by Paulo Jose Menegasso and André Luiz Santos Menezes
Original Research
Before the inclusion in Brazilian public schools, we highlight the case of the visually impaired in the process of teaching and learning, specifically how visual impairment affects the construction of concepts and meanings in Mathematics and Chemistry. We investigated a group of students with visual impairment and the construction of meanings in experimental classes and through modeling, based on the Theory of Semantic Fields.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 914-916. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-10
Pub. Date: August 09, 2016
6053 Views1778 Downloads4 Likes
by Nazneen Akhter and Shafiqul Alam
Original Research
This is a status paper about secondary level teacher’s education of general steam in Bangladesh. In this study, secondary data used in the paper collected from Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), Education Ministry, different training institutes and Bangladesh Open University (BOU). This study describes about different institutes of providing teacher education and training in the country. Different graphs and simple statistical analysis are done in this status paper. Regression on time series data shows the increasing trend of trained teacher in Secondary Schools. Further in the last decade the enrolment of B Ed and M Ed students in BOU has observed increasing over the time. Educational structure in simple format and statistics of secondary level trained teachers in Bangladesh are also mentioned to give a scenario of teacher`s educational status. Different ways of providing training to the teachers in open and distance mode in Bangladesh is also discussed.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 907-913. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-9
Pub. Date: August 08, 2016
17402 Views3929 Downloads1 Likes
by Babafemi A. Johnson
Case Study
The study examined the impact of prior exposure to laboratory apparatus activities on acquisition of process, skills and achievement in Chemistry at secondary level in Giwa Zone Kaduna State Nigeria. A total of 120 Senior Secondary Two (SS II) Chemistry students were in the study from a total population of 996. Non randomized pretest, posttest experimental-control groups research design was used for the study. Chemistry Performance Test (CPT) and Science Process Skills Performance Test (SPSPT) were used as instruments with reliability value of 0.89 and 0.75 respectively. To determine whether students’ prior exposed to laboratory apparatus activities on acquisition of science process skills and achievement of different concepts in Chemistry. t-test statistical tool at P<0.05 was used to analyse data collected for the study. Generally prior exposure to laboratory apparatus activities on acquisition of process skills was found to be more effective in enhancing students’ science process skills and academic performance on difficult concepts than those not prior exposed. The results showed that students’ academic achievements are significantly high given the same condition of exposure to prior laboratory apparatus activities on acquisition of science process skills. Therefore recommendations were made among others that science curriculum developers, supervisory bodies of secondary schools, science education and teachers should incorporate prior exposure to laboratory apparatus activities on acquisition of science process skills approach into curricular of Chemistry at secondary school level.avodart buy uk
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American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 903-906. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-8
Pub. Date: August 05, 2016
10830 Views4943 Downloads
by Bitrus Glawala Amuda, Apagu Kidlindila Bulus and Hamsatu Pur Joseph
Special Issue
This study investigated marital status and age as predicators of students’ academic performance in the North-eastern states of Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine the levels of academic performance of NCE students, marital status as significant predictor of academic performance of NCE students in Colleges of Education and Age as significant predictor of academic performance in the North-Eastern States, Nigeria. One question and two hypotheses were answered and tested in the study. Survey design was used in the study. A sample of one thousand two hundred out of a population of 13,529 (8,422 males and 5,107 females) NCE 2 and 3 students from six Colleges of Education in the North-eastern States, Nigeria participated in the study. The sample of the study was selected through simple random and stratified sampling techniques. The research instruments used for data collection were Study Habit and Examination Taking Technique Inventory developed by Carew and Hamman- Tukur (1996) and Proforma developed by the researchers. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis. The results revealed that the level of academic performance of NCE students of Colleges of Education in the North-Eastern States, Nigeria was high because those that form the majority of distribution range from merit (C) to distinction (A), which stands at 66.7%, while fail and pass grades consisted of 33.3%. Marital status and age did not significantly predict academic performance in Colleges of Education in the North-eastern States of Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended that adequate attention should be given to marital and age differences in academic performance in terms of giving assignments, group work, course placement and any other academic activities in the Colleges. To improve the academic performance, teachers and counsellors should know the different study habit patterns and how to integrate them in their teaching so that the diverse study skills will be provided to the students, which will give them the opportunity to perform maximally.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 896-902. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-7
Pub. Date: August 04, 2016
17345 Views5321 Downloads2 Likes
by Sumailah Ahmed Sabbagh
Original Research
The objective of the current study was to investigate childhood students' Mathematics creativity from their teachers’ perspectives and observations. It intended to answer two main research questions. First: Is there a significant difference at level (0.05 ≥ α) in early childhood teachers' perspectives of student mathematical creativity with respect to school type, gender and grade level? Second: Is there agreement ration between the teacher mathematical creativity scale rating and observing rating on the same scale for the same child? A group of (31) mathematics teachers randomly selected completed a Childhood Mathematical Creativity Scale on some of their students who were also observed during mathematics classes by the researcher and rated using the same scale. Results indicated that mathematical creativity is not a common aspect for childhood students' on Jordan. Kindergarten teachers rated their student the highest on creativity while third grade were rated the lowest. Also the results revealed that there is no significant difference in children creativity means with respect to school type, gender and grade level form their teachers' perspectives. Also the ratio of agreement between the teacher mathematical creativity scale rating and observing rating on the same scale for the same child was moderate.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 890-895. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-6
Pub. Date: August 02, 2016
9004 Views3306 Downloads1 Likes
by Talita Rechia Vasconcellos da Rosa and Vilmar Malacarne
Original Research
This work seeks to contribute to discussions around sustainability, in relation to formal education. One way to follow is the insertion of Environmental Education (EE) in educational institutions of all levels. This paper regards a research that had as main objective to verify the insertion of sustainability content in the undergraduate courses at the Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná – UNIOESTE (Western Paraná State University) in order to answer to the following problematic: "The teacher training courses, from UNIOESTE of the campus of Cascavel, are in a process of a curriculum environmentalization?" The objectives of this research were: (i) to understand the meanings of sustainability and its variations considering the different points of view through a bibliographic research (ii) to analyze national legislation for environmental education and curricula of undergraduate courses at Unioeste through document research (iii) to interview students, teachers and coordinators through audio recordings and questionnaires in field research (iv) to identify if the courses used in this research as object of study are in a curriculum environmentalization process using as parameter the Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais (National Curriculum Guidelines - DCNs) and the Rede de Ambientalização Curricular do Ensino Superior (Curriculum Environmentalization on Higher Education Network - ACES). The theoretical framework seeks to understand the following themes: sustainability, sustainable development, eco-development, environment, education, environmental education, curriculum, curriculum environmentalization. The understanding of the theoretical framework guided the methodological approaches and criteria used for data collection and analysis, through the inflection of Bardin (2010) technique with Content Analysis. The results indicate a fragile teacher training regarding to environmental education and that it, by having an inter and transdisciplinary character, can permeate on any area of knowledge if the educational institutions have a commitment to become into a sustainable educator’s spaces. Given the results in this research, reflections are made about the relationships of formal education to the nature in which we belong.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 878-889. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-5
Pub. Date: August 02, 2016
6446 Views2318 Downloads10 Likes
by Melkam Zewdu Ayalew
Original Research
This study investigated teachers’ and students’ perceptions towards the practice of assessment of students’ learning in the Faculty of Educational and Behavioral Sciences (FEBS), Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. To realize their perceptions, therefore, survey design was used. A close-ended questionnaire item with five point Likert scale was administered to twenty four teachers and one hundred students. In addition, to substantiate the data obtained through questionnaire, two FGDs with students, nine participants in each group, were conducted. And, interviews with 6 experienced instructors were also held. The quantitative data was analyzed using one sample t-test and independent samples t-test. One sample t-test was used to determine the status of teachers’ and students’ perception towards the practice of assessment. The independent samples t-test was employed to see whether there is significant difference between teachers and students in their perception towards the assessment practice. The qualitative data which was collected using interview and FGDs was described qualitatively using narrative analysis. Results of the one sample t-test revealed that teachers’ and students’ have unfavorable perception towards the practice of assessment. They perceived that the practice of assessment in the faculty was more of theoretical and most of them assumed that students need further practical training to perform to the standard in the actual job situations. The findings also indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between teachers and students in their perceptions towards the practice of assessment. Regarding the factors that affect the practice of assessment, almost all the student participants believe the following are main factors: heavy influence of the earlier approach to methods of teaching and assessment (behaviorist) which is usually practiced by teachers; teachers give more attention to grading instead of enabling students to be competent through careful engagement of practical assessment tools; some teachers are not professionally competent; on the other hand teacher participants of the study enlisted the following as main factors: students are not responsible for their own learning; students give priority to passing exams rather than developing competence; lack of clarity on competence-based assessment among students and teachers. Large numbers of respondents held the view that the practice of assessment was not in line with future job requirements of the graduates. Based on the findings obtained, recommendations were forwarded.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 872-877. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-4
Pub. Date: August 01, 2016
11295 Views4509 Downloads2 Likes
by Evelyne Girgis, Majed Khodr and Lee Waller
Original Research
The aim of this research was to test and analyse student responses to the introduction of the flipped learning methodology at the Faculty of Education in the Lebanese University, to identify potential relationships between the responses and to determine underlying factors guiding the responses. A survey questionnaire was developed by a team of faculty and sent to students via an online survey software. The analysis employed dimension reduction techniques to ascertain underlying factors guiding responses. The two major factors identified were student engagement and course flexibility of the flipped classroom approach. The research concluded that the flipped learning methodology can be useful for improving learning and holds the potential to more adequately engage today’s learners.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 868-871. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-3
Pub. Date: July 26, 2016
9159 Views3623 Downloads2 Likes
by Mogbel Aid K Alenizi
Original Research
Cooperative learning strategies have proven to be effective for all types of students. Children who have attention deficits appear to have a weakness in most areas of attention and their ability to deal with it. Children who are affected by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD hereafter) might face many difficulties in their lives as an effect of this disorder. Usually what the affected child faces during the taught lessons could lead to failing to gain knowledge. In addition, this can lead to permanent disorders, whether from their colleagues or from adults who cause them to worry under different circumstances. Because of this they are inflicted by more hits or wounds than other children who do not suffer from this disorder. They face difficulties in cooperating with their cohorts or adults because of this. The present study tries to see the use of such learning strategies to reduce the attention deficits in the students with learning disorders.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 861-867. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-2
Pub. Date: July 26, 2016
8452 Views2794 Downloads2 Likes
by Diana Po Lan SHAM
Original Research
In traditional ESL writing class, the English teacher/lecturer just gives the students a topic, a paragraph or a series of diagrams and then asks the class to write the essays individually. According to the revised Bloom’s taxonomy [1], there are six levels including Remember; Understand; Apply; Analyze; Evaluate; Create. When we apply the taxonomy in teaching ESL writing and create an innovative and interactive setting, we can lead the learners to go through all the critical thinking stages. As a result, they have widened their scope with more fun after brainstorming and better learning outcomes in writing. I have adopted this method in teaching the ESL undergraduates and adult learners in various universities in Hong Kong, and Zhuhai and found it very effective. In this paper, I am going to explain and analyze how the creative and interactive ESL writing classes are structured with an example and the students’ feedback.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2016, 4(12), 854-860. DOI: 10.12691/education-4-12-1
Pub. Date: July 26, 2016
11446 Views3745 Downloads