Seeking Utility: Secondary Mathematics Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences in General Education Courses

This study investigated the self-efficacy levels of pre-service science and mathematics teachers in a Philippine state university. A total of 172 pre-service science and mathematics teachers served as respondents of the study. Data collection was done through the use of the Science and Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument for Pre-service Teachers. The ANOVA indicated significant difference self-efficacy according to year level such that fourth year pre-service teachers indicated a statistically significant decrease. No significant difference was observed for gender and specialization. As regards to the type of courses as predictors of self-efficacy level, general education courses showed low positive predictive power (β = 0.180) whereas specialization courses and professional education courses showed a negative predictive power of β = -0.198 and β = -0.702 respectively. General education and professional education courses displayed significant predictive power at p < 0.05 whereas specialization courses did not (p=0.151). The overall explanatory power of the regression model was 61.1% (R2 = 0.611, F(3,171) = 90.419, p < 0.001). The 2 implications on the teacher education preparation as well as for future directions are likewise discussed.

Results in the Licensure Examination for Teachers are contributory to the institutional overall performance, hence, analyzing the results is essential. Results of the 67 takers who took the examination from 2015 to 2017 were analyzed. Employing Mean, t-test, and Pearson Moment Correlation, the results revealed that the performance of both BSED and PEC Graduate Takers in General Education Courses is higher compared to Professional Education Courses, there is a significant difference in the results of the Licensure Examination for Teachers in both the General Education and Professional Education Courses among BSEd and PEC Graduate Takers. Also, there is a significant relationship between the general education course result and professional education course result. It also revealed that the general education course results and professional education course result are directly proportional. It means as general education course result is high, the professional education course result will follow. On the other hand, if general education course result is low; the professional education course result is also low.

It is important for elementary teachers to understand the content they are responsible for teaching their students, known as content knowledge. In the content area of science, elementary teacher preparation programs often expect preservice teachers to develop content knowledge in college science courses completed prior to entering the program. These college science courses are often general education courses, not specifically designed for preservice elementary teachers. General education courses may not be adequately serving preservice elementary teachers. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of general education science courses on preservice elementary teachers, as compared to other students at the same institution. We collected student grades in six different general education courses across ten years of instruction, resulting in a data set with 195860 grades. These data were analyzed using linear mixed modeling to predict course grades in each of the individual courses. Overall, these findings indicate that elementary education majors in general education courses are receiving grades similar to students in most other majors. Notably, elementary education majors received grades comparable to STEM majors in Biology, while scoring worse than STEM majors in Physical Science. These findings assuage some concerns about the impact of general education courses on elementary education majors and suggest that elementary education programs seeking to provide a specialized science course may want to prioritize a course in physical science.

This study analyzed the academic performance of education graduates in general education, professional education, and specialization courses. 306 education graduate samples participated in the study. The Office of Admission, CLSU - Testing and Evaluation Center and the served as major data sources. The samples were predominated by females with very good high school grades, graduates of public schools, and with CLSU College Admission Test (CAT) scores of 50 – 74 Passing Rate (PR). Only a few received awards but more than half were recipients of various scholarships. The majority finished the course within four years and took the LET immediately after graduation. The overall GPA of 2.09 described a good academic performance. The Bachelor in Elementary Education (BEED) received a higher mean grade average in the general education courses while Bachelor in Secondary Education (BSED) graduate samples were found higher in professional education courses. The respondents obtained a rating of good in the general education, professional education, and specialization courses.

Is the philosophy a worldvision? We ask this question to consider a general education of philosophy in the university. There are a general education course and a major education course in the university. The general education course for introduction to a major education course is also a kind of ladder between secondary education course in the high school and a major education course in the university.BR In the general education course, collegians are to understand, that contents in secondary education course in the high school were a temporary truth for need in life, and they are to be doubted and overcome, and that the general education course is primary for confirming standpoint and manner in another major education courses.BR A general education of philosophy in the university is course for collegians to awaken doing philosophy. In this course, collegians are to build their standpoint and manner for life: worldvision, view of life and value. But achievements of collegians in this course are not enough for purpose and goal of this course, as well as in another general education courses.BR Collegians’ unskillful stereotypes on general education courses cause not to achieve purpose and goal of this course. Collegians behavior in this course, as if general education courses were only a primary or probation for major education course. And this results disturb and cause purpose and goalof this course. In this paper, we are to review general education course, especially general philosophy education.BR According to M. Heidegger, philosophy originate from worldvision, and worldvision from Dasein’s understanding on Being. But we think, worldvision originate from philosophy. In Heidegger’s philosophy, Dasein is the origin of human being. Although we could not yet distinguish preciously between Dasein and human being in Heidegger’s philosophy, Dasein’s understanding on Being is to be a guide for our reviewing a general education of philosophy in the university.BR Heidegger asserted, that a worldvision is already formed in Dasein’s understanding on Being, and a philosophy from this worldvision, and that the origin of sciences is this philosophy. In this point, we can conclude, that a general education of philosophy in the university will let collegians on their own to confirm and be sure origin of worldvision, and then to form worldvision.

The ignored curriculum is one of important elements in the curriculum that the design of this concept has led to reduce a superficial look at measures to curriculum. Ignored curriculum not only in the design but also should be considered at the implementation level. The present study examined the experiences of teachers in general education from ignored curriculum in higher education and this study was done by qualitative research and its approach was interpretive phenomenology. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-six teachers of general education courses and the data obtained from these interviews were analyzed by using phenomenology of Smith. Three major themes from ignored curriculum, were found from the experience of teachers including 1) lack of attention to requirements which consists of three sub-categories: in attention to the needs of the learner, the needs and demands of everyday life and the needs of experts; 2) lack of attention to content; 3) run into problems involving the four sub-problems of teaching, evaluation time, space and assessment. The teachers during the training and implementing courses have gained a lot of experience from the ignored curriculum that had impact on their perception. Planners are familiar with academics experiences and identify ignored curriculum of general education courses and emphasized on how they understand the main goals of general education courses and made it meaningful and they had a main role in eliminating the flaws of this course, and enhance the effectiveness of them. In summary, the results obtained from the study were that general education courses, do not address the needs of learners. These requirements include of three sub-categories: inattention to the needs of the learner, routine needs and professionals. Also, courses have less attention to content. And there are problems such as difficulties in teaching this lesson, time, space and evaluation.

The concept of ideological and political education in curriculum is a new approach to deepening the reform of general education courses, and general education courses is an important carrier to implement ideological and political education in curriculum. The symbiotic development of general education and curriculum ideological and political is an effective way to deepen the reform of education and teaching in colleges and comprehensively improve the quality of talent cultivation in all aspects. The current ideological and political construction of general education courses facing many difficulties. In view of this, application-oriented undergraduate colleges and universities should establish a linkage mechanism between ideological and political education in curriculum and general education courses, improve the awareness and ability of general education course teachers in ideological and political education, innovate the teaching content and methods of general education courses, establish an evaluation index system for ideological and political of general education courses, and deeply promote the ideological and political construction of general education courses.

This study aimed to determine how the licensure examination for teachers performance of bachelor of BSED graduates influence by their profile? 105 graduate sample respondents participated in the study. the official results from the Professional Regulation Commission served as major data sources. The survey questionnaire was used to gather data other data. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were the statistical tools used in the study. . For the BSED, the profile that influenced their licensure examination performance was an aptitude for college work, GPA, and averages obtained in general education and professional education courses. The BSED graduates' sex influenced as well the ratings obtained in the specialization component of the LET. None from among the profile of professional education and specialization courses teachers predicts the performance ratings of BSED graduates in professional education and specialization of the LET. On the other hand, the graduates’ profile that predicts BSED performance in the LET included sex, aptitude for college work, and the GPA obtained in general education courses.

This study details the design and implementation of an online materials chemistry general education (GE) course during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many pedagogical techniques involving active learning have been established in STEM major courses, their use within STEM general education courses for non-majors are not as well-established. The recently developed GE course at UCLA (termed Chemistry 3: Material World) utilized high-impact practices to introduce students to the scientific process and impart skills of critical thinking and scientific communication through its flexible activities and assignments. Emphasis was placed on collaborative learning, problem-solving, and interpreting scientific information from published reports. Additionally, content focused on social justice and community engagement was introduced throughout several topics (e.g., underrepresentation in science, war on drugs, nuclear proliferation, pollution, and global climate change) to showcase that chemistry is intricately related to bigger societal challenges. This article details our efforts in achieving the course learning outcomes and shares tangible results regarding the assessment of our teaching strategies from student feedback and reflections. We envision that this work will assist faculty in designing inclusive chemistry GE courses that focus on process versus content and adopting our teaching strategies in both in-person and online classrooms.

Objective To learn students＇ satisfaction with the general education courses, discuss the problems in comprehensive general education courses in local medical colleges , and provide the basis and reference for the medical general education courses reform. Methods Using the stratified random sampling method, self-designed questionnaire to local medical colleges of 575 different professions students. The questionnaire had the total of 54 topics whose contents were related to the basic situation awareness and satisfaction, the demand for general education courses, general education curriculum problems and suggestions. The survey data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0 software and the results were expressed by the relative number（rate and percentage）. The differences between different majors and different grade student satisfaction were analyzed by using ranksum test, showing statistical significance（P〈0.05）. Results The total satisfaction was not very high, only 219 students（38%） were satisfied with general curriculum;256 students（45%） thought it didn＇t matter whether to set general education courses;100 students（17%） were not satisfied. In addition, satisfaction with different grades was undifferentiated （P=0.798）, but there was a statistical difference among the students of different professions（P=0.007）. Conclusion The general education curriculum of medical schools should not blindly pursue being wide and full. Instead, it should be built from three aspects such as core curriculum, flexible teaching methods, teaching methods reform to enhance teaching effectiveness. Key words: Local medical college; General courses; Curriculum setting; Satisfaction

General education of humanities has been implemented in China’s colleges and universities for nearly 30 years, but so far, there are not many studies on the teaching of general education courses of humanities, among which the study on improving the teaching effect of general education courses of humanities, especially the study based on empirical evidence, although is very necessary, is even rarer. In order to explore the approach to improve the teaching effect of general education courses in humanities, in the past 9 semesters at South China University of Technology, a research-oriented university in China, the author of this paper carried out teaching exploration in a total of 14 large classes, and 23 small classes taught by himself, with 3094 undergraduate students enrolled, in three general education courses of humanities, namely "Anglo-American Literature and Culture", "Selected Readings of English Poetry", and "Tasting Chinese Classics in English", by implementing four teaching modes in classroom teaching: topic+interactive, topic+non-interactive, non-topic+interactive, non-topic+ non-interactive. It is found that topic-centered interactive small class teaching achieves the best teaching effect. At the same time, surveys and investigations conducted by the author of this paper on the teaching of general education courses of humanities at South China University of Technology demonstrate that interactive small class teaching taught by teachers with professor titles achieves optimal teaching effect. It can be thus concluded that the topic-centered, interactive small class teaching taught by a professor is the best approach to improve the teaching effect of general education courses of humanities in a research university. It is expected that the findings of this study will serve as a reference for other research universities in China to improve the teaching effect of general education courses in humanities.

Design thinking is vital for attaining sustainable development goals (SDG) or SDG in education. This article investigates the status of design thinking education in realizing SDG in education. The intentional requirement for using innovative design to enhance national competitiveness is discussed regarding the "Made in China 2025" policy document. It then investigates the current status of design thinking curriculum development in China, counting the adoption of Western models and the formation of project cooperation mechanisms, the combination of design thinking into general education courses, and the rise of online courses over the development of the Internet. Five international best practices of design thinking courses are offered, i.e., Stanford University, the University of Miami, the Royal College of Art, Vanderbilt University, and Tama Art University. These practices tell the different features of design thinking courses and emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, actual problem-solving, And the cultivation of a humanistic spirit and social responsibility. The article then highlights vital lessons and conclusions from design thinking education in general higher education courses. These include the importance of human-centered, social, and computational thinking, the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in developing collaborative empathy, and the practical problem-solving skills and creativity that design thinking can undertake. To sum up, the design thinking course is an effective way to improve the design thinking level of college students and change the existing teaching methods of various majors, and it has significant benefits for both students and enterprises. Overall, the paper provides a comprehensive picture of the importance of design thinking education in achieving educational sustainability, highlighting its potential for developing innovative and practical problem-solving skills in college students and its relevance to various disciplines and industries.

Background and Aim: Higher education was responsible for cultivating talent cultivation, scientific research, social service, inheritance and innovation, and international exchange and cooperation. It was also a core principle and key work content that was jointly recognized by international organizations and the Chinese Ministry of Education. The opening of the Health Qigong Ba Duan Jin course at the core quality level, it did not only cultivated college students' dignified body shape and good movement coordination ability, so that college students' limbs become more upright, flexible, and soft, but also cultivated college students' firm will quality and comprehensive learning ability; in the design of the curriculum, it not only makes the physical education course curriculum richer, but also receives a better effect in cultivating the comprehensive ability of college students. These research objectives were 1) To develop Ba Duan Jin teaching program for general physical education courses of general physical education for female university students. 2) To identify the appropriate teaching methods and contents for teaching and learning Ba Duan Jin in general physical education for female university students. 3) To set an experiment on the developed Ba Duan Jin teaching program in general physical education for female university students, and to compare the effectiveness between the effective output of the developed Ba Duan Jin teaching program and the Traditional Health Qigong program on, 1) physical health 2) Ba Duan Jin skills and 3) general competencies. Materials and Methods: The population of this research was first-year university students in the second semester of the academic year 2023 at Guilin Tourism University. They were registered in the Health Qigong in general physical education course of general education. The teaching program was developed and experimented with through a two-group pretest-posttest design with 30 students of first-year students in each group. The experimental group was taught with the developed Ba Duan Jin teaching program and the control group was taught with the traditional health qigong program. The research operated for 12 weeks, three days a week with one and a half hours a day. The paired t-test was used to analyze data within the group and the independent t-test was used to analyze data between groups. Results: 1) Participated in the Ba Duan Jin teaching program could gain more significant improvement at a .05 level of significance than participating in the Traditional Health Qigong teaching program only on the Ba Duan Jin Skills and in a Physical pain of General Competency: But the other items of General Competency and All items in Physical fitness did not have any differences. 2) Subjects in the Experimental group who participated in the Ba Duan Jin teaching program accepted the teaching operation and process with a very high perception of the benefits and values of Ba Duan Jin, teaching method, and process and carried over the values of Ba Duan Jin for lifelong health exercise. Conclusion: In general, physical education for university students both Ba Duan Jin and Health Qigong could improve Physical Fitness, Qigong Skill, and General Competency but the Ba Duan Jin teaching program could improve some few variables in General Competency more than Heath Qigong, The Ba Duan Jin. The teaching program was very highly accepted perceived the value of exercise, operation, and process of the teaching program.

Personal Finance (PF) is one of the largest societal problems affecting the broader United States marketplace. Academic business departments can minister to the general student population by developing PF instruction as a general education (GE) course, even at a Christian liberal arts college. This paper will discuss the need for PF, the current approaches of higher education institutions, the path for adaptation as a GE offering, the integration of Christian faith topics and pedagogical approaches and resources for a semester-long class. Program your graduates for success in life via PF education.

A general education course is different from a major course in an engineering college. Therefore, they influence a learning outcomes according to their forms and contents. In particular, an engineering college in korea is open to argument against a general education course. Because a general education course has to observe the criterion of ABEEK. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to compare general education courses of engineering colleges in USA. For it, this study analyzes the completion method and academic area of a general education course. In result, this study suggests the property and implication of a general education course in an engineering college.