Problems of Education in the 21st Century

1-2

Authors: Editorial Board

Problems of Education in the 21st Century, ISSN 1822-7864 Volume 29, 2011

5-6

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

The respect for life educational process is extremely important for primary school. Psychologists assert that exactly the early school age strongly requires fostering the feelings of love, sensitiveness and help as the period is important for the mastering and establishing certain standards of behaviour. This is the key for the explanation of the different aspects of the teenager‘s behaviour in nature. If the teenager ravages nature, it means that parents, teachers and other educators have not paid enough attention to that age range when a certain standard of behaviour developed on the basis of some habit (Dzenuškaitė, 1975).

22-34

Authors: Nitza Davidovitch, Hadassah Littman-Ovadia, Dan Soen

Academic education is considered a key to gaining employment and satisfaction. This scientific research attempts to explain the association between the demographic and pre-enrollment profiles of graduates of one academic institution, and their retrospectively reported satisfaction with their academic studies, and with their career. The study, based on a case study of the Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel, integrates Holland’s classic congruence theory and Seligman’s innovative theory of positive psychology, specifically the hypothesis concerning everyday deployment of individual character strengths. Findings of the study demonstrate that deployment of character strengths was a significant predictor of graduates’ work satisfaction. The interesting finding in this exploratory study is the failure of graduates’ pre-enrollment admission profiles to distinguish among graduates based on their post-graduate employment status or job satisfaction. This finding is especially interesting and scientifically significant in the context of the accepted myth in the academe, according to which admission profiles are key predictors of future success.

43-52

Authors: Svetlana Guseva, Valerijs Dombrovskis, Vadims Murasovs

The topicality of this study is determined by the problem of gaining knowledge and developing positive learning motivation among 13 years old teenagers with low intellectual activity. Since learning motivation and intellectual development are interrelated, the remedial programme, which fosters the increase of teenager’s intellectual activity, may become one of the factors influencing the development of learning motivation. The authors assume that specially developed remedial programme for pupils with low intellectual activity indirectly reforms the hierarchy of motives in the structure of learning motivation. Taking into account that all children are different and that intellectual development and learning-cognitive motivation are interrelated, during the research 290 pupils in Latvia have been examined by the use of the GIT method (Group Intellectual Test), which consists of 7 subtests. Out of the all sample group the experiment team chose pupils (101) who had shown the lowest results for the test tasks and studied the peculiarities of their learning motivation. These pupils were divided into control group (56) and experimental group (45), subsequently dividing the latter group into three subgroups. Then two experimental stages were processed: one before the remedial work and one afterwards. The level of intellectual development and peculiarities of learning motivation were diagnosed. It was concluded that remedial work stimulates cogitation, enriches vocabulary and reforms the hierarchy of motives in the structure of learning motivation.

63-70

Authors: Lydia Cheruto Kipkoech, Jonah N. Kindiki, Prisca Jepchirchir Tarus

Academic performance is a function of many interrelated variables including inherent study efforts, modes of teaching school environment and family related factors. Academically talented students are often expected to perform and maintain high academic standards. However, students may sometimes be made under achievers. This study specifically assessed academic performance of the academically talented students their attitudes towards teachers and effects of attitude on their performance. The three variables were discriminated further on the basis of gender, school type and age. The main factor affecting talented student’s performance was also determined. Results indicated that most of academically talented students had positive attitudes towards teachers, which significantly (P < 0.05) influenced their academic performance. It was revealed that gender, age and type of school had significant influence on the student’s attitudes which ultimately influence their overall academic performance. Student’s attitudes were found to be a function of 14 variables which were categorized into student - teacher relationships student’s academic inputs, group discussion and student workload. It has now been revealed that academic performance is related to student’s attitudes towards their teachers. It is recommended that schools should dedicate part of their investment on inculcating and fostering positive student attitudes through routine and regular legislation of guidance and counseling and providing an enabling environment for their academically talented students.

82-88

Authors: Mare Leino

The purpose of this research was to question the concept of a ‘child friendly’ school, which sounds democratic, but is an unclear term. The problem is that with 45-minute lessons and 30 pupils in the classroom (as is often the case in Estonian schools), it is not possible to focus on each child. In 2005, a new basic school was opened in the countryside in the middle of Estonia – for only 24 students (some of them were children with learning and/or behavioural difficulties). The method of research was educational ethnography. Result: the strict rules sometimes seem bad, but life is safer with them. It was interesting to recognize the importance of routines from ordinary (‘old fashion’) schools. Children with learning and/or behavioural difficulties need even more discipline than others, because this can be one part of the therapy. Education for sustainable development must not always be ‘child friendly’.

102-109

Authors: Maura Sellars

This research investigated forty, ten to twelve year students in their final two years of primary schooling. It investigated their capacities to develop the cognitive competencies of executive function. The framework used was the Multiple Intelligences perspective of executive function. The findings discussed are those pertaining to the students’ development of the component of executive function known as flexible thinking. Investigated as part of a larger action research study which was implemented in three classrooms over a six month period, the findings in this domain demonstrated considerable improvement from the skills recorded as part of the baseline data. The baseline data had indicated that none of the students were able to demonstrate the cognitive capacities of flexible thinking. The results are significant in that they can be directly related to changes in pedagogical practice. The findings are significant also for the three participating teachers as they serve to highlight the challenges they faced. They are indicative of challenges that may be faced by other teachers as they seek to implement intervention programs effectively and to question some of the pedagogical strategies and beliefs with which they had formerly engaged confidently.

119-134

Authors: Marcus Stueck

Existing analysis about teachers’ and student´s experience of stress, related health risk factors, and consequences for the profession represent the basis of this integrated stress-management concept designed for educational fields, e.g. schools. It has been developed by the author of this article since 1994. The SYSRED-Concept (SYStemrelated Stress REDuction) follows three level of stress management, which are used integratively with both teachers and children. First (Level of children), it offers strategies for stress preventive work with children (e.g. EMYK: training of relaxation with elements of yoga for children). Secondly (Level of adults), courses for stress-management for teachers were developed and evaluated (e.g. STRAIMY: Stress-management training with elements of yoga; BIODANZA: dance and motion oriented psychological intervention method for stress-management). Finally, seminars for the broadening of teachers’ pedagogic-psychological competences are carried out (e.g. employment of relaxation methods in class; method-training seminars for the reduction of exam anxieties and for a better handling of behavioural disorders and discipline problems). Thirdly (level of conditions), the conditions which cause stress are analyzed and changed. Within the framework of accompanying evaluations we examined around 600 subjects with regard to the short and long term effects of the measures taken concerning personnel development and intervention on certain psychological, psycho-social, and immunological parameters. We were able to prove the stress reducing effects of the trainings methods for both students and teachers as well as the improvement of the teachers’ pedagogical-psychological competences caused by participating in the training seminars. Until now we were sucessfully working with 1000 teachers and pupils applying the components of the SYSRED-Concept. This article further explains an Masterplan to secure the Balance between Intuitive-emotional vs. Rationbal Education. This Plan helps to get an overview where the stressreduction methods from SYSRED are integrated. Within it, it is discussed the role of the Body-Orientation, Stressreduction, Empathy and ability to Love in educational fields as human basic behaviour in educational fields, which has to be developed within the Education of the 21st century.

142-165

Authors: Lyubov V. Cheremoshkina, Tatyana N. Osinina

There are the results of the research of forgetting the educational material by schoolchildren of 12 - 13 years old with different levels of the development of the mnemonic abilities are submitted in the article. The aim of the research was to study forgetting of the educational material by schoolchildren depending on their mnemonic abilities. The study of mnemonic abilities of schoolchildren was carried out with the use of the technique of diagnosis of mnemonic abilities created by L.V. Cheremoshkina. This technique is based on the method of developed mnemonic activity. To study the forgetting of the educational material was used the procedure, the incentive material of which represents a fragment from a textbook on biology for the 6th form of general educational establishments. This phase of the investigation is based on the method of singling out the semantic units. The text that we have chosen in a textbook on biology enables us to investigate both functional and operational, and regulating parties of memory. In particular during the reproduction of the given fragment, there is an opportunity to follow various ways of processing and reconstruction of the original text: generalization, concretization, replacement of words, omissions, etc. Moreover, the chosen educational text promotes the occurrence of new details in reproduction as some facts described in it are well known to schoolchildren on the basis of their life experience. The presence of names own, dates, numbers promotes such a way of reconstruction of the original text such as distortion during the reproduction. The comparative analysis of the curve of forgetting of the sensible material and the curve of forgetting senseless syllables by H. Ebbinghaus has been carried out. The received results indicate the fact that the educational text as a variant of a sensible verbal material results in activisation of operational and regulating parties of memory, and "entwines" in the system of the earlier acquired information, in other words, the system of knowledge of a pupil due to these mechanisms. In consequence, the "curve" of forgetting the educational text gets the other, much flatter form, rather than the "curve" of forgetting senseless syllables.