Integrating Video-Based Multimedia in Teaching Physics in Context of Covid-19 in Rwandan Secondary Schools

The Covid-19 pandemic has paralyzed the education system and lead to temporary school closure. After school re-opening, long-term responses to a resilient education system were needed. A descriptive survey research design was used to diagnose the barriers to video-based multimedia integration in teaching and learning physics in certain secondary schools. 47 physics teachers (35 males and 12 females) were purposely selected from 24 schools located in the Rutsiro and Rubavu districts. A questionnaire was given to all 47 teachers. One-on-one interview with great attention to the measures of reducing the transmission of Covid-19 was conducted to all senior five physics teachers. Research findings revealed that video-based multimedia is less used in teaching and learning physics. Teachers indicated that poor infrastructure, poor teachers’ training aimed at effective integration of multimedia in education, pressure to prepare students for exams, and teachers’ lack of time for preparation are major factors that impede the use of video-based multimedia in teaching and learning physics. Results also provided proof of the necessity to provide digital devices to teachers and learners, teachers’ training, and learners’ preparation for virtual classes so that video-based multimedia could be a better instructional strategy to long-term responses for Covid-19 and future shocks. The findings of this study revealed that VBM could be a consensus on education and technology competency required to support teaching and learning especially during Covid-19 and future shocks.

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.

Instructional Leadership Capacity of Secondary School Science Heads of Department in Gauteng, South Africa

Natural sciences (NS) is an amalgam of five science disciplines, but the teachers of this subject are usually generalists, or have specialised in a maximum of two of the disciplines. This poses a major challenge to heads of department (HoDs), who are expected to lead instruction in these disciplines. We investigate science HoDs’ capacity to provide instructional leadership in South African secondary schools. The study was quantitative in nature and adopted the survey design. The investigation involved 77 secondary schools out of the 243 schools in the Gauteng province of South Africa. A data set from 142 participants (HoDs = 30; teachers = 112) was used to explore the capacity of science HoDs to provide instructional leadership in secondary schools, using questionnaires. The findings suggest that the capacity of science HoDs to lead instruction is limited by their inability to differentiate between curriculum management and instructional leadership and the relatively insufficient time allocated to provide instructional leadership. Unless schools and local district offices review the grouping of subjects in science departments and in the allocation of natural science teachers and HoDs, much stronger subject-based instructional leadership may potentially continue to remain a mirage. We recommend more focused subject-specific training in natural sciences for both teachers and HoDs, and that leadership should be distributed along science disciplines.

Learning Potentials of Job Shadowing in Teacher Education

This article dealt with the topic of practical training of students in teacher training programmes. Workplace learning represents an important contact between students and the world of work and can have several positive effects. In the text, we presented job shadowing as a possible learning activity that can complement other forms of practical training. The aim of the study was to identify the learning potential of this activity and how it should be structured to achieve this potential. Data were collected from 19 participants, and the qualitative analysis of the text (students' reflections) showed that students gain valuable experience through job shadowing, which helps them to overcome their fears and enables them to enter the workplace with more confidence. In addition to the results of the analysis, the text also provides practical guidance on how the activity should be planned so that students can learn through it.

Factors Affecting Secondary School Students’ Academic Achievements in Chemistry

Secondary school students continue to consider chemistry as difficult to learn and develop a negative attitude towards it. This leads to low achievement in the subject and reduces their interest. Studies on students' achievement in chemistry have been conducted and different instructional strategies of teaching and learning have been provided. Nonetheless, there are persisting misconceptions and factors that hinder the achievement of students, even after the implementation of suggested strategies. By applying innovative teaching approaches as remedial to teaching and learning barriers, students' achievement may be improved; and the retention of the learned material may be enhanced. In this study, we conducted a literature search to collect any related literature. Sixty-one studies were obtained; some of them were not related to our investigation; and those which did not answer the research question were excluded, we remained with 13 studies. The selection of studies was based on year of publication, and language. These studies were published in English and between 2011 and 2021. Consequently, this review highlights the influence of teaching methods on students' achievements, updating teachers on the factors affecting students' achievements in Chemistry, misconceptions in chemistry instruction, and ways for remedying those misconceptions, as well as methods for improving students’ academic achievements.

Theoretical Models of Integration of Interactive Learning Technologies into Teaching: A Systematic Literature Review

With the fast progress of technology and the vast amount of research papers related to technology integration in education being published yearly, a study that reviews models used in these papers is needed. Therefore, this paper (1) reviewed and analysed theoretical frameworks with models used for integration of technology in classrooms, (2) reviewed studies that discussed the impact of technology integration on students’ learning capabilities, and (3) discussed the importance of preparing teachers to effectively integrate technology in teaching. The models reviewed were: Teacher Thoughts and Action Process (TTAP), Theory of Planned Behavior, Expectancy-Value Theory of Achievement Motivation (EVAM), Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR), Technology Acceptance (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK).

Harnessing the Power of Reflective Journal Writing in Global Contexts: A Systematic Literature Review

writing that has significant impacts on student writers worldwide and identify the qualities of reflective journal writing that foster transformative practices involving personal, relational, and intellectual activities. This systematic literature review incorporated important theoretical frameworks into acceptable convictions. A thorough analysis of 20 recently published research articles (out of 450) from 2016 to 2021 aimed to present written arguments that support thesis positions and credible evidence, as well as determine the global contexts of writing practices. The findings showed that reflective journal writing reinforced a profound transformation to further explore self-discovery, self-inquiry, and critical ideas. It is also concerned with writing performance, as well as the advancement of cognitive and metacognitive writing skills. Reflective journal writers' voices empowered significant changes in a variety of writing aspects, including personal idea exploration, creativity, self-organization, and professional practice development. These findings have implications for encouraging critical reflection, self-expression, and critical thinking among students. They should write reflective journals that can have an impact on a global community and allow them to bring about transformations.

Students’ Perceptions of Content- and Language- Integrated Learning in Vietnam: A Survey Study

Content- and language-integrated learning (CLIL), an educational approach, in which the subject matter is taught in a foreign language. This has become popular in tertiary education. Many research studies have shown its benefits and discussed the favorable effects, especially with respect to L2 language gains. Yet, critical voices, also from the primary stakeholders, namely the students taking part in such integrated programs, have also been heard. In an effort to integrate into the international academic and scientific community, universities in Vietnam have also started to teach academic courses in English. The main objective of this cross-sectional survey study (N=104) was to explore Vietnamese students’ perceptions of such dual-training programs and to investigate to what extent they feel the program currently meets their needs. Our findings show that both lecturers and students are struggling in these courses, for one thing, because of insufficient levels of mastery of the English language; while for another reason, since courses cannot be characterized as courses in which disciplinary contents and the foreign language are taught in an integrated way. The way forward seems to be to educate the lecturers and the students well, before allowing them to participate in CLIL English courses. All these issues need to be considered in the context of local Vietnamese educational realities and traditions.

An Examination of the Correlation between South African Grade 12 students’ Mathematics Self-Concept and their Academic Achievement

This study measured the correlation between mathematics self-concept and academic achievement of students at four schools in Vhembe District, South Africa. The study targeted Grade 12 candidates for the South African National Senior Certificate (matric). A sample of 236 respondents – 112 boys and 124 girls – was selected from four schools using purposive and stratified random sampling. Two schools were in a rural area and two in an urban area. A questionnaire that included items from the Academic Self-Concept Questionnaire, and document analysis, were used to measure mathematics self-concept and academic achievement. Each respondent's mathematics achievement score was determined by averaging their mathematics scores over three consecutive terms. The multiple linear regression model and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. The results of the study show that mathematics self-concept positively and significantly predicted academic achievement. Based on findings, the study makes recommendations for effective methods that teachers and other stakeholders can employ to increase students’ mathematics self-concept and boost students’ academic achievement.

Resetting Integrity Through Communication on Plagiarism: University Classrooms Weaving Values into the Social Fabric

Academic dishonesty manifested in the proliferating acts of plagiarism can be eradicated by returning to value teaching. In a study involving 37 first-year students in one academic year, a single-group quasi-experimental procedure with mixed qualitative and quantitative analyses of students’ assignments was performed. The procedure involved diagnosing plagiarism by strategic manual detection and classification of occurrences and recording the frequency of occurrence. The objective was to examine the effects of communicating about plagiarism by the designed plagiarism integrity narratives (PIN) intervention on students’ integrity based on their source-attribution practices. In the first semester, an assignment was administered without any word on plagiarism as the baseline data for students’ academic integrity at pre-test. In the second semester, the post-PIN-intervention assignment set with similar cognitive demand as the first was administered. The post-PIN intervention showed 76% of students taking steps to not succumb to plagiarism, far outweighing the 5% not taking heed. Of those who acknowledged information sources, 14% showed excellent referencing skills, capturing the potential first-year role model. In terms of outsourcing and attribution combined, the PIN intervention offered a 95% transformation of moral values, hinting at the possibility of resetting academic integrity via communication and clear directives. Lifting plagiarism rules as a “litmus test” (third assignment) revealed 28% integrity-ready students applying the fundamental attribution rules. Outstanding referencing skills and honesty were portrayed by a self-regulated student who had internalized academic integrity. The findings signal the possibility of curbing plagiarism in university classrooms and nurturing students to start weaving values into the social fabric.