Teaching Program Research Articles

Education Research: Use by Neurologists of Microteaching and Microassessment Programs for Teaching, Learning, and Patient Care Needs

Education Research: Use by Neurologists of Microteaching and Microassessment Programs for Teaching, Learning, and Patient Care Needs

Effective Teaching as Described by Teachers who Are Also Doctoral Students: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

Teachers' roles in their students' lives cannot be underestimated because they impact students in various ways. However, what makes a good teacher is often based on personal perspectives and values, making it subjective. This qualitative descriptive study sought to explore how teachers, who are also students or recent graduates of a teaching and learning doctoral degree program, define effective teaching and describe the characteristics of effective teachers. Data were collected using semi-structured, conversational interviews. The findings revealed that effective teachers exemplify three characteristics: rapport, communication, and passion. Recommendations for practitioners and future research are included. Keywords: effective teaching, teachers, students, rapport, communication, passion

Effectiveness of a structured teaching program on knowledge and attitude regarding child mental disorders among primary school teachers at selected schools in Vijayapur, Karnataka

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a structured teaching program on the knowledge and attitudes of primary school teachers regarding child mental disorders. Given the projected rise in childhood neuropsychiatric disorders, teachers, who spend significant time with students, are in a pivotal position to identify mental health issues early. A pre-experimental one-group pre-test post-test design was utilized, involving 100 primary school teachers selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a self-structured knowledge questionnaire and an attitude scale. Results indicated a significant increase in knowledge (pre-test mean = 8.47, post-test mean = 21.39; t = 36.31, p < 0.001) and attitudes (pre-test mean = 23.60, post-test mean = 33.77; t = 15.51, p < 0.001) post-intervention. Additionally, the study found significant associations between knowledge and specific socio-demographic variables, including prior identification of children with mental disorders. The findings suggest that structured teaching programs can effectively enhance teachers' knowledge and attitudes toward child mental health, underscoring the need for such initiatives in educational settings.

Editorial

Dear Readers, First of all, I am very happy to announce that the funding round of the KOALA initiative initiated by the TIB was successful and that our journal will be part of the computer science and mathematics cluster for the next three years. The entire J.UCS team is very grateful for the great efforts of the KOALA team and for the support of the J.UCS community. This enables us to continue our work to maintain J.UCS as a diamond open access journal and to further improve the service and scientific quality. Also, I would like to thank all the authors for their sound research and the editorial board for their extremely valuable review effort and suggestions for improvement. These contributions, together with the generous support of the consortium members, contribute to the quality of our journal. It gives me great pleasure to announce the eleventh regular issue of 2024. In this issue, 6 papers by 21 authors from 5 countries - Brazil, India, Algeria, Italy, Sweden - cover various topical aspects of computer science. In an ongoing effort to further strengthen our journal, I am continuously looking for new editorial board members: If you are a tenured associate professor or higher with a good publication record, you are welcome to apply to join our editorial board. We are also interested in high-quality proposals for special issues on new topics and trends. Geová Junio da Silva Tavares and Nelson Souto Rosa from Brazil present the results of a survey on humans in the loop for self-adaptive systems. Aluizio Haendchen Filho, Adson Marques da Silva Esteves, Hércules Antonio do Prado, Edilson Ferneda and André Luis Alice Raabe from Brazil discuss their study on adaptive content recommendations to improve logic and programming teaching and learning by using learning paths to group students and provide personalized recommendations based on peers' progress. Rupesh Kumar Verma, A. J. Khan, Sunil Kashyap and Manoj Kumar Chande from India conduct their study on the certificateless aggregate signature scheme in terms of their computational performance and security, which can be widely used in areas such as IoT or healthcare systems. Besma Hezili and Hichem Talbi from Algeria address the collaborative auto-diversified optimization scheme (CADOS) for solving continuous and combinatorial optimization problems by exploring the synergy of various optimization algorithms and enhance their effectiveness and efficiency, particularly for higher-dimensional problems. Maroua Chemlal, Amina Zedadra, Ouarda Zedadra, Antonio Guerrieri and Med Nadjib Kouahla from Algeria outline their approach and findings on a multi-criteria food and restaurant recommendation system. And last but not least, Ashish Ranjan Mishra, Rakesh Kumar and Rajkumar Saini from India present their study on the improvement of the effectiveness of person authentication by using deep learning techniques on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals by applying a multiscale convolutional neural network (CNN) and a Bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM) model to extract features and classify raw EEG data. Enjoy Reading! Kind regards, Christian Gütl, Managing Editor Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

Using Adaptive Content Recommendations to Improve Logic and Programming Teaching and Learning

The high dropout rate in Information Technologies courses is a relevant problem in many countries, mainly because of the increasing demand for professionals in this sector. Usually, high dropout rates in these courses are related to difficulties in algorithms and programming subjects. Content recommendation systems are proposed to mitigate this problem, employing adaptive learning environments that facilitate the learning process. This study presents a content recommendation system that uses learning paths to group students and provide personalized recommendations based on peers' progress. The work follows the many efforts of group-based recommendation systems reported in the literature. The system uses intelligent agents and clustering algorithms to implement the recommendation system and was evaluated by submitting the simulation results to the judgment of human experts who significantly agreed with them. This initiative could make programming teaching more adaptive, using the groups' knowledge. Facilitating learning is one of the key issues to reduce dropout rates and resolve the shortage of labor in the technological area in Portuguese-speaking countries.

Exploring Formative Assessment Strategies for Pupils with Learning Disabilities in Inclusive Schools in Temeke Municipality, Tanzania

Formative assessment is a key tool for monitoring the progress of pupils with disabilities in inclusive educational settings. This study investigates the strategies used for formative assessment of pupils with learning disabilities in inclusive schools, with a specific focus on teachers' perceptions in Temeke Municipality. The study is grounded in an interpretive paradigm and adopts a qualitative research methodology, using a multiple case study design. A purposive and snowball sample of 22 teachers was selected, with data collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using content analysis facilitated by Atlas Ti software. Ethical considerations were adhered to by obtaining approval from the Directorate of Research, Publications, and Innovation at the Open University of Tanzania, and ensuring participant confidentiality and anonymity throughout the research process. The findings indicate that teachers primarily use quizzes, tests, exams, and task-based performance as common formative assessment methods for pupils with learning disabilities. Such methods helped to assess the academic progress of pupils, including those with learning disabilities, by providing valuable insights into their understanding of the material. Teachers also noted the importance of ongoing feedback in supporting student progress. The study concludes that the use of a variety of assessment techniques is essential for improving the academic performance of pupils with learning disabilities in inclusive settings. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the government should implement regular professional development programs for teachers, focusing on enhancing their formative assessment skills in special needs. Such initiatives are expected to foster a more inclusive and effective learning environment for all pupils.

PRIORITY DIRECTIONS OF CREATING A BARRIER-FREE ENVIRONMENT IN PENAL INSTITUTIONS AND DETENTION CENTERS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE CRIMINAL-EXECUTIVE SERVICE OF UKRAINE

The study is dedicated to finding out the vision of employees of penal institutions and pretrial detention centers of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine, whose duties are related to working with people with disabilities, priority directions for creating a barrier-free environment in penal institutions and pretrial detention centers. Eighty-eight research participants were united into four focus groups; the task of each was, based on their own work experience, assessments the relevance of problems related to the maintenance of persons with disabilities in the penal institutions, as well as the available capabilities of the institutions, to form a list the most priority directions and methods of barrier-free environment creation. The content analysis and generalization of the obtained data showed that additional socio-psychological support, removal of physical barriers on the territory and in the buildings of institutions, and ensuring the availability of physical support services by specially trained personnel and other convicts turned out to be the most priority areas of barrier-free implementation in the participants’ evaluations. At the same time, several important directions, such as the elimination of informational, economic, and educational barriers, were not included in the lists of most groups, which, according to the authors, may indicate both an underestimation of these components of barrier-freeness by the study participants and lack of opportunities for their implementation. Development of psychological and pedagogical programs and formation of the readiness of the State Criminal-Executive Service staff and selected convicts to provide physical support services to persons with disabilities, including barrier-free communication skills, monitoring the special needs of convicts and prisoners with disabilities, according to the authors, along with other measures, will contribute to the purposeful implementation of the Strategy for the introduction of barrier-free access in places of deprivation of liberty. Key words: barrier-free environment, prisoners and convicts, penal institutions and pretrial detention centers, staff of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine.

The effects of the Hand in Hand: Empowering Teachers(HAND: ET) programme on teacher burnout in Slovenia. Do experience and baseline emotional competencies matter?

The effects of the Hand in Hand: Empowering Teachers(HAND: ET) programme on teacher burnout in Slovenia. Do experience and baseline emotional competencies matter?

AI chatbots in programming education: guiding success or encouraging plagiarism

This study examines the impact of an AI programming assistant on students' exam scores and their tendency to accept incorrect AI-generated information. The customized AI programming assistant was developed by the authors using GPT based Large Language Model (LLM). A one group pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design was utilized to answer research questions. Students were asked to take identical programming exams twice: once without AI assistance and once with the option to use the AI assistant. Results showed that the students’ average exam scores significantly increased from 48.33 to 74.47 with a large effect size (d = 1.56) when they used the AI assistance. On the other hand, when student—AI interaction logs were analyzed for a specific question, it was found that AI generated incorrect answers to 36 students. Thirty-three of these students (92%) answered the question incorrectly. Even more interestingly, despite the AI-generated response containing an obvious error, 22 of them (61%) copied and pasted the AI's response directly into the answer field. Only 3 students (8%) ignored the incorrect response generated by the AI and answered the question correctly. A significant portion of students accepting incorrect information provided by AI underscores the need for careful integration of AI tools into learning environments. Moreover, our findings emphasize the importance of specially developed AI tools rather than free tools like ChatGPT in exploring the new type of interaction between students and AI.

Secondary pre-service teachers’ visual literacy: instructional strategies in social studies

While visual literacy pedagogy in teacher preparation programs has been a recognized body of knowledge the past few decades, limited research centers upon secondary teachers who are responsible for integrating visual literacy into content instruction. This study explored how 32 secondary English language arts and social studies pre-service teachers (PSTs) utilized visual displays to teach content in their classrooms. PSTs were tasked with developing instructional strategies based on five commonly used visuals in social studies texts: photographs, images, maps, tables and flowcharts. Through a qualitative analysis of the PSTs’ prompts, three themes emerged: (1) teacher-led activities, (2) writing activities and (3) student-centered activities. Teacher-centred activities were more prevalent, with a majority of PSTs proposing lectures, guided prompts and activities involved comparing and constrasting elements of visuals. Writing activities included reflective writing and writing from a perspective of a historical figure. In contrast, only a few PSTs designed interactive, student-centered activities, such as using student-created visuals, student-lead discussions and student-created presentations. To foster active learners and critical consumers in the 21st century, we propose implications for teacher education programs to promote visual literacy.

Optimizing PhET Use in Rwandan Mathematics and Sciences Teaching

This qualitative study examined the effectiveness of professional development programs for mathematics and sciences teachers in four public secondary schools within Gasabo District, Rwanda. The primary focus was to evaluate how these programs enhance teachers' ability to integrate Physics Education Technology (PhET) simulations into their classrooms. The research involved 42 participants. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings revealed that professional development programs significantly improved teachers' confidence and proficiency in using PhET simulations, resulting in more engaging and effective mathematics and science education. The study highlighted the importance of adapted professional development to enhance teachers' use of technology in the classroom, with potential implications for improving mathematics and science education in the region.

The Importance of Instructional Leadership in Supporting Learning Disabilities Programs: Perspectives from Saudi Educators

ABSTRACT The success of learning disabilities programs (LPDs) depends on factors including the expertise and competencies of instructional leaders. The role of principal leadership for LDPs deserves further study in Saudi Arabia due to the lack of research in this area. Given the importance of instructional leaders in the improvement of instructional programs and student outcomes, this study explored the perspectives of principals, assistant principals, superintendents, and learning disability teachers regarding the importance of principals’ instructional leadership responsibilities that support LDPs in Saudi schools. This study examined if there were any statistically significant differences between the participants’ perspectives due to differences in job role, gender, years of experience, and educational levels. The participants rated the relative importance of the three dimensions of instructional leadership: a) setting targets and promoting positive learning environments, b) observing and improving instruction, and c) managing the instructional program. The findings indicated the importance of school principals moving beyond administrative responsibilities towards duties aligned with instructional leadership, and there were some differences in perceptions of administrators and teachers. The findings support the need for continued training for principals by incorporating special education leadership topics in professional development and leadership preparation programs, and increased principal accountability for LDPs.

Evaluating pain management practices for cancer patients among health professionals in cancer and supportive/palliative care units: a Belgian survey.

Pain is reported in 66% of cancer patients with advanced disease. Adequate pain management is a cornerstone of comprehensive supportive cancer care. The purpose of this study was to assess pain management in Oncology Units in Belgium. A descriptive research design was applied. A structured questionnaire developed by a writing committee was sent to 37 healthcare professionals in 2021. Twenty-four replied. In most centers, pain management is organized through the pain clinic (91.7%), followed by a multidisciplinary team (83.3%) and the palliative care unit (75%). Eighty-seven percent use tools to assess the pain, mostly for in-patients. Pain guidelines are applied in 17 centers with the ESMO guidelines being the most often mentioned. Mild to moderate pain is managed with paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and tramadol. All centers handle severe pain with strong opioids, including buprenorphine and fentanyl. Only 62% are concerned about the side effects of strong opioids. In case of neuropathic pain, treatments with pregabalin, gabapentine, and tricyclic antidepressants are the most common, followed by opioids and interventional therapies for refractory neuropathic pain. Asking advice to the pain clinic, combination therapy and opioid rotation are used for patients with inadequate analgesia. Eighty to 90% of the centers have access to intraspinal and epidural techniques, respectively. An active teaching program on pain relief is offered in 66%, but only 33% of the centers do active research focused on pain management. This is the first survey on pain management in the Belgian centers. Surprisingly only one-third of the health professionals ask advice to the pain clinic in case of inadequate pain relief, meaning that we are far away from a multidisciplinary patient-centered approach. Therefore, the BSMO Supportive Care Task Force promotes the development of an interdisciplinary committee in every oncology unit.

The perceptions of secondary school students regarding the learning of computer programming at Key Stage 4 in the revised curriculum in England: problems and solutions.

Programming is becoming progressively important for many societies in the world today. It is also required in educational institutions and is especially important for students who will be graduating and looking for employment opportunities in the future. However, the teaching of a programming is not well developed in many secondary schools in different areas in England. Today, teaching programming is considered to be of the priority domain of several countries in the twenty-first century. Interest in this domain is wide and the amount of research conducted in the field is numerous. This study was designed to investigate and to aid a critical students’ understanding of the learning of programming in the revised Key Stage 4 (KS4) Computer Science (CS) curriculum. It seeks to understand the impact of learning programming on student’s perceptions toward programming and how to improve the teaching and learning of programming. The study found that the issues faced by students learning programming include a lack of time, the perception that it is a ‘difficult’ subject and students’ insufficient understanding of programming. The findings also suggest that schools have made efforts to overcome these challenges and are willing to adopt programming as a subject and to help, encourage, develop and improve students’ ability to learn programming.

Application of spaghetti knotting technology in single-hole laparoscopic suturing instructional program on the basis of multi-directional stitching technology: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundSpaghetti knotting technology is an emerging technique that can reduce the visual field restriction of the operator in laparo-endoscopic single site (LESS) surgery. Multi-directional stitching technology has been proved to improve the accuracy of suturing in clinical application of LESS surgery. Therefore, we conducted a study to evaluate the teaching efficacy and the operation workload of spaghetti knotting technology and conventional knotting technology in LESS suture teaching based on the multi-directional stitching technology.MethodsWe selected forty junior residents to learn the skill of knot tying with single-hole laparoscopic simulators. The forty students were randomly and equally divided into control group and experimental group. The control group was trained by the conventional knotting method, and the experimental group was trained by the spaghetti knotting technology. The grades were calculated before and after the training program, including operation score of suturing time, trhead length, needle insertion accuracy, knotting stability, tissue integrity, tissue tightness and the cognitive workload score of mental, physical and temporal demands, performance, effort and frustration.ResultsThere was no significant difference between two groups before training. After training, knotting skills and workload were significantly improved. There were significant differences between the two groups in knotting time (p = 0.001), thread length (p = 0.01), and tissue integrity(p = 0.003). The experiment group took less time, left longer thread and had higher tissue integrity. The workload of the experiment group was also accurately reduced. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in needle insertion accuracy(p = 0.560), knotting stability(p = 0.059), and tissue tightness(p = 0.731).ConclusionIn LESS suture teaching based on the multi-directional stitching technology, the training of spaghetti knotting techniques significantly improved students’ learning efficacy and reduced their workload compared to training conventional knotting techniques. It suggested the combination of spaghetti knotting and multi-directional stitching technology could be a practicable method for laparoscopic skills teaching and a feasible clinical application value on spaghetti knotting technology in LESS surgery.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

There is an increase of children identifi ed with developmental disorders, which is why it is necessary to have knowledge of the neuropsychological and cultural-historical psychological approach, which will allow the specialist to approach the cause of different alterations, expand the diagnostic possibilities and to create intervention programmes. The neuropsychological diagnosis obtained from a qualitative analysis makes it possible for the neuropsychological assessment to consider not only the causes of the clinical picture but also to determine the objectives and methods for neuropsychological correction. One of the main challenges of child neuropsychology consists in elaborating and not selecting the methods of intervention (Solovieva and Quintanar, ). The remediation and teaching programmes are personalized, as they are aimed at functional integration of weak neuropsychological mechanisms by relying on strong mechanisms. The programme contains a particular sequence of stages, in the initial phase the objectives to be developed through the different tasks are explained to the parents, the work agreement is presented and rapport with the child is established. In each of the stages, the child’s motivation, desire and willingness to work on different activities is guaranteed. During the therapy sessions, neuropsychologist provides the child with the necessary physical and verbal guidance. The participation of the family and the social context is fundamental throughout the process of neuropsychological correction, with the objective of improving the child’s quality of life and his or her integral development.

Professional development for Indonesian elementary school teachers: Increased competency and sustainable teacher development programs

Background Various problems, such as a shortage of teachers, especially in certain outlying and underdeveloped provinces, unequal distribution of teachers, low teacher competency, and mismatch between educational qualifications and scientific fields, as well as the demands of increasingly dynamic developments in science and technology, resulting in the need for professional development for elementary school teachers to improve teacher professionalism in Indonesia. These background as a basis for the government to create teacher professional education program for elementary school teachers continuously. It is hoped that it will be able to answer the educational problems facing the Indonesian nation. This research explores the opinions of elementary school teachers who have participated in teacher professional development activities through the in-service teacher professional education program. Methods We collected data through a written survey of 24 elementary school teachers, as well as article documents relevant to the research topic. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Result The research produced two main themes: increasing teacher competencies and sustainable teacher development programs. Increasing teacher competency related to social competence, pedagogical competence and professional competence. The sustainable teacher development program is related to the guaranteeing the instructional quality of post-program and multi-sectoral collaboration Conclusion Developing teacher professionalism through teacher professional education program in elementary schools in Indonesia positively impacts teachers’ becoming professional teachers. Teacher professional education program is an indication of improving teacher professionalism, especially in developing teaching skills, improving the quality of instruction, teacher motivation and individual development in dealing with various problems in instruction in the classroom, especially in elementary schools, so that the instructional objectives that have been set can be achieved. The professionalism of elementary school teachers will improve if there are sustainable programs such as mentoring programs from the government, universities and parties that focus on improving the quality of education in Indonesia

Integration of Ideological and Political Knowledge across Disciplines in a Chinese Public University: A Review

For the past few years, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have continuously promoted the strengthening of ideological and political education at the higher education level. To achieve this goal, it is crucial to build the capacity of teachers who teach these courses. Previous studies have emphasized the need for schools to continuously provide opportunities and platforms that will deepen teachers' understanding of the subject, thereby enhancing their instructional delivery. This review paper aims to analyze the ongoing discussion on designing professional development program for teachers engaged to the teaching of ideological and political education. Through review of studies from databases such as JSTOR, Google Scholar, ERIC, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the study will gather relevant data essential for understanding the current status of ideological and political education and how professional development programs are being designed and implemented. The review revealed Although China's ideological and political education training for teachers has made significant progress in recent years, there are still some problems and challenges. First, the content and methods of training need to be further innovated and improved to meet the needs of educational development in the new era. Second, some teachers do not pay enough attention to ideological and political education, resulting in unsatisfactory training results (Huang, 2020). In addition, the application of modern technology in training needs to be further promoted and optimized to maximize its benefits.

Listening strategy instruction for EMI learners to understand teacher input in science classrooms

Abstract Listening strategies have mostly been investigated in contexts where learners listen to audio recordings. However, a much more prevalent and indispensable listening task in the classroom is listening to teacher input, particularly in the English Medium Instruction (EMI) classroom where the goal of learning is directed towards comprehension of content subject knowledge (e.g., science, geography). Research has also shown that teacher talk dominates EMI classroom interaction, making it even more important to understand how learners comprehend teacher input. However, little research has been conducted in this area, and even less attention has been devoted to exploring how learners can learn to listen in this classroom context through strategy instruction. This paper reports on a study that implemented a listening strategy instruction programme for a class of secondary school EMI students. The study started with a needs analysis, followed by strategy instruction sessions, and lesson observations and stimulated recall interviews. This paper presents data from two EMI students as focal participants and explores how they improved their strategic behaviour when comprehending teacher input in the EMI classroom. Both students widened their strategic repertoires, but the high achiever benefited more from the strategy instruction programme than the weaker student. This paper ends with pedagogical implications, highlighting the importance of listening strategy instruction for EMI learners.

The Emergence of Education for Sustainable Development in Namibia’s Senior Primary English Language Curriculum: A Morphogenetic Case Study

Senior Primary English Language Teaching is an important site for implementing Namibia’s Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD) Policy. Language Teaching lends itself to ESD pedagogies and can be responsive to sustainability-oriented content. This article summarizes a qualitative case study of ESD implementation through the Senior Primary English Language curriculum between 1990 and 2018. Data included documents, a questionnaire with 43 Senior Primary English Language teachers in the Khomas Region of Namibia and in-depth interviews with 12 teachers. Framed by Margaret Archer’s social realist theory of Morphogenesis, the study’s findings point to a policy–practice disjuncture of relevance to policy makers, teacher educators and other ESD partners. The article recommends building English Language teachers’ agency for ESD implementation in Namibia by strengthening the EE/ESD foci in pre- and in-service teacher programmes, expanding and strengthening networks and school cluster subject groups, and prioritizing making environmental content knowledge more accessible through textbooks and other teaching resources.