The objective of this research is to analyze the twelfth graders' mathematics critical thinking skills using a mathematics learning model to stimulate fundamental critical thinking abilities of science courses in SMA Negeri, Pacitan Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. This quasi-experimental research design was used in this study with one group posttest only design using multiple substantive posttests. The sample of 141 students from the total population of six public schools involving the twelfth graders of the natural sciences was selected through purposive sampling technique, data were taken through tests of students' critical thinking skills and interviews. The data analysis consists of five stages, namely an analysis of one sample t-test, an analysis of students' grades, an analysis of problem-solving stages, an analysis of critical thinking abilities indicators, and an analysis of mathematics critical thinking abilities indicators. The results showed (1) The results of the one sample t-test show that the mathematics learning model is effective to stimulate critical thinking, which means that the application of the mathematics learning model is effective to stimulate critical thinking; (2) the overall grades of students that met the minimum mastery criteria; (3) the data analysis of eleven problem-solving stages proves that the criteria for critical thinking abilities are categorized as good and very good. The highest score indicator considers the principle and definition of transformation, while the lowest grade indicator is mainly concerned with the questions on right and coherent steps; (4) the critical thinking skills have seven indicators that highlight the criteria of students' critical thinking abilities categorized as good and very good. The indicators that get the highest score determine the definitions of terms, while the indicators of the lowest score determine the action; (5) the results of the analysis show indicators of mathematics critical thinking skills that have eight indicators. The criteria of students' critical thinking abilities met good and very good categories along with indicators with the highest value score by considering the definitions of terms, while the indicators of the lowest score deal with the habit of caution.

This research aimed to analyze the levels of agreement between kindergarten teachers and principals in identifying the assessment of teachers’ teaching competencies and performance. The study was designed under a quantitative approach using a survey. It implemented a non-probability sampling technique with purposive sampling. The sample of the population comprised of 173 kindergarten teachers and 101 principals in Semarang District, Indonesia, or a total of 274 respondents. The data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using Cohen’s Kappa coefficient to measure the levels of agreement between raters and Pearson Chi-Square test was also utilized to determine the differences in perceptions among principals and teachers. The findings showed that the levels of agreement between raters were averagely in the no agreement category, implying the existence of differences in perceptions among teachers and principals. The involvement of a multi-rater strategy in such research is a rare effort, especially for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) level in Indonesia. Researches regarding teaching competencies and performance generally only involve single rater, either teachers or principals who judge themselves on their competencies and performance, thus the results tend to be subjective. In conclusion, the assessment of teaching competencies with the relation of cognitive abilities was conducted through a test that considered subjective questions and case analysis to evaluate the teachers’ skills based on their performance and self-description. Both personal and social assessments utilized self-assessment forms or autobiographies, which were completed with specific themes. Meanwhile, the performance assessment was observed with the assessment rubric and comparison with the learning process performed by an individual educator.

The teaching and learning in Indonesian elementary schools focus both on students’ concept mastery and character development.  Teachers are encouraged to implement a learning model that integrates character values and yet promote learning interest.  This study was aimed at investigating the mathematics learning interest of grade three elementary school students through the integration of thematic learning with character education, referred to as the character-integrated thematic learning model. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, this study involved 70 students and employed a questionnaire to obtain data, which were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Descriptively, the average scores of students' learning interest before and after the implementation of the character-integrated thematic learning model are respectively 117.54 and 140.69 with the gain index of 0.44 in the fair category. While score obtained for thematic learning model are 116.11 and 120.23 with the gain index of 0.07 in the low category. The results of the statistical inference analysis using the independent sample t-test were obtained t-count of 4.98 > t-table of 1,667. This indicates that there has been a significant increase in students’ learning interest scores with the implementation of character-integrated thematic learning model. Thus, this learning model can be applied to pay attention to the development of student’s character which has an impact on increasing student’s learning interest.

Central to the creativity development in elementary schools are competent teachers. Enhancement of teachers’ competence could be done through the provision of guidance handbooks for the teachers. As based on the problem statements, this research was aimed at developing handbooks of guidance and counseling that could improve teachers’ competence in providing quality guidance and counseling services; the handbooks were expected to help teachers in cultivating the creativity of elementary school students. In this research and development study, the designed handbooks consisted of book 1 Guidance and Counseling Implementation Plan, Book 2 Service Materials, Book 3 Teachers’ Guideline, and Book 4 Evaluation Guideline. The effectiveness of the handbooks was examined using a quasi-experimental method with one group pre-test and posttest. According to the results of experimental data analysis, the tcount and ttable arrived at 7.665 (significance level of 0.05 (14)) and 1.76, respectively, meaning that tcount > ttable. This result signified that the handbooks were practical to build teachers’ competence in providing quality guidance and counseling services, which was helpful in assisting the teachers in instilling the creativity of elementary school students. In brief, the handbooks are recommended to be used by teachers in promoting the creativity of elementary school students.

Industrial revolution 4.0 is currently present in various countries, including Indonesia. Indonesia responded quickly through technological developments, especially education. The actions of the Indonesian government to deal with industrial 4.0 are contained in the 4C principle, one of which is Critical Thinking. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning approach has become an alternative in building critical thinking skills, especially in science learning. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively measure the impact of the STEM-inquiry model based on the K-13 Indonesian Curriculum towards critical thinking skills of 15-16 years old students. This study employed quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group design at SMAN 1 (State Senior High School) Padang Cermin, Lampung, Indonesia. The research subjects consisted of 50 students. The critical thinking skill was measured through 10 items of an essay question on the momentum and impulse material. Based on the results of the non-parametric statistical hypothesis test Mann Whitney, the significance level of 0.004 was obtained (sig <0.05). The results of the hypothetical test showed that the student's critical thinking skills before and after using the STEM-based inquiry model were different. It can be concluded that the application of the STEM-based inquiry model was effective in increasing students' critical thinking skills.

The research investigated whether there is a correlation between participation in a course entitled "Diversity and multiculturalism in the global era" as perceived by Jewish and Arab students in Israel and a change in the students' attitudes and behaviors and their performance of activities in a multicultural context in the education field. The course was part of a master's degree program in Policy and Administration in Education in an academic college in central Israel. Pre-course and post-course questionnaires were administered to the course participants. Participants were 528 students; 177 responded to the pre-course questionnaire and 351 responded to the post-course questionnaire. The research findings indicated a direct association between participation in the course and activities conducted in the education field. In addition, students’ acquisition of knowledge on multiculturalism mediated the association between participation in the course and performance of multicultural activities in the education field. Differences were found between Jewish and Arab students' reports: Jews reported a multicultural academic atmosphere significantly more than Arabs. Contrastingly, Arab students gave significantly higher grades than Jewish students to reciprocal relations between the groups in the college and reported a more positive change in their attitudes towards the other group and towards multiculturalism and were more convinced that the course contributed to their multicultural thinking. These findings have theoretical and practical implications that can inform policymakers planning education for multiculturalism as a permanent component in academic programs, while responding to different sectors' cultural uniqueness to promote equality between them.

An evidence-based, interactive teaching method peer instruction (PI) is promoted to support effectiveness over more commonly used teaching methods. Usually it is proposed for the university and upper secondary school. The research reports on the implementation of the PI approach in teaching subject Science and Technology (S&T) in the 4th grade of primary school. The aim of this research was to verify the feasibility of this approach for much younger students in primary school by evaluating the students’ progress in the subject S&T, identifying the differences in individual progress in relation to students’ general learning success, and determining students’ opinions about the approach and where no desired progress has been made. In a selected Slovenian primary school, a classroom with 26 students (age 9 – 10) was included in the study and 5 different content areas (Earth’s motion, Matter, Magnetism, Forces and motion, and Electricity) were taught using this PI approach. Results show that students made progress in all content areas and no differences were identified in the progress of individual students in terms of general learning success. Students were satisfied with the approach, although more than half of them found the multiple-choice questions as too difficult. Although the PI approach is successful, teachers must be aware that some persistent and widespread misunderstandings may still remain and require additional intervention.

The aim of this study is to find out the influence of online project collaborative learning and achievement motivation on problem-solving ability in the area of citizenship. This study uses a quasi-experimental design. The total of study subjects is 71 students of higher education; consist of 36 students as the experimental group and 35 students as the control group. Data of problem-solving ability is obtained by using an essay test, while data of achievement motivation is obtained by using a questionnaire. Data analysis is done with ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). The study results show that online based-project collaborative learning strategy has a positive influence on civic problem-solving ability. There is a difference in civic problem-solving ability between students with high achievement motivation and students with low achievement motivation. Online project collaborative learning strategy and achievement motivation interact in influencing the civic problem-solving ability of students. It is recommended that further study corroborate this finding by testing again the effectiveness of using online-based project collaborative strategy in the aspect of problem-solving in a similar field of study.

The purpose of the research was to identify whether the English language e-classes that are automated and delivered through the Smart Sender platform influence the students’ attendance and procrastination rates, their motivation, time management skills, cognitive processing speed, and satisfaction. The study used qualitative and quantitative methods to monitor students’ attendance and procrastination rates, motivation and engagement, time management skills, thinking speed, and satisfaction. The questionnaire on learning motivation, engagement, and competence, the time management skills test, the mental speed test, and the course satisfaction questionnaire were used to collect data. The focus group discussion questionnaire was used to obtain verbal feedback for the participants. The Smart Sender platform proved effective as an instructional tool for teaching the English Language to students majoring in Philology, International Business, and Law. The automated delivery of the English language e-classes was effective in addressing the issues of dropouts and procrastination in distance learning through automation of the lesson delivery based on the ‘push’ factor. It increased students’ motivation, improves time management skills, and satisfaction. The quantitative findings showed that the students experienced a positive change in attendance, motivation and learning engagement, time management skills, and thinking speed due to the intervention. The students perceived the automated delivery-based approach to language teaching positively. They reported that the delivery approach content met the participants’ expectations and needs. Focus group discussion revealed that the intervention changed their learning behaviour and strategies which were considered the improvements of the quality learning outcomes.

The current study aimed to identify the level of self-regulation and social intelligence among students of the College of Education at Prince Sattam University in Wadi Al-Dawasir, and to reveal the relationship between self-regulation and social intelligence, as well as the possibility of predicting social intelligence through self-regulation. A sample consisting of (204) female students at the College of Education, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Wadi Ad-Dawasir participated in this study. The measurement instruments included two researcher-made scales of self-regulation and social intelligence, and the SPSS program was used for statistical treatments. Results revealed that female students of the College of Education in Wadi Ad-Dawasir, Prince Sattam University, have a high level of self-regulation as well as social intelligence, and that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the scores of self-regulation and social intelligence among the study sample. In addition, it was found that social intelligence can be predicted through self-regulation. It is possible to benefit from the results of this study in directing university planning officials to the importance of transforming the self-regulation and social intelligence of students into a culture and systematic practice through courses, symposiums and workshops, or integrating them into academic courses.

The study is intended to expose mind mapping used as strategy for learning which is able to assist students to write their writing assignments. Thirty students who registered in the Teacher Qualification Improvement Program of Universitas Terbuka (UT) was involved as the participants in this present study. The participants had to follow the face-to-face tutorial session of the Instructional System Design course (ISD) course. One of the given assignments of the course was writing the modular based learning materials for the primary school students. The participants had to study the required knowledge and skills of writing the printed modular based learning materials through the systematic and systematic ways. The mind mapping strategy was used to help the students to complete their writing assignments – the printed modular based leaning resources. At the beginning the participants felt uncertain about the writing assignment. The study was found that the use of mind mapping as learning strategy increased the students learning motivation and improve the ability to write the printed modular based learning materials.

As a part of learning process, project-based assessment (PBA) is determined to be a potential approach in higher education evaluation that focuses on developing the important objectives related to critical thinking, team working and problems solving skills. The aim of the paper is to find out students’ reflection and teachers’ beliefs towards using this project-based assessment method in teaching Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC). To collect the data, a project-based assessment design was applied for 124 English major students at B University in the 9 weeks ICC course. This project was implemented from the beginning of the course, and at the end of the course, learners’ products were performed with specific activities regarding culture knowledge competition, online cultural community activities, talent performance, situational judgment ability, and eloquence skills. In addition, a set of questionnaires were delivered to the participants, plus the interviews with 36 teachers who have taught culture-related subjects from the universities in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. The findings revealed that although there were certain challenges, using project-based assessment in teaching culture had satisfactory effects on students’ intercultural competence, problem- solving skills, critical thinking, and learning motivation.

The current study investigated Student-Teacher Relationship Measure (STRM) psychometric properties using Rasch analysis in a sample of middle school female students (N = 995). Rasch Principal Components Analysis revealed psychometric support of two subscales (i.e., Academic and Social Relations). Summary statistics showed good psychometric properties. The category structure and individual statistics (i.e., items and person infit and outfit) were not ideal. Category structure showed that the distances between adjacent thresholds were lower than optimal criteria. Even though findings indicated that items mean square statistics (MNSQ) were optimal, standardized fit statistics (i.e., ZSTD) reflected many misfit persons and items in each subscale. After eliminating the misfit persons and items, the two subscales met the Rasch optimal criteria. The updated short 22-item scale had good psychometric properties, high item and person separation, and good item and person reliability for the two subscales and can be used as a reliable and valid scale.

We investigated the effects of just-in-time guidance at various stages of inquiry learning by novice learners. Thirteen participants, randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 8) or control (n = 5) group, were observed as they learned about DC electric circuits using a web-based simulation. Just-in-time instructional prompts to observe, predict, explain, systematically test, collect evidence, and generate rules were strongly associated with diagnosing and correcting misconceptions, and constructing correct scientific concepts. Students’ repeated use of predictions, systematic testing, and evidence-coordinated reasoning often led to formulating new principles, generalizing from observed patterns, verifying comprehension, and experiencing “Aha!” moments. Just-in-time prompts helped learners manage embedded cognitive challenges in inquiry tasks, achieve a comprehensive understanding of the model represented in the simulation, and show significantly higher knowledge gain. Just-in-time prompts also promoted rejection of incorrect models of inquiry and construction of robust scientific mental models. The results suggest ways of customizing guidance to promote scientific learning within simulation environments.

This study aimed to analyze the Research-Based Learning (RBL) model implementation in the natural sciences in improving students’ analytical thinking skills. This study employed a mixed-method with a sequential exploratory design. Data collection began with qualitative data and then continued with quantitative data. Qualitative data collection techniques used observation and interviews, while quantitative data collection used essay tests. Sampling was carried out before the research implementation. The samples were students of the PGMI IAIN Surakarta Study Program, Indonesia, which consisted of 34 pre-service elementary school teachers. The research was conducted in the odd semester of the 2019/2020 academic year. Quantitative data analysis techniques used a quasi-experimental design with one group pretest-posttest. Based on the results of four observations on the research treatments, the mean was 3.714, in which the values of preliminary activities were 3.625, core activities were 3.714, and closing activities were 3.75, used a rating scale (1-4) with the very good category. The RBL model implementation in the natural sciences in the concept of energy can improve the analytical thinking skills of students, as evidenced by the N-gain value was 56.57%in the medium category. This increase was obtained from the mean of the pretest score (46.84) and the post-test score (76.9), by using a rating scale (0-100). The research findings provide ideas to lecturers and researchers in improving the student's analytical thinking skills through the application of innovative learning models in the topic of the concept of energy.

This paper explores misconceptions and errors (M/Es) of eighth-grade students in Nepal with a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent control and experimental groups. The treatment was implemented with teaching episodes based on different remedial strategies of addressing students' M/Es. Students of control groups were taught under conventional teaching-learning method, whereas experimental groups were treated with a guided method to treat with misconceptions and errors. The effectiveness of treatment was tested at the end of the intervention. The results showed that the new guided treatment approach was found to be significant to address students' M/Es. Consequently, the students of experimental groups made significant progress in dealing with M/Es in mathematical problem-solving at conceptual, procedural, and application levels.

This study addresses the effectiveness of learning via educational software. Recent decades have seen the integration of technologies, which are changing teaching and transforming teachers into mediating, facilitating, and guiding figures by means of digital learning methods that serve as a major tool in schools, colleges, and universities. The current study focuses on instruction provided within the Israeli Air Force and examined the effectiveness of instruction provided via educational software in terms of learning products: Bloom’s revised taxonomy, Te’eni’s affective-cognitive model of organizational communication and the STEM model. We randomly divided the learners into three groups who studied the same topic: one group studied with the educational software only, the second with the educational software together with an instructor, and the third with an instructor who used a presentation. The learners took a test and four months later they took another test to examine the effectiveness of the instruction over time. The research results show that the recall levels and performance levels on the tests were almost identical in all groups, but in the categories of understanding and applying the addition of an instructor strongly contributed to achievements: Those who received instruction via educational software achieved the best results in the understanding category, while those who studied with an instructor who used a presentation achieved the best results on the test with regard to application of the studied material. The findings of this study can illuminate the effectiveness of using educational software in learning processes in all educational systems.

The purpose of this research is to provide empirical evidence of the influence of perceived usefulness, convenience, experience, gender, and age on the intention to use e-learning after the government's school closure policy due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Our sample is junior high school teachers in Indonesia and the data are analyzed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM). We show that perceived usefulness has a positive influence on e-learning intentions. The perceived convenience is not the reason for the teachers to use e-learning because they have no other alternative in carrying out their duties apart from e-learning. Besides, we have also found that gender and experience influence e-learning intentions. The teachers with different genders and experiences continue to implement e-learning as their way of teaching during the pandemic. The younger teachers have a higher intention of using e-learning. They have adequate digital abilities and are more confident in using e-learning, so they have a great intention in implementing e-learning for the delivery of the materials. Experienced teachers will find it easier to find the use and convenience of e-learning. Apart from experience, male teachers also report that it is easier to grasp the ease of e-learning. However, older teachers show more concern about their perception of system usability as a reason for using e-learning than system convenience.

A large number of articles in the field of science education reflect on scientific literacy as the main goal of science education (SE), although often with varying viewpoints. Nevertheless, researchers have begun to highlight subject-specific teaching practices that are expected to specifically enhance science subject teaching, including biology. The main aim of this theoretical article is to come on consensus and to conceptualise the term biological literacy (BL) more clearly and to present a theoretical concept of BL, composed on the basis of systematically analysed articles. This theoretical concept includes two dimensions of BL: (1) cognitive (cognitive skills, conceptual understanding, biological inquiry) and (2) affective dimension, based on systematic literature review (SLR). This theoretical concept also includes in addition four dimensions of BL: (3) sustainability; (4) interdisciplinarity, (5) career awareness and (6) nature of biology (NOB), based on literature review (LR) of recent decades, that was conducted to write theoretical overview of this research.

This study aimed to investigate the mediation role of coping with stress between psychological capital and teacher well-being based on positive psychology, conservation resource, and broaden-and-build theories. Participants in this study were 836 teachers from three clustered, ethnically diverse public universities. Our findings showed that, in line with previous studies, the psychological capital (PsyCap), coping with stress (CWS), and teacher well-being (TWB) dimensions showed the best fit in our data. PsyCap was related positively to TWB (total and dimensions), CWS, coping through withdrawal, and negative coping with acceptance and change. The indirect effect of PsyCap on TWB through coping with stress was fully mediated. PsyCap also positively and directly affected TWB and CWS. Coping through acceptance and change were fully mediated by PsyCap and TWB dimensions, while coping through withdrawal was not. PsyCap directly and positively affected coping with stress (acceptance and change) and negatively affected coping through withdrawal. Future theoretical and practical implications are discussed.