by Asmaa Mohamed El Sayed Makhlouf
Original Research
This study aimed to identify Saudi Arabian schools’ openness to change in light of Saudi Vision 2030. The study analyses significant differences in the perception of Saudi schools’ openness to change among Saudi teachers, based on their gender, educational stage, the type of school they taught at, and their experience. We used the Faculty Change Orientation Scale (FCOS) to analyse data from 383 teachers in 29 schools in Saudi Arabia. Results indicated that the practice levels of faculty and principal openness to change are high. This means that Saudi teachers predominantly agree that their schools are open to change. The results further revealed that the gender and school type variables had no significant impact on Saudi teachers’ perceptions. However, the experience and educational stage variables showed significant differences. These findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of the Saudi Vision 2030 within the educational system.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2021, 9(1), 52-60. DOI: 10.12691/education-9-1-6
Pub. Date: February 01, 2021
by Jef Struyf
Original Research
There’s a parallelism between the classical geocentric cosmos and the following essentials of life chemistry: the electron octet, the bio-elements, the amino acids, and the genetic code. The introduction contains a short summary of the chemistry of life and the classical geocentric cosmology. The research method compares the classical geocentric cosmos to the investigated essentials of life chemistry. The Earth-Sun (substrate-source of life) opposite and the inner-outer planet opposites correspond to several of these essentials. The twelve zodiac constellations correspond to the twelve macro bio-elements, the twelve polar amino acids and the twelve by doublet codons encoded amino acids. Each of the latter three zodiac chemical representatives shows the typical seven to five ratio of the twelve zodiac constellations: seven animal and five human related constellations. An original genetic code table based on third position synonyms shows the similarities and differences between the vertebrate mitochondrial and the standard genetic codes, and the parallelism with the classical geocentric cosmos. Specific zodiac constellation representatives for the life chemistry essentials are presented.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2021, 9(1), 38-51. DOI: 10.12691/education-9-1-5
Pub. Date: January 29, 2021
by Adolfo E. Obaya Valdivia, Carlos Montaño Osornio and Yolanda Marina Vargas-Rodríguez
Original Research
In the resolution of problems in chemical kinetics and catalysis the mathematical models relate the independent variable that is usually time, with the dependent variable which is normally the concentration of a reactant. They conform to linear models, whose parameters such as the ordering to origin and the slope are kinetic parameters, applying linear regression to the experimental data can be obtained linear models that are the simplest to be found. On other side, multiple models can be found with two or more independent variables, however, there are models that are not feasible to linearize and therefore you can make use of nonlinear regression. This paper is exemplified by the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) scheme and the use of software such as Stat graphics and Polymath to solve the resulting mathematical models. The results obtained are compared with traditional methods as multiple linearized least squares, in this way the learning teaching process is strengthened, since the student raises the kinetic model and then solves it with computer tools. Through the PBL cycles generated in the resolution of real problems in chemical kinetics and catalysis, significant learnings are achieved on difficult comprehension topics such as initial rate for the determination of the reaction order, half-life times, temperature effect and heterogeneous catalysis.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2021, 9(1), 31-37. DOI: 10.12691/education-9-1-4
Pub. Date: January 24, 2021
by Casan Macawaris Mala and Oliva P. Canencia
Original Research
This study determine the significant relationship of research productivity (publishing research papers, articles, and books at reputable refereed journals like ISI, Scopus, Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics, Elsevier, American Journal of Research, and other foreign accredited journals) of faculty members in Mindanao State University System and respondent’s’ ethnicity and geographical location of Campus or University during the year 2013-2017. The survey questionnaire was used to collect information from the 370 faculty members drawn from the eleven Campuses of Mindanao State University System. Two hypotheses were tested at a 0.50 level of significance. The data collected was analysed by use of Scientific Package for Social Statistics (SPSS). Results of the hypothesis testing revealed that research productivity of faculty member during the year 2013-2017 are very low. It also revealed from the findings of the study that geographical location of the Campus or University has no significant relationship on publishing research papers, articles, and books ISI, Scopus, Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics, Elsevier, American Journal of Research, Local, and other foreign journals. These results provide useful information for policymakers of the University System in designing academic planning and development programs for the new career faculty member to teach in the University as well as provide insight on the negative influence on the access to research funding and research information from data based research centers.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2021, 9(1), 20-30. DOI: 10.12691/education-9-1-3
Pub. Date: January 19, 2021
by Muhammad Asrori and Awaluddin Tjalla
Original Research
This study aims to examine the effectiveness of K-W-L Teaching Model applied in content mastery services to improve the students’ ability to understand texts in junior high schools (SMP). It was an experimental research with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The subjects were Year-7 students of SMP Islam Al-Azhar Pontianak, SMP Negeri 2 Mempawah, and SMP Negeri 3 Singkawang. The ability to understand a text is indicated by (a) capturing the main idea of the text, (b) describing the essence of the text orally, (c) describing the contents of the text in a written form, and (d) formulating questions based on the text that has been read. The results showed that K-W-L Teaching Model was effective to improve the students’ ability to understand texts, especially in capturing the main ideas of the text and describing the essence of the text orally; but it was not effective in describing the essence of the text in written forms and formulating questions based on the text that had been read.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2021, 9(1), 11-19. DOI: 10.12691/education-9-1-2
Pub. Date: January 03, 2021
by Bolupe Abayomi Awe
Original Research
This paper is an exploratory research that focuses on the extent of preparedness by Nigerian Public Universities (NPUs) to cope with the challenges imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic. NPUs are characterized by traditional pedagogical approaches in academic engagements with students. The advent of Covid 19 requires a change from traditional strategy to Information Communication and Technology (ICT) mediated pedagogical approach to remove constraints imposed by compliance with Covid 19 protocols, namely social distancing, self – isolation and total lock down. Attempt to mitigate the ravaging effect of COVID 19 pandemic, led to the closure of universities in Nigeria (both private and public). This poses serious challenges to NPUs in that, while private universities activated their virtual learning environment for academic engagement with students during the lockdown, NPUs were incapacitated and are yet to be opened. The paper therefore examined the concept of virtual learning, the influence of ICT revolution on pedagogical strategies, the readiness of NPUs for virtual learning as well as constraints to virtual learning in NPUs. Some of the observable challenges facing virtual learning in NPUs include: poor ICT Policy, low internet penetration, high cost of access to the internet as well as attitudinal problems of students and lecturers towards ICT. Based on the problems highlighted, the following recommendations were made: formulation of an enduring ICT policy and its implementation by the Federal Government, adequate funding of NUPs, massive deployment of ICT infrastructure for virtual learning, reduced cost of internet services, provision of WiFi on the campuses, training programmes for lecturers and students on proficiency in ICT skills and improved access to internet facilities by lecturers and students in NPUs.
American Journal of Educational Research. 2021, 9(1), 1-10. DOI: 10.12691/education-9-1-1
Pub. Date: January 02, 2021