality of learning delivery is through the use of technology, particularly the Internet, which facilitates faster and easier access to information. This research aims to explore the degree to which factors such as digital literacy, metacognitive awareness, meaningful learning, habits of using smartphones, and personal learning competence are related to one another. Both the relationship between metacognitive awareness and personal learning competence, as well as the relationship between smartphone habits and personal learning competence, are moderated by a moderating variable known as the fear of missing out. Fear of missing out is a moderating variable. Structural equation modeling, specifically partial least squares, was employed to analyze data from 597 engineering students. SmartPLS version 4 was the tool used for this analysis. The study found that the moderating variable, fear of missing out, significantly impacts metacognitive awareness, learning personal competence, and smartphone habits, making it a crucial factor to investigate. This result is significant because it is a variable that influences the learning that students go through for their education and because it is an extremely important thing to investigate.