Journal of Advocacy, Research and Education

68-71

Authors: Alya Wulan Nur Fatimah, Nunuk Suryani, Sri Yamtinah

Critical thinking assessment is vital in historical learning among Senior High School students. The purpose of this research was to develop a critical thinking test to evaluate the level of critical thinking in historical learning among Senior High School students. The development process of this test followed the Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) evaluation model by Daniel Stufflebeam. Validation of this instrument was done by experts and senior teachers in the field (practitioners). Though the total number of items in the test was 25, validity and reliability tests yielded 20 items. In conclusion, an assessment based on the higher order thinking Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) version was as an adequate measure of critical thinking in historical learning at Senior High Schools.

76-80

Authors: Samuel Harrison-Cudjoe

Globally, the concept of corruption has taken different shades over the years. Due to this trend, may forms of corrupt acts have silently been perpetuated in Ghana. This paper seeks to provide insights into ‘quite corruption’ and how it affects development and standards of living. It also suggests some measures to combat this menace.

11-22

Authors: Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva

Freedom of speech in academia can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it gives the liberty to express opinions about issues that affect academics, but on the other, such freedoms can also be used against academics, even by other academics. Science finds itself in a state of reform, perhaps even crisis, in which a dense amount of transformational changes are taking place. As the academic playing field transforms itself, one method by which this is taking place is through the correction of the literature via an active process of critical analysis. In peer review, this is generally handled primarily by blinded (i.e., known to the editors) peers, while in a post-publication process, this may also be subjected to anonymous (i.e., unknown identity to authors and editors) critique. One of the more radical end-points of the post-publication process, which may reveal errors or faults, are retractions. Two organizations, Retraction Watch and PubPeer, are leading the way in terms of raising awareness and critique, but are using public shaming to expose science’s faults and ills. These science watchdogs have now attracted considerable funding, including from powerful politically-driven US philanthropic foundations. Pressure is placed on scientists and academics by these organizations to be transparent, open and forthcoming about their errors. Scientists should cautiously assess queries made at or by Retraction Watch and PubPeer, directly or indirectly, and reserve their right to offer feedback. This is because what they state in response, either by email or on those blogs, may in fact be used against them on and by these public shaming platforms. The same applies to the blog of Leonid Schneider, another vocal science watchdog. Academia is at a cross-roads between openness and transparency, but at what cost? Academics need to urgently appreciate the importance and risks that Retraction Watch, PubPeer and similar websites pose, before their legends become irreversibly transformed by interaction with such watchdogs. This paper also highlights comment suppression, manipulation or blocking by these science watchdogs, which may indicating a deliberate suppression of freedom of speech.

28-38

Authors: Mike Omilusi

It has become a familiar trend in Nigeria that many state governors see the national assembly as a retirement ground after an eight-year-tenure as heads of the executive arm. To many of these ex-governors, the Senate is another platform through which they could continue to be relevant and actualize their political goals as far as local and national politics are concerned. Though nothing is wrong with former governors aspiring to be senators, what is important is whether they are in the Senate to serve the interest of their constituencies or their own interest. The latter however, features prominently in the study’s findings.

45-58

Authors: Joseph Reginard Milinga, Mwajabu K. Possi

Despite the plethora of studies that have attempted to examine self-esteem in a variety of contexts, few studies have focused on investigating the self-esteem of students with visual impairments as a function of receiving help from their sighed peers within the context of inclusive schooling. Employing a qualitative approach, this study examines the ways sighted students assist their peers with visual impairments in an inclusive secondary school setting in relation to the self-esteem of the help-recipients. It does so, by highlighting the decision for seeking help and threat to self-esteem models. The findings have indicated that, sighted peers assisted their friends with visual impairments in a number of ways despite the fact that, some of the help-recipients were unsatisfied with the help given. Generally, students with visual impairments were comfortable seeking assistance from their sighted peers, with high self-esteem levels despite the concerns raised. Finally, discussions of these findings and recommendations are provided.

54-67

Authors: Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has established a set of recommendations, the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. These recommendations are not just recommendations, they are a widely accepted, or imposed, ethical rule book for the biomedical community, implying that members must be compliant with these rules. Given the importance and power of such a set of recommendations, it is important to establish clearly who, or what, exactly is the ICMJE. Given the fact that the ICMJE is a committee, there must be a leadership corps and physical headquarters. It was recently learned, through a science watchdog blog, Retraction Watch, that Darren B. Taichman, who used to be the editor-in-chief of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), is the current secretary of the ICMJE. Surprisingly, this information is not indicated on the ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/) website. Four pillars of ethics are trust, honesty, accountability and transparency. Dr. Taichman was contacted twice to inquire about these issues. After a third request, copied to Christine Laine, a fairly superficial response was received. This commentary examines what the relative lack of transparency by Taichman and Laine indicates, and why it constitutes a risk to ethics integrity of biomedical journals around the world.

81-85

Authors: Liliia Ruskulis

This article analyzes the different scientists’ perspective on the classification of teaching methods in pedagogy and linguodidactic. Conversation is one of the active methods of teaching that forms a coherent system in combination with other methods. It also has a wide range of usage (in the process of acquiring new knowledge, repetition and generalization of the studied material and etc.). Types of conversations as examined in this paper include: heuristic, reproductive, generalized, control and corrective, analytic and synthetic. This paper also presents the purpose, structure and methods of implementation. It is worth mentioning that the methods of discussion and debate are also similar to the methods of conversation. The effectiveness of these methods, in the process of theoretical and methodical training of future teachers of the Ukrainian language has been proven in the system of integrative study in normative disciplines of linguistic and psycho-pedagogical cycles.

96-111

Authors: Jelisavka Bulatović, Goran Rajović

The International Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people (Honey, 1999). Thus, Ecotourism has been promoted as a non-consumptive use of nature and as a possible win – win development strategy, especially for underdeveloped areas. It should generate money in an ecologically and socially friendly way than other forms of land exploitation (Edwards et al., 1998). This article points to some aspects of eco-tourism, with emphasis on the Montenegro. The country has especially much to offer to nature enthusiasts.

118-124

Authors: S.V. Tcherkashyn

This article explores the process of higher education system reformation in Germany during the period from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. Necessity of the given reforms ripened for several reasons. The first reason was founded on the need for unification for all activities of higher education institutes in Germany, especially the universities. The second reason was based on the preparation for "educational expansion" while the third reason was due to unsatisfactory financing of both universities and university scientists. The German government developed and accepted a number of necessary measures, which appeared vague and inconsistent. These also caused a period of stagnation in the system of German higher education.

130-133

Authors: Olha Osova

To ensure effective educational activity, it is necessary to take into account the common European and national tendencies of social development. These factors form the basis for modifications in educational pathways nowadays. This article presents the main modern priorities in the training system of trainee teachers. It has been proven that the use of foreign languages in the training system of trainee teachers helps them to accumulate considerable educational and potential development in the level of general and professional culture. It also affects their thinking culture, and subsequent communication with the globalized information-technological society. It provides them the skills to find their own place in the context of general and specific growth within the modern of many cultures.

147-155

Authors: Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva

On April 26, 2016, an announcement was made for an essay contest to be published in and by The Winnower (https://thewinnower.com), a low-cost open access journal. The contest, which was financially sponsored by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF; http://www.arnoldfoundation.org), aimed to find an answer to the question “How do we ensure that research is reproducible?” In a bid to tackle the reproducibility crisis in science, the contest set out its objectives, as well as the rules for contestants, including a deadline for submission, and a range of word limits (750-1500). As for the submission to a journal, it was expected that all contestants would abide by the rules to be valid contestants. After a delay in releasing the results, an examination of the entries revealed that 12/21 of the essays did not abide by the contestant’s rules, and thus, to be fair, should have been disqualified, as equally as a submitted paper that does not abide by the rules of submission to a journal is equally rejected, or retracted, if the breach of rules is known post-publication. A request was sent to the LJAF and The Winnower CEO, Joshua (Josh) Nicholson, for a more formal explanation and greater transparency. The acceptance of the winning essays, each of which received a $US 500 cash prize, was summarized by a single sentence. This case study examines how The Winnower and the LJAF mismanaged that contest, how the winners remained winners despite breaking the basic rules of the contest, and how no public transparency was offered with respect to contest mishandling, the make-up of the panel of judges, or the qualifications of these judges. Reproducibility begins with trust, accountability and openness, qualities that were not displayed, in this case, by the LJAF and The Winnower.

168-171

Authors: Victoria Tkachenko, Vitaliia Prymakova

This article highlights a key trend of pluralistic school of language education in Ukraine. The questions of influence factor on: multicultural school language education, the development of an individual student, the concept of multicultural education and the processes of learning Ukrainian and foreign languages in the content of multicultural education. This paper seeks to determine the means and methods that provide quality multicultural education in national school. It also explores the necessity of encouraging students to study several languages and the need to use information technology. Besides, the prospects of multicultural language education in Ukraine have been established in this article. Thus, school education must meet the requirements of society, especially as Ukraine develops with an expansion of international contacts. To ensure the successful cooperation of Ukraine with other countries, students should be equipped with quality knowledge of foreign languages to guarantee their linguistic formation.

181-187

Authors: Grace Yusuf, Joel Abah, Nancy Oluchi Iwegbunam

Globalization has led to a profound diffusion of technological innovations among State and Non-state actors. This has a resultant impact on the arrangement of the distribution of power in the International System. History captures continuous transition in the distribution of power between states in the International System; from a multi-polar system during the first and Second World War, to the bipolar system of the cold war and the uni-polar system that emerged in the aftermath of the cold war. The emergence of new actors in the international system and the change in technological nature and application is ushering in a new era of ‘Non-polarity’ in the International System. The aim of this paper is to consider the evolving dynamics of the distribution of power in the International System while considering the roles technology has to play. The paper relays the conceptualization of basic terms, and then applies the ‘Balance of Power theory’ as its theoretical thrust. Finally, it expands on the role of technology in the distribution of power in the International System and what it entails for the future.

9-14

Authors: Marie Correa, Brandon K. Dumas, Chanika Jones, Victor Mbarika

This paper explores the idea of laissez-faire and economic liberation as a corollary to the emergence of the national economy. It discusses the extent to which the individual actor as identified in Adam Smith’s economic philosophy is fundamental to the societal economy. It also reviews the essential role played by the individual actor towards the shaping of national or public policy. Some authors suggest that economic freedom increases economic growth, however for economies that are emerging, it is better for the state to control, regulate and invest in economic activities until their industries are strong enough to engage in competition with large firms from developed nations.

22-26

Authors: Antonina Ivanovna Lyashkevych

The quality of historical-pedagogical research as illustrated in this paper, essentially depends on the applied means and methods of scholar’s scientific activity and their adopted methodology. Generally, this statement concerns the study of the history of maritime education in Ukraine [ХVІІІ–ХХІ century]. The purpose of the study is to formulate a problem [i.e. creating Scientific Research on History of Maritime Education in Ukraine (ХVІІІ–ХХІ century)], define a structure for the problem [aspects, components], describe appropriate methods and its applicability i.e. significance. It is worth mentioning that the combination of contextual and formal approaches gives an opportunity to study historical events and outline facts for further analysis, synthesis, and abstraction. It also aids in establishing causative-consecutive relations between them. The combination of logical and historical approaches provides the study of every historical-pedagogical phenomenon in its development as well as its status in a certain historical period. Hence, the theoretical basis of a scientific research is considered as defining a methodological ground of a scientific study. It is established that such an activity in maritime education in Ukraine should be cyclic and consist of systematic and empirically robust steps.

32-37

Authors: Olha Osova

The article deals with the definition of the term “subject-subject interaction” on the grounds of the scientific and pedagogical literature analysis. This technology involves the highest level of pedagogical interactions which may be characterized by students’ and teachers’ cooperation, partnership and reflexive management. The author highlights the main ways to efficiently realize the subject-subject interaction in the process of teaching foreign language communication in higher educational establishments. In addition, it is proven that the application of these interactive technologies increases the interest of participants and increases their enthusiasm for information exchange. It also helps them to discuss academic problems, persist in their ideas, prove their point of view or to put forward other problem-solution.