This paper is based on a research that explored how Inuit community members in Nunavut Territory, Canada, conceptualized quality education in the socio-cultural context of the territory. Data were collected through telephone interviews of 13 Inuit community members in Nunavut and document reviews both of which were conducted in 2010. The data analysis showed that Inuit community members are r gravely concerned with:(1) the low grade twelve graduation rates and high dropout rates in the territory schools;(2) School improvement planning that engages Inuit communities; (3) Integration of school with the larger community; (4) Communicative engagement with parents and other community stakeholders; (5) Culturally relevant school programming and pedagogy; and (6) Culturally appropriate disciplinary methods. In the conclusion, the paper spells out the policy implications of the findings.

This article introduces a model entitled, “Responsive Teaching through Problem Posing” or RTPP, that addresses a type of reform oriented mathematics teaching based on posing relevant problems, positioning students as experts of mathematics, and facilitating discourse.  RTPP incorporates decades of research on students’ thinking in mathematics and more recent research on responsive teaching practices.  Two classroom case studies are presented.  A high school unit on functions is explored utilizing individual research on the part of the teacher to enact RTPP lessons.  A middle school teacher enacts a RTPP lesson on proportions and utilizes this model to bridge students’ incorrect additive reasoning strategies with correct multiplicative reasoning strategies.  The results showed that both teachers were able to elevate students’ roles in classroom discussions through implementation of RTPP.  Individual research conducted by the high school teacher informed his RTPP approach while participation in professional development sessions with a classroom embedded component influenced the middle school teacher’s enactment of RTPP lessons.  Both teachers used specific teacher moves within RTPP to relinquish their role as mathematics experts in order to elevate their students’ roles in classroom discussions.  The RTPP cycle is offered as a potential model for studying mathematics teaching and learning across a variety of secondary mathematics classrooms.

Assessment for Learning (AfL) may be conceptualized as minute-to-minute, day-by-day interactions between learners and teachers with the improvement of learning as the principal focus. This paper traces the development of an AfL measurement instrument (scale) that can be used for research purposes prior to, during and following professional development in the area. Rasch measurement procedures were applied to data drawn from a convenience sample of 594 teachers from 44 elementary schools in Ireland to create a scale consisting of 20 items distributed across four key AfL assessment strategies: learning intentions and success criteria, questioning and classroom discussion, feedback, and peer-and self-assessment.  This scale, the Assessment for Learning Measurement instrument (AfLMi), has good psychometric properties and is interpretable in a way that makes it potentially useful during system wide improvement initiatives focused on AfL.

The aim of this study investigate to the reasons why the usage of Social Network Sites (SNS) makes users happy. To this end, the study was conducted with as a qualitative research method. The phenomenological design, which is a qualitative research method, was utilized for determining why SNS usage cause happiness and having a better to understand of how SNS users describe SNSs and what they feel about it. The study group was composed of 137 university students (60 males and 77 females) attending the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Literature, and Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at a university in the southwestern of Turkey. A structured, open-ended interview was used as the data collection instrument. The contributors were asked the question “Why does SNS usage cause happiness?” and their answers were retrieved. The answers were encoded and entered to the NVivo software to conduct analyses. Based on the most frequent answers of the participants, three different experts were consulted and seven themes were created accordingly. These seven themes include Need for Stroke, Self-Concealment, Ease of Interaction, Ease of Accessing and Disseminating Information, Ease of Shopping, Leisure Activity, and Fear of Missing Out. Subcategories were also created for these seven themes. It was concluded that the theme of FoMO is nourished by all other themes.

This pilot study focuses on the impact of academic conferences from a gender-based perspective. What motivates faculty members to attend conferences? Which conferences do they choose? Can differences be found between men and women in their attitude to the effect of the conference and its contribution to their academic work, in light of many studies on the significance women attach to the value of family and its prioritization over their career? The study dealt with a case study of one university in Israel. Ninety four academic faculty members from a variety of departments completed a questionnaire, including 60.9% women and 39.1% men. The main finding is that, among both men and women, academic conferences are perceived as contributing to their professional development. Faculty members addressed the contribution of conferences to their professional development. Findings showed that professional focusing during conferences results in publications and develops interest in the conference – and not vice versa, i.e., it is not interest in the conference that leads to publications. It was also found that the size of the conference predicts the significance of the focus on professional aspects. From a gender perspective, women prefer small conferences. In addition, for women, although they prefer small conferences they attach significance to collaborations that lead to professional focusing on their fields of research. Women appear to bring their "family-oriented patterns" to their work, explaining their inclination to small and more intimate conferences. The research findings might have an impact on the consideration given to planning academic conferences in order to reach the academic outcomes expected by faculty members who perceive conferences as an essential platform for their professional development.  

This paper seeks to investigate the implementation of the Productive Pedagogies Framework in Nigerian mathematics classroom setting. The researcher adopted a qualitative case study approach to seeking data for the three research questions postulated for the study. Three mathematics teachers taught mathematics in two secondary schools in two Central states of Nigeria using the Productive Pedagogies framework introduced to them by the researcher. Two major instruments (observation and reflective interviews) were employed to seek information from the teachers and the students. While the researcher uses the grounded theory approached to interpret and or analyzed the data collected. The findings of this study suggest that the teachers made attempts to used Productive Pedagogies framework to achieved quality mathematics classroom instructions. This was demonstrated in their effort to used problem-solving to achieve intellectual quality classrooms instructions, making mathematics classroom instruction relevant to the world around their students, developing an atmosphere of friendship during classroom instruction and identifying and recognizing the differences existed among students during classroom instruction. It was observed that the used of the Productive Pedagogies can increase students’ engagement, collaborations, interactions, substantive conversations and effective inclusion during mathematics classroom instruction in which the research finally recommended the adoption of the Productive Pedagogies framework in the Nigerian mathematics classroom.

This study mainly aims to determine the effect of the layered curriculum on the 6th grade students’ learning styles in science lesson. The study group consists of students in the 6/A and 6/D at Fevzi Cakmak Secondary School in the city center of Siirt-Turkey in the academic year of 2015-2016. “Learning Styles Inventory” developed by Kolb and translated into Turkish by Askar and Akkoyunlu, diaries of students and semi-structured interview form developed by researchers and examination of the documents were used as data collection tools. As for data analysis, percent (%) and chi-square techniques were used to determine the learning styles of students, but in the analysis of students’ opinions the descriptive analysis was used. During the study, students were also asked to express their experiences and considerations about learning activities via a diary. The thoughts and feelings reflected in the diaries of students were directly quoted in findings. As a result of the analysis, in pre-test results of the students in the experimental group exposed to the layered curriculum, a significant difference was found in terms of gender; however, no significant difference was found in their post-test results.

Energy literacy is a minimum required capacity for developing a sustainable society that participates in and discusses on energy and environmental (EE) issues. Understanding the energy literacy structure is of significant importance for providing effective energy education to promote people’s awareness of EE issues. In this article, an energy literacy structural model integrated with the Theory of Planned Behavior and Value-Belief-Norm Theory was investigated for 1070 lower secondary students (ages 13-15) in Japan. Structural equation modeling uncovered that the awareness of consequences is the most powerful predictor for the causality between basic energy knowledge and energy-saving behavior through the attitude toward the energy-saving behavior. A conditional process analysis elucidated that (1) the conditional effect of basic energy knowledge on the awareness of consequences depends on scientific literacy, critical thinking ability, and environmental worldview, and (2) the conditional direct and indirect effects in the mediation model of awareness of consequences on the attitude toward energy-saving behavior through the ascription of responsibility depend on environmental worldview or values and family discussion of energy-related issues. The energy literacy model proposed provides a theoretical contribution to the development of an effective energy education program.

Pictologics (PLS) is a language teaching method which relies on imaginative usage of pictures. The current paper reports the effects of applying this method on enhancing critical thinking ability of the Malaysian students. 69 students (32 boys & 37 girls) in two classes in a public primary school in Penang, Malaysia participated in this study. The experiment covered ten 1-hour sessions which were all audio-recorded and video-taped. The main objective was to engage the students in short conversations in English by using new words that they were learning via PLS. The following qualitative instruments were employed in this study: interviews with the teachers, focus group interviews with the students, a group interview with students’ parents, class check-list of the students’ behavior during the sessions, photos, and video footages. The findings reveal significant patterns of critical thinking among the students such as recognizing and criticizing assumptions, giving reasons to support a conclusion, incorporating isolated data into a wider framework, and using analogies to solve problems. The author strongly recommends application of adopted PLS techniques to be used either alone, or combined with the other conventional language teaching methods.

Child maltreatment is a serious problem, worldwide. Children and young people who have experienced maltreatment face multiple physical and mental health challenges which hinder their success at school and these adverse experiences makes them more challenging to teach than their non-maltreated peers. Increasingly, teachers are considered as an important part of the wider the child protection workforce as they are well-placed to intervene and prevent further harm. To fulfil this role effectively, teachers require requisite training beginning in initial teacher education programs. This paper is a protocol for a systematic scoping review that asks: “What is known about preservice/initial teacher education for child protection?”  Systematic scoping reviews are worthwhile and necessary in fields where research is diverse and needing of synthesis to identify strengths in the body of evidence and identify gaps to set new research directions. We will draw on Askey and O’Malley’s six-stage scoping review methodology to assess the scope, range, and nature of research activity on this topic. We will add an innovative seventh stage involving a commitment to disseminating and applying knowledge generated from the review. The research question has been established, and key terms defined (Stage 1). The search strategy has been devised, and searches have been run (Stage 2). Round 1 screening of titles and abstracts is completed and full text screening is currently in progress (Stage 3). To our knowledge this is the first attempt to systematically map the empirical literature on child protection in pre-service teacher education. When completed, this systematic scoping review will offer a comprehensive, transparent, and replicable way to assess the full scope of empirical research on this important topic of utmost educational relevance.

This study aims to explore the effect of students’ family socio-economic status, gender, family support, learning motivation and peer relationships and teachers’ equity on the victims of school bullying in Hong Kong. Additionally, the model was analyzed by SEM. The participants in this study were 15 year-old middle school students living in Hong Kong. The data were collected from the PISA 2015 database and the valid number was 4856. The results indicating that family support, peer relationships, and teacher fairness have a negative influence on school bullying. Family support affects one’s risk of being bullied by influencing learning motivation. Peer relationship affects one’s risk of being bullied by influencing learning motivation. Teacher fairness affects one’s risk of being bullied by influencing learning motivation.  

By using multi-level modeling, this study explores the impact of students’ perception of the quality of the teacher-student relationship and family structure on student achievement after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), school urbanicity, and school control. The data from 750 schools and 17,000 10th grade students were analyzed. Family structure and student’s perception of teacher-student relationship, and SES were student-level; school urbanicity and school control were school-level variables. The findings indicated that students, who had a positive perception about their relationship with their teachers, came from families including two biological parents, and had high SES and high math achievement. Students’ SES and attending public school in urban areas were found to be significantly related to students’ math achievement. The math score for public school students was lower than students from private and Catholic schools. The further research should have a design addressing the impact of these variables in a longitudinal term.

The current study investigated the opinions of secondary school students taking the science course from different science teachers about the science course and science teachers. The current study was conducted with the participation of 32 students instructed by different science teachers and attending different secondary schools in the fall term of 2018-2019 academic year. The data of the current study were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. In the analysis of the data, the descriptive analysis technique was used. The findings of the current study have revealed that high majority of the students love their science classes and science teachers, that in science classes, lecturing, question-answer and note-taking are methods widely employed, that if there is a smart board in the class, then Okulistik or EBA computer program is on, that the assignments given are from the textbook, that the most frequently adopted behavior by the teachers in the face of any discipline problem is warning and that informal learning environments are not used much. Moreover, it was found that projects are rarely assigned to students and the projects assigned are given as homework. A great majority of the students expect their teachers to be entertaining, they want their lessons to be instructed through games and experiments, and they do not want to write a lot in their classes.

This research examines the English language teachers’ motivations related to the usage of role-playing on English language practice in rural secondary schools in Ecuador. The sample consists of 45 English language teachers who work in public schools located in the rural and urban areas of the province of Manabi. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative research approaches is applied to analyze teachers’ motivations about using role-plays in English class and analyze the relationships between teaching motivations and the factors: teachers’ gender and work location. The instruments are (1) Focus group guide to collect participants' voices about the language practice at schools; and the (2) Likert questionnaire created by the research team, titled: Teachers' perceptions about role-play contribution on the foreign language acquisition process. The statistical analysis shows significant relationships between teachers’ perceptions and the factors in gender and work location. It is concluded that English teachers, both female and male from rural and urban locations in Ecuador, are highly motivated to use role-play in secondary schools as a teaching strategy, in spite of the demand of extra time and energy required, because it promotes in teachers and students the collaborative and creative learning; and improves their confidence to express their ideas and feelings using English as a foreign language.

The aim of this study is to identify parental involvement types and determine what type of parental involvement the parents of middle school children prefer. Moreover, it is aimed to examine the parental involvement types with regard to the parents' gender, their educational background and the socio-economic status of the school. The population of the study comprises the parents of the six grade students study in  29 middle schools during 2018-2019 academic year in Denizli province in Turkey. The sample of the study consists of 243 volunteer parents in three different schools with low, medium and high socio-economic level based on their residential area according to the information obtained from the National Education Directorate. According to the data obtained from the scale, it was seen that parents were more likely to use parenting, learning at home and decision-making as parent involvement types; on the other hand they used 'collaborating with community' the least. Parental involvement types did not differ significantly according to gender. Whether parents are female or male did not affect the types of participation. This may be related to parents' trust in school. It may be stated that the school, which had a higher social status, met the expectations of parents and did not require active participation. Parental involvement types varied significantly depending on the parents' educational background.

This paper sought to look at collaboration as an effective tool for mathematics classroom instruction. Four preservice teachers in a qualitative case study taught mathematics to three senior secondary school classes in two secondary schools in Northern Nigeria for a period of 15 weeks spread over three years. During this period 12 students volunteered to participate in four focus group discussions on the effectiveness of the pedagogy in their classrooms. Observations, research journals and focus groups were used to collect data for the study. A Narrative approach to data analysis was used to analyses the data collected. The findings of the study suggested that, the preservice teachers had initial challenges introducing the framework into their classrooms, they, however, gradually adopted the pedagogy into their classroom teaching. The study suggested that the preservice teachers used collaborative groupings and higher ordered questions to foster collaboration among their students. Some benefits of this strategy were also highlighted from the study. Prominent among them was the effective teacher-student and student-student relationship, help students see mathematics problems as common problems and reduced the domineering attitude of mathematics teachers who see themselves as possessing the monopoly of knowledge. Other findings observed in the study include the replacement of the teacher-centered approach to teaching with a student-centered approach. Therefore, it is suggested that, if collaboration is introduced into Nigerian mathematics classrooms, the traditional teacher-controlled mathematics classroom instruction that has bedeviled our classrooms will be reduced, and a new student-centered learning approach will be put in place.

In the current study we examined the relationships between student evaluations of lecturers (teaching surveys) and faculty members' perceptions of these surveys as capable of blocking and limiting their professional advancement. Faculty members are judged and evaluated by academic authorities for their academic performance in research and teaching. 178 questionnaires were collected from the faculty of several academic institutions. We employ a mix method analysis, and form a model that reflects the factors perceived by faculty members as having the potential to block their professional advancement in academia. The research findings show that lecturers are of the opinion that teaching load has a detrimental effect on students' evaluations in the surveys. Lecturers at the beginning of their academic life, those in lower ranks: senior teacher and senior lecturer, address the negative aspects of the surveys more than others. The research findings indicate that although more hours are taught in colleges than at universities, it is harder to receive positive survey ratings at colleges. Moreover, since in Israeli academia research is still the main criterion for promotion – faculty members born in Israel were found to teaching less than those born elsewhere. Hence, faculty members think that student surveys are destructive and entail risks for their professional advancement. Assuming that students' voice and opinions on teaching are important – how can a balance be achieved between the research achievements of faculty members and student satisfaction?

Computational thinking is a way of thinking that covers 21st century skills and includes new generation concepts such as robotics, coding, informatics and information construction. Computational thinking has reached an important point especially in the field of science in line with the rapid developments in technology. Robotics applications, software-based activities, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education and problem-based studies are some of the areas where this thinking is used. In this study, which is based on this point, it is aimed to develop a scale for computational thinking. Exploratory sequential design, one of the mixed research methods, was used in the study. First of all, a detailed literature review was conducted and needs analysis was carried out. This study consists of two stages. In the first stage, exploratory factor analysis was performed and analyzed with SPSS 23 program. In the second stage, confirmatory factor analysis was performed and analyzed with LISREL 9.2 program. As a result of the study, the goodness of fit indexes of the scale was found. According to this; X²/df value 1.81; NNFI value 0.97; NFI value 0.93; CFI value 0.98; RMR value 0.05; SRMR value 0.04; AGFI value 0.91 and GFI value was found to be 0.93. When the reliability values of the study were examined, Cronbach’s Alpha value was found to be 0.86. As a result of the research, a computational thinking scale consisting of 3 factors and 30 items was developed. This scale was developed for prospective teachers and can be used at all levels of prospective teachers.

This study describes the development and validation of a psychometrically-sound instrument, the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), designed to measure learners’ perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Active learning encompasses a broad range of pedagogical practices and instructional methods that connect with an individual learner's active learning strategies. In order to fulfill the study's goals, a conceptual framework on learners’ active learning strategies was developed and proposed, drawing upon the research literature on active learning. The development and construct validation of the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), based on the conceptual and methodological underpinnings, involved identifying five scales of learners’ active learning strategies: engagement, cognitive processing, orientation to learning, readiness to learn and motivational orientation. An item pool of 20 items was generated following an extensive review of the literature, standardized card sorting procedures including confirmatory factor analysis and scale validation of a pilot (n = 407) survey. The ALSI scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and reliability with a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.81 to 0.87. High item loading scores from the factor analysis provided initial support for the instrument's construct validity of the five-factor model. The ALSI scale provides a reliable and valid method for researchers and academicians who wish to measure learners' perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Finally, we discuss the implications and address the limitations and directions for future research.

This article focuses on the influence of academic training, job issues, personality and demographic characteristics of school counselors on their professional identity construction, which is developed in a theoretical model based on educational-psychological theories. Most of the training in Master's degree studies in school counseling is incompatible with actual job demands; Consequently, when beginning work, school counselors lack suitable training and relevant professional tools. Moreover, in Israel and elsewhere, the definition of school counseling is unclear and inconclusive, and this affects the counselors' professional identity and the quality of their work. The proposed model of the variables that affect school counselors’ professional identity may enhance the relationship between academia and the field, with the aim of promoting academic excellence and a well-formulated professional identity for the profession of school counseling, as well as improving the employment terms of school counselors, in light of the challenges facing higher education systems in the 21st century.