Developing Primary Students’ Understanding of Mathematics through Mathematization: A Case of Teaching the Multiplication of Two Natural Numbers

<p style="text-align: justify;">Numeracy is one of the essential competencies that the objectives of teaching math to primary students should be towards. However, many research findings show that the problem of “innumeracy” frequently exists at primary schools. That means children still do not feel at home in the world of numbers and operations. Therefore, the paper aims to apply the realistic mathematics education (RME) approach to tackling the problem of innumeracy, in the case of teaching the multiplication of two natural numbers to primary students. We conducted a pedagogical experiment with 46 grade 2 students who have not studied the multiplication yet. The pedagogical experiment lasted in six lessons, included seven activities and nine worksheets which are designed according to fundamental principles of RME by researchers. This is mainly a qualitative study. Based on data obtained from classroom observations and students’ response on worksheets, under the perspective of RME, the article pointed out how mathematization processes took place throughout students' activities, their attitudes towards math learning, and their learning outcomes. The study results found that students were more interested in math learning and understood the concepts of multiplication of two natural numbers.</p>

How Game-Based Learning Works and What It Means for Pupils, Teachers, and Classroom Learning

This chapter discusses the results of a systematic literature review, a needs analysis through a pupil survey, and a case study of classroom observations in the context of primary education. The results of the overall findings, limitations, underlying issues, and emerging concepts are associated to how game-based learning (GBL) works and what it means for pupils, teachers, and classroom learning. This chapter presents the main contributions to the body of knowledge in GBL study, while offering best practice recommendations for designing engagement in GBL. This in turn outlines a framework of how GBL may work in the classroom. The framework identifies elements, features, and factors that shape how engagement occurs and how learning progresses in gameplay within GBL environments.

Small Chunks, Deep Learning

Project I4 is a cohort-based, year-long program incorporating micro-credential experiences as a key element of learning for school leaders. The project focuses the micro-credential (MC) design, implementation, and study on a central aspect of a school leader's work: classroom observations and post-observation conversations. The leaders learn to observe academic discourse in STEM classrooms. To fully engage in the learning from the MC, leaders collect observational evidence on equitable instructional practices and use the evidence to have coaching post-observation conversations with teachers with the aim of changing instructional practices in classrooms. In the authors' model, a key component for the MC experiences is the opportunity for school leaders to work with leadership coaches in equity-centered networked improvement communities (EC-NICs) of 5-6 persons. This chapter presents a qualitative review of 10 school leaders from the first Project I4 cohort.

Epistemological beliefs of secondary school teachers in light of their teaching practices based on the grounded theory

The current study aimed to identify the epistemological beliefs of secondary school teachers in light of their teaching practices. The researchers applied the qualitative approach based on the method of grounded theory. Data were collected through classroom observations, interview sheets and focus groups. Having determined the credibility and reliability of the instruments, the data were thoroughly read, and analysed using the topology data model. Results indicated the participants' responses converged in the dimension of the nature and certainty of knowledge, the dimension of knowledge acquisition and in the speed of knowledge acquisition, while responses varied in the dimension of the concept of epistemological beliefs, the dimension of the sources of epistemological beliefs and the factors in their formation, and in the dimension of knowledge authority. The study highlighted the importance of integrating epistemological beliefs in teachers' qualification programmes to practise such beliefs in the classroom environment. Keywords: Epistemological Beliefs, Teaching Practices, Secondary School Teachers

Proposal for Need Analysis in an Exam Preparation Course: A Descriptive Study

Need analysis is an essential element in the process of designing any language course as it seeks to cater for what learners need in their lessons. This study proposes a framework to analyse learners&rsquo; needs for exam preparation courses. The proposed framework adopts the works of Macalister, Nation, and Brindley to address different linguistic and non-linguistic needs. To the best of the researcher&rsquo;s knowledge, no framework has ever been provided for teachers to carry out need analysis in the context of preparing for international exams. In this study, therefore, the framework was applied to find learners&rsquo; needs in an exam preparation course for an A2 English level international exam. The participants were 10 learners aged 10-12 enrolled on a course in a private language centre. The data were collected through a combination of quantitative and qualitative tools, that is to say, by questionnaires, tests, and classroom observations. Results revealed that the framework herein proposed gives a detailed understanding of the learners&rsquo; needs prior to the course showing that learners from this study have difficulties in the skills of reading, writing, and listening. Findings also revealed learners&rsquo; preference for a variety of classroom activities, online games, and art-crafts.&nbsp;

Teacher’s Use of Instructional Materials in Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Rwandan Primary Schools

Teaching and learning mathematics is easier, more interesting, more enjoyable, and more closely connected to real life applications with the use of instructional materials like textbooks, manipulatives, technology tools, and (physical or digital) models. This study investigated the impact of instructional aids on classroom interaction through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations of 15 mathematics teachers from five primary schools in Rulindo district, in Rwanda’s Northern Province. Interviews were analyzed thematically, and classroom observations were analyzed descriptively. The analysis indicates a lack of instructional materials for teaching mathematics overall. Most teachers use course books, but report that there are not enough books available. Use of ICT is limited due to the lack of power supply in some schools. Teachers in this study either did not use available instructional materials at all, or, if they were used, they were not used appropriately. Teachers also did not allow students to actively use the materials; thus, students were not given the opportunity to enhance their active learning and participate in constructing their knowledge of the mathematics content.

Storytelling and Teaching English to Young Learners: A Vietnamese case study

<p>Storytelling, which is often promoted as a suitable methodological approach in teaching young learners, has been under-used and under-researched in EFL primary schools. This study introduces a storytelling innovation to put the young learner-oriented approach in practice. The innovation provides a structure to redesign textbook lessons into storytelling lessons in order to offer young learners interactive opportunities to use language in meaningful contexts. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase employed a qualitative approach to examine the current state of using stories and storytelling in teaching EFL in state primary schools in Vietnam. This phase involved the participation of 21 teachers and groups of Grade 5 students from 18 primary schools. Classroom observations, in-depth interviews with teachers, and group interviews with students were conducted to collect data. The results showed that stories were mainly used to introduce target language items in the presentation stage of the textbook lessons which had a presentation-practice-production structure. The lessons consisted mainly of mechanical practice and, ineffective group work, and afforded learners few opportunities for interactive activities. The second phase was an intervention study to examine the implementation of storytelling innovation lessons. Two teachers and two classes, who participated in Phase 1, joined Phase 2 of the study. One teacher and one class were used as the comparison group while the others employed the innovation for one teaching term. Data were collected from pre-and post-storytelling speaking tests, classroom observations, in-depth interviews with teachers, and group interviews with students. The quantitative findings revealed that at the end of the study the intervention group significantly outperformed the comparison group in their oral language production. The qualitative data showed that the students in the intervention group were highly engaged in storytelling activities as well. A feature contributing to the learners’ engagement was found to be effective cooperation in group work, as the students were afforded opportunities for meaningful interactions. Both the teacher and the students perceived the positive change in their teaching and learning practices. The innovation could transform a mechanical teaching practice to a more interactive and meaningful learning approach. The results indicate the storytelling innovation as a successful model for introducing change into teaching English in primary schools and contributing to an understanding of the implementation of storytelling, the nature of interactions and learning engagement in EFL contexts.</p>

Storytelling and Teaching English to Young Learners: A Vietnamese case study

<p>Storytelling, which is often promoted as a suitable methodological approach in teaching young learners, has been under-used and under-researched in EFL primary schools. This study introduces a storytelling innovation to put the young learner-oriented approach in practice. The innovation provides a structure to redesign textbook lessons into storytelling lessons in order to offer young learners interactive opportunities to use language in meaningful contexts. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase employed a qualitative approach to examine the current state of using stories and storytelling in teaching EFL in state primary schools in Vietnam. This phase involved the participation of 21 teachers and groups of Grade 5 students from 18 primary schools. Classroom observations, in-depth interviews with teachers, and group interviews with students were conducted to collect data. The results showed that stories were mainly used to introduce target language items in the presentation stage of the textbook lessons which had a presentation-practice-production structure. The lessons consisted mainly of mechanical practice and, ineffective group work, and afforded learners few opportunities for interactive activities. The second phase was an intervention study to examine the implementation of storytelling innovation lessons. Two teachers and two classes, who participated in Phase 1, joined Phase 2 of the study. One teacher and one class were used as the comparison group while the others employed the innovation for one teaching term. Data were collected from pre-and post-storytelling speaking tests, classroom observations, in-depth interviews with teachers, and group interviews with students. The quantitative findings revealed that at the end of the study the intervention group significantly outperformed the comparison group in their oral language production. The qualitative data showed that the students in the intervention group were highly engaged in storytelling activities as well. A feature contributing to the learners’ engagement was found to be effective cooperation in group work, as the students were afforded opportunities for meaningful interactions. Both the teacher and the students perceived the positive change in their teaching and learning practices. The innovation could transform a mechanical teaching practice to a more interactive and meaningful learning approach. The results indicate the storytelling innovation as a successful model for introducing change into teaching English in primary schools and contributing to an understanding of the implementation of storytelling, the nature of interactions and learning engagement in EFL contexts.</p>

LEARNING FROM THE PAST: THE USEFULNESS AND CHALLENGES OF ONLINE LEARNING

Recently online learning has been developed widely in Indonesia and most of the education institutions implemented online learning during the covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of online learning is to facilitate communication in the delivery of teaching materials in the field of education that is carried out remotely. It is generally intended for non-face-to-face teaching methods. This study was conducted to investigate the usefulness and the challenges encountered by the teachers in implementing online learning. This study made use of qualitative research design with descriptive analysis and to collect the data semi-structured interviews and online classroom observations were conducted to collect valid and reliable data. This study found that there was the usefulness of online learning which benefits students to improve their competence and also there were a number of challenges encountered by the teachers. Therefore, this study implies that teachers should acknowledge the challenges of online learning to create a better online learning activity.