This research aims to determine second-year university students’ understanding in interpreting and representing fractions. A set of fraction tests was given to students through two direct learning interventions. An unstructured interview was used as an instrument to obtain explanations and confirmations from the purposive participants. A total of 112 student teachers of primary teacher education program at two private universities in Indonesia were involved in this research. A qualitative method with a holistic type case study design was used in this research. The results indicate that a significant percentage of the participants could not correctly interpret and represent fractions. In terms of interpretation, it is found how language could obscure the misunderstanding of fractions. Then, the idea of a fraction as part of a whole is the most widely used in giving meaning to a fraction compared to the other four interpretations, but with limited understanding. Regarding data representation, many participants failed to provide a meaningful illustration showing the improper fraction and mix number compared to the proper fraction. Improvement of fraction teaching at universities - particularly in primary teacher education programs - is needed so that students get the opportunity to develop and improve their knowledge profoundly. We discuss implications for teaching fractions.

Algebraic knowledge transfer is considered an important skill in problem-solving. Using algebraic knowledge transfer, students can connect concepts using common procedural similarities. This quasi-experimental study investigates the influence of algebraic knowledge in solving problems in a chemistry context by using analogical transformations. The impact of structured steps that students need to take during the process of solving stoichiometric problems was explicitly analyzed. A total of 108 eighth-grade students participated in the study. Of the overall number of students, half of them were included in the experimental classes, whereas the other half were part of the control classes. Before and after the intervention, contextual problems were administered twice to all the student participants. The study results indicate that the students of the experimental classes exposed to structured steps in solving algebraic problems and the procedural transformations scored better results in solving problems in mathematics for chemistry compared to their peers who did not receive such instruction. Nevertheless, the result shows that although the intervention was carried out in mathematics classes, its effect was more significant on students' achievements in chemistry. The findings and their practical implications are discussed at the end of the study.

In the last decades, the notion of universal design for learning (UDL) has gained prominence in the Greek educational scene (former government plan in education, projects based on UDL). This educational philosophy is essentially a necessary inclusive practice given the new conditions, the extreme heterogeneity of the student population due to socio-political and economic factors, and the exceptional circumstances due to COVID-19 pandemic. The UDL aims to ensure access and equity in learning for all learners despite differentiating characteristics. With our study, we seek to investigate whether teachers in secondary and second chance schools (SCS) are ready to implement UDL, what their expectations are, what obstacles they face, and the results of implementation through their records in reflection journals, a practice that is fully consistent with the context of UDL.

Systemic thinking skills are an increasingly important aspect of contemporary life for all students. Therefore, the first aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between systemic thinking skills, epistemological beliefs, and mathematical beliefs in a sample of 120 secondary school students aged 16-18 years in Saudi Arabia. The second objective was to examine gender differences in these three variables. Participants answered scales measuring the Systemic Thinking Inventory (STI) and the Mathematical Beliefs Scale (MBS) created by the researcher. Additionally, participants answered the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI). Results showed a positive correlation between systemic thinking skills, epistemological beliefs, and mathematical beliefs. In addition, significant differences were found in favor of men on the systemic thinking skills on the holistic vision of the system and systemic synthesis skills subscales and females on the systemic analysis subscale. Significant differences were found in epistemological beliefs. A particular difference was innate knowledge and omniscient authority in favor of males, simple knowledge, certain knowledge, and rapid learning in favor of females. In addition, differences were found for mathematics teacher competence and self-efficacy beliefs in favor of males and the usefulness of learning mathematics, difficulty in mathematics, and enjoyment of mathematics in favor of females. The results are discussed in light of the relevant literature, and suggestions are made.

The loss of direct experiences with nature among today's children is of concern as it affects their conservation willingness (CW). While little is known about the influence of live experiences on CW, much less is known about how these events are related. This study aimed to examine the serial mediating effects of biodiversity knowledge (BK) and affective attitudes (AA) on the relationship between live experiences with species and CW. An online questionnaire was administered to 429 school children (11-12 years) in the Maldives. A two-serial mediation analysis revealed that live experiences exerted significant negative direct and positive indirect effects on CW. Thus, although a predictive sequential pathway from live experiences to BK to AA to CW was confirmed, partial mediation involving other mediators or moderators is likely. The direct effects of live experiences on BK and AA and of BK on AA suggest that experiential learning that stimulates AA is necessary to achieve overall positive impacts on CW. Therefore, educators and policymakers are critical in providing first-hand experiences to instill positive biodiversity conservation traits in children, enabling successful education for sustainable development and long-term biodiversity conservation.

The main objective of this research was to study the effects of instructional management models and nominal variables on the development of students’ creative thinking. The researchers used the research synthesis of 400 studies on the development of students' creative thinking by a meta-analysis of research according to Cohen. The meta-analysis results revealed that the average effect size of the instructional management model (d = 3.43; [3.10, 3.17]) was positive and had a very high effect size with statistical significance. The most significant influence on the creative thinking development model was creative development theory (d = 4.217; [3.32, 5.11]). In addition, effect sizes varied with the attribute variables of the research, particularly the attribute variable of the research on instruction with the highest effect consisted of research with the focus on language, at the primary level, applied Torrance's creativity theory, designed between one to six lesson plans. Moreover, there was less than one hour per plan, the instructional period including the experiment conducted more than 31 hours and there were four weeks of instruction. In addition, there were six steps for instruction, there had quiz as an assessment tool, number of exams varied between 30 and 39 questions, and knowledge sheets were used as instructional materials. In the context of the meta-analysis, the findings indicated that the teachers should apply creative development theory in developing the students’ creative thinking for more effective instructional management.

This study aims to explain the success factors of e-learning. The participants were 427 students in public universities in Indonesia. To demonstrate the success of this e-learning, we developed a more comprehensive e-learning evaluation model that considers the system's characteristics, students, and instructors. The results show that higher student performance is associated with higher student satisfaction. However, the increase in performance is not due to the use of e-learning. Social and cultural factors influence the use of e-learning. Culture and social environment influence students' use of e-learning. The instructor's ability to implement e-learning has been shown to influence student satisfaction. The difference in the implementation of e-learning compared to classroom learning requires different teaching methods that affect student performance. In addition, e-learning is used in all courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main goal of this study is to examine the differences between school-aged children with different chronotypes who are only children or have a sibling in the household, regarding their sleeping habits and performance in intelligence tasks. The main measures used were Chronotype Questionnaire for Children and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. This study analysed 46 Portuguese children (Mean=8.67; SD=1.034, range 7-11 years of age) without sleep or educational/psychological disturbances, attending the first grade. The differences regarding chronotype and whether they were only children or not were examined. Then the performance of the sample in the Raven’s Progressive Matrices tests was evaluated.  The Mann-Whitney U test showed that ‘only’ children had higher fluid intelligence scores only in the afternoon. The chronotype did not differentiate this population and it is concluded that the type of household is the main moderator: Not being an only child was, in general, the best predictor in the test. Results suggest that different sleeping times (e.g., bedtime and wake-up time) and different chronotypes did not have different effects. However, having siblings proved to be an advantage regarding the child’s performance. Re-education of sleeping practices, especially examining the influence of co-sleeping in families, is essential for the intellectual development of children.

The present research aimed to test an Amharic version of the multi-dimensional Work Task Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST), which measures the five pillars of university instructors’ motivation toward teaching and student evaluation tasks based on self-determination theory (SDT). Therefore, the WTMST offers the first instrument to measure all five motivational elements, and today it is one of the most applicable instruments to assess teachers’ motivation. An Amharic version of the WTMST for teaching and student evaluation tasks was adopted and assessed in large-scale data (N=1,117). Our findings demonstrate excellent reliability and construct validity (convergent, discriminant, divergent and factorial). Besides, the results of the model comparisons provided that out of the four theoretically competing models (single-order factor, correlated factor, higher-order factor and bi-factor models), the bi-factor model was the most-fitted one used for measurement invariance across various groups. Results also suggest that the factor structure of the WTMST for both teaching and student evaluation tasks demonstrate consistency across gender (men, women), university types (research, applied, and general university), age and experience in teaching. Therefore, the WTMST for teaching and student evaluation tasks may be valid in Ethiopian higher education settings.

The purpose of the current research is to identify the correlations between moral intelligence and both academic entitlement and academic performance; in addition to identify the mediating role of academic entitlement between moral intelligence and academic performance. Four hundred and forty-four students from (Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Jordan) participated in the research. The moral intelligence scale and the academic entitlement scale were applied to the participants and data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and path analysis. The results revealed that there was a statistically significant negative correlation between moral intelligence and academic entitlement and a significant positive correlation between moral intelligence and academic performance. Besides, results demonstrated the mediating role of academic entitlement between moral intelligence and academic performance. The results of this research can be employed in building programs and setting plans for developing moral intelligence and eliminating academic entitlement behaviors and beliefs to encounter the problems of secondary school students.

This mixed method case study examined potential influences of social agents or immediate environments on individuals’ metacognition. Via quantitative methodologies, 122 pre-service teachers’ metacognition was measured by the Turkish Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, and metacognitive components did not show any variations across majors, locations of previous studies, the highest degree of education in the family, frequently communicated friends, and regions. Regression analyses revealed that friends were a significant predictor for metacognition. Also, focus group interviews were analyzed thematically via deductive codes regarding the theory of metacognition. Findings confirmed that friends may support individual metacognition at all levels, metacognitive knowledge, regulation, and experiences through cooperation, modeling, reflections, discussions, feedback, and peer evaluation. Pre-service teachers’ engagement on the social media may also support their regulatory strategies due to models’ task performances or by their reflecting upon those performances. Teachers and family may support metacognitive knowledge, specifically career goals via expectations, anecdotes, and experiences. On the other hand, schools and the Turkish culture may impose some limitations on the youth, and they may engage in reflection and self-questioning to manoeuvre negative experiences or conflicts. Thereby, cross-national and longitudinal studies are highly suggested to explicate the social foundations of metacognition.

Multiculturalism in the school environment is challenging for all educational systems. This study examines the effect of multicultural school leadership on multicultural teacher culture and determines mediating effects of multicultural inspiration, personality, and attitude. A quantitative research approach using a cross-sectional survey was used for this study. The population and sample of this study were school principals and high school teachers in Central Java Province, Indonesia. The participants were a total of 357 individuals. Data analysis was done by structural equation modeling (SEM) using the software AMOS 24. The results show that multicultural school leadership directly influences multicultural teacher culture. This study also highlights multicultural inspiration, multicultural personality, and multicultural attitude as factors that mediate the effect of multicultural school leadership on multicultural teacher culture. This study makes a practical and theoretical contribution, especially by providing data to support the improvement of multicultural teacher culture and the importance of multicultural leadership of school leaders in influencing these factors through multicultural inspiration, personality, and attitude.

The longitudinal changes of the average grades in four study semesters before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning are presented in the current study. 11th grade students’ (n=586; age M=17.38, SD=0.53) average grades were assessed, as well as their verbal and non-verbal reasoning abilities, and self-evaluations of problem-solving and self-management skills. The main findings of the study are: 1) There is a general pattern for the grades to increase during the four semesters from the autumn 2019 to the spring 2021; 2) The general tendency of changes in the grades is similar to various students’ groups based on their level of skills; 3) Higher level of students’ skills and cognitive abilities determined that students’ grades were higher and were more likely to increase during the “second wave of the pandemic”, compared to the middle and low-level skill groups. Results of the current study show a tendency for the average grades to increase during the pandemic and distance learning, however, there are group differences in the findings, relating the grade level to the individual level of students’ skills and abilities.

Guided by the analytical framework in the current literature, whereby ten nature of science (NOS) aspects were targeted, this study aims at assessing the extent to which the three physics textbooks for Cycle 4 of Fundamental Schools in Burundi represent the NOS aspects. The quantitative embedded research design which combines the qualitative and quantitative to both the representations of text and images were applied to collect and analyses data. Three physics textbooks used in this study as textbooks I, II and III (grade 7 textbook, grade 8 textbook and grade 9 textbook) were purposively selected. 65 physics lessons were analyzed in three steps including exploring representations of NOS aspects, representations of NOS teaching approaches and accuracy and completeness of NOS aspects. Data were collected using a guide document analysis and a rubric of NOS scoring and were analysed descriptively. The findings found a considerable deficit of NOS aspects in the physics textbooks. The findings also revealed the critical situation where the few lessons poorly represent the NOS aspects and the majority of them do not include the aspects of NOS. Furthermore, this study suggests the in-charge of quality assurance to evaluate and deliberate on the accuracy and completeness of physics textbooks for Cycle 4 of Fundamental Education in Burundi.

Learning activities are conducted to help students achieve optimal academic achievement. This research aims to optimize student academic achievement through a learning process that integrates comprehensive formative assessments, including formative tests, self-assessment, peer assessment, and the initiator of creating summaries or concept maps that are given to students in a structured manner at the end of every lesson. The research method used was a quasi-experimental method with a 2x2 factorial design. Students enrolled in the biology education program of the basic physics course for the 1st semester of the 2019 academic year participated in this study. The participants were 66 undergraduate students divided into two classes. Thirty-four students in the experimental group were in class A, while 32 students in the control group were in class B. Data were collected using a learning outcome test instrument to measure academic achievement, which was tested at the end of the semester. Data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA. This study concluded that a learning process that includes comprehensive formative assessment significantly affects students' academic achievement. These findings support the theory that formative assessment provides feedback, correction, and improvement in student learning.

This study explores a socially relevant problem related to teachers' conceptions of hate speech from a gender perspective present in the discourse of teaching history and social science educational practices. The methodology was used within the paradigm with a case study design, as a generalization was not intended. The sample consisted of 80 professors of history and social sciences. A quantitative questionnaire was used to determine the conceptions of the participants. The main findings include the constraints placed by programs and curricula on the presence of hate speech, student interventions in classes, and strategies implemented by participating teachers to position counter-narratives to hate in their practice. The conclusions include the importance teachers place on analyzing the prevalence of hate speech in their practice, both by students and the media, and its impact on teaching. In addition, the results offer some educational insights and perspectives for positioning hate speech as a transformative social justice perspective.

The aim of this work is to characterise the understanding that students in compulsory secondary education (14-16 years old) have of number sequences in graphical representations. The learning of numerical sequences is one of the first mathematical concepts to be developed in an infinite context. This study adopts the focus of semiotic representations as its theoretical framework. The participants consisted of 105 students and a qualitative methodology was used. The data collection instruments were a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The results allowed for three student profiles regarding number sequences in graphical representations to be identified. These profiles may facilitate a possible progression in the learning of number sequences for students in compulsory secondary education to be considered. Therefore, the results presented in this study can provide information about the learning hypotheses of mathematical tasks related to numerical sequences and can help in the design of such tasks.

This study aims to analyze the impact of Bandura’s observational learning model based on performance assessment learning models and general motor skills on athletic skills learning outcomes. This study used an experimental design treatment by level 2x2. A simple random sampling technique was used with a total of 88 people. The data collection method used consisted of tests and documentation. A two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the students’ athletic skills learning outcomes that followed the Bandura observational learning model based on performance assessment were higher than students’ conventional learning model. There was an interaction effect between the learning model and general motor skills on the student's athletic skills learning outcomes. The students’ athletic skills learning outcomes who follow the Bandura observational learning model based on performance assessment were higher than the conventional learning model. The students with low general motor skills and the students’ athletic skills learning outcomes that followed the Bandura observational learning model based on performance assessment were lower than the conventional learning model. Based on the research findings, it is recommended to improve the athletic skills learning outcomes with Bandura's observational learning model based on performance assessments appropriately and correctly.

This study explored the effects of collaborative writing strategies on students' writing skills and self-efficacy. The study used a mixed methods design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Several instruments were used in data collection, including questionnaires, writing tests, writing assessment rubrics, and semi-structured interviews. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group, which comprised 62 students. Data from the questionnaire and writing tests were analyzed using one-way MANOVA and MANCOVA tests, while interview data were explored using thematic analysis techniques. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The results showed that collaborative writing strategies could improve students' writing skills and self-efficacy. Moreover, the qualitative results showed that most students responded positively to using these strategies to improve their writing skills and self-efficacy.

This study examined students’ calibration of performance in a sport skill in relation to their performance in an executive functions test. A total of 265 students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades participated in the study. The students took an executive functions test, and then they were tested on a basketball shooting test, after having provided a personal estimation regarding their performance. Based on students’ actual and estimated performance, the bias index was calculated to classify students into three categories; accurates, underestimators and overestimators, while the accuracy index (absolute values of the bias index) was also calculated. The results showed a positive but small magnitude relation between students’ scores in the executive functions test and their performance calibration, while accurate scored higher on the executive function test compared to over estimators and under estimators. These results are similar to those of previous studies with elementary school children that employed cognitive tasks and were discussed with reference to theoretical and empirical implications.