The purposes of the current study were to develop students' spatial orientation skills using Virtual Mathematics Kits (VMK) and to evaluate VMK as a form of digital media in terms of spatial orientation. This study involved 42 lower-class and 47 higher-class elementary school students as the intervention group and 36 lower-class and 41 higher-class students as the control group. The intervention group was administered spatial orientation activities for 10 weeks. These activities were performed using a VMK to facilitate solving spatial problems. In the end of activities, spatial orientation instruments administered to compare spatial orientation ability on each group. The findings of this study, spatial orientation activities using a VMK improved students' spatial orientation skills. More specific, VMK provides more significant effect on higher-class students. Finally, VMK allows students to explore many ideas and perspectives to solve various spatial problems. VMK can be used as a digital media that helps students to develop spatial reasoning.

Previous research suggests that non-cognitive factors play an important role in promoting success at school and beyond, aligning with the multifaceted goals of education. Enhancing students’ attitudes to learning in school is expected to have positive impacts on various schooling outcomes. To date, very few studies have focused on measuring and understanding students’ attitude to the arts. This study aims to address a gap in current research in this area by introducing instruments designed to measure attitude to dance, drama, music and visual arts. Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance analyses are employed to examine the factorial validity and measurement equivalence of the scales of attitude to the arts disciplines for different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Findings support the utility of the scales as valid measures of attitude to dance, drama, music and visual arts. Noticeable differences are reported among New Zealand European, Maori, Pasifika and Asian students regarding their attitudes to dance, drama, music and visual arts.

The aim of this study is to analyze and explain the mathematical connection process for students with a high mathematical ability to solve problems in terms of gender. Explorative descriptive research with a qualitative approach was used in this study. Data was collected through written tests and interviews conducted to a male and female student of class X Mathematics and Natural Sciences with high mathematical abilities. Data credibility is obtained through triangulation of methods and time. Furthermore, the data are analyzed with a flowchart which includes data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results showed that there were similarities and differences in the mathematical connection processes of male and female students. Similarities in the process of mathematical connections occur when making mathematical connections with other sciences and with everyday life in each of Polya's stages. In addition, the similarity of the connection process also occurs when connecting in mathematics during the re-checking stage. While the difference in the connection process in mathematics between male and female students is done at the stage of understanding the problem, solving strategies and implementing problem solving.

This longitudinal study focuses on evaluating grade 7-9 school students’ perceptions of intervention modules intended to be relevant, as well as promoting learning attributes to raise awareness of science-related careers. Students are taught through six purposely developed and designed career-related teaching–learning modules (C-TLMs). Each module is initiated by means of a career-related scenario, followed up by promoting conceptual science learning plus drawing attention to careers to which each module intends to relate. Student perceptions are obtained by means of a questionnaire after each module with respect to its relevance and also the mean by which the learning environment raise interest, enjoyment and motivation associated with career awareness. Outcomes show that, in general, students participating in this study agree that the developed C-TLMs are relevant and students value the learning experienced through the different module contexts. Nevertheless, student appreciation of the specific inclusion of career awareness components in the modules is mixed.

This research aimed at analyzing the influence of ‘Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning’ model assisted by realia media, in which it was to improve the scientific literacy and critical thinking skill of primary school students, especially for the material of energy. This quasi-experiment research used single factor independent groups design. The research sample of this research were fourth grade students of SD Inpres Oeba 2 Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara Province, of which students were in the academic year of 2019/2020. The technique of sample collection was carried out purposive sampling for 2 classes. The IVA class was used as the experimental class (POGIL model assisted by the realia media), in which it consisted of 30 students and the IVB class was used as the control class (expository learning) that consisted of 28 students. The learning was carried out in four meetings. The data of scientific literacy and the results test of critical thinking were collected by means of objective test on the energy material. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the data using significance level of 0.05. The results indicate that (1) There is a significant difference between the students’ scientific literacy who gain the POGIL learning assisted by the realia media and the students’ scientific literacy who get the expository learning; and (2) There is a significant difference between the critical thinking of students who get POGIL learning assisted by realia media and the students who get the expository learning. It can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the scientific literacy and the students’ critical thinking taught by the POGIL learning that assisted by realia media to the students who use expository learning. Since there is a significant difference, it means that the POGIL learning assisted by realia media has an influence on the students' scientific literacy and critical thinking.

This quantitative research aims to analyze the effects of the principal's decision-making, organizational commitment and school climate on teacher performance in vocational high school. The research sample was 160 vocational school teachers in North Minahasa Regency with simple random sampling method. The data were collected using a Likert scale questionnaire 25 with statements. The data analysis was performed using simple linear regression and multiple linear regression. The results showed that the principal's decision-making, organizational commitment and school climate had a positive and significant effect on the performance of vocational school teachers, both partially and simultaneously. The results of this research can be an important reference for educational administrators at vocational high school level to design school strategies and policies that can encourage increased teacher performance to achieve better school productivity.

This research aimed to develop a web-based application for teacher candidate competence instruments to prepare professional teachers in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) era. Teacher candidate competencies consist of pedagogical, professional, social, and personality competences. This is a research and development with 8 stages, involving the development of instrument grids/ construct, focus group discussions, instrument item development, instrument validation, manual instrument testing, application development, application assessment by experts, application trial, and final revision of the application. The initial focus group discussions involved 9 experts, while the instrument validation involved 35 experts consisting of 21 experts for pedagogical and professional competences, 7 experts for social competences, 7 experts for the personality competences, and 4 media experts. The trial involved a total of 107 Mathematics, Indonesian, and English student teacher candidates. Expert validation was analyzed using the Aiken formula; application effectiveness and readability were described based on expert judgment, and discrimination tests on the results of social and personality competence tests between the study programs used the Multivariate Analysis of Variants. The results showed that there were no differences in social and personality competences between Mathematics, Indonesian, and English prospective teachers. The developed instruments for pedagogical, professional, personality, and social competences were deemed valid. The application has met the readability aspect and is scored well by experts with an average assessment rating of  .78. These results suggest that the application can be used by the government as a solution to assess teacher candidate competences in the IR 4.0 era.

The purpose of this study was to find the determinants of effective diffusion of educational robotics in rural areas. The study analysed the key components, difficulties, and major lessons of the successful case of the remote northern region of Russia – Sakha Republic. The study used a mixed-method approach consisting of interviews, survey, literature analysis, and participants’ observation.  In the survey participated 57 robotics teachers and 113 elementary, middle, and high school students of the Sakha Republic. From survey participants were randomly chosen 30 robotics teachers and 18 middle and high school students for the interview. The literature analysis explored reports and articles on the educational robotics activities in the Sakha Republic for the period of 2011-2018. Based on the findings, the study developed a process model with five principles and ten components that influenced educational robotics diffusion in the Sakha Republic. One of the main determinants of the model was a support system of public-private partnerships and a local community of educators. Another was the need to consider the local area’s constraints, possibilities, and culture when implementing any technology in the rural region's education. In the researched case two major determinants would not be possible and sustainable without strong leadership. The findings showed that strong local leadership could use knowledge of the local area to provide more appropriate solutions and could build the active support of the local community and public-private partnerships that would accelerate the diffusion of technology in the rural region's education.

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.

Recently, Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) has caused a considerable interest in the school community due to the wide-scale lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The curriculum's alteration necessitated a call to explore mechanisms for effective remote instruction delivery—including parental involvement. This research determined the psychometric properties of the "Strategies for Parental Involvement during Emergency Remote Teaching - Scale (SPIERT-S). The tool assesses the strategies used by teachers to facilitate parental involvement during ERT. Through a thorough literature review, 22 items about home and school collaboration and ERT were initially developed. Evidence related to content validity was established through two-round expert consultation, while data related to construct validity were gathered through factor analyses. The content validity analysis resulted in the deletion of four (4) items; hence, 18 items were retained. A three-factor structure was yielded from Exploratory Factor Analysis (parents as facilitators of learning, parents as sources of information, and parents as collaborators), and a total of 15 items were retained. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated an acceptable level of the goodness-of-fit indices measured. The internal consistency of the factors and the whole scale showed excellent reliability. The results suggest that the SPIERT-S has good, valid, and reliable psychometric qualities and can be used to examine the strategies for parental involvement that teachers utilize during emergency remote teaching. Recommendations and limitations of the study are discussed.

The educational transition between early childhood education and primary education is a complex moment of change with repercussions throughout the academic life of the students. For this reason, it is important to seek continuity between both educational stages. A successful transition produces for the social, cognitive and emotional well-being of the student. The aim of this study is to find out how transition-related factors apply in ten European Union (EU) countries. The factors analyzed are the age of onset of transition, the teacher–student ratio, types of clustering, financing of the stage, responsibility, and both initial and in-service teacher training. The methodology followed in this study is documentary analysis and the main source of data search has been the European Commission's Eurydice portal. The results show differences in stage change within each country, especially in the explicit consideration of a transition period. The main conclusion is that there is a great difference between the northern and southern countries. The main differences between countries in the transitions from early childhood education to primary education in the EU are in the years of compulsory education, the teacher/student/unit ratio, the initial teacher training, and the decentralization of education.

The article deals with mathematical literacy in relation to mathematical knowledge and mathematical problems, and presents the Slovenian project NA-MA POTI, which aims to develop mathematical literacy at the national level, from kindergarten to secondary education. All of the topics treated represent starting points for our research, in which we were interested in how sixth-grade primary school students solve non-contextual and contextual problems involving the same mathematical content (in the contextual problems this content still needs to be recognised, whereas in the non-contextual problems it is obvious). The main guideline in the research was to discover the relationship between mathematical knowledge, which is the starting point for solving problems from mathematical literacy (contextual problems), and mathematical literacy. The empirical study was based on the descriptive, causal and non-experimental methods of pedagogical research. We used both quantitative and qualitative research based on the grounded theory method to process the data gathered from how the participants solved the problems. The results were quantitatively analysed in order to compare the success at solving problems from different perspectives. Analysis of the students’ success in solving the contextual and non-contextual tasks, as well as the strategies used, showed that the relationship between mathematical knowledge and mathematical literacy is complex: in most cases, students solve non-contextual tasks more successfully; in solving contextual tasks, students can use completely different strategies from those used in solving non-contextual tasks; and students who recognise the mathematical content in contextual tasks and apply mathematical knowledge and procedures are more successful in solving such tasks. Our research opens up new issues that need to be considered when developing mathematical literacy competencies: which contexts to choose, how to empower students to identify mathematical content in contextual problems, and how to systematically ensure – including through projects such as NA-MA POTI – that changes to the mathematics curriculum are introduced thoughtfully, with regard to which appropriate teacher training is crucial.

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.

Considering the low achievement of Indonesian students in international studies (PISA), which measures Higher-Order Thinking Skill (HOTS) in solving the problem, improving the quality of mathematics learning in Indonesia is very important. The purpose of this research was conducted to explore the variations in students’ learning strategies and students’ Self–Regulated Learning (SRL) in solving mathematical HOT problems. The study employed a mixed-method, namely quantitative and qualitative methods were applied through five tests and seven interviews for over eight weeks. Two types of instruments were employed in this study, and they include tests and interviews. At the initial stage, we randomly selected 30 students from all those in grade 10 (Senior High School ), after which 12 were chosen purposively after the pre-test for an interview, having satisfied all complete group, middle group, and lower group. All of them were treated using metacognitive questions. Data analysis techniques used were percentage, data reduction, presentation, and conclusion. The quantitative results showed the students could generally use orientation, organization, and elaboration learning strategies as observed with 68.3%, 60%, and 56.7% for complete, middle, and lower groups. Moreover, the students were also observed to have conducted three cognitive processes in selecting the rules for solving the mathematical HOT problem, namely using models and drawing, written texts, and combining both. Furthermore, their final solution failures were affected by their misconceptions and errors in creating the mathematical model. The interview results on designing the learning procedures, monitoring the progress, and evaluating the outcomes, show that the students’ SRL level is good for complete (89.3%), middle (75%), and lower groups (60.7%).

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.

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.

The mastery of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is very important for teachers in order to achieve qualified learning. Analyzing the mastery of TPACK by teachers in Indonesia seems to be imperative to provide baseline data to Indonesian government. This study aimed to examine the mastery of TPACK, in particular among biology teachers in terms of their teacher certification status, educational level, and academic background. This research involved 68 biology teachers obtained through proportional random sampling in five districts of Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. The data collection was conducted through a multiple-choice test consisting of 33 items. The results showed that although the teacher’s mastery of TPACK was categorized as fair (60.13), it does not meet the work performance standards as a good teacher in Indonesia which has a minimum score of 76.00. Using Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis Tests (p< 0.05), the evidence revealed that the mastery of TPACK among biology teachers is likely influenced by the academic background, educational level, and teacher certification status.

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.

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.

Learning in high schools has used a lot of smartphone assistance to make it easier for students to understand the material explained by the teacher. However, with the many uses of smartphones in learning, of course, it must provide positive benefits to the ability of students, especially the science literacy ability. In this study, the objectives to be achieved are to examine how much the smartphone's usability in physics learning, examine students' science literacy and examine the effect of the smartphone’s usability on students' science literacy in physics learning. The method used in this study is a quantitative method with a research design used is a one-shot case study. The data on smartphone usability is obtained using a questionnaire, and science literacy of students is obtained through on physics science literacy test. The results of this study indicate that the smartphones usability and students' science literacy in physics learning are respectively in the high and medium categories with a respective percentage of 57.20% and 36.36%. The students' science literacy is influenced by the smartphone's usability in physics learning by 34.30%. These results indicate that smartphone usability by most students is very high, but has not been able to contribute optimally to students' science literacy. Therefore, special treatment is needed in utilizing the use of smartphones in physics learning so that students' science literacy can be optimized.