Slovenian Primary School Teachers' Opinion on Interdisciplinary Approach Between Fine Art and Science Education

<p style="text-align: justify;">In this article we present research on Slovenian primary school teachers' opinion about the interdisciplinary approach between fine art and science education. With the help of questionnaires, interviews, and analysis of lesson plans, we determined how primary school teachers use this type of interdisciplinary approach, how often and what their views are. We included 138 primary school teachers from every region in Slovenia. It turned out that primary school teachers in Slovenia use an interdisciplinary approach between fine art and science teaching quite often and consider it useful to achieve different aspects of pupils' development. The study revealed that most teachers find it difficult to consider the educational goals of both fields (fine art, science). They often use the connection between the subjects only on an associative level - they only mention the teaching content of one subject quickly and carelessly, without making meaningful connections and without achieving the goals of both subjects. Content taught in this way cannot be considered a cross-curricular approach in the subject sense.</p>

Establishing the Validity and Reliability of the Malaysian English Language Textbook Evaluation Checklist (MELTEC) Using Rasch Measurement Model (RRM)

A textbook is an important teaching and learning material. Evaluating a textbook is essential to ensure educational goals are met. In the present study, the Malaysian English Language Textbook Evaluation Checklist (MELTEC) is developed for the purpose of materials adaptation. The lack of validity and reliability of previous textbook evaluation checklists reported by researchers in the field of ELT textbook evaluation has resulted in the need to establish the validity and reliability of the checklist developed in this study using the Rasch Measurement Model (RRM). One hundred and ten ESL secondary school teachers from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had participated in this study. Rasch analysis was used to examine the item fit, polarity, reliability, separation index, and unidimensionality of the checklist. As a result, the finalised version of MELTEC comprises of 78 items. A total of 63 items were dropped as these items were not deemed to be suitable. The analysis performed using Rasch Measurement Model proved that the checklist has high validity and reliability. The checklist is found to be suitable to evaluate ELT secondary school textbooks in Malaysia. On that account, future researchers can consider using Rasch Measurement Model to establish the validity and reliability of the instruments developed to ensure their integrity and quality.

Implementation of Games in Primary School Social Studies Lessons

This chapter presents the implementation of games in teaching social studies in primary schools. In Slovenia, social studies lessons combine educational goals from the fields of geography, sociology, history, ethnology, psychology, economy, politics, ethics, and ecology with the national curriculum based on the constructivist approach. Game-based learning enables an optimal learning environment for students. This chapter researches games in social studies. Results show teachers rarely use didactic games in social studies and that games are most commonly used at the beginning of lessons to achieve greater motivation and concentration of students and for more diversified classes. Most respondents' students like game-based learning in social studies and also estimate that games are not played often enough.

Strengthening the coding skills of teachers in a low dropout Python MOOC

In this paper, we present a structured approach to developing an outreach program aimed at improving the coding abilities of pre- and in-service teachers. The paper presents the design and development decisions made using the ADDIE model. External evaluators assessed the material's quality, confirmed the estimated workload, and examined the material's relevance to the educational goals. Learners’ active participation was encouraged through multiple quizzes, and learners were assisted in their learning activities by means of practical examples. Based on the number of people who actually logged into the course, a completion rate of 70.84 percent is achieved. The paper presents and discusses the findings of an evaluation conducted with the assistance of experienced teachers and course participants.

Redefining Higher Education Through Competency-Based Education and Flexible Course Schedules

COVID has impacted the world in so many ways that life may never be “normal” again. What has come out of the pandemic is a trajectory of how we view the workplace and the classroom. With a growing number of people out of work due to the pandemic, many are turning to education to help get a job and improve their skill set. With a growing number of adult learners, higher education must be re-defined and re-evaluated. Even before the pandemic, competency-based education offered the nontraditional student the flexibility of time, pace, and cost to aid in their educational goals. Through this research, higher education is redefined to look at college degrees with a student-focus as opposed to the traditional institutional-focus, specifically in terms of course flexibility, cost savings, and pace.

Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

The structure of American public schools has altered within the past 30 years due to receiving extensive number of linguistically diverse students. The fact that culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students often experience academic failure within the U.S. public schools creates a subgroup of students who cannot achieve their educational goals. The purpose of this study is to explore ideal practices in order to enhance teachers' and policy makers' perceptions and awareness on the unique needs of CALD students. The findings of this study reveal the fact that ineffective methods for teaching CALD students and short-term goal-oriented educational policies fall short of meeting the academic needs of CALD students, and this research offers a conceptual framework that could contribute to CALD students' intellectual growth through effective and constructive language learning practices.

Use of Humanoid Robots for Students With Intellectual Disabilities

In parallel with the significant developments in robotics, humanoid robots have become popular recently. It is known that when humanoid robots are used for educational goals, students become more interested in learning activities, develop better situation awareness through exercises and physical activities, and learn more effectively. Therefore, humanoid robots will possibly play a key role in education in the future. Since humanoid robots have enhanced social skills, are able to repeat a particular sequence many times, and provide real-time feedback, they can improve the engagement of students with intellectual disabilities and may find significant acceptance in specific target groups, such as students with autism spectrum disorder. In this chapter, the authors investigate the use of humanoid robots for students with intellectual disabilities and review existing approaches in this domain. In addition, limitations and challenges to the use of humanoid robots for educational goals are discussed. Finally, the authors investigate research challenges in this domain and state future research directions.