Problems of Education in the 21st Century

879-880

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 78, No. 6, 2020

884-906

Authors: Eva Ballová Mikušková, Marcela Verešová

As the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID-19) has begun to spread around the world, education has taken the form of distance education from one day to the next. To this day, little is known about distance education during the pandemic period from teachers’ point of view, so the study focused on perception and management of distance education in primary school (primary and lower secondary education) and upper-secondary school (upper secondary education) teachers; and the main aim was to explore the connection between teaching experience, personality traits, and emotions of teachers and their perception and management of distance education during the coronavirus pandemic. The research sample consisted of 379 teachers (89.7% women) aged 23 – 70 years (M = 44.91; SD = 10.38). They completed the questionnaire which consisted of: demographic questions, questions related to perception and management of distance education, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Big Five Inventory 2. During the pandemic period, the negative emotions of teachers increased while positive emotions decreased; distance education was closely related to emotions (and changes in emotions) and personality; moreover, teachers reported willingness to implement partial changes into their teaching after the pandemic period.

920-932

Authors: Dagnija Cedere, Rita Birzina, Tamara Pigozne, Elena Vasilevskaya

The necessity of STEM knowledge is being more widely acknowledged as the priority in the development of education; however, students lack sufficient knowledge and interest in the acquisition of STEM subjects. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the teaching and learning methods that would correspond to the contemporary young generation and that would facilitate meaningful learning of modern students. Performing the survey of 256 students in Grades 10 – 12 of Latvia, students’ perceptions on how they understand and interpret their STEM learning and methods used by teachers have been explored. The questionnaire in the QuestionPro e-environment was designed according to the criteria describing meaningful learning considering the peculiarities of the young generation. Respondents’ answers were analyzed with the help of the SPSS program, using the methods of non-parametric statistics. Many representatives of the young generation tend to avoid difficulties which confirms a typical feature of this generation – to achieve an immediate result easily and quickly. These students also have a weaker understanding about the importance of STEM that testifies the lack of the learning motivation. The majority of students consider that it is necessary to acquire STEM only at school, failing to connect it with the everyday life. The study describes the national context, yet the presented trends could be significant also on the international level for understanding meaningful learning of STEM.

948-966

Authors: Rohmatun Lukluk Isnaini, Farida Hanum, Lantip Diat Prasojo

Academic dishonesty, which is a part of educational problems, occurs mostly in religious-based high schools. The dishonest behavior of these students is contrary to the application of character education in educational institutions. This research aimed to describe the experiences of teachers and students in the Programmed Islamic High School (PIHS) relating to academic culture in the development of student character education. The data collection method used in this research was a phenomenological qualitative method by conducting in-depth interviews with four teachers and six students in a PIHS. Apart from the results of the interviews, the acquisition of data was also supported by documentation and observations of the daily activities of the students, which reflected the application of character education. The results showed that the academic culture at PIHS contributes greatly to developing student character education. Character education developed from academic culture can be seen from their academic discourse, publications, knowledge acquisition, disciplinary, and academic activities management. From the academic culture, students have a religious, honest, nationalistic, responsible, cooperative, and independent character. This research suggests that the pattern of academic culture in the development of character education in PIHS can be adopted by other religion-based schools.

983-999

Authors: Chipo Makamure

Pedagogical internship (PI) is an important component of teacher training programmes in Zimbabwe. It is envisaged to give student teachers experience in the classroom. However, the variation between the theoretical expectations of pre-service teachers (PST) and their actual experiences in the field has been a relational lacuna in academic research in Zimbabwe. This research sought to address this by presenting data on the relation between college PSTs’ expectations about teaching mathematics and their actual experiences during PI in Zimbabwe. The study shares findings from a mixed methods study that employed two questionnaires completed by 120 PST before and during PI respectively, and a third questionnaire administered to school-based mentors. The researcher also conducted in-depth interviews with a few selected PSTs and teacher educators to elicit their views about the PSTs’ practices. The results show that there is, indeed, a conflictual relationship between the PSTs’ expectations of teaching mathematics and their experiences in the classroom. PSTs showed a consistent anticipation that they would sail through PI without many difficulties, but this expectancy turned out to be idealistic and impractical. The research also established that PSTs’ expectations about teaching mathematics prior to PI can influence their field practices, hence, determining their opportunities to learn to teach the subject. It is recommended that teacher training institutions organize programmes for PSTs before PI to prepare and acquaint them fully with the skills that are needed to face challenges of teaching that may otherwise come as a shock during PI.

1014-1026

Authors: Stanislav Podolyanchuk

Research is an essential part of university activity. The evaluation of research activities is not only of scientific, but also of practical interest. Currently, however, the research evaluation is used primarily either for the analysis of the activities of a university as a whole or for tackling specific tasks, usually related to the financing of research projects. The use of monitoring systems for research activities as part of the internal university management has not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, the purpose of the research, which was conducted at Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University (Ukraine) over the course of 5 years, was to identify and critically evaluate the main practical applications of such monitoring in management activities. The monitoring system was created through the use of expert evaluation method. Information was collected with mandatory input control. The results of monitoring can be used for creating an information database, performing comparative analysis, making evaluation of research activities of a university as a whole and implementing the control function. Analysis of the research evaluation proved its positive impact on the advancement of science at the university. Based on the obtained results it is possible to solve organizational, financial and professional issues, make important management decisions. At the same time, it is necessary to consider the risks that may arise during the practical implementation. Emphasized is the universal character of proposed directions that can be used in the management of various universities.

1038-1054

Authors: Catarina Anna Wästerlid

Few research studies within the field of mathematics education have focused on the ability to recognize quantities quickly and accurately without counting (i.e. subitizing). The aim of this research was to empirically explore the role of conceptual subitizing activities for enhancing preschool class children’s learning of the part-part- whole relations of number. 24 children (aged 6-7) and two teachers participated in the intervention. Due to ethical issues, data were only collected from 18 of the children. The design was a collaborative and iterative intervention, employing a mixed-method approach. Data consisted of pre-and post-test, teacher observation notes and teacher responses to questions about the children’s learning. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis showed that conceptual subitizing activities supported children’s knowledge development regarding part-part-whole relations of number. At the group level, the children´s results between pre-and post-test showed an increase of 18.1 percent units and more than half of the children showed conceptual subitizing abilities in a qualitatively more developed way after having participated in the intervention. The result indicated that conceptual subitizing activities might enhance preschool class children’s understanding of the part-part-whole relations of number. The results however also elucidated that not all children improved their understanding of the part-part -whole relations of number. Future research should therefore consider individual differences when developing and carrying out interventions.

669-670

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 78, No. 5, 2020

674-687

Authors: Luciana Castellani, Luiz Fernando Quintanilha, Maria Belen Arriaga, Maria de Lourdes Lima, Bruno Bezerril Andrade

The new curriculum of medical schools has brought the need to develop a professional committed to ethics, capable of understanding the role of social factors, the insertion of the individual into the family and their role in promoting health. These skills and the use of new methodologies in teaching-learning process have demonstrated that the traditional performance assessment methods are limited in holistically evaluating the student. This study analyzed the correlation among different methods for evaluating competencies in medical internship students and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study was performed among 5th year medical students at Pediatric, Surgery, Medical Clinic, Family and Community Medicine and Gynecology and Obstetrics. Grades of each student obtained through different evaluations (theoretical test, conceptual evaluation and test skills) at the end of each rotation were correlated with the individual results from OSCE. In regard to correlations with the OSCE score values, it was found a weak to moderate positive and statistically significant relationship with the global cognitive score (r= .22, p< .001), global abilities score (r= .26, p< .001) and with the global behavioral score (r= .38, p< .001). The students' performance in the various assessments of performance evaluated here was positively correlated to their performance on OSCE. Furthermore, the organization of an OSCE-type assessment prepared in multiple, committed and competent hands may serve as a unique assessment and, in fact, assess the development of clinical skills for future doctors.

698-718

Authors: Luciane F. Goes, Keysy S. C. Nogueira, Carmen Fernandez

Redox reactions are considered one of the most difficult chemistry subjects to teach and learn. However, this is an important content that permeates several topics and includes many everyday life-related phenomena. To understand the teaching and learning difficulties of the ‘redox reactions’ topic, a systematic literature review was conducted. Initially, 318 articles were mapped, between the years 2000 to 2019, related to the teaching of redox reactions. The inventoried articles were analyzed to identify, in their results, the aforementioned difficulties. Only 54 presented difficulties related to teaching and learning redox reactions. To analyze these articles, the year of publication, the conceptual/procedural difficulties resulting from the study, the researched participants, and the strategies used throughout the data collection were adopted as categories. As a result, the main participants of the investigations were students. It was observed that the research studies favored bachelor degree as the level of education. Moreover, most of the analyzed studies mainly proposed experimentation as teaching strategy for teaching redox reactions. This study points to the need for continuing education courses for chemistry teachers to discuss emerging difficulties, in addition to proposing teaching strategies to remedy these difficulties.

734-753

Authors: Mehboob Ul Hassan, Rafaqat Ali Akbar

Technology plants concrete effects on the supremacy of humans' technological success that have been remaining awe-inspiring aspects for stakeholders; teachers and students since last eras. Teachers make students technologically literate, reshape their hidden potential, skill them through modern gadgets, help in understanding and evaluating their functions applying technological and engineering standards for goal achievements. Present research was conducted to explore the effect of teachers’ technological literacy on students’ academic success occurs in vibrant environment on conveniently selected sample of 200 teachers working in public and private universities of district Lahore. Researchers administered a self-developed survey to collect data from teachers. Content validity of questionnaire was ensured from experts and reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach’s Alpha Scores .821. Normality of the data was assured by calculating Shapiro-Wilk’s test, ¬ n < 2000, p > .05. Students’ academic success was measured through acquiring achievement scores, obtained from concerned university offices ensuring ethical considerations, as in data collections. Results of independent samples t-test and regression analysis ascertained no significant difference between usage of technological literacy by teachers’ gender and university type; male teachers working in public and private universities have same usage of technological literacy as compared to female teachers. Moreover, teachers’ technological literacy affect 43% on students’ academic success occurs in vibrant learning environment. On the basis of results, research recommends that universities may established digital lab ensuring vibrant environment and hire technologically literate staff providing fringe benefits to meet 21st century technological literacy demands for students’ success.

777-798

Authors: Balli Lelinge, Christina Svensson

Few research studies have been conducted in a primary school in early mathematical education about the teaching of geometry. This research aims to contribute with knowledge of how teachers’ awareness and understanding of necessary conditions to enhance students’ abilities to discern two- and three-dimensional shapes develop. In this research, qualitative methods were used to analyse data from a lesson study in grade 4 in the subject of mathematics. Data were primarily collected through audio-recorded conversations with teachers before and after the lesson, and the results of students’ pre- and post-test. The results of this research showed increased awareness of using collaboration opportunities to apply professional classroom instructions and activities to enhance students’ knowledge of two- and three-dimensional shapes. This research elucidates how the practice-based professional development approach emphasised the teachers’ teaching targets for understanding students’ content knowledge of geometric shapes. Additionally, the result highlighted teachers’ awareness and understanding of the challenges students face in learning about three-dimensional shapes from two-dimensional representations. Future research should develop a more iterative and revised research lesson design to develop more powerful content knowledge and classroom activity in this topic area.

815-831

Authors: Klara Skubic Ermenc, Damijan Štefanc, Jasna Mažgon

One of the main factors contributing to students’ optimal development in school settings is the implementation of appropriate differentiating and individualizing measures. While this topic is well researched and addressed in the context of primary and lower secondary education, the theoretical and empirical research on differentiated and individualized teaching in vocational education and training (VET) programs is relatively scarce. However, well-applied individualization measures seem equally important in the context of VET programs, as they are frequently attended by students with lower educational aspirations, diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, and complex educational and personal needs. Our research explores what kind of individualization practices exist in Slovenian VET programs and what roles teachers and school management play in implementing individualized teaching. A single case study with one class of 16-year-old students (N = 22) attending the confectioner VET program was conducted. The data were collected by means of interviews, observations, and questionnaires, and were analyzed and interpreted by combining qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. The results indicate that the school strove to address the diversity of the student population and used a number of different activities at institutional (school) as well as individual (teacher) levels. However, the potential of a more individualized approach seems to be largely unexploited. It is necessary to understand individualization as a principle implemented at the level of direct teaching and at the school level. Students should receive guidance that adapts the education process to their individual characteristics and aspirations as much as possible.

856-872

Authors: Ya-Ling Wu, Shan-Ru Chao, Wei-Fang Tsai, Mei-Lun Chen

Based on the reminiscence therapy, the research aimed to develop the horticultural program with life contexts for the elderly in southern Taiwan, and to explore the effect on overall cognitive function of the elderly. The participants were 17 seniors in one community care center. The research adopted quasi-experimental research of one group pre-test and post-test design of time series, and data were collected by questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. The objective of the program was to maintain cognitive function of the elderly. Twelve activities of the program were implemented once a week and 2 hours for each activity. The program included manual activity, group activity, and outdoor planting activity. The program content was based on farming experience of the elderly and integrated with diverse cognitive function trainings. It was found that the program showed immediate effect and two-week delay effect on promoting overall cognitive function of the elderly. Also, the elderly obtained new planting experience and their learning motivation was enhanced. Additionally, because of integrating with life contexts, the program was meaningful and encouraged the elderly to be engaged in the activities and recall the past. In the process, the elderly enjoyed the exchange of horticulture and life experience.

471

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 78, No. 4, 2020, PEC

486-499

Authors: Kateřina Berková, Jana Borůvková, Dagmar Frendlovská, Pavel Krpálek, David Melas

Knowledge of the appropriate learning styles in which students approach the study supports the effectiveness of the teaching process. There is international research that explores the factors that influence student learning styles or students' preferences. The results of some research based on the similar methodologies are inconsistent. The aim of this research under the conditions of Czech tertiary education was to verify what factors students´ learning style preferences in the subject Marketing depend on. The method of questioning based on quantitative research was used. 132 students of University of Economics, Prague and of College of Polytechnics Jihlava were involved in the research. The questions were formulated in a way to be able to define the learning style and whether students were aware of their sensory preferences. The model was based on the VARK model and the learning style according to motivation and intent. A chi-square test of independence was used for verification. The preferences of a deep problem-based learning style prevail. Learning styles preferences depend on factors related to the practical preparation of the students and the difficulty of the subject.

516-532

Authors: Rodolfo García Galván, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Macías, Alicia Alelí Chaparro Caso López

This study aimed to examine the institutional and organizational characteristics of Mexican state public universities’ outreach with the surrounding area, by identifying and comparing best practices to design a new model for collaboration with the environment. The central question was: “What are the regulatory foundations for the planning and educational philosophies that underpin the outreach approaches of public universities in Mexico?” In methodological terms, this research was of a qualitative nature, and used institutional documents as its main data. It was a documentary review of regulations, planning documents, educational models, and organizational structure of the nine universities considered. Qualitative evidence was collected through deductive content analysis, on the basis of preconceived theoretical and conceptual precepts that guide the search for and analysis of documentary information. One key finding was that the regulations of the institutions examined did acknowledge the importance of strengthening ties between the university and the regional surroundings but were ambiguous in their definition of collaborative activities. In most universities, outreach was seen as a support for teaching and research, and its importance was not acknowledged. This is why it is necessary for universities to make promoting economic and social development a substantive function, to be reflected in specific regulations for outreach. Similarly, greater visibility is needed in organizational structures to position outreach within universities’ roles and activities.

553-575

Authors: Jhon Holguin-Alvarez, Fernando Ledesma-Pérez, Aquila Montañez-Huancaya, Juana Cruz-Montero

The coexistence allows the adaptation of the aggressors and assaulted in school communities through artistic interaction techniques. Due to its transformational value, artivist education allows students to be involved in raising awareness of their environment as well as themselves. For this reason, the interest of the research was to determine the benefits of artivism in school coexistence. Three studies based on sustainability, school exchange and meaning analysis were carried out in 80 fifth and sixth grade primary students. Measurement scales and the log of experiences were used, from whose data it was obtained that there was greater sustainability of direct and democratic coexistence from the fourth month of experimentation with activities based on artivist education (Experiment 1), as well as effects on school exchange with greater emphasis on the democratic component (Experiment 2). The conclusions of the research invited to deduce that artivist education allowed coexistence to be made more sustainable through the strategies that subjects adopted from their peers, in turn, direct interaction allowed to propose a formative process of adaptation between assaulted and aggressors. As a contribution, the research highlights the adoption of new forms of student interaction with power groups to the extent of how and how they establish acceptability behaviors in the shared context.

595-611

Authors: Indrek Kaldo, Kandela Õun

Most universities teach mathematics in the first year and the complexity of the subject demands also different levels of mathematics. Although students understand the reason why they need to learn mathematics, there are more than half of students struggling during the math classes. It is also interesting to compare male and female students` study habits and differences. The aim of this research is to report first-year Estonian university students’ views on mathematics by gender. The quantitative data were collected from 440 university students of different disciplines. The participants completed the LIST questionnaire what measures several aspects of learning strategies of mathematics conducted by factor analysis of 69 questions in 4-point Likert scale. In this research, in two of nine factors, females hold a more positive view of learning strategies than did male students. This research indicates which learning strategies in mathematics are preferred by males and females. Factors Organizing and Repeating were the factors in which we found statistically significant gender difference. Females showed more powerful organizing skills and had better repeating strategies than males. Females try to order the subject matter in a way that makes it easy for them to remember, they go over their notes and structure the most important points more than males. In all the other factors, statistical differences were found only in some questions.

627-643

Authors: Nyet Moi Siew, Norjanah Ambo

This research aimed to examine the effects of an integrated STEM project-based with cooperative learning (STEM-PjBCL) approach on fifth graders’ five sub-scales of trait dimension in scientific creativity. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test non-equivalent control group design was employed. A total of 360 fifth graders from four randomly selected primary schools were chosen as sample and assigned to STEM-PjBCL (n=120), PjBL (n=120), and Conventional (CV) (n=120) instructional methods. The Figural Scientific Creativity Test was used as the pre-test and post-test. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was performed on the post-test scores with pre-test scores as the covariates to examine whether a significant difference existed across the three methods. The results showed that fifth graders taught with the STEM-PjBCL method significantly outperformed their counterparts in the PjBL and CV method in Fluency, Originality, Elaboration, Abstractness of title, and Resistance to premature closure. However, fifth graders taught in the PjBL method did not significantly outperform their counterparts in the CV method in the five sub-scales of scientific creativity. Large effect sizes were obtained for comparing STEM-PjBCL with the PjBL and CV method. The results suggest that the STEM-PjBCL method produces a significant beneficial effect on promoting the five sub-scales of trait dimension of scientific creativity among fifth graders.

666

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 78, No. 4, 2020, PEC

307-308

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 78, No. 3, 2020, PEC

314-327

Authors: Mohamad Ariffin Abu Bakar, Norulhuda Ismail

21st-century learning is integral to the transformation of the curriculum in Malaysia with the transition from School Integrated Curriculum (SIC) to School Standard Curriculum (SSC) introduced around 2014. During this time, the implementation of 21st-century learning was acceptable and very rewarding. However, the impact of implementation on students' skills, abilities, potentials and achievements should be looked at to ensure that the new curriculum is stable and practical to continue. There is a need to discuss the level of metacognitive regulation skills and students’ achievement in line with the introduction and implementation of 21st-century learning in the context of the Malaysian curriculum. Therefore, this research was conducted to examine whether the implementation of 21st-century learning has an impact on metacognitive regulation skills and student achievement. This quantitative survey was conducted by 201 Form 2 students from four secondary schools in Pasir Gudang District, Johor, Malaysia. The results show that the level of students' metacognitive regulation skills and the level of achievement in mathematics is moderate. Correlation analysis also showed there was a significant correlation between metacognitive regulation skills and student achievement. The implications from this research suggest that stakeholders including ministries, curriculum developers, education departments and teachers need to take initiatives to strengthen and improve the reputation of curriculum transformation in line with the 21st-century learning era in producing quality education.

342-358

Authors: Ayse Ceren Atmaca, Seyit Ahmet Kiray, Mustafa Hilmi Colakoglu

Sustainable development is an interdisciplinary structure that includes the dimensions of environment, economy and society. The aim of this research was to determine the sustainable development awareness of science, social studies and primary school teachers. The research designed with the survey approach was carried out with 2982 teachers working in different regions of Turkey in 2019. In the research, Sustainable Development Awareness Scale consisting of 3 sub-dimensions and 36 items developed by Atmaca, Kiray and Pehlivan (2019) was used. Significance level was taken as .05 in the analyses that examined the signification between the groups. As a result of the research, no significant difference was found between the teachers’ sustainable development awareness and their branches and years of service, while a significant difference was found between the teachers’ ages and gender and their sustainable development awareness scores.

371-393

Authors: Ijeoma Chidinma Ogbonnaya, Andile Mji, Oliva Neo Mafa-Theledi, Beatrice Ngulube

The poor learners’ understanding of specific topic ‘Market Dynamics’ (MD) is a concern in South Africa secondary schools and so it is globally. Many researchers and education stakeholders in South Africa point to the need to use TS-PCK to improve learners’ understanding of MD. This research aimed to examine economics teachers’ teaching of Market Dynamics (MD) in order to understand how the teaching and learning of MD could be improved using topic Specific PCK. Using Mavhunga’s TS-PCK as the theoretical framework. Two TS-PCK components were examined in the research namely, content knowledge (What is that makes a topic difficult to teach?) and representations were used to gain an in–depth understanding of teachers’ use of TS-PCK in teaching MD. It was a descriptive case study design. Purposeful samples of three economics teachers of 10th, 11th and 12th grade were selected. A semi-structured interview consisting of 18 items was used to generate data for the research while a qualitative data analysis technique, namely thematic analysis was used to analyze the data generated. The results showed that the three economics teachers sampled for the research were able to use their TS-Content Knowledge adequately in different Content Knowledge domains to understand what makes a topic difficult to teach or learn. The result also showed that the participating teachers identified difficult areas that are challenging to teach in the topic of MD but were unable to explain and give cogent reasons why those areas were challenging for learners to understand. Further results on teachers’ use of TS-PCK based on ‘representations’ revealed that the teachers effectively used analogies and examples in teaching market dynamics but struggled to find activities to illustrate some of the concepts of market dynamics. The research recommends that economics teachers should be provided with more structured opportunities to help develop their topic specific pedagogical content knowledge of the school level content as part of their professional development.

410-422

Authors: Silvia Rogošić, Ana Maskalan, Tomislav Krznar

In line with the theory of planned behaviour, different factors influencing the formation of attitudes and beliefs indirectly affect the intentions that determine an individual’s behaviour. Hence, it is important to examine the factors affecting the attitudes of preschool teachers towards children’s gender roles considering that their own understanding of gender roles influences their behaviour towards children in kindergarten (which can be in agreement with the egalitarian or stereotypical attitudes of preschool teachers). Therefore, a quantitative research was conducted in Zagreb (Croatia) on a sample of 481 preschool teachers. The research was aimed at determining the effects of socio-demographic characteristics, religious (non)affiliation and personal experiences of gender discrimination during childhood on the attitudes of preschool teachers towards children’s gender roles and on the frequency of noticing unequal treatment of boys and girls in kindergarten by other preschool teachers. The findings revealed that preschool teachers who have identified themselves as non-religious or religiously non-affiliated who were brought up in larger cities, with a personal experience of gender discrimination in childhood, more frequently notice unequal treatment of boys and girls in kindergarten (by other preschool teachers). Among the mentioned variables, the strongest effect on noticing unequal treatment of boys and girls in kindergarten has the variable experience of gender discrimination during childhood which confirms greater awareness of gender discrimination among persons who experienced such discrimination.

449-464

Authors: Ngoc Hai Tran, Thang Dinh Truong, Hong-Van Thi Dinh, Le-Hang Thi Do, Tu-Anh Thi Tran, Mai-Huong Thi Phan

Teacher professional development (TPD) plays a vital role in enhancing student achievement and the education quality improvement at general education schools. Vietnam is carrying out the general education reforms including the curriculum, teaching methodology and textbook replacement. In order to make those reforms succeed, a lot of things have been done so far in which TPD is considered a key measure. This qualitative case-study research aimed to find out the perceptions of principals and the teachers in three selected K12 schools on TPD in response to the education reforms implementation in Vietnam using the data from the open-ended interviews with the principals, the questionnaires from teachers, and the school policy-related documents. The importance of TPD related closely to the general education reforms implementation at three schools was highly perceived and highly appreciated by the principals and teachers in similar vein. These made a strong link between their beliefs and TPD practices at their schools for promoting the education reforms.

135

Authors: Editorial Board

PEC, Contents, Vol. 78, No. 2, 2020

147-166

Authors: Sandro Lucas Reis Costa, Fabiele Cristiane Dias Broietti, Marinez Meneghello Passos

The development of teacher education focusing on reflective practice as well as the study of pre-service teacher reflections are educational concerns. This research seeks to categorize the levels and the nature of pre-service Chemistry teachers' reflections in a public university in Southern Brazil. For this, autoscopies of the pre-service teachers' microteachings were conducted in a supervised internship discipline. Data were collected through an open questionnaire and with the autoscopies of their microteachings. The analytical procedures were performed according to Content Analysis, from which the results show that the pre-service teachers engaged in three distinct levels of reflection: technical descriptions, deliberate reflections and critical reflections when thinking about their own microteaching experiences. By analysing the nature of the reflections, six categories emerged; reflections on: class planning; their teaching; the objectives; personal aspects; the autoscopy; and the students. The research results showed a low incidence of critical reflections, presenting the possible difficulty pre-service teachers had in this level of reflection. The Reflective Intervention proved to be useful for promoting reflections of the three levels of reflection, especially level 2 reflections, which consists of deliberate reflections. The results and analyses of this study contribute to the research in reflective teacher education in science, specifically in regards to a greater understanding of the levels and nature of pre-service teachers' reflections and the use of reflective interventions as an approach to promote critical and deliberate reflections in science teacher education.

196-214

Authors: Friyatmi, Djemari Mardapi, Haryanto

The development of the economics HOTS test that combines critical thinking skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking are essential to meet the challenges of the 21st century life skills. The combination of these thinking skills in the HOT test will help teachers to diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses. However, it could interfere with the accuracy of the measurement results if analyzed using IRT in a single analysis. The Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT) resolved the accuracy of the measurement issues. This research aimed to develop the economics HOTS test to estimate the student’s abilities in higher order thinking skills using the MIRT. The samples were 750 high school students selected from fourteen high schools in West Sumatera, Indonesia. The data were collected using tests which calibrated through the simple-structure MIRT model using R studio. The test reliability was calculated based on coefficients Alpha and test information function. The results show MIRT offers accurate measurement in estimating multidimensional test parameters. The item had a moderate average multidimensional discriminant and difficulty, while the students had a moderate HOTS ability. Their ability to think creatively was lower than critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. The test was proven to be reliable with coefficients Alpha of 0.81, it yielded a high-test information function of the 4.0124, and a low measurement error of 0.4992. It is suitable to be tested on students who have moderate abilities in problem-solving and critical thinking, but with high creative thinking ability.

235-248

Authors: James Morris III

Although researchers have conducted multiple studies on social support among male undergraduates, a gap was identified in the lack of systematic reviews of literature synthesizing their findings. The purpose in this systematic review was to obtain an understanding of recent findings on social support among male undergraduates. To identify relevant literature, a search strategy was developed consisting of six criteria for inclusion, which yielded a total of 30 studies from multiple databases. Findings showed an overall positive impact of social support on psychological outcomes, academic achievement, and technology use among male undergraduates. The findings also revealed a diverse range of sources of social support as well as variations based on gender. In addition to addressing the identified gap in the research, findings from the review may help teachers, educational policymakers, educators, and scholars identify relevant patterns that could be used to note important dimensions within which possible interventions could be introduced to promote desired outcomes.

263-281

Authors: Altayra Geraldine Ozuna Beltrán, Marco Alberto Nuñez Ramírez, Imelda Lorena Vázquez Jiménez, Cecilia Lorena Velarde Flores

Behavioral economics has tried to explain the economic and financial decisions of the individuals. It has been used to understand the economic perceptions and attitudes of vulnerable groups; however, for indigenous peoples, especially in Latin America, there are unresolved issues. Thus, from an intercultural perspective, this research examines the association between the economic attitude and the perception of poverty through the comparison of a sample of intercultural college students from different ethnic groups in Mexico. For this reason, a quantitative, descriptive and correlational research was carried out with a non-experimental design from a sample of 207 intercultural college students. Two research questions were raised, the questions were tested by Pearson correlation and linear regression. Attribution theory was analyzed to assess the association between the economic attitude and the perception of poverty in intercultural students. It was found that the economic attitude is related to the perception of poverty, because the students presented attitudes of financial optimism oriented towards the structural causes of poverty. Consequently, the model of an intercultural university could benefit the development of indigenous communities, through a pedagogy oriented towards the creation of significant economic attitudes.

304

Authors: Editorial Board

PEC, End page, Vol. 78, No. 2, 2020