In order to plan and enact appropriate learning environments in physical education (PE) teachers are increasingly directed to models based practice. The Sport Education model is one of these models for PE curriculum and teaching design that informs the content and pedagogical direction of sport teaching in PE. Despite Sport Education being well researched internationally, there are few examples of research consideration of this model in Australian PE in the last ten years. In this paper the aim is to appreciatively examine two secondary school PE teachers use of the Sport Education model in the context of their familiarisation of the new Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education. At the same time, exploring the use of Appreciative Inquiry to examine models based practice in PE was also an aim of the study. Data were collected from pre and post interviews with the teachers and an end of unit survey of the Year 9 students undertaking the Sport Education unit. The Sport Education model was found to be most suitable to teaching for student evidence of the personal and social skills elements of the Achievement Standard. Appreciative Inquiry was found to be suitable for foregrounding existing examples of teacher use of models based practice, highlighting what it is about the teachers that led them to stay with the model when the literature particular to Australian PE suggests mostly a continuation of the “traditional” physical education method.

The main purpose of this study is to determine the amount of time-dependent learning of "solving problems that require establishing of single variable equations of the first order" of the seventh grade students. The study, adopting the screening model, consisted of a total of 84 students, including 42 female and 42 male students at the seventh grade. Data was collected using an assessment tool consisting of 10 open-ended questions. The findings show that the learning group of 84 students were behind the value closest to the full learning level by a score of 0.013. While the female students reached the lower limit of 0.987 specified for the full learning level in a period of 3.2 course hours, the male students reached this limit in 4.0 course hours. The learning amount of 0.999, which is the closest value to the full learning level, was reached by the learning group in a period of 9.7 course hours, the female students in 8.5 course hours, and the male students in 11.3 course hours. In addition to this, the data obtained showed that learning difficulties among to the learning groups decreased as the space below the curve of time and learning amount decreased. As a result of the study, it was recommended that it is possible to determine the closest course periods for the full learning level for each of the gains found in all levels of education and all teaching programmes, which define certain learning outcomes within a certain time.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a Creative Drama Based Perception of Self-sufficiency Skills Training Program on 2nd grade bachelor degree students’ (who are attending a preschool teacher training program) perception of self-sufficiency. This is a quasi-experimental study. Totally 50 students were equally divided into two groups as they are experimental group and control group. Experimental group has attended to 24 sessions of a course as creative drama based training program. The training program was performed by involve in four elements of Bandura’s self-sufficiency as they are; performance success, indirect experiences, verbal persuasion and emotional states. It has been prepared to promote students’ perception of self-sufficiency skills. Perception of Self-sufficiency Towards Using Creative Drama Technique (PSCDT) has been offered as pre-test and post-test to both groups in order to obtain the data. It has been found that there was significance on behalf of experimental group in the end of this study (p< ,05).

This article reports the results of a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of 7E learning cycle in science teaching. Totally 35 different effect sizes from 24 experimental studies, comprising 2918 students were included in the meta-analysis. The results confirmed that 7E learning cycle have a positive effect on students’ achievement. The overall effect size (Hedges’s g) value obtained from independent studies was calculated as 1.245 (% 95 CI, SE = .148) between confidence intervals 956 and 1.534 according to the random effects model. Among all effect sizes 32 had a positive effect whereas 3 of them had negative effect. A number of sub-group analyses (school level, type of publication, subject matter and duration) were conducted. The effect of 7E was not significant for school level, type of publication and duration. However, regarding the subject matter a significant difference was observed. The high effect size calculated in this meta-analysis implies that the 7E learning cycle is a useful strategy that should be included in science curriculums.

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool which will reveal teachers’ self-competences in education process. Participants of the study are 300 teachers working at state primary schools in the province of Gaziantep, Results of the exploratory factor analysis administered to the scale in order to determine its construct validity, indicated that it has four sub-dimensions. In accordance with the results of confirmatory factor analysis RMSEA was measured .050 level fit index. The determined levels for GFI is found to be 0.88, whereas for AGFI, 0.85 for NFI, 0.94 for CFI 0.98 and 0.94 for RFI. Also, non normed fit index, (NNFI) has been observed as 0.97. Four dimensions of the scale which was composed of 23 items account for approximately 54% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was counted .86 for the first dimension; .82 for the second dimension, .67 for the third dimension, .70 for the fourth dimension, and .92 for the entire scale. The scale, developed in order to measure teachers’ self-efficacy in the teaching process, proved to be valid and reliable based on the results of the related analyses.

Measuring the quality of the ‘product’ is elemental in education, and most studies depend on observational data about student achievement factors, focusing overwhelmingly on quantitative data namely achievement scores, school data like attendance, facilities, expenditure class size etc. But there is little evidence of learner perceptions. 553 students from two different universities, who graduated from 3 high school types, were asked to respond to two fundamental questions to reflect on school and classroom level achievement factors. 2294 responses produced eight categories in question one, teacher factors being the most preferred (n=424), followed by individual factors (n=404) and then family factors (n=395). As for liking towards a course, 1362 responses were produced, most frequent one being teacher’s attitude (n=205). Results indicate student perspective of causes of achievement is somewhat different from those expressed in quantitative studies. Girls attributed more achievement to study habits, family support whereas boys attributed more to school and technology. More emphasis is needed on perceived achievement factors for a sound evaluation of effectiveness in school.

This study investigated the effects of competitive and cooperative teaching techniques on Iranian adult EFL learners’ use of direct strategies. To this end, a sample of 88 non-English major university students at Sohrevardi Nonprofit College in Qazvin were assigned to two groups, and each group received instruction under one of the treatment conditions including cooperative and competitive teaching techniques. To collect data, the Persian translation of a modified version of the subsection of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory of Language Learning pertaining to direct strategy use was administered before and after the treatment. The obtained data were analyzed using an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) procedure. The result of data analysis showed no significant difference between the effects of competitive and cooperative teaching techniques on direct strategy use of Iranian adult EFL learners. The findings of the present study may have implications for learners, teachers, and syllabus designers.

This study provides a framework for the production of Hypermedia Instructional package. It also assessed the effectiveness of hypermedia instructional mode of delivery on students’ performance in Chemistry. This is with a view of improving the learning of Chemistry which may eventually help to improve students’ performance. The developmental study employed a pre-test, post-test control group design. The research sample consisted of 60 private secondary school students in Osun State with an enrolment of 30 students from each of the two schools selected. The students were thereafter assigned to experimental and control groups. The stimulus material used for the experimental group was the Hypermedia Instructional Package, while the Control group received instruction with similar content through the conventional method. The test instrument used was Hypermedia Learning Achievement Test (HLAT). Content and face validity of the instrument used was carried out by experts in the area of tests and measurement. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for the HLAT gave a value of 0.72. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results obtained showed that students exposed to the Hypermedia Instructional Package (HIP) performed significantly better than those exposed to the conventional teaching method (t = 5.458, df = 58, p < 0.05). Results also revealed a significant difference in the retention ability of students in Chemistry between those exposed to the package and those that were not (t= 6.842, df=58, p<0.05). The study concluded that the use of HIP was an intervention which improved students’ performance retention and attitude towards Chemistry.

Although wealth of empirical researches have covered the impact of crucial, indispensable role reading skills play in the development of individuals’ mental faculties through the acquisition of knowledge in a particular language, scientific works on the assessment of the relationship(s) between pre-reading activities (consisting of games, puzzle solving, match making) and reading skills achievement remain depressingly scanty in Ghana. This study in the light of foregoing atmosphere explored how pre-reading activities facilitate pre-reading and reading skills among preschoolers with the use of randomized experimental control groups design which adopted pre and post-test of two classes, as well as observation guides to diagnose the problem of reading among the KG children in the two groups (control and treatment groups). The findings from these experimentations clearly portrayed the significant influence that pre-reading activities exert on the level of preschoolers reading skills achievements. Upon thorough analysis, and discussions predicated on the research outcome, it has been recommended that preschool educators incorporate levelappropriate pre-reading activities to enrich Preschool Education in Ghana.

The paper presents an educative experience organized in a postgraduate course in a faculty of education with the aim of facilitating students’ “affective self-understanding”. Affective self-understanding is a reflective practice that allows people to comprehend their own emotions in order to gain awareness of them. Students were spontaneously engaged in a laboratory, where they were invited to reflect on their emotional lives. The educative experience was subdivided into different phases requiring writing and analysis tasks. At the end of the experience, students were asked what they thought they had learned, what had been difficult, and what had been the most important phase for learning. Students’ answers were analyzed on the basis of grounded theory through an inductive process of analysis. The theoretical framework of the research is the cognitive theory of emotions. According to this theory, an emotional education is possible because we can understand emotions by identifying their cognitive component and the actions they induce.

Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), patterns of parental involvement were examined in selected OECD countries. The findings showed that, irrespective of educational qualifications, parents were frequently involved in their children’s learning at the start of primary school and at age 15. Cross-national analyses showed that a high percentage of parents were frequently involved in various ways with their children’s learning, with some OECD countries showing parental involvement to be very common. Less instrumental, more subtle forms of parental involvement such as parent-child conversations about topical social issues emerged as the strongest predictor for continuing parental literacy support at age 15. These findings have important implications for understanding patterns and forms of parenting and for guiding family policy to consider cultural, economic and educational explanations about the nature of parental involvement in children’s education.

Facilitating effective mathematics learning and higher mathematics achievement have long been recognized as a key to the scientific and technological advancement of the African continent. While the central role that language proficiency plays in mathematics teaching and learning has received an overwhelming research attention in the literature over the past two decades, this is not the case among African policy-makers and political leaders. Drawing mainly from our professional experiences as mathematics educators and from the international research literature, our primary intent in this paper is to answer this question: How does the learning of mathematics in English at the basic school level help or hinder students’ mathematical proficiency? To answer this question, the paper is organized as follows. The first part, the introduction, gives a brief overview of the language of learning and teaching in Africa. The second part describes the method and conceptual framework undergirding the research. In the third section, we have analyzed the effects of mathematics learning and teaching through English for basic students whose mother tongue is a Ghanaian language. The conclusion offers four recommendations for developing and improving the mathematics proficiency of students in basic schools.

Effective communication between faculty members and students is one of the concerns of the educational stakeholders at the Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia. This study investigates the relationship between teachers’ effective communication and students’ academic achievement at the Northern Border University. The survey questionnaire containing 26 items was administered on 100 students, 50 males and 50 females to ask about their perception towards the effective communication of the faculty members and their academic achievement at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Northern Border University in the City of Arar, Saudi Arabia. The results of the Descriptive statistics method showed that, almost more than half of the students agreed that, the friendly and understanding position maintained by their faculty members had helped them to highly achieve academically. The results of the independent sample T-test found no statistically significant differences between the students ‘academic achievement and their faculty members’ verbal communication across the respondents’ gender and year of study. The study recommended for the Northern Border Authority as well as the Saudi Government looking into other areas that might bring about the effective communication of the staff and the students’ academic achievement in the University.

Grolnick and Ryan assume that an autonomy supportive environment leads to higher learner engagement and thus to greater achievements and deeper understanding of content. In school, knowledge acquisition (rote learning as well as conceptual learning) are regarded as most important. In this study, we examined the effects of teachers’ autonomy supportive vs. controlling behavior on knowledge acquisition as measured by reproduction as well as at higher cognitive levels. The sample consisted of seventh graders (N=85; M=12.85 years; SD=1.6 years). One week in advance to the teaching unit, the students were tested for prior knowledge using two knowledge tests. Test 1 used multiple-choice items to address rote learning and Test 2 used an open response format to address conceptual learning. One week after the teaching unit, the same knowledge tests were used to assess the learning outcome. Analysis of the knowledge tests suggests that the students taught in an autonomy supportive environment develop greater conceptual knowledge than those taught in a controlling environment. Rote learning was not affected.

Motivation is an inner force that activates and provides direction to our thought, feelings and actions. Two main characteristics of motivation are goal directed behavior and persistence. Motivated people persistently work for the goal until it is achieved. This paper explores the nature of motivation in the context of learning and seeks to relate it to self-efficacy, self- concept, confidence and self-esteem. Motivation is presented as a ‘second order’ variable be- ing very much dependent on attitudes as well as perceived goals, needs and value. Ways of assessing motivation are considered and the typical use of questionnaire approaches is criticized heavily. These can measure what a person perceives but the perceptions may or may not correspond to reality. Indeed, the entire mathematical basis of data handling with questionnaires is questioned. A typical questionnaire is then used with a large sample of 600 1st and 2nd year science intermediate students, drawn from the province of the Punjab in Pakistan and the data obtained examined statistically. Correlations between the responses patterns in all 30 Likert-type questions were examined using Kendall’s tau-b while Principal Components Analysis, using varimax rotation, looked at the questionnaire overall as well as sub-groups of questions. Correlation values were found to be very low, suggesting no factor structure and, indeed, the factor analysis showed that there is no factor structure with the questionnaire used with this large population. Chi-Square, as a ‘contingency test’, was applied to compare the distributions of responses, gender separated. Gender differences were found only in a minority of questions. It is argued that motivation is highly multi-variate and that no simple factor structure is to be expected. It is also argued that, with ordinal data, following no prescribed pattern of distribution, only non-parametric statistics are appropriate. The traditional approaches are statistically incorrect and, as a result, will often miss key insights.

This study examines the effect of project based learning on 8th grade students’ statistical literacy levels. A performance test was developed for this aim. Quasi-experimental research model was used in this article. In this context, the statistics were taught with traditional method in the control group and it was taught using project based learning in the intervention group. Statistics was given for four weeks according to pro ject based learning at intervention group. The performance test was applied to total 70 students as pre and post-test. Participants are from two different classes of a middle school in Trabzon. The data were analysed using Rasch measurement techniques. This measurement allowed both students’ performance and item difficulties to be measured using the same metric and placed on the same scale. All raw scores converted linear score in order to obtain equal interval scale. Acquired linear scores were compared. In the analysis of gained datum covariance analysis are used. According to gained results in pre-processing application there isn’t substantial difference between the achievements of intervention group and control group; but after processing between the achievements of intervention group and control group there is a substantial difference statistically in favor of intervention group. The results of the study revealed that the project based learning increased students’ statistical literacy levels in the intervention group.

This study investigates the effect of the project based learning approach on 8th students’ attitude towards statistics. With this aim, an attitude scale towards statistics was developed. Quasi experimental research model was used in this study. Following this model in the control group the traditional method was applied to teach statistics wheras in the intervention group project based learning approach was followed. The attitude scale towards statistics was applied as pre-test and post-tests to 70 students studying at two different 8th grade classes of a middle school in Trabzon during the 2011–2012 Academic Year. The results of the study revealed that the project based learning increased students’ attitude towards statistics in the intervention group. Therefore, the use of project based learning approach during statistics course in mathematics classes is recommended.

Advances in computer technologies and adoption of related methods and techniques in education have developed parallel to each other. This study focuses on the need to utilize more than one teaching method and technique in education rather than focusing on a single teaching method. By using the pre-test post-test and control group semi-experimental researchmodel, this study examined the effects of the web-assisted education method supported by six thinking hats technique on student achievement, on students’ attitudes towards science and their attitudes towards the use of computers in science classes. The working group of the study was composed of 7th graders in a state secondary school in the 2013-2014 academic year. A working group consists of two randomly selected classes assigned as the experimental and control groups. The working group comprised of 50 students with 25 experimental and 25 control group students. Paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test and ANOVA techniques were used in analyzing the data collected via data collection tools to compare the experimental and control groups. The results showed that web-assisted education materials prepared with the use of the six thinking hats technique increased student attitudes towards science and computers. Students’ attitudes towards computers were similar based on the variables of owning a computer and gender. Paternal education levels had no significant effects on student attitudes towards computers and their academic achievement.

Mathematics is an important school subject but one which often poses problems for learners. It has been found that learners do not possess the cognitive capacity to handle understanding procedures, representations, concepts, and applications at the same time. while the extent of field dependency may hold the key to one way by which the working memory can be used more efficiently. This study aims to explore the concept of field dependency which may offer a way forward in reducing the cognitive demands of finite working memory capacity, thus enabling higher performance to be attained. Age and gender were considered. With a sample of 120 secondary school students, the importance of working memory in relation to mathematics performance was confirmed (r = 0.55 ). The extent of field dependency was measured with a larger sample of 547, drawn from five age groups. The outcomes were related to the performance in mathematics examinations, a correlation of 0.32 being obtained overall, with every age group showing positive significant correlations. In this, the more field independent perform much better. The outcomes are interpreted in terms of the increased efficiency in the use of finite working memory capacity resources. It was found that students become more field independent with age but the rate of growth of independence declines with age. Girls tended to be slightly more field-independent than boys, perhaps reflecting maturity or their greater commitment during their years of adolescence. The findings are interpreted in terms of the way the brain processes information and the implications for mathematics education are discussed briefly.

Lesson starts are transitional events which may cause management problems for teachers. In this study 131 lesson starts of equally many teachers were observed in primary and secondary schools in Finland. The results indicated that, in general, the problems were minimal. However, for various reasons lesson starts were delayed by an average of about six minutes. Calculated on this basis, the total loss of instructional time in the whole school year was about five weeks of schooling. No statistically significant relationships were observed between disturbances in the classroom and any background variable studied including grade level, classroom type,(special or mainstream), group size, presence of classroom assistant, sex of the teacher, weekday, time of day of the lesson, or subject of the lesson. In order to maximise instructional time more attention should be paid in future to starting lessons promptly.