Ability Skills Research Articles

Exploring the association between social skills struggles and social communication difficulties and depression in youth with autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by social communication difficulties and social skills abilities that are significantly differ from neurotypical populations as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. Furthermore, many autistic youth experience co-occurring conditions, with one of the most common being depression. This depression is suggested to be, in part, the result of the relative social isolation experienced by autistic youth. Therefore, it is important to examine social functioning differences in autistic youth and their association with depression. There has been limited research investigating the association between social communication difficulties and depression, or the association between social skills struggles and depression, and no research investigating both of these in the same population. We found that social communicative symptoms of autism (as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) were not associated with depression scores (as measured by the Revised Checklist for Anxiety and Depression) after controlling for age, sex, and IQ. In contrast, we did find a significant association between social skills struggles (as measured by the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-2) and depression in the same sample. Higher social skills struggles were associated with higher depression scores after controlling for age, sex, and IQ. Reasons for the potential discrepancy between these findings are discussed, and clinical implications of these findings are explored.

The Social Factors That Influence Children's Interactions and Behavior in Classroom

Social factors show complex interactions and can affect children's social interactions. This research analyzes social factors that influence children's interactions and behavior in the classroom environment. This type of research is qualitative research. This qualitative research involved children and two of their teachers in kindergarten. Data collection methods use observation and interviews. The data collection instrument uses a questionnaire sheet. The data analysis technique uses qualitative descriptive analysis. Data were analyzed using content analysis techniques. The results show that respectful relationships, honest conversation and communication, intellectual engagement of students, shared ownership and responsibility in learning, and a classroom environment are the keys to effective learning for children. Teachers recognize children's progress, so they begin to value many of the social behaviors that children want to master. The classroom setting is an excellent place for children, and teachers pay attention to children's independent ability for tasks or skills through their interactions.

Framework for Numeracy and Digital Skills Attributes in Higher Education

Numeracy and digital skills are among the most crucial skills that any graduate should possess before entering the workforce, regardless of their field of study. Therefore, both skills should not be treated as an “add on” skill but viewed as essential graduate attributes needing to be purposefully incorporated into the curriculum instead of mere chance. By understanding the learners’ numeracy and digital skills abilities, educators can create suitable learning outcomes, activities, and assessments, enabling them to acquire the skills. The objective of this study is to create a framework for testing numeracy (NSI) and digital skills (DSI) using a cross-sectional design and quantitative methodology. The research entails generating a questionnaire, verifying it via a rigorous procedure of expert content validation, and focusing on sufficiency, clarity, coherence, and relevance. A pilot study involving 218 students from various disciplines was conducted to measure the reliability of the framework using Cronbach Alpha. Feedback from experts was then used to enhance the questionnaire, resulting in the finalisation of five components for the Digital Skills Instrument (DSI): information literacy, computer and technology literacy, digital communication and collaboration skills, digital identity and well-being, and digital ethics. Meanwhile, the five components of the Numeracy Skills Instrument (NSI) encompassed operation and calculation, graphical representation, quantitative reasoning and logical thinking, complex number (advanced concept), spatial visualisation and geometric reasoning. The results indicated a strong internal consistency across all components for both tools, with alpha values ranging from 0.847 to 0.958 for DSI and 0.916 to 0.964 for NSI. Corrected item-total correlations also depicted intercorrelation between items for both instruments. To sum up, the findings demonstrate that the DSI and NSI have high reliability and validity. Because both tools are reliable and valid for measuring digital and numeracy skills in the Malaysian context, they can be confidently used for future research.

STRATEGIES OF AN EFL TEACHER TO TEACH SPEAKING IN CLASS VIII OF SMPN 2 JOMBANG

This research aimed to describe the strategies of teaching speaking in class VIII at one state junior high school in Jombang and find out the EFL teacher’s reasons to use the strategies in class VIII at one state junior high school in Jombang. This research is qualitative research in the form of case study. The data were collected from class observation, documentation, and interview with an EFL teacher and twelve students from three classes of class VIII at one state junior high school in Jombang. The results indicate that the teacher applies several strategies in teaching speaking in class VIII. The teacher applies conversation and direct-practice strategy in teaching asking attention, complimenting/appreciating, and asking and giving opinion, using questioning to check understanding in teaching checking understanding and degrees comparison, presentation in teaching notice material, brainstorming in teaching announcement material, and demonstration strategy in teaching degrees and comparison material. There are several teacher’s reasons in applying the strategies in teaching speaking to improve students’ skill ability.

Measuring the divergent thinking ability in biology science process skills of elementary school students based on tutoring activities

Learning in the current era is often directed at developing creativity. Increasing creativity is very close to divergent thinking skills. This study aims at measuring the divergent thinking ability in biology science process skills of the sixth-grade students at elementary schools in one regency in relation to the tutoring activities along with the effect of gender and parents occupations. This study is a descriptive quantitative study employing a survey method. The sample includes 603 sixth grade students at 18 elementary schools in one regency which was determined using a purposive sampling technique. The divergent thinking ability is indicated by the scores of the open-ended test. The tutoring programs, gender, and parents professions of the samples were obtained from questionnaires. Scoring guidelines and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The mean of testee joining the tutoring program is relatively low (mean=17.93/40.00, SD=6.02). This empirically shows that the development of divergent thinking ability in biology science process skills at elementary school is not optimal yet, particularly in the research samples. There is a relationship between the gender and parents occupations with the students divergent thinking ability of biology science process skills regarding the tutoring activities. This can be studied and examined further.

The Importance of Understanding Ability, Skills and Attitudes of Students in the Practice of Guidance and Counseling Services

The objective study is to know students' level of ability, understanding, skills, and attitudes in practice service guidance and counseling in schools. The approach research used is a study survey of guidance and counseling teachers who become tutors in accompaniment student practice guidance and counseling. Instruments in questionnaires closed as many as 25 items with indicator understanding, skills and attitudes students in implementation activity practice guidance and counseling. While processing techniques results survey uses percentages from many answer respondents compared amount whole respondents multiplied by 100%, the results percentage categorized as very good, good, well enough, less well, and very less. Research results conclude that students' level of ability in understanding, skills, and attitudes in implementation service guidance and counseling. The research results are concluded (1) the level of ability to understand guidance and counseling for students who carry out practices in schools is included in the sufficient category (very good 29.17% and good 56.25% ), (2) the level of students' skills in providing guidance and counseling services to students in the aspects of attending, responding, personalizing, and initiating is included in the sufficient category (very good 33.16% and good 56.88%), and (3) the level of ability of students' attitudes in carrying out guidance and counseling services in schools is categorized as sufficient (for very good 51.49% and good 41.96%).

The role of letter knowledge acquisition ability on children's decoding and word identification: Evidence from an artificial orthography

BackgroundLetter knowledge is crucial in the first stages of reading development. It supports learning letter‐sound mappings and the identification of the letters that make up words. Previous studies have investigated the longitudinal impact of early letter knowledge on children's further word reading abilities. This study employed an artificial orthography learning paradigm to explore whether the rate of letter learning modulates children's reading and word identification skills.MethodsIn an initial training phase, 8‐year‐old Spanish children (N = 30) learned nine artificial letters and their corresponding sounds (two vowels and six consonants). The letter learning rate was set according to the number of attempts needed to name at least seven letters (i.e., 80% correct). These ranged from 1 to 4. In a second training phase, children visualized words made up of the trained letters while listening to their pronunciations. Some words included a context‐dependent syllable (i.e., leading to grapheme‐to‐phoneme inconsistency), and others had an inconsistent syllable (i.e., phoneme‐to‐grapheme inconsistency). The post‐test consisted of a reading aloud task and an orthographic‐choice task in which the target word was presented with a distractor equal to the target except for the substitution of a letter.ResultsChildren showed a high accuracy rate in the post‐test tasks, regardless of whether words contained context‐dependent or inconsistent syllables. Critically, the letter learning rate predicted both reading aloud and identification accuracy of words in the artificial orthography.ConclusionsWe provide evidence for the vital role of letter knowledge acquisition ability in children's decoding and word identification skills. Training children on this ability facilitates serial letter‐sound mapping and word identification skills. Artificial orthography paradigms are optimal for exploring children's potential to achieve specific literacy skills.

Using Fun Learning Method with Iqro' Block Media to Improve the Reading Ability of Paud Hijaiyah Students

Religious education should be introduced to children from an early age. At PAUD KB Ceria Serang, Islamic religious education was introduced to students, one of which was by teaching the hijaiyah letters to students. To improve students' ability to read hijaiyah letters, one of the methods used is to use the iqra' block media. This research is a quantitative research with the type of experimental research with a quasi-experimental design. The population in this study were all students of PAUD KB Pelangi Ceria Serang with a sample of 24 students in class B. Based on the results of data analysis, the average pretest score was 53.21 and the posttest average was 74.46. And based on the independent sample t-test output table in the equal variances assumed section, it is known that the sig2teiled value is 0.000 <0.05, so it can be concluded that there is an increase in students' reading skills ability after using the iqra' beam media.

Teachers’ Perceptions of The Independent Learning Policy at SMP Negeri 4 Lembang Jaya, Solok Regency

This study examines Teacher Perceptions of the Freedom to Learn Policy, especially regarding the Simplification of Learning Implementation Plans (RPP) at SMP Negeri 4 Lembang Jaya, Solok Regency. The purpose of this study was to find out how the teacher’s perception of the Free Learning Policy regarding the Simplification of Learning Implementation Plans (RPP) at SMP Negeri 4 Lembang Jaya, Solok Regency. In this research, there are 3 formulations of the problem, namely what is the teacher’s perception of the independent learning policy regarding simplification of lesson plans in SMP Negeri 4 Lembang Jaya, Solok Regency, and what are the obstacles faced by teachers in preparing lesson plans, and what are the solutions to these problems. This type of research is descriptive qualitative research. The results showed that teachers’ perceptions of the independent learning policy regarding simplification of lesson plans, namely that the existence of this policy of simplifying lesson plans really helped teachers in terms of administration which did not take much time in preparing lesson plans. Whatever the obstacles in the preparation of lesson plans that will be simplified, namely the lack of socialization and adequate skill abilities by teachers related to writing 1 sheet lesson plans and the different formats in writing lesson plans from the previous curriculum. The solution taken by the school to overcome these obstacles is to hold socialization about writing lesson plans and holding MGMPs every week for each subject teacher.

Analisis Yuridis Pembinaan Residivis Anak Pada Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Khusus Anak

The development of prisoners in Indonesia is implemented in the correctional system. Various forms of guidance for correctional students at Special Child Development Institutions cannot be separated from a change in the correctional system, which aims to provide provisions for correctional students to face life after completing their sentence. The problems that will be examined in this article include how to foster child recidivism in Special Child Development Institutions and what are the inhibiting factors in the implementation of child recidivism guidance in Special Child Development Institutions.
 The method used in this research is Normative Juridical and Empirical Juridical Research Methods, using primary data and secondary data.
 Research Results: The Bandar Lampung Special Children's Development Institute has generally attempted to provide rights to children by implementing and providing guidance in accordance with what is mandated by law. The implementation of coaching for correctional students who are recidivists has so far been the same as other correctional students who are not recidivists, this is because the program and coaching patterns that have existed so far have regulated this. In its implementation, Special Child Development Institutions find it quite difficult to run a coaching program, several inhibiting factors in the implementation of recidivist coaching for correctional students include: low level of education, children's skill abilities, lack of community participation and children's changing thinking patterns. Suggestions that can be given by the author regarding the problems that arise include: for Special Child Development Institutions, it is necessary to differentiate between the training of ordinary correctional students and recidivist correctional students which can have a deterrent effect on children so that they do not commit crimes again, for example by developing their mental health. children and put more emphasis on spiritual development and for officers at Special Education Institutions for Children to be able to encourage correctional students not to commit criminal acts again.

Enhancing Engineering Students’ skill through Project-Based Learning in ESP Class

Background: English for Specific Purpose (ESP) plays a significant role in developing the student’s English language skills in writing, reading, speaking, and listening. In Indonesia, English has been learned since the students were in early education to a higher level, however, they are found less confident in using English for communicating especially in ESP classMethods: This research is conducted to find a suitable method to increase the student’s self-confidence and enhance their language skills through the appropriate approach called Project Based Learning (PBL). This PBL focuses on the student’s oral performance during the Final Test project, which employs technology to reach its purpose and it is conducted online during the pandemic. This study used Kurt Lewin’s Classroom Action Research (CAR) as the research methodology consisting of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The subjects of this study were 30 Civil Engineering students in semester 2 of the 2020/2021 academic year. Classroom observation, interview, and teacher evaluation using the National Council Teacher of English (NCTE) Oral presentation rubric are used as the data collectionResults: The finding shows that students’ confidence increased therefore it enhanced their language skills ability through this PBL activity along with the teacher’s support and motivation during the whole semester.Conclusion: Project Based-Learning significantly affects the student’s language development, including building their confidence and improving their motivation in using English contextually and creatively without fear of making mistakes. Moreover, Project Based-Learning helps the students feel relaxed and comfortable in ESP class, yet they found it challenging simultaneously.

Adaption and development of designs inspired fro Warli art and its application on apparel products through different embroidery stitches

India has always been known as the land that portrays cultural and traditional vibrancy through its conventional arts and crafts. The word “Warli” is derived from Warla, meaning ‘piece of land’ or ‘field’. Warli paintings are the paintings from Maharashtra. Warli strongly reveals the skilled abilities of its local artisans and the prosperous cultural heritage of the state. It represents the religious sentiments and social-cultural traditions of the region as well as the collective experience of the artists inherited through many generations and the expression of the historic events, with which the places are marked. Various attempts have been made in this regard by different agencies to preserve warli design in the form of cards, paintings, stickers etc. Besides this, work has also been undertaken in the direction of adaptation of Warli motifs to create design base for application in textile designing through different techniques. Warli motifs were adapted for center design and border design. Total thirty motifs were developed keeping in mind their suitability for articles like Mask, Kurti, Plazzo and Duptta. Developed design sheets were subjected to visual evaluation for selection of one best design in each category by the panel of thirty respondents to find out the suitability of the developed designs. Finally four products were prepared by using selected designs and these prepared products were highly appreciated by the respondents.

The Effectiveness of Arabic Learning Materials to Improve Students’ Listening Skills at Darussalam Islamic Boarding School

Listening skill is one of the essential aspects of Arabic learning. There was no teaching material for Arabic listening skills in the form of books at Kulliyyatul Muallimin al-Islamiyyah (KMI) Gontor which lead to an imbalance of harmonies among four Arabic language skills. This article aimed to develop the teaching materials for listening skills after being tested based on the problem formulation. Using the ten-stage Borg and Gall development model, this article was a form of research and development (RD). Data for the Wilcoxon formula analysis was acquired from Gontor Islamic Boarding School in Ponorogo, Indonesia, through observation, interviews, questionnaires, achievement tests, and documents. This article focused on 5th grade with a sample of 33 students for the first experiment and 60 students for the second experiment implementing stratified random sampling. The result showed that textbook form for Kulliyyatul Muallimin al-Islamiyyah (KMI) Gontor at the 5th grade for listening teaching materials was effective in developing Arabic skills ability. According to the data, student listening skills have improved by 60.12%. Due to this learning material effectiveness, it is essential for educators, institutions, and students to maximize the use of this material in order to collaborate on enhancing Arabic language proficiency.

Striatal synaptic changes and behavior in adult mouse upon prenatal exposure to valproic acid

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction. Altered synaptogenesis and aberrant connectivity responsible for social behavior and communication have been reported in autism pathogenesis. Autism has a strong genetic and heritable component; however, environmental factors including toxins, pesticides, infection and in utero exposure to drugs such as VPA have also been implicated in ASD. Administration of VPA during pregnancy has been used as a rodent model to study pathophysiological mechanisms involved in ASD, and in this study, we used the mouse model of prenatal exposure to VPA to assess the effects on striatal and dorsal hippocampus function in adult mice.Alterations in repetitive behaviors and shift habits were observed in mice prenatally exposed to VPA. In particular, such mice presented a better performance in learned motor skills and cognitive deficits in Y-maze learning frequently associated with striatal and hippocampal function. These behavioral changes were associated with a decreased level of proteins involved in the formation and maintenance of excitatory synapses, such as Nlgn-1 and PSD-95. In conclusion, motor skill abilities, repetitive behaviors, and impaired flexibility to shift habits are associated with reduced striatal excitatory synaptic function in the adult mouse prenatally exposed to VPA.

Study on the D evelopment and Verify o f the Korean- Pow ered Wheelchair Driving Skill Ability Assessment Tool(K-PWDSAAT)

Study on the D evelopment and Verify o f the Korean- Pow ered Wheelchair Driving Skill Ability Assessment Tool(K-PWDSAAT)

148 Experiential learning influences student perspectives on career aspirations, industry networking, and soft skill development

Equine industry internship and career options are diverse and can prove difficult for college students to navigate when entering the workforce. An equine industry course, with classroom and experiential learning trip components, was developed to expand educational and networking opportunities provided in traditional animal science curriculum. The objective of this study was to determine how course participation influenced future career aspirations, willingness to relocate for employment, and soft skill development. Students (n = 24) from the University of TN (n = 20) and IL State University (n = 4) participated in an 8 d experiential learning trip which contained 17 individual stops across industry, reproduction, nutrition, agritourism and manufacturing locations in TN, OK and TX. Pre- and post-trip surveys were conducted (Qualtrics) to assess prior experience with equids, career aspirations, personal, professional skills and knowledge learned from the trip. Soft skill abilities, willingness to travel, and knowledge gained were assessed on a 5 point Likert scale. Career aspirations, involvement in the equine industry and skills developed post-trip were open ended questions analyzed manually where the number of similar answers were counted. Data were assessed for descriptive statistics using StataSE 17. Most students (62.50%, n = 15) were previously involved in the equine industry and/or equids for more than 5 years, were animalscience majors (87.50%, n = 21), and were raised in rural/on-farm communities (54.20%, n = 13). Post-trip 58.33% (n = 14), of respondents changed career aspirations including but not limited to nutritionist, barn manager, reproductive specialist, and equine veterinarian. Post-trip students indicated they have gained more knowledge of internships (87.50%, n = 21), awareness of careers (95.83%, n = 23), value of equi-tourism (83.33%, n = 20) and overall additional knowledge of equine gained (83.33%, n = 20). Open ended questions indicated students developed professionally, with skills including networking (25.00%, n = 6), importance of connections (20.83%, n = 5), and knowledge of new career opportunities (37.50%, n = 9). Students gained social skills (12.50%, n = 3), communication skills (8.33%, n = 2), confidence (41.67%, n = 10) and expanded personal comfort zones (29.17%, n = 7). The industry trip enhanced student knowledge, experience, and soft skills that would have otherwise been inaccessible in a traditional course setting. Additional assessment should be conducted to quantify the benefit of experience-based learning in career aspirations and developing marketable skills.

Universally Designed Accommodations on a Reading Comprehension Test: What Do They Accomplish?

To investigate the impact of universal testing accommodations on a computer-based reading comprehension test, accessibility, reliability, and validity were evaluated. Tests with and without accommodations were administered to 131 twelfth-grade students in three U.S. schools. Scores on Curriculum-Based Measurement probes determined groups of students without functional impairment ( n = 83) and students with functional impairment ( n = 44) in the access skill of reading fluency. Results indicated that ability in access skills is associated with use of accommodations, and that high accessibility can assist in removing the impact of construct-irrelevant skill. No score boost or differential boost was found; validity evaluation offered meaningful results. No reliability change was found. The results of this study support child study team members individualizing accommodations to target deficits in access skills, selecting accommodations on criteria other than differential boost, and offering appropriate accommodations more universally.

Relationship between problem solving ability in physics and computational thinking skills

The rapid development of technology today does not only require problem solving skills, other thinking skills such as computational thinking skills are needed in solving complex problems. This study aims to investigate the relationship between problem solving abilities in physics, especially vibrations and waves, and computational thinking skills. This study uses a correlation research design in which the relationship between two variables of problem-solving ability and computational thinking is observed. By using data from 21 eighth grade junior high school students who had participated in wave learning, it was found that the correlation between the two variables was in the moderate category. These data indicate that problem solving abilities contribute to students’ computational thinking skills. Discussion of the results of this study will be discussed in more detail in this article.

Relationship between problem solving ability in physics and computational thinking skills

The rapid development of technology today does not only require problem solving skills, other thinking skills such as computational thinking skills are needed in solving complex problems. This study aims to investigate the relationship between problem solving abilities in physics, especially vibrations and waves, and computational thinking skills. This study uses a correlation research design in which the relationship between two variables of problem-solving ability and computational thinking is observed. By using data from 21 eighth grade junior high school students who had participated in wave learning, it was found that the correlation between the two variables was in the moderate category. These data indicate that problem solving abilities contribute to students' computational thinking skills. Discussion of the results of this study will be discussed in more detail in this article.

Envisioning Student’s Performance Over Placements into IT Sector

Abstract: Anticipating student placements is an essential task for educational institutions, as it can help identify students who may need additional support and resources to succeed in their careers. This project aims to predict student placement performance based on academic performance, testing their fundamentals, standardised test scores, and many more. To accomplish this, we collected data from a large sample of students who had appeared for placement training & attended the skill ability test and later analysed their performance concerning these factors. Furthermore, we shall use this data to develop a machine-learning model to predict student performance on placements. The model trains on the collected data and will be able to predict student performance accurately. This model can help educational institutions [1] or organisations to identify students who may be at risk of poor performance on placements and provide them with the necessary support and resources to improve their skills and efficiency.