Problems of Education in the 21st Century

295

Authors: Editorial Board

CONTENTS Problems of Education in the 21st Century, ISSN 1822-7864 (Print) ISSN 2538-7111 (Online) Vol. 81, No. 3, 2023

303-326

Authors: Abdullah K. Ambusaidi, Khoula Z. Alhosni

Professional identity has a significant impact on teachers' interpretation of their different roles and their understanding of how to perform these roles. This study aimed to explore mathematics and science teachers’ perceptions of the factors influencing their teacher professional identity within three dimensions: teaching efficacy, teaching profession, and teaching context. Mathematics and science teachers (N = 395) who were teaching in grades 5 to 12 participated in the study. To address the research aims, we administered a questionnaire to gather information on the factors influencing teacher professional identity. The quantitative data on the teachers’ perceptions of the factors influencing their teacher professional identity showed that the teaching efficacy dimension ranked the highest, the teaching context dimension ranked second and the teaching profession dimension third. The teachers’ perceptions were largely influenced by three main factors: years of teaching experience, gender, and school location. The teachers’ responses to the questionnaire’s open-ended questions highlighted some issues related to the quality of the professional development programs available to teachers.

340-360

Authors: Nisha Chakyarkandiyil, G. S Prakasha

The research in cooperative learning (CL) is robust. Despite the empirical research benefits of CL, its implementation faces challenges in teacher education classrooms. Teacher educators resist using CL and stick to the frontal teaching method. All this may be due to the difficulties perceived by teacher educators in implementing CL. The researchers used a concurrent triangulation mixed method research design to explore the perceived challenges of cooperative learning implementation among teacher educators from India. The researchers administered a questionnaire and obtained 300 responses from teacher educators through a survey, followed by a semi-structured interview among eight survey participants. The research findings revealed that the average perceived challenges among teacher educators are 63% due to teacher challenges, learner challenges, curriculum syllabus, and administrative challenges. Female teacher educators perceived higher challenges than males. ANOVA results revealed a difference in challenges faced across the age group. These results demonstrate the need for future researchers to conduct a more in-depth examination of the challenges in implementing CL with more extensive samples in various educational settings in other world regions to develop effective solutions.

374-387

Authors: Seda Eskidemir Meral, Hale Koçer

Knowing humor development can be rather beneficial in terms of providing opportunities to better know children and evaluate their development. This study aimed to explore the process of humor development in preschool and primary school children in line with McGhee's humor development theory. The study employed a single screening model, specifically one of the commonly used screening models in general practice. The study group consisted of 101 children ranging in age from 2 to 11. Research data were collected through a 5.01-minute-long video which included scenes suitable for the stages in McGhee's humor development theory, semi-structured observation forms and a research diary. Descriptive analyses and content analyses were used to analyze research data. Children aged 2 produced the lowest amount of laughter response in the scenes in all stages, followed by those aged 3 and 4. The strongest laughter response occurred in 5-year-old children to the scenes pertaining to stages 2, 3, and 4. The scenes in stage 5 elicited the strongest laughter response in children aged 11. The humor development characteristics of the children in this study were found to be consistent with the general principles of McGhee's theory of humor development. Adopting research techniques that measure children's reactions to real-life situations could be useful in future research on the same topic. Research on children's production of humor may provide different insights into the development of humor. It is suggested that adults, such as parents and teachers, use examples of humor that are appropriate for the characteristics identified in this study and similar studies in order to build positive relationships with children.

401-415

Authors: Nonkanyiso Pamella Shabalala, Headman Hebe, Lindelani Mnguni

Integrating environmental education into the school curriculum in South Africa remains a concern. Various curriculum and instructional design factors affecting environmental education have been explored. However, the role of curriculum leadership in environmental education is not well understood despite research that shows that curriculum leadership is a critical challenge facing the education system in general. Poor curriculum leadership has been shown to contribute to ineffective curriculum implementation and poor quality of education. In the current research, we used qualitative research methods to determine the characterization of curriculum leadership by teachers and school leaders involved in environmental education as a preliminary effort to understand the challenges facing environmental education. We used distributed leadership as a theoretical framework for the research. The findings show that some environmental education teachers, school managers, and environmental education subject advisors do not understand the concept of curriculum leadership. Participants' understanding of curriculum leadership was associated with socio-political dynamics rather than educational principles. We conclude that the poor understanding of curriculum leadership and its role may lead to ineffective integration of environmental education in the South African school curriculum.