This study aims to explore the role of lesson analysis in the development of mathematical knowledge for teaching. For this purpose, a graduate course based on lesson analysis was designed for novice mathematics teachers. Throughout the course the teachers watched videos of group-mates and discussed the issues they identified in terms of student-teacher relationship for a student centered instruction. Analysis over the video made teachers notice points and came to realize the thoughts of students; they had otherwise missed at the classroom. They achieved improvements regarding the awareness of the need to identify the cases presenting the most difficulty to the students in terms of teaching, and the necessity to take precautions regarding such points, to learn about the reason of the difficulty, and to pay attention to the statements by the students. Therefore, it is possible to note that the teachers improved themselves in terms of student’ knowledge with respect to the mathematical knowledge for teaching.

The study developed and standardized an Inventory for measuring Students’ Integration into University Academic Culture named Inventory for Students’ Integration into University Academic Culture (ISIUAC). The increase in dropout rates, substance use, cultism and other deviant behaviours in Nigerian universities makes it necessary for one to ask the extent to which university students are integrated into the university academic culture. This necessitates the development of standardized instrument for the assessment of students’ integration into university academic culture. The Study employed an instrumentation design in which a five point scale inventory were developed and standardized. An initial draft of 60 item instrument was developed and standardized. After corrections a 58 item instrument emerged and was administered to 500 University students. The data collected were subjected to factor analysis. The result from factor analysis showed that 27 items loaded well on three factors with minimum loading of 035.  The 27 items were administered to 1,000 students to establish norms. The norm for the entire instrument was 105.19, the norms of male and female students were 100.96 and 109.21 respectively.  Cronbach alpha statistics was used to establish the reliability of the instrument, its result shows an internal consistency of 0.926 for the 27 items. Hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics; the result shows that there is a significant difference between the norms of male and female students. The manual of the ISIUAC shows the administration and scoring procedure of the inventory and its psychometric properties. The instrument ISIUAC is recommended therefore for assessing students’ integration into the university academic culture.

With the break of the civil war in Syria, many Syrians have been displaced either internally or as refugees. Turkey, one of the leading host of Syrian refugees, has made changes to the policies to accommodate the needs of Syrians. Education is one of the most prominent needs of displaced refugee children. While 80 percent of refugee children living in camps have access to formal education, only small number of children living outside the camps are attending schools. With the increased number of children, many of the governmental organizations, municipalities, and NGOs have been involved in an effort to establish schools for Syrian refugee children living outside of the camps. This article reports the results of a study conducted at a newly established host community school for Syrian refugee children in the City of Gaziantep during the 2014-2015 school year. The aim of the study was to look at the experiences of administrators, teachers, and a parent who were involved in the establishment of the schools. The study made use of qualitative case study methodology, where interviews, focus group, and field notes were the data sources. The results of the study indicated that there were many systematic challenges involved in the establishment of the school, but nevertheless the teachers, administrators and the parents were happy to have the opportunity to be involved in this effort. The curriculum used in the school provided cultural relevance for the students and made their transition to the context easier. Although the school was established with support from the municipality for that year, there were not solid plans in place to provide sustainability of the school. This study provides a unique insight into the current status of Syrian refugee children living in Turkey and should serve as a bridge to policy makers in designing educational programs for refugees.

The objective of this study is to examine the teacher and parent views on the instruction of 5th grade students by branch teachers. This study is designed according to the phenomenology design and uses qualitative data. In order to collect data, open- ended questions were asked to 18 teachers and 16 parents of 5th grade students on the subject, and the responses were analyzed. According to the results of the study, for parents, the disadvantageous aspects of instruction of 5th grade students by branch teachers are that the students could not express themselves in the new class, there is no one knowing and monitoring them closely in the new class and students have difficulty in doing the performance homework. On the other hand, advantageous aspects for students according to parents are that branch teachers give instruction as they have command on the subject and students take multiple teachers as models. The study found the disadvantageous aspects for teachers as having difficulty in completing the curriculum, following homework and maintaining classroom discipline.

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.

Majority of NOS studies comprise of determination or assessment studies conducted with ordinary students. In order to gain further understanding on variation in NOS understandings among the students, there should be different research attempts focusing on unconventional students such as academically advanced students. The purpose of this study is to determine epistemological understanding of Finnish academically advanced science students concerning aspects of NOS. The study was a case study (N=39) conducted with qualitative perspective. Questionnaires on the students’ attitude toward science and motivation toward science learning plus a form for the teacher’s ideas and VNOS-C, were used as diagnostic tools and data collection instruments. The study revealed that the majority of the students were found to be naïve in aspects such as “empirical basis of science”, “observation and inference”, “subjectivity of scientists”, “social and cultural embeddedness”, “creativity in science”, “theories and laws” and “tentativeness”.

This paper presents a comparative research project on pre-vocational education in lower secondary schools in seven European countries. The primary aim of the study was to better understand how the formal pre-vocational education curriculum is interpreted and shaped by individual teachers. The countries covered are Austria, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Scotland. Two research methods have been used. First, a content analysis of the relevant curricula was carried out, focussing on how, and to what extent, pre-vocational education competencies are embedded in the official curriculum in the seven countries covered by the study. Second, 75 teachers took part in qualitative expert interviews about their implementation of the relevant curriculum. This research builds upon previous studies in education and employment and in particular, on a theoretical framework that explores the differences between the ‘prescribed’ curriculum and the ‘enacted’ curriculum. This study will argue that, although it is possible to identify a distinct pre-vocational curriculum within each region in the seven countries, this curriculum is, in practice, taught very differently within the schools and that the differences in curriculum implementation can be explained, amongst other factors, by the availability of resources and the initial and further training of teachers.

Lesson starts are transitional events which may cause management problems for teachers This study sought junior secondary school mathematics teachers’ beliefs about calculator use in mathematics instruction in Botswana and was descriptive in nature adopting a survey design. The sample of seventeen (17) mathematics teachers from four (4) junior secondary schools in the Tutume Sub-district in Central Educational Region was selected through a purposive random sampling procedure. A questionnaire comprising both closed and open ended questions was designed to collect data then the analysis of results was carried out using descriptive and inferential statistics. As an illustration, a t-test was used to test for differences in teachers’ beliefs by gender while a one-way ANOVA was used to test for difference in their beliefs by experience. The study revealed that most of the teachers expressed their lack of confidence and were incompetent with the use of a calculator in their teaching with female teachers feeling less confident to explain different functions of a calculator than their male counterparts. In addition, the study showed that most of the teachers believed that a calculator was a technological tool that could be useful to the students in the future. On the contrary, most teachers felt that the overuse of calculators by the students could hamper the development of basic computational skills. Therefore, it was recommended that school based training on calculator use should be provided so as to empower teachers with the necessary technological skills for effective classroom instruction. The study findings have implications to research and practice as it provides unique and comprehensive data that will lead to insight for curriculum designers, policy implementers and instructional leaders on effective calculator use in math instruction.

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.

The millennial generation is facing challenges in their career path and they believe that tertiary education can help them to equip better to tackle against. However, some students find it difficult to rush back to classroom due to work commitment. Fortunately, flexible education developed these years allows students to capture knowledge anytime and anywhere easier. In order to deliver courses in line with students’ need, many universities have considered offering alternative studying modes, such as flexible method, to enrich the course delivery. Using a case study, this paper investigates the delivery approach adopted by a school of a well-known university in Australia. This School offers architecture and construction management courses and has successfully adopted the flexible approach, with the aid of various online teaching and learning tools: the Cloud, Elluminate Live!, EchoSystem, Mediawiki and ePortfolio, in delivering subjects. It is welcomed by various cohorts of students. Not only the student numbers have been increased, but the School is also the first preference when students opting architecture and construction management studies. Statistics also indicate students’ satisfaction and course experience are improved. The success of this School proves itself to be an exemplar for other educators planning for flexible delivery.

This study focused on the phenomenon of success at work asking whether it would be possible to find factors from top workers’ children and school experiences that would explain their later success. This study was a part of a larger research in which Finnish top workers, employees of the year, who have been selected as successful professionals of their field in Finland were researched. This article focuses on the narrative data collected through qualitative interviews. In this article, their childhood and adolescence experiences were analyzed in order to find out whether successful development could be enhanced already in early phases of life. This study employed the narrative interview method through which top workers were asked to reminisce their childhood and adolescence experiences. What factors have supported their success and how have they coped with adversities in life? According to the results, the most important key to success at work adopted from home was caring upbringing as parents did not set any ambitious goals for success for their children but made the children think about their future and have an optimistic attitude to life. The role of careers counseling at school was also discussed. Analyzing these factors is important if aiming at helping people’s chances of finding an occupation they fit and in which they can use their talents. Experiences and events taking place in childhood and adolescence can be crucial, or at least, direct people in a right direction.

This research paper explores the concept of ‘cost sharing’ which became more prominent in Zambia education with the advent of democratic form of governance in 1991. As a way of responding to the ever diminishing tax revenues, government through the education policy of 1996, allowed higher education institutions including public universities to introduce cost sharing as way of improving financial vibrancy, accountability and cost effectiveness. This paper therefore, uses students’ perceptions to examine the cost sharing policy which has now been existence for almost two decades. More specifically, it explores underlying factors which can make cost sharing more effective and sustainable. In exploring these prospects and challenges, a self administered questionnaire based on convenient sampling was used to collect data from 729 respondents in Zambia’s three biggest public universities. The findings revealed that the current cost sharing policy was appropriate but lacked the government support in its implementation. The study further highlighted the need for re-engineering the current policy by providing details on the implementation process. The study highly recommends that a true cost-sharing model be implemented in an effort towards making public universities more effective and sustainable.

This exploratory study is concerned about the extent to which a sample of 163 pre-school, primary and secondary Brazilian school teachers, expressed their opinion on how neuroscience might help their teaching and pupils´ learning. Evaluation instruments for Brazilian pupils were analysed. Two questionnaires were completed by the teachers. Results of a quantitative analysis indicated that in general teachers believe that neuroscience may contribute to the teaching and learning of their subject matter. An outline for an elective neuroscience and education course is presented. Educational implications are discussed.

Mathematics is well known as a subject area where there can be problems in terms of understanding as well as retaining positive attitudes. In a large study involving 813 school students (ages approximately 10-12) drawn from two different school systems in Pakistan, the effect of limited working memory capacity on performance in mathematics was explored along with a survey of areas of difficulty and student attitudes. This involved looking at student perceptions of their experiences, the nature of the difficulties they have with mathematics and possible reasons for these difficulties. The overall aim is to explore the extent of the effect of working memory and to gain insights so that practical ways forward to enhance mathematics education can be identified. It was found that limited working memory capacity has a very strong influence on performance, confirming other studies. Indeed, if the cognitive load exceeds the capacity of working memory, understanding becomes a casualty, with consequent attitude deterioration. Students need to be able to see that mathematics has a purpose in being able to be applied to real-life situations. However, attempts to develop applications may often generate further working memory overload. Curricula devised by those outside the classroom can sometimes be inappropriate while topics causing the greatest problems at these ages and include areas of geometry, statistics and the applications of mathematics.

This study is a departure from discussions on why community college students do not transfer in large numbers, but instead, provides an analysis of Latino students from community college who have successfully transferred to Tier 1 universities. The conceptual framework included student engagement theory (Kuh, 2003), the support for student autonomy (Koestner et al., 2015), and the importance of students studying to mastery (Sarwat & Irshad, 2012).  These theories were applied to the central research question, ‘What strategies do Latino students from a community college use to create a successful transition from community college to Tier 1 colleges and universities?’ The researcher generated six themes on how Latino students experienced successful transfer: institutional support, student transfer experiences, strategies to adapt, financial support, studying to mastery, and family support as major factors for academic success.   These findings would be significant to student development specialists in community colleges.  Further, such findings can be used to support Latino community college students as they sought transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

This article deals with the problem of student dropout during the first year in a higher education institution. To date, no model on a budget has been developed and tested to prevent dropout among Engineering Students. This case study was conducted among first-year students taking evening classes in two practical engineering colleges in Israel. There are three dimensions of the dropout reduction model: social support, institutional support and personal commitment. The results of the intervention had a positive effect on all three dimensions.

The aim of this study was to chronologically examine the contents of the social studies curricula implemented in Turkey in terms of skills teaching in the context of socio-cultural interaction. In the study, the social studies curricula used since 1967 were subjected to content analysis, and the skills aimed to be taught to students in the contents of these curricula were listed. These lists were examined with reference to the socio-cultural conditions of the time they were implemented. Based on the findings, it can be stated that the contents and emphasis of skills cyclically varied across different social studies curricula in Turkey. There was sometimes an individual-centred and libertarian approach adopted in the curricula, while at other times an environment was present in which strict rules were dominant and the system was emphasized rather than the individual as part of the political and social conditions of the time.

Analysis of principles knowledge representation in information systems led to the necessity of improving the structuring knowledge. It is caused by the development of software component and new possibilities of information technologies. The article combines methodological aspects of structuring knowledge and effective usage of information resources which are designed for the scientific and methodological study of practical recommendations in Digital learning implementation. It is shown at the paper that one of the most important problems, which face the processing of knowledge or construction systems, is knowledge representation. The main idea of the paper is increasing the efficiency at the university learning process on the basis of a possible applications and rational structuring knowledge. The proposed concept of using information resources of Digital Learning is based on the idea of using the principles of abstraction, encapsulation, modularity, hierarchy, typing, concurrency preservation and implementation in such stages of this process as algorithmic support of knowledge structuring and structured transfer of knowledge to students. The topic of the article is unique as we try to see Digital learning in multidisciplinary aspects: education, mathematics, statistics. The article combines a theoretical approach to structuring knowledge that is based on the integrated usage of fuzzy semantic network, theory of predicates, Boolean functions, theory of complexity of network structures and practical aspects and ways of construction Digital Learning Systems at the University.

In this research, it was aimed to determine the views of mathematics teacher candidates about the technological tools that can be used in mathematics lessons. The research was conducted through qualitative research methodology. 120 teacher candidates who were educated in the mathematics teacher education program in Dicle University Ziya Gokalp Education Faculty took part to the research. The data of the study were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data collection tool used in the study is an interview form developed by the researcher, and it consists of open-ended questions. In the analysis of the data, descriptive analyses were used. As a result of the data analysis obtained from the research, it was determined that teacher candidates responded as “computer/computer software” at most for the questions about what technological tools could be used in mathematics lessons, what technological tools they would use when they were teachers, and which technological tools would be beneficial. In addition, teacher candidates stated that there were computers at most as technological tools in their faculties and the technological tools in their faculties were mostly used for visualization/concretization the subject.

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale for assessing teachers’ self-determination instruction and to test the validity and reliability of this tool. The subjects included 315 teachers recruited from elementary and junior high schools nationwide in Taiwan. The Teaching Self-Determination Scale (TSDS) developed in this study aimed at assessing the extent to which educators teach students knowledge and skills related to self-determination. The 24-item TSDS is comprised of four subscales including Self-Realization, Psychological Empowerment, Self-Regulation, and Autonomy. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, t tests, and factor analyses. Findings showed that the TSDS has satisfactory psychometric properties. The internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s α) ranged from .76 to .93, while the test-retest coefficients ranged from .71 to .87. Findings of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the four TSDS subscale factors can be reasonably extracted, which can explain 59.7% of the total item variance. The confirmatory factor analysis results further indicated a good fit between the measurement model and the sample data (GFI = .96, AGFI = .91, RMSEA = .08, NFI = .97, RFI = .93, IFI = .98, TLI = .95, CFI = .98). Suggestions are provided for future research.