Seeking the right balance between three teaching approaches: a quasi-experimental study in the context of learning about thermal phenomena

In this study, we investigated which teaching approach may be optimal to facilitate learning about thermal phenomena in primary school. Concretely, we conducted a pretest-posttest quasi-experiment that included 45 eighth-grade students divided into three groups. In the first group (a non-interactive teacher-centered approach), the teacher gave an experiment-based lecture on converting thermal energy into mechanical work. In the second group (a teacher-centered interactive approach), the teacher gave the same experiments-based lecture, but interacted much more with the students and encouraged them to think about the demonstrations. Finally, in the third group, the student-centered interactive approach was applied. The results of the ANCOVA showed that the three teaching approaches were equally effective in developing students’ understanding of thermal phenomena. However, closer analyses showed that students who learned from the teacher-centered interactive approach significantly outperformed their peers when it came to understanding basic thermal concepts approach, students worked in small groups to conduct the same experiments and “discover” the same relationships that the teacher had introduced in the previous one.

Reflection on Contradictory Learning Methods and Identity Formation in a New Academic Life Setting

Lecturers new to the academic life setting normally face similar types of challenges. These challenges were intensified for new lecturers starting their careers in the academic setting during the COVID-19 pandemic, when classes were conducted online. Student-centered learning has been the focus in engineering education recently, but many of the current lecturers have never experienced this method of learning as students, resulting in unfamiliarity and inexperience in conducting classes using this method of teaching. Our experiences as two new lecturers starting our academic careers during the pandemic using both the student-centered learning method and teacher-centered learning method in different classes are reported through collaborative autoethnographic methods. Both of our reflections revealed that stark differences can be seen as an effect of the teaching method, concluding that the student-centered learning method is superior to the traditional teacher-centered learning method. However, applying the former method also has some challenges. To overcome these challenges faced by new lecturers, some action plans have been listed for future improvement, which could be very meaningful and useful to other new lecturers as well as educators new to applying the student-centered learning method.

Students’ Needs for TOEFL Preparation Course at University

This study aimed to identify students’ needs in the TOEFL Preparation course at university. This descriptive research was conducted on thirty first-semester students and the lecturer at Universitas Riau. The instruments were a needs analysis questionnaire for the students and an interview guideline for the lecturer. The results revealed that (1) Most of the students’ abilities were at the basic level; (2) Students took TOEFL Preparation course for several reasons such as to help them get a scholarship and as one of the requirements to finish their study; (3) Students preferred to learn through the teacher-centered method and doing more TOEFL exercises; (4) The lecturer should provide them various examples of TOEFL tests; and (5) The time for having TOEFL Preparation course needed to be extended. Overall, this research implied the need for a newly designed syllabus that could fulfil the students’ needs and could decrease their obstacles in learning TOEFL so that the students’ ability improved significantly.

Evaluation of Learner vs. Teacher Centered Syllabi in Construction Management Courses: An Initial Investigation

Research indicates that retention and performance of undergraduate students increases when they perceive a cooperative and supportive educational community. The course syllabus is one of the first opportunities to influence student perception on their educational experience. Literature on syllabi suggests that learner-centered syllabi yield more positive student perceptions of teachers and the course as compared to traditional teacher-centered syllabi. Current research on the impacts of different syllabi constructs within construction education is lacking, and no studies could be found on whether these perceptions translate to student grades. This study used action research to better understand the impact of a learner-centered syllabus vs. a teacher-centered syllabus in an undergraduate construction management program. Student perception, faculty perception and student grades were measured between the learner-centered class and the teacher-centered class. The data was collected from four different classes, split among two courses, and taught by two faculty over the spring 2020 semester. Results suggested that the learner-centered syllabi appeared to motivate student engagement as well as impact both, the first impressions of the instructor and teacher-student relationship. However, it showed no difference in student grades.

PEMBELAJARAN KONTEKSTUAL: Mencapai Hasil Belajar yang Optimal

Permasalahan pendidikan saat ini salah satunya ialah proses pembelajaran yang lemah. Proses pembelajaran umumnya masih berfokus pada guru sebagai sumber utama pengetahuan (Kadir, 2013). Proses pembelajaran merupakan salah satu kunci untuk mencapai tujuan pendidikan. Kebanyakan siswa menganggap mata pelajaran yang dijelaskan di sekolah itu sulit sehigga tidak jarang seorang siswa sudah terlebih dahulu merasa kurang mampu untuk mempelajarinya (Sakkashiri, 1991). Hal tersebut bisa saja terjadi dikarenakan oleh kegiatan pembelajaran yang menggunakan metode teacher-centered yang tidak dapat menarik perhatian siswa karena siswa tidak tertarik dan bosan. Keadaan ini akan merugikan terhadap keberhasilan siswa bila tidak segera dibenahi (Manalu dkk., 2016).

Pembelajaran Kontekstual

Permasalahan pendidikan saat ini salah satunya ialah proses pembelajaran yang lemah. Proses pembelajaran umumnya masih berfokus pada guru sebagai sumber utama pengetahuan (Kadir, 2013). Proses pembelajaran merupakan salah satu kunci untuk mencapai tujuan pendidikan. Kebanyakan siswa menganggap mata pelajaran yang dijelaskan di sekolah itu sulit sehigga tidak jarang seorang siswa sudah terlebih dahulu merasa kurang mampu untuk mempelajarinya (Sakkashiri, 1991). Hal tersebut bisa saja terjadi dikarenakan oleh kegiatan pembelajaran yang menggunakan metode teacher-centered yang tidak dapat menarik perhatian siswa karena siswa tidak tertarik dan bosan. Keadaan ini akan merugikan terhadap keberhasilan siswa bila tidak segera dibenahi (Manalu dkk., 2016).

Pembelajaran Kontekstual: Mencapai Hasil Belajar yang Optimal

Permasalahan pendidikan saat ini salah satunya ialah proses pembelajaran yang lemah. Proses pembelajaran umumnya masih berfokus pada guru sebagai sumber utama pengetahuan. Proses pembelajaran merupakan salah satu kunci untuk mencapai tujuan pendidikan. ). Hal tersebut bisa saja terjadi dikarenakan oleh kegiatan pembelajaran yang menggunakan metode teacher-centered yang tidak dapat menarik perhatian siswa karena siswa tidak tertarik dan bosan.

Learning without Teachers (?): a study of Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha

The title character in Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha, tried to revolt against teacher-centered teaching and started his own journey to get enlightenment through self-quest or self-investigation. However, this research paper studies Siddhartha declaration acquiring enlightenment through his self- education with contradictory ideas and marks a direct or indirect involvement of teachers in his education. The essay supports its line of departure giving the background of Siddhartha’s journey of enlightenment, studying his self- education as a part of teacher-based education by answering the question in two different topics (why did he leave teachers? / Can education be possible without teachers?) and finally draw its conclusion. Though Siddhartha is an artistic work and the ideas of this paper may not be applicable in the real classroom scenario, the reliability of the analysis of the book would become fruitful since it gives some perspectives to understand our practices philosophically- if not practically.

Investigating the Influencing Factors of Teachers’ Information and Communications Technology-Integrated Teaching Behaviors toward “Learner-Centered” Reform Using Structural Equation Modeling

In the context of information-driven Education transformation, this study investigates factors that influence the continuous transformation of teacher information and communications technology (ICT) teaching methods. Although some studies have found that teacher psychological cognition exerts different effects on different types of teacher ICT-integrated teaching behaviors, the current literature on influencing factors lacks the classification of behaviors. Based on the learner-centered transformation, this study divides teacher ICT-integrated teaching behaviors into teacher-centered teaching behavior and student-centered teaching behavior, and constructs a hypothesis model of influencing factors on teacher ICT-integrated teaching behavior. We collected questionnaire data from 795 primary and secondary school teachers, then validated and adjusted the model through structural equation modeling (SEM). The social environment exerted a significant indirect impact on teacher technology application behaviors via mediation of teacher efficacy and outcome expectations. The two types of self-efficacy directly affected the student-centered ICT application behavior more than the teacher-centered ICT application behavior. The student-centered ICT application behavior exerted a significant impact on the teacher-centered ICT application behavior. This study confirms the significance of classifying teacher ICT-integrated teaching behavior and supports the transformation of learner-centered ICT-integrated teaching by improving the social environment to realize equitable and sustainable Education development.