Analysis of Critical Thinking Dispositions Regarding Teachers’ Schematic Representation of Resource Systems

Studies in recent years have focused heavily on teacher practice and analyzing textbooks and their contents. The schematic representation of the resource system can be used to analyze the composition of teachers’ creation of the document. It is also thought to be an effective process for revealing their critical thinking dispositions. This study aims to determine whether teacher candidates reflect critical thinking dispositions to their schematic representation of the resource systems. The case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in this study. The research was conducted with 26 third-year students from the mathematics department in the faculty of education. In this study, it has been revealed that teacher candidates reflect the resources and critical thinking dispositions they preferred in their schematic representations of resource systems. The five themes “truth-seeking”, “open-minded”, “analytic”, “systematic” and “self-confidence” were found in the schematic presentation of mathematics teacher candidates’ critical thinking dispositions. Also, it was noted that mathematics teacher candidates were more oriented towards digital resources, especially internet resources. As a result, this study showed the resources that affect the professional development of teacher candidates and the relationships between these resources and their critical thinking orientations by the schematic representation of the resource system.

Evaluating the Potential of a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Approach toward the Sustainable Development of Bangladesh

In pursuit of continuous economic development, Bangladesh has undertaken long-term plans to boost its productivity in the agriculture, energy, and industrial sectors and to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unless these strong interconnections and cross sectoral impacts are recognized, achievement of the future policy goals and national priorities of the concerned ministries regarding food self-sufficiency, cleaner energy sources, and water availability will be compromised. This study focuses on evaluating the impacts of cross-sectoral policy decisions on the interconnected resource systems at a national scale in Bangladesh. A quantitative analysis is performed to identify resource requirements, synergies, and trade-offs related to a set of future strategies. The analysis concludes by showing that land is the most limiting resource for future expansion and that fresh water will become a critical resource if alternative sources of water are not explored, and, that energy generation, if coal and other fossil fuels are favored over alternative energy sources, will significantly add to the total carbon emissions. Given the limitations of land available for agricultural expansion, of renewable water resources, and the challenges in meeting increasing water, energy, and food demands, the strong interdependencies among the interconnected resource systems must be accounted for. The SDG and national priority indicators are found to improve under scenarios for which resources are conserved via alternative sources.