Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge, Perspectives and Practices in Stem Education: An Interview Study

Early STEM education has a great potential to support children’s development in constructing their own knowledge, in designing, discussing and testing ideas and finding solutions to different problems. Significant role in achieving the goals of STEM education is played by the teacher, who scaffolds the learning process, builds a creative learning environment, provokes children with open questions and guides them to test their hypothesis as young scientists, mathematicians, engineers and technology users. Preschool teachers’ knowledge and perspectives could seriously influence their practices in STEM education and respectively, the fulfilment of STEM learning outcomes. It is very important to explore in depth teachers’ views and experiences thus to plan and provide appropriate courses for their academic preparation or continuous professional development. While reviewing some popular misconceptions for STEM education amongst teachers, this paper presents the results of pre- and post-interviews conducted with teachers from Bulgaria in the framework of the European multilateral Erasmus+ project №2018-1-TR01-KA203-059568 “STEM for Pre-schoolers and Their Families” (PARENTSTEM) (2018–2021). The overall goal of this project was to increase family involvement in the STEM education process of early childhood children specifically coming from low socio-economic status. As a part of this goal implementation, the project aimed to extend conceptual and pedagogical knowledge of early childhood teachers on STEM. In the frame of the project the preschool teachers-participants in the study were provided with three teacher trainings (two international and one national) and were additionally supported with the intellectual outputs of the project. This paper attempted to identify teachers’ preliminary knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards STEM conceptualization and pedagogy and to describe the relative influence of the project teacher trainings and activities on them. The results of the research unambiguously demonstrated the need for training of preschool teachers in terms of STEM education, outlining the main focuses to be considered when constructing STEM courses intended for preschool teachers.

Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills in an Online Graduate Degree in Youth Development Leadership

As the youth development field has grown, there has been an increased focus on building academic preparation programs in youth development that prepare leaders and staff in youth-serving organizations. Very few degree programs exist in preparing youth leaders. Even fewer, if any, evaluations have been conducted on the potential outcomes and benefits of graduate degree programs on alumni who serve in leadership positions in youth organizations. This study presents findings from a survey of graduates of a master’s level youth development leadership (YDL) degree program. The findings focus on graduates’ perceptions of the outcomes linked to attaining a degree from such a program and associated competencies and opportunities in the field of youth development. Questionnaires were distributed to YDL alumni (2007-2018) requesting their perspectives on professional benefits and opportunities associated with degree completion. Respondents reported a statistically significant increase (reaching medium to large effect sizes) in relevant competencies targeted in each course. Additionally, respondents noted opportunities in salary increases, promotions, and more challenging responsibilities because of completion of the YDL program; rated their level of application of learning to new professional skills applied to their professional positions highly; and identified products created in their professional positions directly related to their academic preparation. A discussion of the value of youth development degree programs is provided.

Alternative Pathways: The Use Of Field-Specific Micro-Credentials in Aging Services

The rise of formal academic programs in gerontology at colleges and universities has been well documented over the last fifty years. Organizations such as AGHE and AGEC have been established to provide guidance, foster consistency, and advance formal gerontology education programs. Broadly, the purpose of these programs has been to develop a pipeline of trained gerontologists for the aging services workforce. What has been less documented is the rise of alternative pathways to gerontology and gerontological competence, including micro-credentialing. Micro-credentials are intended to provide quick-to-complete competency-based education around specific topics to demonstrate relevant skills to employers. To date, little is known about the prevalence of micro-credentialing in gerontology. Still, it may be that micro-credentials are sought in place of formal academic preparation due to their reduced cost, ease of completion, recognizability, and opportunity to quickly train employees in specific skills. To address this gap, we conducted a review of existing gerontological micro-credentialing opportunities. We identified a total of 51 micro-credentials with an explicit aging-focus and searched for associated competencies for these micro-credentials. In this poster, we describe findings on the emphases of micro-credentials, including dementia and care coordination, and review the programs' scope and nature of competencies. We argue that micro-credentialing can offer value for employees unable or unwilling to pursue formal academic training but should be differentiated from such training. Moving forward, it is critical to ensure alignment between gerontological micro-credentials and established gerontological competencies and standards and to differentiate micro-credentials from formal academic programs.

The Art of Becoming Indispensable

Despite their academic preparation and lived experiences, new school social workers face a learning curve when moving from entry-level practice to proficiency. The Art of Being Indispensable: What School Social Workers Need to Know in Their First Three Years of Practice is the first book focusing specifically on the needs of new school social workers as they transition to this complex role. Each of the book’s 20 chapters features an academic scholar and at least one school social work practitioner; overall, there are 18 academics and 42 practitioners from 28 different states. The diversity of the authors’ experiences, representing all variations of schools and districts, ensures that the content is applicable to a variety of practice contexts. Each chapter addresses the challenges of a public health pandemic and the impact of racial injustice. There is a timeless quality to this text since every year, new school social workers are being hired, whether from master of social work and bachelor of social work programs or from the ranks of professional social workers changing fields and becoming school social workers. This indispensable guide will help new school social workers to effectively execute their roles and responsibilities.

The Impact of High School Program Reform on First-Year University Students’ Academic Performance. Case Study: Biology

The student transition from high school to university is a complex process in which various factors operate. One of these factors is the degree of the students’ academic preparation in certain subjects. This article analyzes the impact of this factor on the students’ success in the first year of university studies, in the conditions when the subject program in high school has been reformed. This impact on the students’ success, which is expressed both in the degree of academic preparation and in the students’ attitude in the relevant subject, has been assessed employing statistical analysis. The analysis covers a period of 3 years (2017-2020), and is based on a sample of first year students of the Bachelor degree in Biology. The results of the questionnaire, conducted with first year university students, show the impact of their high school academic preparation on the success they have in the first year of university. This success is measured by assessing the change in average grade and their pass rates. Evidence of the impact of this factor in teaching has helped to know in detail these intermediate phases of this process. The built model makes it possible to analyze the impact of the high school curriculum reform on the students’ success, creating the opportunity for further improvements. Despite the fact that the object of the study is the Biology curriculum and the evaluation of the impact in academic success of students who graduated from high schools where a competence based curriculum was implemented, this methodology can be used for the study in other subjects, especially life sciences.

The Relevance of Academic Performance in Career Development According to the Big Five Model

A purely theoretical analysis reveals the existence of a direct relationship between academic performance and work performance. It is also expected that individuals who have registered during academic performance will develop a career in their field of academic preparation. A research of the students' academic performance contributes to the identification of the relevant factors of the academic performance with an impact on the work performance. The fundamental idea is that the performance of individuals is determined by their personality, characterized by the big five model. Known to be a positive personality ensures both academic performance and work performance and career success.

Measuring the level of e-learning skills among Arabic language teachers for the preparatory stage

The aim of the research is to identify the level of e-learning skills of Arabic language teachers in Baghdad (Zayona sector, as the main research sample included 30 teachers of both genders , and the researcher’s questionnaire, which consisted of 26 skills, is applied).and included a performance scale consist of three alternatives ( very available , available, slightly available ).After verifying its validity and reliability , the researcher applied it to the general sample of the research I found that only the first and second paragraphs represented the skills available to the research sample, where the specified cut-off degree exceeded (2), and the rest of the paragraphs are all not available to the research sample, as they did not exceed the specific cut-off degree and their value ranged between the third rank. Represented by the fifth paragraph with a weighted mean (1.96) and a weighted percentage (2.52) and between the last rank (the fifteenth rank) with a weighted mean (1.43) and a weighted percentage (1.83) and the remaining paragraphs ranged between them, each according to their arrangement according to what was mentioned in Table (3) The research attributed the emergence of these results to the poor readiness of the educational institution in Iraq to face emergencies and poor planning. The reason may be due to the poor academic preparation of Arabic language teachers. In mastering the use of modern technologies and e-learning requirements, the researcher recommended the need to prepare future strategies and plans to face the crises facing education in the future.

Predictors of College Enrollment across the Life Course: Heterogeneity by Age and Gender

Undergraduate college-going is now undertaken well into adulthood, but knowledge about what leads individuals to enroll derives nearly entirely from the study of the “traditionally-aged”. I examine whether and how predictors of enrollment vary as individuals progress through the life-course using nationally representative data from the United States, following a cohort from ages 18–45. Measures of social background and academic preparation are only weakly predictive beyond age 24, while the effects of gender are largest after age 35. Marriage appears to be a barrier to enrollment among males and females, but only until age 25. Involuntary job loss spurs college-going most strongly among those aged 35 or older, and particularly among women. Among those over age 25, marital dissolution predicts enrollment positively among females but negatively among males.

Persistence of Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Fields: Are Summer Bridge Programs Sufficient?

Disparities in undergraduate STEM degree completion across different racial/ethnic groups have been a topic of increasing national concern. This study investigates the long-term outcomes of a STEM intervention program designed to increase the academic preparation, achievement and persistence of under-represented minority students.In particular, this study examines the extent to which participation in a STEM intervention program can impact the long-term persistence and graduation of first-time in college under-represented minority students. Using discrete-time competing risks analysis, results demonstrated that participants of the intervention program had a lower probability of drop out and higher probability of persisting in a STEM field of study compared to non-participants of the program. Additionally, descriptive results demonstrated that participants of the STEM intervention program had higher rates of graduation in any field compared to non-participants of the program, while program participation was not a significant predictor of six-year graduation. Findings highlight the importance of early academic preparation in Calculus and total credit accumulation to student success outcomes of URM students enrolled in STEM fields. Recommendations from this study focus on early intervention efforts, particularly in the areas of mathematics, that ensure URM students are adequately prepared with the skills needed to succeed in a STEM field of study.

STEM Pathways of Rural and Small-Town Students: Opportunities to Learn, Aspirations, Preparation, and College Enrollment

Using the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), this study documents that rural and small-town students were significantly less likely to enroll in postsecondary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree programs, compared with their suburban peers. This study also shows that schools attended by rural and small-town students offered limited access to advanced coursework and extracurricular programs in STEM and had lower STEM teaching capacity. Those opportunities to learn in STEM were linked to the widening geographic gaps in STEM academic preparation. Overall, our findings suggest that during high school rural and small-town students shifted away from STEM fields and that geographic disparities in postsecondary STEM participation were largely explained by students’ demographics and precollege STEM career aspirations and academic preparation.