Assistive Technology and Best Practices

The purpose of this chapter is to provide knowledge for classroom teachers on the assistive technology tools that are available for students with learning disabilities. A secondary focus is to identify the best practices commonly used by classroom teachers when teaching students with disabilities. Various technology tools and best practices are discussed. A survey was distributed to elementary and secondary classroom teachers seeking input on the assistive technology tools and best practices used in the classroom. Further discussion of the assistive technology tools and best practices provide content for the practicing teacher to enhance his/her teaching skills when teaching students with learning disabilities.

Hands-On Activities to Keep Students With Disabilities Engaged in K-12 Classrooms

The central aim of this chapter is to identify the best practices in hands-on activities to keep students with disabilities engaged in K-12 classrooms. With diversity being a key component in today's classroom, teachers struggle in devising strategies to keep students with disabilities stay engaged. Improving student's learning by keeping them engaged is vital for our nation's competitiveness. Studies have shown the role of hands-on activities in improving engagement of students with disabilities. This chapter will define student engagement and will highlight some of the causes of student disengagement in classroom, relationship between hands-on activities and student engagement, need of hands-on activities/project-based learning in 21st century classrooms, creative ways to implement hands-on activities, connecting hands-on activities with the real-world situations, creating hands-on activities for students with disabilities in self-contained and inclusion classrooms, and matching students' interest and learning styles when developing hands-on activities.

Theories and Practices Behind Educational Robotics for All

The chapter aims at helping educators and classroom teachers who are new to using educational robotics as a learning tool in their classrooms. It discusses the approaches using robotics as a learning tool - a tool perfectly suited for enabling constructionist learning in the classroom and how educational robotics can provide ‘all' students motivation to learn STEM and computing science concepts. Educational robotics as a learning tool requires teachers as well as students to shift from traditional pedagogical approaches to learner-centered active learning approaches. The chapter discusses how the shift can be made in successful ways and provides guidance to pre- and in-service teachers on how to implement educational robotics as a learning tool to reach and attract ‘all' students to promote their learning.

The Level of 7- and 8-Years Old Children Understanding of the Place Value Concept

Place value concept that learns especially in primary school ages is also the basis of many issues students will encounter throughout their learning lives. This research aims to developmentally determine understanding of the place value concept in early childhood. The model of research is a case study from qualitative research methods. The study group consists of 171 children (84 at the age of 7 and 87 at the age of 8) who study in three different public schools in January, in the 2020-2021 academic year in Ankara, Turkey, selected by criteria sampling from purposeful sampling methods. As a data collection tool, “place value worksheets” consisting of 25 questions developed by researchers were used. Data was collected online by classroom teachers through “EBA”. The content analysis method was used in the analysis of the data. Looking at the research results, it was observed that children gave meaning to the place value concept in seven categories. It was seen that seven years olds reached the lowest correct answer rate in the code "the ability to express the number whose resolution is given in terms of ones" in the category of "the ability to resolve". It was concluded that "the ability to write numbers between two numbers" code in "the ability to compare" category has the lowest correct response rate for eight years old children. Lower levels of seven years old student's understanding of the place value concept suggest that students' readiness levels are not sufficient at this age.

The cognitive structure of the word-formation system and methodological issues of teaching of the Kazakh language

Human beings understand and interpret what is happening around them in their mother tongue. It is a fact that in recent years, language teaching has been given importance as a communication tool. Each language carries out the processes of understanding and explaining, consisting of its own specific structures and rules. In terms of the basic language skills involved in these two processes, the behaviours and methods of language learners and teachers who will ensure that they can use their mother tongue correctly are very important. The historical development of multilingualism in Kazakhstan consists of several stages. Multilingualism has brought with it problems in Kazakh teaching in Kazakhstan. For this purpose, it is important to determine the opinions of classroom teachers about teaching the Kazakh language in terms of word structure, the suitability of the contents of the textbooks, and the qualifications of teachers in language teaching. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with 19 classroom teachers working in Kazakhstan. In this study, the findings obtained using the qualitative research method were analysed in detail. It has been concluded that there are points where the contents of the textbooks are not suitable for the classroom teachers, the methods and techniques they use in language teaching are insufficient and these inadequacies cause problems. Keywords: Kazakh, language teaching, method and technique, language, speaking

Religious Instruction for Students with Autism in an Inclusive Primary School

This study describes religious instruction for students with autism conveyed by classroom teachers, Islamic Education teachers, shadow teachers, and parents through a mentoring program in school and family environments. This qualitative phenomenological study was carried out in an inclusive primary school in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. Five students with autism and their parents, five classroom teachers, five shadow teachers, and three Islamic Education teachers were involved in this study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, documentation, and focus group discussions (FGDs). They were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and an interactive approach. This study reveals that optimal outcomes of religious instruction entail collaboration among Islamic Education teachers, classroom teachers, shadow teachers, and parents with the assistance of psychologists, counsellors, therapists, pedagogues, and school policies. Such collaboration is particularly required in the implementation of an adaptive curriculum, lesson plans, learning implementation, evaluation, mentoring and the habituation of worship. The modification of learning methods, media, and evaluation is also required.

Metaphorical Perceptions of Teachers Regarding the Concept of "Teaching Profession" (A Weighted Study)

Today, the perceptions of individuals who are performing the teaching profession are very important. The purpose of this research is; to investigate the metaphorical perceptions that teachers have regarding the concept of the teaching profession and to compare the metaphorical perceptions of classroom teachers and branch teachers. The research is a qualitative study and the data are examined by content analysis. As a data collection tool, 60 teachers were told to "Teaching profession...... it's like. Because......" they were asked 3 times to complete the sentence. According to the results of the study; the number of metaphors produced by teachers is 155 and all are valid. The created metaphors are collected in 5 different categories. It was observed that the classroom teachers and branch teachers who participated in the study produced metaphors mostly in the category of "Expressions Related to An Object." Teachers in the study group perceive the teaching profession most with the metaphors of "parenting, motherhood and candles." According to the findings of the study; When comparing metaphorical perceptions of classroom teachers and branch teachers in all categories, it was determined that classroom teachers produced more metaphors than branch teachers, while branch teachers could not produce little or no metaphors.