Exploration of Student-Centered Teaching Methods: Physics Curriculum Implementation Perspectives

Teaching methods are primary elements of curriculum. National curriculum provides for student-centered teaching methods including for the subject of physics. Focusing on the importance of teaching methods, the current quantitative study was planned to explore student-centered teaching methods used for physics curriculum implementation. The sample of the study comprised 2,880 science students selected through multistage sampling technique. Self-constructed questionnaire having 4-factors; small group discussion, project work, inquiry teaching and debate were used to collect the data from the respondents. The questionnaire was validated from the experts and pilot tested to ensure Cronbach’s Alpha reliability statistics; .823. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test. Results declared that teachers were making 56% use of student-centered teaching methods. Furthermore, urban secondary schools’ teachers were making more use of student-centered teaching as compared to rural secondary schools’ teachers for curriculum implementation. Based on the results, it is recommended that physics teachers should be provided training in student-centered teaching methods for effective curriculum implementation.

The Belt and Road Initiative: Analysis of Twitter Communication During Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as One Belt, One Road (OBOR), was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping. BRI opens “gateway to opportunities” and establishes a new grand geopolitical strategy for regional development, international economic cooperation and new world order. To foster BRI, China hosted the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) in Beijing on 25-27 April 2019. New media tools including dedicated web pages and social media sources were utilised to promote the BRF 2019. Particularly, Twitter was used by government and media organizations to promote and share the proceedings of the event. Topics related to Belt and Road Initiative were trending on social media resulting in a wide reach and engagement. A large number of pertinent tweets appeared with trending hashtags such as #brf2019, #BeltandRoad and #BRI. Major contribution to this tweet activity came from politicians, government officials and media groups. This study analyses the trending hashtags #brf2019 and #BeltandRoad (N=20,727) on Twitter on the occasion of second BRF 2019 to understand the patterns of Twitter data. Specifically, this study attempts (1) to investigate how Twitter was used by media groups to promote the second Belt and Road Forum; (2) to identify top influencers to promote the second Belt and Road Forum; (3) to analyse overall sentiment towards the second Belt and Road Forum. The study follows mixed method for Social Media performance data by combining qualitative content analysis and sentimental analysis of tweets. All the tweets collected were publicly posted and were tracked using Twitter streaming API and Python programming language. For analysis, parameters such as; users, reach, impression, engagement, type of tweet, trending topics, source of tweets and main themes were analysed.

Comparative analysis of editorial pages of Dawn and Jang to investigate the framing of US-Pakistan relations: Ten years before and after 9/11

This study is based on the comparative analysis of the editorial pages of Dawn and Jang to explore the framing of US-Pakistan relations ten years before and after 9/11. The time period selected for this study is presented in phases: Phase A from 1990 to 2000) and Phase B (from 2001-2011). The relation between Pakistan and the US during the above-mentioned phases can be categorized into periods of engagements (where Pakistan enjoyed the status of the most trusted ally without compromising its regional interest) and periods of disengagements (where Pakistan faced US sanctions and was left alone to deal with the aftermath of the Afghan war and the war on terrorism). Hence, the understudied period provides an interesting insight into how Dawn and Jang framed the issue of US-Pakistan relations on their editorial pages.

Changing Character of Political Islam in Pakistan

Pakistan's confessional parties are re-inventing themselves. The Parties that are carrying a legacy from the time before partition are struggling to keep themselves relevant in mainstream political discourse. Pakistan's political landscape is changing because of the rise of Tehreek-i-Insaf, a progressive center-right political party that has altered the electioneering environment in Pakistan. Two main confessional parties Jamaat Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulma e Islam Fazal Ur Rehman (JUI-F) are trying to develop an inclusive and pluralist political agenda. JI is a hierarchical Islamic party whereas JUI-F is a network Islamic party. Political Islam is in the process of shrinking in Pakistan because of the rise of political alternatives and outdatedness of the political and electoral discourse of confessional parties. Political Islam in Pakistan is changing by improving its ideological, political, and organizational structure in relation to its contemporary rivals. Changes in political Islam are not because of intellectual diversity and growth within confessional parties but to manage and compete for the rise of competing domestic political perspectives. Transnational connections with like-minded Islamist groups have scaled-down as the like-minded religio-ideological partners are termed as extremists and terrorists.

Head’s Leadership Styles and Effectiveness of School Teams: Exploring the Role of Motivational Mechanisms

The literature reveals that participative leadership style (PLS) is overwhelmingly advantageous over the contrasting directive leadership style (DLS). Therefore, the key objective of this study was to find out the relative effect of a PL style as compared to a DL style on the motivational mechanism (organizational commitment and empowerment) and effectiveness (innovation and in-role performance) of school staff teams. However, the mediating role of motivational mechanism in the relationship between school heads’ leadership styles and effectiveness of school staff teams had also been studied. The data were collected through a questionnaire based cross-sectional survey. The data were collected from the 402 teachers working in 80 academic teams. The SEM results revealed that DLS was significantly related to teams’ in-role performance and organizational commitment. While, PLS was significantly related to in-role performance, team’s innovation, organizational commitment and personal empowerment. Teachers’ personal empowerment partially mediated the relationship between heads’ PLS and team innovation. But, organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between heads’ PLS and teams’ in-role performance. However, organizational commitment partially mediated the relationship between heads’ DLS and teams’ in-role performance. It is suggested that heads might concurrently combine participative and directive leadership behaviors to make their school teams more effective.

Curtailing Job Insecurity and Counterproductive Work Behaviours as Bullying Effects in Pakistani Academia: Work Engagement as a Moderator

Judging from persistent changes, drive for performance and widespread uncertainty that characterize the Pakistani higher education system, this study sought to confirm whether workplace bullying – a by-product of relentless change – triggers job insecurity and counterproductive work behaviours in the bullied faculty, and whether these damaging outcomes are moderated by work engagement. Using convenience sampling, we sought data from 337 faculty members from the higher education sector. Analysis confirmed that bullying triggers job insecurity and counterproductive work behaviours while mixed findings emerged for the hypothesized moderation effects of work engagement. The study mainly stresses infusing work engagement within a work environment where bullying prevails. Managers may design jobs to augment engagement in a pressurized work environment with an aim to curtail job insecurity and counterproductive work behaviours for sustained performance in a changing work environment.

Extraction of Key Motifs as a Preview from 2017 Nobel Prize Winning Novel, ‘Never Let Me Go’

Word clouds manifest interactive visuals along with their statistical data. Thus knowledge discovery and aesthetic data visualization interlink to produce interactive word cloud which is an interesting, textual, statistical and visual data. This study aims to generate interactive word cloud—Cirrus—on the basis of statistical data to preview text of the novel for readers. So cirrus tool is selected from Voyant open access tools to produce interactive statistical word cloud. Then the generated word cloud and statistical data are analyzed with mixed method and its analysis draws insight from Rakesh Aggrawal’s Knowledge Discovery Theory which seeks innovative and interesting knowledge patterns. This thematic word cloud verifies already known themes and discovers innovative interesting themes. Current study reveals that all mentioned key themes can be easily extracted from a voluminous novel with the help of Cirrus tool. Key motifs have been presented in the word cloud for the readers. On the other hand, unwritten themes can’t be extracted through machine learning tools, rather it is the task of human cognition. Primarily, this novel based study reveals names of chief characters, for instance “Tommy (496),” “Ruth (455)” and “I (Kathy) (355).” Furthermore, motifs of nostalgic memories with word “remember (143),” “thought (126)” about “Hailsham (203),” “carer (74),” “sex (80),” sex “lectures (8)” have been discovered as a preview. Previewing technique prepares reader’s mind and gives an epigrammatic digital view of the text. The visual themes as knowledgeable word cloud leave an indelible mark on the slate of memory.

Micro Corporate Social Responsibility: A Person-Centric Approach for Meeting the Grand Challenges

The objective of this study was to investigate the role of perceived CSR with emphasis on employees’ attitude and behavior on employee level, a neglected area in research. The literature review suggests that Internal CSR as an ethical behavior of human resource management can help to overcome the grand human and societal challenges of organizations. In this regard, the primary data was collected from Telecom sector and was evaluated through Structural Equation Modeling with the help of AMOS. In the light of observed literature gap, a perceived model having Internal CSR (PICSR) as independent and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) as dependent variable were observed. Moreover, the two parallel mediations were hypothesized through Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and Perceived External Prestige (PEP) in the light of social exchange and social identity theories. The results of hypothesis were found significant. The study intends to contribute to understand the role of micro foundation of CSR and has implications for organizations to meet grand human and societal challenges of organizations in developing countries like Pakistan in South Asia.