This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of virtual laboratory based on semi second life (s-SL) on higher order thinking skills of general senior secondary school in chemistry learning process. The research design was adopted posttest-only design approach to a quasi-experimental. This study was conducted in the one of public general senior secondary school in 3T regions – Bangkalan City – one of the cities in East Java Province, Indonesia. There were 81 students in the grade 11 of natural science who involved in this study. The participants were divided into three groups, namely the students who did practical work by demonstration methods in chemistry real laboratory, the students who did practical work by experiment methods in virtual laboratory based on s-SL, and the students who did practical work by combination both of them (demonstration methods in chemistry real laboratory and experiment methods in virtual laboratory based on s-SL). The students in each group was tested by posttest of higher order thinking skills. The data was analysed with one-way ANOVA. The results of data analysis shows that there is a significance difference of each groups. Virtual laboratory based on s-SL has enough effect on the students’ higher order thinking skills.

The investigation of epistemological beliefs has become important in both pre-service and in-service education of teachers. Different scales have been developed to determine teachers’ epistemological beliefs. The same scale yields different results in different cultures especially due to the cultural aspects of education. Therefore, testing the scales in different cultures contributes to their use. Within this framework, the scale developed by Schommer and adapted to Turkish culture by Deryakulu and Büyüköztürk was adapted to Kosovo culture. In the study, whether the Albanian, Bosnian and Turkish versions of the scale support the same factor structure was tested by employing the quantitative research method. First, the Epistemological Belief Scale was translated into Albanian and Bosnian and expert opinion was received. The scale was applied to 200 teachers who serve in schools where education languages are Albanian, Bosnian and Turkish. The scale comprised 35 items and 3 factors. Linguistic equivalence was prioritized, as the study was carried out in Kosovo. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis was employed to confirm the suitability of the three-factor structure of the scale. The analyses were carried out separately for each language and revealed acceptable fit indices. Reliability analysis produced satisfactory results.

Shared leadership and employee empowerment develop positive feelings in employees towards the organization, the work they do and themselves. These positive emotions create confidence for employees to try new methods and techniques in their work. Employees who approach their work with an innovative mindset will be more beneficial to their organizations and increase their own satisfaction. In this study, the shared leadership, employee empowerment and innovativeness levels of schools, the relationship of these variables with each other and the predictive status were examined according to the perceptions of the teachers. This study is a research in relational survey model. The data of the research were collected in the province of Malatya in November during 2019-2020 academic year. The data were collected through "Shared Leadership", "Employee Empowerment" and "Innovativeness" scales. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. According to the results of the research, the levels of shared leadership, employee empowerment and innovativeness in primary schools are “partially high”. There is a positive, significant and moderate relationship between the school's shared leadership and employee empowerment and teachers' innovativeness. In addition, shared leadership and employee empowerment predict teachers' innovativeness. For this reason, it is considered important to create a school environment where leadership is shared in order to increase the innovativeness of teachers and to support teachers and include them in decision-making processes in order to empower them.

This paper presents and assesses the effects of an Extended School Time project (ESTp), with a working day of 8 contact hours, that aimed to develop the students as a whole in its academic, artistic, sport, social and human dimensions. Based in active and integrated pedagogical practices, the project promoted the integration of knowledges, curiosity, sense of criticism, creativity, sharing solidarity and the conviviality of students. This project was applied to a 6th grade class with 20 pupils (11.2±0.68 years old). Using a qualitative methodology, 13 semi structured interviews were applied to 3 types of participants: 6 pupils, 5 parents (42.6±4.54 years old) and 2 teachers (60±4 years old), in order to analyze their perceptions regarding the project. Results show that each group valued different aspects of the project. The pupils valued activities that emphasized challenge, communication, creativity, and autonomy, as well as activities of academic continuity. The parents focused mostly on the occupational component of Extended School Time (ESTp), and the teachers on its effects on social and self-development of the pupils. This development was reflected in an improved peer-to-peer relationship and in a greater sense of belonging to school. The convergence verified in this ESTp, between cognition and the artistic, social and sport education, sought to promote the main goal of the School, an instruction that promotes a global (including multicultural and universal) development of the pupils’ capabilities.

The study aims at investigating basic level schoolteachers' awareness of their students' mathematics learning disability (MLD) in the context of Nepal. It is based on a mixed-method research design in that it combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches as appropriate. Using the stratified random sampling technique, 300 basic level mathematics teachers were selected from 150 basic level (grades 1-8) community and institutional schools representing the three significant ecological regions (the Mountain, the Hill, and the Terai) and demographic variables (gender, place of residence, and school type) from Province 1 of Nepal. A Mathematics Learning Disability Awareness Scale (MLDA-Scale), was developed and used to measure the basic level schoolteachers' awareness of their students' MLD. Besides, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the purposively selected basic level schoolteachers for the qualitative data. The basic level schoolteachers' awareness of MLD factor categories was calculated using descriptive statistics. Similarly, t-tests were conducted to examine the effects of the demographic variables. The qualitative data, however, were analyzed thematically. The results reveal that the majority of the basic level schoolteachers' knowledge toward their students' MLD was inadequate and that the demographic variables had no significant effects on the teachers' knowledge of their students' MLD. Finally, the study recommends developing the managerial practices regarding the MLD issue further.

Student learning in higher education is influenced by parental involvement, peer support, and lecturers' perceptions of agreeableness. This research aims to examine the correlation between parental involvement, peer support, and the perception of personality agreeableness of lecturers on self-regulated learning (SRL) students. This research is a correlational field research model with a quantitative approach. The respondents of this research were 250 students of Yogyakarta State Islamic University who were obtained using a purposive random sampling technique. Data collection uses a scale of SRL, parent involvement, peer support, and perception of the agreeableness personality of the lecturer. Regression analysis is used as a data analysis technique. The results showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between parental involvement with SRL, peer support with SRL, personality perception agreeableness lecturers with SRL, and parental involvement, peer support, and perceptual personality agreeableness of lecturers together with SRL with an effective contribution (R2) of 15.1%. It was concluded that the involvement of parents, peer support, and perception of personality agreeableness of lecturers related to SRL of students. Therefore, to see student SRL can be seen based on the involvement of parents, peer support, and students' perceptions of the personality agreeableness of their lecturers.

Continuous changes in social demand and development provide an acute and continuous pressure on universities. The question is whether higher education institutions (HEI) in Ecuador deliver graduates with the competences to provide timely economic, ecological, and sustainable solutions. Additionally, HEIs should prepare graduates to find employment in a society characterized by greater uncertainty, extensive use of information technology, speed, risk, complexity and interdisciplinary work. To face this challenge, universities need lecturers to possess a mix of aptitudes, attitudes, and professional development in teaching, research, and services. Unfortunately, knowledge is sparse about the readiness of their pupils to function effectively in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment. Accordingly, this study uses an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of lecturers’ aptitudes, attitudes, and professional development on teaching and student learning at the University of Cuenca. Lecturers’ perceptions about their aptitudes and their attitudes are higher than the students’ perceptions. Faculty representatives believe that untenured lecturers have a better attitude and aptitude than the tenured lecturers. A third part of lecturers have achieved one of the required criteria in research development. Students from biological sciences are more satisfied with their lecturers and the competence development that they receive than the students from social sciences or engineering. Understanding the likely implication of the variables, aptitudes, attitudes and professional development, on the quality of teaching and learning is fundamental for the design and carrying out of educational reforms.

This study aims to analyze the implementation of holistic education and determining its supporting and hindering factors at a boarding high school in Malang, Indonesia. The method of this research is qualitative descriptive with a case study approach in the State Senior High School 10 Malang, Indonesia. The data collection technique was done through interviews and observations. The data analysis employed data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions making. The results showed that holistic education in the State Senior High School 10 Malang included the academic, leadership program, extracurricular, youth entrepreneurship, and environment caring programs. The supporting factors of the holistic education were curriculum, professional teachers, principal leadership, learning process, facilities and infrastructure, school management, three educational centers, and school culture. Meanwhile, the inhibiting factors included the low number of boarding teachers and the high operational costs. The results suggest that all schools should provide equal access to qualified education services to the whole nation through holistic education programs to produce intelligent and competitive students.

Teaching about biodiversity and its conservation could be an effective way to teach the importance of different species and human dependence on ecological support systems. This study compares the effectiveness of a digital and a paper-based dichotomous identification key for teaching pre-service teachers about plant species diversity. Twenty-four Slovenian teachers in pre-service training used a digital version of the key on tablet computers and twenty-nine used a paper-based version to identify woody species in the garden near their university faculty. Both keys contained the same species, identical photographs and the same sequence of steps to identify the species. The accuracy and time taken to identify the five species were measured. The participants also completed a questionnaire about the usability of the identification key. Overall, both versions of the key were equally good for determining species names. The digital version of the key was found to be more time-effective than the paper version only when multiple identification steps were required to identify species. The results confirm that those who scored better on the identification tasks have a better general opinion about the usability of the key; especially students using digital version of the key. Implications for teachers using or creating identification keys are discussed in the conclusion.

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.

Professional teaching competence is significantly influenced by beliefs about teaching and learning. Prospective teachers start their teacher training with quite persistent beliefs about learning processes. These beliefs are mainly influenced by the way they experienced their own lessons as a student at school. Previous biology lessons at school might be linked to the imagined biology lessons of prospective teachers. We interpret these future lessons as a representation of their beliefs about teaching and learning. The present study investigated how prospective teachers remembered their previous biology lessons as well as how they imagine the lessons they will conduct in the future. The drawings of 181 prospective biology teachers in Germany (Mage = 22.1; SD = 3.6; 64.1 % female) were analyzed using the Draw-a-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C). Results of the study indicate that the lessons they experienced were mainly teacher-centered, whereas the lessons they imagined were mainly student-centered. Results of a chi-square-test indicate that there is no connection between these two drawings of biology lessons. This suggests that experiences from one’s own schooling may have no connection with the way prospective teachers would like to teach in the future. The results of this study might be used as a basis for further studies examining the development of prospective biology teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning.

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.

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.

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.

The progressive integration of mobile technology in the classroom is generating new scenarios to innovate teaching methods. The aim of this study was to analyse the perceptions of university students toward the use of Socrative and its implications in gamified learning situations. This is a descriptive-survey investigation, complemented with content analysis techniques. The data were collected using a questionnaire designed ad hoc by Quiroga-Estévez et al. and structured interviews. The sample consisted of undergraduate students (n=472) of the degree of Primary Education from the Faculty of Education Sciences of a Spanish university. The results show significant changes in the learning process of the students, in social relations and in the teaching methodology.

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.

Multicultural education improves educators’ understanding of the complexities of different cultures and the inherent intersectionality of race, gender, class, and exceptionality to liberate students from oppressive structures within society. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the perceptions of educational leadership graduate students regarding multicultural education and transformative leadership through the lens of critical pedagogy. During this qualitative case study, the researchers used course materials, including discussion and responses, book reviews, and presentations, to answer these research questions: What factors drove the graduate students to want to seek out further experiences for them or their students with multicultural education? What did the participants perceive as potential barriers to influencing educational reform? In what ways did the perceptions of the graduate students regarding multicultural education change over the course of a semester? Three themes emerged from the analysis, the illusion of inclusivity, cultural awareness, and the disconnection between theory and practice. This research could impact current and potential future educational leaders and provides information that would benefit school districts, teachers, and students.