From Linearity to Rhizomatic Network: Content Organisation in Curriculum Development in Mathematics

Background: The Mathematics curriculum expresses the control and power materialised in the teaching programmes through the presentation and approach of the contents and in the didactic and methodological guidelines. Objective: To explore references that guide the meanings of content organisation in the form of activities in curriculum development. Design: Discussion from the perspective of theoretical study anchored in the qualitative research approach. Settings and participants: Theoretical discussion that did not involve participants as research collaborators. Data collection and analysis: Critical reading and theories of the curriculum field and its implications for the proposals to educate through mathematics, considering curricula as operators of principles and practices. Results: The linear organisation operates the technical curriculum, leading to experiences of control and maintenance of the power that knowledge provides, while the organisation as a rhizomatic network provides the curriculum as a product of social demands, placing mathematics at the service of learning. Conclusions: The contradictions of principles and practices when mathematically educating indicate the relevance of studying and discussing curricula and how to organise the contents to create the conditions for the production of thought and criticism by Mathematics.

Undergraduates’ use of metacognitive strategies in a PBL writing process

This study examines the use of metacognitive strategies in undergraduates’ PBL writing process. The participants of the study are 18 second-year undergraduates in an intact class of Advanced Composition in a university in North-eastern Nigeria. Data for the study were collected through audio and video recordings of the participants’ interactions in the PBL process. The findings of the study showed the PBL allowed the participants to effectively use metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring and evaluation in various ways to achieve their writing goals. For the planning process, the participants made an overall plan of their writing process, generated various ideas, retrieved their rhetorical and linguistic knowledge, and made decisions on what and how to present ideas in their writing. For monitoring, they kept track of the transition of ideas and paragraphs in their writing and identify and remedy problems that affect the writing progress. For evaluation, they evaluated the content, organisation, and language of their writing. The paper makes some recommendations for teachers to assist students in the use of metacognitive strategies which eventually improve their writing skills.

A Problem-based Learning Approach and Its Effects on the Writing Performance of Nigerian Undergraduates

Writing is considered as an important but a difficult language skill for undergraduates. To develop writing skills, undergraduates need to be given the opportunity to interact with and help one another in the writing process. They also need to be supported by teachers in the process. However, most of the traditional teaching methods adopted by writing instructors in Nigeria do not allow students to interact in the learning process. In this light, this study investigates the effects of a problem-based learning approach (PBL) on the writing performance of Nigerian undergraduates. The study employed a pre- and- post-treatment quasi-experimental research design. The participants (n=18) involved in the study were an intact class of second-year students taking English composition course and two tutors in a college in North-eastern Nigeria. The study was conducted over a period of 12 weeks. To determine the effects of PBL on the participants’ writing performance, a rating scale was used to rate the content, organisation, vocabulary, grammar and mechanical accuracy of the pre- and post-treatment writing scripts. A paired-sample t-test analysis was run to compare the mean scores of the undergraduates’ pre- and post-treatment writing. The results showed significant improvements in all the components (content, organisation, vocabulary, language use and mechanics) of the participants’ writing in the post-treatment. The paper concludes with a discussion on the pedagogical and theoretical contributions of the findings. It provides writing instructors with a student-centred approach that would help to develop their students’ writing skills.

The Analysis of English Eduation Abstract at the Islamic Institute of Bengkulu on the Content, Organisation and Language

Theses and journals are several kinds of writing which contain abstract. Thesis is used in educational area, especially in university, as a requirement in completing an academic degree. As one of the most important thesis part is called abstract. The use of abstract is essential in some scientific works, online research, directory, seminar, and call paper. In IAIN Bengkulu, students are obliged to write an abstract as an integral part of their theses. Because of its importance, abstract must be written using the correct form and following the rule of abstracting.This study used descriptive qualitative research. It describes how the students write an abstract based on the rule. As a result, the researcher found some errors on the students’ abstract in terms of organization, content, and language. In addition, the researcher found many grammatical errors. Students also tended to make mistake related to the standard form of abstract. Thus, the researcher knows that most of students’ abstracts still do not follow the rule of composing their abstract.

EVALUASI WEBSITE PEMERINTAH KOTA PRABUMULIH MELALUI PENDEKATAN WEBSITE USABILITY EVALUATION (WEBUSE)

Kemajuan teknologi informasi dan komunikasi berperan penting pada pelaksanaan e- government. Tujuannya adalah agar hubungan-hubungan tata Pemerintahan (governance) yang melibatkan Pemerintah, swasta dan masyarakat dapat tercipta sedemikian rupa sehingga lebih efektif, efisien, produktif dan responsif. Kota Prabumulih merupakan salah satu Daerah Otonom yang ada di Indonesia yang telah mengimplementasikan e-government melalui website, dengan alamat www.prabumulih.go.id. Penelitian ini mengacu pada pendekatan Website Usability Evaluation (WEBUSE) untuk mengevaluasi usability pada website Pemerintah Kota Prabumulih dengan dimensi Content, Organisation and Readibility, Navigation and Link, User Interface Design serta Performance and Effeciveness. Website Usability Evaluation (WEBUSE) berfokus pada pengembangan sistem evaluasi usability berbasis web dengan pendekatan tindakan subyektif yang melibatkan partisipasi dari pengguna untuk memberikan penilaian pada sebuah website. Pengembangan pendekatan Website Usability Evaluation (WEBUSE) sebagai standar pengukuran usability, dengan metode evaluasi kuisioner berbasis web yang memungkinkan pengguna untuk menilai usability dari website yang akan dievaluasi Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui tingkat usability dari website Pemerintah Kota Prabumulih agar Pemerintah Kota Prabumulih dapat memberikan pelayanan yang optimal kepada pengguna.

What is Developing Integrated or Interdisciplinary or Multidisciplinary or Transdisciplinary Education in School?

Interdisciplinarity is a vital topicality in contemporary education and science. In general education of Latvia, the concept ‘integrated learning’ is traditionally used. The question is, if interdisciplinary teaching/learning differs from conventional approaches, or it means something completely new in terms of study content organisation and a pupil’s self-regulated learning. In order to find it out, the article analyses the concept of interdisciplinary teaching/learning in comparison with the integrated learning and identifies their common and distinctive features.