Teachers’ Moral Evaluation of Students in an Inclusive Secondary School: A Study of Minority Students’ Behaviour and School Performance

This study aims to analyze the issue of morality in a teaching and learning set up. After discussion and answering the question “Is it ever the case that teachers hold students morally blameworthy or praiseworthy for factors that are known to be beyond their control?” the study concludes that teachers hold students to be morally blameworthy or praiseworthy for factors that are beyond their control, because they do not fully comprehend their lack of control over their situation, which is still bad. The study also found that most teachers do not have a clear cross-cultural knowledge of minority students’ background causing a moral judgement dilemma of students’ behaviours and actions. A critical look at other variables that may affect students’ learning is recommended by this study.Keywords: minority students, blameworthy, praiseworthy, knowledge, moral judgement

Pedagogical Science Practices in Public Higher Education Institutions of Ethiopia: Progress Made but Challenges Remain

The contribution of education to the overall development of a nation becomes evident especially through higher education. This is because higher education is considered a key to delivering the knowledge required for ensuring sustainable development. Studies reveal a strong positive correlation between higher education participation rates and levels of development, as high levels of education are essential for designing and producing new technologies, and enhancing innovative capacities for the development of a society. While the reforms of higher education in high-income countries have received much attention, relatively little is known about the change dynamics in higher education system in developing countries. Therefore, with this research I want to contribute to a better understanding of higher education system in Africa, from the perspective of the type of pedagogy being practiced frequently and its consequences in producing competent graduates for the world of work by taking Ethiopian public higher education system as a case. To this end, data were collected from selected higher education institutions’ officials and instructors using questionnaire and interviews. The collected data were analyzed using mixed method. Findings of the study revealed that despite the offering of on-job pedagogical science trainings in the sample universities, little progress has been made in terms of applying student-centered pedagogy. Most of the instructors in the institutions still predominantly use traditional teaching methods. It is recommended that instructors in higher learning institutions should use critical pedagogy. Keywords: higher education, pedagogical science practice, progressive pedagogy, traditional pedagogy, transformative pedagogy

Predicting the Mathematical Abstraction Processes Using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy: Secondary School 7th Graders

In this study, it was investigated whether it would be possible to observe abstraction processes of secondary school 7th graders using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. For this purpose, eight students participated in the study. The study was conducted at a state secondary school in Turkey. Purposeful sampling method was used in the selection of students and different students were examined by their achievement levels. The research was modeled as a case study and the data were obtained through interviews. Therefore, the data were collected through an interview form developed by the researchers. The collected data were analyzed according to descriptive analysis method. The findings show that the abstraction process differs according to the dimensions of the taxonomy. Accordingly, it was determined that a student who abstracts information should behave at least at the application level in the cognitive level and at least at the conceptual knowledge level in the knowledge dimension. It was also considered that the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy categorized the cognitive mechanisms required by abstraction processes thoroughly. Supporting this study with quantitative data is suggested so that the findings may become more significant. Keywords: mathematical abstraction, mathematics education, equations, Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, APOS theory

The Relation between the Teaching of Mathematics and Statistics in the Republic of South Africa

The purpose of this study is to explore the relation between the teaching of Mathematics and the teaching of Statistics at high school level in the South African Context. The study also examines and analyses examples of statistical teaching situations from both a mathematical and a statistical perspective with view to reveal the links between the teaching of Mathematics and teaching of Statistics. A non-empirical method or conceptual method was followed to achieve the purposes of the study. The study reveals the cardinal links between the teaching of Mathematics and teaching of Statistics. Hence the call to educators to acknowledge the symbiosis to enhance the teaching and promote an awareness of the ways in which Statistics is presented and aligned in the South African Mathematics high school Curriculum. Keywords: teaching mathematics, teaching statistics, high school, South Africa context

Higher Teacher Education: Raising Awareness toward Constructing Teaching Philosophy Statements

This article focuses on exploring whether teacher educators and teacher students at higher teacher education programs have constructed their teaching philosophy statements, how they implement such philosophy statements, and how they develop and evaluate the contents of the teaching materials related to the courses they are instructing. By following the qualitative case study methodology, the author employed semi-structured interviews with twenty teacher educators and fifteen teacher students from one state higher education institution in Yemen. With the employment of thematic network analysis techniques, the findings report on the lack of awareness concerning the teaching philosophy statements construction, the random process of designing and evaluating teaching materials, and the lack of teaching aids for realizing the teaching philosophies of those with developed teaching statements. For practical implementation, university leaders and administrators are recommended to establish a program that focuses on the professional development of the teaching faculty with a focus on highlighting and providing useful knowledge on the ‘teaching philosophy statements’ construction and ‘materials design and evaluation’ processes. Keywords: teaching philosophy, teacher education, higher education, curriculum design, Yemen

Facts that Influence College Students’ Reading Motivation

This study investigated American college students’ reading motivation. A total of 1,437 (533 male and 904 female) college students across interdisciplinary areas voluntarily participated in the study by completing a self-reported survey. Two major research questions were addressed in this study. The first question investigated American college students’ reading motivation by the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) variables of self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and social motivation. The second question asked what variables influence American college students’ motivation to read by comparing gender, classification, age, race, language backgrounds, grades in major subjects and minor subjects. Descriptive analysis indicated that the mean scores of the extrinsic motivation scale (3.07) were higher than those of intrinsic motivation (3.05), self-efficacy (3.04) and social motivation (2.35) scales. A multiple linear regression statistical analysis confirmed that gender, age, classification, grade, race, and primary language were significant factors in college students’ motivation to read. Keywords: college students, reading motivation, MRQ

Teaching the Sound Concept: A Review of Science and Physics Education Postgraduate Theses in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to review the postgraduate theses on science/physics education in Turkey to guide the teaching of the sound concept. Although the theses examined within the scope of this study belong to a certain region, the previous literature shows us that the learning difficulties/misconceptions are generally independent of culture. Thirty-three theses in the database of The Council of Higher Education Thesis Center were analyzed inductively in the semi-systematic review process. For this, the stages of content analyses were used: Elimination and coding, placing them in themes, ensuring reliability and validity were followed respectively. Unit of analyses was conclusions of the theses and suggestions of the theses. In conclusion, both conventional and contemporary approaches have a positive effect on achievement or conceptual change on the sound concept. On the other hand, students and teachers/ candidates, in general, cannot relate their knowledge of sound to daily life, their level of knowledge is inadequate, and they have misconceptions/errors and confusions. It is beneficial to consider this situation in education. The most important output of this study is the lists of possible misconceptions or confusion about the concept of sound. Teachers and researchers can use these lists in their lessons or research. Keywords: education, physics, science, sound, thesis

Ethics Teaching in Education for Sustainable Development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is nowadays internationally considered an important aspect of the overall education of children and young people in the world. It is included among the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Besides its content – sustainable development – ESD is also characterized by its emphasis on a democratic and participatory educational procedure. In this paper, we show how both these aspects of ESD – its content and procedure – reveal the importance of bringing ethical considerations into ESD, as well as provide challenges for ethics teaching in ESD. Keywords: education for sustainable development (ESD), sustainable development, ethics education, teaching ethics, participatory education, controversial issues

The Bright Future of Democracy is in Education

Does democracy have a bright future? This brief paper addresses this question and argues, that, thanks to Prometheus, political “animals” can build a better-managed corral for their common living which includes a better provision of education for all “animals.” A historical analysis of the long past may be used to discern what lies ahead. Democracy requires education and virtue, or to put it in one word, it requires pedagogy. The higher the level of pedagogy, the closer a politeia would come to an ideal democracy. Sometimes democracy is confused with equality in everything. Political “animals” are not equal, and political systems which treat people with different abilities equally have no future. An ideal society should discriminate according to levels of education obtained and the acquisition of material wealth. If the politeia is ideal, then each citizen has the same opportunity to become more educated and wealthier. In this free competition of being educated and the acquisition of individually made material wealth, ideal societies can flourish as Hesiod postulated in the 8th Century BCE and become stable despite Polybius’ predictions in the 2nd-1st Century BCE of the inevitable historical cyclicality of political systems. Keywords: education, pedagogy, democracy, oligarchy, monarchy, ochlocracy, tyranny, ideal politeia, Polybius

Examination of the Relationships between Secondary School Students’ Social Media Attitudes, School Climate Perceptions and Levels of Alienation

The aim of this research is to examine the relationships between social media attitudes, school climate perceptions and level of alienation of students studying in secondary schools. In the 2018-2019 academic year, 418 students from various secondary schools in Mardin participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and structural equality model were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the level of alienation variable is positively affected by sharing needs, social isolation and safe learning environment; the safe learning environment variable is negatively affected by the social competence variable while it is affected positively by the social isolation variable. Besides, the safe learning environment as a mediator resulted in negative effects between the need for sharing and alienation, positive ones between social isolation and alienation, negative ones between social competence and alienation, and finally negative effects between relationships with teachers and alienation. According to the results, it can be stated that creating a supportive school climate for students in educational settings will reduce students’ tendency to use social media networks and prevent them from becoming alienated by making more friend. Keywords: alienation, social media, school climate, structural equality model