Elementary Education Department Research Articles

The Factors Predicting Pre-service Science Teachers’ Scientific Literacy

The purposes of the study are to investigate pre service science teachers’ level of scientific literacy, beliefs about science teaching, and science teaching efficacy belief and how much variance in pre service science teachers’ scientific literacy can be explained by beliefs about science teaching, science teaching efficacy belief and grade point average (GPA). The survey design was used in this study and the sample of this study consisted of 172 pre service science teachers enrolled in elementary science education department in the university. Test of basic scientific literacy, science teaching efficacy belief instrument, beliefs about science teaching questionnaire were used as data collection tools of this study. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were used as data analyses technique. Descriptive analysis results revealed that while preservice science teachers had high levels of scientific literacy and beliefs about science teaching, they had low level of personal science teaching efficacy belief. On the other hand, preservice science teachers’ science teaching outcome expectancy and grade point average indicating academic achievement was acceptable level. Multiple regression analyses results revealed that preservice science teachers’ academic achievement was the best predictor of the variance in preservice science teachers’ scientific literacy. Besides, science content knowledge, personal science teaching efficacy belief, and beliefs about science teaching with respect to assessment made significant contribution to explaining science teachers’ scientific literacy. Key Words: Scientific literacy, Science teaching efficacy belief, Beliefs about science teaching, DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/7-05-02

예비초등교사들의 체육교과 안전영역 교수를 위한 역량 및 직전교사교육과정의 역할 탐색

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the teaching competencies of pre-service elementary school teachers in the safety domain of physical education, and the curriculum’s role in this training.<BR> Method: 20 participants who were enrolled as seniors in an elementary education department during Spring 2020 were recruited to collect data from written assignment as the first survey of this article. Afterwards, six(male: 2 and female: 4) of the 20 participants were selected to collect data from the in-depth interview and lesson plan. For data analysis, a constant comparative method for inductively analyzing data was used at each of the three steps (open, axial, and selective coding) to categorize themes. The authenticity and validity of the data were secured by identifying triangulation, member check, and peer examination.<BR> Results: Two main themes were as follows: 1)‘teaching competencies for the safety domain of physical education’ and 2)‘learning experiences during pre-service teacher education curriculum.’ The sub-themes from the first primary theme were categorized as ‘consideration emphasizing the importance of the safety domain’, fully understanding about the content system of the safety domain’, and ‘the difficulty and limitation about teaching the safety domain.’ The sub-themes from the second main theme included ‘positive learning experiences in developing teaching competencies for the safety domain’, and ‘limited learning experiences in developing teaching competencies for the safety domain.’<BR> Conclusion: The pre-service teacher’s education curriculum needs to provide the content and management of methods course and physical activity courses, which emphasizes cultivating pedagogical content knowledge for the safety domain.

Achievement of Pre-Service Teacher’s Competency in Educational Technology during SEA-Teacher project: Student’s Perception in Online system

The aims of this study is to determine the perceptions of SEA-TEACHER project students at University PGRI Yogyakarta (UPY) using online system towards achieving competence in educational technology. The research focus on the achievement of competencies in educational technology that were emphasized concerning microteaching, time allocation, and the optimizing of the implementation of the project, and the program patterns. The population of this study is students who joined UPY SEA-TEACHER program that began in 2017 to 2019 while the sample were students of mathematics education and elementary teacher education department. Data collection techniques were done by questionnaire, documentation, and interview. Collecting data was submitted by online system. Data analysis techniques using qualitative analysis that described the achievement of competency categorization and quantitative analysis that will show the magnitude of the categorization of these variables. The results showed that the achievement of competency in educational technology through the SEA-Teacher program as the description: the implementation have been interrelated with microteaching, there were no difficulties in allocating time, optimizing performance the program was stated to be optimal, and there was an expectation of the implementation of the SEA-Teacher program that conducted microteaching with English at least one meeting.

Electronic module of geometry based on inquiry

This research aimed at examining the influence of inquiry-based e-module for geometry lessons on the learning outcomes of college students of the elementary school education department. This research employed an experimental approach by using geometry e-module based on inquiry to find out and understand geometry concept. This study used a single-subject research approach involving students of Elementary School Education Department in Kanjuruhan University Malang. The data analysis technique in this study was used quantitative and qualitative descriptive procedures. Geometry e-module based on inquiry consisted of two topics, to be specific: two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. The results of this research indicate that the college students could determine the attributes of shape such as circumference and areas of two-dimensional shapes as well as nets, face areas, and volume of three-dimensional shapes. Therefore, this further confirms that geometry e-module based inquiry could be applied as an electronic instructional media for college students.

Assessing the Role of a Children’s Collection in an Academic Library: A Case Study of Collaborative Collection Management

The Sonoma State University Library’s children's book collection is under-utilized by students in the School of Education, the primary intended audience, which prompted the Library to assess the role of this collection in the University setting. In an effort to learn more about the information-seeking needs and practices of students in the School of Education, the Education Liaison Librarian and Collection Development Librarian collaborated with faculty in the Department of Literacy Studies and Elementary Education to observe text set presentations from students in five classes and design a student-driven assessment of the children's collection. Following the student assessment, the librarians compared the criteria students used to select and deselect books with the criteria the librarians use to develop and weed the collection; the librarians used this information to refine collection management, organization, and wayfinding strategies for the collection so it aligns more closely with the students’ needs. This article describes the collaboration and results of the student assessment from the perspectives of both the librarians and the School of Education faculty.

Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Opinions on Team-Games-Tournaments

The aim of this study is to determine pre-service primary teachers&amp;rsquo; opinions regarding the implementation of teams-games-tournaments (TGT). For this purpose, the action research method, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was employed. The study group in the research consisted of 30 students who attended Artvin &amp;Ccedil;oruh University College of Education Elementary Education Department Primary School Teaching Program. Qualitative data was collected by interview forms with open-ended questions. With the answers the participants gave to the interview questions, they shared their opinions about advantages and disadvantages of the method and their suggestions about using the method in their future classes. Participants found positive interdependence and learning in heterogeneous groups, which are among the common features of cooperative learning, useful and necessary. Participants also stated the features of causing noise, making classroom management more difficult, sharing responsibility and rewards unfairly, and difficulty of implementing the method in crowded classes as disadvantages of the method.

From Chaotic to Order: Using Chaos Game in Mathematics Teaching

Mathematics has a structure based on concepts and operations with a certain and logical order. The discovery of this order is one of the basic elements of doing meaningful mathematics. It is very important to prepare learning environment that allow students to connect and build relationships between mathematical concepts. In this study, “chaos game” which will enable students to build relations among patterns, probability, series and limits has been introduced in detail in the process of obtaining from irregular cases to regular cases. The Chaos game was explained in detail with examples and given some explanations on why the regular shapes formed at the end of the game. Moreover, some tasks that students will be able to use their abilities such as hypothesis, mathematical connections and deduction and to make connection among some mathematical concepts such as probability, measure, patterns and numbers were formed. Reflections from students about these tasks were also included. In this context, the tasks were applied to 44 freshman students who were attending the department of elementary mathematics education in an education faculty of a state university in Central Anatolia region and some reflections from these tasks were examined. Findings showed that the tasks enabled students to use their skills such as hypothesis, observation, mathematical connections and deduction. It was also determined that the tasks enabled students to make practice on some mathematical topics such as measurement, exponential numbers, probability and patterns.

Comparing the Effect of Wayang Pahlawan and Documentary Film for Cultivating Nationalism among Elementary School Student

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Wayang Pahlawan (learning media) and documentary film (learning media) for cultivating nationalism among fourth-grade students. The type of this study was comparative with a quasi-experimental approach. This study was carried from March to July 2019. The subjects in this study were fourth-grade students (aged 9-10 years) at Public Elementary School of 9 Purwodadi, Central Java, Indonesia (n = 38). Subjects were divided into two study groups. The first group was a group of students who received media treatment of Wayang Pahlawan. In contrast, the second group was a group of students who received media treatment of the documentary film. The data collection method used a questionnaire related to nationalism indicators. Validity test of items used the Product Moment Correlation, while KR 20 formula for reliability test. The normality test used the Liliefors method, the homogeneity test used the Leven test, while the hypothesis test used the Independent Sample T-Test. This study showed that Wayang Pahlawan and the documentary film showed an increase between the pretest and post-test results. It means that Wayang Pahlawan and documentary film can cultivate nationalism among fourth-grade students. Meanwhile, the documentary film was more effective in cultivating nationalism than Wayang Pahlawan. This study contributes to the existing literature about character education, especially nationalism. Data given will provide the elementary school teachers, department of elementary school teacher education, as well as ministry of education with information on how to cultivate nationalism effectively.

Students’ Pedagogic and Professional Competencies in Teaching Practice Program

The research aims to describe pedagogical and professional competencies of students who enroll at the department of Islamic elementary education at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training UIN Imam Bonjol Padang. A mixed method was implemented where the data collected through observation, interviews, questionnaires, and documentation. The results of the study on aspects of pedagogical competence was at the level of very good (82.4%). It was also found that the criteria to master the characteristics of students from the physical, moral, spiritual, social, cultural, emotional, and intellectual aspects were very good (80%), carrying out educational learning was very good (81%), facilitating the development of potential students to actualize various potentials which was very good (83%), communicating effectively, empathically, and politely with 88% of students (very good), and in evaluating and evaluating 80% (very good). While professional competence was with a value of 78.3% (good). Among the mastery of teaching material 78.5% (good), the use of learning media 77.5% (good), as well as contextual material or connecting teaching materials with the daily life of students 79% (good). The study recommended that prospective educators further improve pedagogical and professional competencies, often take part in training activities, practice teaching simulations. For the department of Islamic elementary education should be more professional to guide students during teaching practice programme activities, and lectures, especially in the field of teacher competency development.

The Effectiveness of Oppemei Model for Enhancing Student’s Creative Thinking Skill in Science Basic Concepts Learning

This study was conducted to find out the effectiveness of OPPEMEI model for enhancing student’s creative thinking skill. This study was started by developing science basic concepts teaching material for the topics of Material Change by using the 4-D model. The subjects were the third semester students of Elementary Education Department of the Faculty of Education Science, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia with the total number of 117 students divided into four classes: Classes A, B, C and F. The results showed that the validity of the teaching material falls into the vary valid category. OPPEMEI model is effective for enhancing student’s creative thinking skill with the first cycle gain score in the low category for Class F, the second cycle in the medium category for Class C, the third cycle in the medium category for Class B and the fourth cycle in the high category for Class A. There is a significant difference between the pre-test score and the post-test score for the four classes based on the t-test analysis (N-Gain score). There were some changes in the students’ creative thinking skill from medium to high category in the indicators of fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and evaluation, while the indicator of originality was in the medium category

Examination of the Metaphors of Classroom and Social Sciences Teacher Candidates Related to the Concept of Direction

The aim of this research is to demonstrate the perception of the direction concept of the prospective teachers in the departments of classroom education and social sciences education through metaphors. For this purpose, the research was conducted in 2018-2019 academic year with a total of 174 teacher candidates studying in social sciences teaching and elementary education departments of the faculty of education of a state university in Turkey. One of the approaches to qualitative research, the phenomenology (phenomenology) design, was used in the study. The views and thoughts of the working group on the concept examined “the concept of direction .......... like/is similar to because ................."collected by ınterview form consisting of his statement. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of data. According to the findings of the study, participants developed a total of 81 valid metaphors for the concept of direction. These metaphors have been collected under 11 different categories. As a result of the study, the most preferred metaphors for the direction concept of the participants were the words Sun, Pole Star, Road, Compass, book and clock.

Consensus on the Competencies for a Classroom Teacher to Support Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom: A Delphi Study

The purpose of this research was to seek and reach a consensus on the competencies for classroom teachers to support gifted students in the regular classrooms. The Delphi Technique was used to achieve this purpose. The panel was carried out in three following rounds. Participants of the panel were thirty-six panelists including fifteen academicians holding PhD degrees and actively teaching in special or elementary education departments, and twenty-one in-service classroom teachers. Three sequential Delphi questionnaires that were included competencies in which panelists were asked to evaluate each competency on a seven point likert scale used during the panel. Calculated reliability coefficients of these questionnaires were .97, .93 and .94, respectively. One more competency was added after the analysis of first Delphi questionnaire. The three-round Delphi panel has showed that there was a consensus among experts on all thirty-five competencies. Competencies were discussed with regard to previous research and a number of suggestions for future research and implementation were developed.

Developing a Scale to Measure Students’ Attitudes toward Science

The aim of this study is to develop a science attitude scale (SAS). For that purpose, the literature review has been done for suggestions for creating scales and a new draft scale developed. The draft scale was analyzed by specialists and a pilot study is done after its approval by experts. The SAS is prepared with 21 items and among these, 11 items are reverse-coded. The SAS consists of Likert-type items. The sample of the study consists of 154 college students studying at the Faculty of Education, Elementary Science Education, and Elementary Education departments. Principal axis factoring with orthogonal rotation (varimax) was used for exploratory factor analysis. Factor eigenvalues were checked with respect to parallel analysis and numbers of the factors were determined with respect to the analysis. Items that did not serve the purpose of the scale were omitted from the SAS. The finalized SAS’ Cronbach alpha value is .953. For confirmatory factor analysis data were collected from a different sample which consists of university students who were studying at elementary science education, elementary education, and electric electronic engineering departments. Number of sample is 201. Confirmatory factor analyses run through Amos 24.0 software. It is believed that SAS is a valuable contribution to the science education field since it has unidimensional structure and proved its item discrimination power, and alongside with an excellent internal consistency. SAS also offers opportunity to develop multidimensional science attitude scale. For that purpose, original SAS and English version of it are provided in appendixes.

Evaluation of Preservice Teachers’ Skills in Solving Non-Routine Mathematical Problems through Various Strategies

This study aims to investigate how the different solutions, problem-solving strategies, and the number of strategies used by the preservice secondary school mathematics teachers on non-routine mathematical problems change according to grade levels. This study was conducted with 152 preservice teachers studying at the department of elementary mathematics education of a state university located in the Western Black Sea region in Turkey. The purposeful sampling method was used to select the participants. A 12-question test with non-routine problems was used as the data collection tool. Content analysis, one of the qualitative data analysis techniques, was used for analyzing the data. The results indicated that the preservice teachers at each grade level generally proposed single solution and more than half of them had difficulties in finding solutions to the problems. It has been observed that the most used strategies of the preservice teachers are the strategies of reasoning, prediction-control, finding a correlation, formation-testing, systematic listing, drawing, and forming equations in all grade levels.

A Different Look at the Reasoning Process of Prospective Middle School Mathematics Teachers: Global Argumentation Structures

Argumentation is an important part of education in different disciplines such as science teaching and psychology. Numerous research studies have revealed that the use of argumentation practices in courses have a positive impact on students' both cognitive (critical thinking, reasoning, etc.) and affective abilities. Recently, the number of studies on argumentation in the field of mathematics education has increased. It is expected that prospective teachers today are key elements of the argumentation process as they can encourage students to produce strong mathematical arguments; hence, they themselves are also expected to develop their own argumentation skills. In the literature, there is a need for studies on the reasoning processes and argumentation structures of prospective teachers. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the global argumentation structures used by prospective middle school mathematics teachers while they were solving geometry tasks. In line with this purpose, a qualitative case study was conducted with 8 prospective teachers who were enrolled in the elementary mathematics education department of a state university located in Ankara. Two argumentation applications were conducted with the participants. In the first application, two problems on triangles and in the second one two problems on circles were solved by the participants. Then, the global argumentation structures of the participants were examined. The results showed that mathematical reasoning of prospective middle school mathematics teachers was weak and, therefore, they mostly used simple global argumentation structures. On the other hand, it was found that the researcher's directions lead participants to use more complex global argumentation structures. Therefore, it was concluded that the teachers who orchestrate the argumentation process should have sufficient knowledge and experience regarding argumentation. This result revealed the importance of focusing on the development of mathematical reasoning skills of prospective teachers. Based on this, it is recommended that necessary adjustments be made in teacher training programs to include argumentation so that prospective teachers can be equipped with the ability to orchestrate argumentation in their lessons.

The Deakin Review Is Grateful to Lynne Wiltse for Her Guest Editorial

***Access the interview with author Shelly Becker by clicking here.***&#x0D; Dear Readers,&#x0D; It is my pleasure to be contributing the editorial for this special issue of The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature.&#x0D; My name is Lynne Wiltse and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. I teach courses in language and literacy and children’s literature. This is the third time that the graduate students in my Children's Literature in the Elementary School (EDEL 510) course have participated in writing book reviews for a Special Issue of the Deakin Review; however, this is the first time that they have been joined by undergraduate students from my Teaching Literature in Elementary Schools (EDEL 409) course. This term, I taught a combined undergraduate/graduate course, and the editorial team of the Deakin Review generously agreed to a special issue featuring book reviews by my 10 graduate and 20 undergraduate students.&#x0D; We began our course by reading Kathy Short’s (2108) article, What’s Trending in Children’s Literature and Why It Matters. In her articles, Short identifies the increasing influence of visual culture in children’s books and continuing concerns about the lack of diversity in children’s literature as two recent trends. Regarding the first trend, the opportunity to evaluate picture books was linked to course content about visual storytelling and the design of picture books. In her article, Short makes the point that, because children are immersed in a visual culture, they find books with powerful visual images particularly appealing. This was certainly reflected in the selection of picture books, published in 2018, chosen by the 30 students in the course for review. An example can be found in Ocean Meets Sky, a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature (illustrated books category), by brothers Eric and Terry Fan. You can read about the stunning visual images in this picture book about a young boy who sets sail to find the spot where the ocean meets the sky in Melinda Cooke’s review. Kathy Short notes that the influence of visual culture is evident in the increasing publication of wordless books in which the story is told completely (or almost completely) through visual images. In this regard, our collection includes I Walk With Vanessa: A Story about a Simple Act of Kindness, a wordless book by Kerascoet (the joint pen name of married illustrators, Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset). Terri Beach reviewed this book, told without words, about a girl who is bullied and then supported by school mates. That the students in this book comprise different ethnicities and races relates to the second trend in children’s books that Short highlights in her article. The author argues that the limited availability of books that reflect the diversity within society can be damaging for children who rarely see their lives represented within books. On this count, the books reviewed by my students were encouraging as they displayed diverse ways of being diverse, so to speak. Immigrant students may recognize themselves in Island Born, written by Junot Diaz and illustrated by Leo Espinosa, while young non-binary readers may identify with Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love. Girls, long underrepresented in children’s literature, may in particular be inspired by Roda Ahmedk’s and Stasia Burrington’s Mae Among the Stars, based on the first African American woman to travel in space, Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, written by Margot Lee Shetterly and illustrated by Laura Freeman, and Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger’s, She Persisted Around the World:13 Women who Changed History. I am hopeful that these and other books reviewed by my students indicate a positive shift in the second trend regarding the lack of diversity in children’s literature. Short’s view is that, as educators, we are often followers, rather than creators of trends. I am confident that the teachers, librarians and prospective teachers from my course will contribute to this shift by thoughtfully selecting children’s literature for our diverse society.&#x0D; Writing reviews for this issue was a valuable learning experience for my students and we are eager to see the published reviews. I am grateful to the editorial team of the Deakin Review for their support, and a special thanks is extended to Kim Frail for assisting me with the process and my students with their reviews. &#x0D; Reference&#x0D; Short, K. (2018). What’s Trending in Children’s Literature and Why It Matters. Language Arts, 95(5), 287-298.&#x0D;

The Funeral by M. James

James, Matt. The Funeral. Groundwood Books-House of Anansi Press, 2018.&#x0D; The Funeral, written by Matt James, focuses on a day that Norma goes to her Uncle Frank’s funeral. While this book will appeal to children, it is also good for adults to look at something heavy in life, such as a funeral, through a child’s eye.&#x0D; In a relaxed tone and cozy painting style, the story starts with Norma finding out that she won’t have to go to school on the day of her uncle’s funeral. She is excited about the day off and the “plan” of the day, playing with her cousin. Throughout the funeral, the story is developed through Norma’s eyes, showing how she experiences the time with her cousin. Before Norma leaves the funeral, she thinks Uncle Frank would have loved his funeral, since she noticed he was smiling right at her in his photo.&#x0D; Instead of a heavy, didactic teaching of the meaning of death, Matt explores a delicate way to describe a funeral from a child’s perspective. For example: &#x0D; There was a little flag [which said FUNERAL] on the car that drove them to the church. Norma tried to sound out the word printed on it.“F-U-N,” she said.And then she said it again. &#x0D; Matt James, a Canadian artist, is an illustrator of many picture books. With this picture book, James debuts as a writer and illustrator. The illustrations of the book are mostly acrylic and ink on masonite. Also, this book is the first time he combined a few digital pieces on the background illustrations. This book would tie in perfectly to a classroom talk about funerals and similar occasions and illustrates what a funeral is like from a child’s perspective. &#x0D; Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Yina Liu&#x0D; Yina Liu is a first year PhD student in Language and Literacy, in the department of Elementary Education. Her research interests are digital literacies and children's literature, especially digital picture books. She finished her Master's degree at the University of Saskatchewan and worked in a preschool classroom as an early childhood educator for a year in Saskatchewan. &#x0D;

Examining and Predicting Ethnocultural Empathy of Preservice Classroom Teachers

This study aims to define and examine ethnocultural empathy level of preservice classroom teachers. The research design of this study was non-experimental and causal-comparative, which seeks to find relationships between independent and dependent variables after an action or event occurred. Participants were 434 preservice classroom teachers studying in Primary School Education Programme in the Department of Elementary Education at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University in the academic year of 2017-2018. Turkish version of The Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (TSEE), which was initially developed by Wang, et al. [1] and then adopted to Turkish language by Ozdikmenli-Demir & Demir [2] was conducted to measure ethnocultural empathy level of preservice classroom teachers. Results showed that ethnocultural empathy level of preservice teachers differed by gender, grade level, ethnic origin, family income and place of growth. Only three predictors; 'being experienced in multicultural environments', 'grade level' and 'being in the majority group' showed significance in the regression equation in this study.

English

The purpose of the study is to design a lesson plan model for character education in primary education, and to elicit the related stakeholders’ opinions and suggestions on the proposed lesson plan model. As a qualitative design research, the data in this study were collected through written document analysis and interview. Criterion sampling method was used to determine the participants of the study. The participants were five primary education teachers, two experts from the field of psychological counseling and guidance, and two academicians from the department of elementary education. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The study has two phases: (1) developing lesson plan model on the basis of the affective domain grounded by Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia and eleven principles of effective character education proposed by the Character Education Partnership, and (2) piloting the model. Up till now, the 1st stage has been completed. The results indicated that the participants mostly gave positive feedbacks in terms of fundamentals, parts and steps of the model. Moreover, the assessment and evaluation part of the model might be a weakness. Finally, the results indicated that the suggested model will be a pathway in the application of character education in primary schools. The lesson plan model will be piloted as a follow-up research. Key words: Character education, lesson plan model, primary education.

Effects of Augmented Reality Experiences on Technology Integration Self-Efficacy of Prospective Mathematics Teachers

In this study, technology integration self-efficacy beliefs of prospective teachers and their experiences with augmented reality learning environment throughout the study were examined. This study was designed with explanatory mixed method. Participants in this study were 44 sophomores in elementary mathematics education department of a public university in Turkey. The participants engaged augmented reality activities about nets of solid figure, surface area of solid figures, volume with unit cubes and spatial ability for four weeks. Data were collected through technology integration self-efficacy scale, which was administrated as pretest and posttest, and interviews, which were handled at the end of the study. Quantitative data were analyzed through paired sample t-test while qualitative data were handled through frequency and content analyses. The results showed that augmented reality-based learning tools have a positive effect on technology integration self-efficacy beliefs of prospective mathematics teachers. In addition, it was observed a significant increase in prospective teachers’ self-efficacy about technology integration as well as their beliefs about use of technology and making students use of technology.