School Students’ Motivation for Learning Sciences: How is it Influenced by Self-confidence in Science and Inquiry-based Teaching Approach?

Author(s): Palmira Pečiuliauskienė,Alena Belakoz / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The article deals with the Lithuanian school students’ motivation for learning science on the basis of TIMSS 2015 data. This article analyses the influence of two factors on motivation for learning science: the self-confidence in science of school students’ and teaching science using inquiry-based approach. The purpose of the research is to analyze the influence of self-confidence in science and the influence of teaching science by inquiry approach on students’ motivation for learning science.

Quality of School Life in Primary School: Students’ Perception

Author(s): Marija Buterin Mičić / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The paper deals with research data on quality of school life perceived by fifth- to eighth-grade primary school students. The data were collected by questionnaire survey. Students’ overall satisfaction with school and perception of specific dimensions of school life are analysed as well as differences of their assessments regarding gender, grade and school achievement. On the ground of research results, the importance of the enhancement of the quality of school life is emphasised The paper deals with research data on quality of school life perceived by fifth- to eighth-grade primary school students. The data were collected by questionnaire survey. Students’ overall satisfaction with school and perception of specific dimensions of school life are analysed as well as differences of their assessments regarding gender, grade and school achievement. On the ground of research results, the importance of the enhancement of the quality of school life is emphasised.

The Use of Passivity Strategies in a Group of 10–12 Year-old Pupils from the Perspective of Transactional Analysis

Author(s): Aneta Pierzchała / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The article shows the results of the research that characterises passivity in the environment of Polish school youth following the assumptions of one of psychotherapeutic concepts – transactional analysis. Passivity should be understood here as a lack of efficiency in dealing with a problematic situation, which may manifest itself in several strategies. Conclusions concern the scale of the phenomenon, the scope of the use of the respective strategies and the search for the reasons in the area of family relations

Willing but Unable? Teachers’ Sense-making of Curriculum-reform Policy in the Early Implementation Stage

Author(s): Godsend T. Chimbi,Loyiso C. Jita / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

This paper explores how history teachers in Zimbabwe interpret the new curriculum policy and how their understanding influenced the implementation of the new reforms. Using a qualitative multiple-case study of history teachers data were collected through document analysis, in-depth interviews and extensive non-participatory lesson observations. Results seem to challenge the traditional view that teachers are naturally resistant to change and are saboteurs who tend to undermine reform proposals. Instead teachers need to be empowered on how to implement the envisaged changes.

İLKOKUL DÖRDÜNCÜ SINIF ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN BİLMECELERE İLİŞKİN FARKINDALIKLARI

Author(s): Metin Bozkurt / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 47/2020

Riddles support children in many ways, ranging from their thinking skills to strengthening language skills. They are an entertainment tool for kids as mind games. They also contribute to children's learning by having fun. The aim of this study is to determine the level of awareness among primary school fourth grade students as regards riddles. The research is a descriptive survey study. 100 primary school fourth grade students attending schools in the city center of Ereğli in Zonguldak province have participated in the study. The research data were collected with a questionnaire comprised of nine questions prepared by the researcher. The data obtained are presented in tables containing frequencies and percentages. According to the results of the research, it is determined that primary school fourth grade students love riddles, want to learn and create new riddles, and the reason why they like, learn and create new riddles is that riddles are regarded as funny and entertaining by them. It is also determined that students mostly hear about riddles from their friends, mothers and teachers, tend to ask riddles to their friends and mothers very often, and read riddle books to learn new riddles. It is determined that the primary school fourth grade students participating in the study do not have sufficient knowledge about what riddle means, the characteristics of riddles, or by whom the riddles were created. It can be said that students can have a certain awareness of riddles when they are supported on these issues. In this respect, students and their families can be informed through the programs to be prepared about riddles. Activities can be organized for students to learn and create new riddles. Riddles can be used in all lessons. Students can learn by having fun as they are mostly interested in riddles.

ASIGURAREA CALITĂȚII EDUCAȚIEI ÎN EPOCA COVID -19

Author(s): Remus China / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 43/2020

The impact of the pandemic caused by Coronavirus on educational environments around the world is extremely serious and, for the time being, difficult to assess. The measures taken by most governments around the world to suspend courses (cessation of direct interactions - face to face - between teachers and pupils / students) are likely to be very effective in preventing disease with this virus. Serious analyzes on written reports on the effectiveness of school closures in controlling the transmission of the disease did not reveal a significant percentage in stopping the transmission process. These studies recorded that only 2-4% of the number of deceased people fall into the prevention zone due to school closure, practically insignificant compared to other prevention measures on physical (social) distancing. However, the scenario of reopening schools, in the conditions before the „pandemic era” is far from feasible, as the induction of the current pandemic on educational processes (generically known as „teaching - learning - assessment”) is much more deeper than it really seems! In these conditions, to what extent are we talking about ensuring the quality of education? Under what conditions and how can this goal be achieved? In this article we aim to analyze the perspectives of „quality assurance” of education in the „new normal”, through a direct connection between the influences caused by the pandemic on the functioning of the educational environment and, especially, on the process of quality education - so necessary in these difficult times!

EFFECT OF STRENGTH AND AGILITY ON QUANTITATIVE CHANGES OF FUNCTIONAL ABILITIES

Author(s): Dušan Mićović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 6/2020

The basic goal of this research is to determine statistically significant changes of functional ability, compared to initial condition. The test group consists of 54 secondary school students from Kosovska Mitrovica, aged 15, ±6 months, who attend regular PE classes and additional training of strength and agility. Three tests for evaluating functional ability were applied: pulse after exertion (FPPOP), Margaria test (FMRAG) and vital lung capacity (FVKPL). The T test results showed that strength and agility training contributes to positive adaptive processes, and that test subjects are, statistically, significantly different considering level of functional ability, on final test compared to initial state.

Inštrumentálny realizmus ako možné východisko teoretickej reflexie vyučovania matematiky

Author(s): Ladislav Kvasz / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2020

The aim of the paper is to present an epistemological position called instrumental realism and to show how this position can be used as a tool for the analysis of different approaches to mathematics education. Instrumental realism is based on the conviction that any successful study of a particular segment of reality must on the one hand take into account the specific features of the particular segment of reality that we are studying. On the other hand, it must take into account the particular epistemic tools, by means of which we approach this segment of reality. In the case of physics, biology, or psychology, these two requirement do not seem controversial. Nevertheless, in the case of mathematics to speak about mathematical reality that we study or about the instruments that we use is much less obvious. Instrumental realism thus opens a new perspective on knowledge acquisition, that, as we believe, has many important consequences for mathematics education.

Pohyby očí, selektívna pozornosť a profesijné videnie učiteľov a učiteliek

Author(s): Silvia Harvanová,Lenka Sokolová,Miroslava Lemešová,Zlatica Jursová Zacharová,Patrik Hlaváč,Katarína Minarovičová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2020

The assumption, that the experimental research using eye-tracking technology, is the exclusive part of cognitive psychology and neurosciences domain, is not valid anymore. The interest in scanning eye movements has spread into many fields of applied research, including educational psychology. Present study focuses on the eye-tracking data potential for more complex understanding of attentional processes that constitute an important part of teachers’ professional vision. The essential selective attention mechanisms are linked with eye movements and professional vision and analyzed from the interdisciplinary point of view. Firstly, the mechanisms of visual attention and eye movements are discussed with an emphasis on attentional selectivity as an important visual orientation tool. Secondly, the essential characteristics of eye-tracking as a methodological tool are introduced. Thirdly, the concept of professional vision is discussed in the attentional context. The last part represents a review of eye-tracking research in educational psychology, with a focus on the professional vision by comparing pre-service teachers with expert teachers. In conclusion, the potential of eye-tracking use in similar studies and its implications for attentional processes and pre-service teachers training are discussed.

Interakce při řešení problémově orientovaných úloh ve výuce přírodovědy

Author(s): Tereza Češková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2020

„Už mě to tam nebavilo“ – absentérství žáků středních odborných škol v kontextu odpoutávání se od školy

Author(s): Klára Šlapalová,Petr Hlaďo / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2020

Strategie zvládání stresu vyučujícími v základních školách

Author(s): Irena Smetáčková,Veronika Pavlas Martanová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2020

Gender- and SES-Specific Disparities in Shadow Education: Compensation for Boys, Status Upgrade for Girls? Evidence From the German LifE Study

Author(s): Steve R. Entrich / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

In the present article, we draw on social reproduction theories to explain the increase in the use of “shadow education” (SE) in Germany over the last two decades as a status-based, gender-specific investment strategy of families. Thus, we ask whether investing in private tutoring for both girls and boys alike serves to maintain or improve their status position, or whether gender-specific investment strategies exist. Our hypotheses are quantitatively tested by means of logistic regression using data of the 2012 German Life Courses into Early Adulthood (LifE) study. In contrast to prominent beliefs, our results show that SE in Germany does not function as a tool to promote social inequality. Instead, SE is used largely independent of social origin to achieve higher educational credentials. We found that particularly boys from non-academic but high-income families use SE, whereas girls seem unaffected by social origin entirely. Our findings call for further strengthening the gender dimension in existing inequality theories.

A Place Between School and Home: Exploring the Place of Shadow Education in Students’ Academic Lives in the Netherlands

Author(s): Daury Jansen,Louise Elffers,Monique L. L. Volman / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Worldwide, the use of private supplementary tutoring, commonly referred to as shadow education, has become increasingly prevalent since the turn of the millennium. Recently, participation rates in the Netherlands have substantially increased. This paper aims to explore the place of shadow education in students’ academic lives by studying the goals and experienced benefits that students identify. Data were collected through 37 semi-structured interviews with tutored students in secondary education in the Netherlands. Our findings indicate that students conceived of shadow education as a skill-building institution to which they turned to for self-study, to receive career support, and to boost their performance. Students’ reflections reveal that shadow education builds upon and extends, but does not replace, learning activities at home and school. Based on our findings, we discuss how shadow education can function as a “third place” between school and home, occupying an increasingly prominent position in students’ academic lives.

Private Tutoring in English Through the Eyes of Its Recipients

Author(s): Monika Černá / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The individualistic nature of learning nowadays, coupled with the global spread of English, has contributed to the rise of shadow education in English. This study focuses on one of its forms, one-on-one private tutoring in English (PTE); more specifically, it explores this privately purchased service through the eyes of its recipients, learners of English. The aim of this study is to uncover the nature of the PTE that the learners experienced and the perceived role of this type of education in their lives. The study investigates the learners’ lives from early childhood to their entry to university, deploying a narrative interview as a data-gathering instrument. Twenty respondents were interviewed; then the qualitative analysis of the interviews was conducted using open coding. The findings of the study suggest that PTE supplements formal education in the course of the students’ lives. Its role in learners’ lives is linked to remedial or enrichment purposes. Children’s involvement in PTE is initiated either by their parents or by the children themselves for a variety of purposes reflecting all kinds of their needs. Concerning those who provide PTE, they constitute a diverse group including both native and non-native speakers of English; however, nothing is known about them and about the quality of their service. Furthermore, the study identified two specific features of PTE: the demand for PTE for primary school pupils and the phenomenon of the native speaker tutor.

Shadow Education in Uzbekistan: Teachers’ Perceptions of Private Tutoring in the Context of Academic Lyceums

Author(s): Sherzod Khaydarov / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Private tutoring is a globally widespread phenomenon which can be associated with marketization and privatization. After the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the transition to a free-market economy in Uzbekistan facilitated the rise of informal private sector in public education. This in turn has affected mainstream schooling in many ways and changed the face of education. Considering socio-economic transformations in the country, the theory of hidden privatisation by Ball and Youdell (2007) is employed to analyse different facets of informal privatization in the form of shadow education. Drawing on 24 face-to-face interviews with teachers, (vice) principals and students and student questionnaires, this article examines the nature and scale of private tutoring as well as teachers’ perspectives on the influence of tutoring on teaching and learning process. The findings demonstrated that teachers’ overall attitudes towards private tutoring were positive and teachers mostly considered tutoring as an indispensable part of teaching and learning process. The most significant finding was that the scale of tutoring was exceptionally high (95%) in academic lyceums. The pervasiveness of the phenomenon is associated with entrance examinations, which increased the dependency of teachers and students on tutoring. The article concludes by elucidating how the emergence of shadow education in academic lyceums resulted in the change of the nature of mainstream schooling and the transformation of teacher identities.

Effects of STEAMification Model in Flipped Classroom Learning Environment on Creative Thinking and Creative Innovation

Author(s): Naphong Wannapiroon,Sirirat Petsangsri / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

This paper is a report on the findings from the research and development of STEAMification model in flipped classroom learning environment to enhance creative thinking and creative innovation. The purposes of this study are: 1) to develop the model; 2) to study the developed model. Results exhibited that: 1) the model consists of 6 components, 2) the students who had studied through STEAMification had higher creativity (Mean = 14.53, S.D. = 0.94) than the students who studied through normal model (Mean = 12.90, S.D. = 1.91), 3) the students who had studied through model had higher quality of creative innovation (Mean = 14.86, S.D. = 1.62) than the students who studied through normal model (Mean = 12.90, S.D. = 1.91).

Features of the Transition From the Traditional to the Criterial Assessment in Schools of Kazakhstan

Author(s): Roza Kenzhetaeva,Sazhila Nurzhanova,Aigul Beimisheva,Assel Stambekova,Ekaterina Ryabova,Dina Kulbayeva / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

This study discusses the features of the transition from the traditional assessment system to the criteria-based assessment in schools of Kazakhstan. The use of criterion assessment in schools in Kazakhstan contributes to the crowding out of traditional methods of assessment and leads to a new vision of the methods and technologies of the system for evaluating educational achievements. In connection with the modernization of Kazakhstan’s education, significant changes are occurring in the control and assessment activities of Kazakhstan schools, its goals, content, and technologies are changing. The problem of assessment activity is one of the most urgent problems both in pedagogical theory and in pedagogical practice. This study presents the results of empirical studies and the features of the transition to a new criteria-based assessment system for Kazakhstan. According to the results of the study, the problem of the need for professional training of future primary school teachers for the criteria-based assessment system was revealed. Results also showed that there are difficulties of applying criteria-based assessment in the practice of primary school teachers. The question of what professional knowledge, skills, and abilities an elementary school teacher must possess to successfully perform the monitoring and evaluation function was investigated. Particular attention is paid to the study of the influence of criteria-based assessment on learning motivation in primary school.

Examination of Mathematics Study Strategies of Secondary School Students From the Perspective of Multiple Variables

Author(s): Murat Tezer,Meryem Gülyaz Cumhur,Aytan İldırımlı / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

The academic achievement of students can decrease if they fail to use mathematics study strategies well. This situation may lead to negative opinions and attitudes among students towards mathematics. In this study, it was aimed to examine the mathematics study strategies of students enrolled at secondary schools in terms of academic achievement and multiple variables. Relational survey method, one of the quantitative research methods, was used to obtain the data. The universe of the study consists of a total of 9,072 students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades of secondary schools under the Secondary Education Office of the Ministry of National Education and Culture of Northern Cyprus during the 2019-2020 academic year. In the study, the simple random sampling method was used to include 1,012 students. In order to collect the research data, the mathematics study strategies of secondary school students were used; on the other hand, mathematics grades were employed to assess their academic achievement. As a result of the research, when the mathematics study strategies of secondary school students are examined, it is seen that their mathematics study strategies are at the medium level. In this study, a comparison of mathematics study strategies in terms of gender showed that the average score of female students for mathematics study strategies was higher compared to the males. It was also seen that students’ mathematics study strategy scores were similar regardless of whether they were attending extra-school study centres or preparatory schools, and students’ mathematics study strategies scores were similar regardless of whether they received private tutoring. Regardless of the grade levels of the students, we can also claim that their mathematics study strategies are at the medium level. Generally, it has been observed that secondary school students with high academic achievement use their mathematics study skills better than students with low academic achievement.

Family and Its Role in the Cultivation and Preservation of Traditional Folk Music at Junior Primary School Age

Author(s): Maja Ćalić,Miomira M. Đurđanović / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

The cultivation of folk tradition begins in the family, and continues in a systematic and organized way in school as a certainly important task in the education and upbringing of children of junior primary school age. Factors contributing to the realization of this task include: a) school; b) family, and c) other out-of-school factors. Starting from the fact that the cooperation between one’s family and school should be based on partnership, and that learning about traditional folk music requires coordinated action, authors organized a survey aimed at: 1) examining the extent to which the cultivation of musical tradition within the family is reflected on the learning and adoption of related content in music education classes at junior primary school age; 2) determining the extent to which traditional folk music is cultivated in the family by listening to and playing such music; 3) examining the role of family in the process of introducing students to traditional folk music at junior primary school age with regard to other in-school and out-of-school factors. The authors have concluded, teachers believe that cultivating traditional folk music in one’s family is reflected in the form of recognition and improved student motivation for learning content, related to traditional folk music. Students believe that the activity of listening to folk music within family is an insufficiently utilized resource. The survey results confirm the hypothesis that the role of family should be significantly encouraged in relation to other out-of school factors.